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RESEARCH INTO VIOLENT BEHAVIOR: OVERVIEW AND SEXUAL ASSAULTS

HEARINGS BEFORE THE

SUBOOMMITTEE ON DOMESTIO AND INTERNATIONAL SOIENTIFIO

PLANNING, ANALYSIS AND OOOPERATION OF THE

COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

27-584 0

NINETY-FIFTfI OONGRESS

SECOND SESSION

JANUARY 10, 11, 12, .1978

[No. 64J

Printed for the use of the Committee on Science and Technology

NCJRS

o MAR231979

U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

WASHINGTON: 1078

If you have issues viewing or accessing this file contact us at NCJRS.gov.

fI ,J!

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COMMITTEE 'ON -SCIENCE AND T~CHNOLOGY OLIN E. TEAGUE, Texas, Ohairman

JOHN W. WYDLER, JR., New York DON FUQUA, Florida WALTER FLOWERS, Alabama ROBERT A. ROE, New Jersey. MIKE McCORMACK, Washington GEORGE E. BROWN, JR., CaUfornia DALE MILFORD, Texas RAY THORNTON, Arkansas . JAMES H. SCHEUER, New York RICHARD L. OTTINGER, New York TOM HARKIN, Iowa JIM LLOYD, California JEROME A. AMB~O, New York ROBERT (BOB) KRUEGER, Texas MARIUIN LLOYD, Tennessee JAMES J. B:LANCHARD,Mlcbigan

_ TIMOTHY E. WIRTH, .colorado S'£EPHEN L. NEALl North Carolina THOMAS J. DOWNEY, New York DOUG WALGREN, Pennsylvania RONNIE G. FLIPPO, Alabama l)AN GLICKMAN, Kansas BOB GAMMAGE, Texas' . ANTHONY C. BEILENSON, California ALBERT GORE, JR., Tennessee

LARRY WINN, J~., KansaS LOUIS FREY, JR., Florida BARRY M. GOLDWATER, JR., California GARY A. MYERS, Pennsylvania ~ILTON FISH, JR., New York MANUEL LUJAN, JR., New Mexico CARL D. PURSELL, Micbigan HAROLD C. HOLLENBECK, New Jersey ELDON RUDD, Arizona ROBERT K. DORNAN, California ROBERT S. WALKER, Pennsylvania EDWIN B. FOR'SYTHE, N~w Jersey

WES WATKINS, Oklahoma . ROBERT A. YOUNG, Missouri

, CHARLES A. MOSHER, Executive Director HAROLD A.' GOULD, Deputy Director

PHILIP B. YEAGER, Ooun8el JAMES E. WILSON, TechnicalOonsuZtant

WILLIAM G. WELLS, Jr., Technical Oonsultant RALPH N. READ, Technical Oonsultant

ROBERT C. KETCHAM, Oottnsel JOHN P. ANDELIN, Jr., Science Oonsultant

JAMES W. SPENSLEY,OOunsel REGINA A. DAVIS, Chief Oler1G

PAUL A. VANDER M1~DE, Minority Staff Oounsel

SUBCOMMITTEE ON DOMESTIO AND INTERNA'.rIONAL SCIENTIFIC PLANNING, ANALYSIS , AND COOPEEATION

JAMES H. ,SCHEUER, New York, Ohairnian ~ r CARL D PURSELL, Michigan

JAMES J. BLANCHARD, michigan ROBERT S WALKER Pennsylvania STEPHEN L NEAL North Carolina ., " .' .-:; . .,' "'''. '.' "." i EDWlN B FORSYTHE, New Jersey ANTHO~.¥ C.:·BJllI~1!IN~g~,~a~iforn a . 'DAN GLICKMAN, Kansas ;.I

