Sexual offenders - Dr. Jen's Recovery Readings

70 Years of Recidivism Research

Dr. Jennifer Weeks — Tue, 28 Nov 2023 00:32:40 +0000

What do distinguished researchers do during COVID-19 lock downs? A huge meta-analysis of recidivism research for sexual offending that covers the span of 70 years, of course. Then, they look at the recidivism rates based on the changes in law and culture in the United States and Canada.

Recidivism Research at the ATSA Conference

Patrick Lussier, a professor of criminology at Universite Laval in Canada, presented a keynote speech at this year’s ATSA Conference based on two scientific publications this year looking at 70 years of recidivism research of sexual offenses in the US and Canada.

It was a super interesting talk made even better by their analysis of recidivism rates in relation to law changes and sexual offender registry adoption.

What do and don’t we know about sexual offense recidivism?

The first study by Lussier et al was published in the journal Criminal Justice Review.

They started with 3206 studies on recidivism which was pared down to 859 studies which fit the criteria for inclusion:

Published after 1949
Be in English or French
Be a longitudinal study looking at sexual offenders
Provide actual data on recidivism

One of the very interesting aspects of this study was the historical perspective taken on sexual offending and recidivism.

As professionals, our time is valuable. Dr. Weeks created the Mitigation Aide Research Archive because there isn’t enough focused, data-backed research available in easily digestible formats.

Recidivism Research, Sexual Offending, and the Past

The earliest writings on sexual “deviance” come from the 19th century and the book by Kraftt-Ebing, published in 1886 is often cited. In this book, he described sexual deviance as a sexual behavior that is repetitive and persistent that was deemed odd, atypical and outside the norm.

From the 1950s to the 1970s, research on sexual offending began to focus on mental health problems of the offending person as well as the characteristics of people who offended.

Publications at the time indicated that there was an assumption that prison was not something that would deter a person who committed a sexual crime, and they would instead need individualized psychological interventions. Therapy tailored to their individual needs was the preference.

Studies from this era treated people who offended as specialists with major mental health problems related to sexual deviance.

The 1980’s

Starting in the 1980s studies started to look at sexual offense recidivism and a shift happened in the field. A very influential report was published stating that nothing worked to deter recidivism.

This influenced a movement away from looking at those who offended as individuals and moved things towards a deterrent focused model. This eventually would lead to a very large increase in incarceration rates.

Learn more about Primary Prevention and its benefits in these articles:

The 1990’s to Today

In the 1990s sexual recidivism became a common indicator of risk which influenced laws and management of those convicted of sexual offending.

In the early 2000s sexual recidivism became a go-to statistic for evaluators and the courts.

Since the 2010s there has been criticism of the risk paradigm which suggests that people who have committed a sex crime have continuing propensities to commit future sex crimes.

This is supported by many studies that indicate low recidivism rates. The field has come to understand that the risk of reoffending is not a static thing, but changes based on the developmental stage of the person as well as life circumstances.

What do we know about sexual recidivism?

There is no such thing as a true base rate.

Recidivism rates based on what the study is measuring, the length of the follow up period and the nature of the individuals in the sample population.

Recidivism rates vary based on the length of the follow up period

Studies on recidivism can have a follow up period that varies from a few months to about 25 years.

Recidivism rates are associated with individual characteristics

These can include the person’s criminal history, past sexual offending history, psychological, sexual, and social functioning.

Recidivism is not limited to sexual recidivism.

Many people who commit a sexual crime are not specialists. Recidivism rates for sexual reoffending are low, the lowest across all types of crime.

Recidivism rates for adult offenders vary by age.

Rates of crime peak in adolescence and decrease into adulthood.

The Specificity of Adolescent offenders.

Adolescents who commit a sexual crime are not destined to become adult offenders.

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What is unresolved?

Current measures underestimate risk.

How much? We all know that recidivism studies are based on known behavior, and we also know that many sex crimes are not found out. Therefore, we know that recidivism rates are likely an underestimate of actual recidivism. What we do not know is how big that underestimate is.

What is the accuracy of long-term estimates of sexual recidivism?

Studies have gotten better in terms of having longer follow-up periods. However, these studies are based on older samples. Therefore, we do not know if this effect still holds true with more recent cohorts of offending individuals.

What is the effect of where you live?

Is it possible that registry laws and laws that restrict residences are creating variations in sexual recidivism rates caused by crime displacement?

What is the effect of post release experiences on recidivism?

Most studies simply look at whether or not a new offense was committed. They do not look at what the person’s environment was like. Were they on probation/parole? Were they in therapy? Did they have employment, housing, supportive people around them? Are low risk individuals actually low risk or are they being effectively managed in the community?

After reading this summary (and we didn’t cover everything) one might leave with more questions than answers.

Studies like this are important to highlight the weaknesses in the field and introduce new avenues of research for us to improve recidivism research, prediction, and treatment and policy making for individuals who have committed a sexual crime.

