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Bachelor Thesis

They were asking for it: Do sexual offenders

hold attitudes and beliefs that are supportive of

their offensive behaviour?

Name: Rachel Koerssen Student nr: 10004910/6219861 Teacher: Bruno Verschuere Version: Second draft Date: 11 January, 2015 Total abstract: 120

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Index

Abstract………3 Introduction……….……….3 1. Do sexual offenders hold pro-offensive implicit theories? ……….7 2. Do female and juvenile sex offender groups also hold attitudes and beliefs that are supportive of their offensive behaviour?...11 3. Do sex offenders have Early Maladaptive Schemas, which help form pro-offensive attitudes and beliefs?...………..14 4. Discussion………...16 5. References………...21

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Do sexual offenders hold attitudes and beliefs that are supportive of their offensive behaviour?

Abstract

Whether or not sex offenders hold pro-offense beliefs has been debated in literature for some time. Several authors reached the conclusion that such attitudes and beliefs preclude criminal activity. Others concluded that pro-offense beliefs are simply post-crime justification. To what extent has this been supported by empirical research? This review addresses several aspects of this question. Sex offenders, whether male, female, juvenile or adult, were found to endorse pro-offensive attitudes and beliefs and possess Early Maladaptive Schemas, which formed their beliefs. However, replication of these studies is needed, as they are often exploratory in nature and miss key elements such as control groups. Conclusions generally support Ward’s implicit theories and may provide better insight into material to be addressed in therapy.

Introduction

On 1 September 1995, Paul Bernardo was convicted of two of the most gruesome rape/murder cases in the history of Canada. It would be later published that thirty rape cases could be linked to him and his wife, Karla Homolka (Campbell, 1996). Bernardo was classified as an anger-type rapist, using rape as a means of punishment and retaliation. Looking into Bernardo’s childhood and early adulthood, one finds a number of risk factors that may have lead to his later deviant behaviour. Besides a family history of sexual assault, Bernardo displayed both disgust for women and hegemonistic attitudes, such as a right to sex, whether or not the partner

consented. In college, he expressed a sense of entitlement to his deviant sexual fantasies, usually involving sex as a form of retaliation and punishment (Pardue & Arrigo, in press). While Paul Bernardo expressed these views before he committed his most heinous crimes, it remains unclear if such views were post-crime justification for his lesser crimes or existed in the form of pro-offensive attitudes and beliefs prior to his criminal activity. Knowing these beliefs and attitudes may have helped Bernardo act on his deviant sexual fantasies begs the question if such pre-offense attitudes can be found in most sex offenders and if it proliferated them in their offensive behaviour.

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According to the United States Department of Justice, 18% of women have been raped during their lifetime. More than one third of sexual assault victims are between the ages of 12 and 17 (NSOPW, 2014). Victims of sexual assault are at an increased risk of developing psychopathology, including they are three times more likely to develop depression, 26 times more likely to abuse drugs and a quadrupled chance of suicide contemplation than women who have not experienced sexual assault (RAINN, 2009). Approximately 15,000 sex offenders are released from American prisons every year. Given that 12 to 24% of sex offenders within the United States continue to offend after their initial crime (within a follow-up period ranging from 1-27.5 years), it is prudent that we understand and eventually treat the factors that develop and cultivate their offensive behaviour (NSOPW, 2014).

Various theories regarding attitudes and beliefs that promote sexual offences have been formed over the years. Drieschner and Lange (1999) concluded that cognitive distortions were in part the result of underdeveloped social skills, such as the inability to decipher female friendliness from sexual advances. Sexual offending was also linked to psychopathy, personality disorders, problematic self-management, history of childhood sexual abuse, substance abuse and emotional distress (Beech and Ward, 2004). Ward (2000) hypothesized that pedosexuals’ pro-offensive attitudes and beliefs could be summed up into five implicit theories, namely: children as sexual beings, uncontrollability of sexuality, sexual entitlement bias, the nature of harm, and dangerous world. These implicit theories can be defined as follows:

 Children as sexual beings: Children are sexual by nature and desire to explore their sexuality with an adult.

