Developing and implementing a treatment intervention for college students found responsible for sexual misconduct

Pages134-144
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/JACPR-06-2017-0301
Date09 April 2018
Published date09 April 2018
AuthorRaina V. Lamade,Elise Lopez,Mary P. Koss,Robert Prentky,Alexandra Brereton
Subject MatterHealth & social care,Criminology & forensic psychology,Aggression, conflict & peace,Sociology,Gender studies,Gender violence,Political sociology, policy & social change,Social conflicts,War/peace
Developing and implementing a treatment
intervention for college students found
responsible for sexual misconduct
Raina V. Lamade, Elise Lopez, Mary P. Koss, Robert Prentky and Alexandra Brereton
Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to summarize the development of a treatment program for students
found responsible of sexual misconduct.
Design/methodology/approach This project, supported by the SMART (Office of Sex Offender
Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering and Tracking) of the Department of Justice, was
requested by The White House toward the end of President Obamas last term and was intended to identify
the confluence of factors related to sexual misconduct on college campuses, and to design a treatment
program to address those factors.
Findings This paper will discuss the unique factors of this population that ought to be considered to
successfully develop an effective program, and the complexities of implementing treatment programs to this
population, within a higher education system. This will include a discussion of barriersto implementation and
challenges of employing treatment. This paper will present steps for implementing a treatment program and
outline the core components of a treatment intervention for this population.
Originality/value Implementing a treatment option for students found responsible of sexual misconduct
that specifically targets the associated risk factors as part of a comprehensive approach to help improve
campus safety.
Keywords Informed consent, Treatment intervention, Risk factors, Campus sexual misconduct,
Program implementation, Students found responsible for sexual misconduct
Paper type Conceptual paper
Introduction
This paper documents the efforts by a multidisciplinary team consisting of researchers and
practitioners from clinical psychology, forensic risk assessment, public health, student conduct,
and jurisprudence to develop a treatment program that adheres to the science of risk and treatment
factors, while providing maximum flexibility to serve a range of students and universities. We employ
a multifaceted approach of four stages over the course of four years. The first stage was a review of
the extant literature, primarily on college students and a separate literature on juvenile and adult sex
offenders. The second stage gathered survey data from male and female students and from
university administrators. The principle focus of the male survey was to identify risk factors
associated with self-reported sexual misconduct as a first step in designing a treatment program
targeting criminogenic needs. This survey was necessary in order to, comprehensively examine all of
these risk factors together with the sexual experiences survey (Koss and Gidycz, 1985).
The survey of college women focused primarily on campus climate, perception of institutional
and systemic obstructions and challenges to reporting incidents of sexual misconduct, and
suggestions about mitigating risk of sexual assault on campuses. Data obtained from campus
administrators consisted of a survey about campus policies, and discussion with university
stakeholdersabout a wide range of challenges that they faced, as wellas their thoughts about the
need for a therapeuticintervention. Discussionswith stakeholderseventually led to the addition of a
Received 2 June 2017
Revised 15 August 2017
Accepted 31 August 2017
The project reported here is
supported by Grant No. SMART-
2014-3915 awarded by the
SMART Office of the Department
of Justice. The conclusions and
recommendations expressed in
this paper are entirely those of the
authors and do not reflect those of
the SMART Office or the DOJ.
Raina V. Lamade is a Clinical
Instructor at the Department
of Psychology, Fairleigh
Dickinson University, Teaneck,
New Jersey, USA.
Elise Lopez is an Assistant
Director, Relationship Violence
Programs and Mary P. Koss is
a RegentsProfessor both at
the Department of Public
Health, The University of
Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA.
Robert Prentky is a Professor
and Alexandra Brereton is a
Graduate Student both at the
Department of Psychology,
Fairleigh Dickinson University,
Teaneck, New Jersey, USA.
PAGE134
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JOURNAL OF AGGRESSION, CONFLICTAND PEACE RESEARCH
j
VOL. 10 NO. 2 2018, pp.134-144, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1759-6599 DOI 10.1108/JACPR-06-2017-0301

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