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Australian Adolescent Sex Offender Treatment Program: Program and Client Description

NCJ Number
184500
Journal
Journal of Sexual Aggression Volume: 5 Issue: 1 Dated: 2000 Pages: 59-77
Author(s)
Karen Flanagan; Karla Hayman-White
Date Published
2000
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This article describes an Australian adolescent sex offender treatment program.
Abstract
The Adolescent Sex Offender Treatment Program (ASOTP) provides assessment and therapeutic services to children and adolescents with sexually abusive behaviors. The program focuses on the parallel process of work with child and adolescent victims and perpetrators of sexual abuse. It pays specific attention to describing the main modules of the formal group therapy program, which most clients enter following risk assessment. The article outlines criteria for assessing positive outcomes and describes characteristics of children and young people who have attended ASOTP, including victimization history and self-reported problem behaviors as assessed by the Achenbach Youth Self-Report Form. It summarizes sexually abusive behavior and victim characteristics. One of the greatest challenges for program staff is evaluating program efficacy. Use of re-offense data is problematic given that many offenses remain undetected or rely on self-report. In addition, there is a lack of objective measures that can assess changes in attitudes, cognitions and behaviors thought to maintain abusive behaviors. Program staff have had to rely heavily upon clinical impressions, with confirmation by information from a wide variety of different sources. Tables, references