Int J Legal Med (1998) 111 : 133–141 © Springer-Verlag 1998

O R I G I N A L A RT I C L E

K. M. Beier

Differential typology and prognosis for dissexual behavior –

a follow-up study of previously expert-appraised child molesters

Received: 30 June 1997 / Received in revised form: 19 December 1997

Abstract In terms of identifying socially-dysfunctional

forms of sexuality – regardless of the legal valuation – dis- Introduction
sexuality is defined as “an expression of social failure in
sexual behavior.” This failure was the subject of a longi- Apart from the specific psychopathology of the delin-
tudinal analysis of 186 expert-appraised pedophile sexual quent, German law is particularly interested in the likeli-
delinquents at the University of Kiel from 1945 through hood of relapse in cases of sexual delinquency. As such, a
1981. Of the child molesters 121 were followed up be- judge must always consider prognostic factors in arriving
tween September 1990 and September 1992 and 100 were at a verdict. This requirement is often gladly passed on to
personally contacted. The goal was to empirically develop an expert witness, who will assess the delinquent’s entire
prognosis criteria, given knowledge of the former delin- personality and his continued development based on both
quents’ social development as well as sexual/dissexual therapeutic and legal aspects.
practices, which could be of both forensic and interdisci- This provides for a unique form of unity between the
plinary use. Among the bi- and homosexually-orientated patient and the expert, since in his self-prognosis, the pa-
pedophiles, the number of offenders for which the act is tient will include not only the probability of future viola-
one of “compensation” was half of the initial collective. tions, but also the structure of his future social framework.
In contrast, this number was three-quarters for the hetero- He will also, of course, calculate the benefit of the thera-
sexually-orientated perpetrators. Correspondingly, the other peutic aid offered. The automatic result is that the princi-
half of the bi- and homosexually-orientated pedophiles pal theoretical differences between legal and sexological
were either exclusive-type or non-exclusive-type pedo- concepts must be considered.
philes (the so-called “true” pedophiles). Among the het- In reconstructing the biography of a sexual delinquent
erosexually-orientated offenders, the number was only one- in forensic sexology, it is not at all unusual to find that the
quarter. According to the empirical data, we may expect a past history of the individual reveals no prosecutions or
biographically continuing potential of dissexual behavior sexual offenses subject to prosecution. Some offenses are
for only the exclusive and the non-exclusive type of pe- not subject to criminal prosecution if the offender is a mi-
dophilia. Most of the relapsed dissexual activities showed nor. Also voyeuristic activities or zoophilia are not subject
up a long time after the expert’s report. This is true for to criminal prosecution in Germany.
both the heterosexually- and the bi- and homosexually In day-to-day clinical sexology, we see exhibitionists,
orientated groups. The present evaluation of the results al- pedophiles and incest offenders who have violated the law
lows assignment of behavior for certain delinquent ty- in the past without having been prosecuted. They volun-
pologies restricted to life phases or lifelong dissexual be- tarily decide to come to the clinic for treatment because
havior. they are afraid of committing further crimes. Quite apart
from the legal valuation, the mental health professional
Key words Dissexuality · Pedophilia · Prognosis · who is called on to treat the patient views his activities
Follow-up study primarily as the expression of a disturbed social function
of sexuality.

The new concept of “dissexuality”

K. M. Beier
Universitätsklinikum Charité, Tucholskystrasse 2,
D-10117 Berlin Sexuality is a sphere of life in which one person becomes
Tel.: +49 (30) 2802 6351/6481; Fax: +49 (30) 2802 6455 most intensively involved with another person. This rela-
134 K. M. Beier: Differential typology and prognosis for dissexual behavior

