A 15-Year Retrospective on Sexual Coercion Research and Developments R. A. Prentky, Ph.D.

1. A 15-Year Retrospective on Sexual Coercion Research and Developments R. A. Prentky, Ph.D. Justice Resource Institute rprentky@jri.org

2. Review of the Clinical Literature: 1987 - 2001

3. 11 Journals Surveyed • Archives of Sexual Behavior • Criminal Justice and Behavior • Int. J. Offender Therapy & C.C. • J. of Interpersonal Violence • J. of Abnormal Psychology • J. of Consulting & Clinical Psy. • J. of Offender Rehabilitation

4. Law and Human Behavior • Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity • Sexual Abuse: A J. of Res. & Tx • Violence and Victims

5. Estimated total # of articles screened: 12, 858 • # of articles classified: 926 (7%)

6. Adjustment for JAP & JCCP JAP & JCCP accounted for 8,100 screened articles but only 69 classified articles (<1%) [JCCP = 56 & JAP = 13] ----------------------------------------- Adj. Total screened: 4,758 Adj. Total classified: 857 (18%)

7. G. N-Hall Stood Alone Over a period of 8 years, from 1987 thru 1994, there was 1 paper in JAP on sex offenders, equivalent to the number of papers on UFOs.

8. Victim Impact Adjustment • Of the 926 classified papers, 205 (22%) involved V.I. • Excluding V.I., 721 papers on sex offenders were classified (5.6%) [or 13.7 % if we drop JAP & JCCP]

9. 19 Classification Categories • recidivism • risk assessment (general) • risk assessment (ARA) • prediction • etiology • clinical/descriptive • attitudes

10. treatment - theory • treatment - outcome / empirical • treatment - drugs • classification • assessment (general) • PPG / sexual arousal

11. bio / neuropsych / hormonal • incidence • general theory / exp. models • prevention / management • date rape • pornography • victim impact

12. Clinical Articles Published per Year

13. Clinical Articles Published in3 Five-year blocks

14. Classification Categories: >10%

15. Classification Categories:4% - 9%

16. Classification Categories:< 4%

17. Recidivism – 2.4% ? What happened to all the research on recidivism?

18. 2002 Meta-analysis on Risk Factors for Sexual Recidivism 177 studies, from 1943 to the present (in press), that included “relevant predictors”

19. 177 studies classified into 8 citation categories • Journal articles: 83 (47%) • Talks: 37 (21%) • Internal Reports: 31 (18%) • Unpub. Papers: 09 (05%) • Chapters: 07 (04%) • Book: 04 (02%) • Thesis/Diss.: 04 (02%) • Submitted Pub.: 02 (01%)

20. Where were these 83 journal articles? • In 37 different periodicals • 24 of the periodicals had only 1 article • 32 of the periodicals included < 3 articles

21. Many of these periodicals were obscure • Correctional Psychologist • Child Welfare • Forum on Corrections Research • Research Bulletin • Interchange • Medicine, Science, and the Law • Probation Journal • Law and Contemporary Problems • Criminal Justice Journal • Int. Review of Criminal Policy

22. Only 3 journals included a “cohort” of articles • Sexual Abuse (ATSA): 15 • J.I.V.: 10 • C.J.B.: 07

23. Conclusion • Much of the literature is not published in peer-reviewed journals, and • What is published, is scattered in a large number of relatively obscure periodicals off the radar screen for most researchers

24. Review of the Legal Literature: 1987 – 2001* * with special thanks to Jeff Egge, research assistant to Prof. Janus

25. Review conducted using Index to Legal Periodicals (Westlaw database) • Total # articles: 1,196

26. 3 Categories used in ILP Search • 1. General Terms [rape, sexual abuse, sexual assault, child molestation, sexual violence] • 2. Civil Commitment Laws [sex predator, sex psychopath, sex offender commitment, etc.] • 3. Community Notification Megan’s law, registration, etc.

27. Quick Snapshot: • Category 1: 1,010 articles (85%) [564 (47%) between 94’ & 98’ ] • Category 2: 74 articles (6%) [45 (61%) between 94’ & 98’ ] • Category 3: 112 articles (9%) [70 (63%) between 97’ & 99’ ]

28. Law Articles Published per Year [n=1,196] N=564 (47%)

29. Articles on Civil Commitment [n=74, 6%] n=43, (58%)

30. Articles on Community Notification [n=112, 9%] N=70 (63%)

31. Etiology

32. Gleick’s (1988) Chaos Theory The “Butterfly Effect” A tiny insignificant insect fluttering its wings in the air over London can affect storm systems the next month in New York

33. In scientific terms… The Butterfly Effect reflects “sensitive dependence on initial conditions”

34. Butterfly Effect Metaphor for subtlety, complexity, and interactivity

35. Childhood Abuse Invariably examined as an encapsulated, homogeneous group of aggravating, equally weighted life experiences

36. Profound Complexity of the Effects of Child Abuse • Co-existence & interaction with other adverse life experiences; • Existence of mitigating or protective life experiences; • Brain damage

37. Effects of Child Abuse on the Developing Brain A wide range of replicated experiments have demonstrated that child abuse can cause permanent damage to the neural structure and function of the developing brain

38. Abuse-induced Stress Impact on Hippocampus & Amygdala McEwen, Sapolsky demonstrated the marked vulnerability of limbic structures to stress, particularly the hippocampus and the amygdala

39. Hippocampal Vulnerability • It develops slowly. • It is one of the few brain regions that continues to develop after birth. • It has a higher density of cortisol receptors than almost any other area of the brain.

40. Basis for Stress-Induced Impact • Prolonged or excessive exposure to cortisol can significantly change the shape of the largest neurons in the hippocampus, and can kill them. • Cortisol can suppress production of new granule cells (small neurons), that normally continue to develop after birth.

41. Severe, Prolonged Abuse in Childhood May cause permanent damage to temporal limbic structures, with physiologicaleffects (e.g., hyporeactivity) that impair: Socialization,Capacity for identifying with others,Internalization of values (i.e., conditionability)

42. The net result of which... May set in motion: An increasingly disruptive attachment disorder, Increasing emotional detachment, Incapacity for empathy, and Increasing lack of “conscience”

43. Bremer, 1997 • Compared MRI scans of 17 adult survivors of childhood physical or sexual abuse, all of whom had PTSD, with 17 healthy matched controls. • Left hippocampus of the abused subjects was [on average] 12% smaller than left hippocampus in healthy subjects. Right hippocampus was normal.

44. Stein, 1997 • Examined 21 women who had been sexually abused as children and who had PTSD or DID (MPD). • The volume of left hippocampus in these women was significantly reduced (right hippocampus was normal).

45. More Remarkably… Stein found a clear relationship between the degree of reduction in left hippocampus and the severity of the S’s dissociative symptoms.

46. Driessen, 2001 Reported a 16% reduction in size of hippocampus and an 8% reduction in amygdala size in adult women with borderline PD and a history of abuse in childhood

47. Cerebellar Vermis Teicher speculated that child abuse may produce changes in the cerebellar vermis, contributing to limbic irritability and gradual degeneration of hippocampus.

48. Teicher found that the blood flow to the vermis was significantly reduced in subjects with a history of trauma, pointing to a functional impairment in the cerebellar vermis.

49. Resulting in… Dysregulation of vermis-controlled neurotransmitters [norepinephrine and dopamine] producing symptoms of depression & hyperactivity

50. Teicher, 2002 “Human brains evolved to be molded by experience, and early difficulties were routine during our ancestral development. Is it plausible that the developing brain never evolved to cope with exposure to maltreatment and so is damaged in a nonadaptive manner?”