Principal components analysis was conducted on items contained in actuarial instruments used with adult sex offenders, including: the Rapid Assessment of Sex Offender Risk for Recidivism (RASORR), the Static-99, the Violence Risk Appraisal Guide (VRAG), the Sex Offender Risk Appraisal Guide (SORAG), and the Minnesota Sex Offender Screening Tool-Revised (MnSOST-R). In a data set that included child molesters and rapists (N = 311), six interpretable components were identified: Antisocial Behavior, Child Sexual Abuse, Persistence, Detached Predatory Behavior, Young and Single, and Male Victim(s). The RRASOR was highly correlated with Persistence, and the VRAG and SORAG were highly correlated with Antisocial Behavior. Antisocial Behavior was a significant predictor of violent recidivism, while Persistence and Child Sexual Abuse were significant predictors of sexual recidivism.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors wish to thank their research assistants, Heidi Marcon and Michele Adams, as well as the staff of the WSBC, and the offenders. Ray Blanchard, Karl Hanson, and three anonymous reviewers are also thanked for their valuable comments on earlier drafts of this work. The authors also wish to acknowledge financial support for the research described in the article from the Correctional Service of Canada, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, and the Ontario Mental Health Foundation. All opinions expressed in the article are the sole opinions of the authors and do not reflect opinions or policy of the Correctional Service of Canada or any other agency.
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Barbaree, H.E., Langton, C.M. & Peacock, E.J. The Factor Structure of Static Actuarial Items: Its Relation to Prediction. Sex Abuse 18, 207–226 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11194-006-9011-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11194-006-9011-6