Reference: Lussier, P., Thivierge, S.C., Frechette, J. & Proulx, J. (2023). Sex Offender Recidivism: Some Lessons Learned from Over 70 Years of Research. Criminal Justice Review, doi:10.1177/0734016823157385journals.sagepub.com/home/cjr

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Do you feel your sexual behavior, or that of someone you love, is out of control? Then you should consult with a professional.

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How to Improve Outcomes: An International Summit

Dr. Jennifer Weeks — Wed, 04 Oct 2023 15:52:45 +0000

I accepted an invitation to join ODIN Intelligence to assist a team of educators teaching probation and parole officers to improve outcomes for individuals who commit sexual crimes.

My invitation came from Justin Moyer, an Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) law enforcement officer from California, who teaches about registry and supervision issues. Coupled with his own program, Justin felt my expertise in the psychology of sexual offending, trauma, and officer burn out would nicely round out the summit.

The Summit’s Location and Purpose

The Barbados Probation Department organized the summit and hosted it on their beautiful island. We taught a tailor-made version of our program to everyone from probation officers to judges.

The government of Barbados does not yet have specialized treatment or supervision for individuals who have committed sexual crimes. They wanted to learn what they could from us to apply it to their own system and culture.

More Studies are Needed to Improve Outcomes

Preparing for this was different from any other program I have taught. Therefore, I was acutely aware of one very glaring fact:

The majority of the research on people who commit sex crimes is from North American or Western European countries. Consequently, the subjects are predominantly white.

When it comes to risk assessment, the same thing applies. The majority of subjects used to create risk assessment measures such as the STATIC-99R are white. There has even been some research published that suggests that these measures overestimate risk in black men.

Therefore, to improve outcomes we must research and validate culturally relevant data.

As professionals, our time is valuable. Dr. Weeks created the Mitigation Aide Research Archive because there isn’t enough focused, data-backed research available in easily digestible formats.

Diverse Attendance

When we received our agendas for the event, we quickly realized this was more important than we initially thought!

The event started with a very formal opening ceremony including remarks from an elected official and the heads of the Probation Department. The National TV and newspaper covered the event.

Barbados News Article-rotated Download

The Barbadian Probation Department invited a very inclusive list of attendees. There were over thirty people who attended including:

L-R Justin Moyer, Dr. Jennifer Weeks, Angela Dixon, and Denise Agard

Probation officers
Lawyers
Child welfare workers
Prison treatment providers
Social workers
Judges

Unfortunately, there were no law enforcement officers who chose to attend.

Attendees expressed shock when we noted that such a diverse group of professions gathered together would likely not happen in the US. I am hardly able to imagine judges showing up to a training with probation officers, social workers, and treatment providers.

It’s truly a shame, because the richness of comments, questions and insights from having so many people familiar with so many different aspects of the field was amazing.

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Improve Outcomes Through Cultural Awareness

Any time you teach in a different place culture has a huge impact. I find this fascinating, as a therapist with a research background.

I teach primarily about internet-based sex crimes in the US. For instance, CSAM possession, online solicitation, and luring.

The criminality in Barbados was different. They experienced a greater amount of hands-on sexual abuse of both children and adults.

There was a feeling among some of the attendees that a deep cultural misogyny affects this difference.

Are you a Licensed Professional Counselor in need of continuing education? Learn more about Sex Addiction, Erotic Conflict, and Moral Incongruence from Dr. Weeks and Sexual Addiction Treatment Services, an NBCC ACEP™ approved provider!

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Research Deep Dive

I emphasized during my teaching that research and risk assessments were not normed on their culture. Furthermore, the research didn’t include people of color. Therefore, I emphasized that this was an amazing research opportunity for the clinicians and probation officers planning on implementing risk assessment procedures.

Dr. Jennifer Weeks and Justin Moyer

When there is nothing in place, validated measures are likely better than nothing, but a culturally sensitive measure would be something to really work towards.

Personal Reflections

One of my favorite private discussions was with a treatment provider at the men’s prison who had recently been accepted into a Ph.D. program. During the four days of talks he made the decision that sex crimes would be the focus of his research. He wanted to start working to address the dearth of data about Caribbean nations.

At that point, as someone who loves to help cultivate careers, I felt like my work was done.

I’m super excited to possibly collaborate with him and see what great things he does in the future!

I feel invigorated by being part of this summit. I rarely ever hear this level of excitement or enthusiasm from US audiences. Despite the desire to create positive change in their communities.

I feel the energy from that room was a balm to my own professional burnout. But, perhaps, teaching mere feet from the most gorgeous beach had something to do with it as well!

Do you feel your sexual behavior, or that of someone you love, is out of control? Then you should consult with a professional.

Have you found yourself in legal trouble due to your sexual behavior? Seek assistance before the court mandates it, with Sexual Addiction Treatment Services.

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How to do Primary Prevention and More

Dr. Jennifer Weeks — Fri, 24 Feb 2023 18:59:44 +0000

My reading over coffee this morning was a great article in Time Magazine about moving the US toward the primary prevention of child sexual abuse, a front page Wall Street Journal article about child predators using TikTok to gain access to victims and my first moderately threatening troll comments on a webinar on my YouTube page.

