M6 OLET2601 Psychology Of Crime PDF

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Psychology Of Crime Full Module 6 Notes...

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OLET2601: Psychology Of Crime - Module 6 Case 3B Sex Offenders Detective Lee had just put his last case file away. He knew that Mike would go back to jail. There was no doubt about that. He had only been released for six months and he had already managed to gather hundreds of images and videos depicting child abuse materials. He had also been communicating with these children, pretending to be a child himself. He had abused their trust and tricked them into sending photos and videos. Detective Lee could not understand how Mike was out of jail and therefore able to reoffend. How had the parole board come to the decision that Mike was able to return into the community? When Detective Lee had interviewed Mike he had asked him if he ever received any treatment before being let out of jail. Mike confirmed he did. Part of the reason he was let out of jail was on the condition that he completed a sex-offenders’ treatment program. He had done everything the psychologist had asked him to do, and they had told him he was free to go. Mike also told Detective Lee that while the treatment made sense while he was in jail, as soon as he came out it was like he had forgotten everything that was discussed and taught during the treatment sessions. He was not supposed to be on the internet or have contact with children, but it was so tempting with his mobile phone allowing him to chat whenever and wherever he wanted. According to Mike, it was not like he was hurting these children. He loved them. He had a relationship with them. He just needed to massage the truth a bit initially. He needed them to love him before he could introduce his true self. Once they had fallen for his personality, he could show his real self and start a proper relationship. Detective Lee was perturbed by what Mike told him. How could a person be so delusional? But more importantly how could that Mike had been treated and it had not had any effect on his behaviour? What was going on with these treatment plans? Was it an anomaly that Mike had relapsed or was it common occurrence? Case 3B Sex Offenders; A Clinical Perspective Detective Lee decided to go and request a meeting with a clinical forensic psychologist that worked with sex offenders in jail. Perhaps if he understood better what the various classifications of sex offenders were and what kind of treatment options were used, he would be better able to determine which sex-offenders might be at high risk of reoffending once they were released. The forensic psychologist was happy to talk him through the classifications and treatment types. He explained that while there were vast differences in offenders- not only between but also within classifications (e.g., different types of rapists and different types of child molesters)- the treatment for every type of sex offender often relied on addressing similar aspects of behaviour and cognition.

Sex Offenders And Treatment Nature and Extent of Sexual Violence Sexual violence is on par with homicide in terms of how perpatrators are vilified by society ● Official statistics do not provide an accurate measure of the true incidence of this type of crime → majority of victims do not report the crime ○ Don’t feel the matter is important enough ○ Feel the matter has already been dealt with ○ Feel the matter is too personal ○ Don’t want to involve the police

Sexual assault affects a large % of the population ● High victimisation rates are reported among children and youth ● Review of community samples → prevalence of childhood sexual abuse is 17% for females and 8% for males ● Sexual offenders admit to having many victims ○ High victim rates reported with rapists on average 7 victims, female-victim child molesters having 20 victims and male-victim child molesters averaging 150 victims

Definition Of Sexual Assault Definition in canada has undergone substantial change over the past 25 years ● Prior to 1983 a number of diff offences were lumped together under the label of rape ● Definition made more inclusive of diverse sexual relationships and more representative of the nature of sexual assault → rape was reclassified ○ Sexual assault became defined as any nonconsensual sexual act by either a male or female person to either a male or female person regardless of the relationship between the people involved

Sexual assault was divided into three levels based on severity issues ● Each level comes with different max penalties ○ Simple sexual assault (max sentence 10 years) ○ Sexual assault with a weapon causing bodily harm (max 14 years) ○ Aggravated sexual assault (max life imprisonment)

Consequences For Victims Sexual aggression has serious psychological and physical consequences for victims ● Eg child victims of sexual abuse develop a range of short and long term problems ● Psychological symptoms ● Longer-term problems ○ Substance abuse ○ Depression ○ Eating disorders ○ Prositution

Victims of rape report high levels of stress and fear that often disrupts social, sexual and occupational functioning while generating high levels of anxiety and depression ● Koss → reports 30% of rape victims contract STDs and pregnancy results in about 5% of cases ● Psychologically a wide range of negative consequences have been reported

