Includes bibliographical references (p. 229-236) and index.

Relevant Components of Sex Offender Civil Commitment Laws: The Evaluation "Referral Questions" -- The Relevant Statutes -- Different Types of Assessments -- Who Is Allowed to Do These Evaluations -- The Overall Criteria for Commitment -- The Issue of Lesser Restrictive Alternatives -- Procedures for Conducting the Assessment -- National Standards -- Standard Procedures for Gathering Information -- Ethical Considerations -- Diagnostic Issues Within Sex Offender Civil Commitment Assessments: Defining Relevant Paraphilias -- Defending the Labels We Use -- Why Diagnose at All? -- DSM-IV Definitional Problems for Paraphilia -- Paraphilia, Not Otherwise Specified, Nonconsent -- Other Relevant Types of Paraphilia NOS -- Thresholds for Diagnosing a Paraphilia -- The Descriptive Language We Use -- Diagnostic Issues Within Sex Offender Civil Commitment Assessments: Diagnostic Issues Beyond the Paraphilias -- Nonparaphiliac Diagnoses Common in Sex Offender Civil Commitment Assessments -- Differentiations Among Commonly Diagnosed Disorders -- Drawing the Predisposition Nexus -- Using Risk Assessment Instrumentation -- The Overall Risk Assessment Methodological Choice -- Comparing the Accuracy of Differing Methodologies -- Selecting What Instruments to Use -- Interpreting Actuarial Instrument Results -- Recidivism Base Rates -- What Do We Know About the Sexual Recidivism Base Rate? -- Why Base Rates Matter -- For Which Sex Offenders Do Base Rates Matter? -- Clinical Adjustments -- Defining Proper Adjustments -- The Theoretical Basis for Clinical Adjustments -- Adjustments Based on Risk Factors -- Adjustments Based on Protective Factors -- Assessing Beyond the Actuarial Scheme -- Evaluator Bias -- The Evaluation Report and Court Testimony -- The Evaluation Report -- Testifying About Evaluation Findings -- Ethical Issues -- Procedural Concerns -- Communication Concerns -- Relapse Prevention Interview -- Basic Principles of Scoring -- Relapse Prevention Interview Score Sheet -- Templates for Segments of Precommitment Forms and Reports -- Informed Consent Form -- Diagnostic Segment -- Actuarial Instrument Time and Legal Status Limitations Template -- Sample Precommitment Evaluation Report -- State Statute # Evaluation -- Templates for Segments of Reexamination (Postcommitment) Evaluation Report -- Treatment Benefit Template -- Template for Risk Management Segment.