Sex offender treatment programs and approaches

¶ … sustained treatment can have on reducing the incidence of re-offenses by sexual offenders. The study was limited to a single treatment center/program in Alaska, so the results cannot be fully applied to sexual offenders at large, but they are in keeping with other research (according to these researchers). Specifically, the use of a relapse prevention model in treatment -- a cognitive-behavioral approach developed initially for drug addicts but modified for sex offenders -- has been shown to be remarkably effective in limiting re-offenses, with the longer an offender spends in treatment correlating to longer periods without a repeat offense. Subjects who completed all phases of treatment over a ten-year period showed an absolutely zero rate of re-offense in this study; drug and alcohol abuse -- as well as identification as a Native Alaskan -- were predictors of early departure from the program, especially when they co-occurred.

The findings of this study are highly relevant to community social work practice, first and foremost by providing knowledge that there can be successful measures that prevent re-offense by sex offenders. This knowledge in and of itself is essential both for social workers and for many of their clients. Knowledge of the specific programs that have proven to be the most effective, as well as the stumbling blocks that might be present for many individuals and the success rates for those that manage to stay in the treatment program, are also very useful tools to have on hand during community practice. Being able to provide practical answers to very difficult situations is at the heart of social work, and this article definitely shows how this can be accomplished when attempting to help sex offenders.

The main values that are apparent in this article are first, an empirical adherence and promotion of objectivity in dealing with a topic that is highly fraught with many emotions, and secondly a true desire to bring about the betterment of society and the individuals within it. The authors stress at one point that it is understood that sex offenders can never be "cured' of their impulses, and that an acceptance of this fact is precisely what allows them to be able to learn how to control these impulses and desires in order to refrain from being a danger to society or anyone else in it. That is, it is through bringing objectivity to bear on the issue that the issue can actually be successfully addressed, and the research that is presented in this article certainly backs this perspective up. Objectivity and empirical examination, in other words, are some of the better tools at our disposal for addressing societal issues such as the repeat offenses of most sex offenders.