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Responding to adolescents in Queensland who sexually offend

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 October 2015

Ian Nisbet
Ian Nisbet*
Affiliation:
Griffith University
*
Griffith Adolescent Forensic Assessment and Treatment Centre, School of Applied Psychology, Mt Gravatt Campus, Griffith University, Queensland 4111, Ph: 07 3875 3316, Fax: 07 3875 5802, E-mail: I.Nisbet@mailbox.gu.edu.a
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Abstract

As our society becomes increasingly aware of the alarmingly high rates of sexual crimes in the community, it is also “facing up to” the unpleasant truth that adolescents perpetrate a significant proportion of these crimes. During the last 20 years, there has been a trend toward the provision of early intervention programs for adolescents who have committed sexual offences.The most recent of these programs in Australia is the Griffith Adolescent Forensic Assessment and Treatment Centre. The centre is a joint initiative of Grifith University and the Queensland Department of Families. The program is a community safety initiative aimed at reducing the level of sexual assault in the community through effective intervention and supervision ofyoung people who hove committed sexual offences. This article describes the program, the treatment philosophy thot underpins it, and the potential that the program has for research into this disturbing and complex phenomenon.

Keywords

AdolescentsInterventionSexual Offending
Type
Research Article
Information
The Educational and Developmental Psychologist , Volume 17 , Issue 2 , 2000 , pp. 135 - 139
Copyright
Copyright © Australian Psychological Society 2000

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