Offense-supportive Cognitions Research Articles

Childhood Adversity and Offense-Supportive Cognitions Among Czech Adults with a Sexual Interest in Violence or Children.

Individuals with paraphilic interests in sexual violence or children may be more likely to sexually offend if they possess offense-supportive cognitions. These cognitions may develop in response to childhood adversity. However, this idea is largely based on research in men convicted of sexual offenses and may not generalize to non-incarcerated adults with paraphilic interests. In a sample of 178 adults screened for paraphilic interests in violence or children (from the general Czech population), we hypothesized that childhood sexual abuse and emotional neglect would be associated with offense-supportive cognitions about rape and child molestation. Participants came from a nationally representative sample of Czech adults and were selected if they self-reported high levels of sexual interest in violence and/or children. Participants completed an online survey with self-report measures of sexual orientation, offense-supportive cognitions (Bumby RAPE and MOLEST scales), and childhood sexual abuse and emotional neglect (Childhood Trauma Questionnaire). Controlling for gender, age, and sexual orientation, we found that both rape-supportive cognitions and child molestation-supportive cognitions were significantly associated with higher levels of childhood sexual abuse, but not emotional neglect. These findings indicate that childhood sexual abuse may lead to offense-supportive cognitions among men and women with paraphilia.

Improving child sexual exploitation material investigations: Recommendations based on a review of recent research findings

Child sexual exploitation material (CSEM) investigations have emerged as an area of specialization that combines multiple skillsets. Recent research has reshaped how we view CSEM offenders – they have different offense-supportive cognitions from contact sex offenders, their use of technology is no longer based on anecdotal evidence, and approaches to investigative planning, interviewing and forensics have evolved. This paper summarizes select, relevant areas of recent research related to CSEM investigations, and makes evidence-based recommendations for evolving how we approach these efforts. Current trends from other domains, including contact tracing and mental health considerations in a remote-working environment are additionally addressed.

Childhood victimization and poly-victimization of online sexual offenders: A developmental psychopathology perspective

BackgroundResearch on childhood victimization of individuals involved in online sexual offending during adulthood is scarce. Studies focusing on adverse childhood of individuals involved in offline child abuse suggested that childhood trauma was associated with an increased probability of sexual offending during adulthood. ObjectiveThe purpose of this study is to explore the role that childhood victimization may have in the development of risk factors that increase the likelihood of being involved in online sexual offending. ParticipantsThis comparative study analyzed the characteristics of 127 individuals involved in online sexual offending who did not experience childhood victimization and 77 individuals involved in online sexual offending who experienced childhood victimization. MethodsBivariate and regression analyses were conducted to identify variables associated with the presence of victimization and polyvictimization during childhood. Next, structural equation modeling analysis was used to identify the direct and indirect relationships between childhood (poly)victimization and the development of risk factors. ResultsResults showed that individuals who experienced childhood victimization presented different risk factors and cognitions compared to those who did not. Depending on the type of victimization experienced, criminogenic cognitions, antisocial behaviors, and sexual interests for children were more likely to be developed. ConclusionsFor individuals involved in online sexual offending during adulthood, childhood abuse is directly associated with the development of offense-supportive cognitions, substance abuse, and youth engagement in sexual offending, while sexual interests for children and sense of loneliness are indirect consequences of childhood trauma.

Pornography Use, Offense-Supportive Cognitions, Atypical Sexual Interests, and Sexual Offending against Children

ABSTRACT The effects of pornography are hotly debated in the scientific literature, especially its potentially negative influence on sexual offending. While studies do not support direct effects of pornography use on sexual offending, pornography is hypothesized to have a catalytic effect among men who are predisposed to sexually offend due to the presence of other risk factors. Using a sample of 241 men varying in sexual offending history, this study examined the associations of different types of pornography consumption, offense-supportive cognitions, and atypical sexual interests on sexual offending against boys or girls. Bivariate analyses support the idea that people seek pornography that matches their sexual interests. Multivariate analyses revealed that the only type of pornography associated with contact sexual offending against boys or girls was child pornography, as it had incremental validity predicting number of victims beyond offense-supportive cognitions and atypical sexual interests. Moderation analyses suggested that, as hypothesized, child pornography consumption amplifies the effect of sexual interests for boys on sexual offending against boy victims. However, that moderation effect was not found for sexual offending against girls. Clinical and research implications are discussed, focusing on the importance of including measures of pornography consumption within forensic assessment and management protocols.