ALBERT GORE, JR., Tennessee ;})ALE MILFORD, Texas

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CONTENTS

WITNESSES

January 10, 1978 ' Opening statement of Congressman James Scheuer. _______________ _ Hon. Nicholas Scoppetta, deputy mayor for criminal justice of the

city of New York, accompanied by Stewart Holzer _____________ _ Hon. Stanley Fink, majority leae el', New York State Assembly ____ _ Dr. Marvin Wolfgang·, director of criminology, Center for Studies in

Criminology and Criminal Law, University of Pennsylvania _____ _ Dr. Lynn Curtis, Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Depart-

ment of Housing and Urban Development ____________________ _ Dr. Alfred Blumstein, director, Urban Systems Institute, Carnegie-

Mellon University ________________ ._. _________________________ _ Dr. John Monahan, assistant professor, Department of Psychiatry and

Human Behavior and Program in Social Ecology, University of California at Irvine _________________________________________ _

January 11, 1978: . Dr. Mar~ha ~. Burt, Minnesota Center for Social Research, Min-

D~e~~;~~;:~fft~t'di~~~t~;-~i t;~~~-g~ -Wya~dot- -1\;{e~tai-Health Center, Lawrence, Kans _____________________________________ _

Dr. Anne Wolbert Burgess, professor nursing, Boston College; and chairperson, Department of Health, Education and Welfare's. Rape Prevention and Control Advisory Committee ____________ _

Nancy McDonald, Center for Urban Ethnic Affairs, Washington, D.C_ Jan BenDor, C.S.W., Ypsilanti, Mich ________ .. ___________________ _

January 12, 1978: Dr. Nicholas Groth, director, Forensic Mental Health Department,

H~rl'ington Memorial Hospital, Southbridge, Mass ____________ _ DavId Rothenberg,' executive director, The Fortune Society, New

York, N.Y.; accompanied by Sergio Torres, staff counsel, The For-tune Society __ ~ ____________________________________________ _

Mary Ann Largen, former coordinator, National Organization for Women's Task Force on Rape ______________________________ . __

Elizabeth Kutzke, Chief, National Center for the Prevention and Control of Rape, Department of Health, Education and Welfare, accompanied by Dr. Gloria Levin, Deputy Chief, National Center for the Prevention and Control of Rape ________________________ _

Dr. Gene Abel, professor psychiatry, University of Tennessee Center for the Health Sciences, Memphis, Tenn _________________ _

Yolanda Bako, National Organization for Women, Rape Prevention Committee, New YQrk N.Y.; Caroline H. Sparks, Women's Action Collective, Columbus, Ohio, Dr. James Selkin, psychiatrist and team leader of the Department of Psychiatry, Denver General HospitaL_

APPENDIX

Additional submissions for the record: Fuller, ~iIliam? incarcerat~d prisoner at Lorton Prison, Lorton, Va.;

orgaruzer, PrIsoners Agamst Rape ____________________________ _ Kri~sberg, Lois Ablin, associate professor ~nthropology and so­

clOlogy, College of Health Related Professions, Symcuse Uni­versity, "On Supporting Women's Successful Efforts Against Violence" __________________________________________________ _

Supplemehtal Material: Abel, Gene, M.D __ . ___________________________________________ _ Bako, Yolanda _______________________________________________ _ Burgess, Ann Wolbert, R.N., D.N.Sc _______ ~· ___________________ _ Groth, A. Nicholas, Ph. D ____________________________________ _

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83

134

155

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351

376 409 426

452

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RESEARCH INTO VIOLENT BEHAVIOR: OVERVIEW AND SEXUAL ASSAULTS

THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 1978

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON SOIENOE AND TEOHNOLOGY,

SUBOOMMITTEE ON DOMESTIO AND INTERNATIONAL SOIENTIFIC PLANNING ANALYSIS AND COOPERATION,

New York, N.Y. The subcommittee met, pursuant to adjournment, at 10 :24 a.m., ~n

room 305, 26 Federal Plaza, New York, N.Y., Hon. James H. Scheuer, chairman of the subcommittee, presiding. •

Also present: Hon. Robert Walker. Staff: Ms. Mountcastle, Mr. Shacknai, Dr. Wells, Mr. Gallagher.

