Description

This peer-to-peer session provides a data-driven look at the realities of sexual offenders to help judges make informed decisions on risk and intervention. Faculty move past common misconceptions by examining the actual links between childhood trauma and crime, perpetrators’ different motivations behind child sexual abuse and sex trafficking, and why official recidivism rates often underestimate reality. The training addresses the mechanics of grooming children, how predators identify the most vulnerable child victims, and opportunities for court interventions to protect children. Faculty close by highlighting urgent new challenges, including how offenders use AI and sadistic online extremism to exploit children. The session provides ample opportunity for questions, answers, and discussion.

Faculty

• Michael Bourke, Ph.D., Clinical and Forensic Psychologist, Springfield, VA
• Hon. Susan Breall, Superior Court of San Francisco, CA 

Evaluating Sexual Offending: Evidence-Based Perspectives for Judges (Summary, June 2, 2026)

Resources

• State Justice Institute (SJI) and National Judicial Network Training Materials
• The Use of Tactical Polygraph with Sex Offenders (Bourke et al., 2014)
• The ‘Butner Study’ Redux: A Repeat of the Incidence of Hands-on Child Victimization by Child Pornography Offenders (Bourke & Hernandez, 2008)
• The Dark Figure of Sexual Offending: New Evidence from Federal Sex Offenders (DeLisi et al., 2016)
• The Dark Figure of Sexual Offending: A Replication and Extension (Drury et al., 2020)
• Effort of Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone Antagonist on Risk of Committing Child Sexual Abuse in Men with Pedophilic Disorder (Landgren et al., 2020)
• Michael Bourke Testimony to U.S. Sentencing Commission