THUR, Oct 7 \ 9.00-11.00 \ Psychopathology & Recidivism

028
THE MORAL COMPETENCE OF THE SERIAL SEXUAL KILLER

George B. Palermo
Director, Center for Forensic Psychiatry and Risk Assessment,
Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology, Medical College of Wisconsin
Adjunct Professor of Criminology, Marquette University, USA
palermogb@juno.com

Although the legal competency of serial killers, and particular of lust serial killers, is frequently discussed, their moral competency has rarely been taken into consideration. A preliminary exploration of the moral competence of these killers considers the frequency of social violence and its relationship to the psychopathic personality. Moral values and conscience in relations to people's behavior are addressed, and in this context, the traits and patterns of aggressive sexual behavior, including the narcissistic, grandiose, omnipotent personality of lust killers are considered when trying to reach a conclusion regarding their moral competency. Slides from the heinous crimes of Jeffrey Dahmer reflect the above. Reflecting on the totality of the behaviors of the lust killers, it is concluded that they are morally competent: Aware of their antisocial actions, they totally disregard the accepted values of society. Motivated by their omnipotent grandiose feelings, they place themselves above societal values, while shocking society with their heinous crimes through which they express their destructive hostility.

029
RAPE AND SEXUAL IMPOTENCE – PSYCHOANALYTIC ASPECTS

Vassilis Maoutsos, MD, PhD,
Institute of Training Psychodynamics, Athens, Greece

At first glance it may appear contradictory that it is possible for an individual with uncontrollably violent sexual impulses to also be a miserable man who very frequently suffers from a complete inability to perform sexually in a non-aggressive, let alone affectionate way. And yet, this is precisely what we so often find in our clinical practice when we treat analytically such cases. Indeed, the establishment of a successful sense of sexual identity presupposes firm foundations upon a bodily ego. This, implies the existence of sequential and appropriate gratifications from earlier phases that will eventually result in the developmental achievement of oedipal resolution which, no doubt, is by far the most advanced psychosexual human accomplishment.
In the event that the oedipal conflict is resolved satisfactorily we can safely talk about: confidence in one's masculinity, penal erection co-ordinated with benevolent unconscious images, affectionate contact with the other sex and disclaim of any aggressive behaviour in order to achieve sexual excitation other than the minimal necessary for the act of penetration alone.
However, this process is certainly much more complex than is often appreciated. Depending upon various factors, a man's identification with his primal maternal object is a psychological mechanism that may well get entangled at the crossroads between on the one hand the convenience of enjoying the imaginary uniqueness of a perfect pre-oedipal early relationship, and on the other, suffering from having to face the aggressive consequences that spring out from inside him, from a fearful and annihilating imaginary castration and homosexuality. After all these, the individual will have the psychological profile of a man with a fantasized bodily misconstruction and confused sexual identity.
These are sufficient reasons for a psychotic-like breakdown if the individual was to experience the above feelings passively i.e without taking active action to overcome them. The need for a drastic act taking the form of a rape in order to escape from such a predicament is often felt to be as vital as life itself. Under these circumstances the individual being encapsulated in a state of panic, omnipotently nullifies his primal female identification and achieves a masculine but false oedipal resolution, albeit only temporarily. Thus, the avoidance of a psychosis-like state is achieved.

030
YOUNG SEX OFFENDERS - RECIDIVISM AND RISK ASSESSMENT

Rudolf Egg, Prof. Dr. phil,
Director of the Centre for Criminology, Wiesbaden, Germany
r.egg@krimz.de

One of the central findings of criminological research is, that criminal behaviour of young people shows, in comparison to other age groups, a significantly higher prevalence. In most cases though, criminal offences can be regarded as episodic events, as an expression of times of crisis and difficult situations as well as inappropriate coping-strategies linked with youth and adolescence. Consequently, commitment of offences in youth age often has a time-restricted and temporary character, so that it will not necessarily go on within the scope of a criminal career in adult age. To a large extend this positive development does not depend on any juridical or therapeutic measures applied in particular case.
This principle of the episodic character of juvenile delinquency generally also applies to young sex offenders, but not unrestricted. One of the empirical researches carried out by the Centre for Criminology in Wiesbaden, Germany, concerning recidivism of sex offenders (N = 780), demonstrates a remarkable higher base rate of recidivism among young sex offenders (N = 80) than among persons, who committed their first sex crime at a minimum age of 21. This is especially the case, if special risk factors exist and therapeutic measures come too late or are inadequate.
The paper discusses some of those risk factors (e.g. stranger victim, male victim) for the distinction of offenders whose risk of recidivism is high and those, whose risk of recidivism is low. The paper also presents consequences for the risk assessment of young sex offenders and for effective therapeutic measures.