A Peek into Their Mind? An Exploration of Links Between Offense-Supportive Statements and Behaviors among Men Who Sexually Exploit Children and Adolescents Online.

While forensic psychologists have some access to their patients' thoughts when deciding on a diagnosis or appraising risk, others, such as police investigators, must rely on physical evidence and behavioral markers to make sense of a crime. Studies showing that offense-supportive cognitions constitute a risk factor for sexual offending, including offenses that take place on the internet, highlight the need for some access to offenders' thoughts. This exploratory study examines the associations between offense-supportive statements about the sexual exploitation of children and adolescents and proxy behaviors. As part of PRESEL, a collaborative research project between Québec provincial police and academic researchers, the case files of 137 men convicted of using child sexual exploitation material or committing child-luring offenses were analyzed. Results showed that many meaningful risk factors and sexual offending behavioral markers were associated with the cognitive themes Sexualization of children, Child as partner, Dangerous world, Entitlement, and Uncontrollability. The use of encryption was negatively associated with the cognition Virtual is not real while Internet is uncontrollable was associated with fewer contacts with minors over the internet. Findings are useful for understanding the psychological needs that should be targeted in treatment, as well as helping prioritize police workloads.

Attentional bias toward negative and positive pictorial stimuli and its relationship with distorted cognitions, empathy, and moral reasoning among men with intellectual disabilities who have committed crimes.

The aims of this study were to examine: (a) whether men with intellectual disabilities who have a history of criminal offending attend to affective pictorial stimuli in a biased manner, and (b) whether there is a relationship between an affective attentional bias and offense-supportive cognitions, empathy, and moral reasoning. Forty-six men with intellectual disabilities who had a documented history of criminal offending, and 51 men who also had intellectual disabilities, but no such history, were recruited and asked to complete a computer-based dot-probe task using affective pictorial stimuli with randomization, along with measures of distorted cognitions, empathy, and moral reasoning. Those with a history of criminal offending endorsed significantly more offense-supportive cognitions, had significantly lower general empathy, and more "mature" moral reasoning, as well as a significant attentional bias toward affective pictorial stimuli. Attentional bias significantly predicted offense-supportive cognitions, and vice versa, having controlled for offense history, and Full-Scale IQ, but this was not the case for empathy or moral reasoning. While the findings require replication, interventions that aim to modify attention bias with this population should be tested.

Offense-Supportive Cognitions Expressed by Men Who Use Internet to Sexually Exploit Children: A Thematic Analysis.

Although offense-supportive cognitions are related to the maintenance of contact sexual offending behavior, it is unknown whether this finding also applies to online sexual offending behavior. A few studies have examined the cognitions of men convicted for using child sexual exploitation material, but findings remain limited due to important methodological limitations. Furthermore, fewer studies have investigated the cognitions of men who use the internet to solicit sexual activities with children. The objective of this study was to examine the nature of the cognitions that support online sexual offending against children. The content of police interviews was analyzed using a thematic analysis to identify the cognitive themes present in the offense-related views expressed by 20 men who consumed child sexual exploitation material, 15 who sexually solicited children, and 18 who committed both types of online offenses. Results revealed eight cognitive themes that reflected four underlying themes related to interpersonal relationships, the sexualisation of children, perceptions of the self, and perceptions of the virtual environment. Findings indicate that while the cognitive themes of the three groups are similar, their specific content varies according to the types of offenses. Implications for future research are discussed.