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Primary Prevention vs Secondary Prevention

Let’s start with the Time Magazine article. This article, entitled America Has been going about stopping child sex abuse the wrong way, was written by Elizabeth Letourneau and Luke Malone.

Elizabeth Letourneau is the Director of the Moore Center for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse at John Hopkins. Luke Malone is an award winning journalist who writes about child sexual abuse and victimization.

Reading this article this morning felt very validating.

When I teach to LEO or other mental health professionals, I discuss how the US is very good at secondary prevention but not so good at primary prevention. Meaning, once we catch someone AFTER they have abused a child, the system is relatively good at holding them accountable. That includes: mandating treatment during incarceration and/or after while the person is on probation or parole.

This is secondary prevention. We work hard to prevent ANOTHER sexual assault from happening.

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How should we do Primary Prevention?

Primary prevention, meaning we prevent the FIRST sexual assault from happening is not something our system is very good at.

Much of the teaching puts the onus on potential victims to stop potential assault rather than putting the responsibility on the abuser. This would be primary prevention.

Some other countries have done a better job at this and I point to Project Dunkelfeld in Germany. There, a person who is concerned they may offend against a child can call a program and receive treatment. The treatment program is publicly advertised and funded.

In the United States, for every $1 spent toward prevention research, $2700 is spent on incarcerating offenders. They also discuss current research projects that are working on ways of improving and increasing primary prevention in the US.

The authors have a book coming out at some point which I look forward to reading.

Learn more about Primary Prevention and its benefits in these articles:

Child Predators on TikTok

This app has made it big! They made it to the front page of the Wall Street Journal, a paper noted more for discussing financial markets than sexual abuse.

The WSJ featured an article discussing how TikTok has quickly become an avenue for child abusers to find and groom victims.

Those of us in the field have known this for some time.

It’s good to see it make the front page. Perhaps parents will read the article and start to monitor what their children are doing on the app. Frequently, there is little parental oversight on social media apps which leads some children to be vulnerable to predation.

If you’re unfamiliar with sextortion, check out Dr. Jen’s article How to Protect Your Child from Sextortion.

YouTube Trolls

Finally, to my first troll. I awoke this morning to some comments on a webinar on my YouTube channel about treating individuals with pedophilia. The comments were not surprising, but disappointing.

The person commented that I was an “intellectual” who should be “purged.” They made traditionally stereotypical comments about people who commit sex crimes needing to be beat up or killed. Though, in my mind, I made many replies, I have long ago learned that social media repartee with folks with strong but uninformed opinions goes nowhere.

So, to end my morning coffee, I simply reported them for making threats. Then I began my day of working in secondary prevention of sexual abuse.

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You Are Not a Monster: Review of A Long Dark Shadow

Dr. Jennifer Weeks — Fri, 28 Jan 2022 13:56:45 +0000

As a member of the professional community that works with Minor Attracted Persons as well as individuals who have committed sex crimes, I was immediately aware of the controversy surrounding Dr. Allyn Walker and the publication of their book A Long Dark Shadow: Minor-Attracted People and Their Pursuit of Dignity.

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Dr. Walker is a professor and researcher who focuses on various aspects of human sexuality. The book is the result of a qualitative study they did using interviews of individuals in the MAP community. This research was done in a completely appropriate and professional manner with the full support of their academic institution.

Fallout from A Long Dark Shadow

After an interview discussing the book, Dr. Walker became the subject (or victim) of social media. There was immediate pushback from people at their university stating that they were promoting child abuse or other similar complaints.

The comments went crazy.

This initially resulted in the university placing them on leave. I imagine the hope was that the fervor would die down. Dr. Walker ultimately resigned from their position based on the harassment and death threats they were receiving.

All of this for what? People, who had not read the book, getting upset by assumptions.

People misconstruing Dr. Walker’s statements, which clearly stated that sexual abuse of children is abhorrent and unacceptable, as being supportive of sexual offending. It is because of this controversy that I immediately purchased the book. The topic is of interest but my main motivation for purchase was to support Dr. Walker.

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My Review

I will start this review by saying that if I were ever to write a book about minor attraction, this is the book I would write.

The first thing I felt upon reading it was a great sense of validation.

Yes!

There are other psychology professionals in the world who understand that pedophilia ≠ sexual offending. There are other psychology professionals willing to spread the word.

I am an adjunct professor for a local graduate program as well as an instructor of a law enforcement polygraphy school.

Everyone who has ever had a class with me leaves (hopefully) with a clear understanding of the differences between attraction and behavior and that pedophilia is a sexual attraction and not a behavior AND that there are plenty of people in the world who are attracted to children who never commit a sexual offense.

The Real Research Behind A Long Dark Shadow

The book is based on Dr. Walker’s research which involved extensive interviews with people who identify as minor attracted. These individuals were brave enough to come forward to a psychology professional, who they often duly distrust, to share their stories. The chapters focus on many aspects of living with a minor attraction.

The first chapter discusses identity formation. MAPS themselves often share the negative views held by society about minor attraction and struggle to integrate their own sexual interest into their identity. Many of them questioning, “Am I a Monster” which is a question I have heard in my office many times.

