Table Of ContentResponding to Sexual Offending
Palgrave Studies in Risk, Crime and Society
Series editors:
Kieran McCartan, Associate Professor in Criminology in the Department of
Health and Social Sciences at the University of the West of England, UK.
Philip N. S. Rumney, Professor of Criminal Justice in the Department of Law at
the University of the West of England, UK.
Nicholas Ryder, Professor in Financial Crime and Associate Head for Research
and Knowledge Exchange in the Department of Law at the University of the West
of England, UK.
This series brings together international authors from a range of disciplines,
including law, criminology and socio-legal studies to examine the notion of risk,
the behaviour of individuals and groups that create risk, as well as state responses
to the notion of risk and its consequences in contemporary society. While the
series will consider ‘mainstream’ groups that pose a risk to society, including sex
offenders, terrorists and white-collar criminals, it welcomes scholarly analysis that
broadens our understanding of how risk is defined, interpreted and managed.
The series will feature work that is theoretical as well as empirical in nature.
Titles include:
Kieran McCartan (ed.)
RESPONDING TO SEXUAL OFFENDING
Perceptions, Risk Management and Public Protection
Palgrave Studies in Risk, Crime and Society
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Responding to Sexual
Offending
Perceptions, Risk Management and
Public Protection
Edited by
Kieran McCartan
Associate Professor in Criminology, University of the West of England, UK
Editorial matter and selection © Kieran McCartan 2014
Chapters © Contributors 2014
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2014 978-1-137-35812-7
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ISBN 978-1-349-47099-0 ISBN 978-1-137-35813-4 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781137358134
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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
McCartan, Kieran, 1980–
Responding to sexual offending : perceptions, risk management and public
protection / Kieran McCartan, Associate Professor in Criminology, University of
the West of England, UK.
pages cm.—(Palgrave studies in risk, crime and society)
ISBN 978-1-349-47099-0
1. Sex crimes – Investigation. 2. Sex offenders – Psychology.
3. Sex (Psychology) I. Title.
HV8079.S48M33 2014
2014026500
363.2599532—dc23
Contents
List of Illustrations vii
Preface v iii
Notes on Contributors xiii
1 The Realities of Legislating Against and Protecting the
Public from Risky Groups 1
Andrew Williams and Mike Nash
2 Community-Based Management of Sexual Offender
Risk: Options and Opportunities 20
Robin J. Wilson and David S. Prescott
3 Female Sex Offenders: Gender and Risk Perception 4 8
Ian A. Elliott and Alexandra Bailey
4 New Technologies, ‘Risk’ and Sexual Offending 7 2
Ruth McAlister
5 Sex Offending and Sex Tourism: Problems, Policy and
Challenges 93
Duncan McPhee
6 Sexual Offending Treatment Programmes: The Importance
of Evidence-Informed Practice 111
Adam J. Carter
7 Understanding and Responding to Persons with Special
Needs Who Have Sexually Offended 1 28
Robin J. Wilson and David S. Prescott
8 Risky Business? Supporting Desistance from Sexual
Offending 153
Beth Weaver and Monica Barry
9 Tales from the Trenches: Zooming in on the Process of
Desistance for Sexual Offending 1 70
Danielle Arlanda Harris
v
vi Contents
10 C reativity and Rehabilitation: What Else Might Work in
Changing Sex Offenders’ Behaviour? 189
Charlotte Bilby
11 M anaging Sex Offenders in the UK: Challenges for Policy
and Practice 2 06
Hazel Kemshall and Kieran McCartan
Index 227
List of Illustrations
Figures
2.1 Diagram of a Positively Skewed Distribution 2 9
2.2 Distribution of Static-99 Outcomes ( k = 73) 2 9
2.3 Graphic representation of CoSA model 4 0
Tables
2.1 Static Risk Factors (see Static-99; Hanson and
Thornton, 2000) 2 7
2.2 Dynamic Risk Factors (see Stable-2007/Acute-2007;
Hanson et al., 2007) 2 7
vii
Preface
Risk and risk management have become the bywords of offender
management and reintegration (Harrison, 2011; Nash and Williams,
2010). This means that public protection, reducing reoffending,
community engagement and all interactions with offenders, especially
sex offenders, post release have become central to the criminal justice
system. In the UK this has become crystallized through government
policy initiatives like the transforming rehabilitation agenda (Ministry
of Justice, 2014), payment by results (Ministry of Justice, 2014) and the
‘Big Society’ (Cabinet Office, 2010; McCartan, 2012a). In order to under-
stand the impact and direction of risk management, we need to under-
stand how risk and danger are framed, how they link to sex offenders
and how this is reflected in public, policymaker and practitioner under-
standings. This edited collection will examine the risks from, the percep-
tions of and the response to sex offenders in modern society.
