7-19-2013 Ohio:
HAMILTON, OH (FOX19) - Sex offenders don't have far to walk after checking-in with their parole officer in Butler County. Right next door is Community Behavioral Health, a nonprofit organization that has one of only 29 certified sex offender treatment programs in Ohio.
Inside, the small lobby is clean and a few clients stand around or sit in chairs. On either side of the receptionists' vestibule are doors that open into long, narrow hallways. As you walk through them, you pass door after door. Behind one of them is Stephanie Billingsley, a therapist who went to NKU, where she began looking into why prostitutes are discriminated against by police and social service agencies when they report being hit or beaten. She found she was interested and comfortable dealing with those engaged in what scientists call "sexual deviancy."
Now at CBH, she treats sex offenders.
When people in her social circle learn what she does, they're often taken aback. How could she feel empathy for someone who's committed one of society's worst crimes? But she points out, 95% of sex offenders are going to be released into the community. She sees her job as giving them the skills they need to think differently and act differently.
But does she worry they might victimize another child after they're out of her care?
"I wouldn't say (I do) anymore," Billingsley said. "I don't own their choices. So it's important that I do the best that I can do while I'm here."
Therapy for sex offenders has changed, too, points out University of Cincinnati researcher and therapist Mindy Schweitzer.
When she first began her career and treated youthful offenders, she says there was "lots of talking about their offense and not really teaching them concrete skills. So I always felt they were leaving but missing some of the core pieces."
Schweitzer and Billingsley now advocate --- and use --- a method of therapy in which the sex offender considers how the victim felt. Some are under the impression that a child "seduced" them and enjoyed the encounter.
"One offender, who was a pedophile, was very upset to learn that his actions were indeed harmful," said Billingsley. "He thought that his actions were wanted by the child victim."
In therapy, sex offenders also learn impulse control, how to build a support network, and what to do when they're feeling an emotion like loneliness. Billingsley has one client for whom loneliness is a trigger that might lead him to victimize another child. She's now gotten him to come up with a list of supportive people (including her) that he can call when he's feeling lonely as well as things he can do to get through those tough moments, including going fishing, exercising, or watching a nonviolent movie.
The UC Corrections Institute, where Schweitzer is the deputy director, is at the forefront of research into sex offenders, including whether therapy is effective for them. In 2010, Schweitzer's colleagues published a study showing that high risk sex offenders were more than twice as likely to stay out of jail if they had gone through intensive therapy in a halfway house after getting out of prison, compared to those who were immediately released into the community.
However, the same study found that low risk sex offenders were made worse by that kind of residential treatment. In fact, according to UC's research, low risk sex offenders were 27% more likely to be re-incarcerated.
"Because the high risk guys are in those programs, as well," said Schweitzer. "So we're increasing their exposure to anti-social attitudes, values, beliefs, peers --- which are some of the top risk factors."
In addition, putting them in a halfway house takes them away from the positive factors in their life: friends and family, their job, their church. Low and moderate risk sex offenders do better in non-residential therapy, like the kind Billingsley provides.
Overall, UC research has found, 17% of high and low risk sex offenders will be arrested again. That number drops to 12% if the sex offender has gone to therapy.
Numbers are one thing. But Schweitzer will tell you, she's not an academic stuck in some ivory tower. She still gets into the field, trying to implement the latest techniques. And she knows what the stakes are.
"I live in this community," she said. "I work in this community. I certainly want to keep this community safe." ..Source.. by FOX19 Digital Media Staff
July 19, 2013
Does therapy work for sex offenders?
October 14, 2010
2 firms bidding for sex offender treatment counseling
10-14-2010 Arizona:
KINGMAN — Mohave County is looking at two firms to provide treatment services for adult sex offenders.
The county’s probation department is evaluating two firms, DeLynn Lamb of Cedar City, Utah, and ABC Therapy Counseling Center of Bullhead City to provide sex offender treatment services for adults on probation who have been convicted of sex offenses.
The services include individual, group and family counseling, motivation enhancement and relapse prevention.
Currently, ABC Therapy Counseling Center has had a contract with the probation department for more than five or six years, Assistant Chief Probation Officer Elaine Grissom said.
Treatment programs are from 18 to 24 months with twice monthly sessions for sex offenders. The firm would assess an offender’s needs, provide counseling and assessment of relapse risks. The service areas would include offices in Bullhead, Kingman, Lake Havasu City and the Arizona Strip area.
