NCJ Number
209138
Journal
Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment Volume: 17 Issue: 1 Dated: January 2005 Pages: 13-30
Date Published
January 2005
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This article reports the findings of three studies that assessed the factor structure and validity of the Juvenile Sex Offender Assessment Protocol (J-SOAP)
Abstract
Previous research has disagreed over the rate of sexual reoffending for juvenile sex offenders; some studies have indicated low sexual recidivism rates while others have found high sexual recidivism rates among this population of offenders. In 1994, the J-SOAP was developed to answer the need for a structured measure of recidivism risk among juvenile sex offenders. The J-SOAP has been subjected to many analyses since its development to examine its psychometric properties and its validity. The 3 studies reported on here examined the J-SOAP's factor structure and its concurrent validity among a group of 134 male juveniles drawn from the State of Maine. Trained coders reviewed the data on the juvenile offenders and coded the J-SOAP; coders also coded the Youth Level of Service/Case Management Inventory (YLS/CMI) in order to assess the ability of the J-SOAP to differentiate between juvenile sex offenders in the community and juvenile sex offenders in residential placement. Results indicated support for the a priori factor structure of the J-SOAP and for the composition of the four subscales of the J-SOAP. The concurrent validity of the J-SOAP was supported by high correlations with the YLS/CMI total score. Based on the findings, the authors revised the J-SOAP and are currently investigating the revisions with a sample of 600 youths; findings will be presented in a forthcoming paper. Tables, references