The book continues to address the effect of societal shame on MAPS.

Many people, due to stigma, feel that they have to live a dual life and never disclose their minor attraction. They fear rejection from family, partners, loved ones, friends and society at large. Unfortunately, this fear is not unfounded as many also do experience that rejection.

Often this living a dual life can lead to depression, anxiety, or even suicidal thoughts for some.

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Strategies for Coping

Subsequent chapters deal with the strategies they use to cope with their own attractions as well as to refrain from sexual offending. Many MAPS acknowledge an attraction to children but do not have a desire to physically act on those attractions. This goes against a societal assumption. As the book states, we don’t assume all adult attracted people are walking around actively thinking about raping other adults so why do we think this about minor attracted people?

However, the reality cannot be ignored that some MAPS do, in fact, not resist these urges and sexually abuse children. The book also discusses what strategies some of the individuals use to avoid engaging in any type of contact sexual offense.

Medical Professional Reactions

Another book chapter discusses MAP’s experiences with mental health professionals.

This chapter is upsetting to me as a mental health professional but an expression of reality. People avoid seeking therapy to help cope with the attraction, stigma, shame, or other mental health issues around the minor attraction for many reasons.

They fear, rightly, that many therapists will have a negative reaction to their disclosure and will refuse to treat them. They often fear that a therapist will make an unwarranted call to children and youth, or the police based on the disclosure of an attraction, not based on any behavior. While some might think this is farfetched, I have experienced this in my own practice, hearing of other therapists thinking they need to make a mandatory report when a client says they have an attraction to minors but never disclosed any behavior in that direction.

A final concern for some MAPS that keeps them from treatment is the fear that a therapist might try to engage in a sexual orientation change experience. Basically, the minor attraction equivalent of conversion therapy. We know that we cannot change sexual attractions, and many consider SOCE to be inhumane or unethical.

Learn more about Primary Prevention and its benefits in these articles:

Final Thoughts

The plea to reduce stigma against individuals who are attracted to minors is twofold.

The one that comes to mind first for many is to help with primary prevention. For those MAPS who do struggle with urges to act on their desires, providing safe spaces to work through these urges and work on resilience techniques can help keep a child safe as well as keep the person from engaging in a behavior that everyone knows is not appropriate.

The main reason to reduce stigma, particularly by therapists, is that MAPs are people.

They are just as deserving of a safe place to work through their issues with depression, anxiety, stigma, grief, and loss, etc. as the rest of us. They deserve a safe space and a nonjudgmental professional to work with that can help them improve their general health and wellbeing.

If you have an interest in this topic, I strongly urge you to read this book. I will be incorporating it into our treatment program for those individuals who are minor attracted.

I don’t want to make this disclaimer but given the nature of our world and the internet, I feel that I need to say that supporting Dr. Walker, this book, and the reduction of stigma against minor attraction in no way supports harming children.

It actually supports working to prevent child abuse.

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Have you found yourself in legal trouble due to your sexual behavior? Seek assistance before the court mandates it, with Sexual Addiction Treatment Services.

Do you feel your sexual behavior, or that of someone you love, is out of control? Then you should consult with a professional.

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The Truth About Halloween and Sex Offenders

Dr. Jennifer Weeks — Thu, 29 Oct 2020 21:54:38 +0000

Halloween is at the end of this week. There are a lot of assumptions made about Halloween and Sex Offenders. Let’s take a look at the realities.

Therapists who work with sex offenders know this is the time of year probation officers ask us if we have made sure all of our clients have a plan for Halloween and know they are not to participate in the holiday.

Luckily, the area where our practice is located does not ask for more than our clients to avoid participation.

In other parts of the country, things are much different.

Halloween and Sex Offenders in the News

The Patch, a national news source, posted multiple articles providing detailed maps showing the homes of registered sex offenders for many areas.

Indiana

A town in Indiana performed a Halloween crackdown sweep of Sex offenders who failed to register.

Ohio

A news source in Ohio posted an article on how to keep your children safe from sex offenders on Halloween.

Georgia

In Georgia, the Butts County Sheriff’s Office places warning signs in front of the homes of anyone on the sex offender registry for Halloween. Several people on the registry sued the Sheriff’s office and recently lost the lawsuit. The court ruled that this practice did not violate their rights.

In some states, registered offenders still on probation or parole are provided a list of requirements which may include:

Being home after a certain time
Not answering the door to children
Not handing out candy
Having no outside lights on
Having a sign on their door stating specifically they’re not giving out candy

As professionals, our time is valuable. Dr. Weeks created the Mitigation Aide Research Archive because there isn’t enough focused, data-backed research available in easily digestible formats.

Halloween and Sex Offenders by the Data

We can all agree that sex crimes against children are profoundly serious and something everyone should work to prevent.

The question arises whether Halloween is a higher risk day than any other day of the year. To answer this question, Chaffin et al. (2009) conducted a study that analyzed child sex crime rates on Halloween.

