U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

National Institute of Justice

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

OFF ICE OF JUSTICE PROGRAMS

BJA NI J OJJDP BJS OVC

R e s e a r c h i n B r i e f

National Institute of Justice

Jeremy Travis, Director January 1997

continued . . .

Issues and Findings

Discussed in this Brief: Results of

a national telephone survey identifying how probation and parole

agencies managed adult sex offenders and a description of a

model management process for

containing sex offenders serving

community sentences. The model

process evolved from insights

gleaned from field research in six

States.

Key issues: In 1994, State prisons

held 88,100 sex offenders compared to 20,500 in 1980. Most will

return to the community, many supervised by parole officers. Many

persons convicted of sexual assault

felonies are sentenced to probation. The distinctive characteristics

of sex offenders and the unique

trauma they inflict require use of

more than routine, one-size-fits-all

methods of supervision. How can

sex offenders be managed in community settings in ways that enhance public safety and victim

protection?

Key findings: The survey and field

research yielded the following results and suggestions:

● The most commonly reported

special conditions for sex offenders

on probation or parole were courtor officer-ordered treatment requirements and no-contact-withvictim provisions.

Managing Adult Sex Offenders in

the Community—A Containment

Approach

by Kim English, Suzanne Pullen, and Linda Jones

Of the many factors that underscore the

critical importance of effectively managing sex offenders on probation, parole, or

under other forms of community supervision, none is more compelling than the

devastating trauma1 visited on victims of

sexual assault.

Such trauma falls disproportionately on

children under age 18 if data obtained in

1991 from sex offenders in State prisons

are any indication: about two-thirds of

them committed their crimes against children under age 18, with about 58 percent

being under age 13.2

 Less than 10 percent of the inmates incarcerated for

sexual assault of children reported that

victims had been strangers to them.3

Components of the trauma associated

with sexual assault include shame, selfblame, fear, developmental crises, posttraumatic stress disorder, and the threat

or actuality of physical violence, terror,

and injury. Most profound in its traumatic

implications is the violation of trust that

occurs if, as in most sexual assault victimizations,4

 offenders are known to victims. Trauma and the length and level of

recovery seem linked to trust violation

more than to many other factors.5

 Thus,

what might be regarded by some as a

relatively minor type of sexual assault

(e.g., “just fondling”) can be extremely

traumatic to a victim who trusted the

perpetrator.

The accelerating influx of sex offenders

into the criminal justice system further

heightens the need for effective sex offender supervision and management

practices, both in and out of prisons. The

number of adults convicted annually of

rape, child molestation, or other forms of

sexual assault and sentenced to State

prisons more than doubled between 1980

(8,000) and 1992 (19,100, almost 5 percent of all State prison admissions that

year).6

State prisons held 20,500 sex offenders

in 1980, 75,900 in 1992, 81,100 in 1993,

and 88,100 in 1994.7

 The majority will

return to the community, many under

supervision by parole officers. In 1992,

States paroled 7,382 prisoners convicted

of sex offenses.8

In addition, many—more in some States

than others—of those convicted of sexual

assault felonies are sentenced to probation or to other forms of community
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R e s e a r c h i n B r i e f

● Probation and parole agencies

with specialized caseloads were

more likely to report use of such

community-safety approaches as

emphasis on after-hours monitoring of offenders and an orientation

focusing on victim protection.

● More than 80 percent of probation and parole respondents stated

that mental health treatment is

mandated for sex offenders under

community supervision.

● The model process for managing

and containing sex offenders on

probation or parole values public

safety, victim protection, and reparation for victims as paramount.

● The model process seeks to contain offenders in a triangle of supervision: treatment to teach sex

offenders to develop internal control over deviant thoughts; supervision and surveillance to control

offenders’ external behaviors; and

polygraph examinations to help

design, and to monitor conformance to, treatment plans and supervision conditions.

● Other aspects of the process are

(1) collaborative strategies relying

on intra-agency, interagency, and

interdisciplinary teams to develop a

unified approach to sex offender

management; (2) consistent public

policies supportive of sex offenderspecific containment practices; and

(3) quality control measures that

include monitoring and evaluation

to guide continuous improvement

in sex offender management.

Target audience: Probation and

parole officers and supervisors,

treatment providers, victim services

personnel, law enforcement officials, prosecutors, judges, social

services personnel, State and local

policymakers.

Issues and Findings

continued. . .

supervision.9 For example, in Colorado in

1990, of those convicted of sexual assault

(5 percent of all felony convictions),

courts sentenced 60 percent to probation,

4 percent to halfway houses, and 36 percent to prison.10 In one notable area,

Maricopa County, Arizona, about 500 of

the 1,300 sex offenders on probation are

serving lifetime probation sentences.11

Clinical practice and research, and data

obtained from probation and parole officers nationwide, indicate that adults who

commit sex crimes should be managed,

treated, and supervised differently from

other criminals.

Although community safety is the central

purpose of sex offender management,

characteristics of the sex offenders themselves dictate the form and style of treatment that will be most effective. Not all

sex offenders share all the following characteristics, and the absence of a particular characteristic does not mean the

individual is not a sex offender.

