Maintaining treatment integrity with sexual abusers

Most treatment providers who work with sex offenders do so with the belief that it may enable them to refrain from further victimizations. Generally, treatment of abusers is confrontative and challenging but demonstrates respect for the human dignity of individuals who have engaged in behavior that imposes enduring harm on others. However, among sex-offender treatment providers in North America, a tendency is growing to accept ever more intrusive measures as therapeutic. This article calls attention to, and discusses the implications of, one example of questionable sex-offender treatment. Readers are encouraged to make their own conclusions about the professional ethics and therapeutic propriety of the interventions described.