tionship – regardless of the prevailing preferences – is char- by the expert. A standardized key was utilized to assess the evalu-
acterized by a basic partner orientation, and is conceived ations, which is drawn principally from the short form of Nedopil
and Graßl’s (1988) forensic-psychiatric documentation system
to be a social bond. This social function of sexuality even (FPDS). This was developed in several phases from the documen-
includes the risk of a dysfunctional expression, which tation system of the “Working Group for Methods and Documen-
may turn out to be an activity subject to prosecution. But tation in Psychiatry” (AMDP 1981).
to date, no practical term has been coined to characterize This system of documentation contains spaces for the follow-
ing areas: family history, childhood behavioral and developmental
this sociodynamic aspect of sexual offenses. The new con- problems, relationship with parents, partnerships, alcohol and drug
cept of dissexuality is defined as follows: “A sexual ex- history, previous illnesses, delinquent personality, act phenome-
pression of a failure to conform to social norms” – inde- nology, interim history (if applicable), and perspectives.
pendently of whether that failure is prosecuted or subject The calculation of the reliability coefficient (“Kappa”) was un-
to prosecution. This is understood as disregarding the nor- dertaken based on the calculation suggestions made by Krippen-
dorff (1980). Pursuant to Woggon et al. (1978), the Kappa should
mally-allowable interests of a partner (see Beier 1995). be > 0.6 in order to be considered a positive correlation. In terms
The correlation to the term “dissociality,” commonly of both the inter- and the intra-rater reliability, Kappa was > 0.6 in
used in Germany, is obvious. Dissexuality and dissociality all implemented tests (6 “rater”) as such both a high correlation
can overlap (when dissexual behavior becomes part of among the experts and for a given expert at two different points of
time may be assumed.
dissociality), but they can each stand alone as well. The The follow-up (free or “narrative”) interviews were conducted
term “sexually delinquent” focuses on legal aspects, and from September 1990 and September 1992. For the pedophiles,
the terms “deviant” and “perverse,” which are commonly they cover 121 personal follow-up questions as well as the evalua-
used in mental health terminology, describe far more than tion of educational reports and criminal records.
The questionnaire utilized for coding the follow-up research
what is meant here: both cover sexual behavior, and a fail- contained spaces for the employment, family, and social situation,
ure to conform to social norms does not necessarily fol- as well as psycho-social burdens at the time of follow up. Addi-
low (for example in the case of a consenting partner, or tionally, information was keyed on the issues of alcohol history
autoerotic activities). and above all partnership/sexuality history; some of them with a
The term “paraphilia,” newly added to the DSM (Di- time line. Further key areas included: psychological conclusions,
including intelligence level, therapies in connection with sexual
agnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders by problems, subjective assessment of the emotional state at the time
the American Psychiatric Association) in the 1980’s, is of follow up, somatic results, guardianship measures taken, and
not specific enough, since it would include nearly every- psychiatric treatment (in-patient and/or out-patient). This proce-
thing in terms of phenomenology i.e. this is a term which dure ensured that the follow-up period spanned at least 10 years,
and that the patients were not too old or even deceased by then –
generalizes instead of differentiating. It does not deter- on the other hand, their sexual life was not likely to undergo any
mine the extent of the social, partner-dependent dysfunc- more changes. The follow-up periods averaged a time of 25 years.
tionality, and it does not include a separate determination In order to assess ongoing social development in the period fol-
of extremely important dissexual activities, such as incest lowing initial appraisal, the familial, employment, social and psy-
chosocial variables taken into account were identical to those
or rape offenses (APA 1994). However, “dissexuality” which had been listed for assessment in the appraisal forms based
means exactly those activities where the sexual offense on initial appraisal records and follow-up information. As such, a
directly injures a person’s integrity and individuality. The direct comparison could be undertaken for each individual variable
kind of activities involved are those in which the person and in addition, a general score encompassing all variables could
affected would very probably not consent. As such, they be calculated. For this, a set of data was extracted which was de-
termined by assigning points to comparable variables at the differ-
express a violation of collective partner expectations – ent points of time. An assessment of positive development was
thereby providing the social dimension. made if, at the time of follow-up, the score was higher than at the
A framework of orientation regarding the future course time of initial appraisal (if information was missing as to a given
of patients with a potential for dissexual behavior is ur- variable, this was “neutralized,” and the total points of the score
adjusted accordingly).
gently needed, not only in terms of prognostic considera- Statistical interpretation focused on creating a descriptive sta-
tions, but also in terms of differentiating between thera- tistic. At times, quantity relationships were controlled with the χ2-
peutic options. testing procedure (in terms of the frequency differences between
the typological description of the delinquent as a one-dimensional
χ2-test).
Methods
The survey covers a retrospective longitudinal life analysis for the
prognosis of previously expert-appraised sexual delinquents. Results
A total of 510 sexual delinquents with birth dates from 1915
to 1945 were included (encompassing all types of dissexual be- Of the 186 child molesters studied, 108 had molested a
havior: incest, exhibitionism, rape/sexual assault, pedophilia, and girl (heterosexual orientation) – even if they were recur-
“rare sexual offenses” like fetishism, zoophilia, homicide and necro-
philia) who had been expert-appraised at the University of Kiel rently dissexual – in earlier similar sexual offenses. Of the
(FRG) between 1945 and 1981 (Beier 1995). The largest group was delinquents 78 had performed the dissexual act on a boy
that of the pedophiles (n = 186) differentiated according to hetero- (homosexual orientation: n = 63), or on both girls and
sexual orientation (n = 108) or bisexual and/or homosexual orien- boys (bisexual orientation: n = 15).
tation (n = 78).
The archived files generally included a comprehensive written
The age group of 30 to 39-year-olds was represented
evaluation (usually between 10 and 30 pages), as well as hand- most strongly among the bi- and homosexually-orientated
written data on the assessment results and the conclusions drawn child molesters, while among those heterosexually orien-
K. M. Beier: Differential typology and prognosis for dissexual behavior 135
Table 1 Child molesters (n = 186), subdivided according to sexu- • a low level of education, an unstable employment
al orientation: age at time of offense record
Bi- and homo- Heterosexually • and numerous, but not long-standing intimate rela-
sexually orientated orientated tionships in the sexual history
(n = 78) (n = 108) • Dissexuality here is part of dissociality, which is of-
Under age 19 7 27 ten expressed in offenses against property and/or other
Age 20–29 23 35 (non-sexual) aggressive offenses (not infrequently
Age 30–39 28 24 under the influence of alcohol).
Age 40–49 14 15 3. mentally retarded offenders
Age 50 and older 6 7
• show clearly reduced intelligence (with IQ levels be-
Total 78 108
low 70) and correspondingly low social competence.

