In recent times, the prevalence of sexual offences have heightened to such an extent that several ‘sexual-predator’ laws have been enacted to control its impact. Such enactments subscribe to involuntary confinement of the sexual offenders interspersed with systematic psychopathological treatment. The successful outcomes of these treatments are archived to be referred to on later occasions for the purpose of future forensic psychiatric evaluation (Schmucker & Lösel, 2015). It is accompanied by a comprehensive document of the convict’s history in similar cases of offense, his or her sexual history, and verified information regarding the deviant nature of his sexual arousal. The treating psychologist takes the entire above transcript, thus prepared by the assessing psychologist, to study the offender’s pattern of committing the sexual crimes and based on the findings, prepares a treatment plan (Wright, 2014). The present report iterates a specific framework based on assessment of Mr. Smith’s case study which would provide a definitive strategy to the treating psychologist to undertake his care intervention.
Details about Mr. Smith’s present circumstances and background relevant to his Treating Psychologists Mr. Smith was casually employed in one of his friend and housemate’s trucking business just before his 18-months of incarceration at Melbourne Correctional Centre for committing sexual offence. He lived an unrestrained life with no stable career or relationship. After his incarceration was over, he had moved into the residence of one of his female friends who had a stable job and no previous record of criminal offence. He was under the strict observance of the Parole Officer and was instructed to participate in the sex-offender treatment at regular intervals.
From age six, Mr. Smith had been a part of an unstable family. His biological father was abusive and emotionally unattached with everyone in the family and eventually left his mother along with 3 of his elder siblings and himself. His mother was also a promiscuous woman. At present, one of his older brothers was serving time for aggravated burglary in one of NSW’s correctional facilities. As Mr. Smith grew older, he showed little interest in studies and other educational activities and many a times got into aggressive brawls with his classmates. When he was 11 years old, he quit school and got himself into a series of odd jobs at construction sites. But there too, he failed to secure stability and often got involved in rows with his employers following which he was usually fired. He soon left his residence to live with three of his friends in the outskirts of Melbourne suburbs. Mr. Smith frequently consumed alcohol with his group of all male friends at local bars. He was also into substance abuse like meth and usually took it on Fridays to intensify his sexual encounter with women. Mr. Smith, like his mother, never tried to build a healthy romantic relationship with any woman. In most occasions, his relationships were simply based on the gratification of his sexual needs. Information about Mr. Smith’s current severity of condition and possible resolution that the Treating Psychologist can deliver to reduce the ris
Researchers have emphasized on the fact that recidivism does not simply mean repeating one’s offence. It essentially refers to the tendency of the offender to repeat his or her criminal activity even after being exposed to correctional intervention and legal consequences for his offence, with an intention to reduce or eliminate it. The study of recidivism rate among sex-offenders have revealed that they have often engaged in criminal acts that involved both violent sexual assaults and non-contact sexual offenses like exhibitionism (Hanson & Yates, 2013). The case history of Mr. Smith had revealed that prior to his offense of violating a female stranger at a beach party for which he was sentenced to a 2 years of imprisonment term, he had been convicted of sexually exposing himself to a 19-year old woman. Thus, it can be inferred that Mr. Smith has high incidence of recidivating his offense which might take even more severe forms such as rape. However, it must be added that recidivism is difficult to measure in the context of sexual crimes owing to the fact that very few cases of such crime are officially reported.
Mental health professionals generally carry out the risk assessment methods associated with recidivism of sexual offenders without focussing much on predictive accuracy (Marshall et al., 2013). In this case the treating psychologist, needs to apply her clinical acumen and accumulated experience in this field to perceive the amount of risk posed by Mr. Smith and devise a proper intervention to reform him. Such working resolution for risk assessment may include the following:
Criminal adjudication implemented to ascertain the specific periods of confinement or community supervision.
Depending on the past history, present case and correctional opportunities, the appropriate treatment needs are to be determined.
Testimony from the Sex Offender Registration and Notification or SORN Proceedings for evaluation of the levels of risk.
Consideration of ethical issues while confronting sexual offenders such as Mr. Smith constitute a complex process in the process of their evaluation and treatment. These ethical considerations correspond to the way in which the clinicians are expected to act in front of the sex-offenders in their course of therapeutic interactions. There are certain norms and values laid down which the psychologists try to adhere to while keeping their own negative emotions, towards these offenders, in check by being dispassionate ad carrying out fair dealings. This is a mandatory requirement because as per human rights, all individuals possess an inherent right to be treated with dignity and respect. This also becomes the first step in giving an opportunity to the offender to accept the moral and legal responsibility of his crime and make amends to progress towards a journey of redemption and resettlement into the civic community (Olver, Lewis & Wong, 2013). Such considerations are maintained in the following aspects:
Treatment programs aligned with risk management are to specifically address the offender’s well-being and interest.