The motivations of female child sexual offenders: A systematic review of the literature

Abstract The aim of the literature review presented here was to identify goals and offense-supportive cognitions that act as motivational factors in the sexual offending against children committed by females. A scoping search revealed that there was currently no review in this area. A systematic search of empirical research that examined motivations in female child sexual offenders (FCSOs) was initiated based upon an inclusion and exclusion criteria. Identified studies were screened and reference lists were hand searched. A quality assessment tool reviewed the strengths and weaknesses of the final 13 articles. A data extraction form established for the current review enabled the extraction of standardized information. The review identified support for many motivational factors in FCSOs, which have previously been referred to in the literature. The review has categorized these into motivations and offense-supportive cognitions. There was strong support for the following motivations and goals: offending under coercion of an abusive co-offender, offending to meet one's own needs and offending to feel power and control over another. The strongest offense-supportive cognitions were entitlement and uncontrollability. There was an apparent overlap between the two categories, with some offense-supportive cognitions and functions amalgamating to facilitate females to engage in offending behavior. Limitations of the present literature and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Implicit Theories of Child Sexual Exploitation Material Offenders: Cross-Cultural Validation of Interview Findings.

Offense-supportive cognitions are thought to result from underlying implicit theories (ITs). As child sexual exploitation material (CSEM) users are a distinct type of sex offender, Bartels and Merdian proposed that CSEM offenders hold five different ITs from those endorsed by contact sex offenders (i.e., Unhappy World, Self as Uncontrollable, Child as Sexual Object, Nature of Harm [CSEM variant], and Self as Collector), linked by an assumption about the Reinforcing Nature of the Internet. This article reports a conceptual content analysis of 23 interviews conducted with CSEM offenders in the United Kingdom and Spain. Support for all CSEM-specific ITs was found across both samples, providing an empirical validation of this conceptualization. Finally, four ITs originally identified for contact sex offenders were also identified, namely, Uncontrollability, Child as Sexual Being, Dangerous World, and Nature of Harm. Further validation of CSEM-related ITs is encouraged.

A Billion Distorted Thoughts: An Exploratory Study of Criminogenic Cognitions Among Men Who Sexually Exploit Children Over the Internet

There is evidence that endorsing a higher level of offense-supportive cognitions is associated with contact sexual offending. Such an association assumes the construct of cognitions as unidimensional, thus ignoring the possibility that specific subtypes of cognitions exist and that certain may be criminogenic. To investigate this possibility, this study aimed at examining the associations between criminal behaviors and cognitive themes found in the discourse of men who engage in sexual offenses against children over the Internet. Through the discourse of a sample of 60 men with online child sexual exploitation material and solicitation offenses, a previous study identified eight cognitive themes: Uncontrollability, Nature of harm, Child as sexual being, Child as partner, Dangerous world, Entitlement, Virtual is not real, and Internet is uncontrollable. These themes were not investigated for their criminogenic nature. Thus, in this study, bivariate analyses were used to determine whether these cognitive themes were linked to three indicators of criminal behaviors: the extent of criminal charges, the diversity of offending behaviors, and the nature of contact with victims. Results suggest that, taken as a whole, online sexual offense-supportive cognitions may not be criminogenic. Moreover, only cognitive themes related to antisocial orientation and atypical sexuality were found linked with criminal behaviors, although associations found remain limited. Findings and associated implications are further discussed for research and clinical purposes.

The Development and Validation of the Cognitions of Internet Sexual Offending (C-ISO) Scale

Tools designed to measure the cognitions of individuals who engage in sexual activities with children over the Internet are either based on knowledge about men who had committed contact sexual offenses or cognitive phenomena not specifically associated to offending behaviors. Thus, there is no validated tool specifically designed to assess the offense-supportive cognitions of men who use the Internet to sexually offend children. This study developed and validated the Cognitions of Internet Sexual Offending (C-ISO) scale. A sample of 241 men with online and contact sexual as well as with nonsexual offenses completed the C-ISO scale and its psychometric properties, and latent structure was analyzed using both Classical Test Theory (CTT) and Item Response Theory (IRT), resulting in a final version containing 31 items. The analyses indicate that the C-ISO has excellent psychometric properties and discriminates men with online sexual offenses from those with contact sexual and nonsexual offenses. Implications of the findings for clinical practice and future research are discussed.

