Forensic Psychology For Dummies (144 page)

The ‘good-lives’ treatment approach therefore works with offenders to determine how they can achieve this range of positive outcomes in an acceptable and productive way. This aim is a tall order for people imprisoned because of despicable actions, which they themselves may abhor, but with appropriate guidance the approach at least offers an optimistic way of helping offenders.

The ‘risk-needs-responsivity’ approach

This is a down-to-earth approach to intervention with offenders and deals directly with the issues that their offences reveal:

The more at risk of re-offending a person is (as indicated by the assessments that I mention in the earlier section ‘Assessing Sexual Offenders’), the more intensive the treatment needs to be.
This process includes longer sessions over a longer period of time that deal more exhaustively with the cognitive and emotional aspects of the person’s offending.

Treatment focuses as directly as possible on the needs revealed in the assessment of the individual.
This approach deals with the dynamic risk factors that may be open to change, including attitudes and beliefs as well as sexual preferences.

None of the above aspects of the treatment programme can work without a degree of responsiveness from the offender and the therapist.
The programme requires the offender to be willing to participate and the therapist to be able to adjust the way the programme is delivered to suit the individual. This approach can include aspects of learning styles as I describe in Chapter 13, as well as adjustments that take into account the subculture and belief systems of the offender.

Sex Offender Treatment Programmes (SOTP)

A detailed programme for treating sex offenders is in wide use across prisons in the UK. I summarise this one to show how such treatment programmes unfold with inmates. SOTP emphasises teaching offenders how to understand and control their thinking, feelings and behaviour. A range of programmes are available to teach a person how to adjust the activities in which he participates to suit his particular risks, needs and priorities:

Core programme:
The treatment goals of this programme include:

• Helping offenders develop an understanding of how and why sexual offences are committed.

• Increasing awareness of the harm to victims of the offences.

• Developing meaningful life goals as part of a plan to prevent relapse.

Extended programme:
This one is for high-risk offenders and covers:

• Dysfunctional thinking styles.

• Emotion management.

• Offence-related sexual fantasies.

• Intimacy skills.

• Detailed consideration of how to develop adequate plans for relapse prevention.

Adapted programme:
Although the goals
of this programme are similar to the core programme, the methods are adjusted to suit learning-disabled sex offenders across all risk levels. An adapted programme is designed to:

• Increase sexual knowledge.

• Modify offence-justifying thinking.

• Develop the ability to recognise feelings in themselves and others.

• Gain an understanding of victim harm.

• Develop relapse prevention skills.

Rolling programme:
This programme covers the same topics as the core programme but with more emphasis on relationship skills and dealing with feelings of loneliness and abandonment.

Booster programme:
This option is designed to provide an opportunity for offenders to refresh their learning in treatment and to prepare for additional relapse prevention and release work.

Healthy relationships programme:
Especially aimed at offenders who are at risk of being violent to intimate female partners, it targets: