Assessment of the Concurrent Validity of a Child Molester Typology

• NCJ Number: 118528
• Journal: Journal of Interpersonal Violence Volume: 4 Issue: 2 Dated: (June 1989) Pages: 131-150
• Author(s): R A Knight
• Date Published: 1989
• Length: 20 pages
• Grant Number(s): MH 32309; 82-IJ-CX-0058
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: NIJ Reprint

Annotation

The assignments of 177 child molesters to the Massachusetts Treatment Center Child Molester Typology (MTC:CM3) were examined to determine whether the distribution of offenders into the proposed types was consistent with the underlying structural hypotheses.

Abstract

Knight, Carter, and Prentley (1989) proposed a typology that attempts to meet the need for a clearly operationalized, reliable, valid taxonomic system for child molesters. In creating this typology, they made several assumptions about the interrelations among the components of their system. It was essential that the validity of these assumptions be tested because these hypothetical relations provided critical structural underpinnings for MTC:CM3. Analysis of the results corroborated in every case the distribution of offenders according to the structural hypotheses. Tables, figures, and 16 references. (Author abstract modified)