The Bullhead City office includes Fort Mohave, Mohave Valley, Golden Shores and Oatman, and which has an average sex offender caseload of about 50 offenders. The Lake Havasu City area has a caseload of about 15 offenders. The Kingman area, which also includes Wikieup and Meadview, has about 75 to 85 offenders. ..Source.. by JIM SECKLER/The Daily News
October 13, 2010
PBSO Launches New Program to Manage Sex Offenders, Not Just Exile Them
10-13-2010 Florida:
In a world where residency restrictions exile convicted sex offenders to live under bridges and on park benches, a glimmer of sanity has emerged.
Working with psychology professors at Lynn University, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office has launched a new program to individually assess the threat posed by each of the 890 registered sex offenders in the county and monitor them accordingly.
Now, instead of just making sure an offender sleeps at the correct address, far from the nearest church or school, police officers will have more information about which ex-cons are most likely to commit another crime.
"Not all sex offenders are equally dangerous. Not everybody who's arrested for a sex crime is a pedophile," says Jill Levenson, an associate professor of human services at Lynn University who has treated sex offenders for years and is helping to run the program.
Levenson, a national expert on sexual violence, contends that residency restrictions alone do little to protect the public, because there's "no empirical relationship between where a sex offender lives and whether or not he re-offends," she says.
Instead, researchers with this new program will look for risk factors such as how many prior crimes an offender has committed and whether his victims were strangers. That way, sheriff's deputies can focus on monitoring the people who pose the greatest threat.
"We really think that's a promising approach to public safety," Levenson says.
Each offender will also receive an individual case management plan -- including mental health services or help looking for housing or a job.
Researchers are slated to begin assessing offenders early next year. As the two-year program, funded by a $150,000 grant from the federal Department of Justice, progresses, Levenson says they'll also research its impact.
The goal is to keep criminals from attacking again. "We are expecting that our approach will reduce re-offending," she says. ..Source.. Lisa Rab
August 13, 2010
Safety Harbor cancels sex offender's Guinness World Record event
8-13-2010 Florida:
SAFETY HARBOR — As everyone yanked support for a registered sex offender's upcoming Guinness World Record fundraiser on Thursday, officials in Safety Harbor maintained that they had no legal reason to prevent Thomas Edward Lynch from proceeding with his event.
"To our knowledge, Mr. Lynch has complied with every requirement of his release," City Manager Matt Spoor said at the time. "Further, I have been told that Mr. Lynch has no plans to cancel his rental."
Friday morning, city officials announced that they called the New Port Richey man late Thursday and told him that he could not attempt the world's longest wheelchair wheelie at the Safety Harbor Community Center on Saturday as planned.
They didn't arrive at that decision because of revelations this week that Lynch, 45, sexually abused or sodomized at least four boys in the 1990s. Though Lynch proclaimed his innocence, New York state officials described him as a "sexually violent offender" and listed him as a "risk level 3," the worst possible designation for sexual offenders.
"City staff did not receive timely or proper facility rental payment from his sponsors as promised," Spoor said in an e-mail.
Safety Harbor spokesman Brad Purdy said no one informed Spoor of that fact until "well after 10" Thursday night. The record-setting event was scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Saturday.
"Looks like it was just a staff oversight," Purdy said in another e-mail. "The security deposit of $100 should have been paid two weeks before the scheduled event, on July 31."
Purdy said he knows the city's changing stance looks "weird," but "it is most certainly not an about face.
"We were presented with new information that the deposit hadn't been made, then we decided to cancel the rental. We were unaware of that through this whole process. The deposit not being made wouldn't be something that a staff member would elevate to the level of the city manager but because of all the attention that was on the event, he was notified."
Thursday, as new details about Lynch's past emerged, his Guinness attempt began to unravel. The mother of the event's teenage beneficiary disassociated herself. So did WKID-FM 96.7, a Clearwater radio station owned and operated by children, and Bet Me I'm Lying, a Largo band with members as young as 12.
WKID was scheduled to broadcast live from the Community Center. Bet Me I'm Lying was slated to perform.
"Circumstances have changed," said Donna Cardullo, the mother of Brock Cardullo.
Fliers for Lynch's event asked for donations for Brock, who has cystic fibrosis.
"We're not involved in that in any shape or form," Donna Cardullo said.
"She wants absolutely nothing to do with this and we feel exactly the same," said Rodger Baker, who started WKID to keep children off the street and safe. "We were going there to do this benefit for Brock and now that we found out that Brock will not be benefitting, we have backed out ourselves. We will not be supporting any sexual offenders."
