The Berkeley Group: ten years' experience of a group for non-violent sex offenders

During the first ten years of a group started in February 1977 by the Avon Probation Service for the treatment of non-violent sex offenders, many of the offenders have shown a high degree of commitment to the group, and attendance levels have run consistently at over 70%. Of 63 men who came to the group during the ten-year study period, 33 completed their stay at the group, 11 left the group prematurely, and 11 never engaged satisfactorily. The remaining eight were still attending the group at the end of the study period. Of the 55 men whose contact with the group had ended, 36 (65%) had not been convicted of further sex offences by the end of the study period.