Emotional Recognition Skills of Sex Offenders

Empathy deficits of sexual offenders: A conceptual model

“…There is some evidence that sexual offenders are poorer than average at interpreting facial emotions, although the evidence is not strong (Hudson et al, 1993;Lisak & Ivan, 1995). An interesting finding from the Hudson et al study was that the non-sexual, violent offenders showed the greatest accuracy for emotional identification.…”

“…Simply increasing the salience of victim suffering is not sufficient. Many violent offenders appear to have adequate perspective-taking skills (Hanson & Scott, 1995;Hudson et al, 1993), and increasing the salience of victim suffering increases (not decreases) the sexual arousal of some rapists (Rice, Chaplin, Harris & Coutts, 1994). These seemingly paradoxical effects can be understood, however, by considering two often-neglected factors, namely: a) the relationship between the people involved; and b) the offenders' ability to cope with perceived distress in others.…”

Affect, Emotions and Sex Offending

“…Some deficits in emotional recognition have been identified in sex offenders (Hudson et al ., 1993) but there is little clear-cut evidence that sex offenders have empathy deficits at the trait level (Marshall et al , 1999a). Smallbone, Wheaton and Hourgan (2003) have recently reviewed the evidence relating to empathy in sex offenders and conclude that findings related to trait or generalized empathy are inconsistent for both rapists and child molesters Á/ some studies support the association, others do not.…”

Social cognition in violent and sexual offending: an overview

“…Stermac & Segal, 1989). Hudson et al (1993) were perhaps the first researchers to explore less transparent means of accessing child molesters' socio-cognitive processing abilities. Hudson et al (1993) asked child molesters and community comparisons to accurately identify children and adults' emotional expressions using line drawings.…”

“…Hudson et al (1993) were perhaps the first researchers to explore less transparent means of accessing child molesters' socio-cognitive processing abilities. Hudson et al (1993) asked child molesters and community comparisons to accurately identify children and adults' emotional expressions using line drawings. The results showed that Á relative to the community comparisons Á child molesters were unable to adequately decode facial affective cues.…”