Rolling Versus Closed Group Treatment of Sexual Offenders

Sexual offending has serious consequences for victims and communities. For decades, research has been concerned with evaluating whether sexual offender treatment programs have the capacity to reduce reoffending, with a number of meta-analyses indicating that sexual offender treatment works. The aim of this study was to explore outcomes for two variations of group treatment delivery, rolling and closed group programs, in relation to within-treatment change, treatment completion, and recidivism. Results show no difference in outcomes by group type. Correctional services can therefore choose the group variant with confidence that outcomes are comparable.