The present study examined exposure to and use of pornography in the familial, developmental and ... more The present study examined exposure to and use of pornography in the familial, developmental and criminal histories of 38 rapists and 26 child molesters incarcerated at the Massachusetts Treatment Center. While both groups reported similar exposure to pornography in the home and during development, child molesters indicated significantly more exposure than rapists in adulthood and were significantly more likely both to use such materials prior to and during their offenses and to employ pornography to relieve an impulse to act out. The findings are discussed with regards to the “catharsis hypothesis” and the role of pornography in the commission of sexual offenses for certain types of rapists and child molesters.
The impetus for developing an inventory that assesses sexual and aggressive thoughts, fantasies, ... more The impetus for developing an inventory that assesses sexual and aggressive thoughts, fantasies, and behaviors evolved from programmatic work on the classification of sexual offenders. To classify rapists in the Massachusetts Treatment Center Rapist Typology, Version 3, detailed information on several dimensions is required, including social competence, expressive aggression, sadism, juvenile and adult general aggression and antisocial behavior, undifferentiated anger, offense planning, and various aspects of sexual behavior and deviance. To supplement the often poorly represented information in archival records and to provide an assessment tool to gather sufficient data to categorize offenders, the Multidimensional Assessment of Sex and Aggression (MASA) was created. The MASA was administered to 127 sexual offenders, and after a 6-month interval a subsample of 35 offenders repeated the inventory. The preliminary reliability and validity data that are presented support the usefulness of the MASA for assessing the domains necessary for classification.
The last decade of the 20th century witnessed the enactment of a remarkable number of new laws in... more The last decade of the 20th century witnessed the enactment of a remarkable number of new laws in the fight against sexual violence. At the center of the new approach is the concept of secondary prevention. In contrast to a primary prevention approach, which would seek to reduce or eliminate the conditions that produce sexual violence in the first place, secondary prevention focuses on mitigating or reducing the risk posed by known sex offenders. Spurred by these legislative developments, a number of sophisticated behavioral ...
The present study examined three measures of impulsivity in samples of incarcerated rapists and c... more The present study examined three measures of impulsivity in samples of incarcerated rapists and child molesters. The focus of the investigation was the interrelation among these measures and the relation of these measures to juvenile and adult criminal behavior. The three measures correlated with different aspects of antisocial behavior, supporting the hypothesis that they tap different behavioral domains. The relative amount of planning and forethought manifested in the criminal act (the first measure) was unrelated to the other measures of impulsivity and covaried with sexual and aggressive motivational components of the offender. A general lifestyle of impulsive behavior as assessed by the MTC classification system (the second measure) was related to a general failure in the development of controls as reflected in preadolescent problems in mastery of life's tasks. Transiency, as reflected in ratings of aimlessness and unstable employment history (the third measure), defined most clearly a subgroup of child molesters characterized by a schizoid lack of cathexis, withdrawal and a seclusive, eccentric style. The results of this study have clear substantive implications both about the nature of impulsivity and its measurements, and about the specific MTC taxonomic distinctions that focus on impulsivity.
Section One Arousal Theory and Personality: Methodological and Conceptual Issues.- Studies of Aut... more Section One Arousal Theory and Personality: Methodological and Conceptual Issues.- Studies of Autonomic Response Patterns: Rationale and Methods.- The Psychological Significance of the Concept of "Arousal" or "Activation".- Activation: A Neuropsychological Dimension.- A Comparison of Two Measures of "Arousal" in Normal Subjects.- The Measurement of Autonomic Arousal.- The Two-Arousal Hypothesis: Reticular Formation and Limbic System.- Section Two Pavlov and Strength of the Nervous System.- Some Normal and Pathological Properties of Nervous Processes in the Brain.- The Problem of Types of Human Higher Nervous Activity and Methods of Determining Them.- Conditioning, Introversion - Extraversion and the Strength of the Nervous System.- Strength of the Nervous System, Introversion - Extraversion, Conditionability and Arousal.- Relationship Between "Strength of the Nervous System" and the Need for Stimulation.- Extraversion, Neuroticism and Strength of the Nervous System.- Section Three Introversion/Extraversion.- The Chemical Theory of Temperament Applied to Introversion and Extraversion.- Cortical Inhibition, Figural Aftereffect, and Theory of Personality.- Neurophysiologic Studies of Personality.- Extraversion, Reminiscence and Satiation Effects.- Pupillary Response, Conditioning, and Personality.- Psychoticism: A Study of its Biological Basis in Normal Subjects.- Section Four Cortical Substrates of Behaviour.- The Anterior Cingulate Gyrus and Personality.- Personality Analysis Before and After Frontal Lobotomy.- The Effect of Brain Damage on the Personality.- Brain Function and Behaviour.- Psychological Correlates of Monoamine Oxidase Activity in Normals.- Section Five Behavioural Genetics.- The Inheritance of Extraversion-Introversion.- The Inheritance of Personality.- Heritability of Personality: A Demonstration.- The Nature of Extraversion: A Genetical Analysis.- A Longitudinal Study of the Genetics of Personality.
