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Summary:

Sexual offenders often have great difficulty accepting responsibility for their criminal behaviour. Indeed, many may be considered masters in the "art of denial" which encompasses, amongst others, minimisation, rationalisation, justification, and externalisation of blame. This article briefly presents a typology of denial, before focusing on one specific form, i.e., taking on the status of a victim. Whether the sexual offender presents himself as victim of the child that he victimised, the victim of past abuse or the victim of the judicial system, and whether these cognitive distortions are unconscious defence mechanisms or conscious avoidance, they undoubtedly represent a challenge to any therapeutic project of relapse prevention.