Raymond A. Knight | |
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Born | February 22, 1944 |
Occupation(s) | Psychologist and academic |
Academic background | |
Education | BA., Philosophy PhD., Clinical Psychology |
Alma mater | Cathedral College of the Immaculate Conception Hofstra University University of Minnesota |
Academic work | |
Institutions | Brandeis University |
Raymond A. Knight is a psychologist and academic most known for his research on schizophrenia and on aggressive behavior,particularly sexual aggression,psychopathy,and bullying,exploring their causes,life course,and outcomes,and for developing the Multidimensional Inventory of Development,Sex,and Aggression (MIDSA) that assesses treatment targets for those who have sexually offended. He is a professor emeritus of Human Relations at Brandeis University. [1]
Knight's publications include 130 peer-reviewed journal publications,48 chapters and reports in the areas of sexual aggression,psychopathy,and schizophrenia. [2] He was named Fellow of the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers in 2016. He has received awards for his work,including the 1997 Louis Dembitz Brandeis Prize for Excellence in Teaching, [3] the 1998 Significant Achievement Award from the Association for the Treatment and Prevention of Sexual Abuse,the 2013 Mentor Award,and the 2018 Joseph Zubin Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society for Research in Psychopathology, [4] as well as the 2018 Theoharis Seghorn Award for Professional Achievement in Preventing Sexual Abuse from the Massachusetts Adolescent Sex Offender Coalition and the Massachusetts Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers. [5]
Knight earned a BA in Philosophy from the Cathedral College of the Immaculate Conception in 1966,followed by a year in the Experimental Psychology program at Hofstra University in 1967. He received a PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Minnesota in 1973. [6]
Knight joined Brandeis University as an assistant professor of psychology in 1971 and advanced to Professor in 1986. From 1971 to 1985,he also worked at the Brandeis Psychological Counseling Center. Subsequently,he was named Mortimer Gryzmish Professor of Human Relations from 1999 to 2015 and concurrently held the position of the Chair of the Department of Psychology from 2010 to 2011. [6] He has been the professor emeritus of Human Relations at Brandeis University since 2015. [1]
Knight served as President of both the Society for Research in Psychopathology (2001–2002) and the Association for the Treatment and Prevention of Sexual Abuse (2004–2005). [7] He served on the subcommittee on paraphilias for the DSM-III-R (1987),and he was an advisor for the paraphilia sub-workgroup for the DSM-5 (2013). He was appointed to the Governor's Sex Offender Recidivism Commission of Massachusetts,where he advocated for juveniles who had sexually offended to be treated as patients in need of evidence-based treatment rather than as criminals and argued that Massachusetts' methods for assessing and managing those who had sexually offended should be modified so that they were empirically reliable and valid. [8] Since 1999,he has been a member of the executive board of the Massachusetts Association for the Treatment of Sexual Offenders. [9]
Knight has contributed to the field of psychology by studying schizophrenia,sexual coercive behavior,psychopathy,bullying,antisocial personality disorder,and sadism. [2]
Knight started his research looking into the cognitive and affective deficits of individuals with schizophrenia. His work involved both longitudinal studies and experiments to test cognitive and affective theories about schizophrenia. He argued that the process-oriented strategy that he devised to study cognitive deficiencies was the best way to solve the general deficit problem that plagued schizophrenia research. [10] His strategy has remained a core component of subsequent research on the cognition deficiencies in schizophrenia. [11] In 1976,he added the study of sexual aggression to his research interests. He developed and validated typological models for offenders against both adults and children. [12] He later completed a 25-year follow-up of individuals who had been convicted of sexual offending and were released from the Massachusetts Treatment Center. [13]
In a highly cited paper,Knight emphasized the essential role of classification as a basic strategy in scientific investigation,highlighting its importance in advancing scientific knowledge about sexually aggressive behavior. [14] He reviewed evidence to determine the key factors that should be included in models to differentiate rapists from nonrapists,identify rapist subgroups,and improve decisions about offender management. [15] He generated and tested typologies for both rapists and child molesters. Using advanced taxometric analysis,he revealed that psychopathy and its components, [16] as well as hypersexuality [17] and sadism, [18] are dimensionally rather than taxonically distributed among offenders. Additionally,he evaluated the need for identifying more homogeneous subgroups of juvenile sex offenders by assessing two existing typologies for child molesters and rapists on a sample of 564 males who had sexually offended. [19]
Collaborating with Judith Sims-Knight,Knight tested a unified three-path model of sexual aggression against women using structural equation modeling on responses from 168 males,finding it to be superior to Malamuth's two-path model in explaining the etiology of sexual coercion. [20] Their structural equation model has been replicated in both adults and juveniles who have sexually offended. [21]