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Aug 1, 1988
A principal objective of programmatic research at the Massachusetts Treatment Center over the pas... more A principal objective of programmatic research at the Massachusetts Treatment Center over the past ten years has been to organize a large database on sexually aggressive offenders into homogeneous and reliable scales and dimensions for the purpose of generating and validating clinically and heuristically useful classification systems for rapists. The original version of the Treatment Center classification system' focused on the relative contribution and interaction of sexual and aggressive motivations in men who sexually assault adult women. Cohen, Seghorn, and their colleagues argued that although all rape includes both motivational components, for some rapists the aim is primarily aggressive-to humiliate, defile, or injure-whereas for others the aim is primarily sexual, with a relative absence of violence and brutality. The dichotomization and crossing of these two motivational components yielded four types. These four types are presented in relation to other classification systems in TABLE 1. In the Compensatory type, the aim is hypothesized to be primarily sexual, with minimal aggression facilitating the gratification of the sexual fantasy. In the Displaced-Aggression type, the aim appears to be primarily aggression, with sexual behavior being used to degrade, defile, and physically harm the victim. In the Sex-Aggression Defusion type, sexual and aggressive feelings are synergistically intertwined, and there is a sadistic quality to the assault. Finally, in the Impulse type, the assault is predatory and neither sexual nor aggressive motives appear to be important. Subsequent studies using this system suggested that simply looking at the two primary motives (sex and aggression) failed to capture the heterogeneity of the offenders observed at the Treatment Center. The need to examine multimotivational 'This work was supported by the National Institute of Justice (82-IJ-CX-0058), the National Institute of Mental Health (MH32309), and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
In this study, 82 sex offenders incarcerated at the Massachusetts Treatment Center were administe... more In this study, 82 sex offenders incarcerated at the Massachusetts Treatment Center were administered a brief structured clinical interview focusing on caregiver and institutional history up to age 18. Interview data were examined along with archival information coded from the clinical files. Four factors were derived from principal components analysis and were entered into a series of multiple regression analyses. There were two noteworthy results. First, sexual and nonsexual aggression in adulthood each were related to distinct aspects of developmental history. Whereas caregiver inconstancy and sexual deviation in the family were related to the severity of sexual aggression, childhood and juvenile institutional history and physical abuse and neglect were associated with severity of /jonsexual aggression. Second, contrary to previous studies of other criminal populations, the severity of aggression rather than frequency of crimes was predicted by developmental history. The results of the study suggest that childhood experiences with and disruption of caregiver relationships may be important to understanding sexual aggression in adulthood.
Page 1. Behavior, Research, and Therapy FORENSIC OF SEXUAL OFFENDERS Robert Alan Prentky, Ph.D. a... more Page 1. Behavior, Research, and Therapy FORENSIC OF SEXUAL OFFENDERS Robert Alan Prentky, Ph.D. and Ann Wolbert Burgess, DNSc. Page 2. Page 3. Forensic Management of Sexual Offenders Th± s One 9LUO-2L3-KAH9 Page 4. ...
Designation of a specific subclass of sex offenders as ‘repetitive’ derives from sexual psychopat... more Designation of a specific subclass of sex offenders as ‘repetitive’ derives from sexual psychopath legislation that has sought, over the past half of the twentieth century, to confine sex offenders for indeterminate periods under civil commitment. In response to horrendous crimes committed by a few sex offenders recently released from prison, states passed a series of laws providing for the involuntary, civil commitment of individuals identified as ‘sexually dangerous persons,’ ‘sexual psychopaths,’ or ‘mentally disordered sex offenders.’ Thirty states passed such laws, but over time they fell into disuse or were successfully challenged in court and most were legislatively repealed. In 1990, however, a sex offender recently released from a prison in Washington state abducted, raped, and castrated a 7 year old boy. An outraged public demanded a response, and involuntary commitment was resurrected. The legality of the Washington statute, as well as other similar laws, were immediately challenged, and a Kansas statute, identical to Washington's statute, reached the United States Supreme Court.
CRC series in practical aspects of criminal and forensic investigations, Apr 25, 2001
1. A new subgroup of rape victims resides in nursing homes. 2. Nursing home victims can suffer bo... more 1. A new subgroup of rape victims resides in nursing homes. 2. Nursing home victims can suffer both compounded and silent rape trauma. 3. Innovative therapies are needed for treating elder rape trauma.
