Home Office to identify centres for sex offenders

The Home Office is working to identify suitable sites for around
five centres for sex offenders to undergo residential treatment,
writes Clare Jerrom.

Research evaluating residential treatment for sex offenders
shows that reconviction rates were halved for higher risk offenders
who underwent such treatment at the Wolvercote Clinic run by the
Lucy Faithfull Foundation.

A second piece of research by the same authors carried out for
the Home Office concluded that such centres would provide a
valuable resource to rehabilitate offenders and protect the
public.

Minister for correctional services Paul Goggins said the
government introduced the Sexual Offences Act to increase
protection for the vulnerable and innovations such as satellite
tracking and polygraphing testing were being piloted in a bid to
make communities safer.

“Our work to identify suitable sites for residential
centres to treat sex offenders is part of this public protection
agenda, although we will clearly need to move forward very
carefully in this process,” he added.

The Home Office also published guidance to inform the work of
people who supervise and monitor high risk offenders in the
community.

The national sex offender strategy focuses on the need for
accurate assessment of all sex offenders, opportunities to reduce
risk through treatment and interventions to manage risk.

The accommodation strategy examines the use of approved
premises, previously referred to as hostels, by the probation
service. This strategy affirms the existing role of these premises
in supervising offenders who pose a high risk and the good practice
of using close supervision and 24-hour staff cover.

Strategies from www.probation.homeoffice.gov.uk/output/page32.asp