ASSESSMENT INTERVIEWS WITH ADOLESCENT SEX OFFENDERS

SUGGESTED FORMAT FOR INTERVIEWS AND SUGGESTED QUESTIONS

Explain who you are and be frank about your role and the purpose of the interview.

Let the young person know you have factual information about the offence or offences and that it is in his or her interest to be honest with you.

The young person must be informed that the information you gather will not be confidential because it is shared with whoever referred him/her to you. Certain information may also have to be shared with the young person's family.

It may be helpful to check out the young person's preferred names for sexual organs and sexual acts. Assure the young person there is no need to feel embarrassed when using frank sexual terms during the interview.

Check if the young person has any questions to ask you before you begin.

Describe all your sexual offending behaviours. Probe for the possibility of offences, which the young person has not been charged with or he/she may not have disclosed.

What exactly did you do to your victims during each of your sexual offences?

Confront and challenge any discrepancies between the offender's statements and the victim's reports. Assessors must be prepared to ask very specific questions such as;

Did you make her touch your penis with her hands or her mouth?

How were you feeling before, during and after the offences. Were you aroused, angry, sad, etc.?

What were you thinking about during and after the offences?

Why did you choose this victim of these victims?

How did you set up the situation in which to sexually abuse?

Did you say anything to yourself to try and stop yourself sexually abusing?

When you decided to sexually abuse your victim, what excuses did you make for yourself to justify your behaviour?

What sexual acts did you think of doing to your victim before you sexually abused your victim?

Why didn't you act on those thoughts? or, Why did you do more than you had planned?

Non-violent sex abusers - Did you think of hurting your victim? What stopped you from acting on these thoughts? Explore aggressive fantasies.

Violent sex abusers - Did you think of killing your victim? What stopped you from acting on these fantasies? Explore aggressive fantasies.

What did you get out of sexually abusing your victim?

Where you aroused before you sexually abused your victim or did you get an erection during the offence?

Did you ejaculate during or after the sexual assault?

What did you do after you had sexually abused your victim?

What did you say to yourself after you had sexually abused your victim?

How did you feel immediately after; the next day; when you were caught?

How do you think your victim felt when you were sexually abusing her?

What did your victim do or say to make you think he or she felt that way?

What did you say to your victim after you abused him or her?

What did you do to your victim after you abused him or her?

How did you try to convince your victim not to tell anyone about the abuse?

Did you do anything to try and prevent yourself sexually abusing others?

What other sexually assaults have you committed?

If appropriate - what do you think contributed to your re-offending?

How did your family respond to the fact that you sexually abused someone. Get specific information about each family member, including siblings.

What do you think upsets other people about what you did?

Do you think what you did was wrong or bad?

What do you thing makes what you did wrong or bad?

Why do you think you sexually abused your victim?

Has anyone in your family or outside your family ever touched you in a way that made you feel uncomfortable? It may be necessary to ask specific questions about where the person was touched.

Has anyone ever hit you when you have done something wrong, or even when you haven't? Who - when - what happened?

Are you, or have you ever been bullied, in or outside of school?

How did you find out about sex?

How old were you when you first started to masturbate?

How often do you masturbate now?

What was your first sexual experience?

Tell me about your sexual fantasies.

What do you fantasize about when you are masturbating or when you are sexually aroused? The assessor may need to explore certain responses such as; if the abuser says he has fantasies about women of his age or older - yet he has chosen to have sex with children.

How do you feel about masturbating?

Tell me about your other sexual experiences.

What do you do when you are aroused?

How do you think you will meet your future sexual needs?

What do you plan to do to stop sexually abusing others?

The assessor should be sensitive to the need to assess for alternative sexual orientations.

What do you do for fun?

Who is your best friend?

What is it that makes him or her your best friend?

Do you hang around with a group of young people or just one or two?

What sort of things do you do together?

How old are your friends?

How do you get on with girls?

How do you get on with youths of your age?

How do you get on with younger children?

How do your parents feel about your friends?

Is it OK with your parents for you to bring friends around to the house?

Do you ever get into fights? How does that happen? How often?

How do you express your anger?

Do other young people tease you - if so, what about?

Have you ever been in trouble with the police?

Do you drink alcohol or use any drugs? If so, tell me about it, consumption and frequency?

Tell me about how school has been for the past two years or so? How are your marks and relationships with teachers? Are there any school-related problems?

How do you get on with your parents? Explore each parent - stepparent - partner.

Whom are you closest to in the family?

Who does the disciplining in your family?

What kind of discipline is used?

Tick off chart to aid assessment