The Sexual Assault Management Program: how this type of treatment works

This is a well-known psychological treatment initiative for sexual offenders.

Few criminal acts like sexual assaults perpetrated on women and children generate as much aversion in our society. generate so much aversion in our society. People often react with incomprehension, horror and shock when sexual assault is mentioned, because the offender is crossing an unbreakable ethical, social and legal barrier for many, many people.

In recent decades, this type of criminal behavior has aroused great interest in the scientific community and in society in general. The aim is to find ways to make this kind of act practically disappear, and for this reason initiatives such as the initiatives such as the Sexual Assault Control Program (SAC) have been launched.. Let's see what it looks like and what effects its application can have.

Sexual Assault Control Program (SAC).

Many sexual offenders commit these acts in order to feel good, to have power and control.... Getting pleasure in this way may be, in part, an escape from other painful or non-painful experiences. from other painful or unpleasant experiences such as shame, fear, anger, etc. They perceive that there is no other way. They perceive that there is no other way available to obtain this gratification, they do not empathize with the victim, and show insufficient control to inhibit and direct their actions.

What response can we give from psychology to these criminal acts? Is there any treatment for this type of person? Can they be reintegrated into society? What guarantees are there that they will not reoffend? In this article we are going to talk about a cognitive-behavioral treatment for sex offenders. which has produced good results in Spain, although we cannot claim that it is a panacea.

The sexual aggression control program (SAC) has its theoretical basis in the explanatory model of sexual delinquency the explanatory model of sexual delinquency devised by Marshall and Barbaree (1989), with special reference to the (1989), with particular reference to the confrontation of pro-delinquent cognitive patterns, Walters' (1989) criminal lifestyle model, and Pithers' (1987) relapse prevention framework.

The SAC program was designed by Garrido and Beneyto (1996) based on previous work by other authors specialized in the area. It is aimed at sex offenders, and is structured in 3 manuals: manual for the therapist, manual for the inmate and evaluation system. The first application of this program was carried out in parallel in two penitentiary centers in the province of Barcelona: Quatre Camins and Brians.

Inclusion requirements and reasons for exclusion

To access the program priority is given to those convicted inmates who have already served ¾ of their sentence, or have less than 4 years left to serve.or have less than 4 years left to serve. In addition, prison psychologists value very positively the form of voluntariness and the acceptance of criminal responsibility as aspects favoring change.

But not all inmates who meet the above requirements can continue with the program: those who respond with loss of voluntariness to follow the program, those who show behaviors that hinder the progress of the program, as well as the persistence of a personality structure of risk of criminal recidivism, will be excluded.

What are the objectives of the SAC program?

This program is designed to improve the chances of reintegration and non-recidivism of the inmate who has committed a sexual assault offense, improving the effectiveness of their psychosocial skills..

It is a semi-structured therapeutic intervention that combines cognitive-behavioral techniques. These are activities that require introspection, confrontation with self and others, structured learning of coping skills and the development of self-control.

This program is usually applied in a group modality, in one or two therapeutic sessions.It consists of one or two weekly therapeutic sessions, of two hours duration, for about 9-11 months.

As we will see below, the SAC program is structured in several phases of intervention, divided into 2 large blocks: awareness and control. Before starting, a training in Muscle relaxation is performed to proactively control their states of tension.

Awareness raising

Various cognitive and emotional elements are worked on with the aim of making the person more aware of their criminal activities and the precipitating risk factors (e.g. cognitive distortions) related to them. Five modules are used to develop this block:

• Personal history analysis.The subject conducts a review of his or her own life.
• Introduction to cognitive distortionsTherapeutic confrontation of his/her thinking errors and distorted interpretation of his/her criminal behavior (e.g., "she was provoking me, she was asking me, even though she told me not to").
• Emotional awarenessThe idea is to improve their awareness and capacity for introspection. Recognize their emotions and those of others.
• Violent behaviorsThe following section analyzes the behaviors of aggression and harm to the victims.
• Defense mechanismsThe aim is to reduce the justification of the crime by means of confrontation. In the program manual, up to 107 typical excuses used by sexual aggressors are exemplified, such as: "it was not that bad", "I am not perfect", "I had a bad night", "I did not hurt her as much as she said", "she was screaming for it with the way she was dressed".

Taking control

It is intended that the subject dominates his own behavior in order to inhibit his criminal activities.. This block is composed of 7 modules (2 of them are relapse prevention):

• Cognitive distortions: the subject is informed of the functioning of distortions, is helped to identify his internal dialogue, irrational and deviant thoughts are classified, these thoughts are challenged and sought to replace them with rational interpretations. In aggressors of adult women, negative beliefs towards them are typical, whereas abusers of children rationalize their behavior or accuse their victims of being provocative.
• Positive lifestylepositive lifestyle: they are taught to plan their daily lives.
• Sex educationinformation about the functioning of human sexuality, from the scientific to the ethical side. Special emphasis is placed on consent, on sex as an activity of communication and reciprocal respect for people's desires.
• Modification of sexual impulseThe aim is to reduce sexual impulse in the face of inappropriate stimuli involving the use of violence or child abuse (self-stimulatory reconditioning or covert sensitization).
• Relapse prevention.

Do these types of programs work?

Unfortunately, sex offenders, along with the drug-addicted offender population, are the most difficult subjects to reintegrate and tend to reoffend.. Treatment success rates are not as positive as we would all like. However, the most widely used and effective psychological treatments with sex offenders are cognitive-behavioral oriented (Brandes and Cheung, 2009; Marshall and Marshall, 20I4; Zata and Farringtoo, 2016), as is the SAC.

The sexual aggression management program has obtained good results.although we must be cautious. In a study conducted by Redondo, Navarro, Martínez, Luque and Andrés (2005) showed that after a 4-year follow-up of inmates who had gone through the SAC program only 4% reoffended for sexual assault offenses (in the control group, untreated, 11% reoffended).

In addition, practitioners should keep in mind that there are a number of factors that correlate with a better prognosis in treatment (p. e.g., empathy for the victim, building social support, no mental illness, genuine and real desire to change), and should be assessed on a case-by-case basis to enhance them.