The present study examined exposure to and use of pornography in the familial, developmental and ... more The present study examined exposure to and use of pornography in the familial, developmental and criminal histories of 38 rapists and 26 child molesters incarcerated at the Massachusetts Treatment Center. While both groups reported similar exposure to pornography in the home and during development, child molesters indicated significantly more exposure than rapists in adulthood and were significantly more likely both to use such materials prior to and during their offenses and to employ pornography to relieve an impulse to act out. The findings are discussed with regards to the “catharsis hypothesis” and the role of pornography in the commission of sexual offenses for certain types of rapists and child molesters.
The impetus for developing an inventory that assesses sexual and aggressive thoughts, fantasies, ... more The impetus for developing an inventory that assesses sexual and aggressive thoughts, fantasies, and behaviors evolved from programmatic work on the classification of sexual offenders. To classify rapists in the Massachusetts Treatment Center Rapist Typology, Version 3, detailed information on several dimensions is required, including social competence, expressive aggression, sadism, juvenile and adult general aggression and antisocial behavior, undifferentiated anger, offense planning, and various aspects of sexual behavior and deviance. To supplement the often poorly represented information in archival records and to provide an assessment tool to gather sufficient data to categorize offenders, the Multidimensional Assessment of Sex and Aggression (MASA) was created. The MASA was administered to 127 sexual offenders, and after a 6-month interval a subsample of 35 offenders repeated the inventory. The preliminary reliability and validity data that are presented support the usefulness of the MASA for assessing the domains necessary for classification.
The last decade of the 20th century witnessed the enactment of a remarkable number of new laws in... more The last decade of the 20th century witnessed the enactment of a remarkable number of new laws in the fight against sexual violence. At the center of the new approach is the concept of secondary prevention. In contrast to a primary prevention approach, which would seek to reduce or eliminate the conditions that produce sexual violence in the first place, secondary prevention focuses on mitigating or reducing the risk posed by known sex offenders. Spurred by these legislative developments, a number of sophisticated behavioral ...
The present study examined three measures of impulsivity in samples of incarcerated rapists and c... more The present study examined three measures of impulsivity in samples of incarcerated rapists and child molesters. The focus of the investigation was the interrelation among these measures and the relation of these measures to juvenile and adult criminal behavior. The three measures correlated with different aspects of antisocial behavior, supporting the hypothesis that they tap different behavioral domains. The relative amount of planning and forethought manifested in the criminal act (the first measure) was unrelated to the other measures of impulsivity and covaried with sexual and aggressive motivational components of the offender. A general lifestyle of impulsive behavior as assessed by the MTC classification system (the second measure) was related to a general failure in the development of controls as reflected in preadolescent problems in mastery of life's tasks. Transiency, as reflected in ratings of aimlessness and unstable employment history (the third measure), defined most clearly a subgroup of child molesters characterized by a schizoid lack of cathexis, withdrawal and a seclusive, eccentric style. The results of this study have clear substantive implications both about the nature of impulsivity and its measurements, and about the specific MTC taxonomic distinctions that focus on impulsivity.
Section One Arousal Theory and Personality: Methodological and Conceptual Issues.- Studies of Aut... more Section One Arousal Theory and Personality: Methodological and Conceptual Issues.- Studies of Autonomic Response Patterns: Rationale and Methods.- The Psychological Significance of the Concept of "Arousal" or "Activation".- Activation: A Neuropsychological Dimension.- A Comparison of Two Measures of "Arousal" in Normal Subjects.- The Measurement of Autonomic Arousal.- The Two-Arousal Hypothesis: Reticular Formation and Limbic System.- Section Two Pavlov and Strength of the Nervous System.- Some Normal and Pathological Properties of Nervous Processes in the Brain.- The Problem of Types of Human Higher Nervous Activity and Methods of Determining Them.- Conditioning, Introversion - Extraversion and the Strength of the Nervous System.- Strength of the Nervous System, Introversion - Extraversion, Conditionability and Arousal.- Relationship Between "Strength of the Nervous System" and the Need for Stimulation.- Extraversion, Neuroticism and Strength of the Nervous System.- Section Three Introversion/Extraversion.- The Chemical Theory of Temperament Applied to Introversion and Extraversion.- Cortical Inhibition, Figural Aftereffect, and Theory of Personality.- Neurophysiologic Studies of Personality.- Extraversion, Reminiscence and Satiation Effects.- Pupillary Response, Conditioning, and Personality.- Psychoticism: A Study of its Biological Basis in Normal Subjects.- Section Four Cortical Substrates of Behaviour.- The Anterior Cingulate Gyrus and Personality.- Personality Analysis Before and After Frontal Lobotomy.- The Effect of Brain Damage on the Personality.- Brain Function and Behaviour.- Psychological Correlates of Monoamine Oxidase Activity in Normals.- Section Five Behavioural Genetics.- The Inheritance of Extraversion-Introversion.- The Inheritance of Personality.- Heritability of Personality: A Demonstration.- The Nature of Extraversion: A Genetical Analysis.- A Longitudinal Study of the Genetics of Personality.
