Sexual Offenders, and Forensic Psychology - Essay Example

? Sexual Offenders & Forensic Psychology and Sexual Offenders and Forensic Psychology Introduction Sexual offenders are some of the most hated people in the world; even other criminals do not like to associate with them. For a long time, sexual offenders were not well understood and there were no methods of handling sexual offenders in a better way. Research has indicated that sexual offenders have certain risk factors. For example, mentally disturbed individuals are likely to be involved in sexual offense compared to normal people. At the same time, psychologically unstable people are also likely to be involved in the offense. The advancement in technology and medicine has availed a possible method of helping the sexual offenders. Forensic psychology is a form of treatment that has been found to be very effective for this group of people. While treatment has worked for some of the sex offenders, it has not worked for others, who go back to sexual offenses. Short History of Sexual Offense and Punishment Sexual offense has been a major problem since the ancient times. There are always people who are involved in this offense in any given society at any time. Sexual offenses in the past were at several degrees. Virgin women were thought to have religious powers to fight evil spirits. Rape against virgins was common in those times. Men used to rape women so that they could have the religious powers virgins were thought to possess. However, the ancient societies valued Virgins for economic purposes and rape took away the economic benefits of Virgins in the society. Leaders did not encourage virgin raping. Rapists had severe punishments especially in the Ancient Syria and Babylon. Married men who raped virgins were put to death while unmarried men were to pay three times the bride price the father of the virgin of the father would ask and marry the virgin (Ruggiero, 1975). Sexual offenses were punished from the ancient times in other parts of the world as well. In most places, the punishment for rape was death. However, there were challenges determining if indeed a man raped a woman. There was no forensics or substantial evidence that would link a particular man in the act. At the same time, most countries were not ready to implement the severe punishment of rape cases. In that case, those who were claimed to have raped a woman were required to pay a certain fine. This has been the case for many years even in the 20th century. However, there were cases where women were raped and could do nothing about. In the 18th and 20th century, the rape was very common. When soldiers from one side defeated their opponents, they usually started raping women as the first part of the celebrations. However, things started to change in the 20th century. Women started to fight against rape and they played an important role in the change of the laws for rape punishment. Technology also improved and it was easy to determine that a particular man sexually violated a woman. Research has also improved significantly in the last few decades. Researchers have always been curious why some people engage in sexual offenses. They have tried to understand these people through research and have found quite a number of things that may be associated with sexual offenses (Smith, 1974). Sexual Offense Risk Factors It is interesting that most rape cases are perpetrated by people well know to the victims. Study indicates that more than 75% of victims are raped by people well known to them. These people have feelings towards the victims and usually have contact with them from time to time. They are usually close friends who visit each other all the time. The perpetrators take advantage of the victims when they are together in their place or in their perpetrators place. In fact, more than 70% of all rape cases take place in either these two locations. The remaining 30% take place in neither of the two places. A research indicated on military personnel confirmed all these. It was also found out that rape cases are different. While some people rape their victims forcefully randomly, others ensure their victims are under the influence of something. Perpetrators have been known to buy alcohol and other drugs for their victims before the act. The main reason for this is to have less resistance with their victims. Rape under the influence is very effective for the perpetrators. Some victims do not even realize they were raped when they wake up the following day (Sexual Assault Prevention and response Program, n.d). Research also indicates that sexual offense is likely to be committed by people with mental disorders. They do not have major mental disorders but have disorders or illnesses that affect their normal thinking. This can be disorders such as Schizophrenia, Hypomania, personality disorder and organic brain damage. People with learning disabilities or depressed have also been found to be perpetrators of sexual offenses. These people usually have sexual fantasies which may make them to follow their victims before they sexually assault them. Mentally disturbed and depressed people can rape any person including the very young, old and middle aged (Gordon, & Grubin, 2004). Psycho-treatment Sexual offenses have raised a lot of concerns in the world today. Punishments like jail terms and castration and even death have been the punishment for sex offenders in the past. However, it was realized that these do not really solve the problem. Those arrested and jailed for sometime were determined to go back to sexual offenses when they were released from prison. In this case, it was proposed that the problem be looked at from a different perspective. Psycho-treatment which is also known as forensic psychology or forensic psychiatry was proposed. The main objective of this treatment is to understand the sexual offenders through a series of assessments and guide them accordingly (Gordon, & Grubin, 2004). Diagnostic