The authors analyzed child sex crime victims from 1997 to 2005. The data came from up to 30 states.

They looked at a span of days that included Halloween as some locations have trick or treat events before or after the actual date of Halloween.

There was a total of 67,307 abuse reports during the Halloween time frame over the 8-year period.

Results of the Study

The results of the analysis indicated that for the children who were abused on Halloween, 73% were female and 27% male.

They were abused primarily by male offenders (94%) who had an average age of 24 years old.

The main result of this study was that the distribution of sexual offenses against children during the Halloween time period did NOT significantly differ from all other days of the year.

Halloween and sex offenders are not a recipe for increased chances of abuse.

The CDC has reported that children are four times more likely to be killed by a pedestrian/motor vehicle accident on Halloween than any other day of the year.

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Looking Beyond Sexual Offenses

The authors of this study also looked at other crimes committed during the Halloween time period.

The most common types of crime during Halloween are theft, destruction of property and assault.

Vandalism and destruction of property accounted for a significantly greater proportion of the crime around the Halloween time period.

Sex crimes accounted for a little more than 1% of all Halloween crime and sex crimes against children accounted for less than .2% of Halloween crime incidents.

Halloween and Sex Offenders: The Realities

We know that the majority of the sexual offenses committed against children are by someone the child knows. We see the results of this study show no increased risk of criminality. Therefore, we can come to the conclusion that scarce resources could be better spent policing other crimes on Halloween such as vandalism.

Extra policing of sexual offenders on the registry during Halloween might make the public feel better or feel that their children are safer. However, it appears that these efforts are more publicity than efficacy in reality.

Reference: Chaffin, M., Levenson, J., Letourneau, E. & Stern, P. (2009). How safe are trick or treaters? An analysis of child sex crime rates on Halloween. Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment. (21) 3, 363-374.

Do you feel your sexual behavior, or that of someone you love, is out of control? Consult with a professional.

Have you found yourself in legal trouble due to your sexual behavior? Seek assistance before the court mandates it, with Sexual Addiction Treatment Services.

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Do Minor Attracted Persons Make Your Skin Crawl?

Dr. Jennifer Weeks — Wed, 13 Nov 2019 13:20:01 +0000

What are Minor Attracted Persons (MAPs)? Let’s talk about the things that make us uncomfortable and learn in the process.

There were many research presentations this year at the ATSA conference relating to MAPs.

This was great to see! From a scientific perspective, we just don’t know much about the MAP community. Therefore, we don’t know about their needs or how to help those who seek it.

What are Minor Attracted Persons?

Very few people are aware of the term. MAP is the acronym for a Minor Attracted Persons.

As a therapist I need to be specific, although the media tends to lump everyone into a single category.

Pedophilia – the name for the attraction to prepubescent children (typically 12 and under). We use this for diagnosis, DSM-V, and research purposes.
Hebephilia – the name for the attraction to pubescent children (not pre- or post- pubescent; typically 13-17 year olds). Again, we tend to use this term for diagnosis, not in the DSM-V, and research purposes.
MAP – Minor Attracted Persons. A non-diagnostic umbrella term for a person who is attracted to children. There is no specific age nor pubertal status associated with this label.

The Minor Attracted Persons Debate

There are some people who do not like the Minor Attracted Persons (MAP) moniker.

I have heard these arguments from people in both research and supervision. The argument loosely goes like this:

“The MAP label is not descriptive enough.”

“It lumps all minors together and does not distinguish between prepubescent, pubescent, and post-pubescent attraction.”

I understand these arguments when it comes to research. There is not enough scientific research in the community looking at any type of attraction to minors.

To lump pedophilia and hebephilia together for research purposes assumes that there are no differences between people who have these attractions.

While this may be the case, due to lack of research, we just don’t know. It is better to look at these groups separately until we can definitively say they are similar enough to put in the same research subject category.

Preparing a sentencing report for a minor attracted person? Get the data you need, quickly, with Mitigation Aide.

Treatment Providers

I am neither a MAP, nor a researcher. I am a treatment provider.

If someone has engaged in sexual offenses, it’s imperative to know their arousal template. It allows us to help them manage unwanted or illegal behavior.

However, I will argue, once we’ve made the diagnosis, we no longer need to continue to use the pedophile language, particularly with our clients.

Why do we need a different term?

I am going to make an assumption, based on my work with clients, that the main reason to use the term Minor Attracted Persons is due to shame and stigma.

The general public, fueled by sensationalist media, equate pedophile with child molester.

There is an assumption made that someone who is attracted to children either has or will eventually sexually offend with a child.

Bluntly, this is not true. Attraction is not a behavior.

While pedophilia and sexual offending are related, they are not synonymous. The label of pedophile is stigmatizing. There is no way around that truth.

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Shame, Stigma, and Minor Attracted Persons

I recently learned of the work of Braithwaite (1989) and how this researcher classified shame.

