Author: Robert A. Prentky
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136016643
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 373
Get Book Here
Book Description
Convicted sex offenders released from custody at the end of their criminal sentences pose a risk for re-offense. In many US states, Sexually Violent Predator (SVP) laws have been enacted that allow for the post-prison preventive detention of high risk sex offenders. SVP laws require the courts to make dispositions that protect the public from harm while at the same time respecting the civil rights of the offender. This book describes these SVP laws, their constitutionality, and aspects of their operation. Courts hear expert risk testimony based heavily on the results of actuarial risk assessment. Problems associated with this testimony include the lack of a theory of recidivism risk, bias due to human decision-making, and the insularity of scholarship and practice along developmental lines. The authors propose changes in legal standards, as well as a unified developmental model that treats sexual violence as an "evolving" condition, with roots traceable to childhood and paths that extend into adolescence and adulthood.
Author: John Q. La Fond
Publisher: Amer Psychological Assn
ISBN: 9781557989734
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 372
Get Book Here
Book Description
In Protecting Society From Sexually Dangerous Offenders, legal and mental health experts explore the ramifications of the controversial sexual predator commitment laws, registration and community notification laws, and chemical castration laws that have come into existence in the past dozen years. The increasing number of sex crimes, especially those committed by released sex offenders against young victims, has struck a public nerve. Understandably, citizens are angry, vengeful, and fearful, and they demand both retribution and harsh measures to prevent these kinds of crimes from recurring. These intense public demands for retaliation and protection have shaped recent law and public policy, resulting in involuntary commitment programs, notification laws, and chemical castration laws for sex offenders in many states. These new legal strategies raise serious constitutional questions regarding the rights of those who have served their punishment. Perhaps more important is the question of whether these programs are actually effective in preventing sexual recidivism. In this volume, contributing authors discuss the issues surrounding these new legal strategies and the alternatives to such programs. They examine the wisdom and constitutionality of post-incarceration commitment and the difficulty of determining who is most likely to offend again. Contributors propose alternatives to involuntary commitment, including community containment and programs for treating sexually abused children so as to reduce the chances of them growing up to continue the cycle of sexual abuse. They also propose ways in which these new legal approaches can be applied to increase their therapeutic potential. Psychologists and other mental health experts working with sexually dangerous offenders as well as lawyers, policy makers, and students in these fields will find this to be an indispensable sourcebook on this topic.
Author: Michael L. Perlin
Publisher: Temple University Press
ISBN: 1439912920
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 325
Get Book Here
Book Description
Convicted sexually violent predators are more vilified, more subject to media misrepresentation, and more likely to be denied basic human rights than any other population. Shaming the Constitution authors Michael Perlin and Heather Cucolo question the intentions of sex offender laws, offering new approaches to this most complex (and controversial) area of law and social policy. The authors assert that sex offender laws and policies are unconstitutional and counter-productive. The legislation largely fails to add to public safety—even ruining lives for what are, in some cases, trivial infractions. Shaming the Constitution draws on law, behavioral sciences, and other disciplines to show that many of the “solutions” to penalizing sexually violent predators are “wrong,” as they create the most repressive and useless laws. In addition to tracing the history of sex offender laws, the authors address the case of Jesse Timmendequas, whose crime begat “Megan’s Law;” the media’s role in creating a “moral panic;” recidivism statistics and treatments, as well as international human rights laws. Ultimately, they call attention to the flaws in the system so we can find solutions that contribute to public safety in ways that do not mock Constitutional principles.
Author: Emily Horowitz
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN:
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 229
Get Book Here
Book Description
This thought-provoking work raises important questions about sex offender laws, drawing from personal stories, research, and data to prove the policies promote fear, destroy lives, and fail to protect children. Do sex offender laws protect children, or are they inherently unfair practices that, at their worst, promote vigilante justice? The latter, this book argues. By analyzing the social, political, historical, and cultural context surrounding the emergence of current sex offender policies and laws, the work shows how sex offenders have come to loom as greater-than-life monsters when, in many cases, that is not true at all. Looking at its subject from a fresh viewpoint, the book shares research and new analyses of data and qualitative evidence to show how sex-offender laws are not only ineffective, but engender destructive fear and anxiety. To help readers understand the impact of these laws, the author presents interviews with sex offenders and their families as they describe the day-to-day reality of living on the sex offender registry. Citing research and statistics, the book challenges the idea that sex offenders must be continually monitored and publicly identified because they are incurably predatory. Most important, the study shows that undue sex offender panic is preventing policymakers from addressing the true threats to children—poverty and growing inequality.
Author: Diana Rickard
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
ISBN: 0813578329
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 215
Get Book Here
Book Description
The 1990s witnessed a flurry of legislative initiatives—most notably, “Megan’s Law”—designed to control a population of sex offenders (child abusers) widely reviled as sick, evil, and incurable. In Sex Offenders, Stigma, and Social Control, Diana Rickard provides the reader with an in-depth view of six such men, exploring how they manage to cope with their highly stigmatized role as social outcasts. The six men discussed in the book are typical convicted sex offenders—neither serial pedophiles nor individuals convicted of the type of brutal act that looms large in public perceptions about sex crimes. Sex Offenders, Stigma, and Social Control explores how these individuals, who have been cast as social pariahs, construct their sense of self. How does being labeled in this way and controlled by measures such as Megan’s Law affect one’s identity and sense of social being? Unlike traditional criminological and psychological studies of this population, this book frames their experiences in concepts of both deviance and identity, asking how men so highly stigmatized cope with the most extreme form of social marginality. Placing their stories within the context of the current culture of mass incarceration and zero-tolerance, Rickard provides a deeper understanding of the complex relationship between public policy and lived experience, as well as an understanding of the social challenges faced by this population, whose re-integration into society is far from simple or assured. Sex Offenders, Stigma, and Social Control makes a significant contribution to our understanding of sex offenders, offering a unique window into how individuals make meaning out of their experiences and present a viable—not monstrous—social self to themselves and others.