Table 2 Child molesters (n = 186), subdivided according to sexu- All of these have no real pedophilic interest and would
al orientation: age of victim at time of act prefer an adult partner for sexual activities. The dissexual
Bi- and homo- Heterosexually behavior is a type of compensation.
sexually orientated orientated But there are two more types, and these are the true pe-
(n = 78) (n = 108) dophiles:
Between 3 and 5 11 18 4. The non-exclusive type of pedophile offender:
Between 6 and 9 18 49
Between 10 and 11 24 24 • from an unremarkable social background, with suffi-
Between 12 and 13 17 15 cient education and training
Between 14 and 17 6 – • well-integrated in all aspects of life; in some cases,
No exact information 2 2 married
• primary (not compensatory) interest in the child; in
Total 78 108
addition to his pedophilic (personal and sexual) de-
sires, he is also interested in sexual contacts with
tated, more than half were younger than age 30 at the time adult partners
of the act (Table 1). 5. The exclusive type of pedophile offender:
On the other hand, the age of the victims was over 10
• according to the basic data (immediate family, child-
for more than half of the bi- and homosexually-orientated
hood development, social history, intelligence, etc.),
delinquents, but it was under 10 for more than half of the
a very heterogenous group
heterosexually-orientated child molesters (Table 2).
• no or only fragmented history of relationships to
The reason for the fact that 6 victims between the ages
adult sexual partners
of 14 and 17 are listed for the bi- and homosexually-ori-
• personally and sexually attracted only to children.
entated child molesters is that the offenses leading to the
assessment were critical: all of these cases deal with re- As shown by Table 3, among the bi- and homosexually-
current dissexual perpetrators who had also undertaken orientated delinquents, the exclusive and non-exclusive
sexual acts on children under the age of 14. type of pedophile offenders dominate, while the compen-
satory acts dominate for the heterosexually-orientated de-
linquents – specifically, the exclusive type of pedophilia is
Typological differentiation found only rarely.
The typological differentiation selected was derived from
the German empirical studies of Wille (1968) and
Table 3 Child molesters (n = 186), subdivided according to sexu-
Schorsch (1971). In this, the definition of pedophilia in al orientation; differential typology
the stricter sense (exclusive and non-exclusive types) is
consistent with the diagnostic criteria of the DSM-IV Bi- and homo- Hetero-
(APA 1994) as follows: sexually sexually
orientated orientated
1. sexually inexperienced adolescents (n = 78) (n = 108)