 Uncontrollability of sexuality: The male sexual drive is extremely difficult to control, especially if a man has not been recently sexually active, is under the influence of drugs or alcohol or is currently aroused.

 Sexual Entitlement: Male sexual desire is a need that men are entitled to. Women or children are to be submissive to this need.

 Nature of harm: Sexual relations with a child do not harm the child or cause little distress.

 Dangerous world: Society is malicious and dangerous and one must always be on guard for the possibility of being misused (Ward, 2000; Polaschek & Ward, 2002).

Polaschek and Ward (2002) recognised the importance of some of these theories for rapists, namely Male sex drive is uncontrollable, entitlement and

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dangerous world. However, nature of harm and children as sexual beings were not found to be applicable to those whose sexual crimes were not directed at children. They added two implicit theories that may be particularly important for rapists:  Women are unknowable/dangerous: Women do what they can to manipulate men and are malicious by nature. They differ greatly from men in such a way that it is impossible for men to understand them.

 Women are sex objects: Women always desire sex, whether or not it is verbally consensual.

The acquisition of these implicit theories is explained by the information processing theory, which states that early life-experiences affect the way that information is stored (Fiske & Taylor, 1991). The schemas that are developed at a younger age eventually form into thoughts and beliefs that direct behaviour in

adulthood (Ward, 2000). For example, a child growing up with poor social skills and an abusive mother may develop schemas of abandonment and social isolation, which later form the implicit theory: women are unknowable/dangerous.

However, it remains unclear if the cognitive distortions held by sex offenders are indeed offense-supportive attitudes and beliefs that precede and maintain their behaviour, or if they are formed as a justification post-criminal activity. Nunes and Jung (2012) found in their study that cognitive distortions on the one hand and denial and minimisation of their sex crimes on the other hand correlated, but were distinct. Additionally, Marshall, Marshall and Kingston (2011) argued that cognitive

distortions in sex offenders is a normal occurrence and that it is in fact normal to form excuses and attempt to justify behaviour. Understanding the existence and nature of offense-supportive attitudes and beliefs in sex offenders may be important in developing treatment, promoting recidivism and perhaps most importantly,

developing offense-prevention programs. Therefore, this literature review will explore the question: Do sexual offenders hold attitudes and beliefs that are supportive of their offensive behaviour?

First, the question of whether sexual offenders hold offense-supportive attitudes and beliefs will be addressed by delving into the possibility that sex offenders, specifically adult male rapists, child molesters, rape-prone men and Internet-only offenders, hold Ward’s five implicit theories. However, at face value, Ward’s five implicit theories appear to be masculine in nature. Insight into the

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help in deciphering if Ward’s implicit theories are specific to sex offending or are perhaps the result of other outside factors, such as the influence of a male dominating society. It is also essential to understand the development of such implicit theories by exploring the possibility of their existence in adolescent sex offenders. Research on both female and juvenile sex offenders is also at an infantile stage, leading to a great deal of misunderstanding and stereotypes within society. Therefore, the question of whether female and juvenile sex offender groups also hold attitudes and beliefs that are supportive to their offensive behaviour will also be addressed. Lastly, the origins of pro-offensive attitudes and beliefs will be reviewed. The question of whether sex offenders have Early Maladaptive Schemas, which help form pro-offensive attitudes and beliefs, will be addressed.

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Do sexual offenders hold pro-offensive implicit theories?

“I don’t really think she knew what she wanted. I’m not saying she didn’t enjoy [the rape]…but I’m saying she had an ulterior motive. At that stage I don’t even know if the motive was the money but, she wanted somebody in her life…and I seemed to be all the things she was lacking in her life…She was a slut and she suited my purpose, and it was a game of cat and mouse…and she lost the game, and out of spite she attacked me through the law, the best way that she could.” (Quotation from Offender #4, Polaschek & Gannon, 2004).

