Book Review: Laura J. Zilney and Lisa Anne Zilney Perverts and Predators: The Making of Sexual Offending Laws New York: Rowman & Littlefield 2009, 207 pp. ISBN 978-0-7425-6623-1

• Author: Lisa L. Sample
• Published date: 01 December 2010
• DOI: 10.1177/0734016810362358
• Date: 01 December 2010
• Subject Matter: Articles

Part III includes four chapters focused on the principles at work in jury selection, a very common

aspect of the typical trial consultant’s work. This section also provides a great deal of concrete and

useful information, first by explaining why typical selection techniques focused on stereotypes and

heuristics are not effective and then by presenting detailed examples of both a civil and a criminal

case highlighting the issues at hand in each and how a consultant can effectively assist in eliminating

jurors who will not be helpful to their side of the case. Perhaps the most useful information is found

in Chapter 9 where the fundamental principles of screening jurors are discussed as are specific areas

about which jurors might be questioned (i.e., feelings about punishment, authoritarianism, etc.) and

the use of the juror bias scale. Additionally, Chapter 9 reiterates the importance of good case con-

ceptualization, which is fundamental to discerning what type of juror will be most helpful to a case.

The information in Chapter 10 on reversals (when jurors respond in the way opposite of what would

be expected) adds an additional degree of insight into jury selection.

Part IV contains two chapters that focus on the role of the trial consultant when issues regarding

change of venue are at hand. The format mirrors the other sections in that concrete information and

research-based evidence about the techniques used when creating and conducting a change of venue

survey is presented and then followed by a detailed case example of how these techniques were

applied in a particular case.

Finally, in Part V, two chapters describe the full range of trial consultation techniques used in

two cases that deal with specific legal issues: capital murder and eminent domain. While the tech-

niques described in these chapters are clearly of the most use to someone working on a similar case,

the overview of the work done from start to finish provides useful insights through these examples.

The final chapter looks at particular issues that are likely to be of interest in the future of trial

consulting.

As a whole, this book significantly adds to the existing literature on trial consultation and is a

must read for those who currently serve as trial consultants or for those who intend to develop a trial

consultation practice. The practical nature of the material makes this book most useful for those who

intend to apply the techniques described; however, the book could potentially be used as supplemen-

tal text for graduate courses in forensic psychology or for courses focused on jury selection or other

related issues. Overall, Dr. Brodsky has produced a very readable and useful text that will serve the

courts and social scientists working within the court system well.

Laura J. Zilney and Lisa Anne Zilney

Perverts and Predators: The Making of Sexual Offending Laws New York:

Rowman & Littlefield 2009, 207 pp. ISBN 978-0-7425-6623-1

Reviewed by: Lisa L. Sample, University of Nebraska at Omaha, NE, USA

DOI: 10.1177/0734016810362358

Legislation to control sex offenders’ behaviors has a long history in the United States, dating back

to as early as the 1930s with the enactment of sexual psychopath laws. We witnessed a plethora of

legislative activity in the 1990s to further attempt to control sex offenders in the community, and to

date, the passage of sex offender legislation continues with the more recent enactments of residency

restriction laws, mandatory lifetime electronic tracking, and further prohibitions of sex offenders in

public places. Given the legislative attention sex offenders continue to draw, it is important to under-

stand the historical, political, religious, and medical context in which sex offender laws evolved,

which is what this book highlights and reviews.

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