• the family background is usually intact, 10 Sexually inexperienced adolescents 24

• there are no obvious particularities prior to adoles- 12 Dissocial offenders 16
cent development, but obvious difficulties exist in 13 Mentally retarded offenders 29
coping with new body experiences; not at all un- 18 Non-exclusive type of pedophilia 27
common here is the appearance of the shy loner. 23 Exclusive type of pedophilia 4
2 Not subject to typology 8
2. dissocial offender with:
78 Total 108
• an early marginal social status
136 K. M. Beier: Differential typology and prognosis for dissexual behavior

Table 4 Follow-up series of

bi- and homosexually-orien- old rel. already- new rel. no rel.
tated child molesters (n = 59); existing
offender typology and partner- N N N N
ship relationships during the Sexually inexperienced adolescents (n = 7) 0 0 5 2
follow-up period; noted are
continued partnerships (“old Dissocial offenders (n = 7) 0 2 2 5
rel.”), if existing at the time of Non-exclusive type of pedophilia (n = 13) 6 8 4 3
the offense (“already-exist- Exclusive type of pedophilia (n = 19) 0 1 4 15
ing”), newly entered-into rela- Mentally retarded offenders (n = 12) 0 0 1 11
tionships (“new rel.”), as well Not subject to typology (n = 1) 0 0 0 1
as the lack of partnership rela-
tionships (“no rel.”) Total (n = 59)

