NCJ Number
166757
Journal
Forum Volume: 8 Issue: 2 Dated: (May 1996) Pages: 16-17
Date Published
1996
Length
2 pages
Annotation
This article presents the methodology and findings of a study that examined mental health and psychosexual disorders among Canadian Federal sex offenders compared to non-sex offenders.
Abstract
A total of 80 male offenders were studied; all were incarcerated at a medium-security institution in Quebec; 40 were incarcerated for a sex offense, and 40 for a non-sex offense. A structured questionnaire was developed to obtain information on a variety of historical variables from offender files. These variables included demographic information, criminal history, and psychiatric history. The Hare Psychopathy Checklist was scored for each subject. Findings show that within the sex offender group, 18 offenders had victimized an adult woman, 9 had victimized a girl, 7 had victimized a boy, 3 had victimized both a boy and a girl, 2 had victimized both an adult woman and a girl, and 1 had victimized his own child. The two groups were initially compared on psychiatric diagnoses. Approximately 65 percent of the sex offenders had some mention of a psychiatric diagnosis in their file, compared with just 30 percent of the non-sex offenders. Only 62 percent of the sex-offender diagnoses and 75 percent of the non-sex offender diagnoses were consistent with the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. As for psychosexual disorders, the results indicate that sex offenders do not report more psychosexual disorders than non-sex offenders. Based on the results of the mental health survey, this shows that the approximately 25-percent incidence of psychosexual disorders applies to the overall offender population. 6 footnotes