This is a very difficult area for information. I was able to find an
article which is referenced and quoted,in part, below.
http://www.nesl.edu/lawrev/vol30/vol30-1/Boland.htm#N_9_
"Although there have been many attempts at developing programs to
treat sex offenders, some are not practical because of constitutional
impediments. See Linda S. Densky, The Use of Depo-Provera in Treatment
of Sex Offenders: The Legal Issues, 5 J. Legal Med. 295 (1984); see
also Daniel L. Icenogle, Sentencing Male Sex Offenders to the Use of
Biological Treatments: A Constitutional Analysis, 15 J. Legal Med. 279
(1994). Some treatment programs claim to reduce the recidivism rate
but are expensive and still cannot promise success. Robert E.
Freeman-Longo & Ronald V. Wall, Changing a Lifetime of Sexual Crime;
Can Sexual Offenders Ever Alter Their Ways? Special Treatment Programs
Provide Some Hope, Psychol. Today, Mar. 1986, at 58. The authors
stated that:
Many state-sponsored treatment programs now exist tenuously, viewed
with ambivalence by a public uncertain that sex offenders `deserve'
more than the punishment of prison, concerned about the expense of
treatment (which may be greater than the cost of imprisonment without
treatment) and shocked that some of our clients, despite our best
efforts, nonetheless commit further sexual offenses.Id. at 64.
10. See Freeman-Longo & Wall, supra note 9, at 58 ("We send many of
them to jail when we can, both to protect ourselves and to punish
them. But most return to the streets--sometimes quite quickly--and
their imprisonment, far from being a deterrent, may have exacerbated
their problems."); see also James Popkin et al., Natural Born
Predators, U.S. News & World Report, Sept. 19, 1994, at 65, 73
(quoting an anonymous child molester: "`In jail you're removed from
temptation but not from your thoughts . . . . Without counseling,
you're the same person when you go to jail as when you get out.'").
11. Lita Furby et al., Sex Offender Recidivism: A Review, 105 Psychol.
Bull. 3, 27 (1989) ("Despite the relatively large number of studies on
sex offender recidivism, we know very little about it. Because of the
many practical difficulties of designing and conducting studies in
this area, methodological shortcomings are present in virtually all
studies . . . ."). See generally Vikki Henlie Sturgeon & John Taylor,
Report of a Five-Year Follow-Up Study of Mentally Disordered Sex
Offenders Released From Atascadero State Hospital in 1973, 4 Crim.
Just. J. 31, 61 (1980) ("Nearly 30% of the MDSOs [mentally disordered
sex offenders] released into free society were convicted of new crimes
during the five-year follow-up period. Approximately 15% were
convicted of new sexual crimes.").
12. Furby et al., supra note 11, at 25. After conducting a
comprehensive review of sex offender treatment programs, the authors
concluded that "we can at least say with confidence that there is no
evidence that treatment effectively reduces sex offense recidivism."
Id."
The following material may be of value:
Model Rehab program:
http://www.genesisnetwork.net/users/goffman/ba210.htm#4
There is an upcoming conference on this subject where you may be able
to write for a conference summary or such:
http://www.imhca.org/
The rate of recidivism among child molesters is quite high making the
topic and the suggestions somewhat suspect...
Good luck!!
seedy |
