Tatcharakteristika, Rückfallrisiko und Rückfallprognose bei Sexualstraftätern vom Jugend- bis ins Seniorenalter

The basis of this study was a census of all offenses of sexual assault and sexual abuse that were reported to the Berlin police between 1994 and 1999 (N?=?2,446). The purpose was to analyse the particularities of elderly offenders (60 years or older, n?=?68) compared to the 273 juvenile and the 2,105 younger adult offenders with regard to prior offenses, index offenses and recidivism rates. Furthermore, the analysis focused on the prediction of sexual and violent reoffence by means of the static-99 within the elderly age group. The analysis showed that the rate of former sexual offence committed by seniors was comparable to the younger adults; however, sexual and non-sexual violent pre-offences were much less frequent. On the other hand, the seniors were more frequently involved in sexual abuse, their modus operandi showed lesser degrees of intensity of the sexual acts and less use of force and violence (even among sexual abusers only) and group-offence was definitely uncommon. Furthermore the rate of sexual reoffence was similar to the juvenile offenders, but lower in comparison to adult offenders younger than 60 years. A more sophisticated analysis of the age-effects on recidivism-rates confirmed the anticipation of growing risks until middle adulthood and decreasing risks of reoffence afterwards. However, an explicit trajectory of first growing and than decreasing risks in the course of aging could only be found among offenders with sexual abuse, whereas the zenith was shifted in elderly stages of age. On the other hand, among offenders with sexual assaults, the risks of sexual reoffending seemed rather similar until the middle adulthood and increasingly lower in later stages. In spite of these aging-effects and the particularities of the elderly sexual offenders, the static-99 predicted sexual reoffence among the senior offenders quite well and there was no difference in comparison with the total sample.     

Methodische Grundlagen der Kriminalprognose

Zusammenfassung   Gesetzestexte sehen bei bestimmten strafrechtlichen Entscheidungen die Unterstützung des Richters durch Prognosegutachter vor. Ihre Aufgabe ist es, die Rechtsentscheidung in ihren prognostischen Aspekten auf eine rationale, wissenschaftlich fundierte Grundlage zu stellen. Methodisch lassen sich dabei wissenschaftlich fundierte Prognosen auf unterschiedlichen Wegen erstellen. Der eine Weg beruht auf empirisch gesicherten Erfahrungen über die Rückf?lligkeit von T?tern und über die die Rückfallwahrscheinlichkeit beeinflussenden Tat- und T?termerkmale. Prognosemethoden nach diesem Modell bemühen sich, diese Erfahrungen auch für individualprognostische Zwecke nutzbar zu machen. Der andere Weg führt über eine systematische retrospektive Analyse der individuellen Ursachen der bisherigen Delinquenz des T?ters und schreibt diese individuellen Bezüge prognostisch fort. Prognosemethoden nach diesem Modell bemühen sich vor allem, den erforderlichen Urteilsbildungsprozess zu systematisieren und eine hinreichende Beurteilungsgrundlage zu gew?hrleisten. Der vorliegende Beitrag stellt beide Ans?tze in ihren methodischen Grundzügen und wissenschaftlichen Bew?hrungen vor und diskutiert ihre jeweiligen Vorzüge und Begrenzungen im Kontext der Mindestanforderungen für Prognosegutachten im Strafrecht.      

Vergleich zweier diagnostischer Ans?tze zur Erfassung der Sexualfantasien p?dophiler M?nner

Two diagnostic approaches to measure sexual fantasies, the Wilson Sexual Fantasy Questionnaire (WSFQ; Wilson 1988, Sex Marital Ther 3:45) as a quantitative self-report measure and the qualitative content analysis categories for the fantasy content, have been examined regarding their quality and capability for identifying pedophilic fantasies. For this purpose 33 men from the general community were selected and compared with 24 adult men from the project ??Kein Täter werden?? (avoid being a perpetrator) at the Institute of Sexology and Sexual Medicine, Charité Clinical Center, Berlin, all fulfilling diagnostic criteria of pedophilia according to DSM-IV-TR (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition, Text Revision) (American Psychiatric Association 2000, Washington). The examination revealed that the reliability of the WSFQ scales (Cronbach??s ??) varied between moderate and good. The interrater reliability coefficients of content analysis categories ranged between moderate and predominantly good and very good. The WSFQ identified a generalized impersonal character only as a main feature of pedophilic fantasies and proved to have limited capability for identification of specific contents of sexual fantasies of persons with these diagnoses. In contrast, content analysis categories allowed identification of a set of specific features of the fantasized partners, pedophilic men and the sexual contacts in addition to the age and prepubertal body of a preferential partner which might be traced back to the preference for prepubertal age. Replication studies are necessary for evaluation of the current findings on the basis of a representative sample of men with pedophilia. These findings might be of primary use for the diagnosis of pedophilia.     

