NCJ Number
192908
Date Published
August 1996
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This report presents the methodology and findings of an initial recidivism evaluation for the sex offender treatment program at Hiland Mountain Correctional Center in Alaska for the period of January 1987 to August 1995.
Abstract
The study encompassed the analysis of descriptive characteristics of the participants; treatment variables such as length of time in program, reason for discharge, and treatment stage at discharge; and recidivism data. The treatment group (n=411) was compared with three other groups: a motivated control group (n=74); an unmotivated control group (n=100); and a group of non-sex offenders (n=100). The treatment program has four phases. The pretreatment phase provides assessment, orientation, education, the challenge of offense denial, and clinical management. The next stage prepares offenders to give and receive feedback, to use self-regulation and social skills, to assume responsibility for the current offense and its impacts on victims, and to develop external management strategies that focus on immediate precursors to the sexual offense. The next stage addresses the earliest precursors to the offense and develops the skills for more self-management of all risk factors. The final stage emphasizes the application and generalization of skills to new situations. This study found that treated sex offenders lasted longer in the community before they reoffended than offenders in any of the comparison groups. Those who were in treatment longer tended to last longer in the community without reoffending. Rapists did as well as those offenders who had sexually abused a minor, both in terms of how long they stayed in treatment and how far they advanced through the program. Older, more educated Alaska Native offenders tended to leave the program early. Those with no history of substance abuse tended to advance further in the program. 4 figures