Erection Response Characteristics of Adolescent Sex Offenders

One hundred and sixty adolescent sexual offenders were evaluated by penile plethysmography, using two-minute audiotaped stimulus cues. Results indicate that 80.6% of the adolescents achieved greater than 20% of an erection response. Mean latency from stimulus onset to maximum tumescence was 95 seconds. Mean latency to detumescence from stimulus offset was 109 seconds. These results indicate that adolescent males are suitable subjects for psychophysiologic assessment which can be used as part of an overall evaluation to determine treatment needs in this population.