NCJ Number
157485
Journal
Journal of Forensic Psychiatry Volume: 5 Issue: 2 Dated: (September 1994) Pages: 297-310
Date Published
1994
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This article describes a service for male sex offenders established at the psychiatric Unit of Watford General Hospital in England in 1987 and discusses the characteristics of 27 male sex offenders assessed and treated by a multidisciplinary team over a period of 30 months.
Abstract
Fifty-two percent of the 27 offenders had previously committed sex offenses; 70 percent had a history of previous nonsexual offenses. These rates of criminality are higher than in other studies. Of those assessed for court proceedings, 75 percent received the sentences recommended by the team, and 67 percent were subsequently treated as outpatients in the community. Forty-eight percent had definite histories of childhood physical, sexual, or emotional abuse; another 33 percent were probably abused. It was expected that community treatment would be more successful in preventing further crimes than punitive detention; only one treated patient had reoffended by the end of the short study period. Apart from an expected improvement in prognosis, community treatment is also a remarkably chapter option than detention when dealing with sex offenders. Theoretically, effective treatment should halt the cyclic perpetuation of child sexual abuse. Tables and 49 references (Author abstract modified)