Suchergebnisse

In der Studie wird die erste umfassende Bestandsaufnahme des Vollzugs vorbeugender Maßnahmen vorgestellt. Es handelt sich dabei um die in Österreich gängige Form der Unterbringung zurechnungsunfähiger geistig abnormer Rechtsbrecher zur Behandlung und Neutralisierung der Gefährlichkeit. Gemessen am strafgerichtlichen Interventionsaufkommen sind vorbeugende Maßnahmen nur von marginaler Bedeutung. Bei der Straftäterpopulation handelt es sich häufig um einen im Zusammenhang mit Gewaltdelikten auffällig gewordenen männlichen Täterkreis. Sexualdelikte spielen hier eine geringe Rolle. Verglichen mit anderen vorbeugenden Maßnahmen und dem Regelvollzug stellt sich die Legalbewährung der entlassenen Patienten recht vorteilhaft dar. Aus Unterbringungen entlassene zurechnungsfähige Straftäter mit psychischen Störungen und aus Freiheitsstrafen von mehr als einem Jahr entlassene Strafgefangene weisen deutlich höhere Wiederverurteilungsraten auf. Aufgrund der Unterschiedlichkeit der den verschiedenen Interventionsformen zugeteilten Straftätergruppen ist mit einer solchen Gegenüberstellung noch keine unmittelbare Wirkungsanalyse geleistet. Die Befunde stimmen aber optimistisch, was die rückfallpräventiven Leistungen des Maßnahmenvollzugs betrifft. (ICF2)

The aim of the present study was to examine the psychometric properties of the German version of the revised Violence Risk Appraisal Guide (VRAG), the VRAG-R. Therefore, VRAG-R ratings were made retrospectively in an Austrian sample of 534 individuals convicted of a sexual offense who were followed up with an average of 7.62 years. The VRAG-R showed large effect sizes for the predictive accuracy of violent (AUC = .75) and general recidivism (AUC = .78) and significant but rather small effect sizes (AUC = .63 and .61, respectively) in predicting any sexual and sexual contact recidivism. Furthermore, for the prediction of violent recidivism but not for sexual recidivism the VRAG-R was incrementally predictive beyond the Sex Offender Risk Appraisal Guide (SORAG) and the Static-99. Finally, the VRAG-R absolute recidivism rates for the risk bins showed satisfactory calibration properties. Taken together, the results of the present study support the cross-national utility of the VRAG-R and its use in applied risk assessment settings also in German-speaking countries.

The predictive accuracy of STABLE-2000 and STABLE-2007 was examined within a prospective research design in a German-speaking sample of 263 adult male prison-released sexual offenders followed up for an average of 6.4 years. The STABLE-2007 was significantly related to all outcomes (AUC = 0.67-0.71), whereas the STABLE-2000 demonstrated only weak predictive accuracy for sexual reoffense (AUC = 0.62). Supporting the results of the construction sample, the STABLE-2007 incrementally added to the predictive accuracy of the STATIC-99 for violent and general reoffense (conviction and incarceration). Moreover, the STABLE-2007 total scores and the nominal risk/need categories made significant incremental contributions over the SORAG for predicting sexual reoffense.

Child sexual abuse occurring in a child- or youth-serving institution or organization has attracted great public and scientific attention. In light of the particular personal and offense-related characteristics of men who have abused children within such an institution or organization, it is of special importance to evaluate the predictive performance of currently applied risk assessment instruments in this offender population. Therefore, the present study assessed the risk ratings and predictive performance of four risk assessment instruments and one instrument assessing protective factors concerning any, violent and sexual recidivism in child sexual abusers working with children (CSA-W) in comparison with extra-familial child sexual abusers (CSA-E) and intra-familial child sexual abusers (CSA-I). The results indicate that CSA-W mostly recidivate with a sexual offense. Although all included risk measures seem to function with CSA-W, the Static-99 seems to be the instrument that performs best in predicting sexual recidivism in CSA-W. CSA-W had the most protective factors measured with the Structured Assessment of PROtective Factors (SAPROF). While the SAPROF could not predict desistance from recidivism in CSA-W, it predicted desistance from any recidivism in all CSA. As CSA-W frequently hold many indicators for pedophilic sexual interests but only a few for antisocial tendencies, it can be suggested that CSA-W are at an increased risk for sexual recidivism and thus risk measures especially designed for sexual recidivism work best in CSA-W. Nevertheless, CSA-W also hold many protective factors; however, their impact on CSA-W is not clear yet and needs further study.

I thoroughly recommend this book for anyone interested in current thinking and ideas around sex offender assessment and treatment. Importantly it covers a wide variety of ideas from experts from a number of countries and disciplines, and is therefore indispensible. -Anthony Beech, Professor in Criminological Psychology, Centre for Forensic and Criminological Psychology, University of Birmingham, UK.