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Sex offenders are often required by the court to enter therapy and receive help so they can stop deviant sexual behaviors. Mental health professionals must have some means of evaluating a mandated client's progress in therapy, however, there are currently no valid criteria available. A survey form was developed containing 73 items which professionals identified as having possible utility in evaluating progress.

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This thesis is concerned with the correctional treatment process for sex offenders, and the problems that criminal justice system authority poses for treatment settings. A particular focus is whether inmate participation in treatment programs is voluntary or coerced, given the link between programs and prospects of release. In examining this question, the author considers the results of an empirical project in which a group of inmates were interviewed about their perceptions of the correctional treatment process. Background to this project includes discussion of the doctrine of informed consent and respect for autonomy as its underlying rationale; discussion of the concepts of coercion and voluntariness; and examination of the development of rehabilitative ideals. A conclusion drawn from the discussion is that the presence of coercive authority may impact adversely upon correctional treatment efforts. Coercive authority creates difficulties in relation to the voluntariness of inmates' consent, the confidentiality of the treatment relationship, and the professional autonomy of the clinician. These problems in turn raise questions as to whether correctional programs retain the character of treatment, or are more properly considered as part of punishment, or as tools of social control. However, coercive authority is a necessary presence if correctional services are to work towards the goal of protection of society. The central question to be addressed therefore is whether the prospects of release can be used to motivate inmates for treatment in a way that is consistent with the requirement of voluntary consent to treatment. The results of the empirical project suggest that for the majority of inmates, the link between treatment and release is not coercive. However, a number of inmates did indicate they felt coerced into treatment programs. Reforms may thus be necessary to avoid coercive authority resulting in coerced treatment. In discussing these results, the author considers a number of directions for reform, including the introduction of an operational presumption of coerced referrals to treatment, which would place greater emphasis on clinicians' obligations to secure voluntary consent.

This thesis is concerned with the correctional treatment process for sex offenders, and the problems that criminal justice system authority poses for treatment settings. A particular focus is whether inmate participation in treatment programs is voluntary or coerced, given the link between programs and prospects of release. In examining this question, the author considers the results of an empirical project in which a group of inmates were interviewed about their perceptions of the correctional treatment process. Background to this project includes discussion of the doctrine of informed consent and respect for autonomy as its underlying rationale; discussion of the concepts of coercion and voluntariness; and examination of the development of rehabilitative ideals. A conclusion drawn from the discussion is that the presence of coercive authority may impact adversely upon correctional treatment efforts. Coercive authority creates difficulties in relation to the voluntariness of inmates' consent, the confidentiality of the treatment relationship, and the professional autonomy of the clinician. These problems in turn raise questions as to whether correctional programs retain the character of treatment, or are more properly considered as part of punishment, or as tools of social control. However, coercive authority is a necessary presence if correctional services are to work towards the goal of protection of society. The central question to be addressed therefore is whether the prospects of release can be used to motivate inmates for treatment in a way that is consistent with the requirement of voluntary consent to treatment. The results of the empirical project suggest that for the majority of inmates, the link between treatment and release is not coercive. However, a number of inmates did indicate they felt coerced into treatment programs. Reforms may thus be necessary to avoid coercive authority resulting in coerced treatment. In discussing these results, the author considers a number of directions for reform, including the introduction of an operational presumption of coerced referrals to treatment, which would place greater emphasis on clinicians' obligations to secure voluntary consent. / Law, Peter A. Allard School of / Graduate

