Empathy in sexually offending and nonoffending adolescent males

Empathy development is believed to be an important element in adolescent se x offender treatment. Adolescence is a time of considerable self-absorption among adolescent boys. This study investigates levels of empathy among ado lescent offenders in comparison with their nonoffending counterparts. Parti cipants were 23 male sex offenders and 23 male nonoffenders between the age s of 13 and 18. Participants were administered Davis's Interpersonal Reacti vity index as a measure of empathy. The sex offender group scored significa ntly lower in empathy on the overall score. There was some variation on the individual subscales. Implications for research and practice are discussed .