ASSESSMENT OF CHILD PHYSICAL AND SEXUAL ABUSE OFFENDERS

This article provides a review of the different assessment approaches used to evaluate child physical and sexual abuse offenders. The use of interview and observational methods and problems associated with thes e methods are discussed. Selected general personality measures that ha ve been used to assess child abuse offenders are reviewed and critique d. Offender specific measures are reviewed and their limitations are d iscussed. Throughout the review of standardized and specialized measur es, problems related to the lack of measure specificity and selectivit y are pointed out.