Sex Offenders: A Criminal Career Approach
Edited by Arjan Blokland and Patrick Lussier
Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley Blackwell. 2015.
In, Sex Offenders: A Criminal Career Approach, editors Arjan Blokland and Patrick Lussier offer a unique overview related to study of sexual offenses.
Chapter 1, The Criminal Career Paradigm and Its Relevance to Studying Sex Offenders, conceptualizations of criminal career development along with theoretical and policy implications are discussed. This includes an application of the criminal career approach in relation to sexual offending. Chapter 2, Criminal Career Features in Theories of Sexual Offending, highlights the efficacy of theories in the study of sexual offending, which emphasizes the necessity of such in developing sound empirical solutions. Chapter 3, An Integrated Life Course Developmental Theory of Sexual Offending, identifies a framework which encompasses a multidisciplinary approach to sexual offending and underscores the promise of this method in terms of prevention, risk management, and remedial measures.
Chapter 4, Criminal Careers for Different Juvenile Sex Offender Subgroups, identifies recidivism rates among 3 subgroups of youth sex offenders. Consistencies and differences within specific trajectories are discussed along with distinct categories of youth. Chapter 5, The Childhood Risk Factors of Adolescent Onset and Adult Onset of Sex Offending: Evidence from a Prospective Longitudinal Study, studies the inception of juvenile and adult sex offending. This includes specific factors and predictive outcomes. Chapter 6, Assessing the Continuity of Sex Offending over the Life Course: Evidence from Two Large Birth Cohort Studies, discusses various types of recidivism among youth offenders along with the efficacy of numerous prevention and community notification measures.
Chapter 7, Antisocial Trajectories in Youth and the Onset of Adult Criminal Careers in Sexual Offenders of Children and Women, explores the distinct developmental backgrounds characteristics among two groups of sexual offenders for the purpose of understanding and identifying specific precursors related to this offense. Chapter 8, Offending Patterns over Time: An Examination of Specialization, Escalation, and De-Escalation in the Commission of Sexual Offenses, examines the extent to which sexual offenders adopt various strategies in relation to victims. This includes identifying patterns and covariates of behavioral changes. Chapter 9, Criminal Career Features of Female Sexual Offenders, investigates numerous aspects of development, desistence as well as type of offending among female offenders.
Chapter 10, Mayhem by Occupation: On the Relevance of Criminal Careers to Sexual Homicide Offenders, provides evidence related to the growing development of studying sexual homicides within criminology. Chapter 11, Changing Prevalence of Sex Offender Convictions: Disentangling Age, Period, and Cohort Effects over Time, identifies trajectories for types of sexual crimes within a 40 year time period. Chapter 12, Life Course Transitions and Desistance in Sex Offenders: An Event History Analysis, compares recidivism rates between sex and non-sex offenders with an emphasis towards risk factor identification.
Chapter 13, Offending Trajectory and Residual Offending of Adult Sex Offenders: A Person Oriented Approach to Risk Prediction, describes the longitudinal pathways of offending through the use of between and within individual changes emphasizing risk assessment measures and policy implications. Chapter 14, The Concentration of Sex Offenses in British and Dutch Families, explains sexual offending in 537 families with an emphasis towards the potential transmission of sexual offending.
Chapter 15, Estimating the Size of the Sexual Aggressor Population, provides an approximation of the number of sexual offenders through the use of capture-recapture methods. Chapter 16, Potential for Redemption for Sex Offenders, compares recidivism rates among sexual and nonsexual offenders highlighting results that fail to support relevant policies. Chapter 17, Policing Sex Offenders, Past and Present: The Role and Importance of a Criminal Career Approach in Helping Shape Future Policies, discusses the aim for the text with an emphasis towards broadening the study of sexual offending.
Through the use of multiple perspectives, Sex Offenders fosters an in-depth analyses that serves as platform for future research and policy development in relation to this disturbing social phenomenon.
PATRICK WEBB
SAVANNAH STATE UNIVERSITY
UNIVERISTY OF PHOENIX