Braithwaite argued that there were two types of shame, reintegrative and disintegrative:

“Reintegrative shaming is temporary, used to communicate censure to an individual, but ultimately aimed at correcting a person’s behavior and, for offenders, reintegrating them back into the community. Disintegrative shaming is a more permanent and reoccurring shame, resulting in a master status that encourages stigmatization and breaks the bond between the person and the community (Bailey & Klein, 2018)”

I learned of this work when researching the effects of the sex offender registry on the people who have to register.

Reducing Shame as Primary Prevention

In the public’s eyes attraction to children equals child molesting. Therefore, those who are attracted to children get put in this category without ever hurting anyone.

If they come forward for treatment or talk about their attraction to family or friends they can face the disintegrative shame that encourages stigmatization.

Research Relating to Minor Attracted Persons

Levenson and Grady (2019) recently published work where they spoke to MAPs about their experiences. Specifically, this study looked at people seeking help for their attraction.

The subjects of this study reported that they often felt isolated and alone with their feelings.

They also experienced feelings of shame, fear and expected to be misunderstood by people, including therapists.

Particularly distressing was finding that therapists wanted to “cure” the minor attraction. However, the client wanted to work on concerns such as depression or loneliness and not specifically their minor attraction.

Learn more about Primary Prevention and its benefits in these articles:

Back to the Beginning: Why Terminology Matters

From a person centered, trauma informed perspective, we should be using appropriate terms rather than potentially increasing shame and isolation.

From a public education standpoint, I would like to see the term de-coupled from people who sexually offend against children.

Misuse of the term pedophile is one of my soap boxes. I will forever argue about semantics and how the word is used. I’m tired of the media misusing the word and equating it to child sexual abuse.

I challenge you to think about these issues for yourself:

Can you accept that some people are attracted to children?

Can you accept that it’s not a choice?

Will you decry the assumption that every person who is attracted to children is going to offend?

To end, I will leave you with something heard more than frequently in graduate school.

Correlation is not causation.

References: Bailey, D.J.S. & Klein, J.L. (2018). Ashamed and Alone: Comparing offender and family member experiences with the sex offender registry. Criminal Justice Review, 43(4), 440-457. Braithwaite, J. (1989). Crime, Shame and Reintegration. Cambridge, England, Cambridge University. Levinson, J.S. & Grady, M.D. (2019). Preventing sexual abuse: Perspectives of Minor Attracted Persons About Seeking Help. Sexual Abuse, 31(8), 991-1013.

Are you looking for more reputable data-backed information on sexual addiction? The Mitigation Aide Research Archive is an excellent source for executive summaries of research studies.

Have you found yourself in legal trouble due to your sexual behavior? Seek assistance before the court mandates it, with Sexual Addiction Treatment Services.

Do you feel your sexual behavior, or that of someone you love, is out of control? Consult with a professional.

The post Do Minor Attracted Persons Make Your Skin Crawl? first appeared on Dr. Jen's Recovery Readings.

Sex Offender Treatment: Helpful or Placebo?

Dr. Jennifer Weeks — Sat, 09 Nov 2019 13:29:45 +0000

In most jurisdictions in the United States, a person convicted of a sex crime is mandated to sex offender treatment.

This treatment tends to be group therapy primarily being Cognitive Behavior Therapy, or CBT.

As the leader of a community of treatment providers, I am always striving to improve my practices. Therefore, I use evidenced based treatment modalities and the interventions best suited to our clients to decrease risks of recidivism.

So, when the question of whether or not what we are doing is helpful or harmful comes up, I pay attention.

Meta-Analysis of Sex Offender Treatment Outcomes

The keynote address Thursday morning at this year’s ATSA conference was by Dr. Teresa Gannon.

She presented her recently published meta-analysis of the effectiveness of sexual offender treatment. It was recently published in Clinical Psychology Review and is open access.

She looked at all types of violent offending but spoke this morning, specifically, about treatment for sexual offending.

There have been some studies that have been published that have provided a grim picture of treatment. Most specifically, Dr. Gannon points to a 2017 report from the UK Ministry of Justice that stated that people who had committed sexual crimes and had treatment had a 25% increase in their rates of recidivism.

To those of us who do this work, that’s a shocking number. No treatment provider wants to do more harm than good. Furthermore, none of us would ever knowingly do anything that would increase the risk of harm to anyone.

Details of the Meta-analysis

Enter Dr. Gannon and her colleagues. They embarked on a meta-analysis of 70 studies on offending behavior. Furthermore, they analyzed variables that could influence treatment outcomes.

Their work asked three specific questions:

Does offense specific treatment influence recidivism risk?
Is a trained psychology professional needed?
What program variables are important for success?

Results of the Study on Sex Offender Treatment

The results of the meta-analysis were both encouraging and enlightening.

Over a 6 year follow up period, individuals who engaged in sex offender specific treatment reoffended at a rate of 9.5%.

Those who did not attend sex offender specific treatment reoffended at a rate of 14.1%.

Sex offenders who attended treatment were 32.6% less likely to reoffend than those who did not attend. This result is the encouraging part.

Stay up-to-date with all of Dr. Jen’s work through her practice’s newsletter!

What has the Greatest Impact on Sex Offender Treatment?