• Sex crimes flourish in secrecy. Sex offenders have secretive and manipulative

lifestyles, and many of their sexual assaults are so well planned that they appear to occur without forethought.12 The

skills used to manipulate victims have

also been employed to manipulate criminal justice officials.13

• Many sex offenders are otherwise

highly functioning people who use their

social skills to commit their crimes.14

• Sex offenders typically have developed

complicated and persistent psychological

and social systems constructed to assist

them in denying and minimizing the

harm they inflict on others, and often

they are very accomplished at presenting

to others a facade designed to hide the

truth about themselves.15

• Many sex offenders commit a wide

range and large number of sexually deviant acts during their lives and show a

continued propensity to reoffend.16 In a

study of 561 compulsive adult subjects,

rapists reported a lifetime average of 7

incidents and exhibitionists more than

500. In this sample of 561 voluntary subjects, about 54 percent reported having at

least two paraphilias; 20 percent participated in deviant behavior without regard

to victim gender; and 23.3 percent reported offending against both family and

nonfamily victims.17

Knowledge of the actual dynamics of sex

offending is not widespread, but the

public’s awareness of sex offenders is increasing and is often manifested as outrage at particularly heinous sexual

assaults, especially those committed by

offenders under community supervision.

In many States, victim and family outrage

is fueling legislation requiring registration of convicted sex offenders with law

enforcement agencies, and enactment of

community notification and sexual predator laws.

What is being done to manage sex offenders in the community to contain them and

thereby protect victims and the public?

Research sponsored by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) and conducted by

the Colorado Division of Criminal Justice

addressed those questions through (1) a

national telephone survey of 732 probation and parole supervisors and (2) field

research in six States (see “Research

Methods”).

The telephone survey focused on identifying how probation and parole agencies

managed adult sex offenders (see “Telephone Survey: Selected Findings”). Field

research uncovered specific, targeted

methods for managing sex offenders and

led to insights that culminated in a detailed proposal—a model containment

process—for the management of adult

sex offenders serving community sentences.
3

R e s e a r c h i n B r i e f

Five-part model

containment process

The model process for managing adult

sex offenders in the community is a

containment approach that seeks to

hold offenders accountable through the

combined use of both offenders’ internal controls and external control measures (such as the use of the polygraph

and relapse prevention plans). A containment approach requires the integration of a collection of attitudes,

expectations, laws, policies, procedures, and practices that have clearly

been designed to work together. This

approach is implemented through interagency and interdisciplinary teamwork.

Consistent with the clinical treatment

literature and with dozens of local protocols developed for managing cases of

sexual assault, the model process consists of five components, discussed below: an overall philosophy and goal of

community and victim safety, sex offender-specific containment strategies,

interagency and interdisciplinary collaboration, consistent public policies,

and quality control.

1. Overall philosophy and goal:

community and victim safety. At

the heart of the model process is a philosophy that values public safety, victim protection, and reparation for

victims as the paramount objectives of

sex offender management. Protection

and recovery of the victim and the

well-being of the community are concerns that guide policy development,

program implementation, and actions

of professionals working with sexual

assault victims and perpetrators.

In this approach to sex offender management, the client is the community.

Under this philosophy, treatment and

supervision modalities give priority to

T

community protection and victim

safety. Orders for no contact with the

victim are sought at the earliest opportunity. Whenever possible, the perpetrator rather than the victim is

removed from the home in cases of incest. Confidentiality is limited, and information is shared freely among the

management team. And the importance of employment for sex offenders

yields to public safety considerations

when prospective jobs are high-risk

because of the access they give offenders to potential victims—as would employment as a school bus driver or as

apartment-complex superintendent

with keys to each unit. The energy and

commitment of the probation and parole officer is thereby devoted to assisting the sex offender to remain

safely in the community.

2. Sex offender-specific containment: individualized case management system. This component of the

model process focuses on a containment approach to case processing and

case management that can be tailored

to the individual sex offender and his

or her deviant sexual history. This approach rests on the dual premise that

sex offenders are 100 percent responsible for the damage they inflict and

that they must constantly and consistently be held accountable for the inappropriate thoughts and feelings that

precede their crimes as well as for

their illegal actions. Three elements

work together to contain the sex offender:

• Sex offender-specific treatment

to help offenders learn to develop internal control. Trained and skilled

therapists treat sex offenders in cognitive-behavioral group therapy to help

them achieve personal control of their

deviant sexual impulses, thoughts,

feelings, and behaviors. Sex offenders

are expected to understand and learn

Research Methods

he research question: How are the

Nation’s probation and parole agencies

managing adult sex offenders? Field research and a national telephone survey

were the primary research approaches

used to address that question.

Encompassing 49 States (South Dakota

was not included) and the District of Columbia, the telephone survey sample was

stratified by population density and geography. During June-October 1994, interviewers contacted 758 probation and

parole supervisors, of whom 732 (96.6

percent) agreed to hour-long interviews.

The survey obtained basic information

about policies and procedures related to

sex offender case management, treatment and other court orders, staff training, and interagency collaboration.

Conducted in 1994, field research involved

more than 100 interviews in 13 jurisdictions located in Arizona, Colorado, Louisiana, Ohio, Oregon, and Texas. Researchers

interviewed probation and parole officers,

defense and prosecuting attorneys, law

enforcement personnel, social service

workers, sex offender treatment providers,

sexual assault victim treatment providers,

polygraph examiners, judges, correctional

administrators, parole authorities, victim

advocates, and sex offenders.