031
THOUGHTS ABOUT CLASSIFYING FEMALE SEXUAL OFFENDERS

Robert Alan Prentky, Ph.D.
Research Department, Justice Resource Institute, Bridgewater, USA
rprentky@jri.org

Although there has been increased attention to the clinical and treatment needs of female sex offenders, there has been very little attention to differences among female sex offenders (FSO). Indeed, the assumption seems to be that FSOs, as a group, are quite similar (homogeneous). We are well aware that this is not true of male sex offenders. Male sex offenders are very different (heterogeneous), and considerable research has been devoted to developing models for classifying them. The number of FSOs appears to be so small, however, that classification has seemed neither warranted nor feasible. In this presentation, I will report some interesting findings from a study of 16 adult female sexual offenders at a womens prison. The women were evaluated as part of a treatment program and the data were collected as part of an intake / assessment protocol. The pattern of these results, including victim and criminal history characteristics, scores on the Psychopathy Checklist (Hare PCL-SV), scores on Briere Trauma Symptom Inventory, scores on an anger expression questionnaire, and coding of 42 variables from archival (prison file) documents, pointed to four very distinct groups. These groups are interesting from clinical, diagnostic, theoretical, and etiologic perspectives.

032
THE MENDED HEART: PREDICTORS OF SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION, SUBSEQUENT CRIMINAL RECIDIVISM, AND TREATMENT IMPLICATIONS IN A 14-24 YEAR FOLLOW-UP STUDY OF A COMPREHENSIVE SEXUAL HEALTH MODEL TREATMENT PROGRAM FOR ADOLESCENT SEX OFFENDERS

Thore Langfeldt, PhD
Institute for Clinical Sexology and Therapy, Oslo, Norway
William Seabloom, M.Div., M.S.W, Ph.D., LICSW, Mary E. Seabloom, M.A., LP, Ph.D., LAMFT, Eric Seabloom, Ph.D., Robert Barron, Ph.D., LP., Sharon Hendrickson, USA
langfeldt@sexologi.no, SEABL003@TC.UMN.EDU, William.L.Seabloom-1@tc.umn.edu

We recently published the findings of our study which determined the effectiveness of a sexuality-positive adolescent sexual offender treatment program in the International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, Special Edition: Sex-Offender Treatment, Vol. 47, Number 4, August 2003. It also examined the subsequent criminal recidivism in the three outcome groups (completed, withdrawn, referred). The sample consisted of 122 adolescent males and their families (491 individuals). Living situation was the only significant demographic variable, such that patients living with parents were more likely to graduate. None of the behavioral variables were significant. Of the treatment variables, only length of time in the program and participation in the Family Journey were significant. Our investigation of the association of criminal recidivism with completion status 14 to 24 years after leaving the program revealed that there were no arrests or convictions for sex-related crimes in the population of participants that successfully completed the program. This group was also less likely than the referred or withdrawn groups to be arrested or convicted across all crime categories. The low number of convictions or arrests for sex-related crimes in the rest of the population precludes the use of statistics for comparison, but it is interesting to note that the highest conviction rate (8%, in the group that withdrew from treatment) is similar to that of recidivism rates for other treatment programs. A summary of the recidivism study is included in the appendix of this paper. This paper is in response to requests for information about the philosophy, treatment components and staffing of the program. Personal/Social Awareness (P/SA) was established by Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota in 1977 in response to increasing referrals of adolescent males experiencing sexual issues of a critical nature. The P/SA program was an outgrowth of 17 years' experience in group therapy and family treatment of adolescents with emotional and behavioral problems, during the course of which many of the program's treatment modalities were developed. The treatment philosophy was based on principles of sexual health, especially child sexual health; social group work theory, family systems theory and hermeneutic discipline. The treatment components, staff training, support and relationship to the youth are described. Comments from the youth themselves provide their personal perspectives on the process.