Sex offenders and sex crimes provoke a great deal of anxiety in our society, and over the past decade, lawmakers have passed a variety of social policies designed to protect the public from sexual victimization. The purpose of this study was to examine public perceptions about sex offenders and community protection policies. Data were obtained from a sample of 193 residents in Melbourne, Florida. It was hypothesized that the public holds some inaccurate beliefs about sex offenders, and that there is strong public support for community protection policies. It was found that community members believe that sex offenders have very high recidivism rates, view sex offenders as a homogeneous group with regard to risk, and are skeptical about the benefits of sex offender treatment. The hypothesis that public perceptions contradict empirical research was supported. Community members were overwhelmingly in favor of public disclosure of information about registered sex offenders, although they did not express as much support for residence restrictions. Implications for public policy, and for the media's role in shaping public perceptions, are discussed.

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Public Perceptions About Sex Offenders and Community Protection Policies

Contrary to popular belief, not all sex offenders who target children are pedophiles, and not all pedophiles commit sexual offenses. But what is unequivocal is that pedophilia, which is defined as a persistent sexual interest in prepubescent children, is an emotionally charged and controversial topic. Parents are understandably worried about the safety and well-being of their children and want to protect them from being sexually exploited. Mental health and criminal justice professionals want to learn more about the assessment methods and intervention techniques that are available to develop and implement effective policies and practices.In this book, author Michael C. Seto addresses key concerns and questions in dealing with these clinical populations: How can pedophilia be detected? What causes pedophilia and sexual offending against children, and what is the relationship between the two? How do we assess risk to sexually offend? Finally, what do we know about intervention and prevention to reduce the occurrence of sexual offenses against children? In addition to a comprehensive synthesis of theory and research, the author demonstrates how this knowledge informs current treatment practices with the inclusion of illustrative case examples, sample interview questions, assessment tools, and online resources.

Pedophilia and Sexual Offending Against Children: Theory, Assessment, and Intervention

Several states have enacted public policies that prohibit sex offenders who have abused children from living within close proximity to a school, park, day care center, or school bus stop. The purpose of this exploratory study was to describe the impact of residence restric- tions on sex offender reintegration and to better understand sex offenders'perceptions of these laws. A survey of 135 sex offenders in Florida was conducted. Most of the molesters who responded to the survey indicated that housing restrictions increased isolation, created finan- cial and emotional stress, and led to decreased stability. Respondents also indicated that they did not perceive residence restrictions as helpful in risk management and, in fact, reported that such restrictions may inadvertently increase triggers for reoffense. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.

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The Impact of Sex Offender Residence Restrictions: 1,000 Feet From Danger or One Step From Absurd?

Can we profile sex offenders? A review of sex offender typologies

Examination of societal reaction to sexual offenders reveals a history of harshness exemplified by the sexual psychopath laws of the 1930s. The latest round of legal attempts to control sex offenders uses Severe sentencing laws, civil commitment procedures and community notification statutes to confine and shame sex offenders. This paper shows these laws to be based on popular beliefs about the predatory nature of these men, the probability of their re-offense and their amenability to treatment rather than the facts about the sex offenses and offenders. The severe reaction to sexual offenders is a vindictive one based on myth and misunderstanding that serves many interests. The paper exposes the contradictory myths and skewed emotions that guide our view of sex crimes and compares these with the facts about re-offense rates and the effects of treatment.

societal reaction to sex offenders: a review of the origins and results of the myths surrounding their crimes and treatment amenability

Sexual offenders are extremely reluctant to disclose their offending histories for a variety of psychosocial and legal reasons. The polygraph has shown promise as a intervention for eliciting admissions of past sexual offending behaviors. For 60 adult male sexual offender (35 inmates and 25 parolees), the number of victims and offenses were recorded from the Presentence Investigative Report, Sexual History Disclosure form, and 2 consecutive polygraph examination reports. Dramatic increases in the number of admitted victims and offenses were found for inmates, but not for parolees, across each source. However, there was a substantial decline in the number of victim and offense admissions by the second polygraph examination for both groups, even though 80% of the examination results reveled deception about sexual offending behaviors. Standardized use of sanctions and privileges for deceptive and nondeceptive polygraph results, respectively, are proposed as a way of eliciting full disclosure of offending histories for these offenders.

The impact of polygraphy on admissions of victims and offenses in adult sexual offenders.

Crossover sexual offenses are defined as those in which victims are from multiple age, gender, and relationship categories. This study investigates admissions of crossover sexual offending from sex offenders participating in treatment who received polygraph testing. For 223 incarcerated and 266 paroled sexual offenders, sexual offenses were recorded from criminal history records and admissions during treatment coupled with polygraph testing. The majority of incarcerated offenders admitted to sexually assaulting both children and adults from multiple relationship types. In addition, there was a substantial increase in offenders admitting to sexually assaulting victims from both genders. In a group of incarcerated offenders who sexually assaulted children, the majority of offenders admitted to sexually assaulting both relatives and nonrelatives, and there was a substantial increase in the offenders admitting to assaulting both male and female children. Although similar trends were observed for the sample of parolees, the rates were far less dramatic. Parolees appeared to have greater levels of denial, had participated in fewer treatment sessions, and perceived greater supervision restrictions as a result of admitting additional offenses. These findings support previous research indicating that many sexual offenders do not exclusively offend against a preferred victim type.

Sean Ahlmeyer

Papers

The impact of polygraphy on admissions of victims and offenses in adult sexual offenders.

Crossover Sexual Offenses