Sexual and Violent Recidivism of Empirically-Typed Individuals Convicted of Rape

Men convicted of rape are a heterogenous group among individuals with sexual offending history. This may contribute to the difficulty of establishing adequate treatment during institutionalization and preventing recidivism after release. Therefore, we aimed to identify an empirical typology of individuals convicted of rape based on (a) common criminological variables (age at first offense, number of prior convictions, relation to the victim), (b) offense behavior (alcoholization during the offense) and (c) clinical diagnoses (substance abuse and dependence, psychopathy, sexual sadism, Cluster B personality disorders, paraphilias, paraphilia-related disorders) associated with the risk of sexual offending. Data of N = 575 adult males with raping history were analyzed. We found four types with different profiles in the described variables: an antisocial impulsive, a sexualized, a highly violent and a non-criminal situational type. The types significantly varied in prognostic validity for violent, but not sexual, recidivism. Also, the typology exhibited a slightly higher predictive validity for violent recidivism than Static-99 scores. In contrast to Static-99, the typology failed to significantly predict sexual recidivism. Although the types explained more variance of violent recidivism than Static-99 scores, the value of applying a broad set of risk factors in contrast to combining only few are discussed.

Automated summary

This study aimed to categorize male individuals convicted of rape into different types based on a range of criminological variables, offense behavior, and clinical diagnoses. Four distinct types were identified, and their risk of recidivism was assessed. The empirical typology showed slightly higher predictive validity for violent recidivism compared to the Static-99 scores commonly used. However, it failed to significantly predict sexual recidivism. The importance of considering a broad set of risk factors for assessing recidivism risk is discussed.