Research Article Description
Olver and Wong’s article, “Therapeutic Responses of Psychopathic Sexual Offenders: Treatment Attrition, Therapeutic Change, and Long-Term Recidivism”, is chosen for the current discussion. The authors make an attempt to analyze the therapeutic responses of sex offenders such as treatment dropout, some kind of therapeutic changes, and 10-year recidivism as soon as such treatment approach like correctional intervention is used on a certain group of offenders.
Sexual violence is defined as a “significant social and criminal justice problem worldwide” (Olver and Wong 328). It is necessary to realize the importance of this problem and think how treatment programs may contribute a society and help to avoid or, at least, predict crimes.
Positive treatment changes lead to a reduction of the cases of violence recidivism if properly defined treatment interventions are chosen in regards to offenders’ mental conditions and the expectations of the offered treatment approach. Discussions and conclusions made in the article are properly organized and explain how correctional treatment, the Clearwater program in particular, may result in positive changes among moderate- and high-risk sex offenders.
Type of Violent Offense and Treatment Approach
The Clearwater program, discussed in the article, is the treatment approach that is applied to sex offenders. This cognitive-behavioral method is comprehensive and addresses some criminogenic need domains (Olver and Wong 330). As a rule, the crimes committed by sex offenders are based on hidden aggression (Aceves and Cookston 636), impulsivity and inabilities to gain control of personal emotions (Komarovskaya, Booker-Loper, and Warren 1499), or the necessity to be noticed and memorized (Seager 30).
In Olver and Wong’s article, 156 federally incarcerated sex offenders have been included into the program, and the changes have been noticed in 75% of offenders, who completed treatment (328). There are five main stages of change inherent to the chosen treatment approach: pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance (Olver and Wong 329).
The progression of each stage is the sign of the program’s effectiveness. This is why the level of sexual offense does not matter for the program because the program depends on the results of each stage completed separately.
Treatment Outcome Model Choice
The program is offered by the representatives of the Regional Psychiatric Center (RPC) in Canada and underlines the possibility to reduce the number of recidivist cases and promote understanding of the crimes done. Taking into consideration such nature of treatment and expected changes, it is possible to imply harm reduction model and recidivism treatment outcome model as the most effective means to measure the success of the chosen method and evaluate the changes.
The harm-reduction model focuses on the measurements which are appropriate to reduce the risk of possible sexual crimes. The model based on recidivism promotes the conditions under which the predictions can be made comparing the results demonstrated by those offenders, who stayed in the program, with those offenders, who fail to continue their participation (Brotaco and Wagner 114).
The chosen treatment outcome models focus not only on the general results of the program but on the quality of the outcomes achieved. For example, they can help to learn that such factors like anger (Gardner and Moore 897) or impulsivity cannot be ignored while analyzing offenders’ behavior. The application of these models provides an explanation of how a number of outside factors may define the quality of future behavior.
Works Cited
Aceves, Mario and Cookston, Jeffrey. “Violent Victimization, Aggression, and Parent-Adolescent Relations: Quality Parenting as a Buffer for Violently Victimized Youth.” Journal of Youth & Adolescence 36.5 (2007): 635-647. Print.
Brotaco, Jo and Wagner, Eric. “Predictors of Retention in an Alternative-to-Prison Substance Abuse Treatment Program.” Criminal Justice and Behavior 35.1 (2008): 99-119. Print.
Gardner, Frank and Moore, Zella. “Understanding Clinical Anger and Violence: The Anger Avoidance Model.” Behavior Modification 32.6 (2008): 897-912. Print.
Komarovskaya, Irina, Booker-Loper, Ann, and Warren, Janet. “The Role of Impulsivity in Antisocial and Violent Behavior and Personality Disorders among Incarcerated Women.” Criminal Justice and Behavior 34.11 (2007): 1499-1515. Print.
Olver, Mark and Wong, Stephen. “Therapeutic Responses of Psychopathic Sexual Offenders: Treatment Attrition, Therapeutic Change, and Long-Term Recidivism.” Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 77.2 (2009): 328-336. Print.
Seager, James. “Violent Men: The Importance of Impulsivity and Cognitive Schema.” Criminal Justice and Behavior 32.1 (2005): 26-49. Print