Men with intellectual disabilities with a history of sexual offending: empathy for victims of sexual and non-sexual crimes.
BACKGROUND
The objectives were (a) to compare the general empathy abilities of men with intellectual disabilities (IDs) who had a history of sexual offending to men with IDs who had no known history of illegal behaviour; and (b) to determine whether men with IDs who had a history of sexual offending had different levels of specific victim empathy towards their own victim, in comparison with an unknown victim of sexual crime, and a victim of non-sexual crime, and make comparisons with non-offenders.


METHODS
Men with mild IDs (n=35) were asked to complete a measure of general empathy and a measure of specific victim empathy. All participants completed the victim empathy measure in relation to a hypothetical victim of a sexual offence, and a non-sexual crime, while additionally, men with a history of sexual offending were asked to complete this measure in relation to their own most recent victim.


RESULTS
Men with a history of sexual offending had significantly lower general empathy, and specific victim empathy towards an unknown sexual offence victim, than men with no known history of illegal behaviour. Men with a history of sexual offending had significantly lower victim empathy for their own victim than for an unknown sexual offence victim. Victim empathy towards an unknown victim of a non-sexual crime did not differ significantly between the two groups.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings suggest that it is important include interventions within treatment programmes that attempt to improve empathy and perspective-taking.
Department of Psychological Sciences, Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK; Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust, Norwich, UK.
O J
OJ
Hockley
P E
PE
Langdon
D000328:Adult; D003415:Crime / Q000523:psychology; D019548:Crime Victims / Q000523:psychology*; D004645:Empathy; D006801:Humans; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D012742:Sex Offenses / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
forensic mental health; learning disabilities; neurodevelopmental disorder; offence process; sex offenders; sexual offending