Encyclopedia of Psychology and Law

argue that the defense should be allowed to compel an

examination of a complainant if the prosecution expert

did an examination but not if the prosecution expert

only provided general testimony about the effects of

sexual assault.

Patricia A. Frazier

See alsoCoping Strategies of Adult Sexual Assault Victims;

Expert Psychological Testimony; Posttraumatic Stress

Disorder (PTSD); Victimization

Further Readings

Davis, K. (1998). Rape, resurrection, and the quest for truth:

The law and science of rape trauma syndrome in

constitutional balance with the rights of the accused.

Hastings Law Journal, 49,1511–1570.

Frazier, P. (2005). Rape trauma syndrome: Scientific status.

In D. Faigman, D. Kaye, M. Saks, & J. Sanders (Eds.),

Modern scientific evidence: The law and science of expert

testimony(Vol. 2, pp. 317–343). Eagan, MN: Thomson

West.

Frazier, P., & Borgida, E. (1992). Rape trauma syndrome: A

review of case law and psychological research. Law and

Human Behavior, 16,293–311.

Garrison, A. (2000). Rape trauma syndrome: A review of a

behavioral science theory and its admissibility in criminal

trials. American Journal of Trial Advocacy, 23,591–657.

RAPIDRISKASSESSMENT

FOR SEXUALOFFENSE

RECIDIVISM(RRASOR)

The Rapid Risk Assessment for Sexual Offense

Recidivism, abbreviated as the RRASOR (pronounced

like the cutting tool), is an actuarial scale designed to

assess different levels of sexual recidivism risk for con-

victed sexual offenders. This scale was the first empir-

ically validated actuarial instrument specifically

designed for the assessment of sexual offense recidi-

vism. As such, it served both to change the manner by

which people conducted risk assessments and as the

stepping stone for the development of second-generation

actuarial instrumentation, though it is still being

used because of its unique contribution to risk assess-

ment technology. This overview describes the instru-

ment’s development, summaries of tests of reliability

and validity, how it has been used in furthering risk

assessment knowledge, and the reason why it is still

used despite the availability of newer instruments.

Development of the RRASOR

R. Karl Hanson was the sole developer of the RRASOR.

He started (in 1997) with a set of seven empirically

derived correlates to sexual recidivism selected from the

findings of a then recently completed meta-analytic

study. These seven risk factors were selected based both

on their correlation with sexual recidivism and the pre-

sumed ease in finding the relevant information in prison

records. A regression analysis using measures of these

seven variables across six aggregated samples found

that a subset of four of the seven variables accounted for

nearly all the relevant variance of sexual recidivism.

These four risk factors (prior sex offenses, offender age

being younger than 25 years, ever having a male victim,

and ever having an extrafamilial victim) were then com-

bined to form an instrument called the RRASOR.

A cross-validation test of the new scale with an inde-

pendent seventh sample documented supportive evi-

dence of the scale’s utility.

Scoring for 3 of the items is dichotomous, while

scoring for the “prior sex offense” item involves four

levels, with higher item scores always representing

high recidivism risk. Each additional sign of risk is

scored 1 point. The total scale score for the instrument

is computed through simple addition across the 4 item

scores. The final form of the instrument offers recidi-

vism rates for each of six rank-ordered score levels

(i.e., scale total scores of 0 through 5) for 5- and

10-year follow-up periods.

Although scores of 6 were possible, no one with that

score was found among the nearly 2,600 subjects used

to develop the instrument. Offenders with RRASOR

scores of 6 have been found since by other researchers

and risk evaluators, though that score is so rare that its

associated degree of recidivism risk is still unknown.

The developmental study found the RRASOR to

have an ROC (Receiver Operating Characteristic)

ranging from .62 to .77 (relative to sexual recidivism)

across the seven samples used to develop it. This

range of ROCs is very much similar to the ROCs

found from cross-validation tests of the instrument.

Reliability and Validity Findings

There have been between two and three dozen empir-

ical tests involving the RRASOR to date. These have

occurred using samples across at least eight countries

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