In this article, the authors draw on literatures outside sexual offending and make suggestions fo... more In this article, the authors draw on literatures outside sexual offending and make suggestions for working more positively and constructively with these offenders. Although the management of risk is a necessary feature of treatment, it needs to occur in conjunction with a strength-based approach. An exclusive focus on risk can lead to overly confrontational therapeutic encounters, a lack of rapport between offenders and clinicians, and fragmented and mechanistic treatment delivery. The authors suggest that the goals of sexual offender treatment should be the attainment of good lives, which is achieved by enhancing hope, increasing self-esteem, developing approach goals, and working collaboratively with the offenders. Examples are provided of how these targets may be met. When this is done within a therapeutic context where the treatment providers display empathy and warmth and are rewarding and directive, the authors suggest that treatment effects will be maximized.
Sexual Abuse-a Journal of Research and Treatment, 2001
This paper describes an approach to treatment for sexual offenders who are in categorical denial.... more This paper describes an approach to treatment for sexual offenders who are in categorical denial. Other efforts to have them, at least partially, admit responsibility had failed and they were to be released from prison without any treatment. Evidence that suggests denial is not predictive of risk and that treatment may reduce the risk of these offenders is reviewed. Essentially, this paper offers a possible approach to dealing with these intractable deniers which, it is suggested, is better than not trying to modify their risk, and that may prove to be effective
The risk principle of offender rehabilitation states that the intensity of treatment should be pr... more The risk principle of offender rehabilitation states that the intensity of treatment should be proportional to the offender's risk. This article reviews the evidence base for the risk principle with sexual offenders, as well as identifying other arguments, in order to determine whether low-risk sexual offenders need treatment, and of what type and magnitude. We conclude that low-risk sexual offenders probably need no more than 100 hours of offence-focused treatment given their very low reconviction rates. Low-risk sexual offenders should be kept separate from higher-risk offenders, and treatment should not interfere with other activities that will enable a non-offending lifestyle.
The identification of offence-related cognition is a major target of most cognitive Ábehavioural ... more The identification of offence-related cognition is a major target of most cognitive Ábehavioural treatment programmes for sexual offenders, and a number of measures are available for this purpose. This study assessed the psychometric properties of a brief measure of beliefs that support and justify child sexual abuse: the Sex With Children (SWCH) scale. Factor analysis revealed two distinct types of belief: that sex with children is harmless, and that children actively provoke adults into having sex with them. The SWCH was also found to have good internal consistency, test Áretest reliability and concurrent validity. Child molesters scored significantly more highly on the SWCH than did rapists or non-offenders, and high-risk child molesters reported more entrenched offence-supportive beliefs than lower risk child molesters. A relationship was also observed between general offence-supportive beliefs as measured by SWCH and offence-specific cognitions ascribing responsibility or enjoyment to the offender's victim. The SWCH subscales appeared to closely match two of the implicit theories hypothesized by to be related to child molestation. Sex offender treatment providers need to be aware of the relationship between underlying implicit theories and offencespecific distorted cognitions about the victim's experience.
Abstract This paper describes the inter-rater reliability of the Structured Assessment of Risk an... more Abstract This paper describes the inter-rater reliability of the Structured Assessment of Risk and Need (SARN, formerly known as Structured Risk Assessment). The SARN is a structured framework for identifying sexual offenders' dynamic risk factors. The SARN comprises 16 dynamic ...
HM Prison Service Sex Offender Treatment Programme (SOTP) has been running since 1992. Despite th... more HM Prison Service Sex Offender Treatment Programme (SOTP) has been running since 1992. Despite the collection of standardised psychometric data, no qualitative data to ascertain sexual offenders’ treatment experiences within HM Prison Service have been gathered to date. This study evaluates participants’ experiences of SOTP using qualitative and quantitative methods. A semi-structured interview was administered to 46 adult male sexual offenders. The interviews were transcribed and subject to grounded theory analysis. Treatment Summary Documents and psychometric measures were also interrogated to examine the relationship between subjective treatment experiences and other progress assessment. The results indicate that participants’ experiences of the Core Programme were multidimensional; they experienced both positive and negative affects during treatment, and learning points were drawn from every treatment ‘block’. Findings support the recommendation of using qualitative exploration, and triangulating methods of programme efficacy. The results are discussed in terms of implications for the improvement of future programmes for sexual offenders.