Other research included a review of the research and theoretical literature on victim

trauma and sex offender management

and treatment, a content analysis of sex

offense statutes in 50 States, and a systematic document review (manuals, protocols, policies, etc.).
4

R e s e a r c h i n B r i e f

to interrupt their individual offense

cycles. The effort to promote and

monitor internal control with an approach that overtly identifies dangerous thoughts, fantasies, and feelings

as critical treatment and management

issues is an important departure from

traditional criminal justice intervention with sex offenders.

• Official supervision and monitoring

to exert external control over offenders. Probation and parole agencies

apply pressure—through clear expectations and through use or threatened

use of sanctions—to ensure that the

offender complies with specialized

treatment and supervision conditions.

This pressure to participate in sex offender-specific treatment for purposes

of public safety inextricably links the

mental health community and criminal

justice system.

• Polygraph examinations to obtain

complete sexual history information

and to monitor the offender’s deviant

fantasies and external behaviors—

particularly access to victims. Data

obtained during the polygraph examination provide vital management and

compliance feedback to the treatment

provider and probation/parole officer.

Maintaining close communication and

acting as a team, the treatment provider, probation/parole officer, and

polygraph examiner form a triangle of

supervision, with the offender contained in the middle (see “Containing

the Sex Offender in the Supervision

Triangle”). Sex offenders must waive

confidentiality of the information they

divulge because containment depends

on the constant sharing of information

by and among team members, other

criminal justice professionals, family

members, and others, such as employers and church officials.

F

Telephone Survey: Selected Findings

indings based on the responses of

732 probation and parole supervisors to a

nationwide telephone survey are presented in terms of seven supervision issues that field research identified as vital

components of an effective sex offender

containment strategy.*

1. Specialized units or caseloads. Almost one-third of the probation and parole agencies had specialized caseloads.

Those agencies were more likely to report

the use of such community safety-related

approaches as imposition of special supervision conditions on sex offenders,

emphasis on after-hours monitoring of

offenders, and an orientation focusing on

victim safety.

2. Availability of victim information

for case management purposes. Seventy-eight percent of probation agencies

and 63 percent of parole agencies represented in the survey included a victim impact statement in the sex offender’s case

file, and about 30 percent had procedures for informing victims of significant

changes in the status of the sex

offender’s case.

3. Sex offender management practices and special conditions. The most

commonly reported special conditions of

probation and parole were court- or officer-ordered treatment requirements and

no-contact-with-victim provisions. About

10 percent of the probation and parole

agencies reported electronic monitoring

of sex offenders; the same percent reported use of the polygraph for treatment or supervision purposes.

Supervision contacts with sex offenders

were more frequent than with nonsex offenders in most of the probation and parole agencies surveyed.

4. Sanctioning and revocation practices. Respondents indicated that supervising officers required a range of sanctions to “tighten the reins” on adult sex

offenders when they began to exhibit

high-risk behavior patterns or to fail to

comply with supervision or treatment

conditions. Agencies following a specialized approach to managing sex offenders

were more likely to use short-term confinement (jails or halfway houses) as a

prerevocation sanction than to use electronic monitoring or to increase supervision contacts. Sanctions that could be

imposed in less than 24 hours were the

ones most likely used, suggesting the

need for methods of immediate intervention.

5. Sex offender treatment. Treatment

is commonly required of sex offenders

under community supervision. More than

80 percent of probation and parole respondents reported that mental health

treatment is mandated. Sixty percent of

respondents used an approved list of

treatment providers; 26 percent stated

that sex offender treatment services were

in short supply.

6. Training. About two-thirds of the probation and parole supervisors reported

they had received training in sex offender

management, but less than half had received it within the last year.

7. Interagency collaboration. One-third

of the respondents reported that an interagency group meets regularly to discuss

sex offender issues. Most frequently

named as participants in interagency

teams were law enforcement officers and

treatment providers.

*

See English, K., S. Colling-Chadwick, S.

Pullen, and L. Jones, How Are Adult

Felony Sex Offenders Managed on Probation and Parole? Denver: Colorado Division of Criminal Justice, Department of

Public Safety, 1996.
5

R e s e a r c h i n B r i e f

In pursuing safe and effective treatment of sex offenders in the community, therapists must obtain full

disclosure of offenders’ sexual histories. Sex offenders must examine carefully their lives and recognize as

dysfunctional the situations, relationships, emotional states, attitudes, and

behaviors that they may be considering as “normal.” Use of the polygraph

helps ensure that offenders fully reveal

their sexual histories—information

that is essential to the development of

effective treatment programs.18 To the

observation that polygraph results may

not always be accurate, the rejoinder

is that they have been found to be significantly more reliable, on average,

than offenders’ self-reported histories.

In jurisdictions identified by field research as employing the containment

approach, the treatment intervention

was group therapy, for which offenders

were nearly always required to pay at

least a portion of the cost. Individual

therapy may occur for specific issues

and in limited contexts but provides

too much opportunity for image management. Only in group therapy are

offenders exposed to the type of valuable, perceptive, and corroborating

confrontation that occurs with fellow

sex offenders.

