What to say about using the ERASOR with special populations
For adolescents with cognitive limitations
Most of the research and expert clinical guidance in the literature is based on work with adolescent males with borderline to average levels of cognitive functioning. There may be unique risk factors for those adolescents with below-average cognitive functioning, and/or the risk factors identified in the literature may operate differentially as a function of cognitive functioning. Unfortunately, there is no research regarding sexual reoffence risk assessment with adolescents who have below-average levels of cognitive functioning. Until such time that there is more direction from the literature, however, it seems reasonable to argue that many of the risk factors identified in the ERASOR would be applicable for those youth with below-average levels of cognitive functioning. For example, factors such as a sexual interest in prepubescent children, heightened impulsivity, interpersonal aggression, and a history of sexual assaults against strangers would most likely elevate the risk of a sexual reoffence, regardless of the level of cognitive functioning. Furthermore, there is emerging research with adults who offend sexually which indicates that risk assessment tools have some predictive utility across a wide range of levels of cognitive functioning. It must be stressed, however, that the validity of this risk assessment is limited by the lack of research specifically with adolescents with significant cognitive limitations, and the conclusions should be considered speculative.
For adolescent females
Most of the research and expert clinical guidance in the literature is based on work with adolescent males. There may be unique risk factors for adolescent females, and/or the risk factors identified in the literature may operate differentially as a function of gender. Unfortunately, there is no research regarding sexual reoffence risk assessment with adolescent females. Until such time that there is more direction from the literature, however, it seems reasonable to argue that many of the risk factors identified in the ERASOR would be applicable for adolescent females. For example, factors such as a sexual interest in prepubescent children, heightened impulsivity, interpersonal aggression, and a history of sexual assaults against strangers would most likely elevate the risk of a sexual reoffence, regardless of gender. Furthermore, there is some research (e.g., with the Youth Level of Service/Case Management Inventory 2.0; Hoge & Andrews, 2011) which suggests that many risk factors for adolescent criminal recidivism are similar for male and female adolescents. It must be stressed, however, that the validity of this risk assessment is limited by the lack of research specifically with adolescent females, and the conclusions should be considered speculative.
For adolescents with noncontact sexual crimes
Most of the research and expert clinical guidance in the literature is based on work with adolescents who have committed contact sexual crimes. There may be unique risk factors for adolescents who have committed noncontact crimes, and/or the risk factors identified in the literature may operate differentially as a function of the level of contact in a sexual crime. There may also be unique risk factors for those adolescents who have engaged in sexual crimes where the adolescent has not directly victimized an individual sexually, such as possessing and/or distributing child abuse images. Unfortunately, there is no research regarding sexual reoffence risk assessment with adolescents who have committed noncontact sexual crimes. Until such time that there is more direction from the literature, however, it seems reasonable to argue that many of the risk factors identified in the ERASOR would be applicable for adolescents who have committed noncontact sexual crimes. For example, factors such as a sexual interest in prepubescent children, heightened impulsivity, interpersonal aggression, and a problematic parent-child relationship most likely elevate the risk of a sexual reoffence, regardless of the nature of the sexual crime. It must be stressed, however, that the validity of this risk assessment is limited by the lack of research specifically with adolescents who have committed noncontact sexual crimes, and the conclusions should be considered speculative.
Disclaimer
The guidelines contained in these materials were developed by the authors in the course of their duties at the SAFE-T Program. Anyone choosing to use or adopt the risk assessment guidelines outlined herein does so on the sole basis of their responsibility to judge their suitability for their own specific purposes. The Ontario Ministry of Children & Youth Services, its employees, agents, servants and the authors neither assume nor accept any responsibility or legal liability for any injury or damages whatsoever resulting from the use of The ERASOR and the guidelines outlined herein.
