Healing the abusers

Treatment is vital in preventing paedophiles reoffending. But the problem is complex, and public ignorance also needs to be tackled

David Batty, writing in The Guardian


The closure last week of a unique clinic, hailed by ministers as providing the most effective sex offender treatment programme in Britain, has highlighted how public misconceptions about paedophiles can undermine efforts to reduce the threat they pose.
Plans to relocate the Wolvercote clinic to a site in Silverlands near Chertsey, Surrey, which had been renovated at a cost of £2.4m, were abandoned because of protests by local residents concerned about their children's safety. Yet, in the seven years that it operated from Horton hospital, Epsom, none of the 305 men assessed and treated, who were intensively monitored 24 hours-a-day, harmed local children.

Child protection experts have warned that the clinic's closure means more sexual abusers will end up in the community under less supervision. Research for the Home Office found that the Wolvercote was more effective in changing sex abusers' behaviour, including that of highly deviant offenders, than any other service.

The UK has led the world in rolling out sex offender treatment programmes. There are now accredited programmes in 27 prisons, as well as community-based services in Wales, London and the Midlands. Research shows that those who complete treatment are less likely to reoffend and fantasise about children, or deny they harmed their victims. In addition, 42 multi-agency protection panels (MAPPs) in England and Wales, one for each police force area, monitor 18,513 registered sex offenders in the community, plus 27,477 violent sexual offenders not eligible for registration.

However, of the 5,600 sex offenders currently in prison only 839 completed treatment last year. A report by the Prison Reform Trust published today, the Prisons' League Table 2001-02, reveals this was the fourth year running that the prison service failed to meet its target for treating sex offenders. The target has been cut from 1,160 last year to 950 in 2002-03. Meanwhile, 253 sex offenders in the community evaded the supervision of their local MAPP last year and were later cautioned or convicted.

There are also few services dealing with the little recognised but growing problem of teenagers who abuse other children. The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children wants the government to develop a national strategy to deal with young sex offenders, as there are only a handful of services and no consistent standards for treatment, even though about 500 under-18s are convicted of sexual offences each year.

The Wolvercote's staff warn that its closure will put extra pressure on remaining services, as it was the only programme to deal with unconvicted sexual abusers; about a third of the risk assessments it carried out were for men referred by the civil courts or by social services. Tink Palmer, Barnado's policy and practice officer on the sexual exploitation of children, said this work was essential as many abusers are not convicted because children find it difficult to give evidence in criminal trials or do not report their ordeal until years later.

The Home Office has pledged to reopen Wolvercote at another site and has announced a review of sex offender treatment with the aim of setting up several similar secure residential clinics. But children's charities believe the plans may fail unless the government mounts a public health and education campaign that explains the real risks posed by sexual abusers and the need for local treatment services.

Tink Palmer wants the government to challenge the sometimes sensationalist media coverage of sex offenders which perpetuates the myth of "stranger danger". She said: "Adults have a duty to keep children safe from harm, but this is only possible if they have sufficient information to assess when a child really is at risk.

"In reality, more than 80% of convicted child sex offenders are well known to their victim. They can be a parent, neighbour, family friend, teacher or doctor. Therefore we need to rethink our approach to managing the issue of child sex abuse within communities. The abuser may be a child's father, who in other areas of the child's life presents as a caring and nurturing parent. Many children express the view that they want the abuse to stop, but they don't want their dad getting into trouble. The matrix is complex and requires the intervention of skilled professionals such as those at the Wolvercote."

Next month sees the launch of a new project - Stop It Now! - aimed at raising awareness of paedophilia by providing a helpline for adults uneasy about their sexual inclinations. National coordinator, John Brownlow, said: "The climate of fear that surrounds the issue of child abuse makes offenders less likely to come forward."

A Home Office white paper to overhaul the law on sexual offending is due to be published this autumn; it will address treatment services and propose tightening the way the sex offenders register works. But Donald Findlater, manager of the Wolvercote, believes a cross-government strategy is needed, as the Department of Health sold off the clinic's former home to a private developer.

He said: "Why is the DoH not involved when it is responsible for the nation's physical, sexual and emotional wellbeing? The treatment of sex offenders has phenomenal health implications. Mental hospitals are full of people sexually abused as children. If the Wolvercote had stayed open, I'm sure within a year we'd have saved the health service millions."

8 August 2002
http://www.guardian.co.uk/analysis/story/0,3604,770914,00.html