In cases of sexual offences, the criminal sanction and the subsequent detention is no longer sufficient in order to fight the phenomenon and, in particular toreduce significantly the rate of repeat offences. Therefore, there is the need to develop models of diagnosis, risk evaluation and treatment for the prevention of repeat offences to be applied to the sex offenders already in the penitentiary sphere. In addition, reference is made to an extremely heterogeneous group of deviant individuals, characterized by the presence of obsessive-compulsive-impulsive biopsychological mechanisms, and high levels of psychopathy. The Authors, after the definition of the phenomenon, focus on the treatment phase within an integrated perspective, in which the sex offender should be supported with both pharmacological that psychological therapy.
Keywords: sex offender, psychiatric comorbility, treatment, psychotherapy, relapse prevention