Research Paper on Adult Sexual Offenders

Introduction

A sex offender refers to an individual who has committed a sex crime. What comprises a sex crime varies regarding legal jurisdiction and culture. The majority of condemned sex offenders have convictions for sexual nature crimes. Nevertheless, other sex offenders have gone against the law included in the sexual category. A few of the felonies which result in compulsory sex offender classification include: receiving or sending obscene text messages (sexting), a second prostitution charge, corruption of a minor as a result of a relationship between teenagers and young adults. An adult is charged with child molestation if sexual contact occurs between the adult and the minor. Besides, statutory rape, child sexual abuse, sexual assault, incest, sexual imposition, rape, genital mutilation, and bestiality are serious offenses as well. If an adult commits or is involved in these crimes, he or she is convicted as an adult sexual offender.

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Nature and Type of Offender Population

Adults who abuse children sexually vary regarding age, ethnic group, occupation, marital status, and income level. There is a time when people believed that sex offenders could be distinguished along three dimensions including, offending against friends and strangers or family members, offending against either children or adults, offending through contact of the body or in a non-contact manner such as exhibitionism. There is increasing evidence that most offenders are charged across these categories (Leclerc & Wortley, 2015). In most cases, adult sex offenders committed this crime in their young age and developed the habit to adulthood.

A literature review shows that methodological challenges mark a paucity of supervised therapy outcome researches on the efficiency of treatment, as well as available uncontrolled studies. This condition has led to confusion where some people conclude that there is insufficient evidence to confirm that the remedy for child molesters is valid and useful. However, the treatment program has witnessed significant changes over the years. Recent studies indicate and give a reason for optimism concerning the usefulness of the modern techniques for the offenders.

Additionally, most of the adult offenders tend to have psychological problems which make them commit such crimes. However, some offenders commit the offense in their right senses, and the conviction is done regarding the state of mind of the charged person. The common type of adult sex offenders is male (Maras & Shapiro, 2017). Studies provide evidence that a few cases exist where female adults abuse children sexually. Similarly, female children are the most abused both by adults and adolescents.

According to the adult sex offender demographics, the group of internet-internet criminals displayed more distinct characteristics as compared to the internet and contact sex offenders and the probability of the offenders to have been accused before of a contact crime without being charged was high (Forward, 2014). Besides, many of the internet criminals were the white male, younger than the contact sex offenders, and they were in most cases single with no marriage history. Moreover, the offenders were well educated and likely to have good or stable employment.

Furthermore, there is less possibility that the offenders had past charges. Contact criminals were most likely to report difficulties in their childhood, for example, sexual abuse. The groups did not exhibit variations regarding the history of abuse of drugs or mental health contact. There is a need for future studies to consider the heterogeneity of internet sex criminals to allow the growth and delivery of proper services for this group to develop the preventive as well as therapeutic techniques.

Measuring the recidivism of sex offenders is difficult (Walters, Deming, & Casbon, 2015). The secret nature of sex offenses, the fact that only a few cases of sexual crimes are reported to the authorities, and the distinction in the manner by which researchers evaluate rates of recidivism all contribute to the issue. Studies have proved that most of the sex offenses are not reported, and the probability of the cases reaching law enforcement decreases with the age of the victim. This fact means that offenders of younger victims are not charged, and the victims end up suffering without help from the law enforcement (Rice & Harris, 2014).

Additionally, only a few sex offenders that are reported to the police are arrested and convicted. Therefore, it is evident that most adult sex offenders are likely to repeat the crimes if not arrested and charged accordingly. Reduction of recidivism is a crucial step towards reducing the rates of adult sex offenses.

Effective Treatment Modalities

Treatment of sex offenders is important to help reduce cases of recidivism the perpetrator can be treated after being released or in an enclosed setting like a prison (Budd &Mancini, 2016). This process involves distinct methods which include:

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy

This type of treatment is usually done in a group therapy environment and involves dealing with the irrational thoughts as well as beliefs of the criminals that make them engage in antisocial habits. These programs include elements that seek to aid the offenders to change their different thoughts by participating in opportunities that model their character and engaging in problem-thinking skills and prosocial behaviors. This technique mainly aims at improving the mindset or opinions of a criminal to helpful ideas to avoid the antisocial behaviors.

