Normative Data Set for Evaluating Civilly Committed Sexual Offenders Using the Denial and Minimization Scale (DAMS)

The true nature of the roles played by denial and minimization in both sexual offender treatment and recidivism continue to vex researchers and practitioners. Some limited research exists regarding the role that denial might play in certain subgroups of offenders; however, meta-analytic findings suggest that neither construct assists in predicting reoffending. Nonetheless, most clinicians and laypersons strongly believe that, in order to truly rehabilitate themselves, offenders must admit to and take personal responsibility for their offenses. To that end, various practitioners have constructed self-report indices hoping to measure the existence and extent of denial and minimization in sexual offenders. In this brief report, we report psychometrics on the Denial and Minimization Scale (DAMS—Eccles, Stringer, & Marshall, 1997), which was revised to specifically fit a population of adjudicated sexually violent predators. Our intent is to provide normative data on this scale, so that it might be used in civil-commitment settings