A “cure” for sex offending is no more

available than is a cure for epilepsy or

high blood pressure. But use of a variety of interventions can help manage

these disorders. A realistic objective of

treatment is to provide sex offenders

with the tools to manage their inappropriate sexual arousal and behavior. A

therapist can, in many cases, teach offenders self-management by developing skills for avoiding high-risk

situations through identification of decisions and events that precede them

and through correction of their thought

distortions. Treatment focuses on recognizing and managing deviant sexual

behavior and offenders’ thoughts and

attitudes that promote it.

Research reveals that deviant thoughts

and fantasies by sex offenders are precursors to sexual assault and, therefore, are an integral part of the assault

pattern.19

By instilling in offenders the dictum

that deviant attitudes and fantasies reinforce deviant behavior and are not

acceptable, treatment providers and

supervising officers are prepared to intervene—set limits—at the incipient

stages of reoffending patterns. Although such thoughts and feelings are

not crimes, they are signals that constitute good reasons—based on empirical research and clinical

experience—to increase supervision

and “tighten the reins” on an offender.

This increased surveillance often results in detecting preassault behaviors

that can be interrupted or, conversely,

lead to revocation.

Using thoughts and feelings—the stuff

of therapy—as a starting point for risk

management is a marked departure

from traditional criminal justice supervision. Once a sex offender reveals

thoughts and feelings that are part of

the assault pattern, criminal justice officials can use that information to develop and, if necessary, continuously

update an individualized treatment,

supervision, and surveillance plan.

The top priority of such a plan is to

eliminate opportunities for reoffense—

to protect victims and the general

public. In that regard, sex offenderspecific probation or parole conditions, such as those that follow, play a

crucial role:

• Your employment must be approved

by the probation/parole agency.

• You shall participate in treatment

with a therapist approved by the probation/parole department.

• You shall participate in periodic

polygraph examinations.

• You shall not have contact with children under age 18.

• You shall not frequent places where

children congregate, such as

schoolyards, parks, playgrounds, and

arcades.

• You shall maintain a driving log

(mileage; time of departure, arrival, return; routes traveled and with whom;

etc.).

• You shall not drive a motor vehicle

alone without prior permission of your

supervising officer.

• You shall not possess any pornographic, sexually oriented, or sexually

stimulating visual, auditory, telephonic, or electronic media and computer programs or services that are

relevant to your deviant behavior pattern.

• You shall reside at a place approved

by the supervising officer, including

supervised living quarters.

• You shall abide by a curfew imposed

by the supervising officer and comply

with electronic monitoring, if so ordered.

• You shall not have contact, directly

or through third parties, with your victims.

• You shall abstain from alcoholic

beverages and participate in periodic

drug testing.
6

R e s e a r c h i n B r i e f

• You shall not have a post office box

number without the approval of your

supervising officer.

• You shall not use fictitious names.

Specialized surveillance officers can

also help determine compliance with

conditions by monitoring offenders

through intensive field work. Duties of

surveillance officers may include

searching the residences and vehicles

of offenders, monitoring their activities, making arrests, attending therapy

groups, and discussing high-risk issues with offenders and assessing their

mental states.20

The goal of the polygraph examination is to obtain information necessary

for risk management and treatment,

and to reduce the sex offender’s denial

mechanisms. The examiner evaluates

answers to carefully developed questions as truthful, deceptive, or inconclusive. Deceptive results flag areas of

concern that the treatment provider

and supervising officer need to investigate further. Every effort is made to assist the offender in obtaining a positive

evaluation so that treatment can be

informed and relevant. To this end,

polygraph data should be used in conjunction with other information when

making decisions about case management of sex offenders.21

Use of the polygraph raises questions

about granting limited immunity from

prosecution to offenders who disclose

new crimes. Jurisdictions vary regarding immunity policies. Some jurisdictions, like Colorado, do not offer

limited immunity, but prosecutors

make thoughtful decisions about further prosecution on a case-by-case basis. Decisionmakers in one jurisdiction

visited during the field research concluded that to prosecute all reported

offenses would infringe on Fifth

Amendment rights and thus prohibit

therapeutic use of the polygraph.22 Another study site grants limited immunity for similar past offenses if the

offender meets several containment

conditions, including actively participating in an approved treatment program, pleading guilty, and gaining

employment that meets the approval of

the probation or parole officer.23

Ultimately, success of the containment

system depends on the caliber of the

last three elements of the model process: collaborative implementation

strategies, consistent public policies,

and quality control.

3. Collaboration: a multidisciplinary approach. The creation of

intra-agency, interagency, and interdisciplinary teams to develop, implement, and monitor policies, procedures,

and protocols forges a unified and

comprehensive approach to sex offender management. Examples of such

teams include the following:

• Interagency policy and protocol

committees.

• Law enforcement/child protection

partnerships.

• Case management supervision teams

of probation/parole officers, treatment

providers, and polygraph examiners,

among others.

• Intra-agency networks of specialized

probation and parole officers.

Members of interagency teams, for example, may include law enforcement

officers, child protection personnel,

rape crisis center counselors, prosecuting attorneys, probation and

parole officers, medical doctors, treatment providers, polygraph operators,

and prison officials. In some cases,

members may also include school

counselors, crime victim advocates,

and medical staff specializing in child

sex abuse.