... 108, Cleland House, Page Street, London, SW1P 4LN; e-mail: helen.wakeling@hmps ... Wilson als... more ... 108, Cleland House, Page Street, London, SW1P 4LN; e-mail: helen.wakeling@hmps ... Wilson also determined that homosexual pedophiles were most likely to indicate a preference ... The Emotional Congruence With Children scale (ECWC; Beckett, 1987) has perhaps been the ...
Sexual Abuse-a Journal of Research and Treatment, 2004
Relapse prevention (RP) plays a major role in the vast number of treatment programs for sexual of... more Relapse prevention (RP) plays a major role in the vast number of treatment programs for sexual offenders. However, despite its widespread application, questions have been raised regarding the uncritical adoption of the approach (R. K. Hanson, 1996). More specifically, the way in which it is presented to sexual offenders has been criticized for being unhelpfully negative in focus (Mann, 2000) and it has been suggested that treatment should adopt a broader focus on improving quality of life (T. Ward and C. A. Stewart, 2003), with the expectation that recidivism would reduce as a side-effect. The current study evaluated two orientations to relapse prevention, comparing a deliberately positively-focused orientation, focusing on creating a “good life,” to the more traditional approach that focuses on avoiding and controlling risk factors. Twenty-four participants completed an approach-focused RP intervention and 23 completed an avoidance-focused RP intervention. Results indicated that participants who completed the approach-focused intervention had a greater engagement in treatment as measured by homework compliance and willingness to disclose lapses. Furthermore, participants within the approach-focused intervention were rated by therapist to be more genuinely motivated to live life without offending by the end of treatment. However, differences between the groups in terms of self-esteem change following treatment were not very marked. These results are discussed in terms of their implications for treatment delivery.
Page 1. This article was downloaded by: [ ] On: 07 July 2011, At: 07:00 Publisher: Routledge Info... more Page 1. This article was downloaded by: [ ] On: 07 July 2011, At: 07:00 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Psychology, Crime & Law ...
ABSTRACT Motivational Interviewing (Miller, 1983; Miller and Rollnick, 1991) is an approach origi... more ABSTRACT Motivational Interviewing (Miller, 1983; Miller and Rollnick, 1991) is an approach originally developed for problem drinkers but assumed to have wider applications. This paper describes one such application through the case of Mr D, an imprisoned sex offender who was identified under the procedures of the Prison Service Sex Offender Treatment Programme. Mr D was convicted of rape but did not believe that he had committed an offence, although he admitted having had sexual intercourse with the complainant. A full assessment of his offending suggested that he had made cognitive and behavioural errors prior to the act of intercourse and so motivational interviewing was employed to help him decide whether or not to participate in the treatment programme. As a result he decided that he would attend a treatment group. The case study concludes with a brief description of his progress whilst in the group and summarizes the results of the follow-up assessment. The application of motivational interviewing to this particular client group is discussed.
Sexual Abuse-a Journal of Research and Treatment, 2005
This paper describes an evaluation of different uses of roleplay to enhance victim-specific empat... more This paper describes an evaluation of different uses of roleplay to enhance victim-specific empathy in sexual offenders. Thirty-three men participated in a treatment program involving offence re-enactment as described by Pithers (1994) and Mann, Daniels, and Marshall (2002). A matched group of 33 men participated in a treatment program that was identical in all respects except that they did not complete offence re-enactments. Instead, they completed extra roleplays designed to enhance empathy for the short and long-term consequences for their victim(s). Results indicated that completing an offence re-enactment led to slightly better ability to identify some types of negative consequences for abuse victims, and identify cognitive distortions about their offending and women per se. Rapists in particular seemed more likely to benefit from offence re-enactment. The non-re-enactment group showed better understanding of lifestyle disruption effects for sexual abuse victims. The differences between the groups were not very marked, and the study only involved measures of cognitive empathy. Given the concerns about offence re-enactment expressed by Pithers (1997), this procedure should be used with caution and future investigations should test specifically for possible signs of damage caused by the procedure.
: scales here measured the offender's readiness to admit to sexual fantasising and manipulations ... more : scales here measured the offender's readiness to admit to sexual fantasising and manipulations of his victim(s); readiness to deny his offending behaviours and the harm done to victims; level of deviant and non-deviant sexual drives and interests. P r o -o ffen din g attitudes: scales here measured distorted thoughts about sexual contact with ch i l d ren and their sexuality (cognitive distortions); level of denial of the impact which sexual abuse has on the offender's own victim (victim distortions); justifications used to excuse the offender's sexual deviance.
