The aim of the study was to investigate the process of desistance from sexual crime by comparing two groups of child molesters: One group was deemed to be "desisting", while men in the other group were deemed as being still potentially "active" offenders. Men in the desisting group reported being optimistic for the future,…

Background: There have been limited theoretical developments with respect to sexual offending by people with intellectual disabilities [Lindsay (2005) Mental Retardation, Vol. 43, pp. 428-441], especially when compared with the development of theories for mainstream sexual offenders. This paper aims at examining a range of theories in their…

Cluster analysis of psychometric data measuring offense-specific and socioadequacy problems from a sample of 437 untreated child molesters was carried out. This analysis identified three clusters: Cluster 1 contained men who reported low levels of self-esteem and intimacy and an inability to deal with negative emotions, Cluster 2 contained men who…

The attentional blink (AB) is a robust phenomenon that has been consistently reported in the cognitive literature. The AB is found when two target images (T1, T2) are presented within 500 ms of each other and errors are induced on the perceptual report of T2. The AB may increase when T1 has some salience to the viewer. This study examined the…

Background: Appropriate assessment is an essential part of treating sexual offenders. Few assessments exist that can be used with offenders who have lower levels of intellectual functioning and/or literacy deficits. Method: This study describes the adaptation of four self-report assessments for sexual offenders with special needs: (i) the "Social…

Background: This paper investigates the efficacy of a treatment program for sexual offenders with special needs in comparison to treatment outcomes for mainstream sexual offenders. Follow-up data is also presented for the group of offenders with special needs. Method: Participants from the two groups were matched on four variables (risk category,…

The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of constructs that may indicate the presence of disorganized attachment style in sexual and violent offenders. Constructs measured were dissociation, variability on self-report measures of attachment style and early maladaptive schemas, and variability in observed behavior. Data on variability…

A qualitative analysis of interview data with 41 rapists determined that five implicit theories (ITs) underlie rapists' offense supportive beliefs/feelings/motives: (a) dangerous world (DW)--where men have feelings of generalized anger and/or resentment toward others; (b) women are dangerous--where men hold a set of attitudes that are hostile…

Do child molesters hold distorted beliefs (or cognitive distortions) that support their sexual offending? To test this hypothesis, we asked 28 child molesters and 20 inmate controls to read a description of child molestation. Within this vignette, we planted 10 ambiguous descriptions. If child molesters' information processing were driven by…