Rehabilitating Offenders Case Study PDF

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Case Study Course: 3003CCJ Rehabilitating Offenders

Introduction This essay will identify the problem and recommend a treatment plan for the offender Peter, a 49year-old inmate who is currently two years into a seven-year prison sentence for the sexual assault of children. At the time of the offender Peter was a scout master, a lay preacher at his local church and was actively involved in a safety house program. 12 former scouts aged between 10 and 14 came forward claiming to be victims of sexual assault from the offender. The offender stated that the offences began after his wife became paraplegic as the result of a car accident, which ended a

sexual relationship with her and placed great strain on him. He also later admitted to a psychologist that he allegedly was a victim of sexual abuse from an uncle as a child. The offender expresses shame and remorse about his behaviour. He has also admitted to being suicidal – this has not been disclosed if his self-harm tendencies and thoughts are related to remorse and regret for his actions, mental health or of his current environment. The offender is eager to return to youth work within his church upon completion of his imprisonment. He has however indicated that he has a special affinity with children, especially boys. This information revealed makes the offender of a high to moderate risk of reoffending if placed back in the same environment that he was in during the time of offending. More so if his home environment and issues in his marriage are consistent with the environment during the time of the offences. This essay will go into details of the offender’s problem behaviour and what strategies and rehabilitation programs are available to help deter the offender from reoffending once released from imprisonment. Identification of the problem The offender in this situation is Peter, a 49-year-old male, currently serving a prison sentence for the sexual assault of 12 young boys aged between 10-14 years old. He is serving a seven-year prison sentence of which he is two years into at present. At the times of the offences the offender was an upstanding member of the community who fulfilled his community role by being a scout master, lay preacher and in a safety house program. These community-based roles placed the offender in a position of trust with families and importantly children. The offender abused this high level of trust bestowed upon him by sexually abusing 12 young boys in his care. During the time the offender was experiencing a disruption to his personal relationship with his wife by her being made paraplegic due to a car accident. Instead of finding solace in his community allegiances during this stressful chapter in his personal life, the offender chose to direct the stresses of his unstable home life into committing offences of a sexual and life altering nature against the children who trusted him. The problem that needs to be addressed is the offenders desire and capability to sexually assault children, in particular young boys. According to NSW Govt, Communities and Justice (2017) the definition of child sexual assault is “Any sexual act or threat to a child or young person under 18 that causes them harm or causes them to be frightened or fearful. Children and young people are sexually assaulted when a person uses their age, size and authority or a person of trust to force the child into a sexual activity. Under the law, children under 16 years of age are not able to give consent or agree to any sexual act or threat.” CSNSW recognises a sex offender as any convicted offender who has a current (or historical) act of sexual violence of whose offence is determined to have an underlying sexual motivation. Once an offender is identified as a sex offender a risk assessment occurs to work out what treatment programs, they may be eligible to commence rehabilitation whilst incarcerated. Mann, Hanson, and Thornton (2010) reviewed risk factors of sexual offending that could be addressed in treatment. The offender identifies with some of these risk factors such as – sexual preference for children, lack of emotionally intimate relationships with adults, emotional congruence with children and offence supportive attitudes. By the offenders desire to return to working with children, his relationship problems with his wife and his unresolved problems regarding his alleged previous child abuse that he received himself this places the offender in a high to moderate risk category of reoffending. Treatment options will be provided for the offender to undergo in and out of prison to reduce his chance of reoffending. Before treatment options and with the offenders high risk of reoffending with addition to the level of service inventory assessment tool (The LSI-R assessment tool is use to discover what level of intervention is needed to reduce reoffending) he will be currently listed as a