Mr. SOHEUER. The third and last day of hearings at this point of the DISP AC Subcommittee on Violent Crime will come to order.

Today we're researching into the question of sexual assault. We will have further hearings on wife battering and child abuse.

I'm happy to have with us here today for the third day Congress­man Robert Walker of Pennsylvania, who is one of the outstanding members of this committee, a hard-working, diligent, highly profes­sional, and intelligent member of the subcommittee.

Our first witness will be Dr. Nicholas Groth, director of the Foren­sic Mental Health Department of Harrington Memorial Hospital in Southbridge, Mass.

We're happy to have you here this morning, Dr. Groth. Your tes­timony will be printed in its entirety at this point in the record, so if you wish you may just talk to us informally and give us the high­lights of your testimony, plus any other matters that you would care to dwell on, and then I'm sure we'll be asking you some questions.

[The prepared testimony of Dr. Nicholas Groth follows:] (443)

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COMMITl'EE ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

U • S. House of Representatives

Washington, D.C. 20515

Ibmestic and International Scientific Planning, Analysis, and Cooperation

TOPIC:

WITNESS:

"Research into Violent Behavior" New York City Field Heari1!gs

January 12, 1978 Research into Sexual Assault

26 Federal Plaza, Room 305 10:00 a.m. New York, New York

TRFA'IMENT OF OFFENDERS

A. Nicholas Groth, Ph.D. Director

Forensic Mental Health Department HarTington Menorial Hospital

Southbridge, Massachusetts 01550

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\ The treatment or J:.erufuilltationof the dangerous sexual offender

(the repistor child rroles"l;er) constitutes a new frontier in the medi~ \"

and behavioral sciences •.

search than reaear'Ch.

The current st~te of the art is rrore one of

Since sexual offenders do n~t characteristically self-refer to

mental 'health agencies or' seek ou~ professional help for their' problems . ,

they do not· corne to the attention of clinicians or ~:er behaXi97

scientists. As a result, such .perlsonnel do not ~ve \e opportunity to

deVeloP~l and expertise in the diagnosis and trea:tJhent of these \

offenders and, in term; they become reluctant to accept professional

responsibility for ~uch clients. Instead, to a iarge extent, mental

health agencies have been content to let the criminal j~tice system

alone deal with the dangerous offender. "Treatment" then for the great

majority of apprehended sexual offenoers, is some form of penalty:

fine, probation, prison sentence, and the life.

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Fortunately there appears to be a growing realization that penalty

alone is insuf,ficient. to rehabilitate dangerous offenders. Unforrtunately,

too often such realization is the result of some. tragic event. In Mass-

achusetts, for example, serious attention to developing a program for the .

,diagnosis and treatment of sexually dangerous persons came about only

after the sexual horrocide of 1:vx> preadolescent children by an offE'nder

who, but a few tveeks earlier, had been released from a cO!"!"ectional .

institution following the expiration of his sentence for an alnost iden­

tical prior offense. With the increasing recognition that sexual aS$ault "

27~584 0 - 78 - 29

446

is not only an offense but also a symptom a demmd has been placed on

the clinician to bring to bear whatever his science, his theories, and

his experience teach him to assist society in identifying and treating

such assailents.

Treatment is dependent upon careful and <?-ccurate diagnosis. However,

researchers are only in the early stagl!!sof developing a conceptual/

theoretical framework which will encompass· the wide variety . of behaviors,

both qualitatively and quantitatively, which are encompassed by the term

"sex offense." Sexual assault cuts across all conventional diagnostic

categories. It naybe symptonatic of situational stress, psychotic de­

compensation, characterological defect, intellectual limitation, or some

combination of these and other factors. To state it sintply, not all

sexual aggressors are alike. They do' not all do the same thing. Even

t"hen they commit similar offenses, they do not all do it in the sarre

fashion or for the same reason. vlhat deters one offender encourages . I

another. And the development of theoretical--empirical frame~-JOrks from

which implications for treabnent, prevention, a;nd program development can

be drawn is at best rudimentary.

vIe do not knot" what creates a rapist or a child m::>lester, the specific

pattern of life experiences, situational factors, ru1d precipitating events

that combine produce a dru1gerous sexual offender. The question as to how

to effectively rehabil~tate such an offender is no less easy to answer.