Through systematic cooperation and

collaboration, such teams are an

antidote to traditionally fragmented

intervention efforts. Teams improve

interagency communication, facilitate

case-specific information sharing, promote the exchange of expertise and

ideas, help break down traditional turf

barriers, minimize duplication of effort, maximize resources, and often

reduce staff burnout.

Some intra-agency teams consist of

probation and parole officers who specialize in the management of sex offenders. Teams such as these are

facilitated by job specialization—the

assignment of one or more persons to

deal solely with sex offender cases.

Specialization may occur at the organizational level by formally creating a

unit to manage sexual assault cases, at

the line level by specializing work assignments of identified staff, or at both

levels by a combination of those approaches. Specialization enhances

skills, increases communication, and

tends to improve consistency at all

stages of sex offender management,

and is a fundamental component of the

collaboration process.

4. Consistent public policies. No

matter how good the design and implementation of sex offender-specific containment practices, these cannot

function at peak effectiveness without

the support of informed, clear, and

consistent public policies—the fourth

element of the model process.

Ideally, local criminal justice practitioners should work with State legisla-
7

R e s e a r c h i n B r i e f

tures, governors, and officials from

State judicial and corrections departments to develop policies reflecting

the latest thinking about the management of sex offenders. Whenever possible, practitioners should help shape

legislative mandates, executive orders,

and agency policies and protocols that

support and advance the public safety

priority of sex offender management.

Clear and consistent policies define

agency responsibilities and reinforce

practices that, when operating effectively, will interrupt any attempt by

sex offenders to manipulate the management plan.

Particularly important is the development of policies that prohibit pleas or

dispositions that reinforce sex offenders’ frequent refusal to admit their

crimes, to acknowledge the seriousness of their actions, or to take responsibility for the harm they have caused.

The greater such denial, the more the

offender resists (or even escapes)

treatment and the more difficult the

task of establishing appropriate external controls. Continued denial on the

part of the offender is also uniquely

disempowering to the victim. The following are pleas and dispositions that

contribute to and reinforce a sex

offender’s denial or minimization of

the sexual assault:

• Alford and no contest pleas. These

pleas allow sex offenders to avoid a direct admission of guilt. An Alford plea

is a guilty plea that permits a sex offender to verbally maintain his or her

innocence at conviction. A no contest

plea is a guilty plea in which an offender neither admits nor denies the

charges. Such pleas grant sex offenders official justification to continue

denying their offending behavior after

conviction.

 • Pleas that change sex offenses to

nonsex offenses. Pleas to nonsex offenses minimize what the offender did

and reinforce denial. Further, if the official record does not reflect that the

original charge was a sex offense, this

critical information is lost to those who

subsequently make public safety decisions about the offender.

• Deferred judgments and sentences.

Such dispositions are important options but are inappropriate for most

sex offenders. Such dispositions imply

that the offense was not that important,

a one-time mistake, and if the offender

behaves for a couple of years, the court

will forget about it and dismiss the

case, leaving an incomplete official

record. Also, public safety may be

jeopardized: in some jurisdictions, deferred judgments for sex offenses are

not counted as convictions for the

statewide sex offender registry.

• Referrals to diversion programs. Applied to sex offenders, this alternative

to filing a criminal charge further dilutes the seriousness of the crime, reinforces offender denial, and may

distort the criminal history record.

Development of consistent interagency

policies on family reunification is also

very important—especially between

probation/parole agencies and agencies whose mission is generally keeping the family intact or reunifying it at

the earliest opportunity. For example,

family reunification in incest cases

should not occur prior to the disposition of the criminal case. Subsequent

decisions on family reunification

should be made only after consultation

Containing the Sex Offender in the

Supervision Triangle

ithin the limits set by the supervision triangle of probation officer, therapist, and polygraph examiner, Jim was

serving 4 years on probation for molesting the 7-year-old daughter of a woman

he was dating. He had met the mother of

the victim at church.

Although this was Jim’s first conviction,

he admitted he had long been attracted

to young girls. Jim told his therapy group

that, over the years, he attended church

to “meet people.” When pressed, he told

the group that he had dated several

women from the church and that all of

them had young daughters. But he denied that this was a pattern that had preceded abuse.

The therapist called a team meeting with

the probation officer and polygraph examiner to discuss Jim’s pattern of accessing children. The probation officer

petitioned the court to modify probation

orders to prohibit Jim from attending

church unsupervised. The polygraph examiner then added the question “Have

you gone to any church or religious services unsupervised since the last polygraph exam?” to the next examination.

The therapist and therapy group continued to work with Jim until he understood

that going to church alone was, for him,

a high-risk activity that placed him dangerously close to children.*

*See Strate, D.C., L. Jones, S. Pullen, and

K. English, “Criminal Justice Policies and

Sex Offender Denial,” in English, K., S.

Pullen, and L. Jones (eds.), Managing

Adult Sex Offenders: A Containment Approach, Lexington, Kentucky: American

Probation and Parole Association,

1996:4.9.

W
8

R e s e a r c h i n B r i e f

with the victim’s therapist, the

offender’s therapist, and the supervising officer.

The well-being of the victim—and the

potential for other children and adults

to become victimized—should be the

fundamental criterion applied by all

agencies to family unification decisions. The rigorous use of clear

protocols for family reunification—

protocols that fully explore the

offender’s risk to other children in the

household—may be the most important way the criminal justice system

can intervene to protect children from

sexual assaults by known sex offenders.

