sex offending dissertation

Understanding Sexual Offending

An evidence-based response to myths and misconceptions

• © 2021
• Patrick Lussier 0 ,
• Evan C McCuish 1 ,
• Jesse Cale 2

School of Social Work and Criminology, Universite Laval, Quebec, Canada

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School of Criminology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, Canada

School of criminology and criminal justice, griffith university, gold coast, australia.

• Provides a critical overview of current criminal justice policies and best practices for evidence-based improvement of punishment, treatment, and prevention of sexual offenses
• Revisits common myths and misconceptions about perpetrators of sexual offenses through the lens of evidence-based research and empirical testing
• Emphasizes the need for proactive research and prevention oriented strategies to sexual offending

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Table of contents (10 chapters)

Front matter, introduction, sexual offending: an elusive phenomenon in criminology ’s blind spot.

• Patrick Lussier, Evan C McCuish, Jesse Cale

The Construction of Sexual Offending as a Social Problem : A Historical Perspective

Applying a criminal career approach to expose myths , misconceptions, and erroneous conclusions about sexual offending, why sexual offending, sex offenders under the microscope: are they unique, once a sex offender, always a sex offender, understanding sex offender policy, correctional moneyball , actuarial risk, and sexual recidivism: searching for the sexual predator, the lapse and relapse of correctional-based sex offender treatment and intervention, a scarlet letter in the digital age : sex offender registration and public notification, the great policy gap: toward more proactive sex offending research, back matter.

• risk assessment
• risk management
• sexual deviance
• sexual violence
• sexual abuse
• sex offenders
• sex offender therapy
• sexual offending
• sexual recidivism
• rehabilitation psychology

About this book

Addressing common myths and misconceptions about sexual offending, this book highlights the current state of scientific knowledge about the origins and the development of sexual offending. It offers a critical overview of current criminal justice policies and close to 100 years of research on how to best improve these policies through theoretically-grounded and methodologically-rigorous research.

Focusing on proactive prevention-oriented strategies, this book revisits popular ideas about sexual offending through an evidence-based lens, addressing ideological and populist discourse that has led to ineffective and reactive policies. It advocates for a clearly defined concept of the phenomenon of sexual offending to underpin research and treatment. Uniquely, authors consider sexual offending from the viewpoint of criminal justice research and practitioners, incorporating the sociohistorical construction of sexual offending as a social problem, developmental life course research, and the impact of social policies. This book is a call for more proactive research on the origins and the development of sexual offending over the life course.

Authors and Affiliations

Patrick Lussier

Evan C McCuish

About the authors

Patrick Lussier  is a Full Professor of criminology at the School of social work and criminology at Université Laval, in Quebec city, Canada. After completing a Ph.D. in criminology at the University of Montreal, he completed postdoctoral studies at the Institute of Criminology at the University of Cambridge under the supervision of Prof. David P. Farrington. He was Professor at the School of Criminology at Simon Fraser University for 8 years. Professor Lussier is currently a regular researcher at the International Center for Comparative Criminology (CICC). His field of expertise is at the intersection of criminology and criminal justice and includes, among other things, the etiology of antisocial and criminal behavior, sexual offending, risk assessment and management as well as quantitative research methods. He has published five books and about 150 publications, including several scientific articles in leading criminology/criminal justice scientific journals, including Criminology, Criminal Justice and Behavior, Justice Quarterly, Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Psychology, Public Policy & Law, Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment. Professor Lussier is the Editor-in-chief of the Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice and a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Criminal Justice. He has also been a member of the American Society of Criminology for more than fifteen years. In 2005, Professor Lussier received the Academic Gold Medal from the Governor General of Canada for the excellence of his doctoral dissertation on the origins and the development of sexual aggression.

Evan McCuish  received his PhD in Criminology in 2016. He is currently an Assistant Professor at Simon Fraser University, in Burnaby, Canada. He is the Principal Investigator of the Incarcerated Serious and Violent Young Offender Study, which is a longitudinal study on young offenders in Canada followed through adulthood. His research interests include criminal careers, desistance, developmental criminology, foster care, gang involvement, psychopathy, sexual offending, and violence. His work is published in Psychological Assessment, Crime and Delinquency, Sexual Abuse, Justice Quarterly, and Journal of Quantitative Criminology. He is on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Criminal Justice and Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice. He is the recipient of the Simon Fraser University Dean’s Convocation Medal for Academic Excellence, the American Psychology-Law Society Outstanding Dissertation Award, and the American Society of Criminology Division of Developmental and Life Course Criminology Early Career Award.

Jesse Cale  is an Associate Professor of Criminology in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Griffith University in the Gold Coast, Australia. He completed his PhD in 2010 at Simon Fraser University in Canada and was awarded the Governor General of Canada Academic Gold Medal for his doctoral studies. Following his Ph.D. he was awarded a prestigious research fellowship with the Griffith Youth Forensic Service, a clinic that provides treatment for youth who have committed sexual offences, at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia. His main areas of research involve the causes and consequences of sexual violence, developmental criminology and criminal justice policy and evaluation. He is a Chief Investigator on several large-scale research grants in Australia funded by the Australian Research Council and different state governments and agencies examining the development of delinquency and criminal offending and the effectiveness of criminal justice policy responses. He has published his research in leading international criminology and criminal justice books, and journals such as: Sexual Abuse, the Journal of Criminal Justice, Aggression and Violent Behavior, the Journal of Interpersonal Violence, andYouth Violence and Juvenile Justice. He is a member of the American Society of Criminology, the Australia and New Zealand Society of Criminology, and serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Developmental and Life-Course Criminology. the Canadian Journal of Criminology, and Victims and Offenders. He was recently a Visiting Scholar at the Institute of Criminology at Cambridge University.