Assessment This assessment is done to determine the mental state of the sex offender, including mental disorders, learning disabilities and any other mental compromise. The assessment has to find out whether the offender has been involved in sexual activities with many partners, self sexual activities for example masturbation, sexual fantasies and uncontrollable sexual urge. This is usually based on self reporting which cannot be relied on. The perpetrators are likely to leave out some critical information making the method inaccurate. Assessors have to look for other alternatives of determining these parameters of the offender for the assessment to be effective. The criminal history of the offender has to be checked as well. People who have been involved in criminal activities are at high risk of committing sexual offenses (Baker, & White, 2002). Psychological assessment There are certain psychological characteristics that have been found to be prevalent among sex offenders. They have distorted views, emotional difficulties, self management and sexual interests. These characteristics can be determined through clinical interviews and psychometric testing which has to meet the requirements of the Sexual Evaluation Treatment Project. There are number of psychological tests done. Penile plethysmography This is an assessment to check which involves measuring the level of sexual arousal in men. A pressure sensitive device is put on the penis and sexual images are presented to the man. The idea is to determine how long it takes for the man to be sexually aroused. It is claimed that men who are sexually aroused faster in this test are likely to be highly sexually active. If they do not have sexual partners, they are likely to be involved in sexual offenses. On the other hand, those that take time to respond may not be sexually active and are not likely to be involved in sexual offenses unless they are under the influence of substance abuse or are mentally ill or depressed. While this assessment may actually determine the people who are likely to be involved in sexual offenses, it has its fair share of controversies. Critics claim that it is not a good method as offenders are exposed to sexual materials while they are in jail and may make them more prone to the same offenses when they are released (Harlow, & Scott, 2007). Abel Assessment The limitations of the penile plethysmography made assessors to come up with Abel assessment. This is based on questionnaires asked to the sex offenders on sexual fantasies and activities related to sex. This is complemented by running of images of men, women and children and their gaze checked. The offenders are likely to be more prone to the offense when they gaze with a lot of interest on certain images more keenly when they are being run through. The images that attract the attention of the offender more are determined, which may indicate their potential victims. In this case, if an offender gazes more on female images, those are their victims and if they gaze more on children images, those are the potential victims. While this assessment seems quite effective, it has not been tested widely to identify any loopholes or disadvantages of the method (Gordon, & Grubin, 2004). Polygraphy Psychologists have always believed that one on one interview with sexual offenders is the best strategy. However, the information from the offenders cannot be effective and relied on. This made psychologist to think of ways to make the process better and reliable. They believed the use of polygraphs, which determine whether a person is telling the truth of lying, would enhance self assessment. These systems have become quite common for assessment of sexual offenders as they are quite accurate (Beech, Fisher, & Thomton, 2003). However, there are claims that a person can cheat while using the machine. Emily Payne, an author with Mail Online claims that scientists have found out that some people are able to suppress their brain to avoid involuntary responses which are detected by the polygraph when someone is telling a lie. In this case, a person can tell a lie and the machine does not detect. Some people who were involved in the development of the polygraph have released information on how to beat the machine making it unreliable (Payne, 2012; Flock, 2012). The fact that these machines can be cheated has gone viral on the internet. Some people have even described how these machines can be beaten hands down. This puts the use of polygraphs at a compromising situation. After all, almost everyone including the sex offenders have access to this information. Although this information cannot be really authenticated, it could provide insights which may actually work. Treatment Successful assessment of the sex offenders provides the psychologists with the information to treat the offender. There are many options depending on the offenders. It is important to note that some offenders do not need any treatment for sexual offense but rather need treatment for associated factors such as depression or mental disorders. Mental Disease Treatment It is evident that most sexual offenders are mentally disturbed or have depression. In this case, treatment should first be focused on the mental illness or depression. Some sex offenders who have been treated adequately for mental illnesses have been found to stop sexual offenses with time. However, there is a group of mentally ill sex offenders that is not easy to treat. They have psychosis which is relatively challenging to treat. When the condition is treated well, they have been found to stop sexual offenses (Gordon, & Grubin, 2004). Hormonal Treatment This is a treatment strategy which is done by injecting some hormones in the sexual offender to reduce their sex drive. According to the human anatomy and function of the reproductive system, there are hormones that are responsible for sexual arousal. People with high levels of these hormones are likely to be involved in sexual