Child Sexual Exploitation Materials Offenders

Abstract. The downloading and possession of Child Sexual Exploitation Materials (CSEM; also referred to as child pornography and indecent images of children) is a commonly convicted type of Internet sexual offenses. This review summarizes the current state of knowledge on CSEM offenders. We first provide a summary of the key motivations of CSEM offenders, characteristics of CSEM offenders compared to contact sexual offenders against children, and important facilitative factors. We then review the factors related to recidivism among CSEM offenders. Finally, we describe current developments in the risk assessment, police case prioritization, and treatment approaches for CSEM offenders. Generally, CSEM offenders hold a sexual interest in children, are low on antisocial tendencies, and pose a low risk to reoffend (including contact sexual offending). Key facilitative factors for CSEM offending include access to children, offense-supportive cognitions, and sexual arousal. Factors indicative of antisocial tendencies (e.g., criminal history) are associated with an increased risk of reoffending. Lastly, we address atypical sexual interest, socio-affective dysfunctions, and strategies for maintaining an offense-free lifestyle as key treatment targets for CSEM offenders. Lower treatment dosage, however, should be considered given CSEM-exclusive offenders’ lower risk level for contact sexual offenses. We hope that this review will inspire others to explore the current research gaps in future studies.

A Preliminary Investigation Into a Range of Implicit and Explicit Offense Supportive Cognitions in Perpetrators of Physical Intimate Partner Violence.

The current study assessed a wide range of offense supportive cognitions in relation to the perpetration of physical intimate partner violence (IPV). This research used both implicit and explicit measures in a U.K. sample of 19 male IPV perpetrators recruited from a community-based IPV intervention program and 20 men from the community with no history of IPV. The study also explored the ability of the implicit measures to differentiate between the two groups. The cognitions assessed included gender-role stereotype, attitudes condoning violence against a partner, attitudes condoning violence in general, hostile attitudes toward women, sense of entitlement in the relationship and over the intimate partner (control and dominance), and general sense of entitlement. Participants completed a number of established self-report measures and a series of computer-based reaction time tasks including two implicit association tests, one go/no-go association task, and four sentence judgment tasks. Significant group differences emerged across all measures both at the explicit and at the implicit level. Most implicit measures had very good discriminatory power, and the combination of all implicit measures showed excellent discriminatory power, equal to that of the explicit measures combined. These findings suggest that some IPV perpetrators hold offense supportive cognitions that may have become fairly well established and have started to operate at an automatic level. Implicit measures could be useful tools for risk assessment purposes and identification of treatment needs alongside already established measures.

Interpreting Child Sexual Abuse: Empathy and Offense-Supportive Cognitions among Child Sex Offenders

Researchers have suggested that child sex offenders hold distorted views on social interactions with children. Misinterpreting children’s behavior and intentions could lead to sexually abusive behavior toward children. It is further suggested that the interpretation process is influenced by offenders’ offense-supportive cognitions and levels of empathy. To examine the relationships between these three concepts, 47 contact offenders completed self-reports on offense-supportive cognitions and empathy. Vignettes were developed to assess the extent to which offenders attributed responsibility, benefit, and complicity to children in hypothetical child molestation incidents. This study showed that cognitions that justify sexual offending against children seem to diminish the threshold for sexual assault by assigning more cooperation and willingness of the victim in a child molestation incident.

Understanding gang membership: The significance of group processes

Gang researchers have robustly established that gangs facilitate increased criminal activity in members—even those who were prolifically delinquent before gang membership (Klein, Weerman, & Thornberry, 2006). This suggests that there is something about gang membership, specifically, that influences individuals’ criminality. However, so far it is not clear what this influence is. This paper, taking a social psychological perspective on gang membership considers the potential influence that group processes exert on gang members to identify with a gang, to conform to group norms, become cohesive and to strive to acquire group goals—such as status. It further speculates that adherence to group norms may cultivate gang members’ social cognitions such as moral disengagement, offense supportive cognitions, and rumination. Conclusions note how group processes deserve closer research attention due to their potential for informing more accurate gang interventions to deter potential members and to reduce existing gang membership.

