Rajan Darjee, Tamsin Higgs
Lethality in Sexual Violence: Trajectories, Assessment, and Intervention
Workshop Abstract
Coercive sexual sadism disorder is a rare but concerning condition present in about 1% of people who commit child sexual abuse, 2-5% of people who sexually assault adults, and 25-33% of people who commit sexual homicide. It has important implications for risk assessment, risk of serious harm, treatment and management.
However its reliable conceptualisation and ascertainment have been elusive, and there is little to guide treatment or management in the literature. Sexual homicides cause particular societal concern and although relatively rare (accounting for about 1-5% of homicides) have a disproportionate impact on the sexual offending field. But what does international research and practice experience tell us about this extreme and disturbing behaviour and the people who perpetrate it?
And how should practitioners approach the tasks of prevention, assessment, treatment and management? This workshop will have three parts. The first will cover coercive sexual sadism disorder, the second sexual homicide, and the third using the Sexual Sadism Scale (SESAS). The primary aim will be to give practitioners evidence based tools, guidance and recommendations which they can use in the field whether they work in community, prison or secure hospital settings.
The workshop will be based on the presenter's research and publications on sexual homicide and on sexual sadism, his practice experience in criminal justice and forensic mental health settings in the UK and Australia, and on the latest scientific literature.
About the Speakers
Dr Rajan Darjee is a forensic psychiatrist who has worked in the Scotland and Australia and is currently based in Melbourne, Australia where he is the Clinical Director of Forensic Behavioural Assessment and Consultation Services (FBACS) and adjunct associate professor at the Centre for Forensic Behavioural Science (CFBS), Swinburne University of Technology.
He has extensive experience of assessing, treating, managing and consulting on people who have committed sexual abuse. He has authored over a hundred academic publications, is co-editor of the Routledge International Handbook of Sexual Homicide Studies and is co-author of the Risk for Sexual Violence Protocol-Version 2 (RSVP-V2). His current research is on sexual homicide, online child sexual abuse, and psychosis and homicide. He was previously the Chair of NOTA Scotland.
Tamsin Higgs, DForenPsy, has expertise in correctional psychology, focusing on the assessment and treatment of justice-involved people with violent and sexual offending histories.
She is an Associate Professor at the University of Montreal, Assistant Director of the International Centre for Comparative Criminology and a researcher at the Philippe-Pinel Institute, Canada.
She is also a Registered Forensic Practitioner Psychologist, Health Professions Council, UK, and is licensed by the Québec Order of Psychologists, Canada. She has about 40 peer-reviewed publications in the field of forensic psychology and serves on the editorial board for the journal Sexual Abuse.