Bi- and homosexually-orientated child molesters: because of a sexual offense. All of them because of re-
follow-up findings (n = 59) newed sexual abuse of children and 8 were additionally
sentenced for homosexual activity. An additional 15 for-
Almost half (n = 26) were convicted to prison without merly evaluated patients were followed up who had en-
suspension of sentence due to the assessed severity index gaged in dissexual activity during the follow-up time pe-
of the crime and 4 additional delinquents had been com- riod which had not been criminally prosecuted. All of
mitted to a psychiatric hospital on order of the court. them had again sexually abused children, 5 of them in-
More than a third (n = 21) were living in unfavorable con- cluded homosexual activity (with boys under the age of
ditions at the time of follow up; about the same number 18). In one case, this was combined with exhibitionistic
had not attained a satisfactory employment situation (n = activity, and with incestual activity in another. For the
25). Remarkable psychopathological characteristics were most part, the cases involving recurring dissexuality dur-
noted in approximately one-third of the group which for ing the follow-up period which occurred a long time
the most part were manifested on a slight or moderate (more than 10 years) after the evaluation – due to the large
level. According to the criteria of the DSM-III-R (APA case numbers, this was particularly pronounced among
1987), 21 patients of the follow-up series were typologi- exclusive-type pedophile offenders (cf. Fig. 1). Inciden-
cally characterizable, whereby the most common determi- tally, only one-half of these were prosecuted – these cases
nation was that of an insecure personality disorder (n = 6). are shown in Fig. 1 by the squared crosses – which may
The second most common finding, in 3 cases each, was emphasize the functionality of the dissexuality concept.
that of paranoid, schizotypic, and antisocial personality Of the follow-up series, the recurrent dissexuals (n =
disorders. In a total of 8 of the patients assessed, in-patient 30; including the offenders not subject to typology) may
psychiatric care became necessary during the follow-up be differentiated from those no longer dissexual (n = 29)
period. In 4 of the cases, this was due to a schizophrenic- based upon the following characteristics: the former were
type illness, in 3 cases because of an endogenous depres- more often characterized by average to above-average in-
sion, and because of chronic alcoholism in one case. telligence, and had begun to have coital experiences at an
Three patients attempted suicide during the follow-up pe- earlier age. At the time of perpetration (of the indexed
riod. crime), they were predominantly middle-aged (30–39
Applying the typological differentiation criteria, 19 ex- years old), and chose (early) adolescent victims (12–14
clusive-type pedophile perpetrators and 13 non-exclusive years old). A significant majority of the renewed dissex-
pedophiles, 12 mentally retarded delinquents, 7 dissocial ual offenders were exclusive-type pedophiles (P < 0.01)
delinquents, 7 sexually inexperienced adolescents, and who experienced social isolation to a larger degree during
one offender not subject to typing were followed up. It is the follow-up period, and were more often identified as
significant to note that most of the non-exclusive pe- manifesting a personality disorder when followed up. In
dophile offenders – in contrast to the exclusive-type pe- contrast, the sexually inexperienced adolescents were rep-
dophiles – lived either with their former partner or had resented in greater numbers within the group of no longer
found a new one (P < 0.01). Beyond that, only the sexu- dissexual patients in the follow-up series.
ally inexperienced adolescents were, for the most part, in-
volved in a partnership relationship; all other typologi-
cal groups of offenders, in contrast, were not (Table 4). A Heterosexually-orientated child molesters:
disturbance in sexual function (problems with orgasm follow-up findings (n = 62)
and/or erection) was reported by 16 of those in the follow-
up study, most of them in the group of non-exclusive type Of the 62 followed-up heterosexually-orientated pe-
pedophiles (n = 6). dophiles 17 had been sentenced to a prison term without
According to the information provided by the Federal suspension of sentence due to the severity index of the
Central Registry Office, 15 of the 59 followed-up bi- and crime committed – significantly less than in the case of
homosexually-orientated offenders were, following their the bi- and homosexually-orientated pedophiles (26 out of
initial evaluation, again subject to criminal prosecution 59). Three additional offenders were placed in a psychi-
K. M. Beier: Differential typology and prognosis for dissexual behavior 137
Fig. 1 Follow-up series of bi-
sexual and homosexual orien-
tated child molesters; recur-
rently dissexual follow-up pa-
tients according to offender-ty-
pological description and the
time period of renewed dissexu-
ality (one cross per patient for
the last-occurring case of re-
current dissexual behavior fol-
lowing appraisal, in years;
squares denote information
taken from the criminal regis-
ter)

