Dan Wilcox

• Professor
• Managing Director at Wilcox Psychological Associates

This paper was developed to provide some informed advice about establishing and maintaining an independent psychology practice. It emphasises the area of expert witness work with the courts, including assessments, treatment, report preparation and expert witness testimony. It describes potential benefits and pitfalls associated with taking such a c...

In this chapter, the authors explore the relationship dynamic that exists between perpetrators, survivors, and therapist. It describes key requirements for formulating more effective interventions, with a need for attuned, informed and open style of engagement, as well as knowledge of the experience of both the abuser and the survivor. Strategies f...

This paper reflects the views of Catholic safeguarding coordinators (SCs) with regard to the inclusion of the polygraph in forensic psychological risk assessments that they have commissioned. The contents are derived from feedback forms sought of these instructing parties, relating to fifteen priests referred for assessment by SCs from eight differ...

Purpose This paper aims to describe the use of an innovative resilience-building training programme delivered to NHS Safeguarding Leads and other participating professionals over a five-month period concluding in March 2019. The developers used knowledge and expertise in both the fields of psychology and drama-based learning to promote comprehensio...

Within the context of Court proceedings, psychologists undertake a range of tasks. However, the authors consider that a clear distinction should be made between the roles of acting as an assessing and a treating psychologist. Specifically, the authors consider that these two functions reflect different areas of expertise, requiring divergent skills...

During the COVID-19 Pandemic of 2020-2021, the global climate has undergone a period of unprecedented social change. Perhaps the most significant shift has been the strict social distancing measures imposed by the Government. Within these circumstances, psychologists have increasingly been asked to conduct psychological assessments remotely. This p...

This article is intended to provide general guidance for the preparation of forensic psychological reports. Its contents are derived from the authors’ extensive experience of undertaking such assessments, bearing particularly in mind, the challenges they have faced along the way. The paper employs an example of reporting in care proceedings, though...

Th is case-study based article is presented to demonstrate that information obtained when employing the polygraph, as part of a structured psychological sexual risk assessment, can enhance the comprehensiveness of the report, irrespective of whether the individual passes the polygraph or not ( Jack & Wilcox, 2018). Three cases are presented to com...

The psychological assessment of novice and experienced clerics is an important component of ordination, suitability, and risk evaluation to ensure that representatives of religious organizations are equipped, motivated, and safe for a life commitment to a faith vocation. It is the authors’ opinion that such assessments should be conducted by skille...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to consider the impact of mental capacity legislation when applied to parents with learning difficulties who lack capacity within childcare and family law proceedings in England and Wales. Design/methodology/approach The paper relies on a range of material including reports published by independent mental hea...

Working with Sex Offenders is a unique book which brings together leading practitioners in the field to provide a comprehensive and up-to-date distillation of relevant guidance to assist anyone who works with sex offenders. The authors examine topics including assessment, treatment, supervision and safeguarding. Skills and strategies for successf...

This paper focuses on the introduction of the mental capacity legislation and in particular its application to care and family proceedings in the UK. It reviews challenges with regards to its implementation, noting serious shortfalls in its use even a decade after the mental capacity act was introduced. Guidance is provided within the paper with re...

Attachment theory has had a profound influence on our understanding of human relationships. This paper focuses on the application of the Dynamic‐Maturational Model of attachment to children involved in care and family proceedings. It describes the central principles of attachment as developed by Ainsworth et al. ( ); Bowlby ( ); Crittenden ( ) and...

Sex offender treatment has developed and changed dramatically over the last several decades. This has been influenced by improved risk- and treatment-assessment tools, as well as the advent of group treatment programs that have consistently demonstrated positive outcomes. This chapter explores the utility of individual interventions with sex offend...

This chapter reviews treatment and case management efforts in relation to dealing with high-deviance sexual offenders focusing on three men with histories of zoosexual interests and behaviors. Common characteristics in zoophilic offenders were explored with a case formulation approach adopted throughout, describing professional efforts to address t...

Case studies can highlight not only the heterogeneity of cases across types of sex offenders, but also the great variability within types. They can also highlight the many similarities and commonalities that are components of effective practice, not just in work with sex offenders, but in therapeutic work in general. The use of the case examples ou...

This chapter provides a brief history of developments in methods for assessing, treating and supervising convicted sexual offenders. Principal current approaches are then described by way of a case example. Mr. N was a 26-year-old male who was convicted for indecent assault and subsequently given a probation order. The authors explain how Mr. N's l...

Sex Offender Treatment is an innovative case study-based guide to the treatment of sexual offenders, offering direct access to the insights and experience of experts in the field. The book describes case formulations, assessment processes, and treatment undertaken with specific sexual offender types. Takes an innovative case study approach to sexua...

Just two years ago, in April 2012 (Wilcox and Gray) published a paper in this journal on the then current application of polygraphy with sexual offenders in the UK. At the request of the Journal Editor, this paper represents an update of developments in this area.

This chapter examines the application of the polygraph in working with sex offenders and provides an overview of polygraphy theory, practice and history to enable the reader to consider the ethical issues explored within a more meaningful context. Post-conviction sex offender testing (PCSOT) is described as effective in monitoring and reducing reci...

This chapter presents the author's early professional experiences as a forensic psychologist and discusses his involvement over time in working with sex offenders. It also attempts to take account of the balance to be struck by the author's colleagues and the author in their efforts to develop more effective assessment, treatment, and supervision t...

For more than ten years the polygraph has been the subject of research and increased application with sex offenders in the United Kingdom. However, it is not without its detractors (Ben-Shakhar, 2008; Lykken, 1998; Meijer, Verschuere, Merckelbach and Crombez, 2008). Indeed, Craig (2011), described it as “a lightning rod for controversy” (p. 59), pr...

