Although there is less continuity of sexual offending in the life course than stereotypes suggest, treatment should lead to a further reduction of reoffending. Contrary to this aim, a recent large British study using propensity score matching (PSM) showed some negative effects of the core sex offender treatment program (SOTP) in prisons. International meta-analyses on the effects of sex offender treatment revealed that there is considerable variety in the results, and methodological aspects and the context play a significant role. Therefore, this study compared different designs in the evaluation of sex offender treatment in German prisons. PSM was compared with an exact matching (EM) by the Static-99 in a sample of 693 sex offenders from Bavarian prisons. Most results were similar for both methods and not significant due to low base rates. There was a treatment effect at p < .05 on general recidivism in the EM and at p = .06 on serious reoffending in the PSM. For sexual recidivism, EM showed a negative trend, whereas PSM suggested the opposite. Overall, the study underlines the need for more replications of evaluations of routine practice, methodological comparisons, sensitive outcome criteria, and differentiated policy information.
Premature treatment termination in offender treatment is linked to negative consequences for clients, practitioners, and the criminal justice system. Therefore, identifying predictors of treatment attrition is a crucial issue in offender rehabilitation. Most studies on this topic focus on adult offenders; less is known about adolescent offenders. In our study, therapy attrition and engagement were predicted via logistic and linear regression to examine the link between pretreatment variables, engagement, and treatment failure in 161 young offenders treated in a social-therapeutic unit in Germany. Engagement could be predicted by motivation, disruptive childhood behavior, low aggressiveness, and higher age. In turn, low motivation, substance abuse, and young age predicted attrition, but their impact diminished when engagement was added to the model with only substance abuse remaining significant. The effect of substance abuse on attrition disappeared, when the offender’s initial motivation was high. Implications for assessment and treatment planning are discussed.
Background: Various studies have demonstrated that people who do not complete sex offender treatment have higher recidivism rates than completers or untreated controls. The mechanism behind this association, however, remains unclear. One explanation is that responsivity issues are more prevalent in high-risk offenders, making treatment failure and recidivism more likely, especially if treatment intensity is insufficient to match criminal needs. In addition, dropout may have a negative effect on offenders by increasing feelings of frustration or self-doubt.
Aims:To retest for a link between treatment discontinuation and recidivism by sex offenders and analyse the mechanisms mediating the link between treatment discontinuation and their recidivism. We hypothesise that non-completion has a negative effect on recidivism after controlling for a priori differences in risk of recidivism.
Methods:We analysed data from all sex offenders released from Bavarian prisons between 2004 and 2015 who had participated in prison-based social-therapeutic treatment and compared non-completers (n = 100) to offenders ending treatment as planned (n = 428). Criminal risk, offence char-
Zusammenfassung
Die ambulante Behandlung entlassener Sexualstraftäter hat in den letzten Jahren zunehmend an Bedeutung gewonnen. Insbesondere seit der Reform der Führungsaufsicht 2006 wurde das Nachsorgeangebot für Haftentlassene sukzessive ausgebaut. Ein Großteil der nachbehandelten Sexualstraftäter wird über Bewährungsauflagen oder Weisungen der Führungsaufsicht an eine Nachsorgeeinrichtung angebunden, bislang gibt es aber kaum Informationen darüber, wie häufig Therapieauflagen erteilt werden, an welche Faktoren sie geknüpft sind und wie wirksam sie sind. Die vorliegende Studie untersucht daher an einer Stichprobe entlassener Sexualstraftäter (n = 1.537), welche individuellen, haftbezogenen und entlassungsbezogenen Faktoren die Wahrscheinlichkeit einer Therapieweisung beeinflussen. Zudem wird analysiert, ob eine Therapieweisung unter Kontrolle anderer relevanter Faktoren eine rückfallpräventive Wirkung aufweist. Als Datenbasis diente ein umfassender Erhebungsbogen, der bei Haftentlassung von den Fachdiensten ausgefüllt wurde. Unsere Ergebnisse zeigen, dass 77 % aller Sexualstraftäter eine Therapieauflage erhielten, dabei war der Anteil seit 2004 signifikant angestiegen. Jüngere Straftäter, Täter mit ausschließlich kindlichen Opfern, mit niedrigerem Static-99-Wert und einer Behandlung in Haft erhielten häufiger eine Therapieauflage. Für in der Haft unbehandelte Sexualstraftäter war eine Therapieauflage mit signifikant weniger Rückfall assoziiert, bei Straftätern mit Einzel- und Gruppentherapie galt dies nur für Rückfälle mit einem Gewaltdelikt. Für Entlassene aus der Sozialtherapie war eine Therapieauflage kein signifikanter Prädiktor. Implikationen für die Nachsorge von Sexualstraftätern und weitere Forschungsansätze werden diskutiert.
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