Risk of Sexual Violence

Specialised Assessments & Evaluations

CFN Limited undertakes specialist risk assessments of individuals who have admitted to or allegedly engaged in inappropriate sexual behaviours. Our associates who are Forensic Psychologists provide this service. The evaluation will normally be offence-specific assess psychosexual functioning, to determine the client’s risk level and recommend the appropriate risk management directives. The assessment will also identify any co-morbid symptoms or issues, such as alcohol/drug abuse/dependence, anger management, which could be targeted to further reduce the risk of violent sexual recidivism. A battery of psychological and psychophysiological tests is used to assess the individual’s psychosexual functioning and risk of sexually violent recidivism. CFN Limited has at its disposal the latest instruments including penile plethysmography, and computerised polygraph, using examiners fully qualified in Post-Conviction Sex Offender Polygraph Testing, if required. Such polygraph measures are used strictly as risk management tools only and should never constitute the sole evidence for the determination of a breach of licence conditions, revocation of licence and imprisonment.

Such reports are prepared for Criminal Courts, Solicitors and Barristers, CAFCASS workers and guardians, the Probation and Prison Service, Health and Mental Health Services, Voluntary organisations and Charities, Youth Offending Teams and Young Offender Institutions. The interview and assessment usually take approximately eight hours to complete, followed by a period of time for actual report writing. The report detailing the individual’s risk level and recommendations for management and placement/custody will normally be produced within three weeks of the initial interviews.

Our reports cover the following aspects of the individual offender concerned:

Sexual arousal/interests using penile plethysmography (using a standardised visual stimuli set developed by Pacific Psychological Assessment Corporation – Not Real People, & Marshall Audio Stimuli Set) ; an assessment of personality/psychopathology; sexual thoughts/behaviours/fantasies; cognitive distortions which relate to various offence behaviours; an assessment of intellectual and memory functioning (Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale – Third Edition, Wechsler Memory Scale – Third Edition, National Adult Reading Test – Revised); neuropsychological assessments (D-KEFS Executive Function System); assessments for co-morbid disorders (Brown Attention Deficit Disorder Scales, Conners’ Adult ADHD Rating Scales (CAARS) Alcohol Use Inventory, DAST-20); and assessment of risk of sexual violence (The Risk for Sexual Violence Protocol, Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R), Hare Psychopathy Checklist – Revised Youth Version (PCL:YV), Sexual Violence Risk – 20, State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI), Psychopathic Personality Inventory – Revised, Inventory of Offender Risk, Needs, and Strengths, Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory, Static-99 and the Violence Risk Appraisal Guide (VRAG).

Posted by Keith Ashcroft in Crime, Dr Keith Ashcroft, forensic neuroscience, News, Uncategorized