The Treatment of Offenders: Current Practice and New Developments with an Emphasis on Sex Offenders

Abstract

Despite some dissenting views, most recent comprehensive reviews of what works in the correctional domain agree that some types of rehabilitation programmes are particularly effective in reducing the reoffending rate. In this paper, we review rehabilitation and treatment approaches utilized historically and presently, with a specific focus on ‘what works’. We examine the most widespread and successfully used rehabilitation principles (e.g., the Risk/Need/Responsibity Model), and then we turn our focus to specific treatment methods that are effective in reducing recidivism with sex offenders, paying particular attention to the relapse prevention model, and recent adaptations to this model (e.g., the self-regulation model).