Program Profile: New Jersey Adult Diagnostic Treatment Center (ADTC)

The program provides cognitive–behavioral treatment and relapse prevention to people who commit repetitive, compulsive sex offenses. Cognitive–behavioral treatments focus on reconstructing person’s cognitive distortions; relapse prevention focuses on pattern recognition and breaking the cycle of recommitting sex crimes. The program is rated Promising. The intervention participants showed a statistically significant lower likelihood of recidivating, compared with the general prison-population.

A Promising rating implies that implementing the program may result in the intended outcome(s).

A Promising rating implies that implementing the program may result in the intended outcome(s).

Program Goals/Target Population

The New Jersey Adult Diagnostic Treatment Center (ADTC) is a facility that provides cognitive–behavioral treatment services aimed at reducing recidivism rates of people convicted of adult sex offenses. The program targets those in the New Jersey correctional system who are receptive to receiving treatment. The ADTC is the only facility in the state (and one of the few in the country) that provides specific treatment and incarceration for people convicted of adult sex offenses.

Program Activities

The program contains two components: 1) cognitive–behavioral treatment, which concentrates on reconstructing cognitive distortions; and 2) relapse prevention, which focuses on the recognition of patterns that lead to sex offenses and breaking those patterns to prevent recidivism.

The treatment has five sequential levels, with each building on the previous level and ending with the subject maintaining the gains he has made in treatment through the program. Within the five levels, they receive a standard set of psychoeducational modules. In the first level, patients are grouped and receive basic information about sex offending, an orientation to treatment, and begin to acquire the skills needed to participate more fully in the advanced psychotherapy. In the second level, patients begin using a sex-offender-specific workbook to apply the knowledge to their own lives, including responsibility and victim empathy.

The third level focuses on mastery of previous information, in less structured groups, and the beginning of relapse-prevention exercises. The fourth level focuses on more detailed relapse-prevention plans and release preparations. The final level maintains the progress made through the other levels and the placement in a therapeutic community within the ADTC, with additional responsibilities.

Study

Zgoba and Simon (2005) conducted a quasi-experimental design to examine the impact of the Adult Diagnostic Treatment Center (ADTC) on adult males convicted of adult sex offenses in the New Jersey corrections system. The total study sample consisted of 718 persons convicted of sex offenses (495 in the ADTC treatment group and 223 in the general prison-population comparison group). The people convicted of adult sex offenses in the treatment group qualified for incarceration at the ADTC. Participants in the comparison group did not qualify for incarceration at the ADTC. There were no significant differences between the ADTC treatment group and general prison-population comparison group, except on age and gender of victim (there were significantly younger victims and more female victims in the comparison group) and offense type (rape offenses were higher among the comparison group). No information was provided on the race/ethnicity of study participants.

The data were collected using the New Jersey State Police Computerized Criminal History System and the National Crime Information Center’s Interstate Identification Unit. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to predict recidivism (measured as rearrest, reconviction, and reincarceration rates), controlling for prior criminal history and exposure to treatment in prison. Recidivism included sexual offenses (any offense that is sexual in nature) and nonsexual offenses (any type of offense that cannot be considered sexual in nature). The CrimeSolutions review looked the difference between the treatment and comparison groups in recidivism, as measured by reconviction rates. The data were collected on those who were released from the ADTC or prison from 1994 to 1997. The follow-up timeframe ranged from 7 years for the 1994 released persons to 4 years for the 1997 released persons. Subgroup analyses were conducted to determine the potential effect of age and previous offenses on recidivism.

Subgroup Analysis

Zgoba and Simon (2005) found that age at the time of release was also significantly related to the probability of sex-offense recidivism. Males aged 20–40 have considerably higher rates of sexually reoffending than males over 50. Males aged 31–40 are 4.5 times more likely to commit a new sexual offense post-release from prison. Additionally, sex offenders with previous sexual arrests or more than one nonsexual arrest were more likely to commit another sexual offense.

These sources were used in the development of the program profile:

These sources were used in the development of the program profile:

Zgoba, Kristen, and Jill Levinson. 2008. “Variations in the Recidivism of Treated and Nontreated Sexual Offenders in New Jersey: An Examination of Three Time Frames.” Victims & Offenders 3(1):10–30.

Zgoba, Kristen, Wayne Sager, and Philip Witt. 2003. “Evaluation of New Jersey’s Sex Offender Treatment Program at the Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center:  Preliminary Results.” Journal of Psychiatry & Law 31:133–64.

Zgoba, Kristen. 2004. Variations in the Recidivism of Treated and Non-treated Sexual Offenders in New Jersey: An Examination of Three Time Frames. PhD diss. Newark, NJ: Rutgers University.

Following are CrimeSolutions-rated programs that are related to this practice:

Treatment for Adults Who Have Committed Sex Offenses

A variety of psychological interventions, cognitive–behavioral treatments, and behavioral therapies targeting adults convicted of sex offenses with the overall aim of reducing the risk and potential harm associated with releasing this population back into the community. The practice is rated Promising for reducing rates of general recidivism and sexual recidivism but rated Ineffective on violent recidivism rates.

Evidence Ratings for Outcomes

	Crime & Delinquency - Multiple crime/offense types
	Crime & Delinquency - Sex-related offenses
	Crime & Delinquency - Violent offenses

Adult Reentry Programs

This practice involves correctional programs that focus on the transition of individuals from prison into the community. Reentry programs involve treatment or services that have been initiated while the individual is in custody and a follow-up component after the individual is released. The practice is rated Promising for reducing recidivism.

Evidence Ratings for Outcomes

Crime & Delinquency - Multiple crime/offense types

Rehabilitation Programs for Adults Convicted of a Crime

This practice includes programs that are designed to reduce recidivism among adults by improving their behaviors, skills, mental health, social functioning, and access to education and employment. They may become participants in rehabilitation programs during multiple points in their involvement with the criminal justice system. This practice is rated Promising for reducing recidivism among adults who have been convicted of an offense.

Evidence Ratings for Outcomes

Crime & Delinquency - Multiple crime/offense types

Why might a practice's outcome ratings differ from the ratings of specific programs encompassed by that practice?