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Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice pp 5323–5332Cite as

Treatment of Sex Offenders

Synonyms

Sexual offender treatment (SOT)

Overview

This entry gives a brief overview on the effects of sexual offender treatment drawing on evidence from a number of meta-analyses and systematic reviews. Overall, this research reveals a positive effect on sexual reoffending. The syntheses suggest a mean effect of approximately d = 0.20 ± 0.10. Because of the low base rate of sexual reoffending, this equals about 25 % less recidivism of treated offenders as compared to untreated groups. However, the studies and findings are extremely heterogeneous and outcomes vary depending on many program, setting, offender, and methodological factors.

Unfortunately, the quality of the majority of evaluation studies on sex offender treatment is rather weak. However, the overall design quality is not consistently related to effect sizes, and the same applies to various other methodological and content characteristics. Cognitive-behavioral treatment, relapse prevention, and programs that adhere to the...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Friedrich Lösel

  2. Institute of Psychology, University of Erlangen–Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany

    Friedrich Lösel & Martin Schmucker

Authors
  1. Friedrich Lösel
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  2. Martin Schmucker
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Friedrich Lösel .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement (NSCR), Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Gerben Bruinsma

  2. VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Gerben Bruinsma

  3. Department of Criminology, Law and Society, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA

    David Weisburd

  4. Faculty of Law, The Hebrew University, Mt. Scopus, Jerusalem, Israel

    David Weisburd

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Lösel, F., Schmucker, M. (2014). Treatment of Sex Offenders. In: Bruinsma, G., Weisburd, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5690-2_352

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