Executive functioning profiles of adult and juvenile male sexual offenders: A systematic review

Abstract

Evidence regarding biological correlates of sexual offending, which might enhance the understanding, research, and treatment of these offenders, is rather emerging or in the embryonic stage. In this study, our main objective is to identify specific executive functioning (EF) processes that are commonly impaired in sexual offenders, and to further determine whether these differ as a function of offender subtypes. A search is conducted in ProQuest, Criminal Justice Abstract, EBSCOhost, and Social Science Citation Index electronic journal databases for studies published spanning the period 1990–2015. Google Scholar and Google search engines were also searched and the reference lists of the retrieved papers were searched for additional papers. A total of 1303 papers were retained for consideration. After removing duplicates, and subjecting the retrieved papers to inclusion and exclusion criteria, 24 papers (19 published and 5 unpublished) were deemed appropriate for the review. While several EF processes have been investigated, the available evidence implicates deficits in cognitive flexibility and inhibition of interference as commonly reported among adult male sexual offenders. This finding may be due to the sensitivity of tests of cognitive flexibility (e.g. the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test) and inhibition of interference (e.g. the Stroop Test) to frontal lobe lesions, and also because these tests are among the most frequently administered EF tests as revealed by this study. Juvenile sexual offenders, however, exhibit no distinct EF profiles. The findings of the study, implications for treatment, and recommendations for future studies are succinctly discussed.