stat group curriculum?

[jpz]

Hi. I am working outpatient and am thinking of starting a statutory group. I do regular, open-ended sex offender treatment, but am having trouble justifying having in the group the 20 year old guys who had sex at a party with a 16 year old girl (age of consent in Florida is 18, which creates a lot of these guys). My plan is to have guys who meet the following criteria: have no other underage victims (per hx poly), no deviant arousal, no extensive criminal history. I'm also thinking of having a sexting guy come in. I was wondering also about the mid-twenties guys who had sex with someone they thought was an adult but who wasn't (e.g., had gained admittance into a bar and was being served). Is anyone else doing a group like this? Would you be willing to share what kind of curriculum you use? How much do you do psycho-education, and how much treatment? Is it time-limited or open-ended? Any words of experience? Thanks.

[kensinger]

jpz:
We have been pulling out the stat guys for nearly 10 years now. Did a couple ATSA presentataions on it. We use a 16 week psychoeducational class rather than a group. Emphasis is not on discussing the details of the offense. Screening to weed out the ones who need ongoing, long term treatment is important.

We have a section on values clarification, another on cognitive distortions, and a third on victim empathy. We adapted Barbara Levinson's empathy scale and Kurt Bumby's rape cognition scale to do pre/post tests.

Just completing the latest class this Tuesday. I can send you the materials we use, including the pre/post tests if you want. You can email me at [e-mail] and I will send it out to you (or any others here who are interested.) We sent out a bunch a couple months ago on the ATSA listserv.

[pmyates]

I would put these guys in their own separate group (with the sexting folks) and offer minimal intervention -- the lowest level of intervention you can get away with per whatever the court orders. I agree with ken re offering psycho-ed (though don't see a real need for values clarification, empathy, etc.) then graduate them and send them on their way. They are (statistically speaking) a very low risk group requiring no or minimal intervention (I'm not convinced that most of the stat folks need any intervention at all other than routine supervision). Also, don't forget that putting them in a group with higher risk folks could actually increase their risk.

[kensinger]

Sorry for the delay, but I finally put the stat class curriculum together. It is available for anyone who wants it, no charge.

You can email me for a copy.