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Psychological Treatment: Risk Reducer or Life Enhancer?

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Social Control of Sex Offenders

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Abstract

Orders of probation and parole for sex offenders may include a specification that the offender is required to seek, participate in, and complete a course of treatment directed toward his/her sexual deviation. Supervising officers may or may not be aware of treatments available to sex offenders in the community. The general psychological treatment literature is not helpful in this regard. The Society of Clinical Psychology, Division 12 of the American Psychological Association, provides a lengthy list of psychological interventions, including a description, citations of research support, and a bibliography. These are classified by the name of the treatment (e.g., “Cognitive and Behavioral Therapies for Generalized Anxiety Disorder”) or by the disorder itself. There is nothing in either of these lists pertaining to sexual disorders in general or sexual deviation in particular (retrieved May 22, 2015, from www.div12.org/PsychologicalTreatments/treatments.html).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pacific Behavioural Assessment, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

    D. Richard Laws

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  1. D. Richard Laws
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Laws, D.R. (2016). Psychological Treatment: Risk Reducer or Life Enhancer?. In: Social Control of Sex Offenders. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-39126-1_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-39126-1_11

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-39125-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-39126-1

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