Forensic Psychology

by Graham M Davies

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  19 Treating Dangerous Offenders

  LEIGH HARKINS, JAYSON WARE AND RUTH MANN

  CHAPTER OUTLINE

  19.1 INTRODUCTION

  19.2 TYPES OF DANGEROUS OFFENDERS TYPICALLY TREATED IN A CRIMINAL JUSTICE SETTING 19.2.1 Violent Offenders

  19.2.2 Sexual Offenders

  19.3 TREATMENT FRAMEWORKS 19.3.1 Treatment Frameworks for Violent Offenders

  19.3.2 Frameworks for Treating Sexual Offenders

  19.4 THE EVIDENCE BASE FOR THE TREATMENT OF DANGEROUS OFFENDERS 19.4.1 Violent Offenders

  19.4.2 Treatment Effectiveness of Sex Offender Therapy

  19.5 CONSIDERATIONS IN WORKING WITH DANGEROUS OFFENDERS 19.5.1 The Psychopathic Offender

  19.5.2 Treatment Readiness

  19.5.3 Therapeutic Climate

  19.5.4 Treatment Context

  19.6 SUMMARY

  LEARNING OUTCOMES

  BY THE END OF THIS CHAPTER, YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO:

  Understand dangerous offenders and why treatment of dangerous offenders is important for reducing recidivism and ensuring community safety

  Appreciate the principal treatment approaches used in working with dangerous offenders

  Understand the implications of research findings in improving rehabilitation of dangerous offenders.

  19.1 INTRODUCTION

  The effective treatment of dangerous offenders has important implications for society in general and the offenders themselves. By definition, dangerous offenders pose a risk of serious harm to other people. The rates of reoffending for violent offenders tend to be higher, particularly when compared to other non-violent offenders (Motiuk & Belcourt, 1997). Canadian research published in 1999 showed approximately 40% of offenders incarcerated for violent offences returned to custody for a similar offence within two years (Dowden, Blanchette, & Serin, 1999). While, sexual recidivism rates are roughly in the range of 11% (Hanson & Morton- Bourgon, 2009) to 14% (Hanson & Morton-Bourgon, 2005), but it is acknowledged that this is likely an underestimate of the true rates of sexual reoffending (Ahlmeyer, Heil, McKee, & English, 2000).

  PHOTO 19.1 The effective treatment of dangerous offenders has important implications for society in general and the offenders themselves.

  Source: © FuzzBones/Shutterstock

  Effective treatment hopefully means the prevention or reduction of future harm, but also that the offenders can move past their offending and on to more positive lives that are incompatible with offending. The aim of this chapter is briefly to describe:

  the types of serious violent/sex offenders who can receive treat
ment;

  the types of treatment typically undertaken with these offenders;

  the evidence base for the effectiveness of such treatments; and

  the factors that need to be considered when working with such dangerous offenders.

  19.2 TYPES OF DANGEROUS OFFENDERS TYPICALLY TREATED IN A CRIMINAL JUSTICE SETTING

  19.2.1 Violent Offenders

  Individuals convicted of violent offences tend to make up a significant proportion of prison populations (around 50% in some jurisdictions; Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2007). From a psychological (treatment) perspective, violence has been described as the intentional and malevolent physical injury of another (Blackburn, 1993). Violence can take many forms and there is a great deal of variability between offenders in terms of what may have caused and maintained their violent behaviours. Violent offenders may include those who have: assaulted their partner or children; been involved in a serious fight or fights; committed violence within a gang context; committed violence in course of a robbery; or killed someone.

  There is a relatively small group of violent offenders who can be characterised as persistent, or repeat, offenders. These offenders have been termed “life-course-persistent offenders” (Moffit, 1993). These men tend to have more frequent, and more violent, offending than other offenders, as well as diverse and frequent non-violent offences (Polaschek, Collie, & Walkey, 2004). It is these serious violent offenders who are likely to commit further serious violent crimes unless appropriate treatment and management is provided. These offenders are most usually assessed on risk assessment measures as high risk of violent reoffending. It is these offenders that we attempt to target into the treatment irrespective of their offence type. We will now briefly describe different forms of violence.