Treatment behind bars: the effectiveness of prison-based therapy for sex offenders

Abstract

The purpose of this evaluation was to examine the effectiveness of prison-based treatment for sex offenders to reduce recidivism. The study compared a group of 95 inmates who received sex offender treatment, with 67 treatment completers and 28 non-completers, to a comparison group of 64 inmates who did not receive treatment. The results demonstrated that offenders who completed sex offender treatment had the lowest prevalence of post-release sex re-arrests followed by treatment non-completers and control group subjects. Furthermore, survival analysis results showed that average time to first re-arrest after release from incarceration was longest for treatment completers in comparison to the treatment non-completers and the control group but this difference was not statistically significant. Study limitations and directions for future research are also discussed.

Keywords:

• sex offender
• correctional treatment
• outcome evaluation
• recidivism