Predicated on the belief that there are offenders for whom imprison­

ment through criminal law alone·would not substantially diminish their

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dangerous potentiai, a n~er of treatment programs hAve evolved to nake

psychological and rnemcal services available in the hope of ~imizing

the likelihood that the offender will repeat· his offense fOllo~ing release.

These programs operate in correctional instituti~ns (e.g. Connecticut

Correctional· I'nsti tution at Somers), mental hospitals (e. g. South Florida

State Hospital in Hollywood) or special fac,-,ili ties for sexual offenders

(such as .the Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center iJl.Avenel, New Jersey).

For sex offenders .releasedfrom institutions or for whom imprisonment

seems counter-indicated a number of specificallY--designedcommuni ty

based programs such as Alternative House in'Albuquerq.ue, New Mexico and

the program r'un by Dr. Abel and his collegues at the Memphis Mental Health

. Institute have been created. In addition, treatment services are being

developed for offenders as a cOntpOnent of local mental health clinics and

agencies. For example; I am· currently Director of the Forensic Hental

Health Department of Harrington Mem::>rial Hospital in Southbridge, 1V!.ass­

achusetts, and He offer diagnostic and treatment services to both offenders

~d victims at a local corrununity level. To date there are about ten (10)

fornal institutional programs nationwide which offer rehabilitation ser­

vices specifically for the dru1gerous sexual offender, and another ten (10)

corranunity based programs specially designed to service this client pop_

ulation. Clearly this is only a token effort, and a Snall token at tha.t!

What is the hature of these rehabilitation efforts? lYe .can divide

these treatment efforts into thr~e broad categories: (I) physical,

(2) psycholov-cal, and (3) behavioral. Under physical treatment we would

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include ongoing research on the effects of psychosurgery, and surgical

and chemical (hornonal) . ca::;tration as techniques of . rehabilitation. The

surgical procedures raise a nuwber of ethical issues but chemical castra­

tion which is reversible nay be an adjunct or offer an alternative for

cases that are not responsive to other treatment IIDdalities. 'I')1e pioneering

work in psychohornonal research began at the Phipps Clinic ut John Hopkins

Hospital, Bal tilIDre, MD and is still in its prel:im:ina:ry stages.

Psychological treatment IIDdalities encompass all fornut of psycho­

therapy and range from' individual counseling to rniiieu therapy. Practically

every form of interaction, individual, family, group, self-h~lp, and

milieu, in every style (supportive, confrontational, IIl3.iB.thon, conscious-

. ness-raising, analytical, etc.), has been incorporated in. -r.he rehabilita­

tion efforts of the institutional programs. Such programs. offer the

opportunity to evaluate therapy procedures and outcomes but. unfortunately

IIDst of the staff's time is· usually committed to providing nirect.services

rather than research. Although the data are not unambiguous, some prelirnin.ary

studies, do suggest, that security-treatment programs can prove effective

in. reducin.g the recidivism rate of dangerous sexual offenders. For example,

based on almost twenty (20) years of experience working with convicted

sexual offenders, nw colleagues and I found that about 15% of the men sent

to us were unresponsive to any of the psychosocial treatment modalities

we could offer; for another, ; somewhat larger group of about 25~6 treatment

. had a very nndest effect in. regard to their maladaptive life styles al-

thour,h it did serve to reduce their dangerousness; and for the renaining

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60% a total treatment. effort of individual and group psychotherapy,

socialization experiences, occupational educational and recreational therapY,

pre-release planning and post-release treatme.nt and supportive aftercare

had a significant effect on their liVes and on successful societal adapta­

tion.

