Predicting treatment drop-out in sex offenders

Abstract

This study identifies risk factors associated with recidivism for sexual offences against children to determine the efficacy in using such variables in analysing drop-out in a sample of 96 sex offenders who had attended a community treatment programme in the West Midlands area. The study considered 30 risk factors; 12 concerned with current offences and criminal history, 9 looking at the current situation and background history and 9 addressing current psychological problems and the treatment process. The study found that 60 offenders were observed to stay in treatment and thirty six offenders dropped out. Overall, nine risk factors were found to have a positive association with treatment drop-out. The nine significant risk factors, when considered together, were shown to distinguish those offenders who stayed in treatment from those who dropped out with a 78% accuracy. These findings were used to develop a weighted risk factor checklist. It was observed that those offenders who dropped out of treatment scored significantly higher on this “resistance to treatment” scale. The implications for practice work with sex offenders are discussed. Copyright © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.