ABSTRACT
I find that typologizing batterers and sex offenders rarely occurs as part of a forensic evaluation, treatment assessment, or as part of the treatment program. The problems that result are significant. The primary problem is that this relies on a major erroneous assumption: that all batterers present with the same or similar characteristics; that all batterers engage in verbal, physical, and/or sexual violence for the same reason; that all batterers present with the same degree of risk for engaging in future acts of violence; and that all treatment programs and interventions work equally well with every batterer. Now, the same typecasting is true for sexual offenders. They are all treated as if they present with the same risk issues and etiologies. Realistically speaking, this lack of typologizing is simply unacceptable and unethical.
