Various offenders interviewed described the core importance of acknowledging the harm caused by their offending and developing increased empathy. This was articulated in terms of having come out of denial to appreciate the harm caused to victims and those close to victims. However, the “ripples” of harm, as some offenders described the consequences of their offending, also extended to the relatives of the offenders, and the distress caused to professionals working within the arena of sexual abuse.
It’s not just one victim. It’s like dropping a pebble in a pool; the ripples that come out of it ... You see, until the people realise that, I can’t see them (other sex offenders) getting on, you know. Victim empathy is a very important thing (Offender 1).
I just look on it, the more that I understand myself, the more hurt that I realise that I've actually caused, then I know I'm not going to go down that path again (Offender 11).
The vast majority of sexual offenders interviewed had either completed the prison and/or the community sex offender groupwork programme, or were in the process of participating in the community groupwork programme, at the time of being interviewed. For the majority of sex offenders, it was the groupwork programme that facilitated the rehabilitative gains cited above. Below are two typical examples. that comes to mind, but something that really opened the door, opened my mind, was the victim empathy part of the course. When you sat there, and what effect this has, or you had; part of the work I didn’t mind was, I had to
In the above sex offenders’ accounts, the perceived rehabilitative pay-off in being prepared to face the harm done to others (the nature of the offenders’ pain is explored in the next chapter) was the development of victim empathy. Hence, the concepts of acknowledging harm and victim empathy appeared closely related.
As is evident in Chapter 3, which explores in detail the evolution of strengths- based approaches, focusing upon solutions and on the future are important elements of the strengths-based orientation. However, the sex offenders’
emphasis on the importance of acknowledging harm caused and the related development of concern for others usually involves, as will be expanded upon in the next chapter, a traumatic psychological journey into past problematic areas.
These aspects of the conceptualised rehabilitative journey have much more in common with the orthodox problem-focused way of treating sex offenders (Salter, 1988; Finkelhor, 1994), which involves the acknowledgement of distorted and harmful ways of viewing self, others and victims, in order to clear the way for the development of empathy
Developing victim empathy and empathy for others has been, and still is, a staple of sex offender treatment programmes (Brown, 2005). As will be more fully discussed in Chapter 7 (Section 7.4.), the project of getting sex offenders to dispense with or reduce perceived denial so that they can develop empathy for victims, was a practice preoccupation for most probation officers. However, the link between greater empathy and lowered risk of sexual re-offending has been contested because of various problems, including the difficulty of defining the construct of empathy (Pithers, 1999). The question has also arisen as to whether sex offenders have generalised empathy deficits or have specific motivations for not experiencing empathy for victims (Ward et al., 1995). There have also been mixed research outcomes, with regard to the link between greater empathy and
lower sexual recidivism (Smallbone et al., 2003). Nevertheless, one of the most important aspects of rehabilitation for most sex offenders interviewed in this study was progressing from denying their offending and anti-social behaviour to acknowledging the harm of it and, seemingly as a consequence, developing greater victim empathy for others.
5.7. Sex offenders’ accounts of good outcomes: increased general concern for others and valuing of relationships
Various sexual offenders interviewed described a transformative process, in which constructive relationships with others became a much more important part of their value base. In addition to accumulating relational ‘social capital’ and
‘human goods’, a number of offenders described a fundamental shift in how they perceived themselves in relation to society, consistent with Maruna’s (2001) concept of developing a pro-social self.
Two offenders, below, describe global shifts in how they now perceive prospective sexual partners.
Also women; it has given me a bigger perspective of women as well. I respect them so much more now than I did do. I didn’t have that respect in the past. Urn, cause of relationships breaking down and things like that, I wasn’t really bothered, you know ... My family, my victim, my friends, the probation officer; it made me realise that life is not about me; it’s about other people around me and that’s how I felt (Offender 3).
I don't see them (young boys) as sexual targets, if you like. I'm happy with the sex life that I have with my partner, with the life beyond sex I have. I don't want to jeopardise that at all. But even if I didn't have that, I think I would have come to a point where I didn't see them as ... it’s kind of like
that I'm bisexual and accept that. Like I say I think that Damon (Matt Damon, the actor) is nice. I still see people who I think are attractive, but I don't feel I want to go beyond that. It's almost as if you can look, but you can’t touch. I don't think I’ll ever, ever get rid of the attraction or the thought of it. But I don't want to. The fact that it would be destructive to me, destructive to the person, destructive to my family (Offender 5).
The following offenders reflected remorsefully on being self-orientated in the past in general terms, apart from their sexuality.
I told him (probation officer) lots of things about the thieving I done, and how I used to treat other people, people who were really good to me, and how I treated them really bad (Offender 1).
I was a very selfish person; didn’t think about anybody else; didn’t want to know about anybody. All I talked about was myself, you know. My family, attentive, and more relaxed person (Offender 13).
