Effects of Japanese Sex Offender-Treatment Program: Examining Heterogeneity of Prisoners

• In Event: International Reentry Approaches and Strategies

Abstract

This study examines the effects of Japanese Sex Offender-Treatment Program (JaSOP) on recidivism. Our positive but tentative results presented in 2015 did not account for the possibility that sex offence prisoners' heterogeneity may generate/produce different patterns of recidivism. In this study, we find 10 latent classes between sex offence prisoners with the data of 1,962 ex-prisoners using 44 items from four risk assessment tools. This means that there are 10 heterogeneous groups in sex offence prisoners. Cox proportional hazard model shows that :(1) JaSOP had a significant and preventive effect on recidivism after controlling the effects of 10 latent classes and the other confounding factors, (2) The recidivism rates within two-year follow-up period varied among the classes from 6% to 55%, (3) There were no significant interactions between JaSOP and the latent classes.

Authors

• Yoshikazu Yuma, Hyogo University of Teacher Education

• Yuichiro Kanazawa, University of Tsukuba

• Yusuke Inozume, Correction Bureau, Ministry of Justice, Japan

• Yuko Matsushima, Fuchu Prison