atric hospital. Relatively few (n = 15) complained of sub- was significantly higher among both the sexually inexpe-
standard living conditions during the follow-up period, rienced adolescents, the dissocial offenders, and those
and significantly more (n = 29) reported unsatisfactory mentally retarded as well. Although none of the exclu-
development of their employment status. sive-type pedophiles had found a female partner, two out
Remarkable psychopathological indications were pre- of a total of three did not live alone; rather, they shared a
sent in approximately one-quarter of the collective which living situation with a significantly older (over 20 years),
for the most part, were of a mild nature. Pursuant to the clearly “mothering” woman with whom there had never
DSM-III-R criteria, 12 of the followed-up patients were been any sexual contact (Table 4).
typologically characterizable, whereby the most frequent Also, the number of patients who were satisfied with
were an antisocial (n = 4), a schizoid (n = 3), and an their partnership rose from approximately 50% at the time
avoidant (n = 3) personality disorder. The in-patient care of evaluation to 75% at the time of follow up. On the
which became necessary for six of the formerly evaluated whole, only very few (n = 18) were without partnership
patients during the follow-up period all had to do with al- experience when followed up and at the time of evalua-
cohol-dependence problems and two patients reported tion, they were a majority (n = 36). In contrast, the part-
suicide attempts during the follow-up period. All of the nership relationships of the bi- and homosexually-orien-
traits listed above (psychopathological remarkability, in- tated pedophiles had not changed in most of the cases.
patient psychiatric treatment, suicide attempts, personality Sexual dysfunction occurred about equally among the bi-
disorders) occurred more frequently among the bi- and and homosexually-orientated offenders. However, it was
homosexually-orientated offenders. dominated by disturbances in sexual desire at the time of
The followed-up offenders may be differentiated in evaluation (problems with erection n = 3; problems with
terms of typology as follows: 18 sexually inexperienced sexual desire n = 20).
adolescents, 12 mentally retarded and 6 dissocial offend- The information from the crime register of the Federal
ers, 17 non-exclusive type pedophiles, 3 exclusive pe- Central Registry showed that for 8 of the 62 heterosexu-
dophiles, as well as 6 perpetrators not subject to typing. ally-orientated pedophiles who were followed up, there
Among the heterosexually-orientated pedophiles as well, was an entry regarding convictions during the follow-up
the non-exclusive type pedophiles were either living with period. In 7 cases, for recurring sexual abuse of children
their former partner or had built up a new relationship. (in one of the cases, with exhibitionistic activity), and in
Furthermore, the percentage of formerly assessed patients one case for sexual abuse of a defenseless person. Addi-
with partnership experience during the follow-up period tionally, there were 7 cases where there were dissexual
138 K. M. Beier: Differential typology and prognosis for dissexual behavior
Fig. 2 Follow-up series of het-
erosexual orientated child mo-
lesters; recurrently dissexual
follow-up patients according to
offender-typological descrip-
tion and the time period of re-
newed dissexuality (one cross
per patient for the last-occur-
ring case of recurrent dissexual
behavior following appraisal,
in years; squares denote infor-
mation taken from the criminal
register)

acts which were not criminally prosecuted: in 6 cases, re- aged (30–39 years) or older (40–49 years), and more often
curring sexual abuse of children was involved, and one chose younger (3–5 years) victims who were unknown to
case dealt with exhibitionistic behavior (towards women). them. Applying the typological offender description, non-
In the majority of cases, recurrent dissexuality occurred a exclusive pedophile offenders (P < 0.10) and exclusive
long time (more than 10 years) after the evaluation (cf. pedophile offenders (P < 0.01) dominated among the
Fig. 2). group of renewed dissexuals, while the sexually inexperi-
The patients with renewed dissexual behavior (n = 15; enced adolescents and mentally retarded offenders were
including the offenders not subject to typology) may be represented to a greater degree among those former study
differentiated from those no longer dissexual (n = 47) patients who were no longer dissexual.
among the formerly evaluated participants of the follow-
up series based upon the following characteristics. At
least nominal intact familial relationships were more sel- Discussion
dom, and a coital experience before the age of 19 was
more frequent. At the time of perpetration (of the indexed In terms of differential typology, the offenders evaluated
crime), the recurrent dissexuals were more often middle- for sexual abuse of children may initially be divided into

Table 5 Follow-up series of

heterosexually-orientated child old rel. already- new rel. no rel.
molesters (n = 62); offender ty- existing
pology and partnership rela- N N N N
tionships during the follow-up Sexually inexperienced adolescents (n = 18) 0 0 9 9
period; noted are continued
partnerships (“old rel.”), if ex- Dissocial offenders (n = 6) 1 2 3 2
isting at the time of the offense Non-exclusive type of pedophilia (n = 17) 7 12 6 4
(“already-existing”), newly en- Exclusive type of pedophilia (n = 3) 0 0 0 3
tered-into relationships (“new Mentally retarded offenders (n = 12) 0 0 5 7
rel.”), as well as the lack of Not subject to typology (n = 6) 5 5 0 1
partnership relationships (“no
rel.”) Total (n = 62)
K. M. Beier: Differential typology and prognosis for dissexual behavior 139

