ABSTRACT
Brecher (1978), in a survey of treatment programs for sexual offenders, identified only one treatment program for adolescent offenders, while Knopp (1985, 1986) identified close to 300 specialized programs for the adolescent sexual offender. The explosion in treatment programs seems to be spurred by three interrelated factors: (1) Adolescents are responsible for a significant proportion of sexual offenses; (2) A realization that many identified adult sexual offenders began their offending in adolescence, aQd (3) A feeling that intervention early would be preventive and therefore reduce the number of future victims. In the remainder of this introductory section, we will provide a clinical and working definition for the adolescent sex offender, review the data related to the scope of the problem and provide some general overview of the nature of the offenses in this group. Following this, we will review the current clinical knowledge regarding the adolescent sex offender and his family. The final sections of this chapter will focus on clinical approaches to assessment, treatment and recidivism.
