[A new field of mental health nursing: care for sex offenders]

Abstract

Sexual assaults have increased enormously in recent years in Taiwan. As a result the government has introduced many new regulations concerning sex offenders, particularly that sex offenders may not be conditionally released without receiving special psychiatric treatment. The consequent introduction of psychiatric care in prisons, established the provision of treatment for sex offenders, and led to the development of a new field. This article outlines the current legislation regarding sex offenders, the medical treatment of sex offenders, and the relationship of such treatment to mental health nursing, and explores the ethical issues involved in the care of sex offenders. We hope that, with the benefit of this introduction to the topic, nurses will better understand sex offenders and that some will become clinical nursing specialists in the field.