The treatment of sex offenders: Risk management and good lives.

The lives of sex offenders are often confused and disorganized. Modern sex offender rehabilitation approaches such as the good lives model emphasize holistic aims such as helping offenders to live more satisfying and fulfilling lives, rather than merely teaching them to avoid risk. The appeal of the model lies in its justification by paternalism: Whatever harms are inflicted on offenders during the rehabilitation process are ultimately for their own good. But paternalism has its limitations, which include potential infringements on offenders’ autonomy and human rights, the risk of therapists imposing their own values and attitudes, and false claims that harmful interventions are justified by their benefit for offenders. Furthermore, some recent empirical studies suggest that offenders themselves do not necessarily prefer personal well-being goals over risk management techniques and that some offenders find it distressingly easy to incorporate “good lives” principles into an ongoing antisocial lifestyle. These limitations need to be taken into account when applying a good lives approach.

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Community re-entry and the path toward desistance: A quasi-experimental longitudinal study of dynamic factors and community risk management of adult sex offenders

Journal of Criminal Justice ◽

10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2013.09.006 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 42 (2) ◽

pp. 111-122 ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

Patrick Lussier ◽

Carmen L.Z. Gress

Keyword(s):

Risk Management ◽

Longitudinal Study ◽

Sex Offenders ◽

Dynamic Factors ◽

Community Risk ◽

Quasi Experimental ◽

Adult Sex Offenders

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Risk, discretion, accountability and control: Police perceptions of sex offender risk management policy in England and Wales

Criminology & Criminal Justice ◽

10.1177/1748895819839747 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 20 (4) ◽

pp. 433-450

Author(s):

James Hoggett ◽

Kieran McCartan ◽

Jack O’Sullivan

Keyword(s):

Risk Management ◽

Sex Offenders ◽

Sex Offender ◽

Current System ◽

Management Policy ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Online Questionnaire ◽

England And Wales ◽

Mixed Methods Approach ◽

And Control

This article argues that understanding current approaches to sex offender risk management and its operationalization must account for front line situational decision-making practices and the culture from which they develop and operate. The research utilizes a mixed-methods approach, combining an online questionnaire survey ( N = 227) with a series of semi-structured interviews ( N = 27) with members of the police service of England and Wales. Analysis identifies ambivalence about the effectiveness of the current system of categorizing sex offenders and suggests concerns about accountability and a lack of resources results in discretion being used to engage with but also negotiate policy in practice. The article suggests that the task for sex offender risk management is to create classification tools that work with this discretion rather than against it.

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