NCJ Number
201673
Journal
Corrections Today Magazine Volume: 65 Issue: 5 Dated: August 2003 Pages: 108-111
Date Published
August 2003
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This article reports on the British approach to programming for sex offenders, which was drawn from the Management of Dangerous Offenders workshop that took place in January 2003.
Abstract
A key factor in the successful management of sex offenders is the adherence to three critical processes: targeting, sequencing, and booster programs. Targeting bases program and treatment choices for the offender on the seriousness of the offense and the offenders’ level of risk. Sequencing involves the careful planning of programming so that offenders may attend more than one program consecutively. Booster programs offer a refresher for vital skills and information learned during prison-time programming. An important aspect of sex offender management is dynamic risk assessment, which is vital to proper programming for the offender. The National Probation Service (NPS) for England and Wales has identified offender dynamic risk factors and specific sex offender dynamic risk factors such as poor cognitive skills, antisocial attitudes, and drug and alcohol dependency, among others. The NPS also strives to offer evidence-based practice in their mainstream probation work. Evidence suggests that the best programs help offenders recognize the consequences of their behaviors and understand their motivations for offending so that they may develop ways of controlling their behaviors. The article describes the NPS’s Sex Offender Community Program, which is a group-based intervention informed by the research literature on program effectiveness. The program offers a modular format and a flexible treatment pathway that is linked to risk and deviance factors. Four main elements are addressed in this program: denial, offense-specific problems, levels of social inadequacy, and knowledge of relapse. The NPS program for sex offenders is undergoing an evaluation; it would behoove practitioners to watch for the results of the evaluation efforts in order to institute best-practice methods in their own jurisdictions.