This evaluation was commissioned by the Department of Child, Youth and Family (CYF) in 2003.
The primary objective was to evaluate the effectiveness of community-based treatment programmes for adolescents who sexually offend and determine whether treatment resulted in a reduction in sexual reoffending, improved psychological health and positive outcomes, and was cost-effective.
The study involved the three main treatment programmes at SAFE Network Auckland, WellStop in Wellington and STOP in Christchurch.
Note: Reoffending was defined as any officially recorded sexual and/or non-sexual offending which occurred following termination of the young person’s involvement with a specialist community treatment programme. Official sources included CYF records and charges and convictions recorded by the New Zealand Police.