NCJ Number
170000
Date Published
1998
Length
150 pages
Annotation
Intended primarily for reading by juvenile offenders, primarily sex offenders, who are entering treatment, this book addresses major treatment issues by using brief author commentary followed by quotes from offenders.
Abstract
The quotes, all from lengthy interviews, give the offender's perspectives or experience related to the issue being discussed, such as denial, lying, talking in group, and identifying emotions. Although not specific to one particular treatment approach, the book is based on a model whose primary treatment goal is that of offenders accepting full responsibility for their behavior. This approach is taken from Anna Salters' Treating Child Sex Offenders and Victims (Sage Publications, 1988). This is also the treatment model supported by the 1988 National Task Force on Juvenile Sex Offending. The book also includes perspectives from female offenders, older offenders who have been through treatment, victims, and parents. Each of the book's 13 sections is divided into short chapters. At the end of most chapters are questions that personalize the preceding materials. These questions can be used in group or individual sessions to examine the target issue in more depth. The questions can also give individual offenders the chance to talk or think about their own experiences. Appended list of "thinking errors."