Sex Offenders Denial

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Sex offenders are one of the most reviled criminals by the public. Their actions cause extensive harm and trauma to many innocent victims as well as victims’ families and offenders families (1). According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, it is estimated that 25-33% of adult women and 10% of adult men have been sexually abused as children (1). Just like substance abuse offenders, sexual abuse offenders incline to deny the actions of their offense, and additionally, deny the seriousness of their offense (Hanser and Mire, 2011). Denial is a psychological defense process to protect against unpleasant feelings of anxiety. In addition, denial may also be a normal, conscious action to avoid internal or external consequences …show more content…

Correctional counselors should fully understand the importance initial denial as a critical treatment target in sexual offenders’ treatment, the detailed aspects of treatment for sex offenders, and how interrogation techniques such as the polygraph and the penile plethysmograph enhance treatment for sex …show more content…

Even though denial can be a challenging aspect in counseling, the presence of denial does not prevent effective treatment. Foremost, the effectiveness of treatment is based upon the offender admitting the problem and the willingness to agree the behavior is a problem (Hanser et al, 2011). Offenders that are in complete denial and refuse to acknowledge his or hers offense, subjects that are discussed in group treatment meetings, such as cognitive distortions, deviant arousal, and offense cycles, will not be effective. The offenders in denial will simply denote these problems do not pertain to them (Hanser et al, 2011). As a result, treatment becomes unfeasible, and the denying offender distracts the effectiveness of the treatment for other attendees in the group. Therefore, in order for the success of the treatment, all attendees must admit their history or at least in some part. Correctional counselors should ensure the treatment of denial is conducted before the actual treatment begins. Two major courses of action, correctional counselors utilize in breaching denial in offenders are the utilization of the polygraph and the use of group treatment (Hanser et al, 2011). By utilizing polygraph examinations, the correctional counselor is able to obtain additional data which is very similar to data include in a police report. This data, as a result of

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