Applying the Risk Principle to Sex Offenders: Can Treatment Make Some Sex Offenders Worse?

The Prison Journal

Volumn 89, Issue 3, 2009, Pages 344-357

  Lovins, Brian ^a   Lowenkamp, Christopher T ^a   Latessa, Edward J ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI   (United States)

Author keywords

correctional programming; risk principle; sexual offenders; treatment effects

Indexed keywords

EID: 69649084451     PISSN: 00328855     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/0032885509339509     Document Type: Article

References (26)

1. Allam, J., & Brown, K. (1998). Evaluating community-based treatment programmes for men who sexually abuse children. Child Abuse Review, 7, 13-29.
2. Andrews, D., & Dowden, C. (2006). Risk principle of case classification in correctional treatment: A meta-analytic investigation. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 50, 88-100.
3. Andrews, D., Zinger, I., Hoge, R., Bonta, J., Gendreau, P., & Cullen, F. (1990). Does correctional treatment work? A clinically relevant and psychologically informed meta-analysis. Criminology, 28, 369-404.
4. Barbaree, H., & Marshall, W. (1988). The long-term evaluation of a behavioral treatment program for child molesters. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 26, 499-511.
5. Barbaree, H., Seto, M., Langton, C., & Peacock, E. (2001). Evaluating the predictive accuracy of six risk assessment instruments for adult sex offenders. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 28, 490-521.
6. Bilby, C., Brooks-Gordon, B., & Wells, H. (2006). A systematic review of psychological interventions for sexual offenders II: Quasi-experimental and qualitative data. Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology, 17, 467-484.
7. Craig, L.A., Browne, K., & Stringer, I. (2003). Treatment and sexual offence recidivism. Trauma, Violence & Abuse, 4, 70-89.
8. Fisher, D., & Thornton, D. (1993). Assessing risk of re-offending in sexual offenders. Journal of Mental Health, 2, 105-118.
9. Gallagher, C.A., Wilson, D., Hirschfield, P., Coggeshall, M., & MacKenzie, D. (1999). A quantitative review of the effects of sex offender treatment on sexual reoffending. Corrections Management Quarterly, 3, 19-29.
10. Gendreau, P. (1996). The principle of effective intervention with offenders. In A. T. Harland (ed.), Choosing correctional options that work: Defining the demand and evaluating the supply (pp. 117-130). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
11. Hall, G. (1995). Sexual offender recidivism revisited: A meta-analysis of recent treatment studies. Journal of Consultant and Clinical Psychology, 63, 802-809.
12. Hanson, K., & Bussiere, M. (1998). Predicting relapse: A meta-analysis of sexual offender recidivism studies. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 66, 348-362.
13. Hanson, K., Gordon, A., Harris, A., Marques, J., Murphy, W., Quinsey, V., et al. (2002). First report of the collaborative outcome data project on the effectiveness of psychological treatment for sex offenders. Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, 14, 169-194.
14. Hoffman, P.B. (1994). Twenty years of operation use of a risk prediction instrument: The United States parole commission's salient factor score. Journal of Criminal Justice, 22, 477-494.
15. Lowenkamp, C. (2004). Correctional program integrity and treatment effectiveness: A multi site, program level analysis. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati, OH.
16. Lowenkamp, C., & Latessa, E. (2002). Evaluation of Ohio's community based correctional facilities and halfway house programs. Unpublished manuscript, Division of Criminal Justice, University of Cincinnati, OH.
17. Lowenkamp, C., & Latessa, E. (2004). Increasing the effectiveness of correctional programming through the risk principle: Identifying offenders for residential placement. Criminology and Public Policy, 4, 501-528.
18. Lowenkamp, C.T., Latessa, E., & Holsinger, A. (2006). The risk principle in action: What have we learned from 13,676 offenders and 97 correctional programs? Crime & Delinquency, 51, 1-17.
19. Lynch, M. (2002). Pedophiles and cyber-predators as contaminating forces: The language of disgust, pollution, and boundary invasions in federal debates on sex offender legislation. Law & Social Inquiry, 27, 529-566.
20. Mailloux, D.L., Abracen, J., Serin, R., Cousineau, C., Malcolm, B., & Looman, J. (2003). Dosage of treatment to sexual offenders: Are we overprescribing ? International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 47, 171-184.
21. Marshall, W., & Yates, P. (2005). Comment on Mailloux et al.'s (2003) study “Dosage of treatment to sexual offenders: Are we overprescribing?” International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 49, 221-224.
22. Marshall, W.L., Anderson, D., & Fernandez, Y. (1999). Cognitive-behavioural treatment of sexual offenders. Chichester, UK: Wiley.
23. Polizzi, D., Mackenzie, D., Hickman, L. (1999). What works in adult sex offender treatment? A review of prison-and non-prison-based treatment programs. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 43, 357-374.
24. Quinn, J., Forsyth, C., & Mullen-Quinn, C. (2004). Societal reaction to sex offenders: A review of the origins and results of the myths surround their crimes and treatment amenability. Deviant Behavior, 25, 215-232.
25. Quinsey, V.L., Khanna, A., & Malcolm, B. (1998). A retrospective evaluation of the Regional Treatment Centre Sex Offender Treatment Programme. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 13, 621-644.
26. Rice, M.E., Quinsey, V.L., & Harris, G.T. (1991). Sexual recidivism among child molesters released from a maximum security psychiatric institution. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 59, 381-386.