Seattle University Collaborative Projects - International Academy of ...

Frances P. Bernat, Texas A & M University (frances.bernat@tamiu.edu)Jacqueline B. Helfgott, Seattle University (jhelfgott@seattleu.edu)Nicholas Godlove, Attorney at Law, USA (ngodlove@gmail.com)The transfer of the use of the term “predator” from pop culture to law coincided with theexponential accumulation of research in the area of psychopathy, sexual deviancy, and violentcrime. In recent years, psychopathy has emerged as one of the more robust indicators of chronicoffending and violent recidivism. In the United States, some laws have been enacted that focusattention on violent offenders who are diagnosed to be sexual predators. The state laws providefor the civil commitment of those deemed to be a sexual predator either prior to or after theircriminal sentence has been completed. In order to understand how civil commitment of sexualpredator determinations are handled on appeals, this paper examines 107 state appellate courtcases whose central legal issue was whether a defendant was a sexually violent predator in needof civil commitment. These state court appellate cases, rendered between 1990 and June, 2011,utilized a variety of psychological forensic assessments to make sexually violent predatordeterminations. We focus on expert testimony provided to state courts and the degree to whichcourts utilized forensic tools in their findings of psychopathy, sexual violence, and predatoryaggression. Implications for the use of the actuarial predictors of dangerousness in sexuallyviolent predator civil commitments are discussed.Profiling Psychopathic Traits in Serial Sexual Homicide: A Case Study of thePersonality and Personal History of the Green River Killer, Gary Leon RidgwayLoren T. Atherley, Seattle University (lorentatherley@gmail.com)Psychopathy is believed to be a defining personality trait in violent sexual offenders – researchconducted on serial sexual homicide offenders reveals psychopathy to be a contributory,functional aspect of the offender’s personality. Commonly accepted modes of aggression (i.e.predatory and catathymic) suggest an exclusivity; this study suggests the comorbidity andcollusion of these factors to enable a series of sexually motivated homicides. This paper isadapted from thesis research conducted on the offense behavior and personality of the GreenRiver Killer, Gary L. Ridgway. The conclusions of this study suggest that Ridgway operated asboth predator and catathymic actor when he killed seventy-eight prostitutes in and around KingCounty, Washington. Allowing for this duality challenges concepts of the role of aggression.Implications for investigations and criminal profiling are discussed.Actuarial Prediction in Determinate-Plus Sex Offender Release DecisionsBeck Strah, Snohomish County Sheriff's Office, USA (strahb@seattleu.edu)389