NCJ Number
217046
Journal
Corrections Today Magazine Volume: 68 Issue: 7 Dated: December 2006 Pages: 76,77,82,83,106
Date Published
December 2006
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This article describes sex offender treatment and supervision in Washington State.
Abstract
The Washington State Department of Corrections (DOC) offers state-of-the–art comprehensive sex offender treatment and community supervision programming that incorporates research-based treatment with community supports. Designed to reduce the risk of recidivism, sex offender treatment in Washington State is based on cognitive behavior treatment within a relapse-prevention framework. Treatment plans are tailored to the individual needs of each participant and generally include the goals of increasing accountability for the offense, managing stress, increasing communication skills, resolving problems, avoiding risk, and managing sexual arousal. Intensive group therapy and individual counseling are both offered and assignment to a therapy group or counselor is matched to the offender’s learning style. Therapy is offered to offenders for a period of 3 years following release and DOC treatment staff actively work with community support and treatment groups to monitor and manage offender’s risk. An integral component of the sex offender treatment and supervision program is the family support seminar, which is offered on a voluntary basis to family or friends of the offender. The half-day seminar focuses on transition issues, victim advocacy, and community notification with the goal of teaching support persons how to help facilitate successful offender reentry. Indeed, community and social support networks are considered a key to the success of the program. A preliminary review that compared sex offender program participants who had active support groups to sex offender treatment participants who did not have support groups indicated that those who had an active support network were more likely to be released into the community and more likely to be released closer to their early-release dates than those without active support networks. Endnotes