Remaking Relapse Prevention with Sex Offenders: A Sourcebook

"This book is a rich source of information on the application of relapse prevention with sex offenders. It presents readers promising directions for change and areas that need revision based on new research findings and the integration of emerging theoretical models that show considerable promise in this field. . . . The material in this book should help us construct a better, safer vehicle for the treatment of sex offenders in the new millennium."

–from the Foreword by G. Alan Marlatt, University of Washington

It is estimated that relapse prevention methods are employed in more than 90% of all North American sex offender treatment programs (of which there are more than 2,000). Comparable statistics are true in most industrialized countries around the world. Over the last decade a great deal has been learned about the treatment of sexual offenders, and particularly about relapse prevention. This sourcebook provides clinicians with the most current, practical information about working with sex offenders to prevent relapse. It reflects the advances and insights of the past decade since the publication of Relapse Prevention with Sex Offenders, focusing on the major reconceptualizations, revisions, and innovations that will chart treatment programs for the first decade of the new millennium.

D.Richard Laws, PhD, was the director of the Sexual Behavior Laboratory at Atascadero State Hospital in California from 1970-1985; project director at the Florida Mental Health Institute, Tampa, from 1985-1989; manager of forensic psychology at Alberta Hospital, Edmonton, Alberta from 1989-1994; and most recently a psychologist with Adult Forensic Psychiatric Services in Victoria, British Columbia from 1994 until his retirement in 1999. Dr. Laws is known in the field of sexual deviation as a developer of assessment procedures and in program development and evaluation. He is the author of numerous articles and book chapters in this area and serves on the editorial board of several journals. He is the editor of Relapse Prevention with Sex Offenders (1989), co-editor with W.L. Marshall and H.E. Barbaree of Handbook of Sexual Assault (1990), co-editor with W.T. O’Donohue of Sexual Deviance (1997), and co-editor with S.M. Hudson and T. Ward of Remaking Relapse Prevention with Sex Offenders (2000). He is past president of the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers. He is adjunct faculty at the University of Victoria and Simon Fraser University in British Columbia and is Honorary Professor at the University of Birmingham (UK) and Cardiff University (UK). 

Stephen M Hudson, PhD, DipClinPsyc, was Director of Clinical Psychology at the Department of Psychology, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand. He was instrumental in the establishment of New Zealand’s first specialized treatment unit for child molesters at Rolleston Prison, Kia Marama, in 1989. His research work was grouped into three major areas: intimacy and attachment style, cognitive distortions, and offence pathways/relapse prevention models. The results of these research projects were published in more than 80 books, book chapters and scholarly articles. He co edited a number of important books in the sexual offending area, including Remaking relapse prevention, Sage, (with D.R Laws and T. Ward, 2000), the Sourcebook of treatment programs for sexual offenders, Plenum (with W. L. Marshall, Y. A. Fernandez, and S. M. Hudson, 1998), and The juvenile sex offender, Guilford (with H. E. Barbaree, and W. L. Marshall). Dr Hudson died after a short battle with cancer on 1 November 2001. 

Tony Ward, PhD, DipClinPsyc, is the Director of the Forensic Psychology Programme at the University of Melbourne. He was previously director of the Kia Marama Programme for sexual offenders at Rolleston Prison, Christchurch, New Zealand. His research interests include the offense process in offenders, cognitive distortions and models of rehabilitation. He has published over 110 research articles, chapters and books. These include Remaking relapse prevention, Sage, (with D.R Laws and S. M. Hudson, 2000) and the Sourcebook of treatment programs for sexual offenders, Plenum (with W. L. Marshall, Y. A. Fernandez, and S. M. Hudson, 1998). He is currently working on a book on theories of sexual offending and rehabilitation (Wiley).