The field of Sex Offender Treatment is a relatively new and rapidly expanding area of study and practice. Only in the last few years have risk assessment tools been available to assist in predicting recidivism rates in the sexual offender. In addition, there are many misconceptions about the success of treating this population. It is true that traditional therapies have been found to be both ineffective and counter-productive in the treatment of sexual offenders, often making the offender worse. However, new strategies have been developed to address the problematic psychological characteristics most often identified with the sexual offender. These include, among others, denial, lying, and cognitive distortions such as justification, minimization and rationalization.
This specific treatment is not only effective, but when properly administered with the appropriate population, it can save the community millions of tax dollars. When offenders pay for their own treatment on an outpatient basis, it not only saves money and valuable criminal justice resources, but also allows the offender to take responsibility for his crime in ways that encourage accountability on many different levels. Both individual and group therapy are available (See Counseling for group information)