Audit Finds Improvements in N.H.'s Sex Offender Program for Inmates — But More Work Remains

See also: Few sex offenders released from prison on time, audit finds Staff juggles administration of therapy program! Effectively pushing clients past eligibility & out dates. Additionally see July Report: State lies about the huge backlog in the sex offender treatment program by Chris Dornin

11-18-16 New Hampshire:

A state audit finds that the Department of Corrections has successfully cut the time it takes inmates to complete sex offender treatment but there's still more work to do.

For those who’ve committed a sex crime, the state requires inmates to complete a six- to 18-month treatment program before they can seek parole. That population is currently at 654 but at times can be as high as 800 people.

Three years ago, only 16 percent of enrollees completed the program before their potential release date. Friday’s audit shows that number has risen to 88 percent.

Helen Hanks, assistant commission of the Department of Corrections, says the department has been working to improve the efficiency of the program but stresses there is only so much it can control.

“The data also affirmed for us what we have been testifying and sharing is that often times it’s the own individuals’ behavior in our institutions that interferes with enrolling them in a timely manner or even assessing them in a timely manner,” Hanks told lawmakers Friday.

The audit also found that the sex offender treatment program is following recommended practices but suggests the department come up with ways of measuring the program's effectiveness.

The last time the DOC tracked the recidivism rate of N.H. sex offenders was six years ago. Hanks says they'll immediately start monitoring this again. ..Source.. by Paige Sutherland

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Few sex offenders released from prison on time, audit finds

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Most sexual offenders in the state's prison aren't released when they've served their minimum sentences because they haven't completed a mandatory treatment program.

That's the finding of an audit released Friday on the Department of Corrections' sexual offender treatment program.

Men in the state prison for sexual offenses are required to undergo the treatment plan before seeking parole. Prison reform advocates have argued delays in the program unfairly keep people in prison and cost the state unnecessary money. The audit found delays are caused by inmate behavior and a failure to enroll people in treatment in a timely manner.

Roughly 750 men were in the state prison system for sexually related offenses as of May. Just 14 percent of prisoners included in the audit were released upon reaching their minimum sentences.

"Prisoners are entitled to ask for parole when the minimum sentence is two-thirds expired, and sex offenders never get to take advantage of that," said Chris Dornin, the founder of New Hampshire's Citizens for Criminal Justice Reform.

But lawmakers who heard the audit presentation said it should've focused more on the program's effectiveness at stopping people from re-offending after they leave prison. The audit found the program has no system to measure whether the program is reducing recidivism rates.

"All we're getting here is did they meet the timeline," Republican Rep. Neal Kurk said. "From a legislative point of view that's not the end goal."

Helen Hanks, assistant corrections commissioner, said the department will soon have better data because it is implementing an electronic records system.

The audit found New Hampshire has fewer staff members dedicated to the program than neighboring states with fewer offenders. New Hampshire has five full-time positions dedicated to the program for about 750 people, and not all positions are filled. Vermont, by contrast, has nine employees for 500 inmates.

Data in the audit show the program is getting better at putting inmates into treatment on time. The goal is to assess inmates to see what type of treatment they need 24 months before they are eligible for parole. In fiscal year 2016, 88 percent of inmates were assessed in that timeframe, up from just 16 percent in the three years before the audit began. But only 50 percent of eligible inmates were enrolled in treatment 18 months before reaching their minimum sentences.

Some inmates aren't enrolled on time or are kicked out halfway through the program because of disciplinary issues or refusing to be treated. by AP

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TX- Dallas County needs treatment program for young female sex offenders

4-10-2009 Texas:

Dallas County's juvenile department is seeing an alarming crime trend among young girls.

The number of misdemeanors committed last year by girls was up 73 percent since 1995. Assaults, for example, were up 47 percent. Disorderly conduct cases more than doubled.

Surprisingly, boys are becoming better behaved. Criminal cases filed against them during the same period were down in just about every category, according to juvenile department stats.