The first important question involved the presence of a licensed psychology professional. Was there a licensed professional involved in provision of treatment?

This was broken down into unclear/none meaning that a psychology professional was not directly involved with providing treatment or it was unclear. The other categories were inconsistent and consistent.

The results indicated that treatment is more effective when a psychology professional is consistently hands on in the treatment process.

What Other Factors Impact Recidivism?

The last set of factors investigated involved actual variables in the treatment program.

It was found that offenders who attended group only had better outcomes than those who attended group and individual therapy.

Those programs where a licensed psychology professional provided supervision had better outcomes.

Programs that used arousal conditioning had lower recidivism rates.

Programs that didn’t use polygraph testing had better outcomes than those that did use it.

Do you believe your sexual behaviors are compulsive or harmful to you or others? Then you should take the CSBD-19 free, validated self-assessment tool.

Takeaways for the Sex Offender Treatment Study

The meta-analysis posits that, we need to think about several key elements.

The most effective treatment programs had the following characteristics:

A licensed psychology professional with expertise in treating sexual offenders, who is hands on and consistent in the treatment.
Inappropriate sexual interest is addressed.
It is group based and supervision by a psychology professional is provided.
The polygraph is not used in treatment.

On a side note, the study indicated that the countries with the best outcomes for treated offenders were Canada, New Zealand and Australia.

This is the most up to date meta-analysis of sexual offender treatment efficacy published. It is the first to provide some evidence for the efficacy of arousal conditioning. It also indicates that it is not just treatment that is effective but treatment provided by individuals with expertise in the field and offer supervision to treatment providers.

Have you found yourself in legal trouble due to your sexual behavior? Seek assistance before the court mandates it, with Sexual Addiction Treatment Services.

Do you feel your sexual behavior, or that of someone you love, is out of control? Then you should consult with a professional.

Are you looking for more reputable data-backed information on sexual addiction? The Mitigation Aide Research Archive is an excellent source for executive summaries of research studies.

The post Sex Offender Treatment: Helpful or Placebo? first appeared on Dr. Jen's Recovery Readings.

You’re Being Investigated for a Cybersex Crime: Do You Take a Polygraph?

Dr. Jennifer Weeks — Thu, 19 Jul 2018 14:21:16 +0000

If you have been following our blog series, you know that we are trying to use our years of experience to help you find the best counsel and treatment possible for the issues that brought you into the legal system. This post may be the only controversial one of the series.

Should you take a polygraph test?

When most people think of a polygraph, they think about something they saw on TV or a lie detector. The polygraph is not a lie detector but a device that measures physiological responses. It is often not admissible in criminal court (though it is in some places and can be used for probation violations). So why am I even talking about it?

Despite it’s issues, the polygraph is routinely used in the treatment of sexual offenders and is considered a standard of practice. So even if you don’t do a polygraph pre-trial, you will while you are on probation. While on probation it is used as a therapeutic “tool” to assess whether the person on probation is following rules and regulations of probation and/or keeping any secrets from treatment and probation. It is a measure used to gather information.

Again, why on earth am I talking about you possibly taking a polygraph examination before you go to court? Just like it is used as a tool after adjudication, we can use it as a tool prior to sentencing. In our geographic area, the FBI likes to ask people they are investigating (often within hours of knocking on your door in the wee hours of the morning) to voluntarily consent to a polygraph test. What are they looking for by doing this? They are seeking any evidence that you may be a mixed offender. A mixed offender is someone who is being investigated or arrested for a cybersex crime that ALSO has committed a hands-on sexual offense in their lifetime. It will come as no surprise that many people to take this polygraph test right away don’t do very well. There are many reasons for that, anxiety, fear and absolutely no preparation.

As someone being investigated for a sex crime, why might it be helpful to you to do a polygraph? Honestly, for the same reasons that the FBI does them. Research now tells us that the assumption that people who look at child pornography must also be contact offenders is false. However, it is hard for a court or an evaluator to just take someone’s word for it. Though it is not admissible in court, if you take and pass a sexual history polygraph and have no history of contact offending, this has a favorable effect on your risk of recidivism.

Guidelines for taking a polygraph before sentencing

Make sure your attorney is on board with this decision. As with an evaluation, you can do this through your attorney so if you don’t have a favorable result from a polygraph it will be protected under attorney client privilege.
Find a polygrapher who is trained, accredited and familiar with working with sexual offenders and giving sexual history polygraphs. You want to take a Sexual History Polygraph.
Do your homework. This means that you and your therapist need to spend a great deal of time going through your sexual history with a fine-tooth comb. This takes time. People often have trouble on polygraph tests because they don’t really go through their history. Work through your sexual history from the first time you kissed someone through the moment you are ready to take the polygraph.
BE HONEST. It is best to be honest and pass than to keep and hold your secrets and have a deception indicated. Also remember, that though this may be a tool to help you in sentence mitigation, it is ultimately about you getting honest with yourself to help your treatment and growth into a better human!

Shame lives in secrecy. If there are no more secrets you can start to work on shame reduction. This means that the value of the polygraph can be something more than just another measure your attorney or psychosexual evaluator can use in sentence mitigation.

