The article describes the sex-offending population, with particular attention to their custody status, clinical status, and types of offenses committed. It discusses the use of coercion in the form of incapacitation and the role that treatment plays in both early and more recent attempts at controlling sex offenders' behavior. It briefly assesses the overall effectiveness of sex offender treatment, with an emphasis on cognitive-behavioral therapy. Finally, it discusses the use of coercion to ensure that sex offenders receive treatment, emphasizing coercion's proper role relative to the overall effectiveness of the treatment approach. The article includes a theoretical explanation of how coerced sex offenders may ultimately benefit from treatment. The article observes that, with the emergence of cognitive-behavioral treatment as an effective approach to treating sex offenders and the growing consensus that curing sex offenders is an unrealistic goal, treatment has begun to assume a more dominant role in efforts to control the behavior of (rather than cure) sex offenders. To the extent that efforts to treat sex offenders are not used or are not effective, coercion remains the only effective means of protecting society from the sex-offending and other criminal behavior of these individuals. Note, references