Many sexual abuse victims are further traumatised by the imprisonment of their abuser, especially if he is a family member, according to a senior psychologist with the North Western Health Board.
A prison sentence "can leave the victim with a greater sense of guilt and a strong sense of alienation from the family," Ms Olive Travers writes in a new booklet, Child Sexual Abuse: The Irish Experience So Far and the Way Forward.
The booklet is published by the National Conference of Priests of Ireland and contains contributions by a number of experts.
Ms Travers has worked on treatment programmes for sex abusers in the community for some years with the health board. "There are many sex offenders in prison who could be treated more effectively in the community," she writes. "Prison is an artificial, childfree vacuum and an unsuitable environment in which to facilitate change. In the prison environment sex offenders are not exposed in any realistic way to the kinds of stresses, temptations or opportunities which present in the community and it may lead them to reoffend on release."
Community-based treatment had the advantage that "the sex offender is unable to hide behind prison walls. He has to cope with the everyday response of his family and his community to crime."
Research showed that successful programmes were community-based. The best results were obtained when offenders were ordered to attend by a court.
"Allowing the offender to remain in the community under supervision enables us to evaluate his progress in changing behaviours which contributed to his offending," Ms Travers writes. "In the community, the offender has to work out a way of behaving that is described in treatment as being `above suspicion'."
Referring to the effect on victims of imprisoning their abusers, she says: "A prison sentence does not meet their personal needs and can leave the victim with a greater sense of guilt and a strong sense of alienation from the family.
"The provision of alternatives to custodial sentences for offenders would, I believe, encourage more victims of sexual abuse to disclose their abuse."
She advocates four approaches to sex offenders, based on whether they are low-, medium- or high-risk. Mandatory assessment of all identified sex offenders.
For high-risk offenders, indeterminate prison sentences and release only when they are deemed to be no longer a risk to children.
For medium-risk offenders, a fixed period of detention followed by a further determinate period of mandatory supervision in the community, combined with suitable treatment.
For low-risk offenders, suspended prison sentences, mandatory treatment in the community, with the possibility of the offender being sent to prison if he breaches the conditions imposed on him.
"The desire to put all sex offenders `out of sight and out of mind' by `locking them up and throwing away the key' does not make them go away," she writes.
Programmes designed to reduce reoffending in crime in general are more likely to succeed in the community than in prison, Dr James McGuire of the University of Liverpool said at a lecture in Dublin organised by the Irish Penal Reform Trust.
It is likely that many of those currently in custody could be managed in the community with a greater likelihood of change, he said.
Were suitable programmes to be established with the necessary resources, they could provide an alternative to custody, which would be more effective in reducing criminal behaviour and would cost less than imprisonment.
Vincent Browne: page 14