Developing and implementing a treatment intervention for college students found responsible for sexual misconduct

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to summarize the development of a treatment program for students found responsible of sexual misconduct. Design/methodology/approach: This project, supported by the SMART (Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering and Tracking) of the Department of Justice, was requested by The White House toward the end of President Obama’s last term and was intended to identify the confluence of factors related to sexual misconduct on college campuses, and to design a treatment program to address those factors. Findings: This paper will discuss the unique factors of this population that ought to be considered to successfully develop an effective program, and the complexities of implementing treatment programs to this population, within a higher education system. This will include a discussion of barriers to implementation and challenges of employing treatment. This paper will present steps for implementing a treatment program and outline the core components of a treatment intervention for this population. Originality/value: Implementing a treatment option for students found responsible of sexual misconduct that specifically targets the associated risk factors as part of a comprehensive approach to help improve campus safety.