While the offender quoted in the study from Polaschek and Gannon (2004) clearly reveals pro-offensive views regarding his crime and his views regarding women being both malicious and deceptive, this particular rapist continued to deny any non-consensual sexual activity had occurred long into his sentence.

Understanding implicit theories of sexual offenders often gives insight into cognitive distortions that are not explicitly expressed, giving further understanding into various automatic thoughts and core beliefs which should be addressed in therapy. According to Polaschek and Gannon (2004), all five implicit theories could be found within convicted rapists, including the implicit theory women are dangerous, which had not been established as a typically held implicit theory until their study. Thirty-seven currently incarcerated rapists participated in a semi-structured interview, which addressed the crimes committed, post-crime reactions and general upbringing of the offender. The content of the interviews was later scored using Ward’s implicit theories by two independent coders. All five implicit theories were found within the study’s sample, with women are sex objects as the most commonly found implicit theory (two thirds of the participants). Women are dangerous was found to be more common than women are unknowable, encouraging revision to the original implicit theories. Male sex drive is unknowable was found to be the least common implicit theory (16%). No other new implicit theories were found. However, several aspects of the study were exploratory and the lack of a control group makes it difficult to draw a staunch conclusion.

Opposing results were found in a group of rape-prone men in a study

conducted by Blake and Gannon (2014). Seventy-eight university students conducted the Rape Proclivity Measure (Bohner et al. 1998) and the Rape Scale (Bumby, 1996),

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which determined whether or not they were prone to raping women. Subsequently, the students participated in an interpretative bias task, which both implicitly (via an interpretative bias task) and explicitly (via the Rape Proclivity Scale and Rape Scale) tested the participants for the implicit theories women are sex objects, women are unknowable, and male sex drive is uncontrollable. Results showed that rape-prone participants had a slightly higher score for women are sex objects, but that no

difference for the other implicit theories could be found. It remains unfortunate that a third group involving convicted rapists was not used in order to further compare pre- and post-crime implicit theories. Such a control group could have brought

clarification if such theories function as motivation for criminal activity or as post-crime justification for criminal actions. Also, it remains possible that social desirability may have played a role in the answers given by the participating university students. The sexual nature of women is an idea widely promoted in

Western society, making it a more admissible idea than the other two implicit beliefs. A number of studies were also conducted in order to test implicit theories within child molesters. All five of Ward’s implicit theories were found in child molesters according to Marziano, Ward, Beech and Pattison (2006). Participants consisted of twenty-two child sexual abusers who were being assessed for a cognitive behavioural treatment program. The convicts were given a semi-structured interview that was later scored for Ward’s implicit theories. Acceptance was found for Child as a sexual being (28%), Uncontrollability (26%), Dangerous world (22%), Nature of harm (14%) and Entitlement (10%). All participants displayed at least one implicit theory, although the majority endorsed multiple implicit theories. Participants who had been victims of sexual abuse were found to have a higher score for dangerous world than those without a history of abuse. While all implicit theories were present, the endorsement of Ward’s implicit theories was considerably lower than the results found by Polaschek and Gannon (2004) in rapists. However, the number of

participants is considerably small, and willingness to enter therapy may have biased the results and explain the difference in prevalence of implicit theories with Polaschek and Gannon (2004). A willingness to enter therapy may imply recognition of a

problem by the offenders and thus, be more willing to admit pro-offensive thoughts that support their problematic behaviour.

