Reexamining predictors of trial outcomes in New York State’s sex offender civil management process

OBJECTIVE: In 2007, New York enacted the Sex Offender Management and Treatment Act, empowering the state to civilly manage individuals who have committed sexual offenses (respondents) and are deemed to have a mental abnormality (MA) that predisposes them to sexually recidivate after serving their criminal sentences. We sought to replicate and extend a previous study (Lu et al., 2015) to identify factors predicting legal decisions. HYPOTHESES: We predicted, on the basis of previous research, that clinical information (e.g., diagnosis) as well as empirically supported risk factors (e.g., sexual deviance) would predict trial outcomes. METHOD: = 643). The binary outcomes of interest were as follows: For the MA consent subsample, it was whether the respondent waived their MA trial; for the MA trial subsample, it was whether the respondent was found at trial to have an MA; and for the disposition hearing, it was whether the respondent was ordered to inpatient or outpatient civil management. RESULTS: s = 2.68-7.03) diagnoses increased the likelihood of an MA finding and confinement order. CONCLUSIONS: Judges and juries give significant weight to clinical information, particularly pedophilia diagnoses, when making civil management legal decisions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)

Deviance (statistics) · Psychiatry · Respondent · Clinical Psychology · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis · Psychology · Psychopathy, Forensic Psychiatry, Sexual Offending · Sexual Assault and Victimization Studies

• Criminal Histories, Risk Profiles, and Predictors of Recidivism Among Men Who Sexually Offend Over the Age of 60 Years

  Open Access•Jeffrey C Sandler, Naomi J Freeman•Crime & Delinquency•2025

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