CHAPTER TWO

PROGRAMMES FOR IMPRISONED SEX OFFENDERS: SHORT TERM RESULT OF THE ORIGINAL CORE PROGRAMME 

PROGRAMME DEVELOPMENT

The Core Programme was run in its original form by prison treatment centers between 1992 and 1994. From late 1994 it began to be replaced by the Revised Core Programme. This paper reports the results of two studies which examined the degree to which the original Core Programme met its treatment goals, that is the extent to which offenders who completed the programme had changed in the intended ways. 

The original Core Programme was a structured cognitive-behavioural programme which used a defined series of group work exercise to move offenders from a passive account of their offending to an active account in which they took responsibility for their behaviour and did not minimise the harm that their actions had caused. 

The programme also used some exercises aimed to specifically induce victim empathy (notably videotapes in which victims described how they had been effected) and there was some training in relapse prevention techniques, notably the mapping of offences into an offence cycle and the discussion of ways of breaking out of this cycle. The bulk of the programme though focused on the construction of an active account. 

It was anticipated that this process would breakdown denial and minimisation and in doing so give an opportunity to challenge and undermine whatever distorted belief the offender had used to justify his offending. In addition, a secondary effect was anticipated from the group process itself. The norms of the group included honesty, mutual support when people were struggling to be honest, and the giving and taking of constructive criticism. It was expected that this group process would itself reward desirable interpersonal characteristics - seeing other people's point of view, resolving conflict without being too aggressive or submissive, caring for others. And that exposing of the worst that they had done in a supportive environment would ameliorate many of the negative emotions which may have stemmed from a covert awareness of guilt and the fear that they were ultimately unlovable.

Study 1 : Impact of the Core Programme in Assessment Centers

Assessment Centers run a detailed assessment process before and after the Core Programme as well as providing a variety of additional treatment modules. And there is a relatively high proportion of specialist staff working on the programme. The prisons that hold Assessment Centers are all high security establishments so the offenders held there tend to be the more violent offenders serving longer sentences for more violent offences. This first study examines the impact of the Core Programme run in assessment centers. 

METHOD

A comprehensive battery of tests was administered by prison psychology departments to men participating in the Core Programme both shortly before they began it and then again about 3 months after completion. This study took data from about 150 cases who completed the programme at seven prisons designated as assessment centers. The cases involved generally began the programme in 1993 or early 1994. 

About a third were incest cases, about a third extra-familial child molesters, and about a third had assaulted adults. The prisons concerned were all high security establishments so the participants were all serving long sentences for particularly serious offences usually involving considerable violence or multiple victims. 

Results are reported here only for selected variables : 

These variables are presented here because they are well known measures all of which have been demonstrated to significantly differentiate the present population of convicted sex offenders from non-offender controls (Hughes, 1995)

RESULTS 

Table 1 below shows the mean scores before and after treatment, the associated standard Deviations, and the significance level reached on the t-test for paired scores. Note that sample sizes vary between 150 (for submissiveness and social confidence, and 134 (for Benign Control) because not all measures were administered at all sites. Statistically significant improvements (p~0.01) were found on all variables. 

Similar results were also found on almost all the other variables from the data set (not shown here), the exception being measures which have proved unrelated to sexual offending and measures intended to reflect the honesty with which questionnaires are completed (like the EPQ Lie scale). 

These results show improvements in all areas studied though the size of the effect is only moderate. 

Table 2 shows how the effect of treatment depends on the level of need
present. Offenders are classified as showing "high need" on a given dimension
if they score more than a standard. 
 

Table 1 
Attitudes and Personality Before and After Treatment at Assessment Centers

Variable

Pre-mean

Pre-sd

Post-mean

Post-sd

Significance *

Rape myths

Child myths

Submissiveness

Benign control

Social confidence

Table 2 - Effect of Treatment by Level of Prior Need

Variable

Need

Pre-mean

Pre-sd

Post-mean

Post-sd

N

Significance confidence

Rape myths

Low

High

Child myths

Low

High

Submissiveness

Low

High

Benign control

Low

High

Social confidence

Low

High

It is apparent from table 2 that the overall pattern of moderate change is made up of low need cases who essentially do not change and high need cases who show a large change in the desired direction.

