A robust method for the evaluation of prison based sex offender treatment programmes

This paper outlines the approach to evaluating the sex offender treatment programme
currently running in the Irish prison system. It begins with an introduction to the scope
of the problem of sexual offending as reflected by the extent of the prison population in
Ireland who have been convicted of a variety of sexual offences. It then outlines two key
points that can be gleaned from several decades of general research on evaluating the
effectiveness of psychological treatments while indicating how they have been included
in our present research. We also describe the variety of data sources that need to be
incorporated into an effective evaluation of prison based sex offender treatment
programmes. We conclude with an introduction to some preliminary findings from our
on-going research. These finding high-light the return in terms of more reliable
information when care is taken in developing a robust method for the evaluation of
prison-based sex offender treatment programmes.