EFFECTS OF COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL TREATMENT ON SEX OFFENDER RECIDIVISM - PRELIMINARY-RESULTS OF A LONGITUDINAL-STUDY

Preliminary results from a longitudinal study of the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral treatment with sex offenders are presented. The s tudy's research design includes three groups: a treatment group, a vot unteer control group (those who volunteered for but did not receive tr eatment), and a nonvolunteer control group (subjects who refused the o pportunity for treatment). Although the treatment group had the lowest reoffense rates for both sex and other violent crimes, main effects a nalyses did not yield conclusive results regarding the program's effec tiveness. The results highlight the importance of including appropriat e comparison groups, managing attrition from both treatment and method ological standpoints, examining sex and other violent offenses separat ely as outcome variables, employing tests with adequate statistical po wer, and analyzing data while taking into account time at fisk for reo ffense.