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Managing Sex Offenders by Assessing Dynamic Risk Factors  


Author:  Philip H.  Witt, Ph.D..; Jennifer  Schneider, Ph.D..


Source: Volume 06, Number 04, June/July 2005 , pp.49-53(5)




Sex Offender Law Report

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Abstract: 

Mental health experts have made enormous progress during recent years in assessing the risk of recidivism of sex offenders. Little more than a decade ago, no empirically validated risk assessment instruments were available for this population. If one were to read the report of any sex offender evaluation from the early 1990s (or before), one would see a relatively unstructured clinical narrative concerning risk, each narrative idiosyncratic to that evaluator (and perhaps to that evaluatee as well). Needless to say, such lack of standardization or empirical grounding did little to convince the public of mental health experts’ accuracy in assessing risk.

Keywords: 

Affiliations:  1: Psychological Services, P.A.; 2: Ann Klein Forensic Center.

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