“You Have to Separate the Sinner From the Sin”: Clinician’s Approaches to Psychological Assessments With Men who Have Sexually Offended

• Date: 01 November 2020
• Published date: 01 November 2020
• DOI: 10.1177/0306624X20919714
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X20919714

International Journal of

Offender Therapy and

Comparative Criminology

2020, Vol. 64(15) 1514 –1532

© The Author(s) 2020

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DOI: 10.1177/0306624X20919714

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Article

“You Have to Separate

the Sinner From the Sin”:

Clinician’s Approaches to

Psychological Assessments

With Men who Have Sexually

Offended

Gemma Chawke1, Patrick Randall2,

and Simon C. Duff1

Abstract

Men who have sexually offended are often referred for presentence psychological

assessments to determine factors which contributed to offending, identify risk of

recidivism, and develop treatment recommendations. The accuracy of assessments

is largely reliant on the cooperation of the assessee. Despite the significant legal

and emotional consequences, how clinicians approach these assessments, attempt to

engage assessees, and overcome resistance have not been investigated. This research

sought to develop an understanding of the clinicians’ experience of conducting

the assessment. How clinicians approach interviews with men who have sexually

offended and the techniques they use were explored. Six interviews were conducted

with qualified psychologists, at a private practice, whose role included conducting

psychological assessments across a range of forensic matters. The findings, reached

using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, highlighted the relational/social

nature of the interaction and the clinicians’ experience of a somewhat blurred line in

practice between forensic assessments and therapeutic endeavours.

Keywords

Forensic Psychological Assessments, Sex Offenders, Interviews, Interpretative

Phenomenological Analysis

1University of Nottingham, UK

2Forensic Psychological Service, Dublin, Ireland

Corresponding Author:

Gemma Chawke, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG8 1BB, UK.

Email: gemma.chawke@nottingham.ac.uk

919714IJOXXX10.1177/0306624X20919714International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative CriminologyChawke et al.

research-article2020

Chawke et al. 1515

Introduction

Typically, persons charged with sexual offences undergo a risk assessment during their

journey through the justice system, to formally ascertain his or her level of risk of reof-

fending (Craig & Beech, 2010). Forensic assessments, which in addition to identifying

the individual’s risk of reoffending also outline risk factors specific and pertinent to

the offence, have been found to increase the ability of predicting recidivism by approx-

imately 20%–30% over chance (Murphy & McGrath, 2008). By outlining the personal

and environmental factors of importance to concentrate on in supervision and rehabili-

tation (Harris & Hanson, 2010), these assessments are integral to effective treatment,

reducing recidivism, and the protection of the community (Craig & Beech, 2010).

Where assessments are carried out in the preliminary period to the individual’s appear-

ance in court, the outcome of the assessment is employed as a consideration in sen-

tencing (Zappala et al., 2018).

Empirically validated structured risk assessment tools are available for clinicians to

employ in assessments. Clinicians can base their decision-making on these instru-

ments, the predictive values of which exceeds clinical judgement alone (Dawes et al.,

1989 cited in Shingler et al., 2018). These instruments consider static risk factors, such

as the victim’s gender, and dynamic risk factors, such as deviant sexual interests

(Beech et al., 2003). To score the individual on these instruments, the clinician must

ask questions of an intimate nature in clinical interviews. The degree of openness and

disclosure of personal detail required may be problematic as a result of the character-

istics associated with this population.

Sex offenders typically evoke strong negative feelings in others (Kjelsberg & Loos,

2008) and experience a significant degree of social prejudice, exclusion, and vilifica-

tion (Wakefield, 2006) as a result of the stigma attached to these crimes (Burchfield &

Mingus, 2008). As a probable consequence, they have been found to be guarded, sen-

sitive to judgement (Youssef, 2017), and more suspicious and cynical than other

offenders (Phenix & Hoberman, 2015).

Accurate self-report by sexual offenders of their cognitions and problematic behav-

iours is essential for accurate risk assessments and for developing well-matched risk

management plans (Gannon et al., 2008). Given that the accuracy of predictions for

recidivism is dependent on the collection of sufficient information concerning predic-

tors, the clinician must attempt to overcome any reluctance demonstrated by the

assessee to discussing their offending behaviour and personal lives (Logan, 2013). The

extent to which the objectives of the interviews in forensic psychological assessments

(FPAs) are fulfilled may therefore be largely reliant on the clinician’s capacity to moti-

vate assessees to cooperate and their ability to overcome any reluctance they have to

disclosing information (Logan, 2013). Although research has not been conducted

exploring how this may be accomplished in assessments, strategies have been identi-

fied in other areas of applied psychological practice.

Strategies suggested by Newman (1994) to be effective in reducing resistance in

psychotherapy include empathising with the client and why they feel resistant.

Empathy is proposed to help clients feel heard and safe and encourage them to share