CENTER FOR SEX OFFENDER MANAGEMENT

Long Version
Section 1: An Overview of Sex Offender Treatment for a Non–Clinical Audience
The Basics of Sex Offender–Specific Treatment
2 Hours

 TOPIC: CURRICULUM GOALS AND CONTENT
(35 minutes)

Refer to Handouts: Refer participants to two papers developed by CSOM—“Community Supervision of the Sex Offender: An Overview of Current and Promising Practices” and “ The Collaborative Approach to Sex Offender Management.” These documents are included among the participant materials.

The management of sex offenders in the community is gaining more and more attention among supervision and community corrections staff. Despite longer sentences and a greater likelihood of incarceration, many sex offenders are supervised in the community—either as a direct sentence of probation or after some period of incarceration. Emerging practice around the nation reflects the importance of a collaborative and multidisciplinary approach to this work.¹ The significant trauma experienced by victims, the consequences of potential future victimization, and the inherent difficulties in managing this population have encouraged communities to develop collaborations at both the policy and case management level to better manage such offenders. Emerging practice embraces the importance of having these offenders involved in sex offender–specific treatment as a condition of their supervision. Two aspects of sex offender treatment are of particular interest to supervision staff.

• First, it is significantly different from the traditional mental health treatment used with other offenders. Most importantly, sex offender–specific treatment has as its primary goal the protection of the community, and as a secondary goal the wellness of the offender. This is in contrast to traditional mental health treatment that is geared primarily toward the needs of the client. It is important for supervision staff to understand and appreciate the differences between these approaches.
• Second, because emerging practice reflects a “team” approach to sex offender management (that includes criminal justice supervision agencies, treatment providers, and others) is the most promising approach to assure the effective supervision of sex offenders in the community, it is important for supervision staff to understand sex offender–specific treatment and how they can collaborate most effectively with treatment providers.²

Use Slide #1 and Slide #2: Goals of This Training

[Click to Enlarge]

[Click to Enlarge]

Therefore, the goals of this day–long training on the treatment of sex offenders are to:

• Provide an overview of sex offender–specific treatment, and outline its characteristics, particularly the ways in which it differs from traditional mental health treatment;
• Emphasize its primary goal of community protection;
• Summarize what we know of practice patterns nationwide;
• Summarize the research on the outcomes of treatment (i.e., what we know of its effectiveness); and
• Identify ways in which supervision officers can successfully work together with treatment providers in managing sex offenders in the community.

The day will be divided into five sections:

Use Slide #3: Overview of the Training

[Click to Enlarge]

Section 1: The Basics of Sex Offender–Specific Treatment. This first section—which we’re covering now—identifies the rationale for a specialized approach to the treatment of sex offenders in the community; articulates the goals of the training curriculum as a whole; outlines the content of the curriculum; identifies the core elements of sex offender–specific treatment; and highlights the ways in which it differs from traditional mental health treatment. (2 hours)

Section 2: Sex Offender–Specific Treatment Outcome Research. This section summarizes the evidence emerging from empirical research on sex offender treatment, outlining what we know about its effectiveness, what we know about what works for what types of sex offenders, and the implications of this research for treatment and for collaboration between treatment providers and supervision agencies. (30 minutes)

Section 3: Elements of Sex Offender–Specific Treatment. This section details the elements of sex offender treatment, covering a number of challenging issues, including handling denial. It goes into a good bit of detail regarding the techniques that treatment providers may use to address the four domains of treatment—sexual interests, distorted attitudes, interpersonal skills, and behavior management. It discusses the ways in which supervision officers also are involved in supporting behavior management. (4 hours, 30 minutes)

Section 4: A National Perspective on the Current State of Practice. This section summarizes the results of a periodic national survey conducted for the Safer Society that gathers information from treatment providers regarding their practices and clients. (We use the term “client” here as not all of those receiving such treatment are involved in the criminal justice system.) It is the most comprehensive picture of actual practice that is currently available. (30 minutes)

Section 5: What to Look for in a Treatment Provider. One of the most difficult issues facing the criminal justice system—the courts, supervision agencies, prosecutors, etc.—is how to know which treatment providers will make effective partners in the management of sex offenders in the community. This brief section outlines the factors that should be considered in selecting appropriate treatment providers. (30 minutes)

Introductions of Faculty and Participants

Before we begin, we would like to have participants and faculty introduce themselves. We hope to make this an interactive session and to share the considerable experience that is represented here among the participants and faculty, so we should begin by learning a bit about one another. I would like to ask each of you to please introduce yourself—tell us your name, the nature of your job, the nature of your interest in sex offender–specific treatment, and some of the issues you hope to learn about during the course of the training.