Additional critical policies on which to

obtain jurisdictionwide agreement are,

among others: selection criteria for

treatment providers; prevention of offenders from changing therapists without permission of supervising officers

(i.e., “treatment shopping”); thirdparty liability (e.g., the duty to warn

potential victims); use of polygraph

data; prerevocation sanctions; revocation criteria; and sex offender community notification.

5. Quality control. As the final

component of the model containment

process, quality control encompasses

(1) monitoring to determine whether

the prescribed implementation strategies and interagency policies and

practices are in place and functioning

as intended and (2) evaluating to assess whether what is in place is producing an impact and, if so, its

magnitude. Quality control, therefore,

can provide an objective means of

documenting program success, identifying implementation and operational

problems, and guiding program refinements.

Because the sex offender containment

approach requires a long-term, consistent, systemwide response to sexual

assault, a model process for managing

sex offenders is one that continuously

improves. Such improvement is highly

unlikely to occur without implementation of quality control measures. When

systematic monitoring and evaluation

are accorded appropriate priority, program staff and administrators are continuously prepared with objective data

to demonstrate the value of their work

and to modify the program, when necessary, according to empirical feedback.

Secondary trauma

Management of adult sex offenders in

community settings often exacts a significant toll on those charged with

managing cases, including probation

and parole officers and their supervisors. Secondary trauma refers to the

emotional and psychological experience of professionals who expose

themselves to a world of unthinkable

acts. Effective case management requires that these professionals understand each victim’s trauma and the

specific types of sex offender manipulation leading to that trauma. They

also generally experience a variety of

manipulative behavior during interactions with offenders.

To offset the experience of secondary

trauma, sex offender management

must be conducted in an environment

where the dynamics of sex offending

and secondary trauma are understood

by coworkers and managers. That understanding will provide vital professional support.

Managers and staff must create an

emotionally safe environment for personal discussion of all aspects of

sexual assault and offender management. Specifically, working together

and discussing feelings and problems

as a team can provide the empathy and

validation so vital to reducing isolation

and burnout among sex offender practitioners. Agencies should make every

effort to provide counseling and other

resources to help relieve officer stress.

Data from field interviews suggest that

interagency collaboration and networking may help prevent burnout.

Part of the remedy for burnout is training. According to a Texas parole supervisor interviewed, “Being pulled

into an offender’s manipulation is the

biggest problem. Because offenders

are so manipulative, officers need constant training.”24

Training

The complex nature of sex-offending

behavior and the potential dangerousness of offenders mandate frequent

training (such as annually) for probation and parole officers—both specialized and nonspecialized—and their

supervisors. Training topics should include, among others, the following:

• Dynamics of victimization—trauma,

shame, self-blame, and fear.

• Dynamics of sexual offending—psychopathy, blame, impulsiveness, and

denial.

• Risk assessment—secrets, manipulation, grooming, and conscious and

unconscious assault planning.

• Issues about family reunification.

• Offender lifestyle issues, such as leisure time and access to victims.

• Relevant laws.

• Safety of field officers.
9

R e s e a r c h i n B r i e f

• Sex offense-specific therapy and

medical assessments.

• Surveillance and use of the polygraph.

• Characteristics of sex offenders.

• Investigative methods, including

sexual assault crime scene investigation.

• Management of secondary trauma

and professional burnout.

In addition to direct training, crosstraining among criminal justice practitioners, child protection workers,

victim advocates, private treatment

providers, and other professionals is

important. “Cross-training allows physicians to learn the evidentiary issues

prosecutors face, law enforcement officers and prosecutors to learn about

common reactions to trauma from rape

crisis counselors, and victim advocates

to learn more about the criminal justice system, so they can better help

victims prepare for court.”25

Operational and research

suggestions and needs

Besides the model process itself, a

number of operational suggestions for

consideration flow from a comparison

of findings from the national telephone

survey with data obtained from the

field research and from extensive reviews of the research and theoretical

literature on sex offender management,

treatment, and victim trauma. Among

them are the following:

• Make training, including cross-training, in sex offender management a priority at the Federal26 and local levels.

• Design individualized supervision

plans for adult sex offenders according

to their particular risk factors.

• Implement special supervision conditions for adult sex offenders that restrict specified activities, including

barring employment that facilitates access to victims.

• Develop a variety of immediate,

short-term, prerevocation sanctions for

adult sex offenders who place themselves in high-risk situations. Those

sanctions include 72-hour mental

health holds, short-term jail confinement, additional counseling sessions,

day fines, and halfway-house confinement.

• Create within criminal justice agencies specialized sex offender crime

units.

• Facilitate collaboration across disciplines and across agencies, including

victim advocate agencies.

• Require sex offenders under supervision of the criminal justice system to

participate fully in treatment programs

that are approved by probation and parole agencies and that include cognitive-behavioral therapy, group therapy,

polygraph monitoring, and waiver of

confidentiality.

• Consider imposition of long-term,

even lifetime, supervision sentences.

Research needs also are apparent, including the need to conduct process

and outcome evaluations of containment strategies implemented in a variety of communities. Not only should

the model process and its constituent

parts be evaluated but research questions such as the following should be

addressed as well:

What types of sex offenders are best

suited to the containment approach?

Do different subgroups of sex offenders respond differently to different aftercare programs?

