NCJ Number
173677
Journal
Journal of Offender Rehabilitation Volume: 27 Issue: 1/2 Dated: 1998 Pages: 149-165
Date Published
1998
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This article proposes the application of attachment theory to the interaction between juvenile sex offenders and society, including helping systems of professionals.
Abstract
The article discusses basic concepts of parent-child attachment, including the relationship of early attachments to juvenile delinquency and sex offending, and notes attachment-related approaches to treatment. Helping systems can often be involved in perpetuating cycles of abuse through destructive reactions to offending youths. The article offers a conceptualization of healthy and unhealthy helping system interaction to promote family integrity as a primary priority of treatment. Professionals who connect with juvenile offenders through safe and secure working relationships can aid in repairing earlier destructive emotional attachments which seem to further sex offending. As the relationships between juvenile sexual offenders and their families, schools, churches, communities, and the criminal justice system are better understood, professionals may be better able to approach treatment of offenders from a holistic perspective in an integrated helping system. Figures, references