The endorsement of Ward’s implicit theories in child molesters was further supported by a study from Mihailides, Devilly and Ward (2004). Participants

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consisted of twenty-five incarcerated male child sex offenders, twenty-five incarcerated male non sex-related offenders, twenty-five male non-offenders and twenty-five female non-offenders. The participants completed a series of implicit association tests (a test designed to study automatic associations between two

contrasting concepts), which measured the implicit theories children as sexual beings, uncontrollability of sexuality and sexual entitlement bias. All questions contrasted either endorsement or opposition to the above-mentioned implicit theories. All three implicit theories were found to be more prominent in child sex offenders than in the other three groups. Little difference was found between sex offenders and non-offender groups. The non-offending groups consisted of student participants who were considerably younger and higher educated than the convict groups, which could have attributed to some of the difference found in endorsement of implicit theories. However if this were indeed the case, a difference would have been expected between the non-sex offending group and the non-offending group.

Implicit theories were also found in non-contact sex offending groups. Howitt and Sheldon (2006) designed a questionnaire based on the MOLEST scale (Bumby, 1996), which is a scale that assesses cognitive distortion which promote child

molestation. The scale was conducted by twenty-five contact child molesters, sixteen Internet offenders, and ten sex offenders who had committed both contact and

Internet-related crimes. The results showed higher endorsement for Ward’s implicit theories amongst the Internet-only offenders than contact- and mixed offenders. All three groups showed the most endorsement for children as sexual objects and the least amount of endorsement for entitlement. It is important to bear in mind that a self-made questionnaire could affect the reliability of the study’s results. However, existing questionnaires, such as the MOLEST scale (Bumby, 1996) assumed contact, making these questionnaires inapplicable for this study.

In conclusion, all five implicit theories from Ward can be found in sex offenders, specifically both rapists and child molesters. Convicts who were

incarcerated for non-sex crimes were less likely to hold Ward’s five implicit theories, as were non-convicted men and women. Rape-prone men were more likely to hold the women as sex objects theory than non-rape-prone men, but no difference was found for women are unknowable and male sex drive is uncontrollable. Internet-only offenders were found to more highly endorse Ward’s implicit theories than contact offenders, specifically children as sexual beings, sexual entitlement and

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uncontrollability of sexuality. Results from these studies support the conclusion that sex offenders hold pro-offensive attitudes and beliefs, but whether these attitudes exist as pre-crime motivation or post-crime justification remains unclear.

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Do female and juvenile sex offender groups also hold attitudes and beliefs that are supportive of their offensive behaviour?

“A lot of the time I used to be sat there thinking, ‘right if I do this now, then she can go to bed’ . . . At the time it seemed perfectly logical that if I did it to her then he would not. It was my way of trying to protect her from the worst of what could have happened.” (Transcript of female offender, Beech, Parrett, Ward & Fisher, 2008).

Female child molesters tend to carry out their crimes in a manner that is dissimilar to their male counterparts. Females have more of a tendency to act as a co-offender and while being less sexually violent than male co-offenders, do commit more acts of sexual exploitation (Kaufman, Wallace, Johnson & Reeder, 1995). While the female offender quoted above displays nature of harm implicit beliefs, implying that the crime committed caused considerably less harm than if it had not been committed, the question remains if contrast in crime content also results in a contrast in pro-offensive attitudes and beliefs. Beech, Parrett, Ward and Fisher (2009) found

endorsement for Ward’s implicit theories in a group of female sex offenders. Fifteen convicted female child molesters serving their prison sentence at the time took part in an individual semi-structured interview, which was scored for Wards’ implicit

theories, changing male sex drive is uncontrollable to sexuality is uncontrollable. Endorsement was found for uncontrollability, children as sex objects, nature of harm and dangerous world. Entitlement was not found to be endorsed by female sex offenders, but two additional implicit theories were found in this particular sample, both referring to a co-perpetrator. Subjugation was defined as giving control over to the co-perpetrator and feeling forced to commit their offensive acts for fear of consequences from the perpetrator. Self-sacrifice was defined as meeting a co-perpetrator’s needs at their own expense. The sample size for this particular study was quite small, making it difficult to decipher how reliable the results are. However, the participants did consist of the majority of sex offenders within the United Kingdom at the time and contained nearly all the female child molesters incarcerated within the country. This study was however replicated five years later with similar findings. Gannon, Hoare, Rose and Parrett (2012) administered the same interview to sixteen female child molesters, some of whom were also participants in the study from Beech et. al, (2009). The interview remained the same with the exception of the content of

