A COMMUNITY-SERVICE FOR SEX OFFENDERS

This article reports on a district service for male sex offenders. During a period of 30 months, 27 male sex offenders were assessed and treated by a multi-disciplinary team. Of the 27, 52% had previous sexual offences and 70% a history of previous non-sexual offences. These are higher levels of criminality than in probands of other studies. Of those assessed for court proceedings 75% were given the sentences recommended by the team and 67% were subsequently treated as outpatients in the community. There were definite histories of childhood abuse for 48% of the offenders and a further 33% were probably abused. It was expected that community treatment would be more successful in preventing further crimes than punitive detention and only one treated patient had reoffended by the end of the short study period. Apart from an expected improvement in prognosis, community treatment is also a remarkably cheaper option when dealing with sex offenders. Theoretically, effective treatment should halt the cyclic perpetuation of child sexual abuse.