Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
  • Current Issue
  • Ahead of Print
  • Past Issues
  • Info for
    • Authors
    • Print Subscriptions
  • About
    • About the Journal
    • About the Academy
    • Editorial Board
  • Feedback
  • Alerts
  • AAPL

User menu

  • Alerts

Search

  • Advanced search
Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law
  • AAPL
  • Alerts
Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • Current Issue
  • Ahead of Print
  • Past Issues
  • Info for
    • Authors
    • Print Subscriptions
  • About
    • About the Journal
    • About the Academy
    • Editorial Board
  • Feedback
  • Alerts
Research ArticleRegular Article

Diagnosing and Litigating Hebephilia in Sexually Violent Predator Civil Commitment Proceedings

John Matthew Fabian
Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online December 2011, 39 (4) 496-505;
John Matthew Fabian
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Figures & Data
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF
Loading

Abstract

In recent years, state and federal legislative initiatives have heavily emphasized punitive laws to combat sexual crime. These statutes include indefinite civil commitment, which is the ultimate infringement on sexual offenders' civil liberties. Many of these committed offenders have repeatedly offended against prepubescent children (pedophiles), and many have committed nonconsensual sexual offenses against adults (rapists). A substantial number of sex offenders have offended against postpubescent adolescents and teenagers outside the age range of pedophilia (commonly referred to by some clinicians and researchers as hebephilia). The use of the term hebephilia has recently received heightened scrutiny in sexually violent predator civil commitment proceedings. Specifically, experts debate whether hebephilia is recognized within the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR) and whether it is a generally accepted diagnosis within the field of sexual offender assessment. Scholars and practitioners question how hebephilia pertains to sexual deviance and one's risk of reoffending and whether it ultimately meets the legal mental abnormality threshold of civil commitment through DSM diagnostic criteria. This article addresses these questions and provides recent federal case law that attends to hebephilia in sexually violent predator proceedings.

Footnotes

  • Disclosures of financial or other potential conflicts of interest: None.

  • © 2011 American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law
View Full Text
PreviousNext
Back to top

In this issue

Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online: 39 (4)
Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online
Vol. 39, Issue 4
1 Dec 2011
  • Table of Contents
  • Index by author
Print
Download PDF
Article Alerts
Sign In to Email Alerts with your Email Address
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in recommending The Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law site.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Diagnosing and Litigating Hebephilia in Sexually Violent Predator Civil Commitment Proceedings
(Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law
(Your Name) thought you would like to see this page from the Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law web site.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Citation Tools
Diagnosing and Litigating Hebephilia in Sexually Violent Predator Civil Commitment Proceedings
John Matthew Fabian
Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online Dec 2011, 39 (4) 496-505;

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero

Share
Diagnosing and Litigating Hebephilia in Sexually Violent Predator Civil Commitment Proceedings
John Matthew Fabian
Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online Dec 2011, 39 (4) 496-505;
del.icio.us logo Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo CiteULike logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Jump to section

  • Article
    • Abstract
    • Sexually Violent Predator Civil Commitment Law
    • Legal Mental Abnormality: Prevalent Paraphilias Commonly Disputed in SVP Proceedings
    • Quandary With the DSM-IV-TR
    • Hebephilia: Clinical Construct or Psychiatric Diagnosis?
    • Hebephilia, Experts, Politics, and the Courts
    • Conclusions
    • Footnotes
    • References
  • Figures & Data
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF

Related Articles

Cited By...

More in this TOC Section

  • Preempting the Development of Antisocial Behavior and Psychopathic Traits
  • A Retrospective Review of the Use of Clozapine in Restoration of Competency to Stand Trial
  • Florida Law Enforcement Policies for and Experience With Tarasoff-Like Reporting
Show more Regular Article

Similar Articles

Site Navigation

  • Home
  • Current Issue
  • Ahead of Print
  • Archive
  • Information for Authors
  • About the Journal
  • Editorial Board
  • Feedback
  • Alerts

Other Resources

  • Academy Website
  • AAPL Meetings
  • AAPL Annual Review Course

Reviewers

  • Peer Reviewers

Other Publications

  • AAPL Practice Guidelines
  • AAPL Newsletter
  • AAPL Ethics Guidelines
  • AAPL Amicus Briefs
  • Landmark Cases

Customer Service

  • Cookie Policy
  • Reprints and Permissions
  • Order Physical Copy

Copyright © 2021 by The American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law