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entitlement to refer not to their own entitlement, but rather the entitlement of men. While the five implicit theories were found, they often took a different nature to those of male child molesters. Female sex offenders did not necessarily view the world as being dangerous, but that all men in general were dangerous. Often, uncontrollability was seen to be caused by a co-perpetrator or a victim. The attitudes and beliefs often displayed a need to protect the children they had victimized from a co-perpetrator. The majority of the implicit theories were not sexually motivated. Despite the five-year gap between these two studies, one third of the incarcerated female sex offenders participated in both studies. These same participants had also participated in a number of other replication studies, making the results still difficult to interpret.

However, not all studies have found support of pro-offensive attitudes and beliefs. Strickland (2008) conducted a study within the United States comparing sixty female sex offenders and seventy non-sexual female offenders who were serving a prison sentence at the time. The convicts were given the Multiphasic Sex Inventory-2 Female version (Nichols & Molinder, 1996). While a number of differences for aspects such as childhood trauma, sexual abuse and sexual adequacy were found, no difference for cognitive distortions was found between sex offender and non-sex offender groups. Such a result was found despite more reliable methods of

measurement (normalised tests as opposed to self-report, which may require personal interpretation) and larger sample sizes, implying that further research in this area is essential.

Support for pro-offensive implicit theories and cognitive distortions is also found in juvenile sex offenders according to McCrady, Kaufman, Vasey, Barriga, Devlin and Gibbs (2011). McCrady et al. (2011) asked 175 adolescents currently serving a prison sentence for sex offending to fill out the Burt Rape Myth Acceptance Scale (Burt, 1980), the How I Think Questionnaire (Gibbs, Barriga & Potter, 2001) and the Child Molester Empathy Measure (Fernandez, Marshall, Ightbody &

O’Sullivan, 1999). Results from these questionnaires indicated that both self-serving and sexual cognitive distortions were found to be higher amongst juvenile sex

offenders than amongst healthy controls. However, no specific account as to what the sex-specific cognitive distortions exactly entailed was given. Similar results were found by van Vugt, Hendreks, Stams, van Exter, Bijleveld, van der Laan and Asscher, 2011) in a group of juvenile offenders who were incarcerated for child-related or peer-related sexual crimes. Fifty-six child abusers and twenty-one peer abusers filled

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out the questionnaires Sociomoral Reflection Measure-Short Form (Gibbs, Basinger & Fuller, 1992) and the Sex with Children Scale (Mann, Webster, Wakeling & Marshall, 2007). The results showed that both groups had pro-offensive cognitive distortions, including self-centered cognitive distortions, blaming others, minimizing and assuming the worst. No differences were found in terms of attitudes and beliefs amongst the two offending groups.

In conclusion, mixed results were found for pro-offensive attitudes and beliefs in female sex offenders. While the content of implicit theories in female sex offenders differs from that of male sex offenders, Ward’s five implicit theories were found in this particular group. Implicit theories often referred to a co-offender (i.e. nature of harm: the crime committed was considerably less harmful than if the co-offender had committed the crime instead). Additional implicit theories were found for subjugation and self-sacrifice. Other studies with more reliable testing and larger sample sizes, however, did not find a difference in pro-offensive attitudes and beliefs between sex-offending and non sex-sex-offending female convicts. Juvenile sexual offenders were found to possess cognitive distortions related to their own crimes and sex crimes in general. While no difference was found in juvenile sexual offenders who either committed a sex crime against a child or a peer, a difference was found in

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Do sex offenders have Early Maladaptive Schemas, which help form pro-offensive attitudes and beliefs?