Lynch, who earlier this week said he didn't think it was necessary to share details of his past with the parents of the children or the city, declined comment when a St. Petersburg Times reporter called Friday morning.
"Whether or not this event takes off because of this article," he told the reporter on Wednesday, "I want people to keep in mind that the one's who know me know who I am and respect that. I'm open to people." ..Source.. Rodney Thrash, Times Staff Writer
March 25, 2010
Bill on sex offenders could hinder treatment, experts say
Those mentioned in this article that, support the 'no known cure' are folks that, REFUSE to accept that they have created a -mythical standard- which is not attainable for ANY human infirmity whatsoever. Generally they are stakeholders who have a financial interest in maintaining the 'no known cure' -mythical standard-.3-25-2010 Colorado:
Pick any human infirmity, and ask this question, is it possible for that human infirmity to return ever if it is once managed (cured)? i.e., cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure, headaches, etc. All can possibly return, none can ever be cured -in the sense that- it WILL NEVER reoccur (a mythical standard). All human infirmitys are at best managed, once a person has that infirmity. eAdvocate
Therapists and probation officers say a bill that would remove statutory language that there is "no known cure" for sex offenders could erode the state's commitment to adequately protect residents from rapists and pedophiles.
"The simple fact is, if the House bill removes the three words 'no known cure,' it diminishes the strength of our ability to treat, manage and contain convicted, adult repeat sex offenders," said Greig Veeder, executive director for the treatment group Teaching Humane Existence.
Proponents of the change, however, say the current wording incorrectly states there is no hope for change or improvement.
Bill aimed at board
HB 1364, which would remove the language, is set to be heard this week in a House Judiciary Committee meeting.
The bill is sponsored in the House by Rep. Su Ryden, D-Aurora, and in the Senate by Sen. Evie Hudak, D-Westminster.
Ryden said the bill is not intended to weaken state measures managing sex offenders but charges the 25-member Sex Offender Management Board to come up with its own definitions.
"We want them to address what their own policies and rules are," Ryden said.
The bill requires the board to review its policies and hold public hearings to determine whether any rules or standards should be changed, Ryden said.
Currently the "no known cure" language is part of a statute that describes the board's responsibilities.
The law currently authorizes the board to establish procedures to evaluate, treat and monitor sex offenders and says: "There is no known cure for the propensity to commit sex abuse."
Removing the words "no known cure" is the first step in a process that could undermine protections built into the law, including lifetime supervision of sex offenders, Veeder said.
"If we remove the language, then we leave the impression that with a little bit of probation and a little bit of therapy, we are telling sex offenders, 'We fixed you,' " said Karen Vigil, a Boulder probation officer who monitors sex offenders. "We leave the impression there is no reason to be careful. In doing so, we jeopardize safety."
The language in the law drives state policy in managing sex offenders, Vigil said. "It keeps that board focused," she said. "It tells them what their statutory obligation is."
Many re-offend
Veeder said it is important to note that the language is meant for the management of convicted, repeat adult sex offenders, not low-risk, one-time offenders, developmentally delayed adults, juveniles or women.
Opponents of the change include the Colorado Coalition Against Sex Assault, the Colorado Organization for Victim Assistance, leading professionals, concerned citizens and victims, Veeder said.
More than 50 percent of convicted adult sex offenders eventually sexually re-offend once they are removed from the confines of prison, probation and/or treatment, said Fred Tolson, managing partner of an outpatient-treatment program for sex offenders.
"Understanding that there is no known cure for sexually abusive behavior allows service providers to develop long-term, ongoing treatment programs for each offender," he said. ..Source.. Kirk Mitchell, The Denver Post
January 8, 2010
Treatment lags for sex offenders after prison
1-8-2010 Connecticut:
HARTFORD — Leslie Williams was on probation as a convicted sex offender for three weeks when he disappeared from a Hartford homeless shelter one Friday in March 2008.
He was captured two days later while driving the car of a New Britain woman whose body had been found that night in a Bristol sandpit.
In that nearly 48 hours, Williams, then 31, managed to burglarize an Avon house and steal the family’s Saab, break into a Plainville home where he swiped a gun and invade a New Britain home where he shot Carol Laresse and sexually assaulted and kidnapped her friend, Mary Ellen Welsh.
It’s a scenario that state Rep. Michael Lawlor, D-East Haven, is hoping to prevent from happening again by challenging Gov. M. Jodi Rell to open a treatment facility to house sex offenders who are released back into the community.
