ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The Forensic Therapeutic Outpatient Clinic (FTA) in Berlin targets the professional aftercare treatment of classified high-risk violent and sexual offenders released from prison or forensic psychiatric hospitals. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A comparison sample (n = 32) matched to the patients of the FTA (complete survey n = 32) according to similar criminal histories and diagnoses (ICD-10) was collected from offenders released from prison and forensic psychiatry at a time before the FTA was established. The focus of the study was on recidivism measured by complaints received by police departments during the follow-up period. RESULTS: Sexual recidivism occurred significantly later in the case of released offenders with aftercare treatment compared to those without. Moreover, for the duration of aftercare treatment the general risk of recidivism was approximately 85 % lower; however, after termination of treatment the recidivism rates of both samples converged to almost the same level. CONCLUSION: Individually adapted measures should be maintained after finishing aftercare treatment; however, because prisoners released from prison are frequently less prepared than patients from forensic psychiatric hospitals, the therapeutic work often reaches its limits in these cases. Therefore, social work should be taken into account right from the start.
Subject(s)
Aftercare/psychology , Ambulatory Care Facilities , Criminals/psychology , Prisoners/psychology , Sex Offenses/prevention & control , Violence/prevention & control , Adult , Aftercare/methods , Forensic Psychiatry/methods , Germany , Health Care Surveys , Hospitals, Psychiatric , Humans , Male , Patient Discharge , Secondary Prevention/methods , Sex Offenses/psychology , Treatment Outcome , Violence/psychologyABSTRACT
A coping model for the assessment of the effect of prison life is proposed. On this basis, previous findings of such effects can be interpreted as coping patterns learned under the specific conditions. Within this theoretical framework, the individual perceptions of the inmates regarding the atmosphere in a therapeutically oriented department and in three conventional settings of the same prison are compared. Furthermore, differences in their social attitudes and self-descriptions are assessed. A total of 108 juvenile prisoners filled out a multidimensional atmosphere scale for correction institutions and a multidimensional personality inventory for prisoners. All atmosphere dimensions of the group of prisoners in the therapeutically oriented setting differed significantly from the other three. Furthermore, the inmates of the therapeutic division showed less aggressive and negative attitudes than those of the other divisions. Other personality scales showed no significant differences. From these results it is concluded that the effects of prison life can be mitigated in a setting that provides the inmates with more opportunities to develop adequate coping behavior than a conventional prison environment does.