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

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 com...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of offender therapy and comparative criminology 2004-10, Vol.48 (5), p.600-612
Main Authors: Seager, James A., Jellicoe, Debra, Dhaliwal, Gurmeet K.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Canada
Dropping out
Efficacy
Follow-Up Studies
Followup studies
Humans
Male
Medium security units
Patient Compliance - statistics & numerical data
Patient Dropouts - statistics & numerical data
Psychotherapy - methods
Recidivism
Rehabilitation of criminals
Sex offenders
Sex Offenses - prevention & control
Treatment
Violence
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Summary: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 programdid 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.
ISSN:0306-624X
1552-6933
DOI:10.1177/0306624X04263885