Refusers, Dropouts, and Completers: Measuring Sex Offender Treatment Efficacy

Abstract

A sex offender program delivered in a medium-security prison followed 109 treatment completers and 37 noncompleters for 2 years after release. Noncompleters, those who refused treatment or dropped out, had 6 times the rate of sexual and violent reoffending relative to completers. Among those who completed the program, however, positive evaluations of treatment change, such as quality of disclosure and enhanced victim empathy, found in posttreatment assessments did not correlate with recidivism. Furthermore, completers did not differ in their rates of recidivism from pretreatment rates predicted by the Static 99, an actuarial measure of anticipated sexual and violent recidivism. We conclude that the program did not influence propensities for sexual and violent recidivism but rather served as a prolonged screening instrument for sex offenders whose failure to comply with treatment attendance predicted higher rates of recidivism.

Experiences of engaging in psychotherapeutic interventions for sexual offending behaviours: A meta-synthesis

“…Most reviews have found that sex offender treatment programmes do have an impact on reducing recidivism, as reoffending rates appear to be lower among those who have engaged in treatment (Alexander, 1999;Hall, 1995;Hanson, Bourgon, Helmus, & Hodgson, 2009;Hanson et al, 2002;Losel & Schmucker, 2005). However, there are others who argue that treatment is not effective, as recidivism does not seem to be significantly lower for those who have received therapy (Friendship, Mann, & Beech, 2003;Furby, Weinrott, & Blackshaw, 1989;Hanson, 2010;Hanson, Steffy, & Gauthier, 1993;Marques, Wiederanders, Day, Nelson, & van Ommeren, 2005;Rice, 2010;Rice, Quinsey, & Harris, 1991;Schweitzer & Dwyer, 2003;Seager, Jellicoe, & Dhaliwal, 2004). This discrepancy in findings may be due to design issues in some reviews, such as nonrandom allocation of offenders to treatment or control groups, non-matched treated and untreated groups and inconsistent measurements of outcomes.…”

Child Sexual Abusers’ Views on Treatment: A Study of Convicted and Imprisoned Adult Male Offenders

“…Those working with child sexual abusers are faced with the challenge of providing effective treatment and assuaging public concern about safety. Over the past two decades, much research has focused on the assessment and treatment of sexual offenders in the UK, United States, Australia, and Canada (e.g., Abracen & Looman, 2004Chaffin, 1994;Eastman, 2004;Frost, 2004;Houston, Wrench, & Hosking, 1995;Jenkins-Hall, 1994;Kear-Colwell & Boer, 2000;Langton, Barbaree, Harkins, & Peacock, 2006;Levenson & Macgowan, 2004;Lindsay, Neilson, Morrison, & Smith, 1998;Looman, Dickie, & Abracen, 2005;MacDonald, 1994;Marshall, 1996;Marshall, Anderson, & Fernandez, 1999;Marshall, Jones, Ward, Johnston, & Barbaree, 1991;McGrath, Cumming, Livingston, & Hoke, 2003;Petersilia, 1990;Polizzi, MacKenzie, & Hickman, 1999;Raynor & Vanstone, 1997;Schofield, 1994;Schweitzer & Dyer, 2003;Seager, Jellicoe, & Dhaliwal, 2004;Shanahan & Donato, 2001). Yet debate persists as to the effectiveness of treatment in reducing recidivism (Brooks-Gordon et al, 2004;Hanson et al, 2002;Matthews & Pitts, 1998;Schweitzer & Dwyer;Seager et al, 2004;Terry & Mitchell, 2001).…”

Psychosocial treatment refusal in personality disorder: a comparative study

“…Very little is known about patients with personality disorder who, following clinical assessment, do not take up psychosocial and psychotherapeutic treatment. Reports addressing psychotherapy treatment refusers in child psychiatry (Kendall & Sugarman, 1997), brief psychotherapy (Kimm, Bolz, & Meyer, 1981) and sex offender treatment programmes (Seager, Jellicoe, & Dhaliwal, 2004) are available. In a descriptive study of general adult psychotherapy refusers, Mohl, Martinez, Ticknor and Appleby (1989) found little of signifi cance to distinguish refusers from those who started treatment after going through an extensive and lengthy assessment process, and concluded that the quality of the interaction with the assessor was likely to be a more important factor than patient variables in determining acceptance of psychotherapy.…”