two large groups: on the one hand, offenders for whom either exclusive-type or non-exclusive-type pedophiles
the sexual attack on the child was a “compensatory act” to (the so-called “true” pedophiles); among the heterosex-
make up for an actually-desired relationship with an age- ually-orientated offenders, their number was only one-
appropriate person; on the other hand, offenders for whom quarter.
a primary (and not compensatory) interest in the child (as Interestingly, Freund et al. (1984), based upon the re-
a specific sexual-erotic stimulus) exists, whereby the sex- sults of their psychophysiological research, also recom-
ual contact to the child is only one aspect of the desire to mended distinguishing between heterosexually- and ho-
be connected with children on a partnership level (on an mosexually-orientated pedophiles.
equal level). Consistent with the above-mentioned empirical data,
This rough differentiation is, for the most part, consist- we may expect a biographically continuing potential of
ent with the categorization established by Groth, Hobsen dissexual behavior for only the exclusive and the non-ex-
and Gary (1982) labeled “regressed and fixated.” How- clusive types of pedophilia. Most of the relapsed dissex-
ever, this must be stated with reservations, since especial- ual activities showed up a long time after the expert’s re-
ly the “regressed type” described by Groth et al. (1982) port. This is true for both the heterosexually- and the bi-
includes a relatively wide spectrum of possible partner- and homosexually orientated groups. Apparently, this
ship constellations, behind which secondary pedophile type of behavior is not as long-lasting in sexually inexpe-
tendencies might be concealed. rienced adolescents (see Fehrenbach et al. 1986; Kahn and
Examples for the regressed type might include a step- Chambers 1991; Ryan et al. 1987; Saunders et al. 1986),
father who moves into a house with a 14-year-old girl and the same can be said for dissocial offenders. For men-
who is the daughter of the woman he marries. The inti- tally retarded offenders as well, we can say that their dis-
macy created by his parental relationship with her might sexuality is a phase of life which rarely lasts longer than
become sexualized. Another example is any situation that into their forties.
creates a degree of intimacy between an adult male and a The biographical relevance of the earlier disorder be-
juvenile when the usual opportunities for sexual expres- came clear only by expanding the research approach to in-
sion are not available to the adult male. Furthermore, var- clude the concept of dissexuality i.e. a socially dysfunc-
ious extenuating circumstances, such as the effect of alco- tional development of sexuality occurring independently
hol or dementia, can broaden the range of stimuli capable of the legal assessment during the follow-up period – and
of eliciting sexual arousal in an adult male. In such cir- by utilizing the personal follow-up study as a significant
cumstances, a demented adult male may become sexual instrument of investigation. Indeed, limiting the evalua-
with a child or an adolescent. tion to the assessment of excerpts from the criminal regis-
The classification by Knight and Prentky (1990) is very ter would have been completely ineffective for that pur-
sophisticated with a “flow diagram of the decision process pose: more than half (n = 22) of all child molesting dis-
for classifying child molesters on two axes (first: “Degree sexual offenders registered during the follow-up period
of Fixation”; second: “Amount of Contact”)”. However had not been criminally prosecuted.
the diagram is quite confusing in that “low fixation” seems With the exception of Wille (1968), who was most
to coincide with “regression” in the sense of Groth et al. concerned with the question of the forensic/pathological
(1982) (see Knight and Prentky 1990). evaluation of sex offenders, and placed less emphasis on a
From the criminological point of view, however, it is control of the “diagnosis” and prognosis, and Pelz (1972),
exactly that differentiation between “compensatory act” who agreed with those theories, the literature does not
and “fixated” pedophiles which is of great significance. contain any studies on the prognosis of sex offenders
Of the heterosexually-orientated child molesters, one- which are based on personal follow-up studies. In the last
third showed recurring dissexuality at the time of evalua- 10 years, the follow-up research reports have been limited
tion compared to one-half among the bi- and homosexu- to data taken from the criminal register (i.e. Romero and
ally-orientated pedophiles. Also, the recurring dissexuality Williams 1985; Grünfeld and Noreik 1986; Hall and Proc-
established in the follow-up study showed a similar dis- tor 1987; Berlin et al. 1991; Hanson and Bussiere 1996)
tribution: a quarter of the heterosexually-orientated, but and refer only to criminally-prosecuted cases of repeated
one-half of the bi- and homosexually-orientated child dissexuality during the follow-up period. Furthermore, as
molesters continued to be dissexual during the follow-up in the studies by Wille (1968) and Pelz (1972), the only
period (an average of 28 years for the heterosexually- and conclusions drawn are for the major crime groups. Above
26 years for the bi- and homosexually-orientated pedo- all, therefore, conclusions are missing regarding the prog-
philes). These differing distributions become more easily nosis for the individual differentiations in terms of offender
comprehensible if they are viewed in correlation with the typology within the various major crime groups (see Furby
likewise unevenly distributed definitions of offender ty- et al. 1989), a gap which the present study is attempting to
pology. Among the bi- and homosexually-orientated pe- reduce.
dophiles, the number of offenders for which the act is one Additionally, the empirical data seems to support Feier-
of “compensation” was half of the initial collective; in con- man’s (1990, 1994) “two-dimensional neurohormonal
trast, this number was three-quarters for the heterosexual- model of pedophilia,” first proposed by Pillard and Wein-
ly-orientated perpetrators. Correspondingly, the other half rich (1987). In this model of age and gender orientation,
of the bi- and homosexually-orientated pedophiles were individual males are first put onto a two-dimensional ma-
140 K. M. Beier: Differential typology and prognosis for dissexual behavior

