He will need to find out which treatment centers in his state are certified by the sex offenders management board. His attorney should be able to provide that information or you can call the probation department in your county and they should have a list. It can help his case, as it did with my husbands. The costs will have to be out of pocket. It's best to get into an outpatient treatment center before he's court ordered to do so. There are therapists at the treatment centers. We pay $40 per session and he takes 2 classes a week. Private sessions with the therapist are $90 and are done by request. This is just how it's done at the treatment center we are familiar with. It may differ in your state.

Has he had a risk assessment and psycho-sexual evaluation done yet?

Birdie

Thanks, Birdie. This is very helpful. He has not had any assessments yet. Also, he's living with me now and I live in a different state than where the charges were filed. We're about six hours away from the county where he was charged. So, how does that work?

I don't know the answer to that. I would think it would be preferrable to be in treatment in the state that will do the sentencing, etc. because the DA, probation, could dismiss the evaluations and counsel of an out of state therapist, treatment center and evaluations based upon different state requirements. What's black in one state, can be white in another. That's a sticky situation indeed. I would seek the advise of an attorney on what to do because again, I don't know the answer to that. I'm just guessing. But then again, if your state has more relaxed standards, the eval there might be better for his case...I'm grasping at straws here, so please, do not take my word for any of the above.
As for the evaluations-risk, etc. I implore you to get those done before the state orders them. This way you and he can go over the evals and request any changes. I would think an attorney could help guide you to the best possible person to do an independent eval. It will cost alot of money. Easily $600 or more, but you and your son can have some influence over the verbage, correct any statements, etc. to make it turn out for the best for him and not for the state. Go over it with a fine tooth comb. If he comes back as a low risk, that's good news. If not, the attorney can find someone else to do another assesement or wait for the court to order and pay for it. It's risky, but with a independent evaluation, it can favor the offender-not always, its worth it in my opinion.
I know this isn't the best and I wish I could provide you with a direct line of information, but hopefully this can give you a start in the right direction.

Birdie

Your information is very helpful, Birdie. My son now has more information, thanks to you, so he can ask more appropriate questions of his lawyer.

What sunnie said! Talk to the defense attorney. Therapist have to report any kind of abuse. Also I think but I'm not sure if he says he even thought of doing something to someone that might be illegal.

Both of those concerns are legitimite. To avoid that situation, our defense attorney arranged a deal with the DA so that anything that my husband said in treatment could not be used against him in court. A good attorney should be able to arrange that in their sleep. And if you let the court pick the therapist doing the evals, you're taking a big risk, where as if you pay for the risk eval and it comes back as bad, the attorney doesn't have to use it.

Also, be aware that after conviction, and if he's in treatment, any new crimes that he confesses to can be prosecuted-there is no immunity, regardless of when they were commited. During treatment, polygraphs will be used by the therapists and PO to determine if he's "making progress" and if he fails due to certain questions regarding possible other offenses, those failures will be used to hammer down on him until any confessions are obtained or victims located.

Either way, they will do whatever they can to get information about other possible crimes out of him-that's why all the DOC statistics say that more sex crimes are commited than what the person was convicted of. Our attorney was a former DA and specialized in sex offenses, so he weighed the risks of getting immunity now or my husband possibly looking at further charges down the line if he had done other crimes.

Having your attorney look into those possibilites, weighing the details of the charges, who the DA is and who the judge is assigned to hear the case are all factors as well. A hard@ss DA can change the whole scenerio, so like I said before, asking the attorney is best, but at least you have questions and options to ask about instead of feeling like you're helpless.

Birdie

More excellent advice! Thank you all so much. My son is receiving all this information and is very grateful for your kindness and concern. So am I. This group is a sanity saver.

There are 12 Step groups out there that cost nothing. SAA which is Sex Addicts Anonymous and SA which is Sexaholics Anonymous are available and there is no monetary cost. Check the internet to see where the meetings are in your area. They are anonymous programs just like AA and are closed meetings so the only people in the meeting are others who share similar problems. Nothing said in those meetings would be available to anybody from any kind of law enforcement.