Pathway to sexual offending behavior interview questions. Questions to be asked for each offense episode.

Do not interject additional questions until client has completed his response for each of the nine questions. Below the questions are link to the Pathways nine Phase Model. The Pathway model classifies offenders in two main and two subcategories: 1. Avoidant Goal Passive Offenders: Under-regulation. External locus of control, higher levels of impulsivity, lower level of estimated IQ, previous conviction for a sexual offense. Desires to avoid sexual offending but lacks the coping skills to prevent it from happening. 2. Avoidant Goal Active Offenders: Mis-regulation. Direct attempt to control deviant thoughts and fantasies but use of ineffective or counterproductive strategies (e.g. drinking). 3. Approach-automatic: Under-regulation. Over-learned sexual scripts for offending, impulsive and poorly planned behavior. 4. Approach-explicit: Effective-regulation. Desire to sexually offend and the use of careful planning to execute offenses, harmful goals concerning sexual offending. Questions 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. What triggered/led to the desire to sexually offend? How did you respond to the desire? What did you do in order to achieve the desired goal? How did you gain access to your victim? When you first encountered the victim, how did you react? How did you gain your victims compliance? What did you do to your victim or require your victim to do? How did you feel/react following your offense? What was your attitude towards future offending?

Pathways phases Phase One (What triggered/led to the desire to sexually offend?): Life events that occur and appraised by offender. Event might be a major life transition or a daily hassle. Their meaning is established in light of pre-existing schemas, needs, and the interpersonal context in which it occurs. Phase Two (How did you respond to the desire?): Desire for deviant sex or activity. The life event and its subsequent appraisal result in the emergence of a desire for offensive sex and the emotions associated with these desires. Sexual and aggressive fantasies frequently co-exist with these desires and function as mental simulations. Early life experiences, past offending, and the associated beliefs can result in links between certain internal and external cues and the desire to offend.

Phase Three (What did you do in order to achieve the desired goal?): Offense related goals established. At this point the offender considers the acceptability of his maladaptive desire and what, if anything, he should do about it. Ability (or inability) to tolerate the accompanying affective states will also be considered. Avoidant goals i.e., affective states (e.g. fearful or anxious). Approach goals e.g. excited or angry. Phase Four (How did you gain access to your victim?): Strategy selected. This may not be an explicit decision (e.g. automatic activation of offense scripts). Implicit pathways are characterized by disinhibition (or under-regulation) and may be traversed more quickly than the explicit ones. Explicit pathways involve active strategies that either result in a move towards a desired goal (effective regulation) or away from a desired goal (mis-regulation). Phase Five (When you first encountered the victim, how did you react?): High risk situation entered. In this stage contact with the victim is made as a consequence of the earlier implicit or explicit planning or counterproductive strategies. Appraisal processes occur (e.g. signaling the likelihood of goal failure or success). Possible conflicting goals and cognitive deconstruction (Baumeister, 1990, Ward et al., 1995). Prospect of immediate gratification or focusing on proximal planning. Phase Six (How did you gain your victims compliance?): Lapse. This phase involve the immediate precursors to the sexual offense (e.g. getting into bed with a child). Temporary adoption of approach goals (e.g. giving up) and pleasurable anticipation (e.g. focus of immediate gratification). Possible Abstinence Violation Effect. Those offenders with approach goals will continue to strive towards goal satisfaction. Phase Seven (What did you do to your victim or require your victim to do?): Sexual offense. Possible like to Ward et al. (1995) three subcategories Self-focus Victim focus Mutual focus Chronically accessible goals and interpersonal themes will determine the manner in which the offending is manifested. Affective states of all individuals are likely to be primarily positive. Phase Eight (How did you feel/react following your offense?): Post offense evaluation. Following the offense an evaluative process is likely to occur. Avoidant pathways are hypothesized to evaluate themselves negatively (e.g. guilt or shame). Approach goals offenders should experience positive affect due to the fact that they have achieved their goal. Phase Nine (What was your attitude towards future offending?): Attitude toward future offending. The final stage of the model concerns the impact of sexual

offending on future intentions and expectations. Avoidant goal individuals may resolve to not offend in the future or re-evaluate their goals and decide that they lack the ability to refrain from further offending. Approach goal individuals are likely to continue pursing their goals. Whatever offenders learn in an offense episode is assimilated into existing implicit theories.