Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, and the University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M6J 1H4
Address for correspondence: Howard Barbaree, Law and Mental Health Program, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Unit 3, 1001 Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M6J 1H4. Voice: 416-535-8501 ext. 2919; fax: 416-583-4327.
Howard_Barbaree{at}camh.net.
Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 989: 59-71 (2003).
There is a strong belief in the field that sexual aggression
persists unabated into old age. If libido is one of the important
determinants of sexual aggression, as has been theorized, and
if libido decreases with aging, then it follows that sexual
aggression should show similar aging effects. The present study
examines the effects of age on sexual arousal and sexual recidivism
in sex offenders. In the first study, 1431 sex offenders' erectile
responses were measured using volumetric phallometry during
presentations of visual and auditory depictions of prepubescent,
pubescent, and adult males and females. The maximum degree of
arousal was plotted over the age of the offender at the time
of the test. Age was a powerful determinant of sexual arousal
and a line-of-best-fit indicated that arousal decreased as a
reciprocal of the age-at-test. In the second study, 468 sex
offenders released into the community were followed for an average
period of over five years. The effects of age-at-release were
examined using Kaplan-Meier survival curves plotted for subjects
in different age-at-release cohorts. Results indicated that
offenders released at an older age were less likely to recommit
sexual offenses and that sexual recidivism decreased as a linear
function of age-at-release. Age-related decreases were confirmed
while controlling for other risk factors using Cox regression
analysis. The implications of reductions in sexual aggression
with age are discussed in relation to our understanding of the
etiology of sexual aggression and our use of actuarial risk
assessments.