1974 → Burgess and Holmstrom proposed the term rape trauma syndrome → describes the psychological after-effects of rape ● Effects divided intwo two phases ○ Acute crisis phase ○ Long-term reactions phase

Acute Crisis Phase Lasts for a few days to several weeks and symptoms are quite severe ● ● ● ●

High levels of fear, anxiety and depression Ask question about why the rape happened to them Commonly engage in self-blame Heightened levels of distrust and self-doubt

Long-Term Reactions Phase Lasts from a a few months to several years ● ¼ of women who have been raped do not significantly recover ● Longt term reactions

○ Development of phobias (fear of being alone or a fear of leaving the house) ○ Development of sexual problems and depression ○ Victims make dramatic changes in their lifestyles The psychological consequences of rape victimisation also include post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) → an anxiety disorder that can develop in response to exposure to an extremely traumatic event Symptoms include: ● Frequent distressing and intrusive memories of the event ● Avoidance of stimuli associated with the traumatic event ● Persistent anxiety ● Increased arousal symptoms Rothbaum, Foa, Riggs, Murdock and Walsh (1992) assessment of PTSD symptoms in 95 female rape victims over a 9 month follow up period ● One month after → 65% of victims were diagnosed with PTSD ● 9 months 47% were classified as having PTSD ○ Some victims continue to experience PTSD symptoms years after the rape ○ 16.5% of rape victims had PTSD 15 years after the rape ● Effective treatment programs have been developed to help rape victims overcome the emotional suffering caused by this trauma Classification Of Sexual Offenders Usually divided into categories based on the type of sexuall deviant behaviour they exhibit, the relo between victim and offender, and age of victim

Voyeurs ● Obtain sexual gratification by observing unsuspecting people, usually strangers, who are naked, in the process of undressing or engaging in sexual activity

Exhibitionists ● Obtain sexual gratification by exposing their genitals to strangers These two types are sometimes referred to as hands-off or no-contact sexual offenders

Rapists ● Offenders who sexually assaul victims 16 years or older ● The term pedophilia means “love of children” ● The term pedophile is often used to refer to an adult whose primary sexual orientation is towards children ● Child molester refers to individuals who have actually sexually molested a child ○ Divided into two types ○ Intra-familial child molesters (also called incest offenders) who sexually abuse their own biological children or childrem for whom they assume a parental role eg stepfather ○ Extra-familial child molesters sexually abuse children outside the family Rapist Typologies Important to understand that rapists are not part of a homogeneous group and do not all engage in sexual assault for the same reasons ● Different rapist typologies have been proposed ● 1990s → project undertaken by Massachussets Treatment Center to develop and empirically validate a typology of rapists ● Resulting classification system → The Revised Rapist Typology, Version 3 consists of the five primary subtypes of rapists based on motivational differences 1. The opportunistic type commits sexual assault that is generaly impulsive, void of sexual fantasies, controlled primarily by situational or contextual factors and void of gratuitous violence ○ Types of offenders engage in other criminal behaviours ○ Eg someone breaks into home with intention of stealing byt rapes female occupant 2. Pervasively angry type has a high level of anger that is directed towards men and women ○ Tend to be impulsive ○ Use unnecessary force ○ Cause serious victim injury ○ Be void of sexual fantasies 3. Sexual type is differentiated from the other offenders in that these crimes are primarily motivated by sexual preoccupation or sexual fantasies 4. The sadistic type is differentiated from the sexual type in that there must be a sadistic element to the offence 5. Vindictive

