Specialist Sex Offender Assessment

The Forensic Psychology Centre undertakes specialist risk assessments of individuals who have admitted to or allegedly engaged in inappropriate sexual behaviours.  FPC has at its disposal the latest psychometric tools and instruments including penile plethysmography, visual reaction time measures and polygraph. 

While it is commonly believed that sexual assaults are committed by strangers, in actuality, the overwhelming majority of sexually abusive individuals victimize children, adolescents, and adults who are known to them.

A commonly held myth by members of the public, some policy-makers, and even some practitioners in the field is that there is a finite set of characteristics that can identify “the sex offender.” In reality, however, experts in the field have long argued that this is not the case, and that no such profile exists. Rather, adult and juvenile sex offenders are heterogeneous groups; they can be male or female, adult or juvenile. Their crimes range from “hands off” offences (e.g., exhibitionism, voyeurism) to “hands on” offences (e.g., fondling, forcible rape). Moreover, their pathways to offending, intervention needs, and level of risk are varied. Just as the individuals who commit sex offences are diverse, so are the victims they target, Pathways to offending, intervention needs, and level of risk are varied.

Without a doubt, sex offender assessment has emerged as a highly specialised area. As such, all professionals who have a role in the process must possess specialized knowledge about sex  offenders, victims, and effective interventions, and should make ongoing efforts to remain abreast of emerging research and promising practice in the field of sex offender management. Such knowledge is critical to facilitate informed and responsible decision making by all parties, at all levels, and throughout all aspects of the offender management process.

All consultants at the FPC have been involved and continue to be involved in the assessment, treatment and research of sexual offending behaviour. 

Doug Boer is a co-author to the commonly used and empirically validated sex offender risk assessment tool, SVR-20.

Our typical sex offender reports will include and/or comment on the following aspects related to the individual client or offender:

• Comprehensive psychosocial history;
• Sexual arousal patterns and interests;
• Sexual deviancy;
• Personality characteristics, including personality disorder and psychopathy;
• Cognitive functioning, including intellectual and memory functioning;
• Substance and alcohol use;
• Mental health functioning;
• Unique factors related to the offending behaviours;
• Risk of future sexual violence and/or general violence (if appropriate);
• Formulation of offending behaviours;
• Treatment recommendations (if appropriate);
• Disposal recommendations (if appropriate)
• Supervision and management recommendations (if appropriate).