How can community notification procedures be designed to enhance public

safety?

What are the best assessment tools to

classify sex offenders into categories

that are meaningful for supervision

purposes?

What jurisdiction-specific actuarial

risk assessment tools can predict sex

offender dangerousness?

What would a carefully conducted

cost-benefit analysis of a containment

approach tell us?

Conclusion

The five-part model process to contain

adult sex offenders establishes a

framework within which agencies and

communities can develop specific

practices to better promote public

safety and victim protection and assistance. Just as the stringency of the supervision triangle should be tailored to

the individual characteristics of each

sex offender, so should the method of

implementing the model process vary

according to the needs of each community.

Incremental improvement in the model

process and in underlying case management practices will flow from new

research findings and feedback from

the field. But the bottom line of sex offender management in community settings should not change: public and

victim safety first.
10

R e s e a r c h i n B r i e f

Notes

1. Wyatt, G.E., and G.J. Powell (eds.),

The Lasting Effects of Child Sexual

Abuse, Newbury Park, California: Sage

Publications, 1988.

2. Greenfeld, L.A., Child Victimizers:

Violent Offenders and Their Victims,

Washington, D.C.: Bureau of Justice

Statistics and Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention,

March 1996:1-2.

3. Ibid, 11.

4. Two-thirds of victims (age 12 or

older) of rape or other sexual assault in

1994 knew their assailants. Sexual assault victimizations totaled 433,000 in

1994. Differences in victimization

rates by age were large: 4.4 sexual assaults per 1,000 persons under age 25,

2.1 for those ages 25 to 49, and 0.1 for

those age 50 or older. Perkins, C., and

P. Klaus, Criminal Victimization 1994,

Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of

Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics,

April 1996:1-2, 6-7.

5. Hindman, J., Just Before Dawn,

Boise, Idaho: Northwest Printing,

1989:96-97.

6. Brown, J.M, D.K. Gilliard, T.L.

Snell, J.J. Stephan, and D.J. Wilson,

Correctional Populations in the United

States, 1994, Washington, D.C.: U.S.

Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, June 1996:18. See also

Perkins, C., National Corrections Reporting Program, 1992, Washington,

D.C., U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, October

1994:86.

7. Brown, J.M., et al., op. cit., 10.

8. Perkins, C., op. cit., 58.

9. A content analysis of State statutes

as of 1992 found that first-time offenders convicted of incest or other sexual

assault on a child were eligible to

serve sentences of probation and parole in 47 States. First-time offenders

convicted of first-degree sexual assault

were eligible for probation in 28

States.

10. Colorado Division of Criminal

Justice, 1990 Court Data Analysis

Summary, Denver: Colorado Department of Public Safety, April 1992.

11. Arizona law (A.R.S. 13-604.01 [l])

authorizes lifetime probation for certain sex offenders subsequent to their

serving prison terms and for offenders

whose sex crimes were uncompleted

(attempts). According to a spokesperson for the Maricopa County Probation

Department, about 500 sex offenders

currently in prison are scheduled for

eventual release to the county to serve

sentences of lifetime probation; approximately two-thirds of the State’s

offenders are based in Maricopa

County, Arizona’s largest county.

12. Pithers, W.D., “Relapse Prevention with Sexual Aggressors: A Method

for Maintaining Therapeutic Gain and

Enhancing External Supervision,” in

Marshall, W.L., D.R. Laws, and H.E.

Barbaree (eds.), Handbook of Sexual

Assault: Issues, Theories, and Treatment of the Offender, New York City:

Plenum Press, 1990.

13. English, K., S. Pullen, and L.

Jones (eds.), Managing Adult Sex Offenders: A Containment Approach, Lexington, Kentucky: American Probation

and Parole Association, January 1996.

14. Ibid.

15. Strate, D.C., L. Jones, S. Pullen,

and K. English, “Criminal Justice

Policies and Sex Offender Denial,” in

English, K., S. Pullen, and L. Jones

(eds.), op. cit.

16. Knapp, M., “Treatment of Sex Offenders,” in English, K., S. Pullen, and

L. Jones (eds.), op. cit.

17. Abel, G., and J.L. Rouleau, “The

Nature and Extent of Sexual Assault,”

in Marshall, W.L., D.R. Laws, and

H.E. Barbaree (eds.), op. cit.

18. The Association for the Treatment

of Sexual Abusers has stated that

therapists should not rely on offender

self-report to determine treatment

compliance and that treatment providers should use the polygraph to encourage sex offenders to disclose prior

sexual history. Association for the

Treatment of Sexual Abusers, The

ATSA Practitioner’s Handbook, Lake

Oswego, Oregon: ATSA, 1993:4-5.

19. Amir, M., Patterns of Forcible

Rape, Chicago: University of Chicago

Press, 1971.

20. See Pettett, J., and D. Weirman,

“Monitoring with Surveillance Officers,” in English, K., S. Pullen, and L.

Jones (eds.), op. cit.

21. Pullen, S., S. Olsen, G. Brown,

and D. Amich, “Using the Polygraph,”

in English, K, S. Pullen, and L. Jones

(eds.), op. cit., 15.11.

