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Sexual offending and treatment of sex offenders

Lookup NU author(s): Professor Donald Grubin

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Abstract

The assessment of risk in sex offenders is closely linked with the identification of treatment needs, and the clarification of those factors that may either increase or decrease risk in individual cases. Risk factors can be classified into static (historical facts about an offender which cannot be changed through intervention), dynamic stable (psychological characteristics which change over time, but slowly), and dynamic acute (current circumstances and behaviours which may change rapidly). Static risk factors are good indicators of long-term risk, stable dynamic risk factors represent important treatment targets, while dynamic acute risk factors provide a framework within which supervision aimed at detecting more immediate risk can be structured. Psychiatric involvement in sex offender assessment and management can most helpfully be directed towards diagnosing associated conditions such as mental illness and personality disorders, and providing treatment where hypersexuality and sexual rumination are important features. Drugs such as anti-libidinal medication and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) may be of particular benefit in such cases, contributing to cognitive-behavioural programmes that are the staple of sex offender treatment programmes. Legislation enacted since the mid-1990s has contributed to the risk management of offenders. Agencies both within and outside the criminal justice system now interact more closely, particularly in respect of higher-risk offenders. Psychiatrists are expected to cooperate with these arrangements, which requires a good understanding of the limits of confidentiality. © 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Grubin D

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Psychiatry

Year: 2004

Volume: 3

Issue: 11

Pages: 17-21

ISSN (print): 1476-1793

ISSN (electronic): 1878-7592

Publisher: The Medicine Publishing Company

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1383/psyt.3.11.17.53592

DOI: 10.1383/psyt.3.11.17.53592

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