... Stephen D. Webster 1 ,; Ruth E. Mann 1,* ,; David Thornton 2 ,; Helen C. Wakeling 1. ... Thor... more ... Stephen D. Webster 1 ,; Ruth E. Mann 1,* ,; David Thornton 2 ,; Helen C. Wakeling 1. ... Thornton, the Short Self-Esteem Scale (SSES) has been used in two important British studies of the effectiveness of community and custodial sex offender programmes (Beckett, Beech, Fisher, & ...
Theories of offender motivation for treatment have proposed that external factors may be as impor... more Theories of offender motivation for treatment have proposed that external factors may be as important as internal factors in creating a state of readiness for treatment. This paper reports an exploratory study of the barriers to treatment for incarcerated sexual offenders. Qualitative and quantitative analysis of interview and questionnaire data from treatment refusers and accepters suggested that refusers were less
Abstract: A two-dimensional risk assessment system for sexual offenders was created that can clas... more Abstract: A two-dimensional risk assessment system for sexual offenders was created that can classify them for risk of sexual recidivism, risk of nonsexual violent recidivism, and the composite risk of reconviction for sexual or nonsexual assaults. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses of separate follow-up samples were used for cross-validation. The system is easier to score than Static-99, and substantially easier to score than the VRAG or SORAG, while yielding comparable predictive accuracy in cross-validation samples with follow-ups from 2 years to 19 years. ROC AUC coefficients between .74 and .81 were found for the different scales and samples.
: scales here measured the offender's readiness to admit to sexual fantasising and manipulations ... more : scales here measured the offender's readiness to admit to sexual fantasising and manipulations of his victim(s); readiness to deny his offending behaviours and the harm done to victims; level of deviant and non-deviant sexual drives and interests. P r o -o ffen din g attitudes: scales here measured distorted thoughts about sexual contact with ch i l d ren and their sexuality (cognitive distortions); level of denial of the impact which sexual abuse has on the offender's own victim (victim distortions); justifications used to excuse the offender's sexual deviance.
In this article, the authors draw on literatures outside sexual offending and make suggestions fo... more In this article, the authors draw on literatures outside sexual offending and make suggestions for working more positively and constructively with these offenders. Although the management of risk is a necessary feature of treatment, it needs to occur in conjunction with a strength-based approach. An exclusive focus on risk can lead to overly confrontational therapeutic encounters, a lack of rapport between offenders and clinicians, and fragmented and mechanistic treatment delivery. The authors suggest that the goals of sexual offender treatment should be the attainment of good lives, which is achieved by enhancing hope, increasing self-esteem, developing approach goals, and working collaboratively with the offenders. Examples are provided of how these targets may be met. When this is done within a therapeutic context where the treatment providers display empathy and warmth and are rewarding and directive, the authors suggest that treatment effects will be maximized.
Sexual Abuse-a Journal of Research and Treatment, 2001
This paper describes an approach to treatment for sexual offenders who are in categorical denial.... more This paper describes an approach to treatment for sexual offenders who are in categorical denial. Other efforts to have them, at least partially, admit responsibility had failed and they were to be released from prison without any treatment. Evidence that suggests denial is not predictive of risk and that treatment may reduce the risk of these offenders is reviewed. Essentially, this paper offers a possible approach to dealing with these intractable deniers which, it is suggested, is better than not trying to modify their risk, and that may prove to be effective
The risk principle of offender rehabilitation states that the intensity of treatment should be pr... more The risk principle of offender rehabilitation states that the intensity of treatment should be proportional to the offender's risk. This article reviews the evidence base for the risk principle with sexual offenders, as well as identifying other arguments, in order to determine whether low-risk sexual offenders need treatment, and of what type and magnitude. We conclude that low-risk sexual offenders probably need no more than 100 hours of offence-focused treatment given their very low reconviction rates. Low-risk sexual offenders should be kept separate from higher-risk offenders, and treatment should not interfere with other activities that will enable a non-offending lifestyle.
