Why does the family court favor treatment over punishment?
There are multiple reasons that treatment is favored over punishment. First, treatment has been shown to be more effective in ensuring that the behavior does not continue. While punishment is often enticing, it does nothing to ensure the offender does not re-offend upon release. Fewer than 7% of the young people referred to the court for treatment are referred again for a sexual crime. Re-offense rates for those who are simply incarcerated are much higher. Secondly, treatment is much more cost effective than punishment. For example, if every young person referred to the ASOTP program in 2003 were sent to an institution rather than receiving treatment in the community, the overall cost to the tax payers of the county would have been approximately $13.3 million. Finally, all treatment within the community concludes with an overture to the victim and their family for an apology session. This can often do more than any other response to help heal the harm the offender initially visited upo
