But since the Pine Hills detention center in Miles City began its sex offender program, many youths are channeled to there for eco nomic reasons. That shift is causing concern about the future of the 30-bed private treat ment center in Deer Lodge, Pohle said. Why male adolescents offend sexually Mike Scolatti, clinical psychologist and director of the sex offenders treatment pro gram at the Missoula County Detention Facility, provides training for the staff of the Brown Schools of Montana in Deer Lodge. Molestation commonly begets molestation, Scolatti said, and a history of abuse is at the root of sexual offenders' actions. The young offenders are predominantly male because of social and cultural predisposi tions, Scolatti said.
Women express their feelings better.
Society gives them more permission to be emotional, whereas men are taught to be tough, be strong. In childhoods fraught with abuse and neglect issues, young males may respond by internalizing feelings of powerlessness and anger. Those repressed feelings are given inappropriate sexual expression, often in a physical way against someone they see as vulnerable. The Montana facility, part of a national string of schools, opened in 1997. With therapists who have attained Montana Sex Offender Treatment Association certifica tion, the environment at the school promotes behavioral modification combined with tradi tional education.