Behavioral· treatments seek to eliminate the inappropriate. sexual

responses of offenders and torepl.;ice them with IIDre acceptfrle and adaptive

behaviors. To simplify the comparison to psychological rehabilitation-- /

behavioral approaches focus on the symptonl whereas psychological approaches

focus on personality characteristics or traits of the offender. The term

"'adversive eonditioning" is frequently used to describe the behavioral

rehabilitation technique. Essentially the undersirable sexual responses

are extinguished by pairing th<:'JIl with noxious stimulation and n:ore

appropriate responses are reinforced by pairing them with pleasurable/

rewarding stimulation. Dr. Abel will be describing his work at length

before the . Committee and with more eloquence than I can. Again the

limited research·on this.rehabilitation technique is encouraging.

This then, ve:;:y briefly, sums up' the types of efforts that are

being made, currently on a very small scale, to rehabilitate the convicted

offender. It is really too soon to know how successful such efforts tvill

prove to be. The preliminary studies are encouraging, but clearly research

components are, for the IIDst part, sadly lacking in practically all

the available programs. Also it must be kept in mind. that theoork being

done here is a pior:eeril1g effort and the treatment programs and procedures

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are in a state of eVolution with 'new and innovative approaches

developed. In a very real sense the work has just begun.

still being

There is anajor need for research both into the nature of sexual

assault and procedures to remedy such behavior. The work that is being;

prolIlJ.·s;na but the task of evaluating its effectiveness is a done appears -.."

complex and difficult one. There is no clear indisputable evidence that

any program is in fact effective in reducing recidivism, but there is, the

strong impression' that they do help to address this problem. A decision

at this point in regaro to any treatment nodality would be p:renature.

Each approach has its advantages and disadvantages and no one progran can

be e~ected to provide a solution to all the multiple bio-psycho-social

problems and issues encompassed \mder the term "sexual offender."

From lI¥ o\om experiences in dealing with this complex and mul ti­

determ:ined form of sexual pathology I would like to argue for what I con­

sider to be three key issues that need support: First, specialized

treatment programs for the dangerous offender (sexual and non-sexual)

needs to be provided. \.Jhat is needed are forensic mental health programs

and institutes in the full sense of the word--that is, programs or facilities

that not only provide direct services in the form of diagnosis and treat­

ment, bt..."t als') provide adequate supervision of its staff together with an

active teaching and training program to help its personnel increase their

skills, t'1at put a priority on research and study and 9-ctively support and

encourage such enterprises. Obviously th~ wider the range of treatment

rrodalities that can be offered (chemotherapy, psychotherapy, sociotherapy,

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behavio:r:llOdification, ,and relate!d :ducational, and vocational programs)

the better equipped the program is to address the problem of rehabilitation,.

Especially lacking, at this time, are effective programs of intervention

for adolescent offenders.

Second,a number of t,ls have labored in the field, so to speak, for

a period of years. It is imporlant; in effect, to go out and sp~d the

Herd, that the skills and knowledge we have developed be shared with others

who are facing this serious and frustrating social issue for the first time.

To achieve this, I would put an emphasis on consultation and education in

the form of lectures, workshops and train:ing seminars mUch in the fashion

that were provided to assist people who worked with victims~ On a rrore

long...,range basis I would encourage the development of graduate education

courses in medicine, nursing, social work, psychology, etc. that focus on

the diagnosis, assessment ,and treatment of dangerousness and on the

cli.'1ical needs and dynamics of both offenders and victims of violence.

Finally, any approach tobc effective, must be inter-agency and multi­

disciplinary in nature. Rape is not the province of ,anyone group or

profession be it law-enforcement, medicine, sociology, psychology, or the

like. Each has something to contribute to the understanding and amelioration

of this serious social problem' and it is important to abandon professional

.conceit and territorial possessiveness and to find ,'lays of working

together cooperatively.

'l'hai1Jc you.

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