Treatment at La Macaza Clinic: A Qualitative Study of the Sexual Offenders' Perceptive

• NCJ Number: 203931
• Journal: Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice Volume: 46 Issue: 1 Dated: January 2004 Pages: 27-44
• Author(s): Martin Drapeau; Christine A. Korner; Louis Brunet; Luc Granger
• Date Published: January 2004
• Length: 17 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: Canada

Annotation

This article discusses why pedophile sex offenders enter and remain in treatment and how they consider it to be helpful.

Abstract

Comparative analysis was applied to non-directive semi-structured interviews with 24 pedophile sex offenders from La Macaza Clinic at the La Macaza Federal penitentiary in Quebec. Three major themes emerged from the data analysis. The first concerned the participants’ decision to enter therapy. The second involved the reasons given by the participants for entering and remaining in the treatment program. The third theme involved discussing how the treatment had been helpful so far. Overall, the reasons for entering therapy given by the pedophiles in the study sample were classified into 14 motives. Guilt and hopes for a shorter sentence were among these reasons. A wish to talk about their difficulties was also a motive for treatment. The participants felt considerable relief in discussing their offenses and sharing them with a group of peers to which they felt some sense of belonging. But in order to feel comfortable enough to talk, they needed to know that the structure of the program would be maintained. They also needed to know that the rules of the institution would be followed by everyone and that the treatment staff would step in when necessary to ensure that those rules and procedures were respected. The program’s structure helped them to contain their “acting out,” and the participants seemed to identify progressively with the “containing” and “structuring” functions of the program. Other motives for doing therapy involved hopes for empowerment. The participants hoped to gain a sense of autonomy and individuality through the treatment program. The treatment program also seemed to help participants by allowing them to make up for past deceptions and to gain access to what some of them considered to be adulthood. Five of the 24 participants in this sample argued that therapy would not help them give up their deviant fantasies but only help them control them. 2 notes, 33 references