While girls are committing fewer felonies overall, the number of sexual assaults is creeping upward. The numbers, however, are not very big. Five girls entered the juvenile system in 2000 for sex offenses. That number peaked in 2006 at 11. It was down to six last year.

Still, the county is currently in need of a sex offender treatment program for girls.

The county had contracted with Totally Fit Ministries Inc. out of Harris County this fiscal year for residential sex offender treatment for girls. But the county suspended the contract in February after the state began investigating abuse allegations at the facility.

The juvenile department has therefore recommended that county commissioners hire 4M Youth Services Inc., out of Milam County, to provide this service for girls.

No action has yet been taken. ..News Source.. by Kevin Krause, Reporter

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IN- How effective is sex offender treatment?

Clearly the prison system, if it evaluates inmates beforehand, is partly at fault in only providing a few months of treatment in this case. Study after study shows treatment is effective in reducing recidivism, but each person's history should guide the length of treatment and here that was not the case. Society is safer with effective treatment programs in prison, before the person is released and followup care after release while on parole.

3-3-2009 Indiana:

A convicted sex offender who evaded police last week after the abduction of a South Bend woman received sex offender treatment only a few months before his release from prison after 25 years of incarceration, records indicate.

Michael Lloyd Lindsey was arrested Sunday by Newton County, Ind., police following a manhunt that began after the abduction of the woman Feb. 24 and two other attempted abductions in which Lindsey was a suspect. He also was wanted by Jasper County police for attempted carjacking and intimidation.

The 48-year-old South Bend resident has a history of violent sexual crimes and spent 25 years behind bars after he was found guilty of rape and child molesting in Elkhart County.

But records kept by the Indiana Sex Offender Management and Monitoring Program indicate Lindsey consented to sex offender treatment only in October 2007. He was released in July.

Treatment in prison

To encourage sex offenders serving time in prison to submit to such treatment, Indiana enacted a statute in 2006 to prohibit them from receiving time cuts in their sentences unless they participated in treatment. Until then, they had few incentives to do so.

Before 1999, the Indiana Department of Correction did not provide sex offender treatment in an organized way, a spokesman there said.

In prison, Lindsey received cognitive-behavioral treatment in group sessions, records indicate. Indiana provides psychoeducational treatment to sex offenders in prison, typically in the last three years of incarceration, said Jeannine Curtis, a licensed clinical social worker and local therapist.

Lindsey's risk for offending again was assessed as "medium" before his release, records indicate. He also was labeled a "sex predator" on the Indiana Sheriffs' Sex and Violent Offender Registry.

But was the treatment he receive in an Indiana prison effective? Were there any other alternatives?

Dr. Adam Deming, a psychologist and director of the Indiana Sex Offender Management and Monitoring Program, said treatment of sex offenders has proven effective in reducing recidivism rates.

In 2007, only 2.43 percent of sex offenders released from prison in 2004 had committed another sex offense, he said, citing an Indiana DOC study. Similarly, in 2006, only 3.68 percent of sex offenders released in 1999 had committed another sex crime.

Contrary to public perception, Deming said, recidivism among sex offenders is "much lower" than in the non-sex offender population.

"People fear sex offenders more perhaps because the nature of the crime is very personal, particularly against children," he said.

But if treatment doesn't solve the problem, how does society protect itself from violent sexual predators like Lindsey?

Course of action

About 20 states have violent predator laws that commit high-risk sex offenders to civil custody for indefinite periods of time, Deming said.

"But I don't know if that's the answer either," he added. "We have to balance that with a person's civil rights and liberties."

Curtis said Indiana does not have civil commitment laws to keep dangerous sex offenders locked up.

"Until such a time," she said, "society has to deal with the reality that such offenders eventually are released back into the community."

The way to go could be to invest more money in sex offender treatment, Deming said. Curtis said that while longer prison sentences could be appropriate for some sex offenders, effective community management must include sex offense-specific treatment, polygraphs and probation/parole supervision.

