Assessing risk of sexually abusive behavior among youth in a child welfare sample

Statutory management of juvenile sexual offenders demands reliable, valid methods for assessing the risk posed by these youth. This study examined the predictive validity of the J‐SOAP‐II using samples of adolescent and pre‐adolescent boys who were wards of the Massachusetts Department of Social Ser...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Behavioral sciences & the law 2010-01, Vol.28 (1), p.24-45
Main Authors: Prentky, Robert A., Li, Nien-Chen, Righthand, Sue, Schuler, Ann, Cavanaugh, Deborah, Lee, Austin F.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adolescents
Base rates
Child
Child Welfare
Humans
Juvenile Delinquency
Juvenile offenders
Male
Psychometrics
Recidivism
Recurrence
Risk Assessment
Risk factors
Sex offenders
Sex Offenses
Sexual Behavior
Social policy
Social services
Studies
Teenagers
Variability
Young Adult
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Statutory management of juvenile sexual offenders demands reliable, valid methods for assessing the risk posed by these youth. This study examined the predictive validity of the J‐SOAP‐II using samples of adolescent and pre‐adolescent boys who were wards of the Massachusetts Department of Social Services. The base rate for sexual recidivism among the adolescents (14–16%) is generally in line with what has been reported. The equivalent base rate for the pre‐adolescents (25–28%), however, was notably higher. Although the J‐SOAP‐II was developed for adolescents, the scale also worked with the pre‐adolescents in predicting sexual recidivism over 7 years, with AUC values of 0.77, 0.74, 0.77, and 0.80 for Scales 1, 3, 4, and Total among the pre‐adolescents and AUC values of 0.80, 0.82, and 0.83 for Scales 1, 4, and Total among the adolescents. Discussion focuses on extant J‐SOAP research and sample dependent variability, as well as social policy implications. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
ISSN:0735-3936
1099-0798
DOI:10.1002/bsl.920