Polaschek and Ward (2002) established that if offense-supportive implicit theories are to be found within sex offenders, this is the result of maladaptive schemas as opposed to faulty cognitive processing. In order to find additional support for the implications in the abovementioned studies, it is important to explore early

maladaptive schemas within sex offenders.

Chakhssi, de Ruiter and Bernstein (2013) found differences in Early

Maladaptive Schemas (EMS) in sex offender and non-sex offender groups. Twenty-three child sex offenders, nineteen sex offenders against adults and twenty-four non sex-related offenders all incarcerated for their crimes were asked to fill out the Young Schema Questionnaire. The three groups differed from each other in scores for Impaired Autonomy/Performance (believe they must be dependent on those around them), Other-Directedness (believe the opinions of others are of the utmost

importance) and Impaired Limits (problems with discipline and proper conduct), with child molesters scoring the highest and non sex-related offenders scoring the lowest on all three schemas. A difference for child molesters and sex offenders against adults was also found for Disconnection/Rejection (believe they cannot form good

relationships with others), Impaired Autonomy/Performance, Other Directed-ness and Vigilance/Inhibition (believe that one’s feelings need to remain hidden). Carvalho and Nobre (2014) replicated this study with thirty-two rapists, thirty-three child molesters and thirty college students. Both the rapists and the child molesters were found to have higher scores for Impaired Autonomy/Performance than the control group. Additionally, child molesters were found to have higher scores for

Disconnection/Rejection, Other Directedness, and Vigilance/Inhibition. It is important to note that these measurements were taken after the crime had occurred, making it unclear if the EMSs were indeed accumulated in childhood, as Young implies (Young, 2005) or later in life or even post-criminal activity.

According to Richardson (2005), EMSs can also be found in adolescent sex offenders, acknowledging that EMSs are indeed present early in development. Fifty-four adolescent sex offenders were assessed for EMSs using the Young Schema Questionnaire. They were grouped both according to seriousness of the crime and type of crime. Forty adolescents were in a clinical setting as their crime had been of a

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more serious nature and fourteen were from a non-clinical group. Thirty-six

participants were child molesters and twenty-five had committed a peer-related sex crime. The clinical group was found to have higher scores in Emotional Inhibition, Social Isolation/Alienation and Mistrust/Abuse than the non-clinical group. Child molesters and peer abusers had higher scores for the schemas: Entitlement/Self-Centeredness, Insufficient Self-Control/Self-Discipline and Emotional Inhibition. No control group was used, making it difficult to know how much these scores differed from the norm for such an age group.

University students with a history of sexual aggression were also found to have higher scores for EMSs than students without a history of sexual aggression. Sigre-Leirós, Carvalho and Nobre (2012) gave 166 university students a copy of The Sexual Experiences Survey (Koss & Oros, 1982), which determined if the students had a history of sexual aggression or not. Thirty-seven students scored positively for sexual aggression. Subsequently, the students filled in the Young Schema

Questionnaire, determining if they possessed EMSs. Sexual aggressors were found to have higher levels of Disconnection/Rejection, Impaired Autonomy/Performance, and Vigilance/Inhibition. No difference was found for Impaired Limits or Other

Directedness between the two groups. It is worth noting that this study was not corrected for social desirability, which may have had an influence on the results of this study.

In conclusion, EMSs can be found in sex offenders. Impaired autonomy, Other Directedness, Impaired limits, Disconnection and Vigilance were found to be higher in sex offender groups. Adolescent child molesters were found to have higher levels of Entitlement/Self-Centeredness, Insufficient Self-Control/Self-Discipline and Emotional Inhibition. Adolescents with a more serious charge had higher levels of Emotional Inhibition, Social Isolation/Alienation and Mistrust/Abuse. University students with a history of sexual aggression differed slightly from the other groups. A higher level was found for Disconnection/Rejection, Impaired

Autonomy/Performance and Vigilance/Inhibition. However, no difference was found for Impaired Limits or Other Directedness from non-sexual aggressive university students.

