What Works (or Does Not) in Community Risk Management for Persons Convicted of Sexual Offenses? A Contemporary Perspective

• Author: Jeffrey C. Sandler,Robin J. Wilson
• Published date: 01 September 2021
• Date: 01 September 2021
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X18754764
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X18754764

International Journal of

Offender Therapy and

Comparative Criminology

2021, Vol. 65(12) 1282 –1298

© The Author(s) 2018

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DOI: 10.1177/0306624X18754764

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Article

What Works (or Does Not) in

Community Risk Management

for Persons Convicted of Sexual

Offenses? A Contemporary

Perspective

Robin J. Wilson1,2 and Jeffrey C. Sandler3

Abstract

Contemporary data from the United States show that rates of sexual offending and

reoffending have been in steady decline for decades. Nonetheless, nonprofessionals

continue to view sexual violence as a community safety issue fraught with risk and

uncertainty. The past 30 years have been witness to considerable research and

practice in the assessment, treatment, and risk management of persons who have

sexually offended. Gains have also been made in regard to prevention and citizen

education. Modern day technologies include actuarial risk assessment instruments,

measures of criminogenic need and treatment progress, refinements to treatment

processes, and the establishment of evidence-based models. Legislative authorities

in the United States and elsewhere have also attempted to affect risk in the

community with, perhaps, lesser degrees of success. This article reviews current

policies and practices, with a specific focus on what happens when offenders are

released to the community (e.g., how public policies intended to track offenders

and/or restrict their movements can negatively affect community reintegration).

Comprehensive approaches to community sexual offender management are

examined in addition to suggestions of unique approaches intended to ensure

citizen buy-in and engagement.

Keywords

risk-need-responsivity, sex offender risk management, actuarial risk assessment,

public policy, community, citizen engagement

1McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

2Wilson Psychology Services LLC, Sarasota, FL, USA

3Private Practice, New York, NY, USA.

Corresponding Author:

Robin J. Wilson, Wilson Psychology Services LLC, 3995 Bee Ridge Road Extension, #339, Sarasota, FL

34241, USA.

Email: robin@rjwphd.com

754764IJOXXX10.1177/0306624X18754764International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative CriminologyWilson and Sandler

research-article2018

Wilson and Sandler 1283

Introduction

Despite the existence of credible evidence that a majority of persons who have sexu-

ally offended can be safely managed in the community (Carr, Schlank, & Parker,

2013; Wilson, Cortoni, Picheca, Stirpe, & Nunes, 2009), a perspective remains that

“once a sex offender, always a sex offender” and that they are all at high risk to reof-

fend. There are several possible reasons for the intractability of community views

about the management of persons convicted of sexual offenses, including fear, lack of

education, and a failure on the part of experts to impart knowledge in an accessible

and understandable manner. The latter is highlighted in results published by the

Center for Sex Offender Management (CSOM; 2010), in which it is clear that the

public will easily settle for perspectives in the popular media in spite of a stated pref-

erence for more comprehensive explanations from researchers and experts. Although

some prominent experts have attempted to share research findings in op-eds or other

pieces in popular media (see Cantor in Canadian Broadcasting Corporation [CBC],

2016; Letourneau, 2014), the reality is that most scientifically informed viewpoints

are reserved for scholarly journals, textbooks, and other media generally inaccessible

to ordinary citizens. Indeed, we are mindful that even this article is being published

in a similar fashion.

Misinformation has clouded both public and legislative understandings of the

nature of sexual deviance and the supposed high likelihood that those who engage in

sexually inappropriate conduct will continue to do so unabated despite treatment or

other attempts to intervene. A good example of this is found in the Nothing Works

perspective (Martinson, 1974), which asserts that correctional programming does not

reduce rates of reoffending. This belief continues to persist for many policymakers

regardless of the fact that the research underpinning this perspective was later retracted

(Martinson, 1979) and meta-analytic research has consistently shown that program-

ming does, indeed, reduce reoffending (see Aos, Miller, & Drake, 2006; Smith,

Goggin, & Gendreau, 2002).

Another example of misinformation and sexual violence risk, this time regarding

reoffense rates, emanates from a 1988 U.S. Department of Justice publication

(Schwartz & Cellini, 1988) that ultimately informed a perspective (including the U.S.

Supreme Court) that the likelihood of new sexual offending by known offenders is

“frightening and high” (Smith v. Doe, 2003). This perspective was, in turn, informed

by a 1986 article in Psychology Today (Freeman-Longo & Wall, 1986) in which the

authors suggested that rates of sexual reoffending could be as high as 80 %—offered

without evidence or elaboration. Longo has since publicly admitted that that figure is

“very high” (Vaughn, 2016).

Whatever the reason may be that the “once a sex offender, always a sex offender”

perspective endures, numerous studies have shown it to be incorrect. Two recent arti-

cles published by Karl Hanson (formerly of Public Safety Canada) and his research

group are of particular relevance to our discussions in this article: (a) “High-risk sex

offenders may not be high risk forever” (Hanson, Harris, Helmus, & Thornton, 2014)

and (b) “Reductions in risk based on time offense free in the community: Once a