Book Review: Wortley, R., & Smallbone, S. (Eds). (2006). Situational Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse. Cullompton, Devon, UK: Willan. 270 pp

• Author: Karen Terry
• DOI: 10.1177/1057567708320311
• Published date: 01 June 2008
• Date: 01 June 2008
• Subject Matter: Articles

Brown then turns her attention to methodological issues in evaluating treatment programs and the

empirical evidence related to program effectiveness. Brown appears to agree with the basic finding

of numerous meta-analyses that untreated sex offenders offend at a higher rate than treated sex

offenders but offers a very balanced discussion of the threats to validity that allow legitimate dis-

agreement among professionals in the field. Similarly, there are large gaps in the research showing

specifically which treatment modalities are most effective, and Brown offers a nuanced and detailed

appraisal of this issue, as well.

Overall, this is a well-written and well-organized, useful book for anyone in need of a fairly com-

prehensive review of sex offender treatment programs. It is accessible to a reader with little or no psycho-

logical background and does not oversimplify the state of the field. Its greatest weakness is that it is

too dated for current use as an overview, even given its 2005 release, but again, it is still helpful as a

starting point for someone familiarizing themselves with the topic. Its greatest strengths are its scope,

interdisciplinary and international treatment of the topic, and detailed discussions about the nuts and

bolts of cognitive-behavioral approaches.

Elicka S. L. Peterson

Appalachian State University, Boone, North Carolina

Wortley, R., & Smallbone, S. (Eds). (2006). Situational Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse.

Cullompton, Devon, UK: Willan. 270 pp.

DOI: 10.1177/1057567708320311

Research on child sexual abuse often focuses on offenders and victims, in particular explanations

of the etiology and maintenance of their abusive behavior and the impact of victimization.

Additionally, most criminal justice policies that aim to prevent child sexual abuse are offender

focused. What has been largely ignored until recently is research and policy related specifically to

the situations in which sexual abuse occurs. At a time when sex offender policies are being hastily

implemented in an effort to incapacitate, treat, supervise, and restrict the whereabouts of sex offend-

ers, it is critically important to understand what types of policies may be effective at reducing the

opportunity for abuse to occur. Situational Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse is a pivotal text that

begins this conversation and, as the editors note in their introduction (chapter 1), it is the first book

to systematically focus on the understanding of sexual offenses rather than just sexual offenders.

The premise of this text is that situational crime prevention (SCP) strategies are applicable to the

study of child sexual abuse. SCP techniques have traditionally been applied to property offenses, but

the editors argue that they should also be applicable to sexual offending because the unique envi-

ronment of any situation aids the potential offender in deciding whether or not to commit a given

act. Child sexual abusers, like all types of offenders, use the environment to their advantage when

committing an offense, and modifying specific situations may reduce the likelihood that an offense

may occur.

The second chapter, written by Wortley and Smallbone, is the core of the book. The authors intro-

duce the reader to SCP concepts and discuss the need to understand the importance that situa-

tions play in the decision to commit criminal acts. In an earlier study of child sexual abusers in

Queensland, Australia, they observed seven factors indicating that environmental factors play a crit-

ical role in child sexual abuse cases. Specifically, they recognized that child sexual abusers have a

late onset of deviant behavior, a low incidence of chronic sexual offending, a high incidence of pre-

vious nonsexual offenses, a low incidence of stranger abuse, a low incidence of networking among

252 International Criminal Justice Review