level T3-High offender which is the highest level given to an offender indicating he is a high risk to the community to reoffend. Conceptualisation of the problem By applying a theoretical theory to the problem behaviour of this offender this can further assist in understanding the nature and root origin of this behaviour. The problem however with sexual offending is the offence is too complex to attribute solely to a single theory. Research suggests that a combination of factors likely contribute to sexual offending behaviour. In this case both social learning theory and attachment theory tie in well together to recognise the nature and root origin of the problem behaviour that has occurred. The social learning theory refers to people learning behaviours and attitudes through the observation of others and attempts to explain human behaviour by the continuous mutual interaction between behavioural, cognitive, and environmental influences (Bandura, 1977). It is argued that children who were sexually assaulted or witnessed sexual acts, were likely to learn these behaviours and more likely to become perpetrators of sexual assault as an adult (Felson and Lane, 2009). The offender has stated to a psychologist that he was sexually abused as a child. If this did occur this could be seen as behaviour that the offender has learnt from experiencing it himself as a child. However this behaviour was inactive until life altering events such as his wife’s car accident and disability occurred and this could have led the offender to believe acting on sexual abuse behaviour as he had experienced as a child during a traumatic time was ‘normal’ and an effective coping mechanism for the stressful time in his life. Furthermore, according to attachment theory, humans have a propensity to establish strong emotional bonds with others, and when individuals have some loss or emotional distress, they act out because of their loneliness and isolation. By the offender’s wife being in a car accident and this affecting the relationship between the offender and his wife to a large extent this caused him to act out in a result of his loneliness and isolation. This combined with the above learned behaviour of sexual abuse attributed to the offender thinking the appropriate thing to do was seek affection and an emotional bond with the children who looked up to him. By them seeing him as a mentor figure in his role with scouts and the church along with his mental state this would have caused him to confuse it for intimacy. Marshall (2010) found that men who sexually abuse children often have not developed the social skills and self-confidence necessary for them to form effective intimate relations with peers. This failure causes frustration in these men that may cause them to continue to seek intimacy with under-aged partners. The rehabilitation plans available will assist with working on the cognitive based problems that life experiences the offender has experienced may have caused him to offend, so that he does not reoffend. Treatment and rehabilitation programs An offender program is a set of structured activities or interventions, delivered in a group format, designed to create behaviour change. Offender criminogenic programs specifically address those factors directly linked to offending behaviour. If an offender is assessed as suitable for a program, they are placed on a waitlist managed by the senior psychologist. Priority is based on sentence expiry and dynamic risk issues. The overall goal of sex offender programs is to reduce the likelihood that treated individuals will continue with sexual offending behaviour upon their return to the community (CSNSW DOJ, 2019). The range of treatment programs adhere to international standards of ‘best practice’ and accommodate different levels of risk (CSNSW, 2020). The majority of sex offender programs occur in a rolling group format, where an offender who leaves treatment, is

replaced by another. This format allows the therapists running the groups to take an individualised approach to each offender’s treatment. Whilst in custody the offender will attend a program called “High Intensity Sex Offender Program (HISOP)”. He also has the option to attend the “Custody-based Maintenance Program”. Once in the community the offender will attend the “Community-based Maintenance Program” weekly which is run by Forensic Psychology Services. Schmucker and Losel’s (2015) meta-analysis concluded that community-based treatment showed greater effects than custody-based programs; so, the community-based treatment is vital to ensuring the offender does not reoffend. HISOP is a prison based residential therapy program for men who have sexually abused adults and/or children. HISOP is offered to above average/well above average risk/needs offenders. The HISOP program is for a duration of 7-11 months with 3 sessions a week. The HISOP program is in a therapeutic community setting which is designed to help offenders work intensively on changing the thinking, attitudes and feelings which led to their offending behaviour. During the program offenders are expected to take responsibility for their offending behaviour and work on developing new strategies and skills to use in relationships, coping with their emotions as well as developing detailed self-management plans to assist in their release planning. Offenders participating in HISOP are accommodated in a custody based intensive treatment residential unit (CUBIT). This is an 80-bed unit located in the metropolitan special programs centre at long bay correctional complex. Custody based maintenance programs are designed to be a continuation of sexual offence specific treatment. This assists the offenders with self-management, release plans and strategies regarding their behaviour. This is conducted on a fortnightly basis at the prison and only available for offenders who have completed a sex offender program such as HISOP. This is provided once again in a group format. Community based maintenance is provided for sexual offenders who have completed the above programs whilst in custody. Attendance to this program is also a parole condition that the offender must follow. It is run at forensic psychology services and provided in a group format once a week. The maintenance program is aimed at consolidating and reinforcing treatment gains, whilst encouraging autonomy and resilience to continue change and develop the skills needed for a positive and satisfying life. Maintenance programs also provide monitoring of relapse preventions and assisting the offenders to create healthy support networks outside of prison. Measuring outcomes and evaluation Rehabilitation for a serious sex offender is a lifelong, daily process that the offender needs to work on. An offender completing treatment should be able to demonstrate both an intellectual understanding of treatment concepts and corresponding changes in their behaviour when faced with triggers or high-risk scenarios, both over time and in different contexts. Offender programs are not a ‘cure’ for high risk offenders, many still need to actively implement the new strategies for the rest of their lives to ensure they do not re-offend (CSNSW, 2020). The treatment programs both in and out of custody enable the offenders to recognise what the problems are that caused them to offend and how to develop skills to self-regulate and live happy lives away from committing the same offences. As per the Commissioner’s instruction 02/2018 (A/Assistant Commissioner Michelle Micallef-2019) serious sex offenders who are released to an NSW parole order under the new legislation will be required to be electronically monitored. This clause includes mandatory electronic monitoring and activity scheduling. As per this the offender is a serious sex offender entering the community on

