Changing Violent Men
| DOI | 10.1177/026455059604300409 |
| Date | 01 December 1996 |
| Published date | 01 December 1996 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
217
collected
by
a
further
19
Services
and 3
Services
are
planning
research.
*
The
main
measures
of
effectiveness
being
used
are
psychometric
scales,
observation,
consumer
feedback
and
recidivism.
Discussion
Probation
Services
are
now
most
likely
to
supervise
sexual
offenders
on
release
from
prison.
It
is
important,
therefore,
that
community-based
programmes
build
on
and
compliment
the
well
established
prison
treatment
programme
for
sexual
offenders.
Effective
communication
and
information
flow
between
prisons
and
Probation
Services
are
crucial
if
this
is
to
be
achieved.
The
majority
of
community
based
programmes
organised
by
the
Probation
Service,
share
the
same
offence
focused
goals
of
the
core
prison
programme.
A
greater
emphasis
on
long-
term
relapse
prevention
would,
however,
improve
the
provisions
currently
made
by
the
Probation
Service.
Although
rapists
are
accepted
by
three-quarters
of
programmes,
most
of
the
participating
offenders
were
child
abusers.
Moreover,
many
programmes
were
jointly
delivered
by
workers
from
child
protection
agencies.
This
suggests
that
provisions
for
rapists
may
need
to
be
developed.
The
Probation
Service
needs
to
continue
its
good
progress
in
relation
to
the
evaluation
of
sex
offender
interventions.
This
survey
shows
that
research
is
being
undertaken
by
many
services
although
the
quality
of
this
research
is
unknown.
The
Home
Office
funded
evaluation
of
Service
treatment
programmes
has
made
a
critical
contribution
to
establishing
what
works
with
sex
offenders.
As
the
management
and
delivery
of
sex
offender
programmes
improves,
so
must
the
quality
and
quantity
of
the
research
that
is
undertaken
to
evaluate
the
effectiveness
of
these
initiatives.
References
1.
Warwick
L,
Probation
Work
with
Sex
Offenders:
A
Survey
of
Current
Practice
,
Probation
Monographs,
University
of
East
Anglia,
1991.
2.
Barker
M
and
Morgan
R,
Sex
Offenders:
A
Framework
for
the
Evaluation
of
Community-based
Treatment,
Home
Office,
1993.
Note
A
full
copy
of
the
survey
report
is
available
from
ACOP,
20/30
Lawefield
Lane,
Wakefield,
West
Yorkshire
WF2
8SP.
Changing
Violent
Men
Are
experimental
re-education
programmes
for
men
convicted
of
violence
against
their
partners
more
likely
than
other
criminal
justice
sanctions
to
inhibit
and
eliminate
violence
and
enhance
the
well-being
of
women
partners?
To
test
this,
a
three
year
Scottish
and
Home
Office
sponsored
study
evaluated
what
are
claimed
to
be
the
only
two
dedicated
programmes
in
the
UK,
CHANGE
and
the
Lothian
Domestic
Violence
Probation
Project,
both
Scottish
initiatives
designed
as
additional
requirements
of
probation
orders,
and
compared
their
impact
with
the
outcomes
of
other
criminal
justice
sanctions
(OCJ)
(ie
fine,
probation,
prison).
Changes
over
time
were
assessed
using
subsequent
prosecution
records
and
through
the
reports
of
men
and,
more
crucially,
their
partners,
recorded
at
three
points
during
a
one-year
period
after
the
imposition
of
sentence.
Changes
in
Incidence
and
Frequency
of
Violence
An
analysis
of
court
records
showed
that
only
7%
of
men
in
the
programmes
and
10%
of
the
OCJ
control
group
were
convicted
of
violence
against
their
partner
during
the
1 ~
month
follow-
up
period,
thus
suggesting
that
arrest
and
prosecution
had had
a
significant
impact
and
that
the
programmes
were
only
slightly
more
successful
in
reducing
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