Treatment of Sex Offenders: Strengths and Weaknesses in Assessment and Intervention PDF
Preview Treatment of Sex Offenders: Strengths and Weaknesses in Assessment and Intervention
D. Richard Laws · William O'Donohue Editors Treatment of Sex Off enders Strengths and Weaknesses in Assessment and Intervention Treatment of Sex Offenders D. Richard Laws • William O’Donohue Editors Treatment of Sex Offenders Strengths and Weaknesses in Assessment and Intervention Editors D. Richard Laws William O’Donohue Pacifi c Behavioural Assessment Department of Psychology Victoria , BC , Canada University of Nevada Reno , NV , USA ISBN 978-3-319-25866-9 ISBN 978-3-319-25868-3 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-25868-3 Library of Congress Control Number: 2016932375 Springer Cham Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 T his work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifi cally the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfi lms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. T he use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specifi c statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. T he publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Printed on acid-free paper S pringer International Publishing AG Switzerland is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) Pref ace It can be wise for a fi eld to take stock from time to time. What do we, as a fi eld, know? What do we not know? What are our challenges? What is controversial and what is not controversial in the fi eld? To what extent are we meeting our stakehold- ers’ expectations (and indeed what exactly are these)? How effective are our treat- ments? How well do we understand the etiology of the problems we treat? How accurate are our clinical predictions? How valid are our assessment devices? Are our diagnostic criteria clear and accurate? Do we have the right balance between prevention, treatment, and a public health perspective? Are the laws and policies involved in our fi eld reasonable or do these need improvement? These sorts of ques- tions can guide critically important decisions regarding funding priorities, research priorities, the reactions of others to our fi eld, as well as public policy. Of course any fi eld has problems but a key issue are these problems clearly recognized and is progress being made on these? All these questions deserve honest, direct, and detailed responses. The fi eld of the assessment and treatment of sexual offenders is certainly an important one. A number of diverse stakeholders are deeply concerned that this work is done well. Our failures can have devastating personal consequences. There can be a lot of emotions around these phenomena—one can see this around civil commitment, relapse rates in treatment, and even in the defi nition and diagnosis of a paraphilia. Practitioners and researchers work in a diffi cult context. There are a number of value issues that can generate considerable heat. And it is fair to say that what we want to accomplish, i.e., to prevent sexual offending, to measure a number of important dimensions regarding sexuality, to treat it with 100 % effectiveness, etc. has proven to be diffi cult tasks. C learly the fi eld has made progress. For example, Laws (2 016) provided a brief description of current best practice interventions: While there are some minor variations in the specifi cs of treatment programs across the world, any credible program will typically have the following structure, orientation, and elements. Following a comprehensive assessment period where static and dynamic risk fac- tors are assessed and overall level of risk determined, offenders are allocated into a treat- ment stream. The default ecological assumption appears to be that sexual offending is a v vi Preface product of faulty social learning and individuals commit sexual offenses because they have a number of skill defi cits that make it diffi cult for them to seek reinforcement in socially acceptable ways. Thus the primary mechanisms underpinning sexual offending are thought to be social and psychological…. Furthermore, treatment is typically based around an anal- ysis of individuals’ offending patterns and takes a cognitive-behavioral/relapse prevention perspective. The major goal is to teach sex offenders the skills to change the way they think, feel, and act and to use this knowledge to avoid or escape from future high-risk situations. There are usually discrete treatment modules devoted to the following problem areas: cog- nitive distortions, deviant sexual interests, social skill defi cits, impaired problem solving, empathy defi cits, intimacy defi cits, emotional regulation diffi culties, lifestyle imbalance, and post-offense adjustment or relapse prevention…. (T)he length of treatment programs vary but for a medium-risk or higher offender will likely be at least 9 months in duration and frequently quite a bit longer. A treatment program that follows the model described is likely to