Risk Assessments of Female Sex Offenders: Actuarial Tools Versus Clinical Criteria

Abstract

The purpose of this talk is to present a study on risk assessments of female sex offenders. The literature on this issue focuses mainly on male sex offenders. By contrast, the literature on female sex offenders is scarce and mostly recent. Moreover, the law regarding sex offenders does not usually deal with offences committed by females. For example, in Israel section 345 of the criminal code refers solely to male rapists. In recent years we are witnessing a rise in the number females who are brought to justice for committing sex offences. Sex offence assessment is a professional process whereby the probability that a certain behavior will occur within certain terms and in a given range of time is assessed. The assessment takes into account the attributes of both, the assault and the perpetrator. During the last few years much research on risk assessment of male sex offenders has been carried out. However, research on female sex offenders is scanty. As of today, there is no theoretical or data base for assessing sexual recidivism of female sex offenders. Assessment criteria are still unclear, and it is still impossible to ascertain whether the actuarial tools which are commonly used for risk assessment of male sexual offenders are valid for females. In the present study actuarial tools and clinical criteria for assessing female sex offenders were compared. The main finding we found is correlation between actuarial tools and dynamic criteria. The main criticism is that the actuarial tools includes