Determining Sexual Offender Profiles From Life Trajectories

Abstract

To study qualitatively the development of a heteroaggressive behavior, we applied retrospective analytical method based on categorization of life events. The aim of this study was to establish the life trajectories of sexual offenders through interviews with second sources: the inmate’s relatives and psychologists. The life trajectories of incarcerated sexual offenders were retraced to build individual life charts. These life charts grouped individual life events into four main domains: health, life events, the relational sphere, and the judicial and prison sphere. In a sample of 40 inmate participants, four different profiles of sex offenders and therefore life trajectories were identified according to the abovementioned domains: (a) “Early life events and behavior disorders” ( n = 14), (b) “Abandonment issues” ( n = 4), (c) “Behavior and socioaffective disorders” ( n = 9), and (d) “Behavioral hyperadaptation and coldness” ( n = 13). Expert judges classified the life trajectories with satisfactory interjudge agreement ( k = 0.70). This research has clinical implications for integrating different life events into developmental trajectories and focusing psychological support for the individual.