parole and considered a T3/high which represents they need regular interventions with their CCO to check they are achieving their goals and outcomes for their offender free life, as well as the fact they are at a high risk of reoffending so they need to be kept monitored via scheduled activities. Electronic monitoring 24/7 via GPS tracking also ensures that the offender does not attend any excluded zones such as schools, parks, libraries, pools- anywhere that unsupervised children at be. The offender will be excluded from being unsupervised around any children under 18 and cannot be in any leadership or mentorship roles amongst children. This will mean that the offender cannot return to his previous roles with children. The offender will also have to attend the maintence program mentioned above and regularly report in with his CCO. Likelihood of success Research indicates that adult males with a history of sexual offending have rates of recidivism between 5-15% after 5 years and between 10-25% after 10 years (Hanson & Wallace-Capretta, 2000; Mitra-Kahn, Newbigin, & Hardefeldt, 2016). The largest reductions of recidivism have been found to be due to cognitive based therapy treatment programs that follow the risk, need and responsivity principles. The treatment options that are available for the offender whilst in and out of custody focus on these principles which enable the offender to have the best chance at success if he is committed to the treatment. Given the therapeutic programs from in and out of custody assist the offender with mending his relationship with his wife and assisted him to recognise the triggers and reasoning for his offences and he abides by his parole conditions and has intention to continue with maintenance then there is a chance the offender will not offend again. But it will be a daily challenge, every single day. Success can be achieved. Conclusion In conclusion, the problem behaviour that needed to be addressed for the offender was his desire to assault young boys. Through applying the theories of both the social learning theory and attachment theory there was a deeper understanding of the possible reason of why the offender committed the crimes when he did. This was learnt through the fact the offender was sexually abused as a child which attributed to him learning behaviour that he thought was the norm, as well as the fact of lack of intimacy and attachment from his relationship with his wife caused him to seek out intimacy in the only way he knew how to; through abusing the children who had an emotional bond with him due to him being a mentor figure to them. Whilst imprisoned and when re-entering the community the offender will be provided with numerous rehabilitation programs to work on his cognitive problems which caused him to offend in the first place as well as these will assist with impulse control to assist with him not re-offending when in the community again. The rehabilitation will not be easy, and the offender will need to be a willing participant in rehabilitation to not reoffend. This will be a decision he will have to make every day for the rest of his life. But with the desire to be a better version of himself and the remorse of his problem behaviours there is a chance the offender can be rehabilitated and make a fresh start when released.

