Some Experts Believe Treatment for Sex Offenders Makes a Difference

There is no cure, but many experts say there is clear evidence that effective treatment prevents sexual predators from re-offending. Others aren’t quite so sure.

The issue is pertinent in Montville because of the state Department of Correction’s plan to place a 24-bed treatment facility for sex offenders adjacent to the Corrigan-Radgowski Correctional Center on Route 32.

Advocates for such programs point to a number of studies that they say show treatment is a realistic way to reduce recidivism. Besides, they argue, it just makes common sense.

“It’s become abundantly clear that intensive treatment at the end of a prison sentence works immensely better than just opening the (prison) door and letting them go,” said Brian A. Garnett, spokesman for the correction department.

Substantial research conducted over the past three decades support this conclusion. Garnett offered information on several studies, including ones released in 1991 and 1999, that bolster the view that treatment helps. The 1999 report, conducted by a Wisconsin expert, examined the results of 79 studies covering a total of nearly 11,000 sex offenders. The conclusion, according to the report: Treated offenders committed an additional sex crime at a rate of 11 percent, compared to 17.6 percent for the untreated.

More recently, a 2002 study conducted in Canada and reported upon by the American Psychological Association, found that recidivism rates among offenders not treated was 17.3 percent compared to 9.9 percent for offenders who had treatment.

However, the New York Division of Criminal Justice Services, an agency that compiles and analyzes criminal data, reached a “mixed” finding after researching whether sex treatment makes a difference. It found that some studies show that treatment has virtually no impact while others have determined it does reduce repeat offending.

“The only study to date which has used a randomized sample showed little or no effect on recidivism,” the criminal justice division determined.

This study, the division reported, considered three groups of sex offenders – those who volunteered to participate in relapse prevention treatment, those who volunteered but were not selected to receive treatment, and those who chose not to participate. 

“After being in the community for anywhere between five to 14 years, rates of new sexual, violent and general criminal activity were similar in the three groups,” according to the criminal justice division.

The division stated on its website that it is difficult to gauge accurate recidivism rates because fewer than 40 percent of rapes, child molestations and other sex crimes on victims over the age of 12 are reported to authorities.

Garnett said that sex-offender treatment is provided in six Connecticut correctional facilities with about 25 group sessions each week. At any time, he added, there are about 220 inmates in treatment, and treatment lasts for a minimum of one year but typically one to three years.

Some of the 220 will be selected to reside at the new Montville facility, a halfway house of sorts. Officials say the facility is designed to ease offenders back into the community while they receive both group and one-on-one therapy. The correction department has emphasized that all offenders will be accompanied by a supervisor when they leave the facility.

Psychiatrist Michael Norko, a Yale professor who has studied and written about sex offenders, said in an interview that institutional treatment – when offenders aren’t mixing with the general population – is ineffective.

 “In-patient situations create an artificial environment,” he said. “Offenders don’t encounter the triggers that trigger bad behavior.”

 Norko favors a scenario where there is extensive outpatient treatment. The offender resides in the community, where temptations exist, but receives intensive treatment and counseling at the same time.

 One thing everybody agrees upon is that sex offenders, especially pedophiles, should be required to stay away from schools, playgrounds and other places where children congregate. Authorities compare this to situations where recovering alcoholics should stay out of bars and compulsive gamblers should steer clear of casinos.

Some states have adopted a more aggressive way to treat violent sex offenders. The Associated Press reports that eight states allow for some form of castration for offenders. The AP said only Louisiana and Texas allow physical castration – the surgical removal of the testes. Six states have chosen chemical castration through medications that reduce testosterone, which fuels a man’s sex drive.