produce results with moderately motivated offenders who actively participate in the program modules. Numerous meta-analyses attest to treatment success producing mod- est rates of recidivism (cited in Laws, 2016, in press). T his edited book was designed to explicate and discuss the state of the fi eld. It will examine what we see as the key challenges. It is designed to have experts in important specialties give honest evaluations of the strengths and challenges of key dimensions of the fi eld of sexual offending. In addition, these experts were encour- aged to give their recommendations for the agenda for the future including research priorities, policy priorities, and funding priorities. It is relevant to understanding current views on best practices and thus ought to be informative to the practitioner. We can all agree that the fi eld of sexual offending is both challenging and vitally important to accomplish its tasks in the most effective way possible. Victoria, BC, Canada D. R ichard Laws Reno, NV, USA William O’Donohue Reference Laws, D. R. (2016). S ocial control of sex offenders: A cultural history. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Contents 1 Problems in the Classification and Diagnosis of the Paraphilias: What Is the Evidence That the DSM Warrants Use? .......................... 1 William O’Donohue 2 A Brief History of Sexual Offender Risk Assessment .......................... 19 Leam A. Craig and Martin Rettenberger 3 Strengths of Actuarial Risk Assessment ............................................... 45 Robert J. B. Lehmann , Yolanda Fernandez , and Leslie-Maaike Helmus 4 Risk Formulation: The New Frontier in Risk Assessment and Management ..................................................................................... 83 Caroline Logan 5 Measurement of Male Sexual Arousal and Interest Using Penile Plethysmography and Viewing Time .............................. 107 Robin J. Wilson and Michael H. Miner 6 Polygraph Testing of Sex Offenders ...................................................... 133 Don Grubin 7 The Strengths of Treatment for Sexual Offending ............................... 157 Adam J. Carter and Ruth E. Mann 8 Responsivity Dynamic Risk Factors and Offender Rehabilitation: A Comparison of the Good Lives Model and the Risk-Need Model ....................................................................... 175 Tony Ward and Gwenda M. Willis 9 Early Detection and Intervention for Adolescents at Risk for Engaging in Abusive Sexual Behavior: A Case for Prevention ............................................................................. 191 Daniel Rothman vii viii Contents 10 Community Control of Sex Offenders .................................................. 223 Jill S. Levenson 11 The Best Intentions: Flaws in Sexually Violent Predator Laws ......... 243 Kresta N. Daly 12 The Shortcomings of Sexual Offender Treatment: Are We Doing Something Wrong? ........................................................ 261 Pamela M. Yates and Drew A. Kingston 13 Desistance from Crime: Toward an Integrated Conceptualization for Intervention ....................................................... 281 Patrick Lussier 14 Changing Course: From a Victim/Offender Duality to a Public Health Perspective ............................................................... 323 Joan Tabachnick , Kieran McCartan , and Ryan Panaro Index ................................................................................................................. 343 Contributors Adam J. Carter , Ph.D. National Offender Management Service , London , UK Leam A. Craig Forensic Psychology Practice Ltd. , Sutton , Coldfi eld , UK Centre for Forensic and Criminological Psychology , University of Birmingham , Edgbaston Birmingham , UK School of Social Sciences , Birmingham City University , Birmingham , UK Kresta N. Daly Barth Daly LLP. , Sacramento , CA , USA Yolanda Fernandez , C.Psych. Correctional Service Canada|Service Correctionnel Canada, Regional Headquarters (Ont)|Bureau Régional (Ont), K ingston, O N, Canada Don Grubin , M.D., F.R.C.Psych. Institute of Neuroscience , Newcastle University, Gosforth , Newcastle upon Tyne , UK Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Trust , St Nicholas Hospital , Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne , UK Leslie-Maaike Helmus Forensic Assessment Group , Nepean , ON , Canada Drew A. Kingston , Ph.D., C.Psych. Brockville , ON , Canada Robert J. B. Lehmann Institute of Forensic Psychiatry , Charité University Medicine Berlin , Berlin , Germany Jill S. Levenson , Ph.D., L.C.S.W. Barry University , Miami Shores , FL , USA Caroline Logan G reater Manchester West Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, Prestwich Hospital , Prestwich , Manchester , UK University of Manchester, Manchester, UK Patrick Lussier , Ph.D. School of Social Work (Criminology program) , Université Laval , Pavillon Charles-De Koninck, Quebec City , QC , Canada ix
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