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Risk Management of Youth Who Sexually Offend: The Singapore Experience

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Contemporary Sex Offender Risk Management, Volume II

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Risk, Crime and Society ((PSRCS))

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Abstract

The way in which youth who sexually offended are managed has significant implications for their rehabilitation. A balance must be struck between deterrence and prevention of recidivism, and the rehabilitation and reintegration of the youth back into family and society. In addition to the risk factors, criminogenic needs and protective factors that influence their offending, assessment, and treatment of youth who sexually offended should also take their developmental needs into account. This chapter will describe the Singapore experience in the assessment and treatment of youth who sexually offended. Singapore adopts an integrated strengths- and risk-based approach, with the Risk-Need-Responsivity and Good Lives Model serving as the foundational guide for assessment and treatment of youth who sexually offended. Over the years, this approach and its associated programmes have also evolved and improved in response to findings from local research and evaluation.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Two Government Agencies that the Singapore Police Force provide such screening for are the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Social and Family Development. All child-related care and educational institutions in Singapore are registered with or managed by either Ministry.

  2. 2.

    The total population of 5.54 million includes Singapore citizens (61%), permanent residents (10%), and non-residents (29%). The resident population totals about 3.90 million, of whom 74.4% are of Chinese descent, 13.4% are Malay, 9.1% are Indian, and the remaining 3.1% are of other races.

  3. 3.

    In the Children and Young Persons Act, a “child” refers to a person who is below the age of 14 years and a “young person” refers to a person who is 14 years of age (or above) and under 16 years old.

  4. 4.

    Family conferences are organised, which bring together all relevant parties (e.g., family, psychologists, case officers, school authorities) to plan, execute, and address issues faced during the youth’s rehabilitation and reintegration. Family conferences may also be used to repair or build familial relationships (between family members or with the youth) through counselling.

  5. 5.

    These victim-offender mediation conferences (also termed HEAL—healing, enriching, and linking conferences) focus on victim rehabilitation and restoration through meeting the offender only in circumstances that are comfortable to the victim. Follow-up counselling or restoration can be conducted after the mediation if necessary (Family Justice Courts of Singapore 2017a).

  6. 6.

    Panel Advisors are individuals from the community who have extensive experience in working with youth. Panel Advisors are appointed by the President of Singapore (Family Justice Courts of Singapore 2017b).

  7. 7.

    This option is only provided for youth who are 14–16 years of age.

  8. 8.

    These include Government Agencies such the Ministry of Social and Family Development, the Singapore Prisons Service, the Central Narcotics Bureau, and the Singapore Police Force, as well as non-Government Agencies such as social service organisations. For a comprehensive account of the implementation of the RNR model and the YLS/CMI in Singapore, see Chua et al. (2014), and Chu and Zeng (2017).

  9. 9.

    For case studies on the application of the GLM model, see Thakker et al. (2014) and Chu et al. (2014a).

  10. 10.

    Since then the GLM approach has also been adopted for use by probation officers for the rehabilitation of youth probationers by the Probation and Community Rehabilitation Service, Singapore.

  11. 11.

    The base rate for sexual and nonsexual recidivism was 26.8% (26/97).

  12. 12.

    For example, Item 8: Financial Management; Item 11: Positive Life Goals; Item 14: Intimate Relationship.

  13. 13.

    The core set of assessment measures include the Youth Level of Service/Case Management Inventory, the Estimate of Risk of Adolescent Sexual Offense Recidivism, the Paulhus Deception Scales, the Novaco Anger Scale and Provocation Inventory, and the Youth Self Report. Often times, a personality test or questionnaire relating to interpersonal style is also administered with the youth.

  14. 14.

    In contrast, the same study found that the Juvenile Sex Offender Assessment Protocol-II (J-SOAP-II), another specialised tool for assessing risk of sexual recidivism, failed to predict sexual recidivism.

  15. 15.

    These measures include the Level of Service Inventory (Andrews 1982), the Level of Service Inventory-Revised (Andrews and Bonta 1995), the Level of Service/Case Management Inventory (Andrews et al. 2004), the Level of Service/Risk-Need-Responsivity (Andrews et al. 2008), the Youth Level of Service Inventory (Andrews et al. 1984), and the Youth Level of Service/Case Management Inventory (Hoge and Andrews 2002, 2011).

  16. 16.

    Although PAST started in 2000, it underwent changes in 2008 that included the introduction of new measures or modification of old ones. Therefore, evaluation was only conducted on PAST after the change.

  17. 17.

    Instruments included in the battery were the Basic Empathy Scale, the Social Self-Esteem Inventory, The Hanson Sex Attitude Questionnaire, the Questionnaire on Attitudes Consistent with Sexual Offending, and the Brief Control Scale.

  18. 18.

    Adapted from the Rockwood Psychological Services Primary Programme.

  19. 19.

    Instruments included in the battery were the Dundee Provocation Inventory, Social Problem Solving Inventory—Revised: Short, adapted Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, adapted Sensation Seeking Scale, and adapted Questionnaire on Attitudes Consistent with Sexual Offending.

  20. 20.

    The corresponding author can be contacted for further information on the EPYC study.

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  1. Clinical and Forensic Psychology Service, Ministry of Social and Family Development, Singapore, Singapore

    Gerald Zeng & Chi Meng Chu

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  1. Gerald Zeng
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  1. Community and Criminal Justice, De Montfort University, Leicester, United Kingdom

    Hazel Kemshall

  2. Dept of Criminology, University of the West of England, Bristol, United Kingdom

    Kieran McCartan

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Zeng, G., Chu, C.M. (2017). Risk Management of Youth Who Sexually Offend: The Singapore Experience. In: Kemshall, H., McCartan, K. (eds) Contemporary Sex Offender Risk Management, Volume II. Palgrave Studies in Risk, Crime and Society. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63573-6_6

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