22. Knapp, M., op. cit., 13.9.

23. English, K., S. Pullen, L. Jones,

and B. Krauth, “A Model Process: A

Containment Approach,” in English

K., S. Pullen, and L. Jones, (eds.), op.

cit., 2.25.
11

R e s e a r c h i n B r i e f

24. Texas parole supervisor, telephone interview, July 25, 1994. Jones,

L., S. Pullen, K. English, J. Crouch, S.

Colling-Chadwick, and J. Patzman,

“Summary of the National Telephone

Survey of Probation and Parole Supervisors,” in English, K., S. Pullen, and

L. Jones (eds.), op. cit., 3.10.

25. Epstein, J., and S. Langenbahn,

The Criminal Justice System and Community Response to Rape, Washington,

D.C.: National Institute of Justice, U.S.

Department of Justice, 1994:850.

Cited in English K., S. Pullen, and L.

Jones (eds.), op. cit., 2.10.

26. The Office of Justice Programs,

U.S. Department of Justice, has initiated steps to help shape and promote

training in sex offender management.

Related Reading

Listed below are selected Office of

Justice Programs publications related to the subject addressed by

this Research in Brief. They may be

obtained free from the National

Criminal Justice Reference Service

(NCJRS): phone 800-851-3420, email askncjrs@ncjrs.org, or write

NCJRS, Box 6000, Rockville, MD

20849-6000. When free publications are out of stock, photocopies

are available for a minimal fee or

through interlibrary loan. Publications may also be available electronically; contact NCJRS for more

information.

Epstein, J., Esq., and S. Langenbahn.

The Criminal Justice and Community Response to Rape. Issues and

Practices. National Institute of Justice. 1994. 142 pp. NCJ 148064.

Describes organizational and procedural changes in several urban jurisdictions that have assisted

criminal justice and victim service

agencies in combating rape.

Greenfeld, L.A. Child Victimizers:

Violent Offenders and Their Victims.

Bureau of Justice Statistics and Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. 1996. 28 pp.

NCJ 153258. Presents national

statistics that throw new light on

the most serious types of child

abuse and victimization, including

sexual assault.

Prentky, R., R.A. Knight, and

A.F.S. Lee, Child Sexual Molestation: Research Issues. Research

Report. National Institute of Justice. Forthcoming (January 1997).

NCJ 163390.

Whitcomb, D. When the Victim Is

a Child. Second Edition. Issues

and Practices. National Institute

of Justice. 1992. 176 pp. NCJ

136080. Overview of the state of

the art in the investigation and adjudication of child sexual abuse

cases.

Widom, C.S. Victims of Childhood

Sexual Abuse—Later Criminal

Consequences. Research in Brief.

National Institute of Justice.

1995. 8 pp. NCJ 151525. Summary of a research study examining childhood sexual abuse and its

possible association with criminal

behavior later in life.

Quick Access to NIJ

Publication News

For news about NIJ’s most recent

publications, including solicitations for grant appliciations, subscribe to JUSTINFO, the

bimonthly newsletter sent to you

via e-mail. Here’s how:

• Send an e-mail to

listproc@ncjrs.org

• Leave the subject line blank.

• Type subscribe justinfo your

name (e.g., subscribe justinfo

Jane Doe) in the body of the message.

 Or check out the “What’s New”

section at the Justice Information

Center homepage:

http://www.ncjrs.org

Kim English presented an NIJsponsored seminar on the results of

her and her colleagues’ research

before an audience of researchers

and criminal justice practitioners.

A 60-minute videotape of her presentation, Managing Adult Sex

Offenders in Community Settings: A

Containment Approach, is available

from NCJRS for $19 ($24 in Canada

and other foreign countries). Ask for

NCJ 159740.
12

R e s e a r c h i n B r i e f

U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

National Institute of Justice

Washington, D.C. 20531

Official Business

Penalty for Private Use $300

BULK RATE

POSTAGE & FEES PAID

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Permit No. G–91

The National Institute of Justice is a component of the Office of Justice Programs,

which also includes the Bureau of Justice

Assistance, Bureau of Justice Statistics,

Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquency

Prevention, and the Office of Victims of

Crime.

NCJ 163387

Kim English is research director for

the Colorado Division of Criminal

Justice, Department of Public Safety.

Also with the Division, Suzanne

Pullen is senior research and policy

analyst and Linda Jones is a program

administrator and staff to the Colorado Sex Offender Treatment Board.

Points of view expressed in this report are those of

the authors and do not necessarily represent the

official position or policies of the Colorado Division of Criminal Justice, Department of Public

Safety, or of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Study Reports

This Research in Brief is based

on the study supported by award

92-IJ-CX-K021 from the National Institute of Justice. The

study resulted in two reports.

Managing Adult Sex Offenders: A

Containment Approach (1996) is

available for a fee from the

American Probation and Parole

Association. Call 606-244-8207

for cost information.

How Are Adult Felony Sex Offenders Managed on Probation

and Parole? (1996) presents

findings of the researchers’ national

telephone survey of probation and

parole supervisors.

While supplies last, the publication

is available for $10 from the Colorado Division of Criminal Justice

(Attn.: Office of Research), 700

Kipling Street, Suite 3000, Denver,

Colorado 80215. Alternatively, a

photocopy of the publication is

available, for a fee, from the National Criminal Justice Reference

Service (NCJRS). Call 800-851-

3420 for cost information. Ask for

NCJ 163388.