Treatment and The Sex Offender
Treatment and The Sex OffenderTreatment and The Sex Offender
by Brent M. Pergram, Masters of Arts in Sociology
The Martinson Report of the early 1970�s, said that rehabilitative efforts or treatment programs in general had failed to reduce recidivism. The Report led those in control of government and the criminal justice system to say that rehabilitation does not work, and therefore
focus on deterrence and punishment of offenders. Martinson�s study of 231 treatment studies measured offender improvement in various areas, but recidivism is the issue here. Martinson
says �With few and isolated exceptions, the rehabilitative efforts that have been reported so far have had no appreciable effect on recidivism� (p.292).
Martinson says that education and vocational training in the studies he reviewed had no influence on reducing recidivism. But he admits that a correctional facility running a truly rehabilitative program that gets inmates ready for life on the outside by way of education and vocational training will have more successful persons than prisons that have no such
programs (Martinson, p.292).
Martinson says that individual counseling also fails to reduce recidivism. In terms of group counseling he admits that a study of adult offenders did show improvement in attitudes of offenders, but since it did not include information on recidivism it was discounted.
Martinson is criticized because the counseling programs may not seem to work because of the institutional environment outside the program. Martinson says that even in institutional environments that control every part of the offenders environment and treatment, did show a reduction in recidivism for one year. But he says the effects of such treatment did not reduce recidivism any more than no treatment after two years. And it had no influence on reducing the recidivism rates of young offenders (Martinson, p.296).
Prisoners with less sentences were found to have a higher parole success rate than those with longer sentences, but did not deal with the issue of offender degree of risk (Martinson, p.299).
Martinson says that since these treatment programs in prison did not work, maybe rehabilitating offenders outside an institutional setting may work. But the studies he reviewed showed no effect in treating the client. But he says that individual psychotherapy may work in a community setting.
Martinson said that their was no evidence to believe that intensive supervision of adults would reduce recidivism. But he said that a smaller case load did improve a person�s chances of parole success (p.305). But he says that intensive supervision works not because of the mechanisms of treatment or rehabilitation, but due to the mechanism of deterrence (Ibid).
Martinson says that community treatment may not reduce recidivism, but it does insure that the client will not become worse. Also community treatment is cheaper than treatment in prisons....
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