title: Risk levels, treatment duration, and drop out in a clinically composed outpatient sex offender treatment group.
abstract: Previous research in the Netherlands documented that clinical judgment may yield a substantial amount of treatment referrals for sexual offenders that are inconsistent with actuarial risk assessment and the Risk Need Responsivity (RNR) principles. The present study tested the risk level distribution of a high-intensity, open-format outpatient treatment group. Eighty patients were enrolled during a 620-week period, and their STATIC-99R risk levels were retrospectively determined. The distribution of risk levels in this treatment group did not differ from the distribution of a representative sample of sex offenders referred to outpatient treatment in the Netherlands between 1996 and 2002 (n = 145), nor from the combined Canadian samples (n = 2011) used to assess STATIC-99R normative percentile. These findings suggest that no selection in terms of actuarial risk level occurred between conviction and treatment, leading to over-inclusion of low risk offenders in this high-intensity outpatient treatment group. It is concluded that the standard use of structured risk assessment for the compilation of treatment groups may improve both the effectiveness and efficiency of sex offender treatment in the Netherlands.
authors.affiliation: Forensic Care Specialists, Utrecht, The Netherlands wsmid@hoevenkliniek.nl.
authors.forename: Wineke J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Smid
authors.affiliation: University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jan H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Kamphuis
authors.affiliation: Forensic Care Specialists, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Edwin C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Wever
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Security and Justice, The Hague, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Maud C F M
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Verbruggen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002650:Child Abuse, Sexual / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology; D057237:Criminals / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012742:Sex Offenses / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: outpatient treatment; risk assessment; risk need responsivity; sex offenders