The Varied Dimensions of Law, Policy, and Treatment of Convicted Sex Offenders

• Author: Scott R. Senjo
• Published date: 01 December 2006
• Date: 01 December 2006
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0734016806295585
• Subject Matter: Articles

Review Essay

The Varied Dimensions of Law,

Policy, and Treatment of

Convicted Sex Offenders

A Review and Synthesis of Three Titles

Scott R. Senjo

Weber State University, Ogden, Utah

A seemingly endless struggle continues to exist over policy prescriptions for convicted sex

offenders. The oversimplified answer is to enact more punitive measures, however futile they

may be, to appease a misinformed populace. This review essay looks at three titles that exam-

ine the policy justifications for sex offenders and explain the expensive and irrational measures

taken in both American and British society to try to gain some control over this class of crim-

inal and mental health cases.

Keywords: sex crimes; sex offenders; civil commitment; policy implementation

Sex Offenders in the Community: Managing and Reducing the Risks, edited by Amanda Matravers.

Portland, OR: Willan Publishing, 2003.

Civil Commitment of Sexual Predators: A Study in Policy Implementation, by Andrew J. Harris.

New York: LFB Scholarly Publishing, 2005.

Identifying and Treating Sex Offenders: Current Approaches, Research, and Techniques, edited by

Robert Geffner, Kristina Crumpton Franey, Teri Geffner Arnold, and Robert Falconer. New York:

Haworth Maltreatment and Trauma Press, 2003.

Few public issues have the staying power for media and political manipulation that sex

crimes do, and the point is made clear, more or less, in the three titles reviewed below. The

“monsterisation” (Matravers, pp. 222-223) of sex offenders cannot be explained in seemly

terms, and the compulsive aggression toward this class of offenders often shows little more

decency than the criminal acts being denigrated. It appears that one need look no further

for the ultimate “bad guy” to scapegoat for all of society’s ills.

Independent of the punitive policy that is often counterproductive (Matravers, p. 7),

obviously little doubt exists about the dangerousness of felony sex offenders. As each of

the three books reviewed here states, sexual offending implies a mental illness that other

offenses, such as larceny or burglary, are not immediately associated with (Geffner et al.,

p. 36). Nevertheless, many are baffled by the apparent unwillingness of American (and

British) society to bring a more contemplative, mature, and balanced perspective to this

group of criminal cases. Much fiction and myth have been fabricated around the discussion

of sex offenders, although ironically, the data conclusively find them to be middle-class

family members and stereotypical professionals:

357

Criminal Justice Review

Volume 31 Number 4

December 2006 357-368

© 2006 Georgia State University

Research Foundation, Inc.

10.1177/0734016806295585

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