Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law

The Law to Combat Sexual Offenses and other Dangerous Criminal Acts requires that all sexual offenders serving a prison sentence of more than two years are to receive social therapy. From the outset, the Max Planck Institute is concerned with the law and its consequences. To assist in these efforts, a research cooperation has been forged between the Max Planck Institute, the Saxon Ministry of Justice and the Chair of Criminology and Business Criminal Law at the University of Freiburg (Prof. Dr. Roland Hefendehl, previously Chair of Criminal Law, Criminology, Juvenile Law and Sentencing at the Technische Universität, Dresden).

Principal research goals – An evaluation of social therapy:

The project’s principal goal is to analyze recidivism amongst sexual offenders. A range of hypotheses are assessed in this regard, including those based on a) criminogenic and offender-related factors, b) therapeutic measures and connecting factors such as climate inside the correctional facility and, c) crime-specific factors.

A secondary goal is to further develop a theoretical understanding of sexual delinquency. In this regard, verification of Gottfredson and Hirschi’s "General Theory of Crime" will be undertaken, as a large number of recidivist sexual offenders do not commit the same type of offense for which they were previously convicted. As such, certain non-offense-specific etiological factors might be of importance. In going beyond the conventional assumption that the success of social therapeutic treatment should be measured by low rates of recidivism, it may be necessary to open a critical debate on other criteria that can be used to measure the effectiveness of social therapeutic measures.

Given these goals, the following research questions will be examined:

• Which social therapy modules lead to which "outcomes"?
• Can connections be drawn between what took place in different social therapy and what occurred thereafter?
• Are there underlying differences between violent offenders and sexual offenders? Is it a question of offense-specific groups?
• What dynamic lies behind the "dropout-phenomenon"?
• How can the prediction of recidivism be improved (protective and risk factors)?
• Which theoretical explanations can be developed for sexual delinquency?

Sexual offenders and violent offenders in social therapeutic institutions as well as in regular prisons in Saxony will be investigated at several points of data acquisition. The primary investigation phase runs from 2003 to 2013.

There are four time points of measurement:

• t1 at the beginning of arrest
• t2 shortly before release
• t3 one year after release
• lastly, the analysis of Federal Central Register data (BZR) after a follow-up period of five years.

The project focuses on an extensive exploration of the prisoners through standardized psychological test procedures for selected features – which are expected to be linked with the development of delinquency – as well as semi-structured interviews with the participants. The prison files of those individuals who were eligible for the project will also be analyzed. Furthermore, a staff survey will ascertain more information about the intervention and treatment programs.

The adult subjects are prisoners of different correctional facilities in the Free State of Saxony (Germany) with and without treatment wards. Four sample groups shall be examined. The samples seek to differentiate between treated sexual offenders and violent offenders with "comparable" participants in regular imprisonment. However, comparability is limited because a selection of the inmates by random sampling could not be made. In this respect, it is a quasi-experimental design.

These empirical steps are to be supplemented by the module "Social therapy from the perspective of crime policy." Theses from a perspective of crime policy are to be deduced from the empirical results of the study. In an increasingly security and control conscious society, the need exists to clarify how such intensive treatment is carried out. Questions also arise as to the crime policy consequences social therapeutic requirements may have on general sentencing practices, and as to whether the goal of improved prevention can actually be achieved.

The main research project is complemented by a related project on juvenile sexual offenders.

The project is funded by the Saxon Ministry of Justice.

Further research projects in this area include:

The life-course of sexual offenders after release

This subproject focuses on the identification of risk factors that influence recidivism after prison release. Primarily dynamic risk factors are analyzed as they provide a more accessible starting point for meaningful (social) therapeutic measures prior to release when compared to static risk factors. Data on unreported cases will also be collected. [more]

Violent and sexual offenders: classification and comparison of the two offender groups

This study examined whether violent offenders can be differentiated into a series of subgroups with characteristic features. It was also assessed whether there is one subgroup of general dissocial offenders that mainly show violent offenses, but also sexual offenses.

For further information see:

Wößner, Gunda / Groß, Juliane: Differentiation of violent and sexual offenders – A comparison and classification of the two offender groups. In: Monatsschrift für Kriminologie und Strafrechtsreform, 2009, Issue 6, p. 547 – 563.

The effects of juvenile detention on the accomplishment of developmental tasks

Based on the work of the American developmental psychologist Robert Havighurst (1948), there are certain phases in life in which specific, age-appropriate tasks have to be managed. The failure or success of these tasks leads, in turn, to the successful or unsuccessful completion of subsequent tasks. Havighurst suggested that such tasks form a link between individual needs in certain stages of life and social requirements. He called them "developmental tasks."

The phase of adolescence is characterized by significant changes on a physical and psychosocial level. At the start of this phase the juvenile is confronted with new requirements and tasks; he or she develops further abilities and opportunities. The question of this subproject is whether juveniles and young adults who have spent time in detention display deficits in managing these tasks compared to their peers, who were not in prison.

Psychopathological features in convicted sexual offenders

This project examines the relationship between clinically relevant psychological irregularities and sexual and violent delinquency. On the one hand, the prevalence of mental disorders in convicted sexual offenders is registered; on the other hand, the project investigates whether there is a relationship between mental disorders and sexual delinquency and whether there are differences in comparison to violent delinquency. The effect of disorders caused by psychotropic substances in prisoners is also considered.

(As of June 2010)

In addition, at the time of t1, 25 inmates in the prisons of Torgau and Dresden were questioned.

At the time of t2 (shortly before release) 119 prisoners have thus far been questioned. 36 subjects have so far participated in the follow-up interview after release (t3).