Characteristics of social networks and social support were investigated in a group of 35 imprison... more Characteristics of social networks and social support were investigated in a group of 35 imprisoned mentally ill sex offenders. We compared current parameters (after an average of 3 years of psychosocial therapy) with those at the time of the offence. Analyses reveal a decrease in social network size but an increase in social support by the remaining or new social network members. These changes are discussed in reference to various influencing variables in a therapeutic prison facility. The impact of psychosocial interventions in relapse prevention of sexual offenders will be outlined.
A group of hands on child sexual abusers were diagnosed according to DSM-IVR criteria within a ro... more A group of hands on child sexual abusers were diagnosed according to DSM-IVR criteria within a routinely performed risk assessment process in the Austrian prison system. Actuarials showed moderate to good predictive accuracy, and a combination of static and stable risk factors (Static-99 and Stable-2007) significantly improved the predictive power for sexual reoffense.In addition, the clinical diagnosis of narcissistic personality disorder significantly added incremental validity once the Static-99/Stable-2007 factors were accounted for. Clinical diagnoses of an exclusive pedophilia, exhibitionism, voyeurism and a paranoid personality disorder - although linked to sexual recidivism - failed to add predictive utility beyond the Static-99/Stable-2007 priority factors.
This study is part of a prospective, longitudinal research project to evaluate the reliability an... more This study is part of a prospective, longitudinal research project to evaluate the reliability and validity of different recidivism risk assessment methods for sexual offenders under community supervision for scientific and practical use in the German-speaking part of Europe. In this paper we present the German adaptation of the Sexual Offender Risk Appraisal Guide (SORAG), a specific risk assessment tool for sexual offenders that was developed and published in 1998 in Canada. We examined interrater reliability, concurrent validity and predictive validity of the German version of the instrument with a sample of 254 male sexual offenders arrested in the Austrian penal system. The German SORAG showed good results for interrater reliability and concurrent validity. The predictive validity was determined using subgroups of the sample based on each offender’s index offence. The results were predominantly good, but the ability of the instrument to predict sexual and violent recidivism var...
ABSTRACT Die antiandrogene Behandlung von Sexualstraftätern erfährt derzeit eine Renaissance. Zen... more ABSTRACT Die antiandrogene Behandlung von Sexualstraftätern erfährt derzeit eine Renaissance. Zentral wirksame Antihormone stehen nunmehr vermehrt zur Verfügung. Wenngleich die libidosenkende Wirkung bekannt ist und die Mittel offenbar auch in der Lage sind, die Dranghaftigkeit sowie Heftigkeit devianter Fantasien und Impulse zu verringern, fehlt bislang der Nachweis einer spezifischen rückfallsenkenden Wirkung bei Sexualstraftätern. Dies liegt v.a. am Fehlen von Studien, in denen äquivalente Kontrollgruppen untersucht wurden. Die Tatsache, dass die Rückfallbasisraten konstant sinken, erschwert neben grundsätzlichen methodischen Grenzen der forensischen Forschung die spezifische Nachweisbarkeit von möglicherweise sinnvollen Interventionen. Der bislang fehlende Wirkungsnachweis, z.T. schwerwiegende Nebenwirkungen und eine schwierige Indikationsstellung sollten den Einsatz derartiger Medikamente in der forensischen Sexologie und Psychiatrie weiterhin auf den besonders schwer zu behandelnden Einzelfall beschränken. Antiandrogen treatments for sexual offenders are reported to be powerful additional strategies to psychological interventions. Several reviews concluded that these pharmacological treatment regimes reduce sexual offender recidivism risk. On close inspection all studies reporting an effectiveness of antiandrogen treatment on sexual offender risk reduction lack equivalent control groups. The results are confounded by the fact that in almost every case either the control group had a higher a priori risk or findings were derived from non-forensic patients. However, low relapse base rates, the absence of random assignment studies and a recently reported further dramatic decline in sexual reconviction rates makes it difficult to produce empirical evidence for any treatment. As reduction of sexual deviant urges and fantasies by antiandrogenic medication has been consistently reported it might nevertheless help to additionally treat a small group of sexual offenders suffering from non-controllable deviant urges. SchlüsselwörterSexualstraftäter-Antiandrogentherapie-Indikation-Effektivität-Rückfall KeywordsSexual offender-Antihormonal treatment-Indication-Effectiveness-Relapse
Minimal standards for treatment of adult sexual offenders were adopted by the membership of the I... more Minimal standards for treatment of adult sexual offenders were adopted by the membership of the International Association for the Treatment of Sexual Offenders (IATSO) at its first membership General Assembly in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in May 2000 (Coleman, Dwyer, Abel, Berner, Breiling, Eher, et al., 2000; 2003). These standards, initially developed in 1990 with input from attendees at the Second International Conference on Sexual Offender Treatment held in Minneapolis, Minnesota (Coleman & Dwyer, 1990; Coleman, Dwyer, ...
Characteristics of social networks and social support were investigated in a group of 35 imprison... more Characteristics of social networks and social support were investigated in a group of 35 imprisoned mentally ill sex offenders. We compared current parameters (after an average of 3 years of psychosocial therapy) with those at the time of the offence. Analyses reveal a decrease in social network size but an increase in social support by the remaining or new social network members. These changes are discussed in reference to various influencing variables in a therapeutic prison facility. The impact of psychosocial interventions in relapse prevention of sexual offenders will be outlined.
A group of hands on child sexual abusers were diagnosed according to DSM-IVR criteria within a ro... more A group of hands on child sexual abusers were diagnosed according to DSM-IVR criteria within a routinely performed risk assessment process in the Austrian prison system. Actuarials showed moderate to good predictive accuracy, and a combination of static and stable risk factors (Static-99 and Stable-2007) significantly improved the predictive power for sexual reoffense.In addition, the clinical diagnosis of narcissistic personality disorder significantly added incremental validity once the Static-99/Stable-2007 factors were accounted for. Clinical diagnoses of an exclusive pedophilia, exhibitionism, voyeurism and a paranoid personality disorder - although linked to sexual recidivism - failed to add predictive utility beyond the Static-99/Stable-2007 priority factors.
This study is part of a prospective, longitudinal research project to evaluate the reliability an... more This study is part of a prospective, longitudinal research project to evaluate the reliability and validity of different recidivism risk assessment methods for sexual offenders under community supervision for scientific and practical use in the German-speaking part of Europe. In this paper we present the German adaptation of the Sexual Offender Risk Appraisal Guide (SORAG), a specific risk assessment tool for sexual offenders that was developed and published in 1998 in Canada. We examined interrater reliability, concurrent validity and predictive validity of the German version of the instrument with a sample of 254 male sexual offenders arrested in the Austrian penal system. The German SORAG showed good results for interrater reliability and concurrent validity. The predictive validity was determined using subgroups of the sample based on each offender’s index offence. The results were predominantly good, but the ability of the instrument to predict sexual and violent recidivism var...
ABSTRACT Die antiandrogene Behandlung von Sexualstraftätern erfährt derzeit eine Renaissance. Zen... more ABSTRACT Die antiandrogene Behandlung von Sexualstraftätern erfährt derzeit eine Renaissance. Zentral wirksame Antihormone stehen nunmehr vermehrt zur Verfügung. Wenngleich die libidosenkende Wirkung bekannt ist und die Mittel offenbar auch in der Lage sind, die Dranghaftigkeit sowie Heftigkeit devianter Fantasien und Impulse zu verringern, fehlt bislang der Nachweis einer spezifischen rückfallsenkenden Wirkung bei Sexualstraftätern. Dies liegt v.a. am Fehlen von Studien, in denen äquivalente Kontrollgruppen untersucht wurden. Die Tatsache, dass die Rückfallbasisraten konstant sinken, erschwert neben grundsätzlichen methodischen Grenzen der forensischen Forschung die spezifische Nachweisbarkeit von möglicherweise sinnvollen Interventionen. Der bislang fehlende Wirkungsnachweis, z.T. schwerwiegende Nebenwirkungen und eine schwierige Indikationsstellung sollten den Einsatz derartiger Medikamente in der forensischen Sexologie und Psychiatrie weiterhin auf den besonders schwer zu behandelnden Einzelfall beschränken. Antiandrogen treatments for sexual offenders are reported to be powerful additional strategies to psychological interventions. Several reviews concluded that these pharmacological treatment regimes reduce sexual offender recidivism risk. On close inspection all studies reporting an effectiveness of antiandrogen treatment on sexual offender risk reduction lack equivalent control groups. The results are confounded by the fact that in almost every case either the control group had a higher a priori risk or findings were derived from non-forensic patients. However, low relapse base rates, the absence of random assignment studies and a recently reported further dramatic decline in sexual reconviction rates makes it difficult to produce empirical evidence for any treatment. As reduction of sexual deviant urges and fantasies by antiandrogenic medication has been consistently reported it might nevertheless help to additionally treat a small group of sexual offenders suffering from non-controllable deviant urges. SchlüsselwörterSexualstraftäter-Antiandrogentherapie-Indikation-Effektivität-Rückfall KeywordsSexual offender-Antihormonal treatment-Indication-Effectiveness-Relapse
Minimal standards for treatment of adult sexual offenders were adopted by the membership of the I... more Minimal standards for treatment of adult sexual offenders were adopted by the membership of the International Association for the Treatment of Sexual Offenders (IATSO) at its first membership General Assembly in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in May 2000 (Coleman, Dwyer, Abel, Berner, Breiling, Eher, et al., 2000; 2003). These standards, initially developed in 1990 with input from attendees at the Second International Conference on Sexual Offender Treatment held in Minneapolis, Minnesota (Coleman & Dwyer, 1990; Coleman, Dwyer, ...
Uploads
Papers by Reinhard Eher