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Discussion

The purpose of this literature overview was to explore whether sex offenders hold attitudes and beliefs that support their offensive behaviour. Despite discord between the findings of the above-mentioned studies, the general conclusion can be reached that sexual offenders do indeed hold pro-offensive attitudes and beliefs. This was found in the endorsement of Ward’s five implicit theories amongst sex offenders, which was not found in violent offenders or non-offenders. Mixed results were found for female sex offenders. Ward’s five implicit theories were also found in female sex offenders, although the content differed greatly from men and additional implicit theories were found. An additional study, however, did not find any difference in cognitive distortions between female sex offenders and non-sex related offenders. Juvenile sex offenders were also found to hold pro-sex offending attitudes and beliefs, both in general and towards their own particular crime. Both adult and juvenile rapists and child molesters were found to possess Early Maladaptive Schemas (EMSs). Men who had committed acts of sexual aggression also possessed EMSs although the content differed slightly from that of convicted offenders. The support of Ward’s implicit theories as well as the possession of EMSs support the information processing theory.

Table 1. Results and Description for Groups, Country and Measures per Study. Study: Group: Sample Size: Measures: Results:

_______________________________________________________ Polaschek & Rapists 37 Semi-structured All 5 Implicit

Gannon (2004) Interview Theories found.

Blake & Students 78 Rape scale Women are sex

Gannon (2014) Rape-prone Rape proclivity objects stronger in

men measure rape-prone men.

Interpretative bias task

Marziano et. al, Child 22 Semi-structured All 5 Implicit

(2006) molesters Interview Theories found.

Mihailides, Child 25 Implicit Implicit theories

Devilly & molesters association test found in molesters

Ward (2004) but not in control

Non-sex 25 groups.

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*M. non- 25 offenders **F. non- 25

offenders (Total:100)

Howitt & Contact 25 Questionnaire All 5 Implicit

Sheldon (2006) child Theories found

molesters for all groups.

Internet- 16 Higher endorsed

only by Internet-only.

offenders Both 10

(Total: 61)

Beech et al., F. child 15 Semi-structured All 5 Implicit

(2009) molesters interview Theories found,

except Entitlement Gannon et al., F. child 16 Semi-structured All 5 Implicit

(2012) molesters interview Theories found.

Strickland F. sex 60 (2008) offenders

F. non-sex 70 Multiphasic Sex Do difference in offenders (Total: 130) Inventory-2 cog. Distortions McCrady et al, ***J. sex 175 Series of Self-serving &

(2011) offenders questionnaires sexual cognitive

distortions found

van Vugt et J. sex 77 Series of Pro-offensive

al., (2011) offenders questionnaires cog. distortions found

Chakhssi, de Child 23 Young Schema EMSs differed Ruiter & molesters Questionnaire per group Bernstein

(2013) Rapists 19

Non-sex 24

offenders (Total: 46)

Richardson J. sex 54 Young Schema EMSs found

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Sigre-Leirós, Students 166 Young Schema More EMSs found

Carvalho & Questionnaire in students with

Nobre (2012) history of sexual

aggression. Note: *M=male, **F=female, ***J=juvenile.

However, results need to be interpreted with care as many studies are exploratory in nature and have not been directly replicated, or replications have produced different results. As is illustrated in Table 1, the majority of the studies had few participants and no control groups were used. This makes them both difficult to interpret and it is unclear how generalizable the data is. This could also account for mixed results found in studies involving female sex offenders. Ideally, the sample size for the abovementioned studies would be above 100, insuring a 10% Margin of Error for a 95% Confidence Interval (Cohen, Swerdlik and Sturman, 2010). However, in many of the cases, few participants could be accessed for participation, especially from groups such as female and juvenile sex offenders or in studies from smaller countries, such as New Zealand and England. In order to verify the findings listed in this review, replication in the future is needed involving control groups that also have a criminal history as well as a non-criminal control group.

