Legal and mental health experts explore the ramifications of the controversial sexual predator commitment laws, registration and community notification laws, and chemical castration laws that have come into existence since 1990. The increasing number of sex crimes, especially those committed by released sex offenders against young victims, has struck a public nerve. In this volume, contributing authors discuss the issues surrounding these new legal strategies and the alternatives to such programmes. They examine the wisdom and constitutionality of post-incarceration commitment and the difficulty of determining who is most likely to offend again. Contributors propose alternatives to involuntary commitment, including community containment and programmes for treating sexually abused children so as to reduce the chances of them growing up to continue the cycle of sexual abuse. They also propose ways in which these new legal approaches can be applied to increase their therapeutic potential.
The New Generation of Sex Offender Commitment Laws: Which States Have Them and How Do They Work?-Lawrence W. Fitch and Debra A. Hammen; State Policy Perspectives on Sexual Predator Laws-Roxanne Lieb; Who Is Dangerous and When Are They Safe? Risk Assessment with Sexual Offenders-R. Karl Hanson; Evaluating Offenders under a Sexually Violent Predator Law: The Practical Practice-Roy Lacoursiere; What We Know and Don't Know About Treating Adult Sex Offenders-Marnie E. Rice and Grant T. Harris; Treatment and the Civil Commitment of Sex Offenders-Eric S. Janus; In the Wake of Hendricks: The Treatment and Restraint of Sexually Dangerous Offenders Viewed from the Perspective of American Psychiatry-Howard V. Zonana, Richard J. Bonnie, and Steven K. Hoge; Matching Legal Policies with Known Sex Offenders-Leonore M. J. Simon; Bad or Mad?: Sex Offenders and Social Control-Stephen J. Morse; ""Even a Dog..."" Culpability, Condemnation, and Respect for Persons-Robert F. Schopp; Sex Offenders and the Supreme Court: The Significance and Limits of Kansas v. Hendricks-John Kip Cornwell; A Therapeutic Jurisprudence Analysis of Sex Offender Registration and Community Notification Laws-Bruce J. Winick; Investing In The Future of Children: Building Programs for Children or Prisons for Adult Offenders-William D. Pithers, Alison Gray, and, Michalle E. Davis; Chemical Castration of Sex Offenders: Treatment or Punishment?-Robert D. Miller; Community Containment of Sex Offender Risk: A Promising Approach-Kim English, Linda Jones, and Diane Patrick; The Costs of Enacting a Sexual Predator Law and Recommendations for Keeping Them from Skyrocketing-John Q. La Fond; Sex Offenders and the New Penology-Jonathan Simon; A Therapeutic Jurisprudence Assessment of Sexually Violent Predator Laws-Bruce J. Winick