○ In contrast to the pervasively angry type → vindictive rapist’s anger is focused solely on women ○ These offenders are not impulsive or preoccupied by sexual fantasies ○ The goal of this type of rapist is to demean and degrade the victim The opportunistic, sexual and vindictive subtypes are further subdivided based on their level of social competence The sadistic type is further subdivided into overt or muted sadists based on the presence of absence or gratuitous violence Research using the MTC:R3 has found that these types differ on : ● prevalence of psychopathy ● rates of sexual recidivism ● Treatment needs Knight and Guay (2006) describe a restructuring of the MTC:R3 in which the muted sadistic type of sexual offender has been dropped since the existence of this type of sexual offender has not been supported by research Another typology that uses motivation to classify rapists was proposed by Groth (1979) ● Suggested rapists can be divided into three main types ○ Anger rapists ○ Power rapists ○ Sadistic rapists Anger rapists ● Use of more force than necessary to obtain compliance and engagement in a variety of sexual acts to degrade the victim ● High levels of anger directed solely toward women ● Not being motivated primarily by sexual gratification Most of these rapes are precipitated by conflict or perceived humiliation by some significant woman → such as the offenders wife, mother or boss ● Approx 50% of rapists fit this type Power Rapist ● Intention to assert dominance or control over the victim ● Variation in the amount of force used, depending on the degree of submission shown by the victim ● Not being motivated primarily by sexual gratification ● Frequent rape fantasies

About 40% of rapists fit into this category Sadistic rapist ● Obtaining sexual gratification by hurting the victim ● High levels of victim injury, including torture and death ● Frequent violent sexual fantasies Approx 5% of rapists fit this type There is considerable overlap between the MTC:R3 and Groth typologies ● Both typologies describe a sadistic rapist ● The vindictive rapist is similar to the anger rapist ● The pervasively angry rapist shares some of the features of the power rapist Child Molester Typologies The most widely used typology is Groth’s typology of the fixated and regressed child molester ● Groth developed his typology based on research with incarcerated child molesters Fixated Child Molester ● Primary sexual orientation is toward children → have little or no sexual contact with adults ● Sexual interest in children begins in adolescence and is persistent ● Male children are their primary targets ● Precipitating stress is not evident ● Their offences are planned ● Are emotionally immature, have poor social skills, usually single ● Usually have no history or alcohol or drug abuse ● Often feel no remorse or distress over their behaviour Regressed Child Moleser ● Primary sexual orientation is toward adults ● Sexual interest in children begins in adulthood and is episodic ● Female children are their primary targets ● Precipitating stress and feelings of inadequacy are usually present ● Their offences are more impulsive ● Often married and having marital problems ● Many offences related to alcohol ● More likely to report feeling remorse for their behaviour Groth also subdivided the child molesters into two types based on the type of coercion they used

Sex-Pressure Child Molester ● Uses persuasion or entrapment to make the child feel obligated to participate in sexual acts ● May buy the child gifts or take the child on fun outings Sex-Force Child Molester ● Threatens or uses physical force to overcome any resistance by the child ● Been divided into the exploitive type who uses the threat of force to obtain compliance and the sadistic type who obtains gratification from hurting a child ○ Latter type is rare Adolescent Sexual Offenders Prior to the 1980s → sexual aggresive behaviour by adolescents was not deemed serious and discounted by some as normal experimentation ● Crimes reports and victimisation surveys indicate ab 20% of rapes and 30-50% of child sexual abuse is committed by adolescents Adolescent sexual offenders consistently report having been victims of sexual abuse themselves ● Prevalence rate for sexual abuse commited against adolescent sexual offenders ranges from about 40-80% ● Although early sexual victimisation and later sexual offending are related → majority of sexually abused children do not go on to become adolescent or adult sexual offenders ○ Prior history of childhood sexual victimisation is not related to sexual recidivism in samples of adult sexual offenders and adolescent sexual offenders Being the victim of sexual abuse is only one factor that affects later sexual offending ● Ramussen, Burton and Christopherson suggest that in addition to sexual abuse → other factors such as social inadequency, lack of intimacy and impulsiveness also play a role Ryan et al (1996) investigated victim characteristics and found adolescent sexual offenders tend to sexually abuse young female victims ● 63% of adolesent sexual offenders victims were younger than 9 Female Sexual Offenders Research is limited ● Lack of attention is probably because only 2-5% of incarcerated sex offenders are female ● Some researchers have suggested that sexual abuse of children by women is more prevalent that previously believed