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Akers, R. L., & Jensen, G. F. (2003). Social learning theory and the explanation of crime: A guide for the new century. New Brunswick, N.J: Transaction. Bandura, A., 1925. (1977). Social learning theory. Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice Hall. Cassidy, J., Shaver, P. R., & EBSCOhost. (2008;2014;). Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications (2nd ed.). New York: Guilford Press

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Corrective services new south wales department of justice. Institutional Programs for Individuals who have committed sexual offences. (2019 December 19) Felson, R. B., & Lane, K. J. (2009). Social learning, sexual and physical abuse, and adult crime. Aggressive Behavior, 35(6), 489-501. doi:10.1002/ab.20322 Grønnerød, C., Grønnerød, J. S., & Grøndahl, P. (2015). Psychological treatment of sexual offenders against children: A meta-analytic review of treatment outcome studies. Trauma, Violence & Abuse, 16(3), 280-290. doi:10.1177/1524838014526043 Hanson, R.K., & Wallace-Capretta. S. (2000). Predicting recidivism among male batterers. Canada: Public Works and Government Services Canada. Hanson, R. K., Gordon, A., Harris, A. J. R., Marques, J. K., Murphy, W., Quinsey, V. L., & Seto, M. C. (2016;2002;). First report of the collaborative outcome data project on the effectiveness of psychological treatment for sex offenders. Sexual Abuse, 14(2), 169194. doi:10.1177/107906320201400207 Justice intranet. Community corrections assistant commissioners memorandum. Michelle Micallef- A/Assistant Commissioner. (2019, February 12). intranet.internal.justice.nsw.au/Divisions/Documents/corrective-servicesnsw/community%20Corrections/Memoranda%20and%20notices/Assistant%20Commissi oner%20Memoranda/2019/accm-2019-08.pdf Justice intranet. Corrective Services NSW. (2020, August 7). intranet.internal.justice.nsw.au/Divisions/Pages/divisions/corrective-servicesnsw/corrective-services.aspx Justice intranet. Offender Management and programs. (2020, August 7). intranet.internal.justice.nsw.au/Divisions/Pages/divisions/corrective-servicesnsw/offender-management-and-programs/offender-management-services-andprograms.aspx Mann, R. E., Hanson, R. K., & Thornton, D. (2010). Assessing risk for sexual recidivism: Some proposals on the nature of psychologically meaningful risk factors. Sexual Abuse, 22(2), 191-217. doi:10.1177/1079063210366039 Marshall, W. L., & John Wiley & Sons. (2006;2005;2008;). Sexual offender treatment: Controversial issues (1. Aufl. ed.). Hoboken, NJ: J. Wiley. doi:10.1002/9780470713457 Marshall, W. L., & Laws, D. R. (2003). A brief history of behavioral and cognitive behavioral approaches to sexual offender treatment: Part 2. the modern era. Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, 15(2), 93-120. doi:10.1023/A:1022389915245 Marshall, W. L., & Marshall, L. E. (2010). Attachment and intimacy in sexual offenders: An update. Sexual and Relationship Therapy, 25(1), 86-90. doi:10.1080/14681991003589568 Mitra-Kahn, T., Newbigin, C., & Hardefeldt, S. (2016). Invisible women, invisible violence: Understanding and improving data on the experiences of domestic and family violence and sexual assault for diverse groups of women: State of knowledge paper (ANROWS Landscapes, DD01/2016). Sydney, NSW: ANROWS. NSW Government. Communities and Justice. Corrective Services. (2020, August 5) https://www.correctiveservices.justice.nsw.gov.au/ NSW Government. Communities and Justice. Victims, services and support. Children, teenagers and young people. (2017, February 22) https://www.victimsservices.justice.nsw.gov.au/sexualassault/Pages/sexual_assault_childre n.aspx#Definition:Whatischildsexualassault Ogloff, J. R. P., & Davis, M. R. (2004). Advances in offender assessment and rehabilitation: Contributions of the risk-needs-responsivity approach. Psychology, Crime & Law, 10(3), 229-242. doi:10.1080/10683160410001662735

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Rich, P., & Wiley-Blackwell. (2006;2005;2008;). Attachment and sexual offending: Understanding and applying attachment t...