False Positives Among Adolescent Sex Offenders

Abstract

The ability of the Millon Adolescent Clinical Inventory(MACI; Millon, 1993) to identify serious adolescent, male sexual-offenders and to predict their recidivism following treatment was examined. MACI scores were evaluated for 381 adolescent, male sexual-offenders adjudicated delinquent for felony crimes and given maximum sentences, and, on the basis of detailed court and clinical records, diagnosed as conduct-disordered (79.5%) or antisocial-behaviored (20.5%). No mean MACI Base Rate Scores exceeded the clinically significant threshold, indicating low sensitivity from the MACI for identifying individuals as belonging in this extreme population of offenders and no ability from the MACI for predicting recidivism in this group on community release following treatment. The MACI, and possibly self-report instruments in general, is simply not sufficient for these purposes.