Psychotherapy

This method is also called counseling and is a common treatment procedure. Programs that fall under this technique involve the use of insight-dependent therapy which can be conducted both individually and as a group (Budd &Mancini, 2016). In most cases these programs take the form of customary therapy practices, for example, exploring the primary causes and thoughts connected to offending habits and talk therapy. The plans could be narrowed down to specifically sex offender or could be general as well. Besides, the Freud criteria can be applied to this method where there is a dialogue between the offender and the psychoanalyst to try and find out the cause of the behavior and how it can be solved.

Medical Treatment of Sex Offenders

Many attempts have been made over the past decades to use medical methods to treat and lower the risk of sex offenders as well as sex-offending habits. These approaches include hormonal therapy and surgical castration. Surgical castration requires a person to volunteer hence may not be effective. These kinds of treatment procedures involve the combination of psychological treatment and medical intervention so that failure of the offenders to take the hormones, they would still have gotten treatment.

Current treatment practice for sex offenders typically consists of therapists and other trained experts who attempt to get criminals to take liability for their behaviors, and at the same time treating any causal co-occurring disorder. The therapists engage relate with the offenders and work to ensure they realize the wrongfulness of their actions while documenting and advising the law enforcement on the risk each criminal posses to the community as well. The eligibility of sex criminals to engage in any treatment procedure varies regarding several factors such as risk level, treatment slots availability, willingness to participate, and seriousness of the offense. People charged with sex offenses receive treatment as a requirement of their charge and is compulsory.

Ineffective Modalities

Several treatment modalities have been used with adult sex offenders but are weak. These techniques include:

Chemotherapy

This technique involves the use of anti-androgenic hormones to increase self-regulation on sexual ferociousness (Stinson & Becker, 2018). The drug appears to be helpful by reducing the antisocial sexual habits. However, the sex-drive of human beings originates from the mind hence the offenders will have the urge after some time. This method is partially effective and cannot be useful since the perpetrators may still want to conduct their antisocial behaviors regardless of whether they are not in the position to be physically aroused.

Behavior Modification

This method attempts to change the criminal's sexual arousal patterns by relating aversive experiences like electric shock with deviant sexual habits, while at the same time encouraging and rewarding socially acknowledged behaviors. This kind of approach targets specific thoughts and actions associated with a person's precise offense. The efficacy of the technique is minimal, and it diminishes over time. The effectiveness decreases the more the offender is further away from the aversive experience.

Psychodynamic Psychotherapy

This a traditional therapeutic method that relies on the criminal's childhood hoping to find the causes of their offending habit. The approach appeals to most sex offenders because whenever they start treatment, they always look for someone to blame. If they find a situation where something awful was done to them at their young age, then they use that as the scapegoat (Stinson & Becker, 2018). They compare their sexual offending character to justice for being mistreated. This technique is the least effective since it does not have any clinical meaning or usefulness other than creating rapport.

Challenges Faced by Treatment Providers

Many studies, as well as the concern of the people and criminal justice systems, focuses on the sex offenders but less care is given to the individuals who have to deal with criminals in the process of healing them. These therapists experience problems as a result of their interaction with the offenders. These challenges include:

Stress Responses

Historically, traumatic stress has been connected to the people who have been directly involved in a traumatic event (Budd &Mancini, 2016). However, people have realized that a person is involved indirectly in a traumatic event could suffer from this issue as well. Jobs which require indirect exposure to shocking events, for example, therapists may entail constant exposure to other people's recollection of traumatizing incidents. Therefore according to research, therapists face a challenge of traumatic stress due to interacting with the offenders continuously (Hatcher & Noakes, 2010)

Early Contributions

According to Chassman, Kottler, & Madison (2010), treatment providers of adult sex offenders experienced more frustration and anger, reduced hopes and expectations, and greater pessimism in their work. Besides, they exhibited other effects like emotional hardening and suspicion, and this effect was beyond the consulting room as well as with the therapists. The challenges arise from the continuous treatment of criminals and experiencing several cases of sex offenses, and the trauma people go through especially the victims.

Contemporary Contribution

Rostill-Brookes, Sandhu, Thrift, and Rose conducted a study in 2012 using the interpretive phenomenological analysis, and the results indicated a low response rate for this research (Chassman, Kottler, & Madison, 2010). The low response rate could be a sign that the therapists were negatively impacted by their interactions with the adult sex offenders during the treatment process.

Challenges Faced by Sex Offenders

Sex offenders face many challenges during the reentry process after serving their term. These challenges include:

Stigmatization

Sex offenders suffer from stigmatization by the community when they are released from prison and try to start a new life (Budd &Mancini, 2016). The society views them as criminals without understanding the reason for their actions and w...