Schmucker M, Lösel F (2008)
Publication Language: English
Publication Type: Journal article
Publication year: 2008
Publisher: Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos del Principado de Asturias
Book Volume: 20
Pages Range: 10-19
Volume: 20
Issue: 10-19
The article reports a systematic review of controlled outcome evaluations of psychosocial and organic sexual offender treatment. A comprehensive search of the literature in five languages revealed 80 independent comparisons between treated and untreated groups of sexual offenders ( N = 22,181). The majority of studies confirmed a positive treatment effect. Overall, 11.1% of treated offenders and 17.5% of controls showed sexual recidivism (37% difference). Findings for violent and general recidivism were similar. Studies on surgical castration showed the strongest effect; however, this was confounded with methodological and offender characteristics. Hormonal medication, cognitive-behavioural, and behavioural approaches also revealed a positive effect. Non-behavioural treatments did not show a significant impact. Other moderators such as small sample size, authors' affiliation with the program, program completion versus dropout, or type of outcome measure had a significant impact. Methodological study characteristics explained the largest proportion of effect size variance. Overall, findings are promising but more differentiated evaluations of high quality are needed.
APA:
Schmucker, M., & Lösel, F. (2008). Does sexual offender treatment work? A systematic review of outcome evaluations. Psicothema, 20, 10-19.
MLA:
Schmucker, Martin, and Friedrich Lösel. "Does sexual offender treatment work? A systematic review of outcome evaluations." Psicothema 20 (2008): 10-19.
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