A review of the concept of empathy and its components traces various attempts to define empathy in recent years. The authors favor the definition developed by Marshall, Hudson, Jones, and Fernandes (1995), which conceptualizes empathy as having four stages. It consists of emotional recognition, the ability to discriminate the emotional state of another person; perspective taking, the ability to view situations from another's perspective; replication of the observed emotion; and a response decision that is based on the feelings experienced. The authors then discuss the importance of empathy in a professional helping relationship, followed by an examination of the link between empathy and assaultive behavior for both general sex offenders and specifically for professionals who commit sex offenses. The article then considers the feasibility of empathy training in the context of the helping relationship and for sex offenders. Suggestions are offered for clinical intervention programs with professionals who have committed sex offenses. The model proposed, which is based on the theoretical and empirical data available, incorporates the following four key components of empathy training: developing cognitive awareness, enhancing emotional responsiveness, self-awareness, and modeling empathic responses. 1 table, 100 references, and 3 suggested readings