Transcript Slide 1
The Effective Management of Juvenile Sex Offenders in the Community
Section 3: Assessment
Key Topics for The Assessment Section
•
Part I: Broad Assessment Issues
•
Part II: Style and Process
•
Part III: Pre-Disposition Report
•
Part IV: Psychosexual Evaluation
•
Part V: Risk Assessment Section 3 2
Defining Assessment
• • •
To estimate or determine the significance or importance of something(s) To observe or monitor To evaluate Section 3 3
Examples of Key Stakeholders • • • • • • • • •
Forensic evaluators Specialized treatment providers Supervision officers Teachers, other school officials Release decisionmakers Parents/caregivers Family therapists Victim therapists Juvenile and family court judges Section 3 4
Ongoing Process, Not An Event •
Risk and needs change
•
Assess critical variables over time
•
Promotes informed, timely responses Section 3 5
What types of assessment data are needed to make informed decisions about juvenile sex offenders?
Section 3 6
Examples of Important Assessment Data Points •
Individual variables
•
Level of risk
•
Sexual history and adjustment
•
Mental health difficulties
•
Substance abuse
•
Maltreatment history
•
Intellectual, cognitive functioning
•
School performance
•
Family variables
•
Parent/caregiver capacity
•
Parental risk factors
•
Violence in the home
•
Environmental variables
•
Peer influences
•
Community influences
•
Access to victims, victim safety issues Section 3 7
Assess Strengths and Assets
• • •
Individual Family Environmental Section 3 8
Assessment Data Sources • • • • • •
Interviews with youth Collateral interviews Comprehensive records General psychological measures Offense-specific measures Physiological tools Section 3 9
Goals Influence Data Needs • • • • • •
Inform disposition or sentencing Identify supervision needs Determine supervision level Identify treatment needs Measure treatment progress Assess treatment/supervision compliance Section 3 10
Collaboration is Vital •
Different system actors, different data
•
Information-sharing is needed
•
Potential statutory/policy restrictions
•
Releases of information
•
Memoranda of understanding Section 3 11
Summary •
Key to informed decisionmaking
•
Everyone has a role
•
Ongoing process vs. single event
•
Multiple data sources
•
Collaboration, information-sharing Section 3 12
Style and Approach are Important •
Goal is to obtain complete, accurate information
•
Process and strategy may facilitate or hinder disclosure
•
Focus on rapport Section 3 13
Contextual Variables •
Stigma, shame, and guilt
•
Intensely personal nature of questions
•
Overwhelming court processes
•
Cultural norms and influences Section 3 14
Invitations to Responsibility
• • • •
Shift from coercive, shame-based, and confrontational models Emphasizes respectful and therapeutic engagement of clients Highlights the concept of choice Assists clients with identifying their own motivations to change
(Jenkins, 1990, 1998)
Section 3 15
Motivational Interviewing: Guiding Principles •
Express empathy
•
Develop discrepancy
•
Roll with resistance
•
Support self-efficacy
(Miller & Rollnick, 1991, 2002)
16 Section 3
Additional Interviewing Tips •
Simple vocabulary
•
Open-ended questions
•
“Successive approximation”
•
Resist challenging minimizations or contradictions
•
Positive reinforcement
(see, e.g., Lambie & Robson, 2006; McGrath, 1990; Miller & Rollnick, 2002; Rich, 2003)
Section 3 17
Pre-Disposition Report •
Often first opportunity to assess comprehensively
•
Informs decisionmaking for judges
•
Provides baseline data
•
Should follow youth throughout system
•
Foundation of case management Section 3 18
Overarching Considerations •
Accountability and rehabilitation
•
Victim impact, victim needs
•
Community safety interests Section 3 19
PSR/PDR: Critical Elements •
Offense information
•
Prior delinquency
•
Youth functioning
•
Family functioning
•
Aggravating and mitigating factors
•
Victim impact
•
Sexual, non-sexual risk levels
•
Appropriate placement options
•
Recommendations Section 3 20
Child and Adolescent Strengths and Needs – Sexual Development (CANS-SD) • •
Structured needs assessment Multiple domains assessed
• • • • • • •
Functioning Risk behaviors Mental health needs Care intensity and organization Caregiver capacity Strengths Characteristics of sexual behavior
(Lyons, 2001)
Section 3 21
Recommendations • • • • •
Specialized programs, services, interventions Suggested placement, level of care Special conditions of supervision, if applicable Fines, restitution Best course of action should be offered Section 3 22
Section 3 23
Section 3 24
Psychosexual Evaluation • •
Not identical to general psychological evaluation Requires specialized training and experience
• •
Forensic psychology Adolescent mental health and juvenile justice
• •
Sex offender management Sexually abusive youth Section 3 25
Ideally Conducted Post-Adjudication •
Ethical and legal questions may arise pre adjudication
•
Presumption of guilt
• •
Fifth amendment/self-incrimination Ultimate issue/guilt or innocence
•
Best suited for informing disposition recommendations, case planning Section 3 26
Informed Consent •
Explain your role
•
Review processes, procedures
•
Outline risks, benefits, consequences
•
Explain confidentiality limits
•
Allow for questions Section 3 27
Commonalities Across Evaluations • • •
Clinical interview with juvenile and parent/caregiver Thorough review of records General psychological testing
•
Intellectual functioning
• •
Personality adjustment Emotional/psychological functioning Section 3 28
Unique Elements •
