NCJ Number
163215
Journal
Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment Volume: 8 Issue: 1 Dated: (January 1996) Pages: 1-5
Date Published
1996
Length
5 pages
Annotation
There is mounting evidence that sex offenders in denial about their offenses not only need, but deserve and can benefit from therapy as much as those who admit their offenses.
Abstract
Originally impressed that sexual offenders who were mandated into treatment did as well as those who entered voluntarily, the author and his colleagues began to collect data on offenders who maintained denial at entry into treatment and those who continued to deny, in contrast to those who admitted during treatment that they were responsible for the acts alleged. Their findings show that just over 60 percent of the men who entered treatment denying any sexual activity with a victim admitted something by the end of a cognitive/behavioral group and individual treatment program. Also, group treatment was more effective at producing this verbal change than was individual treatment. The men who made this verbal change were somewhat more successful in treatment than those who did not. Men who admitted crimes at entry into treatment were more successful than those who denied they needed treatment. Still, the vast majority of men who did not admit their offenses yet completed a behavior/cognitive group and individual treatment program were successful at not relapsing. Further, men in total denial who completed a behavior/cognitive group and individual treatment program were overwhelmingly safer to be at large than those who admitted their complicity yet never completed treatment. 8 references