“They are going to be released sooner or later,” Lawlor said during a Thursday morning press conference. “We have to have a way that they aren’t released into the community so they wind up in homeless shelters at night and on the streets all day.”
Why the facility didn’t open as planned is a matter of debate.
Lawlor, who is the co-chairman of General Assembly Judiciary Committee, claimed repeatedly that both the state Department of Corrections and the state Judicial Branch have the funding in place.
DOC officials said the Judicial Branch pulled out because of lack of funding.
Judicial officials said the state Office of Policy and Management and the governor cut the money for the project but they were ready to go ahead with a scaled-down version.
Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s office said, in a statement issued seven hours after Lawlor’s press conference, that the project would go ahead as planned with the DOC money and that the Judicial Branch had pulled out of the project even though it had the funding.
Even if the facility had opened as planned, it wouldn’t have been in time to save Welsh’s life. But the sooner it’s open, the less likely another family will face the same heartache, said Welsh’s lifelong friends.
“The state should be ashamed of itself,” said Southington resident Cynthia Holland, who along with Welsh’s friends, celebrates the slain woman’s birthday every year with the release of balloons and a large party at the New Britain Irish Club. “She was minding her own business. She was suffering from cancer, that was even worse, she couldn’t fight back. What kind of country do we live in when you can’t go to have coffee with a friend without being attacked?”
The proposed 24-bed facility was to be built on DOC property in Uncasville. The offenders would be offered housing and treatment such as aid with transitional skills including job placement while being supervised during either the last few months of their incarceration or the first few months of release.
“All the evidence tells us that if they are going to reoffend, they will do so in the first few months of their release,” Lawlor said.
The initiative to create the facility was part of a sweeping crime bill passed in January 2008 after three members of the Petit family were killed in a home invasion. The law required the facility to be open by July 2008.
Lawlor decided to make the project’s derailing an issue after being alerted by a DOC whistleblower that a sex offender with a history of sexually assaulting fellow inmates was about to be released to the community without any supervision.
“This has got to happen,” Lawlor said of the facility. “God forbid there’s a tragedy and someone gets killed because an unsupervised sex offender is walking around in the community.”
The problem is no one seemed to have the will in a tight budget year to act on the initiative that was set to be jointly funded by the DOC and Judicial Branch.
“The Department of Corrections and the Court Support Services Division (within the Judicial Branch) proceeded together each with a $1 million,” said Brian Garnett, a DOC spokesperson. “It went out to bid, we had selected a contractor. It was proceeding to the point where we were ready to sit down with CSSD in February 2009 but they said they wouldn’t be able to proceed.”
Judicial Branch officials issued a statement late Thursday saying their funding was rescinded twice by the OPM and governor, who eventually put back $500,000 for the project — but the DOC has since stalled the project.
“DOC agreed to act as the lead for this project” and issued the request for proposals in August 2008, said Chief Court Administrator Barbara Quinn. “It was understood that siting this type of facility would be extremely difficult. Subsequently, the DOC and judicial accepted a proposal that sited the facility on DOC property.
“Because the designated site was on DOC property, the Judicial Branch could not move forward with the project without DOC. To date, DOC has not entered into a contract to establish this facility. Therefore, the Judicial Branch has been unable to contract for the six sex-offender beds for which it received funding.”
While blaming judicial for the delay and saying they have discretionary control over their budget, Rell announced late Thursday the facility would move forward immediately with a new bid with funding primarily from DOC.
“The state has every intention to move forward with this much-needed facility,” Rell said. “Indeed, our commitment to seeing the project completed has never wavered. I absolutely will not compromise the public’s safety. It is disappointing that we lost valuable time when the Judicial Branch chose to withdraw from the partnership nearly 10 months after a contractor was selected. Because of that withdrawal, it is imperative that we must issue another request for proposals. The Department of Correction is going forward with another RFP for its half of the project.”
Williams had served an eight-year prison sentence for sexually assaulting a child and was on probation for three weeks when he left a Hartford homeless shelter after not being able to find work.
Two days later he followed Welsh into her friend’s New Britain home after he had spent the night sleeping in a nearby car. He later told police he intended to rob the women but then decided he had to kill them because they could recognize him. He is facing a dozen charges including capital felony murder and could face the death penalty.
Holland and several of Welsh’s other friends have attended all Williams’ court appearances.
“The way things are right now, if they are released with no supervision into the twilight zone, who are you going to notify?” Holland said. “There is no neighborhood to notify. I suppose a few months stay at a supervised place is better than nothing.” ..Source.. LISA BACKUS, Staff writer
