Psychosexual Evaluations
The following areas are also investigated in psychosexual evaluations:.
- Sexual developmental history, sexual arousal patterns and interest, deviance and paraphilic disorders
- Personality pathology and strengths
- Level of deception, denial, minimization and use of justifications
- Acceptance of responsibility and accountability for behavior
- Mental disorder and relevant prior mental health history
- Drug and alcohol use
- Recent maladaptive behavior
- Medical/neurological/pharmacological needs
- Level of violence and coercion
- Motivation and amenability for treatment
- High-risk behaviors
- Risk of re-offense including actuarial risk and other empirical based risk and protective factors
- Level of treatment and supervision need
Dr. Gaskell, forensic psychologist at Psycholegal Assessments, Inc., has completed over 2700 Forensic Psychological Evaluations including more than 1700 psychosexual evaluations on a wide range of offenders. He has completed sex offender evaluations on persons who have been charged with a sexual offense for the first time, on persons who are repeat offenders, as well as evaluations within the context of Sexually Violent Person or Sexually Violent Predator (SVP) evaluations and Sexually Dangerous Person (SDP) evaluations. Dr. Gaskell also performs psychological evaluations and sex offender psychosexual evaluations for State and Federal Child Pornography cases, and Adam Walsh Act waivers for immigration (USCIS). Dr. Gaskell has performed sex offender evaluations for Sexually Violent Person evaluations both pre-probable cause and post-probable cause. He has testified in over 135 Sexually Violent Person or Sexually Violent Predator (SVP) cases and he has testified as an expert witness for both the prosecution and the defense. He has also been deposed in such cases on over 30 occasions.
Dr. Gaskell has been qualified as an expert in sex offender evaluations and he has given testimony as a forensic psychology expert throughout Illinois and Georgia. Psychosexual evaluations can be completed in our Chicago area office (Naperville), Atlanta office, and Fort Lauderdale office.
Psychosexual evaluations can also be completed by videoconference through Doxy.me, which is as easy to use as Skype or FaceTime, but is secure and HIPAA compliant.
For other types of expert forensic psychological evaluations refer to https://psycholegalassessments.com/
Sexually Dangerous Persons(SDP)
Psycholegal Assessments, Inc. accepts referrals for sex offender evaluations of persons being considered for the Sexually Dangerous Persons Acts in Illinois (725 ILCS 205). Dr. Steven Gaskell is a qualified evaluator with extensive expertise and specialization in sex offender evaluations. Dr. Gaskell evaluates whether the respondent has a "mental disorder," meaning a congenital or acquired condition affecting the emotional or volitional capacity that predisposes the person to engage in acts of sexual violence. Such a mental disorder has to have existed for a period of not less than a year immediately prior to the filing of the Sexually Dangerous Person Petition, coupled with criminal propensities to the commission of sexual offenses, and who have demonstrated propensities toward acts of sexual assault or acts of sexual molestation with children. Criminal propensities to the commission of sexual offenses means that it is substantially probable that the person subject to the commitment proceeding will engage in the commission of sex offenses in the future, if not confined. Although Sexually Dangerous Person proceedings are civil in nature, the State's burden of proof to commit someone as a Sexually Dangerous Person is beyond a reasonable doubt. The Illinois Supreme Court has stated that the purpose of the Act is (1) to protect the public by sequestering a sexually dangerous person until such a time as the individual is recovered and released, and (2) to subject sexually dangerous persons to treatment such that the individual may recover from the propensity to commit sexual offenses and be rehabilitated. The Illinois Sexually Dangerous Person Act is aimed at care and treatment, rather than punishment and deterrence.
If a sex offender is found to be and committed as a Sexually Dangerous Person, they are committed and treated until they have recovered from their condition or they are no longer dangerous. If the court finds that the person appears to be no longer dangerous, but that it is impossible to determine with certainty under conditions of institutional care that the person has fully recovered, the court shall enter an order granting Conditional Release.
Sexually Violent Persons (SVP)
Sexually violent person or sexual predator legislation, in some form or another, dates back to the 1930s. The early versions of sexual predator laws, collectively referred to as sexual psychopath laws, provided for involuntary civil commitment of sexually violent individuals instead of incarceration. Most of these laws were repealed in the 1980s. The state of Washington was the first to adopt a modern sexual predator law, and it did so in reaction to a particularly brutal case involving a sex offender. Modern sexual predator laws, unlike many of the older statutes, are aimed at sexually violent individuals who are nearing the end of their prison term. Sexually violent predator laws have two major goals: (1) to protect the public from sexually violent individuals until those individuals are rehabilitated and released, and (2) to subject sexually violent individuals to treatment so the individual might be rehabilitated and return to society. There are currently 19 states that have some form of Sexually Violent Person or Sexually Violent Predator law including: Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.
Psycholegal Assessments, Inc. had a contract to conduct sex offender evaluations for post-probable cause Sexually Violent Person evaluations in Illinois. Dr. Gaskell performed such Sexually Violent Person sex offender evaluations in Illinois from 2005 until 2022. He also completed pre-probable cause sex offender evaluations for sex offenders in Kansas being considered under the Kansas Sexually Violent Predator Act from 1999 to 2001.
Psycholegal Assessments, Inc. accepts referrals for sex offender evaluations of pre-probable cause and post-probable cause Sexually Violent Person and Sexually Violent Predator Evaluations nationwide. Second opinion sex offender evaluations and trial consultation services are also available.
Areas of Expertise
