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Sex offenders: Treatment & risk assessment

Sex offenders: Treatment & risk assessment. Jill D. Stinson, PhD ETSU, Psychology. Disclosure Statement of Financial Interest. I, Jill Stinson, PhD,

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Sex offenders: Treatment & risk assessment

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  1. Sex offenders: Treatment & risk assessment Jill D. Stinson, PhD ETSU, Psychology

  2. Disclosure Statement of Financial Interest • I, Jill Stinson, PhD, DO NOT have a financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with one or more organizations that could be perceived as a real or apparent conflict of interest in the context of the subject of this presentation.

  3. Disclosure Statement of Unapproved/Investigative Use I, Jill Stinson, PhD, DO NOT anticipate discussing the unapproved/investigative use of a commercial product/device during this activity or presentation.

  4. Introduction • About your presenter • Outline for today • Who are we talking about? • Traditions & new approaches in sex offender treatment • Treatment effectiveness • Thinking about risk

  5. The sex offender…

  6. …is not what you think. • Heterogeneity of the population • Contact vs. non-contact offenders • Adult vs. child victims • Male vs. female victims • Familial vs. non-familial victims • High vs. medium vs. low risk • Juvenile sex offenders • Sex offenders with: • Paraphilias • Mental illness • Intellectual / developmental disabilities • Psychopathic traits

  7. Sex offender treatment • In the early days • Insight-oriented approaches • Behavioral reconditioning • Then later • Cognitive behavioral therapy • Pharmacological interventions • Relapse prevention

  8. Everyone wants treatment, right?

  9. Sex offender treatment • Treatment effectiveness research • Measured by reduction in sex offense recidivism • Comparisons made between treatment vs. no treatment • Follow-up generally 5-10 years • Not a lot of standardization among treatment protocols

  10. Sex offender treatment • Does treatment work? Um, not sure. • Problems with treatment effectiveness research • Short-term treatment approaches • Focus on one outcome • Low base rates of sex offending behavior • Underreporting of sex offending • Are we using the right treatment?

  11. Sex offender treatment • Special challenges in sex offender treatment • Involuntary treatment participation • High social cost of participation • Personal discomfort • Lack of insight or distress • Blame, denial, & minimization

  12. Sex offender treatment • What doesn’t seem to work very well • Highly aversive methods • Indiscriminate chemical castration • Victim empathy training • Avoidance strategies • Confrontation • Overcoming denial • General social skills training

  13. Sex offender treatment • Traditional goals • Prevent sexual offending • Control sexual behavior • Eliminate deviant sexual interests, thoughts, & fantasies ……But is sex all we care about?

  14. Emerging treatment trends • Good Lives Model • Circles of Support & Accountability • Safe Offender Strategies

  15. Emerging treatments – New goals • Developing appropriate boundaries • Normative relationships with others • Forming good social support networks • Having prosocial interests and goals • Treating mental illness • Treating substance abuse problems • Positive life skills & experiences (job, home, recreational activities, religious or spiritual involvement, etc.)

  16. Sex offender recidivism • Sex offense specific recidivism • Ranges from 10-15% over 5-10 year period post-release • General criminal recidivism • Ranges from 35-50% over 5-10 year period post-release • Special groups • Juvenile sex offenders • Sexually Violent Predators • About 5% of the sex offender population is responsible for the majority of sexual crime Measuring Risk

  17. Factors that increase risk (static) • Youthful age • Multiple arrests or incidents of sexual offending • Offenses against males • Multiple offenses against children • Offenses against strangers or non-family members • Other criminal arrests • History of non-compliance with supervision • Arrests for sexual offending as a juvenile • Limited history of normative intimate relationships Measuring Risk

  18. Factors that increase risk (dynamic) • Poor progress in treatment • Treatment dropout • Poor sexual self-regulation • Poor self-regulation • Limited insight into one’s own risk • Impulsivity • Paraphilias (deviant sexual interests) • Psychopathy, or diagnosis of ASPD • Offense-supportive beliefs Measuring Risk

  19. What now? • Better understanding of treatment effectiveness • What works, for whom, & when? • Prevention practices • More dynamic understanding of risk • Risk is like the weather • Mechanisms of risk

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