Sex offense-specific assessment tools
•
Juvenile sex offense-specific risk assessment
•
Potential use of physiological tools
•
Comprehensive sexual history Section 3 29
Sexual History • • • •
Sexual learning Sexual development
•
Early sexual experiences Masturbation Fantasies, “turn-ons”
•
Explicit materials
•
Age-appropriate, consensual experiences
•
Victimization history
•
Perpetration behaviors
•
Potential paraphilias Section 3 30
Examples of Psychosexual Assessment Measures • • • •
Adolescent Sexual Interest Cardsort
•
Becker & Kaplan, 1988 Adolescent Cognitions Scale
•
Hunter, Becker, Kaplan, & Goodwin, 1991 Multiphasic Sex Inventory-Juvenile Version
•
Nichols & Molinder, 1986, 2001 Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths-Sexual Development
•
Lyons, 2001 Section 3 31
Physiological Tools •
Penile plethysmograph
•
Viewing time (Abel Screen)
•
Polygraph Section 3 32
Plethysmography Cautions • •
Limited research with youth Developmental factors may influence reliability/validity
•
Arousal patterns not firmly established with youth
•
Intrusive procedure, questionable stimuli Section 3 33
Programs Using Plethysmograph with Juveniles 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% community-based
Section 3
residential (McGrath, Cumming, & Burchard, 2003)
34
Viewing Time Cautions •
Little published research
•
Available evidence is mixed
•
Fairly promising
(see Abel et al., 1998; Becker & Harris, 2004; Letourneau, 2002)
Section 3 35
Programs Using Viewing Time with Juveniles 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% community-based
Section 3
residential (McGrath, Cumming, & Burchard, 2003)
36
100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% Polygraph Utilization Trends in Community Based Programs adult juvenile 1992 1994 1996 2000 2002 (McGrath, Cumming, & Burchard, 2003)
Section 3 37
Polygraph Cautions •
Little research, especially with juveniles
•
Reliability and validity potentially influenced by developmental factors Section 3 38
Practice Guidelines: Physiological Measures with Youth •
Not for guilt or innocence determinations
•
Not as a sole basis for key decisions
•
Specially trained users
•
Safeguards against self-incrimination
•
Informed consent
•
Best reserved for older youth Section 3 39
Summary and Recommendations: Psychosexual Evaluation •
Attitude toward treatment, amenability
•
Level of accountability
•
Degree of psychosexual disturbance
•
Special needs
•
Environmental suitability
•
Strengths and assets
•
Risk level
•
Range of treatment needs
•
Suggested level of care/least restrictive placement options Section 3 40
Risk Assessment •
Increasingly influential
•
Effective and efficient allocation of resources
•
Consistency, structure, equity, and objectivity Section 3 41
Common Uses •
Detention hold or release decisions
•
Level of custody or placement at disposition
•
Community supervision level
•
Sex offender registration and community notification Section 3 42
Risk Factors: General Delinquency or Youth Violence •
Age at first referral or adjudication
•
Prior referrals or adjudications
•
Nature of current charge
•
Prior aggression
•
Association with delinquent peers
•
Social isolation
•
History of abscondence
•
Substance abuse
•
Family instability, poor parent-child relations
•
History of maltreatment
•
School problems Section 3
(see, e.g., Cottle et al., 2001; Lipsey & Derzon, 1998)
43
Risk Assessment Tools: General Delinquency •
Youth Level of Service/Case Management Inventory
•
(Hoge & Andrews, 1996)
•
Structured Assessment of Violence Risk for Youth
•
(Bartel, Forth, & Barnum, 2002)
•
Michigan, Washington, and Wisconsin Risk Assessment Instruments Section 3 44
Risk Prediction Challenges for Juvenile Sex Offenders •
Low base rates of recidivism
•
Limited number of well-designed studies on recidivism for youth Section 3 45
Suggested Risk Factors for Juveniles: Sexual Recidivism •
Family instability, poor parent-child relations
•
Association with delinquent peers
•
Social isolation
•
Antisocial orientation, psychopathy
•
Deviant arousal
•
Sexual preoccupation, compulsivity
•
Non-familiar victims
•
Pro-offending attitudes
•
Impulsivity
•
Treatment non compliance, termination Section 3
(see, e.g., Prescott, 2006; Worling & Langstrom, 2006)
46
Risk Assessment Approaches •
Unstructured clinical judgment
•
Empirically-guided
•
Actuarially-based Section 3 47
Limitations of Actuarials •
Moderate –not high–predictive accuracy
•
Cannot identify actual risk of recidivism for specific individuals
•
Cannot affirmatively determine who will or will not reoffend Section 3 48
Promising Tools for Juveniles •
Juvenile Sex Offender Assessment Protocol-II
•
(Prentky & Righthand, 2003)
•
Estimate of Risk of Adolescent Sexual Offense Recidivism
•
(Worling & Curwen, 2001) Section 3 49
J-SOAP-II Subscales
•
Sexual drive/preoccupation
•
Impulsive, antisocial behavior
•
Intervention
•
Community stability/adjustment
(Prentky & Righthand, 2003)
50 Section 3
ERASOR Domains •
Sexual interests, attitudes, behaviors
•
Historical sexual assaults
•
Psychosocial functioning
•
Family environmental functioning
•
Treatment
(Worling & Curwen, 2001)
51 Section 3
Programs Using J-SOAP-II or ERASOR 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% community-based ERASOR J-SOAP residential one or both (McGrath, Cumming, & Burchard, 2003)
Section 3 52
Conclusion • • • • • •
Assessment is ongoing and multidisciplinary Multiple sources of data Importance of style and approach No magic bullets No absolutes Key to informed decisionmaking Section 3 53