Given that the measurements were taken after the crimes were committed, it is difficult to know if pro-offensive attitudes and beliefs were formed before the deed, afterwards or as a means of justification. Due to the timing of the assessment, it is difficult to understand the precise nature of pro-offensive attitudes and beliefs, how they are maintained and how they develop. In defense of the studies listed in this review, it is very difficult and expensive to access groups before they commit such a crime. Also, information gained from these studies is still useful in order to stop maintenance of pro-offensive attitudes and beliefs, even if the information regarding the development of such beliefs remains unknown. If provided with the proper funding, a future longitudinal study could assess pro-offensive attitudes and beliefs held by at-risk groups, such as juvenile delinquents, sex abuse victims, etc. compared to a control group. After ten years’ time, both groups could be compared for criminal record and changes in pro-offensive attitudes and beliefs. While such a study design may initially appear daunting, studies such as the Pittsburgh Youth Study have shown

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that such a design is feasible. In the Pittsburgh Youth Study, 1,517 male youth ranging from 7-13 were studied for delinquent behaviour starting in 1987, with the latest interview occurring in 2010 (Farrington, Loeber, Stallings and Ttofi, 2011). Additionally, no comparisons have been made within the studies to subjects with paedophilic tendencies who have not committed a sexual crime. Including this group would give better insight as to whether or not pro-offensive attitudes and beliefs are responsible for the crimes committed. As is the case with pre-crime measurements, this particular group is very difficult to access, given the social taboo attached to paedophilia. However, with the recent development of prevention groups for deviant sexual tendencies, this may be an option in future studies.

Not all articles are explicitly clear as to what they are measuring when they measure pro-offensive cognitive distortions. This is especially troubling as there is a growing debate amongst authors as to what cognitive distortions entail. While some do indeed define cognitive distortions as pre-offense attitudes and beliefs, other authors define cognitive distortions as post-offense excuses and justifications used in order to cope with the consequences of their actions (Maruna and Mann, 2006). An attitude such as uncontrollability of male sexuality can be seen as a belief regarding sexuality in general applied whether or not a crime has been committed, but can also be found in a sort “I just couldn’t help myself” statement post-crime that helps an offender cope and accept actions that are generally seen as abhorrent. Clarification can be brought within future studies by categorizing cognitive distortions similarly to Ward’s implicit theories.

Further research is also necessary in order to understand what role

pro-offensive attitudes and beliefs play in a therapeutic setting. While they could easily be adapted to automatic thoughts and core beliefs, easily fitting into the content of a schema-based therapy or cognitive behavioral therapy program, it remains possible that pro-offensive beliefs are not related to recidivism. However, such attitudes and beliefs could still be addressed within prevention of an initial crime, for example in addressing social norms or in sexual education programs. Studies in which therapy programs which do or do not address pro-offensive attitudes and beliefs and their respective recidivism rates would help shed light on its potential importance in therapy.

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Despite limitations, the conclusion remains that sex offenders hold attitudes and beliefs that support their offensive behaviour. The exact nature of these pro-offensive attitudes and beliefs, as well as the role they play in treatment and recidivism, still needs to be studied. Further knowledge in this area of research has the potential to better therapy programs offered to sex offenders and therefore prevent future criminal activity, allowing offenders to have a smoother and safer transition back into society.

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References:

*Blake, E., & Gannon, T. A., (2014). Investigating the implicit theories of rape-prone men using an interpretative bias task. Legal Criminological Psychology, 19, 40-53.

*Beech, A. R., Parrett, N., Ward, T., & Fisher, D. (2008). Assessing female sexual offenders’ motivations and cognitions: an exploratory study. Psychology, Crime & Law, 15(2&3), 201-216.

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