Dr. Jennifer Weeks is the owner of Sexual Addiction Treatment Services. She specializes in the treatment of sexual offenders and cybersex offenders. Through her program she provides psychosexual evaluations, treatment and expert witness testimony. SATS also offers coaching services for those people who are being investigated but are not in Pennsylvania.

The post You’re Being Investigated for a Cybersex Crime: Do You Take a Polygraph? first appeared on Dr. Jen's Recovery Readings.

Pedophile: What’s in a Label?

Dr. Jennifer Weeks — Wed, 15 Nov 2017 06:42:55 +0000

The news is awash with reports of famous men, actors, directors, and politicians whose victims are coming forward to report the sexual abuse and sexual harassment they have been subject to at the hands of these people. I applaud the bravery of each and every victim who has come forward to share their painful story. It takes an immense amount of courage to break through years of shame and silence to confront one’s abuser. Bravo. I am glad that these men and women’s voices are being heard and hopefully they can find some sort of justice or closure.

My writing today is not for those brave men and women but for the media. As someone works with sex offenders every day I have a pet peeve. That pet peeve, which sometimes gets me in hot water in facebook posts, is the fact that people throw around the word pedophile every time someone is found to have abused a minor. Besides frequently being inaccurate, it sends a message that pedophiles are the only people who abuse children. It generates fear. If we are truly going to protect children from sexual abuse by adults, we need to spread accurate information and create effective prevention plans.

So, let’s talk about attraction. When we specifically are looking at age, attraction is clinically categorized three ways.

Pedophile: A person who is attracted to PRE-PUBSECENT children. Doesn’t matter the gender of the child. The attraction is to the lack of sexual development.

Hebephile: A person who is attracted to pubescent children. Again, gender does not matter. The attraction is to a child who is in early adolescence and has signs of sexual development.

Teleiophile: A person who is attracted to adults. This attraction is to fully sexually developed adults.

A person does not have to fit into just one category. There are people who are what we call fixed pedophiles. This means they are only attracted to pre-pubescent children. Other people are attracted to several categories of sexual development. I work with many men who are attracted to pre-pubescent children, pubescent minors AND adults. They do not have a fixed attraction but find all ages of people to be sexually arousing.

The next piece of this puzzle is that ATTRACTION DOES NOT EQUAL ACTION. Many people who have a pedophilic or hebephilic attraction do not ever have any sexual contact with minors. They live with this attraction but have the awareness to know that they cannot act on these urges and they can inhibit any behavior toward minors to whom they may be attracted. In the clinical world, we call these folks non-offending pedophiles.

In Germany, there is a great program called Project Dunkelfeld that offers free treatment to any person who identifies as attracted to minors to help ensure they do not act on those attractions. This project runs ads on buses or billboards and runs public service announcements on television. These folks are getting prevention right.

The next piece of the abuse puzzle is that people offend against children for many reasons, only one of which may be sexual attraction. There are many, many reasons why adults sexually abuse children. There are too many to go into here (future post on this topic forthcoming). Only one of the reasons a person sexually abuses a child is attraction. I have worked with many contact sexual offenders against children who were not sexually aroused to children. This may make no sense at all to someone who doesn’t work in this field, but it is true. Why else might someone abuse a child? Power, control, emotional identification with children, using a child as replacement spouse (frequently seen in incest), and/or antisociality to name a few.

As I am sitting here writing this, I am trying to determine why the misuse of the term pedophile pokes my buttons. I think that if we throw around the term pedophile to label anyone who sexually abuses a child we can put them in a metaphorical box. It makes it easy to put abusers into a category and then not think about it as much. We can think, “oh watch out for pedophiles, they abuse children”. Even if it were true, how do you identify one? They look just like you and me and act just like you and me. There is no way to know someone’s sexual preference by looking at them. Labeling gives people a false sense of security that children are abused by people in this category and not by anyone else.

If we put child molesters in this lump category we diminish the complexity of the issue. It is not just about attraction to minors. The people perpetrating the abuse most often are not “the others.” They are most frequently family members or close friends of the family of the children. They are frequently people in positions of power who have the trust of the child and the child’s parents. Abusers are, most often, people that know you and your child. (the exception here being cyber cases).

If we are going to truly protect children from sexual abuse, we need to make sure that everyone has accurate information. Creating a fear reaction to a clinical label does nothing to enhance child safety. What can you do to enhance your child’s safety? Learn the truth about the perpetrators of sexual abuse. Create an open and safe relationship with your child so that you can talk to them about sex, sexuality, sexual boundaries. Learn what grooming is and help them to identify behaviors that make them feel uncomfortable, so they can come to you immediately. Arm yourself with knowledge, not fear.

Dr. Jennifer Weeks is the owner and director of SATS, an out-patient program that treats sexual offenders, problematic sexual behavior and trauma.

Her book The New Age of Sex Education: How to talk to your teen about pornography and cybersex in the digital age is available on amazon.

The post Pedophile: What’s in a Label? first appeared on Dr. Jen's Recovery Readings.