Curtis and Deming agreed that castration is not a solution to the problem.

"While a popular topic for some," Curtis said, "(castration) only serves to remove one means by which men sexually offend. It does not block the many other ways one can sexually abuse, nor does it reduce the drive behind sexually abusive behavior."

A leading expert on sexual disorders, Dr. Fred Berlin, founder of the Sexual Disorders Clinic at Johns Hopkins University, said medicating some sex offenders to lower their levels of testosterone has proven effective in preventing them from offending again.

Berlin said there is a subgroup of sex offenders that are driven by abnormal sexual cravings and can be successfully medicated.

"The biological approach gets to the cravings themselves, and in more serious cases ought to be considered," he said. "If someone's hungry for sex in a dangerous way, then lowering the intensity of that hunger can make it easier to control themselves. And it can reduce recidivism dramatically." ..News Source.. by Staff writer Pablo Ros

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PA- Franklin County Jail adds treatment for sex crimes

12-13-2008 Pennsylvania:

FRANKLIN COUNTY -- The increasing number of sex offenders landing in the Franklin County Jail and concern for public safety has led jail administrators to develop an adult sex offender treatment program for inmates.

The program goes into effect next week.

Warden John Wetzel explained the program Thursday at a meeting of the county's Criminal Justice Advisory Board.

"The number of sex offenders we've gotten at the jail has gone up substantially in the past two years," Wetzel said.

There are currently 16 local inmates who are unsentenced or accused sex offenders, some of them who have not yet been tried, according to Wetzel.

He said there are five inmates who have been ordered to undergo sex offender treatment at the jail, and five who fall under Megan's Law.

Wetzel said jail psychologist Frank Diprima and therapist Justin Lensbower will be in charge of the treatment program. The first thing they will do is assess each inmate.

Wetzel said that assessment will include:

- A psycho-sexual evaluation based on Abel's Assessment of Sexual Interest;

- Personal interview;

- Risk assessment, including the type of risk the offender poses to the community and what situations would most likely trigger a repeat crime;

- Nature of the crime.

Following assessment, inmates will get an individualized treatment plan that will include group and individual therapy, according to Wetzel.

He said among the goals are for sex offenders to learn to act appropriately, understand the impact of their crime on the victim; identify and change their sexually deviant behavior and accept responsibility for their actions.
"We also want to provide a seamless transition into treatment in the community following their release," Wetzel said.

Judges and probation officers will play a part in making the project a success, according to the warden.

He said as part of the program, inmates will have to sign away confidentiality rights that would normally be part and parcel of a therapist/client relationship, so their information can be shared with others in the judicial system.

"This is a public safety issue, from both the work release and release into the community standpoint," Wetzel said. "When it comes to public safety, it wins out over confidentiality." ..News Source.. by Terry Talbert

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NY- Advocates: Imprison sex offenders; keep psychiatric services

11-25-2008 New York:

ALBANY - Mental-health advocates are asking that officials look first at trimming the state's expensive sex-offender treatment program to help during New York's fiscal crisis rather than reducing services for people with mental illness.

State law provides that sex offenders who have completed their prison or parole terms but are considered too dangerous to live in society be placed in psychiatric institutions and receive treatment. Advocates for people with psychiatric disabilities have argued that the sex offenders should be housed in prisons or with intensive supervision in the community.

"We've always maintained that it was bad public policy, that it was costly and that it was an inappropriate setting," said Glenn Liebman, CEO of the Mental Health Association of New York State.

Now, as the state's financial problems become more acute and additional cuts for mental-health care more likely, groups like the Mental Health Association want the governor and lawmakers to take a second look at how much is spent on sex offenders. There are fewer than 200 sex offenders housed in psychiatric hospitals as part of the state's $50-million-a-year sex-offender program when people whose cases are still being adjudicated are subtracted, Liebman said. That means the real cost is about $400,000 per person, with a large price tag for treatment and security staff, he said.

