Abstract: How to Get Sexual Offenders Released from Prison
It is meaningful and it makes sense to treat sex offenders. It is also senseful, if they have been sent to prison. You can call it coercive treatment, but life is full of coercions, especially the life of a perpetrator. In prison, he has a lot of time, and there are worse things than talking about sex. The best option is to have a individual psychotherapy executed by a goodlooking female young psychologist full of empathy. Okay, most of the prisons now prefer group therapies, together with other bothersome perpetrators and two therapists; but usually you hear and discuss some interesting stories. But how does anybody know that the therapy was successful? How can anybody decide to release the offender from prison? In Germany, we see two different strategies. If you are a pedosexual perpetrator, you will not be released unless you are pharmacologically treated by Anti-Androgens. Or if you have reached the last day of your terminated sentence.
If you are a rapist, you are not allowed to improve your attitudes and behavioural patterns by your own; you have to follow a department of “social therapy for sex offenders” for the time of three to five years and have to succeed, e.g. you have to comply the psychological, sexual and gender-associated beliefs of the therapists. Psychotherapy has some options of humiliation, and therapy has the risk to converge to punishment.
Hans-Ludwig Kröber, MD, Psychiatrist, born 1951, is Professor for Forensic Psychiatry and since 1996 Director of the Institute of Forensic Psychiatry, Charité - University Medicine Berlin, Germany. After 15 years of working in clinical psychiatry and psychotherapy (so as head of the outpatient department of the Heidelberg Psychiatric University Hospital), he specialized in forensic psychiatry. His work concerns the course of dissocial careers and causes of recidivism; course, treatment and prognosis of sexual deviation and personality disorders; individual treatment pathways for mentally ill offenders in psychiatric detention, and the relations between brain, mind and delinquent behavior. From 2000-2010 he was the speaker of the forensic psychiatry section of the DGPPN (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Psychiatrie, Psychotherapie und Nervenheilkunde). Together with D. Dölling, N. Leygraf and H. Saß he is editor of the german “Handbuch der Forensischen Psychiatrie” (5 volu¬mes, Springer 2006-2010) and of the Journal “Forensische Psychiatrie Psychologie Kriminologie” (Springer). He is member of several editorial boards and scientific societies. Together with some other experts of sexual abuse like William Marshall, M. Kafka, Karl Hanson and F. Pfäfflin he had visited the Vatican to give some good advice to the Holy See.
5 Selected papers:
Kröber H-L (2012) Mord – Geschichten aus der Wirklichkeit. Rowohlt, Reinbek. – Erscheint 21.09.2012, bereits vorbestellbar bei Amazon
Kröber H-L (2012) Zusammen kämpfen, zusammen schlagen? Der junge prosoziale Gewalttäter. (Conjoint fighting conjoint bashing - The young prosocial violent perpetrator) Forens Psychiatr Psychol Kriminol 5 (in press) DOI 10.1007/s11757-012-0168-1
Kröber H-L (2009) Sexualstraftäter – Klinisches Erscheinungsbild. In: H-L Kröber, D Dölling, N Leygraf, H Saß (Hrsg) Handbuch der Forensischen Psychiatrie Bd 4: Kriminologie und Forensische Psychiatrie. Steinkopff, Darmstadt, S 420-457
Kröber H-L (2009) Concepts of Intentional Control. Behavioral Sciences & Law 27:209-217
Kröber H-L (2007) The historical debate on brain and legal responsibility – revisited. Behavioral Sciences & Law 25: 251-261
Address
Prof. Dr. Hans-Ludwig Kröber
Institute of Forensic Psychiatry
Charité – University Medicine Berlin
Oranienburger Str. 285
13437 Berlin
Germany
Phone +49-30-8445 1410
Fax +49-30-8445 1440
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www.forensik-berlin.de