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Aug 1, 1988
A principal objective of programmatic research at the Massachusetts Treatment Center over the pas... more A principal objective of programmatic research at the Massachusetts Treatment Center over the past ten years has been to organize a large database on sexually aggressive offenders into homogeneous and reliable scales and dimensions for the purpose of generating and validating clinically and heuristically useful classification systems for rapists. The original version of the Treatment Center classification system' focused on the relative contribution and interaction of sexual and aggressive motivations in men who sexually assault adult women. Cohen, Seghorn, and their colleagues argued that although all rape includes both motivational components, for some rapists the aim is primarily aggressive-to humiliate, defile, or injure-whereas for others the aim is primarily sexual, with a relative absence of violence and brutality. The dichotomization and crossing of these two motivational components yielded four types. These four types are presented in relation to other classification systems in TABLE 1. In the Compensatory type, the aim is hypothesized to be primarily sexual, with minimal aggression facilitating the gratification of the sexual fantasy. In the Displaced-Aggression type, the aim appears to be primarily aggression, with sexual behavior being used to degrade, defile, and physically harm the victim. In the Sex-Aggression Defusion type, sexual and aggressive feelings are synergistically intertwined, and there is a sadistic quality to the assault. Finally, in the Impulse type, the assault is predatory and neither sexual nor aggressive motives appear to be important. Subsequent studies using this system suggested that simply looking at the two primary motives (sex and aggression) failed to capture the heterogeneity of the offenders observed at the Treatment Center. The need to examine multimotivational 'This work was supported by the National Institute of Justice (82-IJ-CX-0058), the National Institute of Mental Health (MH32309), and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
In this study, 82 sex offenders incarcerated at the Massachusetts Treatment Center were administe... more In this study, 82 sex offenders incarcerated at the Massachusetts Treatment Center were administered a brief structured clinical interview focusing on caregiver and institutional history up to age 18. Interview data were examined along with archival information coded from the clinical files. Four factors were derived from principal components analysis and were entered into a series of multiple regression analyses. There were two noteworthy results. First, sexual and nonsexual aggression in adulthood each were related to distinct aspects of developmental history. Whereas caregiver inconstancy and sexual deviation in the family were related to the severity of sexual aggression, childhood and juvenile institutional history and physical abuse and neglect were associated with severity of /jonsexual aggression. Second, contrary to previous studies of other criminal populations, the severity of aggression rather than frequency of crimes was predicted by developmental history. The results of the study suggest that childhood experiences with and disruption of caregiver relationships may be important to understanding sexual aggression in adulthood.
Page 1. Behavior, Research, and Therapy FORENSIC OF SEXUAL OFFENDERS Robert Alan Prentky, Ph.D. a... more Page 1. Behavior, Research, and Therapy FORENSIC OF SEXUAL OFFENDERS Robert Alan Prentky, Ph.D. and Ann Wolbert Burgess, DNSc. Page 2. Page 3. Forensic Management of Sexual Offenders Th± s One 9LUO-2L3-KAH9 Page 4. ...
Designation of a specific subclass of sex offenders as ‘repetitive’ derives from sexual psychopat... more Designation of a specific subclass of sex offenders as ‘repetitive’ derives from sexual psychopath legislation that has sought, over the past half of the twentieth century, to confine sex offenders for indeterminate periods under civil commitment. In response to horrendous crimes committed by a few sex offenders recently released from prison, states passed a series of laws providing for the involuntary, civil commitment of individuals identified as ‘sexually dangerous persons,’ ‘sexual psychopaths,’ or ‘mentally disordered sex offenders.’ Thirty states passed such laws, but over time they fell into disuse or were successfully challenged in court and most were legislatively repealed. In 1990, however, a sex offender recently released from a prison in Washington state abducted, raped, and castrated a 7 year old boy. An outraged public demanded a response, and involuntary commitment was resurrected. The legality of the Washington statute, as well as other similar laws, were immediately challenged, and a Kansas statute, identical to Washington's statute, reached the United States Supreme Court.
CRC series in practical aspects of criminal and forensic investigations, Apr 25, 2001
1. A new subgroup of rape victims resides in nursing homes. 2. Nursing home victims can suffer bo... more 1. A new subgroup of rape victims resides in nursing homes. 2. Nursing home victims can suffer both compounded and silent rape trauma. 3. Innovative therapies are needed for treating elder rape trauma.
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