What Works in Corrections: Sex Offender Treatment

INTRODUCTION The term sex offender includes various types of offenders. From the perspective of the criminal justice system, sex offenders are usually classified into two categories: (1) people who have committed forcible rape and (2) people who have committed sexual assault (this includes statutory rape; sodomy; incest; offenses against chastity, common decency, and morals; unwanted sexual contact; and fondling). According to the FBI UCRs, the number of reported forcible rapes of females in the United States in 2004 was 63.5 for every 100,000 females in the population (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2004). However, accurate estimates of the incidence of sexual crimes are extremely difficult to obtain because many victims fail to report such offenses. Of the approximately 5 million people under some type of correctional supervision in the United States in 1994, only 4.7 percent were convicted of a sexual offense (the most serious crime of conviction). Almost 60 percent of the convicted sex offenders are in the community. Many of those in prison will also be returned to the community. Furthermore, offenders convicted of either rape or sexual assault receive sentences averaging 12.5 and 8.5 years, respectively (Greenfeld, 1997). Although the sentence lengths have not changed in the past decade, the amount of time these offenders actually spend in prison has increased because they serve a larger percentage of their sentence in prison.