trix based upon the degree to which they are sexually at- concentrate merely on the assessment of criminal register
tracted to individuals more or less youthful than them- excerpts, or which include a follow-up period for individ-
selves (x-axis) and more or less feminine than they are (y- ual follow-up studies of insufficient length (i.e. less than
axis). Androgenes and their metabolites, infusing through 5 years) are of inadequate breadth. Against this back-
to the developing fetus during the last trimester of preg- ground, the concept of dissexuality has been amply pro-
nancy and the immediate neonatal period, are believed to ven, because it enables a reference to non-criminally pro-
underlie the masculinization and defeminization proces- secuted sexual acts and, in the individual follow-up stud-
ses of the brain. The two axes are then renamed “degree ies, it also strongly increases the readiness to provide in-
of brain masculinization” (x-axis) and “degree of brain formation by providing a sociodynamically-orientated ac-
defeminization” (y-axis). Despite the fact that this is cess to the sexual problems of the offender: the recon-
merely a working hypothesis (Feierman 1994), it would be struction (and exploration) of their life history, from the
consistent with this model that the non-exclusive type of primary point of view of their partnership relationships,
pedophilia dominates in the case of heterosexually-orien- met with a great deal of acceptance on the part of the of-
tated pedophiles, while the exclusive type dominates in fenders evaluated in the follow-up study. This was unex-
the case of bi- or homosexually-orientated pedophiles: pected under the circumstances of long-past sexual of-
namely, for those heterosexually orientated, mere “minor” fenses, and often of widespread failure in life ambitions.
deviations from the scope of the masculinization and de- In terms of the therapeutic access to the respective back-
feminization of the brain necessary for “heterosexual ground problems, this should also be interpreted in an en-
adultophilia” (Feierman) would lead to an erotic preference couraging manner.
for girls; as such, this close relationship to adultophilia In the future, it will be an important task to orient ther-
explains the more common existence of the non-exclusive apy research on dissexual behavior in therapy programs
type (cf. Feierman 1994). with differential indication (see Borzecki and Wormith
However, as recognized by John Money: “The great 1987; Abel et al. 1988, 1992), which should be intercon-
challenge to forensic sexology is not whether, in the final ceptional: on the basis of a comprehensive concept of the
analysis, sexopathology exists in the brain and nervous entire personality and partnership history, there should be
system or someplace else (the soul? the spirit? the psyche? different types of psychotherapy and possibilities for
the astral body?). No, the challenge is to discover where combination with somatic treatment options.
in the brain sexopathology exists, when and how it gets in
there, and how immutably it gets stuck there.” (Money
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