Clinical assessment of adult sexual offenders with learning disabilities

Controversies in assessing risk and deviancy in sex offenders with intellectual disabilities

“…A major source of criticism with using this technology is the problem of faked responding where the ability to inhibit sexual arousal has been reported (Marshall & Fernandez, 2000). Tudway and Darmoody (2005) suggest that a lack of consistency in stimulus sets, poor discrimination abilities, and problems with regard to the nature and constitution of the populations in the studies using PPG, mean that such measures may be problematic with ID groups. An alternative to PPG technologies is that of 'reaction time' as a method of establishing sexual interest.…”

“…Although there are few measures designed to assess sexual deviancy of adult sexual offenders with ID, this does not lead to the conclusion that sexual preference should not be considered as a motivating factor in this client group (Tudway & Darmoody, 2005). The assessment of sexual preference in this client group is primarily limited to the clinical assessment of sexual interests and appetites (Swaffer, Hollin, Beech, Beckett, & Fisher, 2000).…”

“…An alternative to PPG technologies is that of 'reaction time' as a method of establishing sexual interest. As Tudway and Darmoody (2005) observe, this methodology exploits Singer's (1984) three-stage theory of sexual attraction in males in which the first stage is increased visual attention; the second stage is movement toward the desired object; and the third stage is resulting physiological arousal. Initial research results are promising (Abel, Huffman, Warberg, & Holland, 1998) although it is not clear whether this procedure has been standardized on sexual offenders with ID.…”