A new national prison strategy for the assessment and treatment of sex offenders in England is described. Its main features are the potential inclusion of all convicted sex offenders sentenced to 4 or more years in prison, a coordinated and systematized assessment and treatment package, reliance on nonspecialist personnel to deliver treatment, and the integration of population and program research. Individuals are allocated to treatment depending on an assessment of the seriousness of their offending and their risk of reoffending, using an algorithm based on conviction history. The rationale underlying key decisions is described, and issues raised by the program are discussed.
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