Male sex offender treatment in Malta : a professional perspective

Abstract

This research attempts to identify the perception of three professional groups: psychologists, police and lawyers, in the context of the treatment of male sex offenders in Malta. The study explores three types of treatment: community notification, castration and cognitive behaviour. This research also tries to identify which type of treatment, according to the professionals, is best to reduce recidivism. This dissertation starts off with a short introduction, which is then followed by the literature review, where the theoretical perspective and different kinds of treatment are explained. Thereafter, an explanation of the methodology, is also explained. Then, after the methodology chapter, the results and discussion of the findings are presented, finally this is followed by the conclusion. The hypothesis of the study, aimed at testing out - a quantitative research method, was chosen; professionals were randomly selected, later this was achieved via snowball sampling. Participants, who ranged in age from 18 to 65 years, were given a questionnaire to fill up. When all forty questionnaires by each group (120 total) were filled, SPSS 20 software was used to analyse the frequency of the answers chosen for a particular question. The results show that the study participants think that sex offenders are treatable, although most of the participants also think that sex offenders should get harsher punishments for the crimes they have committed.