Thesis (DPhil (Social Work))--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / It is generally accepted that pre-teen sexual offences are becoming a widespread problem in South Africa and social workers are ill-equipped to render a competent service to prevent these youth offenders from re-offending. To date, the social, judicial and legislative systems do not provide any definite guidelines to prevent pre-teen sexual offenders from re-offending. The purpose of this study was to present guidelines which could serve as a framework when designing prevention programmes for pre-teen sex offenders. With the results of the study an attempt will be made to augment the knowledge and skills in this area in the social service delivery system, in order to render a professional and effective service to prevent pre-teen sexual offenders from reoffending. The objectives of the study were: first, to explain policy under the South African criminal justice system regarding crime according to the Sexual Offences Act, no 23 of 1957, and the Child Care Act, no 74 of 1983, as well as government and non-government services available to children under the age of 13 who sexually offend; second, to describe the social and personal circumstances of pre-teen sexual offenders in order to illustrate the nature of the deviant sexual behaviour of these children and to determine the need for prevention programmes; third, to reflect on the nature and function of prevention programmes for pre-teen sexual offenders and to investigate the need for social workers to utilize these programmes in welfare agencies in South Africa; fourth, to determine the nature of social work programmes which social workers in welfare agencies are using to address the needs and/or problems of pre-teen sexual offenders; and finally, to describe the knowledge and practice skills needed by social workers to design prevention programmes for pre-teen sexual offenders. The literature review was focused on research findings relating to issues examined in this study. An exploratory research design for the study was confined to a purposive sample of 79 respondents who were identified from a universe of 130 social workers to assess their need to develop prevention programmes in order to render a competent service to pre-teen sex offenders and their families. The results were analysed mainly quantitatively. The empirical study enabled the researcher to draw certain conclusions. The main finding was that pre-teen sex offences were on the increase, and that social workers therefore required ever greater knowledge and skills to empower them to use existing prevention of re-offending programmes for preteen sexual offenders, or alternatively, needed to develop their own such programmes. A number of recommendations flowed from the findings. The main recommendation was that welfare organisations rendering child care service should ensure that social workers have at their disposal a diverse knowledge and skills base consisting of the most significant prevention models and approaches to enable them to design their own prevention programmes for pre-teen sexual offenders. The welfare organisations should further supply social workers with training opportunities to enable them to design prevention programmes, thereby empowering them to render a professional service to pre-teen sexual offenders and their families. Finally, preventing pre-teen sex offenders from reoffending should be a state-driven initiative and national and provincial governments should provide adequate policies and facilities for the implementation of prevention programmes for pre-teen sexual offenders.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of NLP Reframing as a means of decreasing sexual response when aggression is aroused by a female with incarcerated rape offenders. The process of reframing involves a redirection of the positive intentions underlying rape behavior by associating new acceptable and nonviolent behaviors to the same intention. The paradoxical nature of this method allows for measurement of newly acquired behavior, a decrease in the maladaptive behavior (rape) or a decrease in some representation of the maladaptive behavior. In this study, a representation was created by arousing the aggression level of the participants toward a female followed by measurement of sexual response as measured by the Sexual Imagery Levels 1 and 3 of the Rorschach. A post-test only control group design was utilized. The sample for this study included 26 rape offenders incarcerated at the Arizona Correctional Training Center in Tucson. Participants ranged from 18 to 28 years of age and had a mean age of 23.33 years; had a mean I.Q. of 112.71 on the Culture Fair Intelligence Test and included 13 Anglos, 7 Mexican Americans, 4 Blacks, and 2 Native Americans. Data analysis for hypotheses testing involved ANCOVA with the total number of responses on the Rorschach being the covariate. Significant results beyond the .05 level of confidence were obtained on one of the two directional hypotheses (Sexual Imagery Level 3), suggesting that reframing rape behavior using the NLP method with incarcerated rape offenders may be effective in decreasing sexual response at a more symbolic level.

The present paper is a descriptive study of sex offender sentencing in three Oregon counties in 1992. It examines the relationship between sentencing practices and indigent offenders. It focuses specifically on the question of offender indigent status and court ordered sex offender treatment. The study also provides information about the number of sex offenders in each of the three counties, how the offenders' sentences were determined by the courts through the use of the sentencing guidelines matrix, what type of plea was used, and what if any influence indigence had in the sentencing outcomes for the felony sex off enders in this study. Viewed from a conflict theoretical perspective, it was expected that indigent sex offenders would experience differential treatment by the courts. Two-tailed chi-square tests were computed to determine if a difference exists between sentences given indigent and non-indigent offenders. The same tests were applied to determine if there exists a difference between indigent and non-indigent in regard to the addressing of treatment in the sentence order. The tests were considered significant at the . 05 level. A significant difference was found between probation sentences and prison sentences for indigent versus non indigent offenders. Frequency scores were examined for this study by the number of indigent sex offenders that were convicted in each sample county for 1992, guilt type, guilt type and sentence, sentencing guidelines matrix score, indigence and race, and treatment by county. There is minimal information on the topic of sex offenders and the possible relationship between indigence, sentence disposition and treatment. The information contained in this study will contribute to the body of knowledge in the area of sex offenders and the results of this study will provide information useful for further research.

The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of why social workers believe a male juvenile would commit a sexual abuse act toward another child and how this juvenile should be understood within the social services system and society. Social workers believe interventions are needed once the abuse has occurred.

A multi-regression analysis was performed utilizing the variables, age, ethnicity, criminal background, and facets of treatment, but differentiated between the rapist and pedophile, examining the variance of recidivism.