Training Name: Adolescent Sex Offending Perpetration – Module 1
Learning Objectives
As a result of this training, participants will be able to:
1. Explain why community-based treatment is generally preferred over residential placement for adolescents with problematic sexual behaviors, including the problem of skills failing to transfer from institutional settings.
2. Describe why punishment alone rarely changes adolescent behavior, distinguishing between shame and guilt as responses to consequences.
3. Apply the risk, need, and responsivity principles to case supervision, including the danger of over-treating low-risk youth.
4. Compare adolescents who have engaged in sexually abusive behavior with other justice-involved teens, identifying which characteristics differ (such as histories of sexual victimization and social isolation) and which do not (such as attitudes toward women).
5. Summarize the research on desistance and treatment outcomes, including the finding that the vast majority of adolescents who have sexually abused do not continue this behavior into adulthood.