offense compared to those with low hormonal levels. Estrogen, Cyproterone acetate and medroxyprogesterone acetate are used for this purpose. Estrogen was the first hormone to be used for reducing sex drive but had numerous side effects and was replaced by Cyproterone acetate and medroxyprogesterone acetate. Use of Cyproterone acetate reduces plasma concentration of testosterone thereby reducing sex drive. The effectiveness of this hormone was measured using the penile plethysmography. On the other hand, medroxyprogesterone acetate works by stimulating testosterone alpha-reductase leading to clearance of the testosterone from the blood stream. Self reports from sex offenders who have undergone hormonal treatment indicate that sexual fantasies and activities like masturbation decreased significantly (Gordon, & Grubin, 2004). Castration There are some places where castration of sexual offenders is recommended. However, this is not done to just anyone. First time sexual offenders may be given a benefit of doubt. However, sexual offenders who have been involved in the act severally are not very lucky. Castration is deemed as the solution to incapacitate these people sexually completely. Castration is done nowadays by the use of chemicals but there are some places where physical castration is done. The purpose of this procedure is to ensure that the sex offenders are never sexually aroused. At the same time, most sexual offenders fear the procedure which makes them to desist from sexual offenses so that they do not undergo the procedure. However, this procedure has been faced with many controversies from some political leaders and civil rights activists (Grubin, & Beech, 2010). Residency Restrictions While the methods discussed above have been working well, some jurisdictions provide residency restrictions for the sex offenders. They are supposed to live far from schools and areas where there are many potential victims for sexual offense. This has made sexual offenders to live far away from the cities because there are potential victims everywhere. In Iowa fro example, some sex offenders live together in a motel away from the cities. Some have vanished from the state for fear of the law. There are officers who keep an eye on the sexual offenders all the time. As such, the offenders know they cannot just commit the crime. This law is important for the safety of the people but has associated problems. Researchers have found out that sexual offenders affected by this law may become more isolated and unstable which may make them to engage in the same offenses and even worse (Wakefield, 2006). Research Assisted Treatment Some experts believe that the treatment options provided and restrictions may not work effectively. According to some experts, sexual urge is very powerful and may persist in human beings despite the treatment strategies. In this case, research should be done to assist in the treatment of sexual offenders. According to this group of researchers research should be based on an individual as each person is unique. A careful assessment and study should be done on them to know exactly what will work on them. They also recommend the use of behavior modification strategies for treatment that should be based on the personality, capacities and behavior of the person (Wakefield, & Underwager, 1991). Conclusion Sexual offense has been a major problem to many societies across the world since the ancient times. Punishment for the offense has been changing over the years but it seems that the previous strategies have not been working as it would be expected. Those that have been working have been faced with controversies. The invention of forensic psychology promises to change all that. There are several strategies that can be used for sexual offender treatment. While some have been embraced, others have been detested. However, it is evident that forensic psychology will work well when given the necessary attention and resources as well as support of research. References Baker, M., & White, T. (2002). Sex offenders in high-security care in Scotland. Journal of Forensic Psychiatry, 13, 285–297. Beech, A., Fisher, D., & Thomton, D. (2003). Risk assessment of sex offender. Professional Psychology Research and Practice, 34(4), 339-352. Gordon, H., & Grubin, D. (2004). Psychiatric aspects of the assessment and treatment of sex offenders. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, 10, 73-80. Grubin, D., & Beech, A. (2010). Chemical castration for sex offenders, British Medical Journal, 340, 74. Flock, E. (2012). NSA Whistleblower Reveals How To Beat Polygraph Test. U.S News. Retrieved from http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2012/09/25/nsa-whistleblower-reveals-how-to-beat-a-polygraph-test Harlow, M., & Scott, C. (2007). Penile Plethysmography Testing for Convicted Sex Offenders. Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 35(4), 536-537. Payne, E. (2013). How to cheat a lie detector test: Researchers reveal they can be tricked by suppressing certain memories. Mail Online. Retrieved from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2333398/Lie-detector-tests-limited-value-researchers-reveal-tricked-suppressing-certain-memories.html Ruggiero, G. (1975). Sexual Criminality in the Early Renaissance: Venice, 1338-1358, Journal of Social History, 8, 18-37. Smith, C. (1974). History of Rape and Rape Laws. Woman Lawyers Journal, 60, 191. Sexual Assault Prevention and response Program. (n.d). Identifying the Common Factors of Sexual Assault. Retrieved from https://www.jointservicessupport.org/SAPR/RiskFactors.aspx Wakefield, H. (2006). The Vilification of Sex Offenders: Do Laws Targeting Sex Offenders Increase Recidivism and Sexual Violence? Institute for Psychological Therapies. Retrieved from http://www.ipt-forensics.com/library/jsocc_sl01.htm Wakefield, H., & Underwager, R. (1991). Sex Offender Treatment. Retrieved from http://www.ipt-forensics.com/journal/volume3/j3_1_2.htm Read More