The characteristics of persistent sexual offenders: a meta-analysis of recidivism studies.

By R. K. Hanson, Kelly E Morton-Bourgon, Emer-Gency Preparedness, Canada Kelly, Morton-Bourgon, S. Brown, H. Gretton, G. Harris, Niklas Långström, C. Langton and 19 more. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 2005

1,807 citations recorded by the source corpus.

A meta-analysis of 82 recidivism studies (1,620 findings from 29,450 sexual offenders) identified deviant sexual preferences and antisocial orientation as the major predictors of sexual recidivism for both adult and adolescent sexual offenders. Antisocial orientation was the major predictor of violent recidivism and general (any) recidivism. The review also identified some dynamic risk factors that have the potential of being useful treatment targets (e.g., sexual preoccupations, general self-regulation problems). Many of the variables commonly addressed in sex offender treatment programs (e.g., psychological distress, denial of sex crime, victim empathy, stated motivation for treatment) had little or no relationship with sexual or violent recidivism.

Subfields: Clinical Psychology, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/6eb3ba25513ad0c600fe7fc046894549c284f5c2

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Clinical Psychology

1. J. Levenson
2. G. Willis
3. Tony Ward
4. R. K. Hanson
5. R. Mann
6. D. Thornton
7. R. Tewksbury
8. Jan Looman

In Sociology and Political Science

1. G. Willis
2. J. Levenson
3. Tony Ward
4. R. Mann
5. R. Tewksbury
6. D. Thornton
7. R. K. Hanson
8. Jan Looman

Citations in the corpus

• Incorporating trauma-informed care into evidence-based sex offender treatment (2014, background): “A lack of nurturance and guidance leads to problems in social functioning, such as mistrust, hostility and insecure attachment, which then contribute to social rejection, loneliness, negative peer associations and delinquent behaviour (Hanson & Morton-Bourgon, 2005).”
• A fundamental attribution error? Rethinking cognitive distortions † (2006, background): “However, the argument that excuses precede and lead to offending (as opposed to just following it) has almost no empirical support (Hanson & Morton-Bourgon, 2005; Pollock & Hashmall, 1991; Quinsey, 1986), and it is difficult to imagine a research design that could conclusively demonstrate this link.”
• Assessment of Community Reintegration Planning for Sex Offenders (2009, background): “Stable dynamic risk factors are relatively enduring tendencies that may be amenable to change through treatment, such as sexual deviancy, antisocial orientation, and self-regulation problems (Hanson & Morton-Bourgon, 2005).”
• Sexually Violent Predators in the Courtroom: Science on Trial (2006, neutral): “In a subsequent meta-analysis of 95 studies with a sample of 31,216 sex offenders, Hanson and Morton-Bourgon (2005) reported an aggregate sexual recidivism rate of 13.7% over 5 to 6 years.”
• Collateral Damage: Family Members of Registered Sex Offenders (2009, background): “…do indeed have a higher probability of recidivism, and therefore community safety is more likely to be enabled when states adopt empirically derived risk assessment methods to validly, reliably, and discriminately identify high risk offenders (Grove and Meehl 1996; Hanson and Morton-Bourgon 2005).”
• The Principles of Effective Correctional Treatment Also Apply To Sexual Offenders (2009, background): “Offense responsibility, social skills training, and victim empathy are targets in more than 80% of sexual offender treatment programs (McGrath et al., 2003), yet none of these have been found to predict sexual recidivism (Hanson & Morton-Bourgon, 2004, 2005).”
• The Risk Need Responsivity Model of Offender Rehabilitation: Is There Really a Need for a Paradigm Shift?. (2013, background): “Nevertheless, “feeling better” about oneself (i.e., increased self-esteem) has been demonstrated in meta-analyses to be unrelated to recidivism (Hanson & Morton-Bourgon, 2005; Andrews & Dowden, 2006).”
• AN EXAMINATION OF THE SEX OFFENDER REGISTRATION AND NOTIFICATION ACT AS APPLIED TO JUVENILES Evaluating the Ability to Predict Sexual Recidivism (2008, result): “By contrast, in a large meta-analysis of studies that primarily focused on adult offenders, Hanson and Morton-Bourgon (2005) found static variables to be the most reliable predictors of sexual recidivism, whereas indicators of treatment motivation and progress were noted to be poor predictors of sex”
• Desistance and Attitudes Towards Sex Offenders: Facilitation or Hindrance? (2010, background): “Once risk is factored in there are significant differences between offender groups with respect to their chances of reoffending, going beyond the 24% figure ( Hanson and Morton-Bourgon 2005 ).”
• Public Perceptions About Sex Offenders and Community Protection Policies (2007, background): “Factors associated with sex offense recidivism have been identified through research (Hanson & Bussiere, 1998; Hanson & Morton-Bourgon, 2004, 2005) and have been incorporated into the development of actuarial risk assessment instruments.”
• Deficient fear conditioning in psychopathy: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study. (2005, background): “, Rodgers, R.F., Sobolewski, G. & van Leeuwen, N. (2010). Cannabis use and delinquent behaviors in a non-clinical sample of adolescents.”
• Assessing Risk for Violence in Adolescents Who Have Sexually Offended (2008, background): “In a recent meta-analysis, Hanson and Morton-Bourgon (2005) reported that the basic sets of factors that predict sexual reoffending in adult sex offenders (e.g., deviant sex interests) also predict sexual reoffending among adolescents who have committed sexual offenses.”
• Absolute Recidivism Rates Predicted By Static-99R and Static-2002R Sex Offender Risk Assessment Tools Vary Across Samples (2012, background): “Previous research has found that the overall sexual recidivism base rate is lower than commonly expected—often in the 10% to 15% range (Hanson & Bussière, 1998; Hanson & Morton-Bourgon, 2005; A. J. R. Harris & Hanson, 2004).”
• The Good Lives Model and the Risk Need Responsivity Model (2012, background): “For example, antisocial orientation, a dynamic risk factor for general, violent, and sexual recidivism (e.g., Andrews & Bonta, 2010; Hanson & Morton-Bourgon, 2005), might represent a barrier toward fulfilling the primary good of autonomy through frequent sentences of incarceration.”