ABSTRACT
There have been a variety of laws passed since the early 1990s to protect the public from the perceived threat posed by sexual offenders. These laws allow for special sanctions such as indefinite civil commitment, preventive detention, continued detention, extended community supervision, registration and community notification for those convicted of sexual crimes. There has also been an expansion and refinement in the treatment approaches taken with sex offenders in an effort to reduce the risk of reoffending. Mixed empirical findings regarding the effectiveness of treatment suggest that some but not all sex offenders achieve the desired benefits of treatment (Hanson et al.2002; Marques et al.2005). Despite advances that have been made, sex offenders are often difficult to engage in treatment, perhaps especially so in response to the involuntary and potentially coercive treatment or supervision programmes that have been legally mandated. This chapter examines specific factors that may contribute to this difficulty, and offers suggestions to improve treatment readiness with this challenging population.
