First Report of the Collaborative Outcome Data Project on the Effectiveness of Psychological Treatment for Sex Offenders

• NCJ Number: 194875
• Journal: Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment Volume: 14 Issue: 2 Dated: April 2002 Pages: 169-194
• Author(s): R. Karl Hanson; Arthur Gordon; Andrew J. R. Harris; Janice K. Marques; William Murphy; Vernon L. Quinsey; Michael C. Seto
• Date Published: 2002
• Length: 26 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This paper summarizes data from 43 studies concerning the effectiveness of psychological treatment for sex offenders.

Abstract

The authors note that if treatment is to be widely used to manage sex offenders, then the effectiveness of available treatments should be ascertained. As such, the authors examined 43 studies in which sexual offenders who received psychological treatment were compared to sexual offenders who received no treatment in order to gauge the effectiveness of sexual offender treatment programs. Selection of these 43 studies was made using computer searches of PsycLIT and the National Criminal Justice Reference System (NCJRS). Searches were also made on the reference lists of the collected articles and review articles in this area of research. Finally, letters were mailed to 30 researchers in this area requesting overlooked or unpublished documents. The resulting 43 studies analyzed a combined total of 5,078 sex offenders who received psychological treatment and 4,376 sex offenders who did not receive psychological treatment. The offenders were tracked for an average of 46 months to capture recidivism among the offenders. Overall, the authors found that those sex offenders who received some form of psychological treatment had a lower sexual offense recidivism rate, 12.3 percent, than those offenders who received no treatment, 16.8 percent. General recidivism, aside from sexual offense recidivism, was also measured in similar fashion. The results were similar to the sexual offense recidivism rates. Of those offenders who received treatment, 27.9 percent were convicted for subsequent crimes while 39.2 percent who received no treatment were convicted for later crimes. The authors conclude by calling for research concerning how to improve current sex offender treatment programs since their usefulness has been made evident by the current research. Tables, references