TY - JOUR PY - 2008// TI - Sexual preferences and recidivism of sex offenders with mental retardation JO - Sexual abuse: a journal of research and treatment A1 - Rice, Marnie E. A1 - Harris, Grant T. A1 - Lang, C. A1 - Chaplin, T. C. SP - 409 EP - 425 VL - 20 IS - 4 N2 - By some accounts, sex offenders with mental retardation commit sex offenses against children because the offenders lack sexual knowledge or are socially and intellectually immature rather than because of sexually deviant interests. By other accounts, these offenders exhibit pedophilic sexual interests. In this study, phallometrically determined sexual interests, recidivism, and choices of victims of 69 sex offenders with mental retardation are examined and compared with those of 69 sex offenders of average or higher IQ. Consistent with hypotheses, sex offenders with mental retardation exhibit more deviant preferences for prepubertal children, male children, and young children than do the comparison offenders. They are also more likely to have had a prepubertal victim, a prepubertal male victim, and a very young victim. They are no more likely than the comparison offenders to exhibit preferences for extremely coercive sex with children or to exhibit deviant adult activity preferences, nor are they more likely to recidivate violently. Results support the idea that pedophilia is a disorder of neurodevelopment and point to the importance of risk assessments that include assessing sexual preferences among sex offenders with mental retardation.

Language: en

LA - en SN - 1079-0632 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1079063208324662 ID - ref1 ER -