Study 2 - Impact of the Core Programme in Treatment Centers 

As compared to Assessment Centers, Treatment Centers carry out a more limited assessment process and tend not to offer so much in the way of ancillary treatments over and above the Core Programme itself. Treatment Centers are generally set in medium security establishments and so their populations tend to be serving shorter sentences for less violent offences. This second study looked at the impact of the Core Programme as run by these prisons.

METHOD 

An experimental battery of measures was administered to men before and after they participated in the Core Programme in prisons designated as treatment centers. These centers predominantly treated men who had offended against children though up to a fifth were men who had offended against adults. This reflects the lower level of security offered at the prisons concerned as compared to the prisons which were involved in the first study. 

The first questionnaire used was the Sex Offence Information Questionnaire, a measure of denial and minimisation developed by Hogue (see for example Thornton and Hogue (1993).

The second questionnaire contained an experimental set of scales loosely based on items from 

The resultant item pool was refined by factor analysis.

The scales are:

Data was available from six treatment centers with sample sizes varying between 130 and 139 depending on the variable involved because of occasional missed items. 

RESULTS 

Table 3 below shows the means and standard deviations for these variables before and after the Core Programme. Significant improvements are apparent in a number of areas, most notably a major reduction in minimisation, and a less distorted image of children. There was little change in acceptance of rape myths and no change in the extent to which women were seen as rejecting.
There was however a significant reduction in the extent to which women were seen as deceitful.

Table 3- Changes in Attitudes following the Core Programme

Variable

Pre-mean

Pre-sd

Post-mean

Post-sd

Significance

Minimisation

Rape myths

Sexual child

Powerful child

Deceitful women

Rejecting women

DISCUSSION 

Both studies indicate a broadly positive impact of the Core Programme in the areas that it might be expected to effect. There are three aspects of the results which are worth comment.
It might be supposed that the changes in a questionnaire score reflected simply a greater tendency to depict oneself in a positive light. Faking good after treatment as it were. This does not seem to have been the case - scores on the HPQR Lie scale were essentially the same before and after treatment. 

Apart from the effect on Minimisation (which is directly targeted by the programme) the other effects are only moderate in size. However, as indicated earlier, this reflects the heterogeneity of sex offenders. Not all of them show the same problems to start with. 

Thus apparently moderate changes reflect a combination of people who did not have much of a problem in a given area basically not changing, whilst people who had a major problem in that area show a big change. 

Finally, it is notably that the size of the change produced at Assessment Center's seemed sometimes to be greater than that observed at the Treatment Centers. It is hard to be sure whether this is really the case as the variables examined are not the same. However, the contrast is greatest for acceptance of beliefs justifying rape which show a marked decrease at the assessment centers but very little change at the Treatment Centers. 

It may be that the programme is simply better run at the Assessment Centers - their programmes are supported by more specialist resources and might be expected to be better. However, the number of rapists in the group may be a significant element. The opportunity to challenge rape-supporting beliefs will arise in the Core Programme only when someone deploys them to justify their offending. If there are three or four rapists in a group it is likely that there will be quite a number of opportunities to challenge these beliefs. If there is only one rapist, or indeed no rapists (these being the most common situations in a Treatment Centre) then there will have been little opportunity to challenge that kind of distortion. And indeed in that situation, the solitary rapist in a group may decide that he is different and that the lessons of the group don't apply to him.

REFERENCES

Beckett, R. Beech, A. Fisher, D. & Fordham, A S. (1994 ) 'Community-based treatment for sex Offenders; an evaluation of seven treatment programmes.' London: Home Office.

Burt M.R. (1980) Cultural myths and supports for rape. 'Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.' 38, 217-230.

Check, J.V. (1984) The hostility towards women scale. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, University of Manitoba, Winnepeg.

Hughes, J.G (1995) Are sex offender really different from non- offending males. Unpublished MSc Thesis. University of London.

Marshall, W.L. (Undated) The Sex with Children Questionnaire, Unpublished.

Kingston Sexual Behaviour Clinic Assessment Pack.

Roger, D. & Nazarian, B. (1989) The construction and validation of a new scale for measuring emotional control. 'Personality and Individual Differences.' 10, 845-853.

Thornton, D. & Hogue, T. (1993) The large scale provision of programmes for imprisoned sex Offenders, issues, dilemmas, and progress. 'Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health.' 3. 371-380.