The identification of offence-related cognition is a major target of most cognitive Ábehavioural ... more The identification of offence-related cognition is a major target of most cognitive Ábehavioural treatment programmes for sexual offenders, and a number of measures are available for this purpose. This study assessed the psychometric properties of a brief measure of beliefs that support and justify child sexual abuse: the Sex With Children (SWCH) scale. Factor analysis revealed two distinct types of belief: that sex with children is harmless, and that children actively provoke adults into having sex with them. The SWCH was also found to have good internal consistency, test Áretest reliability and concurrent validity. Child molesters scored significantly more highly on the SWCH than did rapists or non-offenders, and high-risk child molesters reported more entrenched offence-supportive beliefs than lower risk child molesters. A relationship was also observed between general offence-supportive beliefs as measured by SWCH and offence-specific cognitions ascribing responsibility or enjoyment to the offender's victim. The SWCH subscales appeared to closely match two of the implicit theories hypothesized by to be related to child molestation. Sex offender treatment providers need to be aware of the relationship between underlying implicit theories and offencespecific distorted cognitions about the victim's experience.
Abstract This paper describes the inter-rater reliability of the Structured Assessment of Risk an... more Abstract This paper describes the inter-rater reliability of the Structured Assessment of Risk and Need (SARN, formerly known as Structured Risk Assessment). The SARN is a structured framework for identifying sexual offenders' dynamic risk factors. The SARN comprises 16 dynamic ...
HM Prison Service Sex Offender Treatment Programme (SOTP) has been running since 1992. Despite th... more HM Prison Service Sex Offender Treatment Programme (SOTP) has been running since 1992. Despite the collection of standardised psychometric data, no qualitative data to ascertain sexual offenders’ treatment experiences within HM Prison Service have been gathered to date. This study evaluates participants’ experiences of SOTP using qualitative and quantitative methods. A semi-structured interview was administered to 46 adult male sexual offenders. The interviews were transcribed and subject to grounded theory analysis. Treatment Summary Documents and psychometric measures were also interrogated to examine the relationship between subjective treatment experiences and other progress assessment. The results indicate that participants’ experiences of the Core Programme were multidimensional; they experienced both positive and negative affects during treatment, and learning points were drawn from every treatment ‘block’. Findings support the recommendation of using qualitative exploration, and triangulating methods of programme efficacy. The results are discussed in terms of implications for the improvement of future programmes for sexual offenders.
... 108, Cleland House, Page Street, London, SW1P 4LN; e-mail: helen.wakeling@hmps ... Wilson als... more ... 108, Cleland House, Page Street, London, SW1P 4LN; e-mail: helen.wakeling@hmps ... Wilson also determined that homosexual pedophiles were most likely to indicate a preference ... The Emotional Congruence With Children scale (ECWC; Beckett, 1987) has perhaps been the ...
Sexual Abuse-a Journal of Research and Treatment, 2004
Relapse prevention (RP) plays a major role in the vast number of treatment programs for sexual of... more Relapse prevention (RP) plays a major role in the vast number of treatment programs for sexual offenders. However, despite its widespread application, questions have been raised regarding the uncritical adoption of the approach (R. K. Hanson, 1996). More specifically, the way in which it is presented to sexual offenders has been criticized for being unhelpfully negative in focus (Mann, 2000) and it has been suggested that treatment should adopt a broader focus on improving quality of life (T. Ward and C. A. Stewart, 2003), with the expectation that recidivism would reduce as a side-effect. The current study evaluated two orientations to relapse prevention, comparing a deliberately positively-focused orientation, focusing on creating a “good life,” to the more traditional approach that focuses on avoiding and controlling risk factors. Twenty-four participants completed an approach-focused RP intervention and 23 completed an avoidance-focused RP intervention. Results indicated that participants who completed the approach-focused intervention had a greater engagement in treatment as measured by homework compliance and willingness to disclose lapses. Furthermore, participants within the approach-focused intervention were rated by therapist to be more genuinely motivated to live life without offending by the end of treatment. However, differences between the groups in terms of self-esteem change following treatment were not very marked. These results are discussed in terms of their implications for treatment delivery.
Page 1. This article was downloaded by: [ ] On: 07 July 2011, At: 07:00 Publisher: Routledge Info... more Page 1. This article was downloaded by: [ ] On: 07 July 2011, At: 07:00 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Psychology, Crime & Law ...
