Predicting sexual re-offending in a UK sample of adolescents with intellectual disabilities

Abstract

The current study aimed to address the paucity of research and assessment tools for adolescent males with intellectual disabilities who have sexually harmed, by comparing the predictive accuracy of the AIM2 assessment, developed with populations without intellectual disabilities, and the adapted AIM assessment, designed for this group. The sample consisted of re-offenders (sexual, n = 9; non-sexual, n = 19) and those with no further offence (n = 18). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis found that with revisions to scoring systems, both assessments could predict adolescent sexual re-offenders with significant greater accuracy than chance (area under the curve = 0.78); as well, they predicted sexual re-offending significantly better than subsequent non-sexual offending. The current study indicated that adolescents with intellectual disabilities do not require distinct risk assessment tools. Comparisons between the results from this study and findings relating to other established assessments were encouraging for the adolescent AIM assessments. Implications for practice, limitations of the current study and recommendations for future research are discussed.