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Men with intellectual disabilities with a history of sexual offending: empathy for victims of sexual and non‐sexual crimes
Author(s) -
Hockley O. J.,
Langdon P. E.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of intellectual disability research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.941
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1365-2788
pISSN - 0964-2633
DOI - 10.1111/jir.12137
Subject(s) - empathy , psychology , psychological intervention , sexual violence , clinical psychology , developmental psychology , psychiatry , criminology
Background The objectives were (a) to compare the general empathy abilities of men with intellectual disabilities ( IDs ) who had a history of sexual offending to men with IDs who had no known history of illegal behaviour; and (b) to determine whether men with IDs who had a history of sexual offending had different levels of specific victim empathy towards their own victim, in comparison with an unknown victim of sexual crime, and a victim of non‐sexual crime, and make comparisons with non‐offenders. Methods Men with mild IDs ( n = 35) were asked to complete a measure of general empathy and a measure of specific victim empathy. All participants completed the victim empathy measure in relation to a hypothetical victim of a sexual offence, and a non‐sexual crime, while additionally, men with a history of sexual offending were asked to complete this measure in relation to their own most recent victim. Results Men with a history of sexual offending had significantly lower general empathy, and specific victim empathy towards an unknown sexual offence victim, than men with no known history of illegal behaviour. Men with a history of sexual offending had significantly lower victim empathy for their own victim than for an unknown sexual offence victim. Victim empathy towards an unknown victim of a non‐sexual crime did not differ significantly between the two groups. Conclusions The findings suggest that it is important include interventions within treatment programmes that attempt to improve empathy and perspective‐taking.