Anthony Perillo

• PhD
• Forensic Training Director at University of New Mexico

In this chapter, current literature on clergy sexual abuse is reviewed, with a focus on how abuse trends can inform the management of sexually abusive clergy. General trends of clergy sexual abuse—victim choice, abuse patterns, and characteristics of abusive clergy as well as potential explanations for clergy sexual abuse from these patterns are pr...

Objective: We conducted a survey to catalog the state of open science in the field of psychology and law. We addressed four major questions: (a) How do psycholegal researchers define open science? (b) How do psycholegal researchers perceive open science? (c) How often do psycholegal researchers use various open science practices? and (d) What barri...

The field of psychology–law is extremely broad, encompassing a strikingly large range of topic areas in both applied psychology and experimental psychology. Despite the continued and rapid growth of the field, there is no current and comprehensive resource that provides coverage of the major topic areas in the psychology–law field. The Oxford Handb...

As the field of psychology and law begins to embrace more transparent and accessible science, many questions arise about what open science actually is and how to do it. In this chapter, we contextualize this reform by examining fundamental concerns about psychological research—irreproducibility and replication failures, false-positive errors, and q...

Objective: The present research examined whether concurrent expert testimony ("hot tubbing") and court-appointed testimony reduced adversarial allegiance in clinical experts' judgments compared with traditional adversarial expert testimony. Hypotheses: We predicted Hypothesis 1: Defense experts would render more not responsible judgments and low...

We examined the effects of victim and perpetrator alcohol intoxication on perceptions of campus sexual assault. Participants ( N = 276) read a campus assault vignette; both perpetrator and victim intoxication levels were manipulated. Participants reported attitudes toward both parties and perceptions of responsibility, blame, and criminal and civil...

We examined statewide data of persons evaluated for sexually violent predator (SVP) commitment and compared risk-relevant data of three groups: those committed as SVPs (n = 374), those not recommended for commitment (n = 2,707), and those nearly committed (recommended for commitment but ultimately not committed; n = 117). Consistent with legal lang...

Objective: The present research examined whether concurrent expert testimony, or hot tubbing, is able to reduce adversarial allegiance compared to traditional adversarial expert testimony. Hypotheses: We expected concurrent experts would display less adversarial allegiance over the course of a mock criminal responsibility evaluation, with case opin...

We examined effects of victim and perpetrator alcohol intoxication on perceptions of campus sexual assault. Participants (N = 276) read a campus assault vignette; both perpetrator and victim intoxication levels were manipulated. Participants reported attitudes toward both parties and perceptions of responsibility, blame, and criminal and civil liab...

We examined state-wide data of persons evaluated for Sexually Violent Predator (SVP) commitment and compared risk-relevant data of three groups: those committed as SVPs ( n = 374), those not recommended for commitment ( n = 2,707), and those nearly committed (recommended for commitment but ultimately not committed; n = 117). Consistent with legal l...

The current study compares offending trends of sexually abusive clergy (n = 1,428) to general sex offenders (n = 2,842) on risk measure items coded across the course of offending. Results suggest significant differences on most risk-relevant variables. Clergy were particularly more likely to have male victims, V = .62, 95% CI [.58, .65], and less l...

In the face of national budgetary concerns and questions about the effectiveness of sex offender policies, increased attention has been given to the long-term viability of current efforts to reduce sex offending. With finite resources available, it is imperative that investments in sexual violence prevention focus on practices that make the greates...

Sexual violence is a serious problem that affects those victimized, their families, and the community around them. Much sex offense legislation appears designed to respond to the collective fear that sexual violence engenders, with legislative efforts (intentionally or unintentionally) tending to target low-base-rate “stranger danger” types of offe...

Research prior to the abuse crisis in the catholic churchMajor examinations of the problem to datePurported causes of abuseCharacteristics of clergy abusersFuture research directionsConclusions References

Little research to date has examined the relevance of abuse history for distinct types of offenders. This study compared clerics who were abused in childhood with clerics who were not abused in childhood with regard to victim, offender, and offense characteristics. Findings revealed that clergy with a history of victimization tended to have more ma...

Despite wide reports of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, empirical data on Catholic Church sexual abuse have not been readily available. The present study examines factors associated with sex-offender risk assessment along three criteria (repeat offending, victim gender, and victim relationship) on a sample of sexual abusers in the Catholic Chu...