If they were in a correctional setting, absolutely you wouldn't need such staffing," Liebman said.

He noted that the need for mental-health services goes up when the economy is poor.

The sex-offender program costs $48 million a year, and the annual cost per bed is $225,000, said Jeffrey Gordon, a spokesman for Gov. David Paterson's Division of Budget.

The Budget Division will look at the recommendation, Gordon said. The governor is scheduled to present his 2009-10 budget proposal Dec. 16, and the administration is not commenting or speculating on what it will include, Gordon said.

"Of course we're going to be looking at the cost of reducing the program along with every other program the state administers," he said.

The number of sex offenders in mental-health facilities was 177 as of Nov. 13, with many of those in the middle of the civil commitment process, said Jill Daniels, a state Office of Mental Health spokeswoman. Of the 177, 122 were in Central New York Psychiatric Center in Marcy, Oneida County, and 44 were in St. Lawrence Psychiatric Center in Ogdensburg, St. Lawrence County. The rest were at Manhattan Psychiatric Center, she said. Most trials are in New York City, so some stay at Manhattan Psychiatric during those times.

State spending to treat sex offenders will only grow over time since many people placed in civil confinement are there for the long term, said Harvey Rosenthal, head of the New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services. It would cost the same amount of money to build a new psychiatric center every few years, he said.

"We understand that this is a time when we're looking to make economies, and accordingly we think reconfiguring how we house and treat the sex-offender group would be a way to make economies that both protects the public but doesn't unravel the mental-health system," he said.

When the state passed civil-confinement legislation for sex offenders in 2007, there was an agreement that paying for it would not take money away from mental-health services, Rosenthal said. Advocates believe that has started happening "and is on schedule to do that at an alarming rate," he said.

A number of sex offenders in the mental-health system predate the state's civil-confinement law. New York began civil commitment for sex offenders three years ago under then-Gov. George Pataki. The state's highest court found that the Pataki administration had improperly used mental-hygiene law to confine the offenders after the end of their prison terms.

Sex offenders likely don't need hospital-level care in many instances, Rosenthal said, but an intensive "community incarceration" kind of program with mandated supervision, anklets and other conditions. That kind of treatment would be cheaper and would prevent the loss of mental-health funds for people with psychiatric disabilities, he said.

Services for children and adults that are known collectively as a mental-health safety net received two rounds of cuts this year. One was 2 percent, which was included in the budget lawmakers passed in April. The second, in the summer, was a 6 percent across-the-board reduction to areas like day centers, case management, peer-support and other programs that are critical to helping people stay safe and in treatment and out of hospitals, prisons and homeless centers, Rosenthal said. The combined financial impact was an estimated $40 million to $50 million, he said. ..News Source.. by Cara Matthews • Albany Bureau

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UT- Prison rehab space is limited for sex offenders

11-21-2008 Utah:

Waiting list: Only 235 of 1,923 are enrolled in programs

Legislators on Wednesday heard a familiar message about sex offenders in Utah prisons: As their numbers continue to rise, so does the waiting list for treatment behind bars.

Members of the Judiciary Interim Committee reviewed a report presented by the Utah Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice and Utah Department of Corrections showing a growing number of inmates are in need of the prison's sex offender treatment program.

The total number of sex offenders in prison doubled from August 1996 to August 2008, said Chris Mitchell, director of research for CCJJ, and Michael Robinson, a supervising therapist for corrections' Sex Offender Therapy Program.

Sex offenders make up about 30 percent of the total inmate population in prison, according to the report. But of 1,923 sex offenders who were incarcerated in August, only 235 were in treatment. That's because the prison's resources struggle to keep pace with demand, Robinson said.

Bolstering funding for sex offender programs in prison would allow staff to increase the number of inmates who receive treatment, according to the report.

