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Sex Offenders and Public Policy (Current Controversies)
Sex Offenders and Public Policy (edited by Lynn M. Zott) is a 2007 anthology within the Current Controversies series. It designed to present sharply contrasting viewpoints on criminal justice, legislation, treatment, and public responses to sexual offending. The book organizes contemporary debates into four central questions: whether sex-offender policy rests on accurate assumptions, whether treatment works, what controversies surround current policy, and how policies might be improved. Each chapter juxtaposes essays by policymakers, prosecutors, journalists, scholars, professional organizations, and critics, offering a panoramic view of how American society constructs sexual danger, evaluates risk, and negotiates the tension between public safety, constitutional protections, empirical evidence, and moral outrage. The structure encourages critical thinking by exposing contradictions between fear-driven legislative action, research findings on recidivism, the limits of punitive approaches, and arguments for more evidence-based, rights-respecting alternatives.
Content
Here are summaries of some essays from the book that take a humanistic and abolitionist perspective.
- Research and Statistics Debunk Common Misconceptions. Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers
- A quick review of the facts and statistics about sex offenders and sexual abuse reveals that many widely held beliefs about both topics are highly inaccurate.
- Americans Exaggerate Threats Posed by Sexual Predators (Benjamin Radford)
- Americans’ hysteria about sexual predators has led to the passage of ineffective and costly legislation that does nothing to protect children.
- Clarifying the Facts Can Strengthen Public Policy (Eric Lotke; Herbert J. Hoelter)
- To reduce sexual victimization, public policies on sex offenders must be based on current statistics and informed by research.
- Most Sex Offenders Are Not Murderers (Lisa L. Sample)
- Harsh laws targeting sex offenders are based on the false belief that sex offenders often kill their victims; research indicates that sex offenders rarely commit murder.
- Treating Sex Offenders Makes Sense (Pamela D. Schultz)
- Treating sex offenders is a much more effective approach to reducing sexual violence than radical, punitive, fear-based approaches currently being advocated.