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Predicting Sex Offender Treatment Entry Among Individuals Convicted of Sexual Offense Crimes

Dorothea Dix Hospital, Raleigh, North Carolina, bpelissier{at}bop.gov, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Bernadette Pelissier

Federal Bureau of Prisons, Washington, District of Columbia

Jody Klein-Saffran

Federal Bureau of Prisons, Washington, District of Columbia

This study examined what factors were predictive of who volunteers for sex offender treatment (self-selection) as well as who enters treatment after volunteering (administration selection). Research participants included 404 treatment volunteers and 387 nonvolunteers to treatment who were convicted of a sexual offense involving minors within the federal prison system. Maximum likelihood probit estimation procedures indicated that when compared with nonvolunteers, treatment volunteers were more likely to be recommended by a judge to receive treatment at the time of sentencing, had received prior treatment for sexually deviant behavior, reported higher levels of motivation to change their sexually deviant behavior, and had lower rates of a substance use disorder in the year prior to incarceration. Of those persons who initially volunteered, 62% were accepted and entered treatment, 16% were denied entry to treatment by program staff, and 22% refused treatment after being accepted to the waiting list. When compared with those who were accepted and entered treatment, motivation was the only predictor of being denied admission into treatment by program staff and for refusal of treatment once accepted. The findings emphasize the need to control for selection bias in treatment outcome studies and the importance of examining the role of motivation in treatment volunteerism and treatment entry for sexual offenders.

Key Words: sex offenders • treatment volunteerism • treatment entry • prison.

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