The Paradigm of Desistance and Correctional Interventions: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Relapse Risk Reduction in Sexual Offenders

The criminological approach to relapse is based, on the one hand, on the theories that explain the risk of relapse, including the risk level assessment tools, and on the other hand, on the rehabilitation theories—the Risk-Need-Responsivity (RNR) Model and The Good Live Model (GLM), which explain the mechanisms of reducing the risk of relapse in the assisted desistance paradigm. The objectives of this study focus on identifying the predictors of relapse in correlation with relapse inhibitors that combine a number of personal, psycho-emotional factors with psychopathological, socio-economic, and cultural accents. The method used is that of the case study from the perspective of clinical criminology, referring to forensic psychiatry through specific techniques and working procedures of some institutions in the correctional system—territorial structures of probation (TSP) in cooperation with the penitentiary system. The results of the study focus on the impact of standardized programs on the reduction in the risk of relapse after prison (RRR) and on personal and socio-familial factors involved in post-executional surveillance and post-criminal assistance. In conclusion, the current study highlights the need to corroborate the clinical or subjective assessment of relapse risk with the actual or objective assessment, which also includes the risk of violence in the framework of community monitoring from the perspective of community or social psychiatry.