The Role of Preparatory Programming in Increasing the Effectiveness of a Sex Offender Treatment Intervention

Increasing the effectiveness of programs designed to treat individuals who have sexually offended is a critical step in reducing the rates of sexual violence in our communities. Yet, the research on such programs have yielded inconsistent results with regards to their effectiveness in reducing sexual recidivism among participants. Some researchers have explored whether the dose of treatment impacts recidivism, but there remains limited knowledge around the dose-response relationship for individuals who have sexually offended. The current study examines recidivism rates among 343 individuals who participated in and completed the programs administered by the North Carolina Department of Public Safety (NCDPS): Pre-SOAR (preparatory program), SOAR (full high-dose treatment program), and the combination of both Pre-SOAR and SOAR. Findings demonstrated that men who participated in Pre-SOAR only had the highest rates of recidivism among the three groups. Specifically, the Pre-SOAR only group returned to prison over a year sooner than the other two groups. These findings elucidate that the Pre-SOAR program is not sufficient or the most efficacious as a stand-alone program to reduce recidivism among sex offenders. Next, the Pre-SOAR program did show benefit when combined with the SOAR program, in that approximately 8% fewer of the individuals were reincarcerated during the study window compared to those who only completed the SOAR program. While those individuals who participated in the Pre-SOAR and SOAR programming group returned to prison approximately three days faster than the SOAR-only group, we do not see this to be a significant difference. Programming implications are discussed.