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Sex Offenders

Preventing Partisan Commitment: Applying Brady Protection to the Civil Commitment of Sex Offenders

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Introduction

On March 8, 2002, Joseph Aaron Edwards appeared before the United States District Court for the District of Arizona. He was found guilty of committing “Sexual Abuse by Use of Force Against a Minor,” and for this crime Edwards faced a prison sentence of eighty-four months with five years of supervised release. Edwards served his punitive sentence as handed down by the federal court; however, less than a week before his release was scheduled, the Chairperson of the Bureau of Prison Certification Review Panel filed a certificate to civilly commit Edwards indefinitely under the federal sex offender commitment statute. Had the government not stipulated to dismiss Edwards’s case three years after his certification, he may have faced the same fate as thousands of other individuals in the United States who have already served time for sexual offenses: an indeterminate period of commitment, ending only after authorities determine that the individual is no longer a threat to society....

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The Plethysmograph: A Review of Recent Literature James G. Barker and Robert J. Howell

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The penile plethysmograph is an individually applied physiological test, that measures the flow of blood to and from the genital area. Over the past 20 years the plethysmograph has evolved into a sophisticated computerized instrument capable of measuring slight changes in the circumference of the penis. Despite the sophistication of the current equipment technology, a question remains whether the information emitted is a valid and reliable means of assessing sexual preference. Much research has accompanied the evolution of the seismography. Generally, the plethysmograph is recognized as the best objective measure of male sexual arousal because blood flow into the penis is the only measure of sexual arousal that doesn't seem to be influenced by other factors. The objectiveability to measure penile arousal has helped the plethysmograph evolve into one of the important tests in the assessment and treatment of male sex offenders.

Ideally,

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Pharmacological Interventions with Adult Male Sexual Offenders

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Introduction

The treatment of sexual offending behaviors is complex and involves multiple etiologies, individualized risk reduction and risk management needs, and heterogeneous biopsychosocial, interpersonal, and legal factors. Clinicians and researchers have attempted to identify approaches which promise the greatest success in addressing these behaviors. Findings from a meta-analysis examining the effectiveness of various treatment interventions for adult sex offenders indicated that, when used in combination with other treatment approaches, biological interventions like testosterone-lowering hormonal treatments may be linked to greater reductions in recidivism for some offenders than the use of psychosocial treatments alone (Losel and Schmucker, 2005). Other data, described below, suggest that non-hormonal psychotropic medications can also be effective supplements to standard therapeutic interventions for sex offenders as well.

This document is designed to provide an overview of key issues pertaining to the use of hormonal and non-hormonal agents to...

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