NCJ Number
80210
Date Published
1980
Length
12 pages
Annotation
Common elements of current treatment programs for rapists are described.
Abstract
Regardless of treatment method, an important component is the establishment of an empathetic relationship between the patient and therapist. A second treatment component is confrontation with the offender about his responsibility for his rape behavior. The manner in which the offender is confronted ranges from marathon group therapy, in which offenders are given videotape feedback of their disclosures, to direct verbal feedback from staff and others. Heterosocial skills training is a third component found in the majority of treatment programs for rapists. Skills training involves the teaching of social interaction skills as a means of facilitating appropriate interaction with adult females (or males). Sex education or sexual dysfunction treatment, a fourth component, is similar to sex education or sexual dysfunction treatment for any type of client, except that it is conducted with rapists in a prison setting. Since some rapists have marked difficulties in asserting themselves with others, a fifth component of treatment involves assertiveness training. The rapist practices with a therapist in a controlled setting, role playing and modeling appropriate expressions of emotion and requests for others to change their behavior. A sixth component of treatment involves generating or increasing heterosexual arousal to adult females. Decreasing sexual arousal to rape is a seventh component of treatment. Some methods for doing this are electrical aversion, covert sensitization, chemical and olfactory aversion, and masturbatory satiation. Thirty-four references are listed.