Discuss the various treatment strategies for sex offenders.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answers will vary. Sex offenders are typically court-mandated to attend intensive treatment specific to the type of sex offense. Sex offender treatment programs use multiple regimens that include cognitive-behavioral therapy to address thinking errors and minimization, aversive conditioning, victim empathy, and polygraph to detect deception. Aggressive rapists require an entirely different treatment approach than do more passive pedophiles. The assumption about inappropriate sexual behaviors is that there is no "cure" in the medical sense, but offenders can learn how to control their urges and replace them with appropriate behaviors.Polygraph tests have been recognized as a tool to reduce the secrecy and deceit that sex offenders typically use with their victims and supervising probation officers. Many sex offenders are motivated by gaining power over their victims in a calculating way that minimizes detection. As a result, some jurisdictions require that sex offenders, when initially placed on community supervision, submit to a baseline polygraph examination that explores previous sexual behaviors and current deviant thoughts. In one study, polygraphed sex offenders reported many more victims, far less history of being sexually abused themselves, and a much higher incidence of having offended as juveniles than did nonpolygraphed offenders.A penile plethysmograph is used as a treatment to identify the gender and ages of victims to which the sex offender is attracted. The device also tracks how the treatment is progressing and whether a different approach needs to be used. A sex offender cannot contest a penile plethysmograph as a probation or parole condition. Therapy can also be supplemented with prescribed hormones called medroxyprogesterone acetate, otherwise known as Depo Provera. Depo Provera changes the hormone levels to decrease sexual urges and increase responsiveness to treatment. These medications are also known as antiandrogens or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors because they change the hormone balance in the brain to help decrease sexual urges.There is also a "containment" approach to supervising sex offenders in the community. Because most sex offenses are planned as acts committed when opportunities arise, a containment approach is recommended. This approach requires two to four face-to-face contacts between officer and probationer per month, two probationer home and computer searches per month, thorough mental health evaluation, weekly cognitive-behavioral group therapy and individual counseling, regular staffings with the treatment provider and the polygraph examiner, and sharing of information on a regular basis between probation officers and treatment providers.