Editorial

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Die Screening Skala Pädophilen Tatverhaltens

The importance of including crime scene information into the diagnostic process and into risk assessment is emphasized throughout the literature. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to investigate the feasibility of identifying pedophilic interest in child molesters using crime scene information. The development sample consisted of 113 expert opinions in forensic cases of sexual child abuse. The sample covered 50 pedophilic and 63 non-pedophilic offenders. Based on theoretical and empirical considerations it was concluded that the study should capture 6 content areas including 24 variables. Multivariate analyses revealed that the seven items that comprise the screening scale of pedophilic criminal behavior (SSPC) showed high predictive accuracy for the diagnosis of pedophilia (area under the curve AUC?=?0.91, standard error SE?=?0.03) and had incremental validity above and beyond the screening scale for pedophilic interest (SSPI).     

Qualit?tssicherung in der forensischen Psychologie

Approximately 12 years ago the German Federation of Psychological Societies initiated a certified postgraduate training in psychology and law to qualify psychologists as forensic psychology experts. This qualification initiative was a consequence of a decade of evaluative research constantly yielding serious shortcomings in psychiatric and psychological expert reports. The present paper informs about the conception of the training and the experiences with it so far. Furthermore, it reports on current reform efforts regarding the training and informs about some further forensic psychological qualification options that have meanwhile been established in Germany.     

New Faces in a New Place: Long-Time Residents’ Perceptions of New Residents in an Oil Boomtown in the Bakken Oil Shale Region

ABSTRACT

In 2008, increased oil production in the Bakken oil shale region in western North Dakota sparked a rapid increase in population for the communities in that area. This study examines long-time residents’ perceptions of new residents moving into their community using quantitative methods. The findings reveal that long-time residents who reported an increase in fear of crime because of the oil boom in western North Dakota were less likely to have positive perceptions of new residents. In addition, long-time residents who viewed their community as a friendly place and its residents as trustworthy, and who attempted to interact with new residents, were more likely to report positive perceptions of new residents.     

Sind Körperpsychotherapeuten anders?

Following the “Generic Model of Psychotherapy” differences of treatment models are relevant with respect to optimal matching with patient's illness experience.Therefore it seems necessary to work out differences and similarities of treatment models.The results of 91 therapists, trained in Concentrative Movement Therapy (KBT), in the “Development of Psychotherapist Common Core Questionnaire (DPCCQ)” are compared to the therapists' results in other DPCCQ-studies, to find out,wether there are differences in therapeutic self concepts (theoretical orientation, therapeutic goals and attitudes). A few special features for KBT-therapists can be found which reflect characteristic aspects of the method.Despite some differences concerning socio-demographic characteristics (sex, age and basic professional education) similarities to other therapists predominate.     

Catechol-O-methyltransferase Val158Met genotype affects neural correlates of aversive stimuli processing

It was previously shown that variation of the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene modulates brain activity during the processing of stimuli with negative valence, but not for pleasant stimuli. Here, we tested whether the COMT genotype also modulates the electrophysiological correlates of emotional processing and explored whether the environmental factor of life stress influences this effect. Using the early posterior negativity (EPN) paradigm, event-related brain potentials were measured in 81 healthy individuals during the processing of pictures that evoked emotions of positive and negative valence. As was hypothesized, the COMT genotype affected the EPN amplitudes for unpleasant stimuli, but not for pleasant ones. Specifically, Met/Met carriers respond more sensitively to unpleasant stimuli, as compared with Val/Val carriers. We did not find evidence that life stress moderates the effect of the COMT genotype on emotional stimuli processing.     

Selective search in short-term memory under ideal conditions of test stimulus categorization

It has often been claimed that short-term memory search is not selective because it takes longer to categorize the test stimulus than to search throughout the whole memory set. Four experiments investigated whether evidence for selective search can be obtained when effectively no time is required to categorize the test stimulus. Even under this favorable condition, no evidence was found for selective search of only the relevant memory subset. Therefore, the time to categorize a test stimulus cannot be the only reason why short-term memory search is not selective.