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The phallometric assessment of sex offenders: an update
Author(s) -
Launay Gilles
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
criminal behaviour and mental health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.63
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1471-2857
pISSN - 0957-9664
DOI - 10.1002/cbm.317
Subject(s) - standardization , psychology , presentation (obstetrics) , interpretation (philosophy) , deviance (statistics) , computer science , medicine , radiology , programming language , operating system , machine learning
The paper traces the development of the phallometric assessment of sex offenders in the 1990s. There has been little improvement in the standardization of the technique in terms of procedure, stimuli used or the analysis of results since the last review (Launay, 1994). However, the validity of the technique is now more strongly established and the usefulness of phallometrically derived indexes of deviance for the prediction of re‐offending has been confirmed. A case is made in favour of analysing the phallometric traces over the time the sexual stimuli are presented rather than relying on average responses. Problems associated with the ethics of the procedure and the interpretation of the results are discussed. Finally, the usefulness of the phallometric monitoring of therapeutic interventions is illustrated with the presentation of a case study conducted at Maidstone prison. The conclusion is that although the validity of the technique for research and clinical assessment is now established, justification for the routine use of the technique must await a proper standardization of the technique and the publication of reliable norms. Copyright © 1999 Whurr Publishers Ltd.