Book Review: Reddington, F. P., & Kreisel, B. W. (2005). Sexual Assault: The Victims, the Perpetrators, and the Criminal Justice System. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press. vii pp., 353 pp

• Author: Heather C. Melton
• Date: 01 December 2008
• Published date: 01 December 2008
• DOI: 10.1177/0734016808321030
• Subject Matter: Articles

myth that assassins, would-be assassins, and domestic terrorists are deranged or legally

insane. Nevertheless, Clarke does concede that there have been at least some assassins who

can be considered psychotic or at the very least atypical. According to the author, one

example of an atypical assassin is James Earl Ray, an ex-convict who killed Martin Luther

King, Jr. for money. This is an excellent book and will undoubtedly be of interest to scholars

who conduct research in the areas of terrorism or national security. It would also make

excellent supplemental reading for any graduate-level course related to either of these topics.

The book is very well written and is sure to engage students and lead to insightful class-

room discussions. For these reasons, I strongly recommend this book.

Robert M. Worley

Penn State Altoona

Reddington, F. P., & Kreisel, B. W. (2005). Sexual Assault: The Victims,

the Perpetrators, and the Criminal Justice System. Durham, NC:

Carolina Academic Press. vii pp., 353 pp.

DOI: 10.1177/0734016808321030

Reddington and Kreisel’s edited book, Sexual Assault: The Victims, the Perpetrators, and

the Criminal Justice System, fills a gap in the literature regarding sexual assault. This book

represents an important step forward—too often sexual assault is only covered as a chapter

in books on violence against women. The editors did a good job combining chapters that

comprehensively cover various topics regarding this problem, dividing the book into six

parts: the crime of sexual assault, the victims, the often unacknowledged victims, the rapists,

the criminal justice system response, and a brief section covering sex offender legislation.

Part One provides background on sexual assault. Chapter 1 offers an insightful discussion

defining sexual assault, tracing changes in these definitions, providing statistics, as well as

outlining various rape myths and their impact on our perceptions of sexual assault. Chapter

2 follows with more specific definitions of types of sexual assault, including spousal, date,

and gang rape. While both chapters offer critical insights, particularly regarding the stereo-

typical and erroneous definitions and perceptions of sexual assault, this section does suffer

from limitations. The book as a whole would be strengthened if an extensive discussion of

the theory behind sexual assault was included. Chapter 3 in this section on drug-facilitated

rapes covers both drug-facilitated rapes and rape occurring in a professional context. These

two topics do not necessarily fit together. This chapter seemed out of place in this section,

and a more general chapter on changing rape statutes may have been more appropriate.

The next section focuses on the victims of sexual assault. These chapters cover topics

normally not covered, including HIV and rape, how those around the victims respond, and

male rape victims. The chapter specific to female victims of rape does a good job describ-

ing the many ways victims may respond to their sexual assaults. However, the author states

that there will be differences based on age, background, and types of sexual assault, but

then never elaborates on this. This is needed to combat stereotypical beliefs about appro-

priate victim response. The final chapter in this section covers males as victims. The

authors identify this as a problem that often gets overlooked and including this topic is an

582 Criminal Justice Review