Correctional institution based sex offender treatment: a lapse behavior study

Abstract

The correctional community has engaged in a surge of sex offender treatment programs, both within the confines of the correctional institutions as well as at the community level. While there has been an increase in efforts to assess the effectiveness of these programs the research has been hampered by inconsistency in appropriate outcome measures. The present study addresses these shortfalls, while focusing on the early behavioral lapse indicators. The study focuses on the premise that not all sex offenders lapse in similar manners, and that those with adult and statutory victims would show more impulsive-criminal trends in lapse behavior when compared to those with child victims. The results support the premise on several variables, but not on sexual deviancy.