Sexual Offender Characteristics

• 75% of offenders are known to victims.

• The average rapist sentenced for his first offense will report 7 rapes prior to incarceration. 45% of convicted rapists were arrested while on probation, parole, or community supervision. 
  

Most Offenders:

• Are highly functioning persons at work, in social situations, and within the community.

• Are highly secretive; private life is well hidden from professional and social colleagues. 

• Minimize and deny harm inflicted on others. 

• Are highly manipulative, with excellent social skills. 

• Are frequent users of pornography.

• Are self-centered and unable to see others as fully human.

• No established correlation between having been molested as a child and becoming a sexual offender as an adult. 

• Seldom have substance abuse problems, but do use alcohol and illicit substances to facilitate rape. 

The Anatomy of a Sexual Assault:

• Target Selection - The rapist looks for someone who has one or more of the following:
  - Under the influence of drugs or alcohol
  - Submissive
  - Controllable
  - Flattered by his attention
  - Trusting
  - Easily accessible and away from possible witnesses
  - Unlikely to report
  - Unaware of risks
  *** Drugs are used as "tools" to assist with separation***

• Approach - He moves into the victim's space and does something inappropriate - for example, he stands very close or adds a caress to his handshake; if she doesn't react, he knows she is controllable.

• Separation - He manipulates the victim with flattering, reassuring words until she is in an isolated environment.

• Consenting or Pressured Sex - He begins small sensual acts to gain consent. At the first sign of non-consent, he begins pressure to force a "yes". If this doesn't work, he escalates to mild force or threats of force.

• Sexual Violation - He takes what he wants. Selfish and aggressive, he has no concern for the victim.

• Termination - To confuse the victim, he acts as if nothing is wrong, reverting to the "nice guy", or uses force or threats to keep her secretive. 

• Apprehension - If the rapist is arrested he:
  - Will claim there was consent (bruises are a result of the fact that "she likes it rough").
  - Tries to make sure no one believes the victim.
  - Does not see his actions as wrong. The skills used to manipulate victims are often used with terrific success to manipulate justice officials.
  ***The survivor generally feels at least partly responsible, due to the rapist's manipulations and the response by society and the criminal justice system***

Offender Consequences and Treatment:

• Two-thirds of rapists receive prison sentences, averaging just under 14 years.

• Length of stay in prison has increased from 31/2 years to 7 years, which resulted in a decrease in the number of rapes nationally reported in 1997.

• A combination of educational, cognitive-behavioral, and family system interventions is effective (Knopp and Stevenson, 1988, 1992).

• The Vermont Treatment Program for Sexual Aggressors (Pithers & Cumming, 1989) reported follow-up data. On a six-year follow-up on recidivism for 167 offenders who attended the program in 1982, there was a 15% recidivism rate for rapists (3 out of 20).

• Recidivism rates of offenders who completed specialized treatment are between 15% and 20% (versus 60% in untreated offenders).

• A study of rape-prone males showed behavioral and attitudinal change in 75% of persons completing the program. This change remained stable 18 months after program completion.

• H.E. Barbaree and W.L. Marshall (1988) found a substantial difference in the sexual recidivism rates of extra familial child molesters who participated in a community-based cognitive-behavioral treatment program, compared with a group of similar offenders who did not receive treatment. Those who participated in treatment had a recidivism rate of 18% during a four-year follow-up period, compared with a 43% recidivism rate for the nonparticipating group.

• M.A. Alexander (1999) conducted an analysis of 79 treatment outcome studies, encompassing nearly 11,000 sex offenders. Results indicated that sex offenders who participated in relapse prevention treatment programs had a combined re-arrest rate of 7.2% compared to 17.6% for untreated offenders.

• A 2002 review of 43 studies examined a total of 5,078 treated sex offenders and 4,376 untreated offenders. Averaged across all studies, the sexual offence recidivism rate was lower for the treatment groups (12.3%) than the comparison groups (16.8%) after four years. Cognitive-behavioral and systematic treatments were associated with reductions in sexual recidivism (from 17.4% to 9.9%).

OFFENDER TREATMENT