DOI: 10.3886/icpsr09976.v1
title: Classification of Rapists in Massachusetts, 1980-1990
title: Version 1

description: The purpose of this study was to apply the latest version
of a typological system for rapists (MTC:R3) developed at the
Massachusetts Treatment Center for Sexually Dangerous Persons (MTC) to
a large sample of offenders currently or previously incarcerated at
MTC and to examine the system's reliability and concurrent and
predictive validity. Data are available from two of the project's
components. In the first component, 201 rapists who were committed to
MTC between 1958 and 1981 were classified. This sample was used to
revise the previous classification system (R2), upon which the
development of the current system rests. Of these 201 men, 94 were in
residence at the time of the study and 107 had been released. The
second component classified a sample of 54 rapists who were committed
after 1981. This sample was not used to develop the criteria for the
typology. As an overview, this project had two missions: (1) to
subtype about 250 rapists using MTC:R3 criteria, and (2) to utilize an
archivally-derived database to examine the concurrent and predictive
validity of the system. In addition to the subtype assignments, the
primary source of data was the detailed institutional files that were
used to code a 1,500-variable questionnaire.
description: To facilitate clinical and forensic decisions
 about sex offenders, as well as to further an understanding of the
 etiology of sexual aggression, a programmatic effort to develop and
 validate taxonomic models to reduce the manifest heterogeneity among
 sexual offenders was undertaken. The present research grant had as its
 mission the testing and refinement of the second iteration of a
 taxonomic model for rapists (MTC:R3). Archival data were collected on
 255 incarcerated rapists who had been classified according to
 MTC:R3. These data were used to examine the predictive and concurrent
validity of the system.
description: This study applied the most recent version of a
 classification system for rapists to a sample of offenders that were
 currently or previously incarcerated at the Massachusetts Treatment
 Center (MTC) to assess the system's reliability and concurrent and
 predictive validity. This typology includes nine subtypes of rapists
 that are classified according to dimensions that are resumptively
 important in differentiating among rapists (e.g., generalized or
 global anger, misogynistic anger, eroticized anger, impulsive,
 antisocial personality, degree of preoccupation with gratification of
 sexual needs, and social competence). The nine subtypes in this
 prototypic system include: (1) Opportunistic offender with Low Social
 Competence, (2) Opportunistic offender with High Social Competence,
 (3) Pervasively Angry offender, (4) Overt Sadistic offender, (5) Muted
 Sadistic offender, (6) Sexualized, Nonsadistic offender with High
 Social Competence, (7) Sexualized, Nonsadistic offender with Low
 Social Competence, (8) Vindictive offender with Low Social Competence,
 and (9) Vindictive offender with Moderate Social Competence. The nine
 subtypes are ordered according to similarity of dendogram from a
 series of cluster analyses. This project used operational criteria for
 MTC:R3 to classify about 250 rapists, representing a model
 construction sample and a generalization sample. The system's
 reliability and concurrent and predictive validity were examined using
an extensive archival database.
description: Both questionnaire ratings and classification
 judgments were made using the extensive clinical files that had been
 compiled over the years on all inmates committed to MTC. These files
 contained two primary sources of information: data gathered during a
 60-day observation period when inmates were referred for evaluation
 and data added post-commitment on an inmate's institutional adaptation
 and progress in treatment. Post-commitment information routinely
 available included MTC records such as treatment progress reports,
 behavioral observation reports, work reports, summaries of program
 participation, results of psychometric assessments, and annual reports
 by an institutional review board. Information collected during the
 inmate's observation period included, in addition to diagnostic
 assessments and clinical interviews, data from multiple sources
 external to MTC, such as past institutionalization records, school and
 employment records, police reports, court testimony, parole summaries,
 probation records, and social service notes. These reports not only
 originated from different agencies, but were also written at different
 points in the inmate's life to describe events as they were occurring
 at that time. In many cases, social service and school reports that
 predated the inmate's first arrest or legal involvement were
 available. Access to these original reports helped to counteract the
 retrospective biases inherent in file research based largely on
 summary reports of a subject's life written after events of particular
 importance have already taken place (in this case, after the onset of
 criminal activity). Codings were made with the use of a questionnaire
 composed of three parts. The first part covered demographic
 information and the inmate's educational, occupational, military,
 medical, psychiatric, and criminal histories, as well as information
 pertaining to alcohol and drug use and detailed familial and
 developmental history. The second part of the questionnaire was
 comprised of a set of clinically derived scales that globally assessed
 the inmates on various aspects of social competence, aggression,
 antisocial behavior, and offense style. The third part of the
 questionnaire was a symptom checklist used to code the presence,
 severity, and/or chronicity of clinical and behavioral symptoms. The
 coded file data fall into six major categories: (1) demographic, (2)
 alcohol history, (3) family and developmental history, (4) criminal
history, (5) clinical symptoms, and (6) major life events.
description: Response Rates: Not applicable.
description: Presence of Common Scales: None.
description: The first sample consists of 201 rapists committed to MTC
 between 1958 and 1981. Of these 201 offenders, 107 had been discharged
 at the time of the study. In addition, this study included a
generalization sample of 54 rapists committed after 1981.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: Data File
DS2: SAS Data Definition Statements
DS3: User Guide
description: Male rapists committed to the Massachusetts Treatment
Center for Sexually Dangerous Persons.
description: One record, which was determined to be a duplicate,
was removed from the data file. Users are encouraged to obtain a copy
of the Final Report for information on the development of the MTC:R3
typological system.