Rates of sexual abuse by females vary dramatically → depending on definition used ● Eg should a female be classified as a sexual abuser if she knew that her husband was sexually abusing their child and did nothing to stop the abuse? ● Does a mother sleeping with her child constitute sexual abuse in the absence of sexual touching? ● What if the child is a teenager who becomes sexually aroused by sleeping with his mother? ○ Most people would agree that is is sexual abuse for a 20 year old to have sexual contact with an 8 year old boy, but not if the boy is 16 ○ But what if the boy is 14? ○ If the 14 year old boy initiates the sexual act and views it positively, should this be classified as sexual abuse? Fritz, Still and Wagner (1981) reported that of the 5% of college men who were molested as children, 60% were molested by females, most being older female adolescents In a survey conducted by Risin and Koss (1987) → reported that 7.3% were abused ● Almost half the perps were female 43% ● Almost half were female adolescent babysitters ● Ab half of the male respondents reported that they participated in the sexual acts voluntarily and did not feel victimised ○ in contrast to these studies → fewer female perps have been reported by other researchers ○ Eg Finkelhor (1984) found that only 6% of university women and 16% of university men who reported childhood sexual abuse indicated the offender was a woman Some researchers have speculated the rate of sexual abuse by females is underesitmated - some reasons include the following: ● Women are able to mask their sexually abusive behaviours through caregiving victimactivities and thus are more difficult to recognise ● Women sexual offenders are more likely to target their own children who are less likely to disclose the abuse ● Boys are more frequent targets than girls → boys are less likely to disclose the abuse Research designed to determine the characteristics of female sexual offenders has been plagued with small sample sizes ● Whether the findings will generalise to larger samples of female sexual offenders remains to be investigated Atkinson (1996) suggests there are four types of female sexual offenders 1. Teacher/lover

○ Offenders initiate sexual abuse of a male adolescent that they relate to as a peer ○ Offender is often in a position of authority/power ○ It is unknown how common this type of female sex offender is because the victim rarely reports abuse to authorities ○ This type has not likely experienced childhood sexual abuse → substance-abuse problems are common ○ Offenders are often not aware their behaviour is inappropriate ○ teacher/lovers often describe themselves as being “in love” with the victim ○ Victims report they participated voluntarily and do not feel victimised 2. Male-coerced ○ Offenders are coerced or forced into sexual abuse by an abusive male ○ Often the victim is the female offender’s own daughter ○ These offenders are unassertive, dependent on menand are relatively passive partners in the abuse 3. Male-accompanied ○ Offenders engage in sexual abuse with a male partner ○ More willing participants than are the male-coerced type ○ Victims are both inside and outside the family 4. Predisposed ○ Offender initiates sexual abuse alone ○ Often has experienced severe and persistent childhood sexual abuse and has been a victim of intimate violence ○ Type often reports having deviant sexual fantasies ○ Offences are more violent and bizarre, and typically involve younger children ○ Victims are often their own children, and they also frequently physically abuse and neglect the victim Faller (1987) reported in a study → most had significant psychological and social functioning problems ● Most offenders were classified as engaging in poly-incestuous abuse which involved two perps and generally two or more victims ● Male offender usually instigated the sexual abuse while the women played a secondary role Vandiver and Teske (2006) compared 61 juvenile female sex offenders with 122 juvenile males ● Female offenders found to be younger than male counterparts at the time of their arrest

● Female offenders had yunger victims and chose both male and female victims equaully while male offenders chose female victims more often Theories Of Sexual Aggression Important that we understand why child molestation and rape occurs → number of theories have been proposed to account for these forms of antisocial behaviour Popular and widely cited theories → Finklehor’s precondition model (1984) of child molestation Finklehor’s theory of child molesting proposes that four preconditions must be met for the sexual abuse to occur: 1. Offender must be motivated to sexually abuse Motivation is due to three factors: 1. Emotional congruence → offenders desire for the child to satisfy an emotional need 2. Sexual attraction to the child 3. Blockage or emotional outlets for the offender to meet his sexual and emotional needs 2. Offenders lack of internal inhibitions Eg alcohol and implulse-control problems can weaken the offenders ability to restrain the behaviours that lead to abuse 3. Offender must overcome external inhibitors for the abuse to occur Eg → offender might need to create opportunities to be alone with the child 4. Offender must overcome the childs resistance Offenders will reward the child with attention or bribes to encourage the child to cooperate ● Some offenders use the threat of harm to intimidate a child Marshall and Barbaree (1990) proposed an integrated model of ...