Abstract
The discriminant and predictive validity of phallometrically derived age and gender preference scores of 172 incarcerated sexual offenders was investigated. Subjects' age and gender preferences were assessed using penile plethysmography. Men responded significantly more to slides depicting the gender of the victim in their latest offense. Child molesters with prepubescent victims showed significantly greater preference for prepubescent models than child molesters with pubescent victims or sexual offenders against adults. The sexual age preferences of extrafamilial child molesters were not significantly different from those of familial child molesters. Of the subjects, 152 had an opportunity to fail with an average 4.21-year follow-up period. Of these, 14% were convicted of a new sexual offense and 37% were convicted of any offense. Recidivists were found to have significantly more deviant age preferences than nonrecidivists and sexual recidivists were significantly more deviant than nonrecidivists; more importantly, this effect was largest among child molesters. However, nonsexual recidivists did not differ from nonrecidivists. This article provides support for the continued use of phallometric measures of sexual preference with convicted child molesters.
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