Receiving sex offender treatment in prison is linked to reducing repeat offenses, the report said, and offenders' participation in treatment is an example to show the Board of Pardons and Parole they have made strides toward rehabilitation and should be released.

The annual report to legislators about Utah sex offenders started during the 1996 legislative session, when lawmakers appropriated $410,000 in new funding for sex offender treatment programs. That was the last time lawmakers allocated specific funds for sex offender treatment.

Mitchell said Thursday's report mirrors data presented to the Legislature in recent years and is a reminder to lawmakers to invest in rehabilitating more offenders. ..News Source.. by Salt Lake Tribune

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VT- Prison Officials Stand by Sex Offender Treatment

The stark reality is, no matter what the treatment even for cancer or heart disease, it can return at some point in the future. Treatment, for cancer or sex offending, is a management program with a goal of lessening the chance for re-occurrence. Never does treatment, mind or body, give us an absolute guarantee that the condition will never re-occur, that is reality.

7-25-2008 Vermont:

Prison officials are standing by Vermont's sex offender treatment despite one of its graduate's suspected involvement in the murder of a 12-year-old girl. Officials say the program comes with no guarantees, but they say it dramatically reduces the risk of re-offense. And the Vermont Corrections Department says its programs have become a model for other states because they are so successful.

"It makes us safer than not doing it. It doesn't guarantee total safety," says Vt. Corrections Commissioner Rob Hofmann.

Hofmann says studies show that sex offenders are less likely to re-offend if they complete the state's sex offender treatment program.

About 400 of Vermont's 2,000 convicts-- about 20 percent-- are doing time for a sex crime conviction. Most will complete sex offender treatment. The great majority of the graduates will not re-offend, unlike Michael Jacques.

He completed the treatment program and was called a model prisoner by the department and released from probation in 2006 after the department categorized him as a model prisoner.

Until 12-year-old niece Brooke Bennett was kidnapped and murdered last month-- and he's the prime suspect. The commissioner says the program should not be judged by this one failure.

"Does it succeed in all cases? And make all of these people who come to us impaired and violent and criminal and make them all model citizens? No, and I think that's unrealistic," says Hofmann.

The commissioner says there have been three major changes in the treatment since Jacques completed the program in 2000.

In the late 1990s the program was re-designed to match length and intensity of treatment to the severity of the offense.

Second, the department adopted what it calls state-of-the-science testing methods to better assess the risk of re-offense.

Third, convicted sex offenders are now subject to random lie detector testing to determine if they are engaging in high-risk behavior such as viewing pornography or hanging around kids.

"The program is effective at reducing the risk to re-offend and it is effective at helping to make our community safer. It is not a total assurance that some deviant will not relapse. That's just one of the terrible realities of the criminals that we deal with," says Hofmann. ..News Source.. by Brian Joyce - WCAX News

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VT- Deadlock continues over special legislative session

Sadly, the Governor is blind to the fact that, his solution is not a solution to the problem being WHY was the offender who killed the girl released? The Governor merely wants to punish newer sex offenders more, and follow more tightly former offenders, but never addresses, when those who are sent to prison, how do they get out if they have not been reformed, a parole board issue.

7-21-2008 Vermont:

(Host) Legislative leaders and Governor Jim Douglas remain at odds over a special legislative session to address sex offender laws.

The two sides have been deadlocked for weeks, and today the political rhetoric grew more heated.

Vermont Public Radio's John Dillon reports:

(Dillon) The back drop of the debate is the kidnapping and murder of Brook Bennett from Braintree. Her uncle, Michael Jacques, is a convicted sex offender who has been charged with her kidnapping.

Douglas wants lawmakers to quickly agree to his proposals to toughen laws on sex offenders before he calls them back to Montpelier.

But legislative leaders emerged from a closed door meeting with the governor and said they could not agree to his conditions.

Windham Democrat Peter Shumlin is the senate president.