Sexual violence is a high-profile, complex and emotive issue that has
become central to current national, as well as international, discourses
surrounding risk and risk management, child protection, human
rights, criminal justice policy and public protection in modern society
(McCartan, 2012a, 2012b; Kemshall et al., 2012). Sex offenders have a
high degree of exposure in modern society, compared to other types
of offenders, as a result of high-profile media coverage, public reaction
and misperception as well as professional and political accountability.
All of these heighten societies’ concerns about sexual offending, eval-
uate the perception or risk from sex offenders and contribute to a moral
panic about sexual abuse (Cohen, 2003; Kitzinger, 1999; Kleban and
Jeglic, 2012), which feeds into the relativity of state responses to sexual
abuse. State responses, both nationally and internationally, to sex
offenders are particularly difficult given that this population is hetero-
geneous in terms of psychology, offences committed and offending
within and between offences (Beech et al., 2009). Sex offenders are
a heterogeneous, adaptive and challenging population; there is not
a ‘one size fits all model’ (Harrison et al., 2010). Consequentially,
‘risk management’ and ‘public protection’ have become key phases in
how we respond to sexual violence (Keenan, 2012; Kleban and Jeglic,
2012). The inherent complexity of responding to sexual violence has
resulted in a series of ongoing state-, practitioner- and researcher-led
viii
Preface ix
debate and reform over the past 40 years or so, with divergent atti-
tudes and responses emerging (Harrison et al., 2010). However, public
understandings of and responses to sexual violence are paradoxical
at best. As a society we know more about the reality of sexual abuse
than ever before as there is seemingly increased, as well as improved,
reporting and recording; we know more about offenders and victims
of sexual abuse; we can better identify the warning signs pre-, during
and post-sexual abuse; and we have a better idea of how to treat sexual
abuse and ‘what works’ with perpetrators. There has been an increased,
more focused and more evidence-based public education surrounding
sexual abuse through the work of practitioners, professionals, chari-
ties and NGOs, with high-profile cases (Jimmy Savile, Ian Watkins
and Jerry Sandusky) having a mixed impact. However, despite this,
our knowledge of new and diverse forms of sexual abuse is growing
daily, which makes it difficult to get a handle on. Therefore, the risk
posed by sexual abuse has many parallels to work around the ideas
central to the ‘risk society’ (Beck, 1992). That is, the more we research
and understand sexual abuse, the more we realize that sexual abuse
is constantly evolving with new risks presenting themselves. This
means that although people are more switched on to sexual abuse,
they can be also be simultaneously switched off because of overexpo-
sure or a perceived lack of expert understanding. Which leads to the
realization that not only do you have ‘hard to reach communities’
(based on cultural norms, religion, race, etc. – e.g., Black and Minority
Ethnic (BME) communities), you also have ‘disengaged communities’
(communities who realize that there is an issue but chose to ignore
it for one reason or another – e.g., some working-class and middle-
class communities), therefore reinforcing the idea of multiple publics
rather than one public and a need to diversify as well as adapt messages
(Kitzinger, 2004). Public attitudes to sexual offending, therefore, on
the surface, have not really altered; if anything, they have become
more punitive, with sexual offenders being seen as the most reviled
and ostracized offenders in society.
The public perception of sex offenders, their risk and the ‘appropriate’
response feeds into any governmental response to sexual offending.
This means that state responses to sexual offending (punishment, treat-
ment and reintegration) have become a difficult balancing act between
popular punitiveness, realistic risk management and public protection.
In recent years, this state response has become more diverse, including
the engagement of a multitude of criminal justice agencies as well as
the public (Kemshall et al., 2012; McCartan et al., 2014). Despite the
