Sex offender treatment
Sex offender treatment programs consist of cognitive-behavioral treatment and pharmacological (hormonal) treatment and cognitive-behavioral treatment. The latter is usually provided in a group setting and focuses on treating the cognitive distortions, lack of victim empathy, denial of the offense, and deviant sexual preferences of the sex offender. Studies show that any effect of treatment is modest, at best; that treatment works best for the tiny minority of very high-risk offenders, while possibly aggravating risk for the broad majority of men at lower risk of recidivism; and that older offenders, due mainly to their very low risk, derive no tangible benefits from treatment.[1]
Sex offender treatment providers usually say that sex offending cannot be cured, but can only be controlled. They usually regard sex offenders as dishonest, manipulative, and prone to denial, justification, intellectualizing, and minimization.[2]
Some different kinds of sex offender treatment are cognitive-behavioral treatment, relapse prevention, the self-regulation model, and the good lives model.[3]
