ATSA (Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers)
Definition
The primary international professional body for sex-offender treatment providers and evaluators; publishes practice standards and guidelines that govern responsible use of risk assessment instruments including Static-99R and Stable-2007.
- Full name
- Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers
- Role
- Primary international professional body in the field
- Publishes
- Practice standards and guidelines
- Instruments covered
- Static-99R, Stable-2007
Common questions
What does ATSA guidance say about using Static-99R and Stable-2007 responsibly?+
It requires evaluators to be specifically trained and certified on each instrument, to use the norm group appropriate to the case, and to combine actuarial results with structured professional judgment rather than reporting a raw score as a final risk conclusion.
How does ATSA's role differ from a licensing board?+
ATSA is a professional membership organisation that sets voluntary practice standards and offers training and certification, not a statutory licensing body. Its standards influence courts and employers but carry force through professional expectation and admissibility challenges rather than legal mandate.
Related terms
- Acute-2007
- A 7-item rapid-assessment instrument for short-term fluctuating risk factors (victim access, emotional collapse, substance abuse) used at each supervision contact to detect...
- BSA 2023 § 39
- Section 39 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023, the provision governing expert opinion evidence in Indian courts. Replaced Indian Evidence Act 1872...
- POCSO 2012
- The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act 2012 (India); establishes criminal liability for child sexual abuse but does not mandate sex-offender...
- SRM (Sex Offender Risk Management) Framework
- The integrated cycle of static assessment, dynamic assessment, treatment matching, supervision calibration, and community safety planning that converts risk scores into actionable...
- Stable-2007
- A 13-item dynamic risk assessment instrument measuring slowly changing characteristics (sexual preoccupation, intimacy deficits, impulsivity) that treatment programmes target; used alongside Static-99R...
- Static-99R
- A 10-item actuarial sex-offender risk instrument; the -R denotes the age-at-release weighting adjustment. Scores map to relative-risk labels (Below Average through Well...
- SVP Civil Commitment
- A US legal mechanism (following Kansas v. Hendricks, 1997) that allows indefinite civil detention of convicted sex offenders assessed as likely to...