Citation

Gregório Hertz P, Eher R, Etzler S, Rettenberger M. Sex. Abuse 2019; ePub(ePub): 1079063219841901.

Affiliation

Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Germany.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1079063219841901

PMID

31010400

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to examine the psychometric properties of the German version of the revised Violence Risk Appraisal Guide (VRAG), the VRAG-R. Therefore, VRAG-R ratings were made retrospectively in an Austrian sample of 534 individuals convicted of a sexual offense who were followed up with an average of 7.62 years. The VRAG-R showed large effect sizes for the area under the curve (AUC =.75) and general recidivism (AUC =.78) and significant but rather small effect sizes (AUC =.63 and.61, respectively) in predicting any sexual and sexual contact recidivism. Furthermore, for the prediction of violent recidivism but not for sexual recidivism the VRAG-R was incrementally predictive beyond the Sex Offender Risk Appraisal Guide (SORAG) and the Static-99. Finally, the VRAG-R absolute recidivism rates for the risk bins showed satisfactory calibration properties. Taken together, the results of the present study support the cross-national utility of the VRAG-R and its use in applied risk assessment settings also in German-speaking countries.

Language: en

Keywords

SORAG; VRAG-R; actuarial assessments; recidivism; sexual offender