NCJ Number
145070
Journal
Crime and Delinquency Volume: 39 Issue: 4 Dated: (October 1993) Pages: 543- 553
Date Published
1993
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This article presents an evaluation of a midwestern court-based program for the treatment of juvenile sexual offenders that began service in 1988.
Abstract
All youths (n=155) who were referred to the Sexual Offender Treatment (SOT) program between January 2, 1988 and April 30, 1991 were studied, including 46 controls who participated in the SOT program and 109 controls who were assigned to previously existing, nonoffense-specific interventions. During the data collection period, no significant difference existed between the SOT and control groups' rate of sexual re-offending (2.2 percent and 3.7 percent, respectively). Recidivism in general was actually slightly higher among SOT subjects (24 percent) than among controls (18 percent). These results were far below expectations, especially considering that the SOT program was intended for lower risk clients. The low rate of both groups' sexual re-offending rate may be attributed to an effectiveness of any kind of intervention not necessarily SOT or to a general nonseriousness of offenses among the subjects. 1 table and 20 references