Some who commit sex crimes re-offend; others seem to respond to treatment

Sunday, January 27, 2008

*Shattered lives: sex crimes in Bourbon and Vernon Counties*

Editor's note: This is the second in a series delving into the causes and impact of sex crimes on the lives of local citizens. The series will continue in next Sunday's edition of the Sunday Herald-Tribune. Next week: A prosecutor's dilemma. This week's poll on www.nevadadailymail.com asked readers if they believe sex offenders can be rehabilitated. The majority -- more than 52 percent as of Friday -- said no. Two people said yes. The others checked "Maybe. It depends on individual circumstances and the type of crime the offender committed." The following story digs deeper into this question.


For many years, the debates revolving around sex offender rehabilitation have been heated and controversial among law enforcement officials and treatment specialists.

Statistics and beliefs conflict, as many feel sex offenders are rarely rehabilitated; nevertheless, often the numbers show most offenders released from prison do not re-offend. In fact, a publication by the U.S. Department of Justice from 1994 shows that of those released from prison in a 15 -state survey, sex offenders were less likely to re-offend than most imprisoned for non-sex related crimes.

A survey was conducted in Missouri by the Institute of Public Policy, Truman School of Public Affairs and University of Missouri in Columbia, listing figures collected within the state regarding sex offenses and re-offenders. According to the report, 31.6 percent of Missouri offenders released from prison for a sex crime were re-convicted for a related offense, a lower percentage than that of almost any other group of offenders.

But a widespread worry that sex offenders could re-offend persists, and many often ask questions such as these, overheard after a recent presentation at a local luncheon: "Can you guarantee, do you know for sure this person won't re-offend?" or "What about those who do re-offend?"

Heartland Program Coordinator Dr. Brett White, who deals with sexually abusive youth, said some offenders are more likely to re-offend, while others are very unlikely to do so. "There is a select group that are at higher risk to re-offend. Those in the select group are much riskier than others. Matter of fact, some research is beginning to say that there is a group of offenders that are so low risk, they don't need a whole lot of work because they're too low risk, and we need to put more of our resources in working with those that are at a higher risk," said White.

White continued by explaining who he felt ran a higher risk for re-offending. "It isn't so much an offense that creates the higher risk, it's the guy," he said. "The highest risk guys are the guys with the deviant arousals that have committed the behavior, got caught, received sanctions, committed again, and got caught because they are able to erase those sanctions. They're less likely to allow the sanctions to help guide their actions."

Jeani Longstreth, chief juvenile officer of the 28th District also believes that rehabilitation depends on the individual, but says her experience leads her to believe re-offenses can often be associated with the age and IQ of the offender.

"There's some research out there that's beginning to look at age, but there's some inconsistency in that," said White.

The continual arguments among authorities in sex offense cases are usually attributed to the number of sex crimes that go unreported. Some publications have stated that an estimated 69 percent of all sex-related crimes are not reported. This is substantially more than the 43 percent of robberies or 45 percent of personal offenses which are believed to go without police notification.

Information from the Missouri Department of Public Safety states that at least 100,000 children are reported as victims of sexual abuse each year. It also explains that some of the reasons behind difficulty in the detection of these crimes are that the abuser is often a parent, relative, baby-sitter, or close friend of the family, and children may not recognize what is happening to them or know that it is a crime.

In adults, it is said that reasons sex crimes go unreported vary, but often it's due to victims' being afraid of future attacks by the same assailant or a fear of bringing shame and hardship to their family if the attacker is a family member.

The proper treatment of sex offenders also remains in debate between researchers, law enforcement and all involved parties. Vernon County Sheriff Ron Peckman, White and Longstreth all agreed that both incarceration and treatment are generally needed for most offenders. However, the proportions of each remains up for debate.

"I'm under the belief that treatment works. A confrontational beat-'em-up style does not seem to work. It shuts them down. Even though they may have the appearance of doing stuff, you want more than just compliance when you're doing treatment," said White. "The guy has to really buy into the idea that he needs to be different and treatment provides a good road map for them to develop an understanding of the antecedents to there choice of offending. Then grasping the issues around what they would need to do to prevent those choices again. Then I think they really need to look at what's healthy and develop an idea around what's healthy morality and healthy sexuality. All the guys know what they did was wrong but their emotional set interfered with them being able to stop that process."

"Missouri has a sex offender program. It's a good program, inside the walls. One of the problems with inside the wall treatment programs is; the guys have an illusion of what the streets will be like, and so everything is based upon the illusion. They don't necessarily understand the true pressures, the triggers the stuff that really happens until they get out," said White. "Part of what we have to do in the company is help them to understand, while they did a lot of good treatment, it was based upon what they think it might be like versus what it is like."

Dr. White explained the steps suggested by leading research in the treatment of sex offenders:

* Responsibility; the offender needs to take ownership of their crimes and behaviors.

* Relapse prevention; knowing what future events or instances can be prevented by the offender.

* Thinking; cognitive errors in judgment giving themselves permission to believe their behavior was acceptable.

* Social support development; learning healthy social skills.

* Empathy; learning to understand and share the feelings of others.

* Arousal control; learning ways to stop and control unhealthy arousals.

* Co-psycological disorders; managing and understanding other disorders aiding in deviate behavior.

* Family re-unification; introducing an offender back into their family setting in a healthier manner, after an offense against a family member.

Controversy continues to accompany the opinions of national sex offender registry laws as well. Many feel as though the registry is an important tool in the safety of communities, while others feel it increases the chances of a re-offense by hindering the integration of an offender into a stable environment.

White said, "Missouri needs to look at this: If stability, integration helps maintain lower risk and they can't find jobs, they can't find a place to live, they've got people making fun of them, ostracizing them, that's not conducive to a lower risk. So, the state statutes sometimes have, maybe, put some more people at risk."

In response to ideas that the sex offender registry causes unnecessary trouble in the rehabilitation of offenders, Longstreth said, "The fact that I can go to my computer and pull up a list of my community and see who is a sex offender, I don't think that has anything to do with them rehabilitating themselves."

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