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Abstract: 

Based on decades of research, it is fair to say that issues associated with substance abuse are well-established as relevant to the understanding of violent offending generally and sexual offending specifically. As early as 1998, Andrews and Bonta included issues associated with substance abuse as one of the “central eight” risk factors in their Risk Need Responsivity (RNR) Model and posited that substance abuse was related to an increased risk of recidivism among offender populations. Given the influential nature of the RNR Model, issues associated with substance abuse have subsequently been incorporated into various well-regarded risk assessment instruments (e.g., the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised). This article examines whether particular patterns of substance abuse are associated with different patterns of violent offending and, if so, how such data might offer suggestions as to how to best approach issues associated with substance abuse with different groups of violent offenders. The authors conclude that the available evidence suggests that individuals who commit sexual offenses demonstrate more difficulties with alcohol abuse than with drug abuse compared to groups who commit violent nonsexual offenses. After discussing the relevant research, this article discusses how these findings may be applied in clinical practice.

Keywords: Substance Abuse, Recidivism, and Causality; Alcohol Use, Negative Emotionality, and Sex Offending

Affiliations:  1: Ontario Tech University; 2: Private Practice; 3: John Jay College; 4: Private Practice; 5: Ontario Tech University.