Professionals working with adolescents who have been sexually abused are under ever increasing pressure to engage in evidence-based practice (EBP), or treatments that have demonstrated proof of their efficacy. While the quest for EBP is certainly praiseworthy, it has been an elusive concept for many professionals. Further, development of…

Since the early 1980s, five assumptions have influenced the assessment, treatment, and community supervision of adolescents who have offended sexually. In particular, interventions with this population have been informed by the assumptions that these youth are (i) deviant, (ii) delinquent, (iii) disordered, (iv) deficit-ridden, and (v) deceitful.…

While only a minority of children who have been abused or neglected engage in delinquent behavior, they are at a significantly higher risk. When youth do become involved in both the child welfare and juvenile justice systems, they present unique needs that require collaboration between the numerous systems and people involved in their lives. The…

In this article we reflect on developments in our thinking and practice concerning youth sexual offending. We put the case that context is critical to understanding and responding to the problem, and accordingly that a social ecological model provides the most suitable conceptual and practice framework for clinical efforts with this population. We…

The costs of treating youth who sexually harm others can exceed $200,000 Australian (US$220,000) per annum when they are placed in a residential type facility in either Australia or North America. Following the financial meltdown of the past two years, North American based residential-style programs have found themselves under increasing financial…

Examines the general range of knowledge possessed concerning adolescent sex offenders and focuses on participants in one community-based program designed to treat these offenders. The assessment and evaluation of male adolescent sex offenders is emphasized. Following a review of related studies, the Community-Based Sexual Offenders Outpatient…

Confronted with widely publicized accounts of assaults by juvenile sex offenders against fellow students or school staff members, several states are grappling with the issue of how to balance a student's right to an education with the threat that such a student may pose. Legislatures and agencies in several states, such as Arkansas, New Mexico,…

The article describes a five-step group therapy program for 21 male adolescent sex offenders. Key elements were peer interaction and a system of incentives for therapy. (DB)

This brief summarizes the findings of the larger study, "Just Learning: The Imperative to Transform Juvenile Justice Systems into Effective Educational Systems. A Study of Juvenile Justice Schools in the South and the Nation." With awareness growing that schools are disciplining and suspending minority students at alarming rates, the…

Documents the development of an adult sex offender risk assessment tool. A risk scale was developed based upon criminal and therapeutic outcomes of 494 sex offenders. The final risk scale included prior juvenile felony convictions, prior adult felony convictions, victim being intoxicated, denial in therapy, sexual deviance in therapy, and…

Examines the history of registration and notification statutes for sex offenders and concerns and legal challenges they have faced, noting psychology's limited knowledge about normal versus abnormal sexual development and research suggesting that recidivism rates for sexual offenses may be lower for juveniles than adults who have received…

Highly practical and accessible, this is an indispensable resource for any mental health practitioner working with adolescents at risk for violent behavior. Presented is a comprehensive framework for evaluating justice-involved youth or those whose behavior in school, therapy sessions, or other contexts raises concern about violence. Detailed case…

Published jointly by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, this document presents information drawn from a nationally representative sample of state prisoners and from existing homicide data assembled by law enforcement agencies. It sheds new light on the most serious types of child abuse and…

For school officials in West Des Moines, Iowa, it was a disturbing discovery: A teenager convicted of molesting a 13-year-old girl was enrolled in one of their junior high schools. It was a situation that gave local officials reason to pause. They knew all about conducting criminal background checks on new employees, and they had heard that some…

Although juvenile sex offenders (JSOs) account for a significant percentage of sex crimes committed in this country, researchers have only recently begun to study this population. One line of inquiry has been to investigate sub-types of offenders, in order to determine whether different types of offenders have different personality profiles and…