Offender 10, 60 years old at the time of interview, had committed two offences of rape, serving a 20 year prison sentence. He described his previous offending
I’m a Buddhist. I’ve got a degree (a social sciences degree, gained in
Similarly, Offender 5 described fundamental shifts in the way he experiences life and perceives himself. contrasted his previous destructive reaction to relationships with women ending with how he had recently sensitively supported a partner, with whom he had been having a much valued relationship, when she had chosen to return to her husband. According to the offender, the woman had felt guilty that her husband had been seriously injured in a crane accident. What seems apparent in the
following account is the offender’s pro-social empathy and general concern for another rival male.
I felt a certain compassion for this guy ... because of the way I would’ve reacted years ago ... ‘Fuck him, bollocks to him’ ... you know, all that sort of stu ff... I would have had some seriously hostile feelings toward that. I would have fucked them up, one way or the other, being spiteful, vindictive and stuff like that. I wouldn't have seen it from any other person’s point of view except my own (Offender 10).
Like Maruna, philosopher Charles Taylor (1989) posits that human beings make sense of themselves through narratives, the stories we tell about ourselves. As will be discussed in the following chapter, Hudson (2005) also explores the importance of identity issues, discussing such issues with specific regard to sex offenders. In common with both Maruna and Ward, Taylor posits that self-identity is formed in terms of how we orientate ourselves to what we perceive as the good, the preferred values around which identity is constructed.
I have been arguing that in order to make minimal sense of our lives, in order to have an identity we need an orientation to the good ... now we see that this sense of the good has to be woven into my understanding of my life as an unfolding story (1989, p. 47).
Hence, for an unredeemed sex offender, the good could be developing the street-wise guile to deceive a probation officer about the true state of their lives.
Such a situation is commented upon by Offender 10.
I think I put this front on, this model parolee, and I led a secret life. I would come in and everything would be fine and rosy, but my life would be in fucking chaos (Offender 10).
The same sex offender talks about coming to view himself differently.
Grendon (a therapeutic prison regime) was the main thing for me. I saw myself differently, my offence differently (Offender 10).
Offender 10 described a Gestalt-type moment, in which his sense of the good changed. He now constructs previous deceptive “Jack the Lad” type behaviour in terms of the bad, in terms of psychopathology, and no longer wants to be associated with this.
But I have empathy with things now, where I didn't before. I'm ... I knew about this psychopath, and all this ... but in actual fact it was me, if you don't give a toss about people (Offender 10).
The above offenders described how the threat of losing social capital, in the form of relationships and valued occupation, acted as a prohibition against further sexual offending. Various sex offenders interviewed also described fundamental shifts of identify, as they developed a more pro-social self, which was more relationally orientated. These rehabilitative factors are consistent with the protective factors against further offending described in strengths-based desistance approaches to crime reduction, including sexual offending.
5.8. Conclusion
Whilst much rehabilitation of sex offenders takes place on groupwork programmes, significant rehabilitation input appears to occur in supervision sessions. Supervising probation officers generally viewed good supervisory outcomes in terms of hard-won steps of progress, rather than major leaps of rehabilitative gain. These gains were consistent with orthodox cognitive- behavioural treatment goals. Probation officers’ accounts of good practice were associated with various risk management tasks, with systems of risk technologies and prescribed practice being seen by many officers as helping them to achieve such good practice. However, all probation officers interviewed expressed the view that forming a good relationship with sex offenders was an important factor in achieving good outcomes and practice.
As with the probation officers interviewed, all the sex offenders said that the developing of a positive relationship with their supervising probation officer was an important factor in the rehabilitative process. The majority of sex offenders interviewed describe how an important part of their rehabilitative outcomes was a heightened awareness of losing liberties and privileges, consistent with ‘social capital’ and ‘human goods,’ if they re-offended. Offenders also described the importance of acknowledging harm caused, and the related development of empathy and concern for others. For some offenders, the rehabilitative process involved a fundamental shift in personal identity, as offenders developed a more pro-social self, which was more relationally orientated.
A number of the above repeated examples of good outcomes and practice described by probation officers and sex offenders are not majored upon in strengths-based approaches. Cognitive-behavioural gains, the emphasis on risk management, and sex offenders engaging with the highly problematic nature of their past are, as is evident from the discussions in Chapters 3 and 4, more consistent with orthodox sex offender treatment initiatives than most strengths- based initiatives. However, the stress placed on the importance of the therapeutic alliance between officer and offender, and the importance of offenders obtaining social capital and undergoing identity change, is very much consistent with strengths-based approaches. Moreover, as will become apparent in Chapter 8, many of the interactive means by which probation officers achieve orthodox treatment and risk management goals with sex offenders, are consistent with strengths-based interventions.
Chapter 6