Determining the continued dangerousness of psychologically abnormal sex offenders

Abstract

Direct observations by a legally trained observer were made of staff decisions concerning whether psychologically abnormal sex offenders committed as dangerous were still dangerous. The staffs decision was found to be influenced by the offender's willingness to admit guilt and responsibility and by his fantasies of future offenses. It was also affected by the offender's behavior in the institution, the duration of institutionalization, the seriousness of the offense committed, and changes in the situation to which the offender would be discharged. Anticipated benefits from continued exposure to the institutional program were also considered. The apparently necessary reliance upon a conceptualization of antisocial conduct as a response to stress and factors only indirectly if at all related to an objective standard of “continued dangerousness” raises significant doubts concerning the propriety of programs of social control that make continued institutionalization depend upon a professional determination of continued dangerousness.