Citation

Lacombe D. Br. J. Criminol. 2008; 48(1): 55-74.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, Publisher Oxford University Press)

DOI

10.1093/bjc/azm051

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This ethnography of a prison treatment programme for sex offenders examines the meaning of rehabilitation in the context of the new penology'. As it explores how cognitive-behaviourism structures treatment, it uncovers a therapeutics grounded in risk that actively constructs the identity of the sex offender. It shows how the management of risk relies on techniques of introspection and self-discipline--a patient's internalization of his crime cycle and relapse prevention plan--that target primarily sexual fantasies. These self-policing techniques radically transform the sex offender into a species entirely consumed by sex.