(Shumlin) The fact of the matter remains than none of the governor's recommendation for a legislative session would have save Brooke Bennett's life. But we want to focus more broadly on the question what could we do to ensure that this never happens again.

(Dillon) The governor wants to have longer mandatory minimum sentences for those convicted of child sexual assault. He wants to expand the sex offender registry, and he wants a law that would allow the state to confine someone after they have served their sentence if they haven't successfully completed sex offender treatment.

Lawmakers say they will consider these ideas. But they've also scheduled hearings by the Senate Judicicary Committee to examine why the corrections department recommended that Michael Jacques be released from probation seven years before his sentence was complete.

(Shumlin) Why was this guy on the streets? We had him in custody? We had control of this man. Why'd we let him out? Why are we lettings others out?

(Dillon) Douglas said he was disappointed the lawmakers did not agree to his proposal. He said his proposals - if passed - would protect children in Vermont.

(Douglas) These legislators want to put process ahead of progress. They want to impose some kind of delay and lengthy hearing schedule when we have families and communities that need protection.

(Dillon) A petition drive circulating around Vermont is calling on lawmakers to pass the governor's proposals. Much of the debate has centered on Jessica's Law, which would impose a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years for those convicted of child sexual assault.

Douglas said public outcry could force lawmakers to respond.

(Douglas) So I think legislators are going to hear that their constituents want us to take action. They understand, better perhaps than their elected representatives, how urgent this is.

(Dillon) The Senate Judiciary Committee will begin its comprehensive review in August with the first of six hearings.

For VPR News, I'm John Dillon in Montpelier. ..News Source.. by John Dillon

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AK- Civil suit best route to sex-offender help, court says

7-19-2008 Alaska:

TREATMENT IN PRISON: Convicts challenged Murkowski program cuts.

Judges in criminal cases cannot order the Department of Corrections to provide treatment for sex offenders in prison, the state Court of Appeals ruled Friday.

In a case brought by the Alaska Civil Liberties Union and the Alaska Public Defender, the criminal appeals court acknowledged that prisoners have a right to rehabilitative treatment, guaranteed by the Alaska Constitution.

But a challenge to the department's refusal to provide such treatment is a broad policy question that should not be decided case by case in a criminal context, the court said.

The proper and efficient forum is a civil class-action suit, the decision issued Friday says.

The case, consolidating claims from three unrelated defendants, was filed after the Murkowski administration eliminated nearly all treatment programs in Alaska prisons, focusing instead on post-release monitoring.

In all three cases, each involving a man convicted of sexual abuse of a minor, a Superior Court judge added to his prison sentence an order that Corrections provide "meaningful sex offender treatment."

In the years since the appeals were filed, a new governor has taken office. Different people are setting policy for Alaska's prisons. With the change in administration has come a new attitude toward rehabilitation.

Current Corrections Commissioner Joe Schmidt said Friday that no one has to sue him to convince him sex offenders need treatment while they're locked up, and after.

"Doing nothing won't work," Schmidt said. "We know that to be a fact."

A post-release monitoring program is in effect, he said. It includes close supervision and lie detector testing. But there's no money for in-custody programs.

In her most recent budget, Gov. Sarah Palin included money to restart in-prison treatment, but the money for a sex offender program was taken out by the Legislature, Schmidt said.

"We asked for it this year. We are likely to ask for it next year," he said.

Jason Brandeis, staff attorney for the AkCLU, said his agency is willing to wait and see what Schmidt can accomplish before embarking on a class-action suit on behalf of untreated prisoners.
The right to rehabilitation is unique and important, Brandeis said Friday. "When the previous administration cut out treatment, it raised a lot of red flags."

Brandeis said he is "curious to see how the Legislature responds to the commissioner's request." ..News Source.. by SHEILA TOOMEY

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Sex offenders can be turned says expert

Paedophiles are among the easiest criminals to rehabilitate, says a Canadian expert who helped set up Christchurch's Kia Marama unit at Rolleston Prison.

