Residential Treatment Home for Developmentally Disabled Sex Offenders: One Community's Response (From Managing Adult Sex Offenders: A Containment Approach, P 16.1-16.15, 1996, Kim English, Suzanne Pullen, and Linda Jones, eds. - See NCJ-162392)

• NCJ Number: 162407
• Author(s): C S Sonda; J H Cheney
• Date Published: 1996
• Length: 15 pages
• Grant Number(s): 92-IJ-CX-K021
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Program Description (Demonstrative)

Annotation

A Colorado therapist and a probation officer established a nonprofit residential treatment facility to respond to the shortage of services available for developmentally disabled sex offenders.

Abstract

Developmentally disabled sex offenders can present special challenges related to treatment and risk. In larger communities, existing services that focus on offense- specific treatment and risk management can manage many of these offenders. However, the programming available through the service system for developmentally disabled persons is sometimes insufficient to deal with high-risk sex offenders. The report of a Colorado task force that studied the issue resulted in the development of Offender Services, Inc. (OSI), a program that accepts only developmentally disabled sex offenders who are mentally competent to be prosecuted for a criminal offense. Offense-specific programming at OSI is intensive and includes group therapy specific to sex offenders, anger control group therapy, and individual therapy. Treatment also focuses on learning about the myths of masculinity, as well as socialization and living skills. Three problems encountered during the program's development included a delay in obtaining liability insurance, financial problems, and controversy in the local media. Despite these problems, the program has operated for a year and is benefiting both the community and the offender. Footnotes and 5 references