The extent to which the personal lives of the offenders and his relationships are to be taken into account in the context of tailored or manual based programs.
A comparative analysis of the technical aspects of treatment intervention and the relationship dimension with the therapist.
Factors relevant to the therapists’ conjectures about the offender, his or her conflict of interest and the biases associated with self-care.
Possible Strategies that the Treating Psychologist can use to build Engagement with Mr. Smith
The attempts at rehabilitation begin with building a positive engagement with the patient. In this case, Mr. Smith who has a series of man handling and sex-offense cases against him needs to be counselled in such a way that risks of recidivism significantly reduce. Clinical and research initiatives in this field have proliferated to a considerable level recognising the inadequacies and deviation from a socially-acceptable cognitive outlook in sex offenders (Tully, Chou & Browne, 2013). It includes poor social skills, inability to regulate sexual desires, improper intimacy skills and low self-esteem. Through Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, the Forensic Psychologists are expected to facilitate change in the offender by encouraging him to be honest about his behavioural accountability and understand what led him to commit such a grave crime (Butcher, Mineka & Hooley, 2013). It also involves making the offender self-realise his offense and develop better coping strategies to come in terms with a normal life where he could be accepted in the community. Through best practice methods, the treating psychologist can assist the offender like Mr. Smith in achieving the necessary interpersonal skills through which he can improve his attempts at building intimate emotional bonds with other women. This could substantially lessen the chances of his reoffending and incline him more towards productive activities so that he can lead a fulfilling life.
Issues of risk relevant to Treating Psychologist’s own well-being at workplace that he or she should consider while treating Mr. Smith
In treating sex-offenders, the forensic psychologists need to maintain certain vigilant norms so as to avoid any objectionable reciprocation from the patient (Andrews & Bonta, 2014). It is important that the facilitator recognises, acknowledges and lays emphasis on the physically and emotionally disturbing aspects associated with the treatment of a sex offender like Mr. Smith like risks of violence, unlawful backlash, attempted assault or threats. Few of such preventive measures include the following:
Having security cameras and ample number of video monitoring system set up in the counselling room.
Conducting a prior evaluation to determine Mr. Smith’s potential for violent assaults.
Having a well-equipped room with panic buttons to call the security in case of emergency.
Having sufficient knowledge about self-defence for de-escalating a hostile situation (Gudjonsson & Haward, 2016).
Conclusion
To conclude the above report in can be said that sex offenders like Mr. Smith needs tough restriction implemented by parole officers along with effective therapy and counselling sessions to make him genuinely realise his offense and reduce the consequent risks of recidivism. This can be achieved through proper study of his childhood and criminal history along with simulation of the measures suggested by the assessment psychologist. By these combined measures, Mr. Smith would possibly be able to return to the community and lead a socially acceptable lifestyle.
References
Andrews, D. A., & Bonta, J. (2014). The psychology of criminal conduct. Routledge.
Butcher, J. N., Mineka, S., & Hooley, J. M. (2013). Abnormal psychology. ^ eNew York New York: Pearson.
Gudjonsson, G. H., & Haward, L. R. (2016). Forensic psychology: A guide to practice. Routledge.
Gunn, J., & Taylor, P. (2014). Forensic psychiatry: clinical, legal and ethical issues. CRC Press.
Hanson, R. K., & Yates, P. M. (2013). Psychological treatment of sex offenders. Current Psychiatry Reports, 15(3), 348.
Hanson, R. K., Babchishin, K. M., Helmus, L., & Thornton, D. (2013). Quantifying the relative risk of sex offenders: Risk ratios for Static-99R. Sexual Abuse, 25(5), 482-515.
Hanson, R. K., Helmus, L. M., & Harris, A. J. (2015). Assessing the risk and needs of supervised sexual offenders: A prospective study using STABLE-2007, Static-99R, and Static-2002R. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 42(12), 1205-1224.
Marshall, W. L., Marshall, L. E., Serran, G. A., & Fernandez, Y. M. (2013). Treating sexual offenders: An integrated approach. Routledge.
Olver, M. E., Lewis, K., & Wong, S. C. (2013). Risk reduction treatment of high-risk psychopathic offenders: The relationship of psychopathy and treatment change to violent recidivism. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment, 4(2), 160.
Schmucker, M., & Lösel, F. (2015). The effects of sexual offender treatment on recidivism: An international meta-analysis of sound quality evaluations. Journal of Experimental Criminology, 11(4), 597-630.
Tully, R. J., Chou, S., & Browne, K. D. (2013). A systematic review on the effectiveness of sex offender risk assessment tools in predicting sexual recidivism of adult male sex offenders. Clinical Psychology Review, 33(2), 287-316.
Wright, R. (Ed.). (2014). Sex offender laws: Failed policies, new directions. Springer Publishing Company.
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