性犯罪者の犯行の否認・責任の最小化と再犯との関連の検討

抄録

It is widely accepted that sex offenders frequently deny their offense or minimize their responsibility, and there is controversy regarding how this should be approached in psychological interventions. However, few studies have examined the relationship between denial/minimization and recidivism, and the results are inconsistent across the limited body of research. The purpose of this research was to estimate the prevalence of denial/minimization in sex offenders and examine its relationship with recidivism. We examined 1,484 sex offenders who had been convicted from July 2008 to June 2009 in Japan. The prevalence of both denial and minimization was 16.3% overall. In addition, the relationship between denial/minimization and recidivism was investigated for 753 convicts whose sentences had been suspended. Controlling for possible confounding variables, including empirically known risk factors, logistic regression revealed that denial/minimization did not significantly increase the possibility of both any and sexual recidivism during the 5-year follow-up period. Implications for psychological intervention and future research are discussed.