English

ERIC ED285057: Adolescent Perpetrator Treatment Programs: Assessment Issues.

The value of early identification of sexually aberrant behaviors and intervention with sexually deviant minors is obvious from a community safety perspective. Early intervention also appears to have value from the offender's perspective. A research review revealed several common themes with implications for both assessment and treatment. Most theoreticians agree that the onset of deviant sexual behavior usually begins around puberty; that such behaviors tend to be chronic if there is not effective intervention; and that juvenile sex offenders tend to be loners and underachievers with low self-esteem and poor social skills. Abusive family histories, the development of cognitive distortions, male socialization patterns, and organic biomedical problems have all been associated with sexually deviant behavior. A major assessment task is to determine whether the behavior is situational or symptomatic of unresolved issues in psychosexual development. Models helpful in assessing juvenile perpetrators have been developed by Groth and Loredo, the Sexual Behavior Clinic, and the University of Washington's Juvenile Sex Offender Program (JSOP). Various theoretical orientations have their own sp

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