Participants on sex offender treatment programmes (SOTPs) seem to value victim empathy (VE) training exercises, despite there being little evidence to suggest that these reduce risk of reoffending. Participants also appear to value their therapeutic relationships. There has been very little research into SOTP facilitators’ views on treatment. This study explores whether facilitators also feel VE training is a useful part of treatment and if seeing empathy develop in offenders strengthens therapeutic alliance. 12 prison SOTP facilitators were interviewed. The transcripts were analysed using content and thematic analysis, there were six main findings. Facilitators were concerned that the perceived impact of VE was superficial compliance and the particular emotional aspect of VE training may help facilitators to empathise with difficult group members. This study contributes a facilitator perspective to the debate on including VE training in SOTPs, and suggests further research be completed into empathy constructs and how these apply to facilitators work.

Street harassment, the sexual harassment by strangers in public places, is a common experience shared by many women and has been linked with other forms of sexual victimization. The negative impact of street harassment, such as fear and behavior to avoid being harassed, points to the need for preventing the behavior. This study sought to determine whether the documentary-style film War Zone may be effective in impacting men’s attitudes toward street harassment, and whether the effectiveness of the film would depend on men’s hostility toward women and level of peer acceptance for street harassment. Findings do not support the effectiveness of War Zone as a component of street harassment prevention. However, the data does suggest that endorsement of hostile attitudes toward women predicts a lack of empathy, and that endorsement of hostile attitudes toward women, a lack of empathy, and peer acceptance of street harassment predict acceptance of street harassment.

L'empathie est au cœur de nos relations sociales : elle permet leur régulation par les émotions. Des études, aux résultats contradictoires, ont ainsi suggéré qu'un déficit d'empathie chez les auteurs d'agression sexuelle était un élément central dans leur évaluation et leur traitement.Nous avions 2 objectifs pour cette thèse :1) valider en français, dans une population adulte, une échelle d'empathie générale, la Basic Empathy Scale (Jolliffe & Farrington, 2006) ainsi qu'un inventaire des compétences socio-émotionnelles, le Social Skills Inventory (Riggio, 1989, 2002) ;2) approfondir la connaissance des liens existant entre empathie générale, empathie spécifique, distorsions cognitives, compétences sociales et risque de récidive chez des auteurs d'agression sexuelle.136 adultes issus de la population générale (78 femmes et 58 hommes) ont rempli les auto-questionnaires répartis en 2 passations séparées de 7 semaines. 37 détenus (20 auteurs d'agression sexuelle sur enfant, 6 auteurs d'agression sexuelle sur adulte, 6 auteurs d'agression non-sexuelle, 5 non-agresseur) ont participé à des entretiens et questionnaires sur plusieurs semaines.La Basic Empathy Scale et le Social Skills Inventory présentent des qualités psychométriques assez satisfaisantes. Chez les détenus, les liens empathie générale/empathie spécifique/distorsions cognitives différent selon le type de victime, avec des distorsions cognitives plus ou moins généralisées en conséquence. La régulation des émotions apparaît essentielle dans le processus empathique. Enfin, les mesures statiques du risque de récidive ne sont pas liées à l'empathie générale, à l'empathie spécifique et aux distorsions cognitives. Des profils socio-cognitivo-émotionnels ont été proposés à titre exploratoire et nécessiteraient d'être à nouveau investigués dans de futures recherches.Ainsi, notre thèse ouvre la voie à des travaux de recherche novateurs dans le domaine, à l'aide d'outils encore peu utilisés et qui pourraient être améliorés afin d'affiner les profils socio-cognitivo émotionnels des AAS déjà établis et de pouvoir proposer des prises en charge adaptées à chacun des profils rencontrés. / Empathy is fundamental in our social relations: it allows their regulation by emotions. Studies, with conflicting results, have suggested that a lack of empathy among sex offenders was a central element in their evaluation and treatment.We had two objectives for this thesis:1) to validate in French, in an adult population, a general empathy scale, the Basic Empathy Scale (Jolliffe & Farrington, 2006) and an inventory of socio-emotional skills, the Social Skills Inventory (Riggio, 1989, 2002);2) to increase knowledge on the relationship between general empathy, specific empathy, cognitive distortions, social skills and recidivism among sex offenders.136 adults from a general population (78 women and 58 men) completed the self-report questionnaires divided into two sessions, separated by seven weeks. 37 inmates prison (20 child molesters, six rapists, six authors of non-sexual assault, and five non-aggressors) were interviewed and completed questionnaires over several weeks.The Basic Empathy Scale and the Social Skills Inventory have quite good psychometric qualities. Among inmates prison, links between general empathy, specific empathy, and cognitive distortions depend on the type of victim, with cognitive distortions more or less generalized accordingly. Emotion regulation is essential in the empathic process. Finally, static measures of recidivism are not correlated to general empathy, specific empathy or cognitive distortions. We also proposed exploratory profiles socio-cognitive-emotional but they require to be re-examined in future research.Thus, our thesis opens the way for innovative research in this field, using scales not yet widely used and that could be improved in order to refine the socio-cognitive-emotional profiles of the sex offenders already established and to offer of support adapted to each of the profiles encountered.