Sex Offenders

9 Pages 2312 Words

kind for a general recidivism rate of 14.7 percent (Journal). Even more interesting was the study did not support the idea that good treatment behavior, as in positive or appropriate behavior in group sessions, good homework assignments, and positive ratings of motivation, could be associated with less of a chance for recidivism.
Soto and Barbaree gave two possible reasons for this finding. First, sex offenders, by the very nature of their criminal behavior, are masters of manipulation and exploitation. These individuals can exhibit behavior that contributes to favorable assessments. The second possible reason is these skills are learned, or enhanced, in the treatment setting. Data from a program evaluation by Quinsey in 1998 is consistent with this interpretation. They hypothesized that it was due to exposure to sexually-deviant material or by learning about other’s actions. A more recent study, published in the same journal, by Looman in 2000 suggests the opposite (Florida). Of the released sex offenders they studied, they found a 23.6 percent recidivism rate for those treated while a 51.7 percent rate for the untreated group. They also conducted an analysis separately on the outcome for men who had previous sexual convictions. Those with no previous sexual offense convictions had a 20.9 percent recidivism rate of the treated men compared to 42.9 percent of the untreated men. Of the men with previous sexual offenses, 26.1 percent of the treated group sexually “reoffended,” compared to 73.1 percent of the untreated men. According to this study, treatment is invaluable in minimizing the recidivism of sex offenders with previous offenses (Florida).
With such conflicting reports on the effectiveness of treatment, it is easy to see why our legal system has taken other steps to keep sex offenders from continually victimizing. Registration of sex offenders began in 1994 with the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexuall...