Exploring preliminary outcomes of a community treatment programme for men with sexual convictions screened into the offender personality disorder pathway

ABSTRACT

This study describes a preliminary evaluation of a community group treatment programme for men with sexual convictions screened into the Offender Personality Disorder (OPD) pathway in London, UK. The Challenge Project has previously been evaluated prior to it being part of the national OPD pathway and the manual being revised. As such, there was a need to explore the outcomes of the new population being treated on the programme. Between April 2015 – April 2019 150 men were referred and 48 men were accepted onto treatment. At the point of referral data was gathered on the individual’s history, psychometric testing and risk assessment were also completed. Outcomes of the men were recorded based on treatment completion and formal failure up until April 2019. In terms of treatment completion, 50% did not complete treatment and had associated higher scores on the Stable 2007. In relation to formal failures, 44% of the men were either recalled to custody or were reconvicted of a further offence. The sexual reconviction rate was 11%, which was comparable to previous evaluations of the challenge project. Those that formally failed had higher scores on the RM2000 and the Stable 2007.

KEYWORDS:

• Sex offenders
• treatment
• risk
• personality disorder

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. ‘Over treated’ is a descriptive term sometimes used by Criminal Justice practitioners to suggest that an individual offender has received a greater intensity, duration or repetition of offence-related interventions than is indicated by their risk and/or criminogenic need profile.

2. Risk Matrix 2000 scores were not available in the previous sample so a direct comparison was not possible.