The purpose of this article is to provide examples of how the polygraph can be used to work more effectively with sexual offenders. The authors describe that the polygraph can offer opportunities to understand the thoughts and behaviours of sex offenders in ways that can inform issues central to the individual's probation or parole conditions. The...

The predictive validity of four risk assessment instruments: the RRASOR, SVR-20, RM2000-V and the ARMIDILO-Stable and -Acute dynamic client subscales were assessed on a sample of 88 offenders: 44 mainstream and 44 sexual offenders with special needs, who had been matched on risk items within the RRASOR tool. Instruments were coded retrospectively f...

This article is based on a paper presented by the first author at the Division of Forensic Psychology’s Annual Conference in Preston on 23 June 2009. It describes research conducted in the Netherlands and led by the second author, Jos Buschman, psychologist and polygraph examiner (Buschman, Bogaerts et al., 2009; Buschman, 2008).

This research employed post-conviction polygraph testing on first offence internet child abuse image downloaders. The study systematically addressed the different child sexual behaviours exhibited by 38 men who were convicted of possessing child pornographic materials. The results indicate that additional risk-profile data are essential for the red...

Proponents of post-conviction polygraphy make a persuasive case for its introduction in the management of sex offenders. When used in this context, the polygraph has the potential to overcome limitations in current supervision practices, as well as generally improving the assessment and treatment of sex offenders. There are several types of post-co...

Post-conviction or clinical polygraph examination (lie detector testing) offers significant opportunities for assessing, treating and monitoring sex offenders. There has been a great deal of controversy surrounding the polygraph's application to criminal investigations as well as employee screening. While these criticisms may be justified in some c...

This chapter is written for professionals working with sex offenders to give them a broad, basic understanding of how the polygraph can be employed in this area of work. The modern day polygraph instrument is not a ‘lie detector’ per se as thought by many people. Rather, it monitors and records changes to an individual's physiological reactions in...

This chapter provides case examples of how the polygraph can be used to work more effectively with convicted sex offenders. The authors explore case examples to assist the reader in understanding the use of this instrument in combination with other available tools and resources. When used effectively, the polygraph offers unique opportunities to un...

This article presents the first study on post-conviction polygraphy in the Netherlands. Importantly, it exclusively focuses on cybercrime offenders. The study is designed to systematically address the different child sexual behaviours exhibited by 25 participants who are in treatment for possessing child abuse images. The results indicate that post...

This study examines the effectiveness of three risk assessment instruments: Static-99, Risk Matrix 2000 (RM2000) and the Rapid Risk of Sex Offender Recidivism (RRASOR), in predicting sexual recidivism among 27 intellectually disabled sex offenders. The overall sexual offence reconviction rate was 30%, while non-recidivists remained offence-free ove...

A previous exploratory study of the Child Molester Empathy Measure (CMEM) focused on the difference between offenders’ normal level of general empathy and the way in which a sample of Dutch offenders viewed their own victims. The authors found that, regardless of their level of general victim empathy, all offenders thought that their own victims we...

This paper reviews assessment, treatment and supervision issues in relation to a high-risk, borderline functioning, male sex offender with zoosexual interests and behaviours. Mr Z was convicted of multiple sexual offences including rape, indecent assault and indecent exposure as well as actual and threatened bodily harm. He was convicted for two co...

This pilot study on Sexual History Disclosure Examination was the first of its kind undertaken in the U.K., in that 14 adult male sex offenders were polygraphed after following completion of around 140 hours of Probation-based sex offender treatment. Of this sample eight were convicted of child molestation, four of indecent exposure and two for ind...

In the UK, the use of the polygraph has only recently been given serious consideration as a means of facilitating the assessment and treatment of sex offenders. This pilot polygraph study on sexual history disclosure testing (SHDT) was the first of its kind undertaken in Britain. This application of the polygraph has shown merit as a means of obtai...

The effects of child sexual abuse are wide-ranging and impact on children, families and health/social care systems. The authors review this literature, examining the shortcomings of the ‘victim–offender’ model, and consider the complex, multifactorial nature of this question. Factors associated with a progression from victim to perpetrator are expl...

The development of comprehensive treatment services for intellectually disabled sex offenders has been slow in comparison with mainstream sex offender treatment services, which have now achieved Home Office accreditation within the National Probation Service. The author discusses some of the reasons for this failure to keep pace, focusing on the re...

This paper describes one of the first systematic focused attempts to elicit the views of sexual offenders about the treatment that they have received. The paucity of previous research in this area is suggested to be the result of negative societal attitudes towards sexual offenders, as exemplified by recent tabloid newspaper coverage of this popula...

The employment of psychometric testing in judicial proceedings has steadily increased. Nowhere is the use of psychometrics more varied than in family and care proceedings where issues concerning intellectual ability, organic impairment, personality traits, social skills, attitudes, feelings and interests may independently or in combination bear sig...

Post Conviction Clinical Polygraph Examination Testing (Lie Detector Testing) offers significant opportunities for assessing, treating and monitoring sex offenders. This article briefly reviews the historical development of polygraph techniques including the physiological measures employed, the administration of the polygraph and the interpretation...

Encouraging disclosure of information is an essential task of probation intervention with sex offenders. Here, Daniel Wilcox, Dan Sosnowski and David Middleton argue that the polygraph, or lie detector, can help to achieve this aim, and play an important role in assessing risk, treating and managing sex offenders on probation or licence. They exami...