Sex Crimes and Offenders: Exploring Questions of Character and Culture

(Paperback)

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For decades, and in some cases centuries, individuals, families, and friends of victims sought out ways to help heal the hurts caused by sexual abuse and implement some way to protect against future harms. The recent very public conversations about victims standing up to perpetrators has expanded the reach and public platform of sexual violence prevention efforts in critical ways. What might appear a relatively simple task on the surface, to define healthy and harmful sexual practices, inevitably raises even more questions. When the questions and answers are framed and defined through historical, cultural, social, and individual lenses, solutions may seldom be simple.

Structured in five parts, Sex Crimes and Offenders: Exploring Questions of Character and Culture uses healthy sexuality as a back drop for exploring the complicated issue of identifying and punishing sex crimes, defining the parameters of sexualized violence, and sexual violence prevention. The goal is to prevent harm, address hurts, hold perpetrators accountable, and eventually eliminate to the degree possibleall future harms. The information presented explores individual treatment efforts, as well as the social and political responses designed to hold perpetrators accountable and help support victims. Essential resources made visible throughout this text are provided to help inform young people, families, faith communities and future practitioners, to raise important reflective questions, and to serve as a resource for anyone of any age who has suffered harm, or perpetrated harm, and is in need of support and healing. Finally, the book concludes by shining a light on the efforts each of us can take to identify, reduce, and work toward eliminating sexual violence and harms.

Additional resources for Instructors, including PowerPoint Lecture Notes and Test Banks, are provided.

Reviews

Sex Crimes and Offenders by Clifford and Feigh is a comprehensive review of the existing information on the definition of and social response to the control of sexual behavior. The text is fairly complex but within the reach of those who have completed two years or more of college. The book is well referenced and adequately indexed, and the authors make limited use of illustrations. The work appears to be designed to be used as a text for specialized courses, but it may also generally serve those studying anthropology, counseling, psychology, sociology, or social work. Recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty; professionals. * Choice Reviews *

Author Bio

Mary Cliffordhas her Ph.D. in Justice Studies from Arizona State University and is a Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice Studies at St. Cloud State University in St. Cloud, Minnesota. A founding member of the Community Anti-Racism Education Initiative on the SCSU campus, she has been engaged in researching and writing about various justice issues including approximately 15 years of active involvement in studying sexual deviance, sex crimes and sex offenders. Editor of the first comprehensive text on environmental crime, titled Environmental Crime: Law, Policy and Social Responsibility (Aspen, 1998), and co-editor of the second edition (Jones and Bartlett, 2011), Dr. Clifford is also the Pearson Prentice Hall (2004) author of Identifying and Exploring Security Essentials.

Alison Feigh, MS, is the Director of Jacob Wetterling Resource Center, a program of Zero Abuse Project. In her role as a subject matter expert on child and teen safety, she works with students, parents, youth workers, faith leaders, law enforcement and the media to help prevent childhood abuse and abductions. Feighs work also includes writing curriculum for youth serving organizations, training professionals about online challenges kids face and advocating for families of the missing. Feigh has been working in the abuse prevention field for more than 18 years. She is especially drawn to prevention in faith-based communities and youth serving organizations, collaborating with teens regarding technology challenges and helping empower parents to talk with their kids about personal and online safety.