| 25/08/2003 Poor scientific
foundation for reoffence risk assessment of juvenile sexual offenders.
The next number of the scientific journal Trauma, Violence &
Abuse includes a systematic review of the research studies that
have investigated the factors that increase the risk of assault
reoffence among juvenile sexual offenders. The article is authored
by Niklas Långström from CVP and James Worling in Toronto,
Canada.
Only a handful of risk factors proved to have scientific support.
Factors were assessed systematically along a scale from 'not demonstrated'
to 'certain'. The majority of factors could only be shown to be
'probable' or 'promising'. Factors that are often prioritised in
clinical work had no connection whatsoever with reoffence. The results
demonstrate that those working with adolescent sexual offenders
in the social services, child psychiatry and youth welfare may need
to improve their grounds for decisions.
According to Worling and Långström, tools such as Estimate
of Risk for Adolescent Sexual Offense Recidivism, which assembles
scientifically supported factors, can improve work on these difficult
and disquieting cases.
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