ABSTRACT Motivational Interviewing (Miller, 1983; Miller and Rollnick, 1991) is an approach origi... more ABSTRACT Motivational Interviewing (Miller, 1983; Miller and Rollnick, 1991) is an approach originally developed for problem drinkers but assumed to have wider applications. This paper describes one such application through the case of Mr D, an imprisoned sex offender who was identified under the procedures of the Prison Service Sex Offender Treatment Programme. Mr D was convicted of rape but did not believe that he had committed an offence, although he admitted having had sexual intercourse with the complainant. A full assessment of his offending suggested that he had made cognitive and behavioural errors prior to the act of intercourse and so motivational interviewing was employed to help him decide whether or not to participate in the treatment programme. As a result he decided that he would attend a treatment group. The case study concludes with a brief description of his progress whilst in the group and summarizes the results of the follow-up assessment. The application of motivational interviewing to this particular client group is discussed.
Sexual Abuse-a Journal of Research and Treatment, 2005
This paper describes an evaluation of different uses of roleplay to enhance victim-specific empat... more This paper describes an evaluation of different uses of roleplay to enhance victim-specific empathy in sexual offenders. Thirty-three men participated in a treatment program involving offence re-enactment as described by Pithers (1994) and Mann, Daniels, and Marshall (2002). A matched group of 33 men participated in a treatment program that was identical in all respects except that they did not complete offence re-enactments. Instead, they completed extra roleplays designed to enhance empathy for the short and long-term consequences for their victim(s). Results indicated that completing an offence re-enactment led to slightly better ability to identify some types of negative consequences for abuse victims, and identify cognitive distortions about their offending and women per se. Rapists in particular seemed more likely to benefit from offence re-enactment. The non-re-enactment group showed better understanding of lifestyle disruption effects for sexual abuse victims. The differences between the groups were not very marked, and the study only involved measures of cognitive empathy. Given the concerns about offence re-enactment expressed by Pithers (1997), this procedure should be used with caution and future investigations should test specifically for possible signs of damage caused by the procedure.
: scales here measured the offender's readiness to admit to sexual fantasising and manipulations ... more : scales here measured the offender's readiness to admit to sexual fantasising and manipulations of his victim(s); readiness to deny his offending behaviours and the harm done to victims; level of deviant and non-deviant sexual drives and interests. P r o -o ffen din g attitudes: scales here measured distorted thoughts about sexual contact with ch i l d ren and their sexuality (cognitive distortions); level of denial of the impact which sexual abuse has on the offender's own victim (victim distortions); justifications used to excuse the offender's sexual deviance.
... Stephen D. Webster 1 ,; Ruth E. Mann 1,* ,; David Thornton 2 ,; Helen C. Wakeling 1. ... Thor... more ... Stephen D. Webster 1 ,; Ruth E. Mann 1,* ,; David Thornton 2 ,; Helen C. Wakeling 1. ... Thornton, the Short Self-Esteem Scale (SSES) has been used in two important British studies of the effectiveness of community and custodial sex offender programmes (Beckett, Beech, Fisher, & ...
Theories of offender motivation for treatment have proposed that external factors may be as impor... more Theories of offender motivation for treatment have proposed that external factors may be as important as internal factors in creating a state of readiness for treatment. This paper reports an exploratory study of the barriers to treatment for incarcerated sexual offenders. Qualitative and quantitative analysis of interview and questionnaire data from treatment refusers and accepters suggested that refusers were less
Abstract: A two-dimensional risk assessment system for sexual offenders was created that can clas... more Abstract: A two-dimensional risk assessment system for sexual offenders was created that can classify them for risk of sexual recidivism, risk of nonsexual violent recidivism, and the composite risk of reconviction for sexual or nonsexual assaults. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses of separate follow-up samples were used for cross-validation. The system is easier to score than Static-99, and substantially easier to score than the VRAG or SORAG, while yielding comparable predictive accuracy in cross-validation samples with follow-ups from 2 years to 19 years. ROC AUC coefficients between .74 and .81 were found for the different scales and samples.
: scales here measured the offender's readiness to admit to sexual fantasising and manipulations ... more : scales here measured the offender's readiness to admit to sexual fantasising and manipulations of his victim(s); readiness to deny his offending behaviours and the harm done to victims; level of deviant and non-deviant sexual drives and interests. P r o -o ffen din g attitudes: scales here measured distorted thoughts about sexual contact with ch i l d ren and their sexuality (cognitive distortions); level of denial of the impact which sexual abuse has on the offender's own victim (victim distortions); justifications used to excuse the offender's sexual deviance.
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