5-18-2008 Canada / New Zealand:

Dr Bill Marshall, a professor of psychology and psychiatry, was in Christchurch last week to visit the sex offenders' unit he helped establish in 1989, when it was the first of its type in the world.

The general perception of men who sexually offend against children is that they will continue on this path for life.

However, Marshall, 72, said the offenders were treatable and a long-term study of 524 subjects had shown recidivism rates among treated offenders were down to 3.2 per cent.

"Sex offenders as a group are at much less risk of reoffending than any other offender - well, them and murderers, who also have a low risk,'' he said.

"Sex offenders have much lower recidivism rates than burglars or thieves, but the harm they do is a damn sight higher.''

Marshall was proud of his part in Kia Marama (And there was light...), one of two units in New Zealand, which treats 60 prisoners at a time. It was set up after a study showed that 25% of imprisoned sex offenders in this country offended again.

Marshall said the treatment involved making the offenders aware of the damage they caused, but the main motivation was self-interest.

"We say to them, `You are going to go out of here and the cost to you is you're going to be back with a worse sentence, and an integrated prison is not a good place to be','' he said.

"I just suggest that treatment is in their best interest and if they engage properly then the chances of coming back are next to zero.

"We will teach you ways to function and it will lead to a happier, better and more fulfilled life. These are big motivators. It's actually just common sense.''

Marshall fell into working with sexual offenders by accident.

The Australian-born academic moved to Canada to do his PhD and, short of money, took a part-time job at a prison.

What little work he had to do was finished quickly so he started talking to a prisoner, who did menial tasks around the prison.

It turned out he was a sex offender and Marshall started counselling him. The prisoner told others and before long Marshall was counselling all the sex offenders.

But when the prison found out he was fired.

Marshall immediately went on the attack in the media, saying it was disgraceful that there were no treatment programmes, and his new career was in motion.

Thirty-eight years later, he is still working and is now regarded as a world authority.

"I stay in the field because it's rewarding,'' he said.

"I'm doing something to make society safer. It's also a challenging and exciting field to work in.''

Among those he has advised are clergy at the Vatican. He was called in five years ago after scandals among the priesthood in the United States.

The US has found that about 4% of priests were involved in abuse and a study of them showed that they had similar backgrounds to other offenders of being physically or sexually abused themselves.

"Their backgrounds are no different,'' Marshall said.

"Most say they went into the priesthood to try to overcome their problems. They went in thinking it would cure them.''

Marshall said it would be possible to weed out those who had signs of being possible offenders, but did not know whether his advice was taken.

"Priests who offend are very narcissistic. They go in because they want to be admired and be the centre of attention,'' he said.

"They could easily screen them out at the front end.''

He has no time for the argument of members of the American Man Boy Love Association who claim they are born with a preference for children, as others prefer men or women. "No-one is born a child molester,'' he said. "Preference for children is driven by a lot of things, not the least of which is a lack of confidence in adult relationships.

"These are learned behaviours and like any learned behaviour you can unlearn it.''

South Korea and Hong Kong are both setting up programmes based on Kia Marama. ..more.. by PHIL HAMILTON

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State Sex Offender Treatment Programs: 50 - State Survey

November 1, 2000

Dear Criminal Justice Colleagues:

The Colorado Department of Corrections recently completed a survey of 50 states and the District of Columbia covering sex offender treatment and management programs. Areas surveyed included legislative influences on state programs as well as program structure within state prison systems. Many states also provided curriculum, assessment tools, standards of care and other materials used within their programs.

The survey consisted of twenty-one (21) pages containing seventy-eight (78) questions. Responses were received from forty-three (43) states and the District of Columbia, including Colorado. This vast research endeavor was conducted by Paula Wenger, a private consultant in Colorado.

The completeness of the survey report could not have been accomplished without significant effort from the responding states. I would like to thank the executive staff of each participating department of corrections for their willingness to support their program and research staff in working on the survey.