Author: Douglas P. Boer
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119046149
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 757
Get Book Here
Book Description
International Perspectives on the Assessment and Treatment of Sexual Offenders: Theory, Practice and Research provides the first truly global perspective on the assessment and treatment of sex offenders. Presents a comprehensive overview of current theories and practices relating to the assessment and treatment of sex offenders throughout the world, including the US, Europe, and Australasia Covers all the major developments in the areas of risk assessment, treatment, and management Includes chapters written by internationally respected practitioners and researchers experienced in working with sexual offenders such as Bill Marshall, Ruth Mann, Karl Hanson and Jayson Ware
Author: Laura J. Zilney
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
ISBN: 0742566242
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 227
Get Book Here
Book Description
Perverts and Predators elaborates on the numerous factors that have contributed to the passage of sexual offending laws in the United States. Authors Lisa and Laura Zilney weave together a story of how sex crimes laws were created by analyzing the changing roles of religion and the medical community, offering theoretical explanations for sex offending from the unique perspectives of criminology and sexology. Working under the central premise that sex and sexuality are positive and healthy and that the only way to deal with the issue of sexual offending is through sex positive education and counseling, Zilney and Zilney trace the history of sex offending laws and highlight cases in the media that contributed to increasingly punitive legislation. The authors provide information concerning the prevalence and incidence of sex offending, including victim and offender profiles and the frequency and types of offenses committed in order to give readers greater understanding of the problem. They discuss politics as a major player in the creation of a moral panic surrounding sex offenders and fueling public outrage to garner support for 'get tough' laws. The management of sex offenders in society is discussed, as are consequences of the punitive approach for both the offender and the victim. Comparative case studies are used to explore what the United States could learn from other countries' approaches to sexual offending.
Author: Carolyn Hilarski
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136864717
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 278
Get Book Here
Book Description
The enlightening collection of new approaches to understanding sexual abuse When sexual abuse occurs, helping those directly affected can be a difficult and convoluted task. The Handbook of Social Work in Child & Adolescent Sexual Abuse is a comprehensive guide that provides the latest information on assessment, management, prevention, and policy. Through insightful and accessible discussions, this collection of essays encompasses the full spectrum of child and adolescent sexual abuse to shed needed light on an affecting issue. This innovative text is the up-to-date source for unique and compassionate ways of supporting and treating survivors. The increased attention given to child sexual abuse in recent years has revealed how little we know about this tragedy. The Handbook of Social Work in Child & Adolescent Sexual Abuse is the practical compendium that covers the already existing information regarding violence against children and delves into practical methods for treating those immediately affected by it. From its historical place in society to contemporary issues of prevention that have only recently come to light, contributors examine essential details in-depth and provide concise, empirical directions for short- and long-term support. Also included is the important and newly-available assessment and treatment information focusing on ethnicity, gender, and comorbid influences as they relate to family member treatment. Among the topics discussed in the Handbook of Social Work in Child & Adolescent Sexual Abuse are: historical views of and responses to sexual abuse risk and protective factors life stage consequences theories of family dysfunction comorbidity and attachment intrafamilial abuse the non-family offender current empirical assessment methods approaches to treatment in children approaches to treatment in adolescents neurological effects of abuse treatment for the non-offending caregiver the role of the internet and other media policy and practice implications the prevalence and consequences of abuse new methods of abuse prevention and child protection the etiology of sexual offending in an attachment framework and much more! The Handbook of Social Work in Child & Adolescent Sexual Abuse is an essential resource for educators, medical practitioners, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, counselors, family therapists, and students, researchers, and academics in the field of social work.
Author: Herschel Prins
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317494873
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 373
Get Book Here
Book Description
Offenders, Deviants or Patients? provides a practical approach to understanding both the social context and treatment of mentally disordered offenders. Taking into account the current public concern, often heightened by media sensationalism; it addresses issues such as sex and ‘historic sex offending, ‘hate’ crime, homicide and other acts of serious bodily harm. This fifth edition is fully updated and incorporates the latest research and reflects recent changes in law, policy and practice, including: DSM-V criteria groundbreaking work on neuro-physiological aspects of psychopathy the Coroners and Justice Act Using new case examples, Herschel Prins draws on his own expertise and experience to examine the relationship between mental disorders and crime and looks at the ways in which it should be dealt with by the mental health care and criminal justice systems. Offenders, Deviants or Patients? is unique in its multidisciplinary approach and will be invaluable to all those who come into contact with serious offenders or those who study crime and criminal behaviour.
Author: Michael H. Tonry
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199844658
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 655
Get Book Here
Book Description
This handbook offers a comprehensive examination of crimes as public policy subjects to provide an authoritative overview of current knowledge about the nature, scale, and effects of diverse forms of criminal behaviour and of efforts to prevent and control them.
