To respond to that question, prior to specializing and working with sex offenders, I did work in a general mental health setting and did some treatment with victims, particularly with adult survivors, adults who had been sexually abused as children. As well, in my practice with sex offenders, I work very closely with victim services, which is a support service for victims, including victims of sexual abuse.
What I can say is that again you can't look at it as a one-size-fits-all kind of answer. Victims vary greatly in terms of the degree, severity, length, and type of damaging effects they experience. There are a lot of factors that can go into it, one of which is the offence itself and whether or not they reported it right away, whether they got help with it, and that sort of thing.
Certainly, I'm not in disagreement with sex offenders getting some jail time. I think that often for child victims in particular what that does is remove their sense of guilt. Often, children feel that somehow they were to blame for what was happening.
Another thing incorporated in the program I run is that wherever possible, once the offender has reached a sufficient stage of progress in treatment, we offer an acknowledgement of the offence to the victim. Sometimes it can take the form of a letter. It could take the form of a face-to-face meeting, if the victim chooses, or even a videotape in which the offender acknowledges that what he or she did was wrong, that the victim did not deserve this and did not in any way encourage it, and in which the offender gives very specific recognition to the ways this has done them harm. Of all of the things I have seen with victims, that seems to produce the biggest benefit.