Psychological interventions for those who have sexually offended or are at risk of offending

Kenworthy, Tracy; Ce, Adams; Bilby, Charlotte; Brooks‐Gordon, Belinda; Fenton, Mark

doi:10.1002/14651858.cd004858

Cited by 40 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 85 publications

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“…Although it is not possible to experimentally manipulate risk factors in sexual offending research, an experimental design could be used as part of an intervention study for sexualized behavior (Cicchetti & Hinshaw, 2002), and this may provide valuable information about mediating risk mechanisms. Randomized intervention studies for sexual offenders are rare because of the ethical difficulties of randomizing to a no-treatment condition (Kenworthy, Adams, Bilby, Brooks-Gordon, & Fenton, 2004). Furthermore, while these studies may tell us about the factors that maintain sexual offending, they may be less informative about its development.…”

Section: Implications For the Five Methodological Problemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developmental Risk Factor Research and Sexual Offending against Children: A Review of Some Methodological Issues

McMillan

Hastings

Skuse³

2007

Arch Sex Behav

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Research on developmental risk factors for sexual offending against children is inherently difficult. Although there are numerous studies in the area, methodological problems are often not given sufficient attention in the design and interpretation of research. Despite the large number of variables retrospectively associated with sexual offending, the status of these as developmental risk factors remains unclear. If sexual offending research is to make progress, five methodological challenges must be met. These include: (1) establishing the temporal relationship between a putative risk factor and sexual perpetration; (2) ruling out third variable effects; (3) avoiding retrospective reporting bias; (4) generating informative tests of risk mechanisms; and (5) modeling complex developmental phenomena. In this review, we outline these methodological problems and suggest that the study of sexualized behavior in childhood and adolescence may provide some leverage on each of these difficulties.

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Section: Implications For the Five Methodological Problemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developmental Risk Factor Research and Sexual Offending against Children: A Review of Some Methodological Issues

McMillan

Hastings

Skuse³

2007

Arch Sex Behav

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“…Intentionally restricting Up2U to one-half of these cases was justifiable since we did not know whether the treatment actually reduces victimisation or whether it has harmful effects. This is supported by evidence-based practice reviewers who argue that with otherwise untested programmes, the only ethical option is to provide treatment within a well-controlled evaluative study (Feder et al, 2008;Kenworthy et al, 2004). This allows providers to be clear that the intervention is being tested, and avoids offering victim partners and taxpayers false expectation of safety or protection.…”

Section: Protecting Against Prior Between-group Differencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design of the “Up2U” domestic abuse perpetrator programme

Pearson

Ford

2017

JACPR

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to outline the development, structure, and implementation of a new programme for domestic abuse (DA) perpetrators. Design/methodology/approach A needs-led DA perpetrator programme is proposed, named as “Up2U: Creating Healthy Relationships” (Up2U). The background to Up2U, its aims, configuration, and delivery methods are presented in this paper. To illustrate Up2U, the targets for change and referral population in the development site are discussed. Furthermore, the paper reflects on some of the implementation decisions and the steps taken towards evaluating the impact of Up2U in the development site. Findings Research supports provision of treatment targeting perpetrators’ criminogenic needs, delivered with responsivity to their learning styles, at an intensity that matches their risk. Change on treatment targets can be evaluated in the context of differences in recidivism outcomes to help assess whether impact can be attributed to the programme. It can also serve as a more proximal index of success/failure for individual clients. Such implementation and evaluation decisions are a benefit of the present researcher-practitioner partnership. Originality/value Up2U is innovative by being risk-and needs-led rather than taking a gendered approach to DA treatment, and this new evidence-based approach may reduce partner abuse. This is the first paper to outline Up2U’s structure, content, implementation, and measurement.

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“…However, despite published outcome studies describing as many as 20,000 offenders who have completed custody-based group therapy treatment programmes worldwide, there is very little evidence that psychological treatments in custody reduces the risk of sexual recidivism. 10 The failure of custody-based programmes to show a significant effect on recidivism may be in part because treatment has not been specific to the individual offender's needs. For example, if the basis of the sexual behaviour towards children is in response to symptoms of a psychotic illness, a treatment programme that involves disclosure, victim empathy, identifying triggers for offending and other components of a relapse-prevention model may not be appropriate.…”

Section: Preventative Detention For Treatmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Justifications and Rationalizations for the Civil Commitment of Sex Offenders

Hayes

Barnett

Sullivan

et al. 2009

Psychiatry, Psychology and Law

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In response to rising community concern about the release of convicted child sex offenders, most states of Australia have enacted legislation to use civil commitment proceedings to extend detention and supervision after the expiry of the original sentences. This article considers the arguments for and against this form of legislation.The arguments in favour of the civil commitment of sex offenders are for further treatment so as to decrease the likelihood of child sex assaults once the offender is released, in order to prevent child sex offences during the period of extended detention, and because previous sentences are seen to be inadequate according to current community standards. We then consider the arguments against preventative detention, which include abandoning the presumption of innocence with regard to future offences and the high probability of detaining some offenders who will not reoffend because of the unreliability of risk assessment.We express our concerns about laws that overthrow longstanding legal principles and pass much of the responsibility for decisions regarding commitment from courts to psychiatrists. Despite the unsatisfactory nature of these laws and the cumbersome procedure required to administer them, the political reality is that these laws are unlikely to ever be repealed. Hence we also consider how the laws should be applied.

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Psychological interventions for those who have sexually offended or are at risk of offending

Cited by 40 publications

References 85 publications

Developmental Risk Factor Research and Sexual Offending against Children: A Review of Some Methodological Issues

Developmental Risk Factor Research and Sexual Offending against Children: A Review of Some Methodological Issues

Design of the “Up2U” domestic abuse perpetrator programme

Justifications and Rationalizations for the Civil Commitment of Sex Offenders

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