Interrater reliability of the criteria-based assessment of criminal responsibility in paraphilic disorders

Background For the assessment of criminal responsibility in the context of sexual delinquency, the evaluation of the severity of a paraphilic disorder and the ability to be controlled are of particular importance. Established assessment criteria are insufficiently operationalized. Aim and methods The existing criteria were tested by experts of various professional groups with respect to the reliability. For this purpose, 14 experts assessed the criteria of 2 different sets of criteria based on 2 case vignettes (see electronic supplementary material). Results and conclusion The interrater reliability (IRR) with reference to the criteria of Briken and Muller was higher than the previously established criteria of Boetticher et al. The evaluation of the subjective importance of the criteria of both assessment scales showed that all criteria were rated as at least of average importance. It could thus be useful to initially include both sets of criteria for a greater transparency in the assessment process and to investigate this procedure in further studies.