Knight investigated the factors associated with risk assessment for sexually coercive males. His research showed that the degree of sexual preoccupation with children,paraphilias,and the number of prior sexual offenses predicted sexual recidivism in individuals who had molested extrafamilial children,whereas antisocial behavior and low child contact predicted other types of recidivism for these offenders. [22] He found that juvenile and adult antisociality,pervasive anger,and offense planning predicted the sexual recidivism of sexual aggressors against women. [23] His work also established that variability in sex offender recidivism rates is influenced by differences in how reoffence is defined and tracked,leading with some definitions to an underestimation of recidivism and affecting forensic,clinical,and policy practices. [24] Moreover,comparing the accuracy of major risk assessment tools for sexual offenders,he identified new predictors and demonstrated that the Structured Risk Assessment (SRA) Needs Assessment was among the best recidivism predictors,with distinct predictive patterns for rapists and child molesters. [25]
Knight has worked on validating the Multidimensional Inventory of Development,Sex,and Aggression (the MIDSA), [26] which is a computerized contingency-based inventory that provides a comprehensive assessment for treatment planning of multiple critical areas of adaptation for juveniles and adults who have sexually offended. [27] [28] In addition to his interests in tracking the life course of sexual aggression and identifying both the risk and protective factors that contribute to the recidivism or desistance of such behavior,his research projects include studying the taxometrics of pedophilia, [29] paraphilias,sadism, [18] hypersexuality, [17] and psychopathy. [16] Furthermore,he has been validating the Agonistic Continuum (a dimension that ranges from no coercive fantasies to coercive fantasies and to sadistic behavior), [18] exploring different kinds of hypersexuality and their relation to specific types of impulsivity, [30] creating new metrics for the typologies he has created,and identifying and creating metrics for the core predictive components of sexually aggressive behavior. [31]
Antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) is a personality disorder defined by a chronic pattern of behavior that disregards the rights and well-being of others. People with ASPD often exhibit behavior that conflicts with social norms,leading to issues with interpersonal relationships,employment,and legal matters. The condition generally manifests in childhood or early adolescence,with a high rate of associated conduct problems and a tendency for symptoms to peak in late adolescence and early adulthood.
Juvenile delinquency,also known as juvenile offending,is the act of participating in unlawful behavior as a minor or individual younger than the statutory age of majority. These acts would otherwise be considered crimes if the individuals committing them were older. The term delinquent usually refers to juvenile delinquency,and is also generalised to refer to a young person who behaves an unacceptable way.
Penile plethysmography (PPG) or phallometry is a measurement of blood flow to the penis,typically used as a proxy for measurement of sexual arousal. The most commonly reported methods of conducting penile plethysmography involves the measurement of the circumference of the penis with a mercury-in-rubber or electromechanical strain gauge,or the volume of the penis with an airtight cylinder and inflatable cuff at the base of the penis. Corpora cavernosa nerve penile plethysmographs measure changes in response to inter-operative electric stimulation during surgery. The volumetric procedure was invented by Kurt Freund and is considered to be particularly sensitive at low arousal levels. The easier to use circumferential measures are more widely used,however,and more common in studies using erotic film stimuli. A corresponding device in women is the vaginal photoplethysmograph.
Chemical castration is castration via anaphrodisiac drugs,whether to reduce libido and sexual activity,to treat cancer,or otherwise. Unlike surgical castration,where the gonads are removed through an incision in the body,chemical castration does not remove organs and is not a form of sterilization.
A sex offender is a person who has committed a sex crime. What constitutes a sex crime differs by culture and legal jurisdiction. The majority of convicted sex offenders have convictions for crimes of a sexual nature;however,some sex offenders have simply violated a law contained in a sexual category. Some of the serious crimes which result in a mandatory sex-offender classification are sexual assault,statutory rape,bestiality,child sexual abuse,incest,and rape.
Pedophilia is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Although girls typically begin the process of puberty at age 10 or 11,and boys at age 11 or 12,psychiatric diagnostic criteria for pedophilia extend the cut-off point for prepubescence to age 13. People with the disorder are often referred to as pedophiles.
Psychopathy,or psychopathic personality,is a personality construct characterized by impaired empathy and remorse,in combination with traits of boldness,disinhibition,and egocentrism. These traits are often masked by superficial charm and immunity to stress,which create an outward appearance of apparent normalcy.
