The public desires more punitive sentencing for sex offenders; however, treatment has been shown to be most effective in increasing public safety. It has been suggested that public education about the benefits of sex offender treatment could influence public policy. The purpose of this study was to determine if a brief psychoeducational…

An innovative theory of the nature of cognition, the extended mind theory (EMT), has emerged recently in the cognitive science literature. According to the EMT, the boundaries of the mind extend beyond the boundaries of skull and skin, into the world beyond. My aim in this paper is to consider the practical implications of the EMT for therapists…

The trauma of being a victim of sexual abuse is very difficult to live with, but for victims of internet offending there are added complexities for him/her in trying to make sense of what has happened. They are often "directed" by the offender to perform sexual acts on themselves and/or others, which creates huge confusion for the victim in terms…

This paper considers the issues involved in the use of manuals to guide the treatment of sexual offenders. I identify problems in the use of manuals, particularly their failure to encourage satisfactorily the implementation of therapeutic skills, the restrictions they place upon the therapist's ability to address the responsivity principle, the…

This paper offers a commentary on the debate between Marshall and Mann on the desirability and merits of treatment manuals in the treatment of sexual offenders. Marshall offers a view of manuals as restrictive to clinical practice and as stifling to clinical innovation. Mann takes the position that manuals are a vital component in effective…

This review examines contemporary cognitive distortion theory and research relating to sexual offenders. In particular, this review highlights that researchers--to date--have tended to adopt an internalist approach to sexual offenders' cognition which views offence-supportive cognitive activity as occurring solely within the mind. This review…

This paper reviews the development of online technologies over the last 40 years in the context of the perceived risks to children. It reviews the literature on the main research, legislation and guidance and their role in the development of responses to safeguard children from the perceived threat of harm online. Significant gaps are found in the…

There is now a considerable literature on the assessment and treatment of sexual offenders. There exists another substantial literature on therapeutic groupwork and its relevance to a range of clinical populations. These bodies of work have made reference to the other in terms of their mutual relevance. However, there has been no comprehensive…

A number of studies using the Implicit Association Test have shown successfully that male child molesters hold cognitive associations between children and sexual concepts. The results of such studies appear to indicate that male child molesters hold core cognitive associations that play some part in facilitating and/or maintaining sexual advances…

Previous studies have suggested that offenders have lowered verbal intelligence compared to their performance intelligence. This phenomenon has been linked traditionally to childhood risk factors (e.g. deficient education, abuse and neglect). Substantial discrepancies between performance intelligence quotients (PIQ) and verbal intelligence…

The increase in convictions for internet-related sexual offending has led to new challenges for treatment providers. By 2005 nearly one-third of all sexual convictions in England and Wales were for internet-related sexual offending. In late 2006 a treatment programme for internet-related sexual offending (the i-SOTP) was given accreditation for…

Child sexual offenders are hypothesized to hold offence-supportive beliefs that set them apart from others. The current study seeks support for this view via a cognitive-experimental approach. Child sexual offenders and offender controls were exposed to pictures of semi-clothed children (priming condition) or clothed, mature adults (control…

The purpose of this study was to examine general empathy, general victim empathy and own victim empathy in adolescent sexual offenders. Sixteen adolescent sexual offenders completed the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), the Personal Reaction Inventory, a "general sexual abuse victim" form of the Victim Empathy Distortions Scale…

This paper compares psychometric test assessments of 39 men convicted of internet sex offences with 39 convicted of contact offences against a specific victim. Higher rates of socially desirable responding were identified in the internet group, as well as higher rates of emotional loneliness and under assertiveness, although the latter two…

This study investigates the variations in behaviour displayed by young people who sexually harm, as previous research has shown that they are not a homogeneous sample. Three conceptually distinct sets of behaviour were hypothesized, relating to various modes of interaction between the young people with harmful sexual behaviour (HSB) and their…