CJC4410 Exam 4 Study Guide CH 11 TREATING SEXUAL OFFENDERS The Challenge of Treating Sex Offenders While there are promising strategies for counseling treating sex offenders many sex offenders are not motivated for treatment and rehabilitation of these offenders remains difficult Motivational factors acceptance of problems attendance at treatment levels of participation and arriving on time are powerful predictors of success in the treatment of child molesters Counselors treating sex offenders must comply with several legal requirements E g confidentiality not everything is confidential Have to report admittance of other offenses Have to report if the offender is an adolescent and reports being sexually physically abused treatment May impede the development of a good rapport with client thereby impeding effective Treating sex offenders can be especially difficult with offenders who suffer from mental retardation Standard treatment strategies could be used for mild borderline retarded offenders However for severe retardation behavioral strategies may be appropriate Obtaining consent for treatment from severely retarded offenders may be problematic because its difficult to determine whether they understand what they are agreeing to Treating sex offenders can also be threatening to a counselor E g discussing explicit details of sexual crimes may be uncomfortable for the counselor especially if counselor is similar in age or gender to the offender s victim Transference of sexual feelings to the counselor may occur although this isn t destructive to the treatment process it can arouse anxiety from the counselor Some symptoms of PTSD have been found in sex offender therapists The Role of Assessment An assessment of client s needs and readiness to receive treatment must be performed to gain pertinent information concerning several areas of the offender s life degree of offending problems that may contribute to his her dysfunction Thorough assessments of offenders include information concerning their Social history employment hobbies family relationships significant life event composition Psychological and social problems substance abuse emotional difficulties history of non sexual offending antisocial behavior and psychiatric diagnoses Sexual development sexual history attitudes towards sex sexual preference dysfunction age of onset of puberty sexual relationship history of victimization Sexual patterns of offending history of sexual offending attitude toward victim offense masturbatory sexual fantasies use of force aggression willingness to engage in treatment and ability to specify treatment goals Masturbatory fantasies are critical in determining the prospects of successful treatment As long as they involve age appropriate intercourse there is greater chance of treatment success If they are exploitive and inappropriate treatment success is more difficult to achieve Information gained through assessments should also address issues such as The degree of dangerousness of the offender to others The offender s suitability for treatment The degree to which the behavior and attitudes of the offender have changed in response to treatment Initial Interview about the offender A clinical interview with the offender should be performed first used to gain information Evaluators should look for defenses commonly used by sex offenders because they often distort the accounts of their offending behavior Minimize their acts by only taking responsibility for parts of their behaviors or by placing some of the responsibility on others including the victim Denial rationalization and claims of seduction Treatment can t begin until these defenses are addressed and offender is dealing with his her problems openly and honestly The assessment shouldn t rely solely on interview with the offender they should be supplemented with interviews from others wives girlfriends family members experts Should also review additional records psychological medical police victim reports for patterns of disruptive behavior antisocial acts past deviant incidents use of violence force and duration frequency of acts Also critical to include a thorough psychiatric examination Penile Plethysmography PPG An examination of the offender s arousal patterns Consists of a transducer that detects changes in penile erection and an electronic recorder that permanently records these changes Problems associated with PPG Its not clear that sexual offenders vs non offenders differ reliably in penile responses to deviant sexual stimuli There are ethical problems associated with its use because presentations of deviant stimuli may legitimize and encourage deviant sexual tendencies Also stimuli used often degrade women and depict children as sexual objects PPG has very low correlations with other measures however it appears to be more useful in assessing sexual interest in children than in assessing other sexual deviations Classification Classification of rapists Displaced aggression sexual assault is an expression of anger originally felt towards a wife mother or other close female Sexually motivated compensatory sexual assault is expression of the man s desire to find a girlfriend but using force to do so Sadistic type sexual assault in which the fighting and resistance of the victim combined with the offender s own aggression is sexually exciting Many sex offenders do not fit simply into these classification schemes E g 78 of offenders who molested children have also victimized adults Risk Assessment Because some sex offenders score low on general offender risk assessments several risk assessment tools have been developed specifically for sex offenders Many of the risk factors are similar to those for non sex offenders however researchers have noted that the value of the following factors are unique to sex offenders Prior sex offenses Involvement of stranger victims The existence of any male victims Positive responses to these items place sex offenders at higher risk of committing more offenses Static assessments have no treatment implications because they don t use dynamic risk factors that can be addressed in programs Sex Offender Need Assessment Rating SONAR includes static predictors of sex offender recidivism and adds consideration for needs pertaining to problems with intimacy social influences attitudes tolerant of sexual assault etc These assessments provide useful information for Research into the cessation of sexual offending Helpful