I believe you will find the nationwide scope of this document informative and useful in the further development of sex offender programs.

Sincerely, ..more.. by COLORADO DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS

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STEP 3: AN EVALUATION OF THE PRISON SEX OFFENDER TREATMENT PROGRAMME

NOVEMBER 1998 United Kingdom:

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This study was commissioned by the Home Office to evaluate the efficacy of treatment for sex offenders in Category C prisons. The work is third part of the STEP (Sex Offender Treatment Evaluation Project) research.

The first part (reported by Barker & Morgan, 1993) outlined a framework for evaluating community-based treatment. The second part (Beckett, Beech, Fisher & Fo rdham, 1994) rep o rted an evaluation of seven representative community treatment programmes run by, or for, the Probation Service. The STEP team is currently investigating the impact of the Core Programme on a sample of men who have offended against adult victims and/or are sexual murderers .

The Sex Offender Treatment Programme (SOTP) began in 1991 as part of a national strategy for the integrated assessment and treatment of sex offenders. It is currently run in 25 establishments.

The central part of the SOTP is the Core Pro gramme, whose pri m a ry purpose is to increase the offender’s motivation to avoid re-offending and to develop the self-management skills necessary to achieve this.

Comprehensive assessment is also an integral part of the programme which informs decisions about the nature of future risk of the offe n d e r. The ‘ori ginal’ ve rsion of the Core Pro gramme consisted of 35 to 40 two - h o u r sessions but was later ‘revised’ to approximately 86 sessions including additional elements such as role play.

Group-work, known to be an effective way of delivering treatment, has been central to the SOTP strategy, as by joining a group, a sex offender publicly acknowledges his need to change. Group-work also provides a context in which socially acceptable values are conveyed and ‘normal’ social interactions reinforced.

The treatment approach used is ‘cognitive-behavioural’ which research indicates to be particularly effective in the treatment of child abusers.

• The ‘cognitive’ aspect involves recognising the patterns of distorted thinking which allow the contemplation of illegal sexual acts and understanding the impact which sexually abusive behaviour has on its victims.

• The ‘behavioural’ component of treatment invo l ves reducing sexual arousal to inappropriate fantasies of forced sexual activities with children and adults.

Establishments running the SOTP are subject to accreditation by an international panel of experts. The panel assesses the quality of treatment, written outcome reports, tutor availability and management support. ..more.. by Anthony Beech, Dawn Fisher and Richard Beckett

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State Sex Offender Treatment Programs: 50 State Survey

November 2000:

Formal sex offender treatment programs are being conducted in 39 states. There were 154,518 sex offenders incarcerated in 43 states that provided statistics, among those states sex offenders represented 26% of the total prison population. Thirty four states provided the duration of their programs: 28 offer 1+ years, of those, 19 are 3-year programs, and 8 are over 3 years long. States were unanimous in using cognitive behavioral treatment with relapse prevention as the focus.

The 12-states without any prison sex offender therapy program are: Alabama, California, Delaware, Dist. of Columbia, Florida, Idaho (under consideration), Maine, Mississippi, Nevada (informal one running), Oregon, West Virginia (under review), and Wyoming (in transition). ..more.. by Mary West, EdD, DOC Deputy Director of Special Operations, -and- C. Scott Hromas, DOC Director of Research -and- Paula Wenger, Consultant, Colorado Department of Corrections

UPDATE:State Sex Offender Treatment Programs: 50 State Survey
February 2002:

Note: This is the largest (in physical size) statistical chart I have ever seen, 45" by 25" inches, it is very hard to deal with without a magnifier. Good luck, if you can read it, but there are ways, it is a very valuable update.

There are STILL 10-states without any prison sex offender therapy programs are: Alabama, California, Florida, Idaho, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, North Dakota (unknown), Oregon. ..more.. by CO-DOC

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