The Psychopathy Checklist or Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised,now the Psychopathy Checklist—revised (PCL-R),is a psychological assessment tool that is commonly used to assess the presence and extent of psychopathy in individuals—most often those institutionalized in the criminal justice system—and to differentiate those high in this trait from those with antisocial personality disorder,a related diagnosable disorder. It is a 20-item inventory of perceived personality traits and recorded behaviors,intended to be completed on the basis of a semi-structured interview along with a review of "collateral information" such as official records. The psychopath tends to display a constellation or combination of high narcissistic,borderline,and antisocial personality disorder traits,which includes superficial charm,charisma/attractiveness,sexual seductiveness and promiscuity,affective instability,suicidality,lack of empathy,feelings of emptiness,self-harm,and splitting. In addition,sadistic and paranoid traits are usually also present.
Sexual violence refers to a range of completed or attempted sexual acts in which the affected party does not or is unable to consent. Theories on the causes of sexual violence are numerous and have come out of many different disciplines,such as women's studies,public health,and criminal justice. Proposed causes include military conquest,socioeconomics,anger,power,sadism,traits,ethical standards,laws,and evolutionary pressures. Most of the research on the causes of sexual violence has focused on male offenders.
Martin Paul Kafka is an American psychiatrist best known for his work on sex offenders,paraphilias and what he calls "paraphilia-related disorders" such as sex addiction and hypersexuality.
Child sexual abuse (CSA),also called child molestation,is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include engaging in sexual activities with a child,indecent exposure,child grooming,and child sexual exploitation,such as using a child to produce child pornography.
A range of research has been conducted examining the link between viewing child pornography and perpetration of child sexual abuse,and much disagreement persists regarding whether a causal connection has been established. Perspectives fall into one of three positions:
Michael Chikong Seto is a Canadian forensic psychologist,sexologist,and author. He is director of Forensic Rehabilitation Research at the Royal Ottawa Health Care Group,where his research focuses on pedophilia,sexual offenses committed against children,child pornography,risk assessment,offenders with mental disorders,psychopathy,and program evaluation.
Vernon Lewis Quinsey is a Canadian psychologist. He has studied violent crime offenders,sex offenders,sexually violent predators,juvenile delinquency,and ways to predict,assess,and manage individuals with these tendencies. He testified in court that a rapist,Allen Edward Bullock,was "erotically attracted to that kind of behavior".
Robin J. Wilson is a Canadian psychologist,specializing in work on sex offenders.
Devon Leigh Logan Polaschek is a New Zealand professor of psychology and of Crime Science at the University of Waikato in New Zealand who studies high-risk violent offenders in prisons and on parole.
A juvenile sex crime is defined as a legally proscribed sexual crime committed without consent by a minor under the age of 18. The act involves coercion,manipulation,a power imbalance between the perpetrator and victim,and threats of violence. The sexual offenses that fall under juvenile sex crimes range from non-contact to penetration. The severity of the sexual assault in the crime committed is often the amount of trauma and/or injuries the victim has suffered. Typically within these crimes,female children are the majority demographic of those targeted and the majority of offenders are male. Juvenile sex offenders are different than adult sex offenders in a few ways,as captured by National Incident Based Reporting System:they are more likely to be committed in school,offend in groups and against acquaintances,target young children as victims,and to have a male victim,whereas they are less likely than their adult counterpart to commit rape.
Wade C. Myers III is an American child and adolescent and forensic psychiatrist and a Professor and Chief of Forensic Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at the Alpert Medical School of Brown University. He is also a Director of Forensic Psychiatry at Rhode Island Hospital and the Medical Director for Newport Mental Health. Myers is distinguished for his studies of juvenile homicide offenders and sexual homicide.
Louis Schlesinger is a Professor of Psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York (CUNY). Schlesinger's areas of research focus on Forensic Psychology;focusing on extraordinary crimes including but not limited to serial and non-serial murder,rape,homicide,mass murder,and crime scene behavior. Schlesinger has written numerous books and journal articles. He has also participated in a number of podcasts,documentaries,and TV shows to discuss his work. Throughout his career,Schlesinger has been received the NJPA Psychologist of the Year award,the Karl F. Heiser Presidential Award,and the Distinguished Researcher Award.
Theresa A. Gannon is a British academic psychologist and chartered psychologist,and is a full professor at the University of Kent specialising in forensic psychology,especially of deliberate firestarters and sexual offenders. Gannon is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences,and was awarded the British Psychological Society's Division of Forensic Psychology Lifetime Contribution to Forensic Psychology Award.