Undetected and detected child sexual abuse and child pornography offenders

Current knowledge about risk factors for child sexual abuse and child pornography offenses is based on samples of convicted offenders, i.e., detected offenders. Only few studies focus on offenders not detected by the criminal justice system.In this study, a sample of 345 self-referred pedophiles and hebephiles was recruited from the community. All participants met DSM-IV-TR criteria for pedophilia or hebephilia (paraphilia not otherwise specified), were assured of confidentiality, and self-reported lifetime sexual offending against prepubescent and/or pubescent children.Two sets of group comparisons were conducted on self-report data of risk factors for sexual reoffending. Measures of risk factors address the following dimensions identified in samples of convicted offenders: sexual preferences (i.e. co-occurring paraphilias), sexual self-regulation problems, offense-supportive cognitions, diverse socio-affective deficits, and indicators of social functioning (e.g., education, employment). Men who admitted current or previous investigation or conviction by legal authorities (detected offenders) were compared with those who denied any detection for their sexual offenses against children (undetected offenders). Group comparisons (detected vs. undetected) were further conducted for each offense type separately (child pornography only offenders, child sexual abuse only offenders, mixed offenders).Although there were more similarities between undetected and detected offenders, selected measures of sexual-self regulation problems, socio-affective deficits, and social functioning data demonstrated group differences.

Androgen deprivation therapy of self-identifying, help-seeking pedophiles in the Dunkelfeld

Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) is considered an effective strategy in sexual offender treatment. However, the evidence base concerning its effects on sexual arousal control is limited. Past research has focused almost exclusively on men in forensic contexts.The present retrospective observational study provided data on ADT in a sample of self-identifying, help-seeking pedohebephilic men applying for a one-year group therapy program. Factors possibly influencing the readiness to take up or discontinue ADT were presented. Effects of a combination of ADT and group psychotherapy program on changes in paraphilic sexual behavior and associated psychological factors were examined.The proportion of men having taken up ADT was rather small (n=15). Greater awareness of potentially risky situations to commit child sexual offenses and self-rated uncontrollability of sexual urges were identified as characterizing men resorting to ADT. Additionally, these men were initially more open to include medical treatment.Examination of the effects of ADT and psychotherapy was limited to a sample of six men providing complete data sets. Descriptive data demonstrated a reduction of paraphilic sexual behaviors, an increase of risk-awareness and self-efficacy, and a decrease of offense-supportive cognitions and self-esteem. The present study underlined the importance of careful education and monitoring of self-identifying, help-seeking pedohebephilic patients interested in ADT concerning the effects and side effects of the treatment in a clinical context.

Offense-Related Interpretative Bias in Female Child Molesters

Although female child molesters are hypothesized to hold offense-supportive cognitions that facilitate their sexual offenses, there have been no implicit social-cognitive studies used to investigate this. Using an implicit memory recognition paradigm, it is shown that female child molesters--relative to female offender controls--are more likely to interpret ambiguous information about males in a threatening manner. These results suggest that female child molesters hold a series of beliefs about men's dangerousness and power. The authors discuss these results and explore the possibility that these beliefs about male dangerousness are related to a risk of abusing children.

Linking Violent Thinking

Violent offenders often articulate offense-supportive cognitions during rehabilitation, yet these statements have received little theoretical attention, and intervention approaches have targeted each type of statement individually, as if they were unrelated. An implicit theory approach to cognitions has proved fruitful for research and intervention. The authors apply it to violent offenders. The first study presents a grounded theory investigation of offense-supportive cognition in prisoners attending an intensive rehabilitation program for violent offenders. Analysis of offense transcripts enabled the identification of several implicit theories. These results were refined with a second sample and trialed in the rehabilitation program. Findings suggest that several implicit theories held by violent offenders are linked to each other through the widespread normalization of violence. Few offenders experienced their violent behavior as abnormal, or completely outside of their control, once initiated. The authors make suggestions for enhancing the empirical status of this research domain, particularly through experimental investigations.