BME Sex Offenders in Prison: The Problem of Participation in Offending Behaviour Groupwork Programmes - A Tripartite Model of Understanding
| Author | Dr Malcolm Cowburn, Dr Victoria Lavis, Dr Tammi Walker |
| Pages | 19-34 |
BME Sex Offenders in Prison: the Problem of Participation in
Offending Behaviour Groupwork Programmes – a Tripartite Model of Understanding
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BME SEX OFFENDERS IN PRISON:
THE PROBLEM OF PARTICIPATION
IN OFFENDING BEHAVIOUR
GROUPWORK PROGRAMMES –
A TRIPARTITE MODEL OF
UNDERSTANDING
Dr Malcolm Cowburn, Senior Lecturer in Social Work; Dr Victoria
Lavis, Lecturer in Psychology and Dr Tammi Walker, Lecturer in
Psychology, University of Bradford
Abstract
This paper addresses the under representation of Black and minority ethnic (BME) sex
offenders in the sex offender treatment programme (SOTP) of the prisons of England and
Wales. The proportional over representation of BME men in the male sex offender
population of the prisons of England and Wales has been noted for at least ten years.
Similarly the under representation of BME sex offenders in prison treatment programmes
has been a cause for concern during the last decade. This paper presents current
demographic data relating to male BME sex offenders in the prisons of England and
Wales. The paper draws together a wide range of social and cultural theories to develop a
tripartite model for understanding the dynamics underlying the non-participation of BME
sex offenders in therapy.
Key Words: Black and Minority Sex Offenders, Offending Behaviour Programmes
Introduction
This paper builds on earlier work of one of the present authors (Cowburn 1996) and
begins to develop a theoretical approach for understanding what may inhibit the
participation of male Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) sex offenders in the sex offender
treatment programme (SOTP) of the Prison Service of England and Wales.
Terminologies in relation to ethnicities and race are fraught with conceptual difficulties
(Aspinall 2002). Aspinall (2002: 803-805) has cogently highlighted the limitations of
Malcolm Cowburn, Dr Victoria Lavis and Dr Tammi Walker
20
what he calls ‘pan-ethnic’ groups, such as BME. He refers to such groupings as “statistical
collectivities” (p. 803) and suggests that “the groups thus defined will be nothing more
than meaningless statistical collectivities that do not represent any of the constituent
groups within the term” (p. 811). As Aspinall has pointed out (2002: 804-805), this term
is currently used by a number of Government departments in the UK. The British
Government’s Central Office of Information (Central Office of Information (COI) 2005)
uses the term, as does the Prison Service of England and Wales (H. M. Prison Service
2005). At the outset this paper will use the term BME. However, toward the end of the
paper difficulties with the term will be highlighted when analysing issues related to the
diverse cultures contained within the term BME. Where we use the terms ‘Black’ and
‘White’ to denote race (as defined only by skin colour) we use capital letters to denote the
ideological constructs implicit in the terms. However where cited sources use the terms
we reproduce the original typographic case. Where issues specific to particular ethnic
groups occur, the group will be identified.
In order to establish the over representation of BME male sex offenders in the population
of sex offenders, this paper presents demographic data relating to male BME sex offenders
in the prisons of England and Wales. The paper draws together a wide range of social and
cultural theories illuminating the dynamics underlying the non-participation of BME sex
offenders in therapy and presents a tripartite model for understanding for understanding
this phenomenon. Presentation of the model, which in turn addresses social, cultural and
therapeutic issues, forms the substantive part of the paper.
BME Sex Offenders in the Prisons of England
and Wales 1989-2007: a Longitudinal Profile
In order to establish the enduring nature of the profile of male BME sex offenders, this
section presents data from an earlier paper by one of the present authors (Cowburn 1996)
along with recent data provided by the British Prison Service (H. M. Prison Service 2007)
in relation to the sex offender population in England and Wales.
Currently, there are 8,106 male sex offenders in the prisons of England and Wales (H. M.
Prison Service 2007). In 1989, the number was 3,000 and this had increased in 1995 to
3,528. In twelve years the population has more than doubled. Within this increase it is
apparent that the proportion of BME men in the prison population has increased
significantly. Tables 1 & 2 show that in this period the proportion of BME men in the
prison population of sex offenders has risen from 12.2% in March 1989 to 17.7% in May
2007. In the first table, the category “Black” refers to prisoners who identify themselves as
“West Indian, Guyanese or African”; “South Asian” refers to prisoners who identify
themselves as “Indian, Pakistani or Bangladeshi” and “Chinese and Other Asian” refers to
prisoners who identify themselves as “Chinese, Arab or Mixed Origin”. In 2001 the
classification of ethnic groups was reorganised by the Office for National Statistics and all
Governmental data sources changed in line with this. Therefore the ethnicity
classification for Table 2 is based upon this.
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