Bibliographic Information

Book Title : Understanding Sexual Offending

Book Subtitle : An evidence-based response to myths and misconceptions

Authors : Patrick Lussier, Evan C McCuish, Jesse Cale

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53301-4

Publisher : Springer Cham

eBook Packages : Law and Criminology , Law and Criminology (R0)

Copyright Information : Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021

Hardcover ISBN : 978-3-030-53300-7 Published: 26 October 2020

Softcover ISBN : 978-3-030-53303-8 Published: 26 October 2021

eBook ISBN : 978-3-030-53301-4 Published: 25 October 2020

Edition Number : 1

Number of Pages : XIV, 401

Topics : Sexual Offending , Criminological Theory , Rehabilitation

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Research Goals and Methods          

            The goals of this dissertation were two-fold. First, I wanted to explore the consequences of sex offender legislation on sex offenders and the communities in which they live. Second, I aimed to examine how criminal justice and public policy shaped social interactions at a residential motel called the Boardwalk Motel. This location was used by government agencies to house several populations who would have otherwise been homeless, such as registered sex offenders, other parolees, and individuals receiving welfare.

As co-investigator, I rented a room at the motel for a calendar year. This participant observation was supplemented by data from local newspapers and town records. I interacted with 77 different residents and generated over 800 pages of single-spaced fieldnotes. I formed relationships with 9 registered sex offenders and observed their behavior over time, as well as their views of sex offender legislation, and the ways in which they interacted with other residents. I also interacted with and observed residents who were not sex offenders.

Outcomes and Impact

            This in-depth ethnography gathered information on the living conditions that sex offenders faced due to public policy. It explored the neighborhood consequences of sex offenders living at the motel, as well as offenders’ reentry experiences in the context of this unique location. The findings paint a vivid portrait of how marginalized populations lived in an environment that not only endangered their health and well-being, but drained their resources to the point where their vulnerabilities increased. Sex offenders attempted to hide their convictions and present themselves in ways that minimized their culpability or made them different from stereotypes about sexual predators. They had trouble finding housing, finding jobs, and creating stable relationships with other motel residents and individuals in the community due to their stigma. Citizens driving by the motel yelled insults at motel residents, accusing them of being pedophiles, despite not knowing if their targets had even victimized children.

            These findings enhance the knowledge of marginalized populations by giving voice to these individuals. Because each resident arrived at the motel in a vulnerable state, they created a community that was highly organized around sharing material and emotional resources. This was surprising given that the demographics of the setting suggested that such a poor and transient environment might create a culture of crime. Instead, very little crime occurred (only four arrests occurred during fieldwork) and interpersonal violence was found to be the result of conflict that emerged during the sharing of resources. Most impressive was how residents cared for the most vulnerable among them by providing food, clothing, and assistance in tasks such as showering. While social policies placed registered sex offenders, the poor, and the mental and physically disabled together at the motel, these residents created a community that addressed the humanity of those in need.

            Eventually, “not in my backyard” (NIMBY) reactions to the motel led to the accumulation of code violations that threatened the safety of all residents. As a result, the motel was shut down in early 2014 and residents were displaced on a winter day with almost no notice of the motel’s closing. The social stigma attached the location became an excuse to turn a blind eye until the dangers to residents proved ...

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Dissertations@Portsmouth - Details for item no. 13618

Rowe, Benjamin (2019) Female sex offenders, the gender gap and the criminal justice system: exploring reasons for the differential treatment of female criminals by society and judicial system . (unpublished BSc dissertation), University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth

Using data from the Ministry of Justice (2015-2017), this dissertation will examine the role of gender in the sentencing outcomes for male and females found guilty of sexual offences against children. The dissertation will examine how social constructs of gender has influenced the criminal justice system and societies perceptions of female sex offenders and to some extent, the victims. A small number of studies have examined the gender gap and this dissertation will examine if the gender gap between male and females exist for sex offences against children. Furthermore, it will focus on extra-familial offences to identify if this gap is consistent across multiple charges. This research is grounded in the theoretical perspective of chivalry and paternalism theories as well as selected chivalry, otherwise known as ‘evil women theory’. Research indicates the age of the victim appears to influence the sentencing outcomes as does severity of offence as female defendants receive less severe sentences than males in most offences involving older children. Finally, the dissertation identified that social commentary on female teachers with students aged 16 or over attracted lower levels of negative sentiment than male teachers, however there was less rationalisation for their offending. Unsurprisingly, female teachers who had sexual contact with male students under the age of 16 received more scorn than those above 16. In contrast, female students aged 16 having relationships with male teachers experienced a greater proportion of victim blaming comments than male victims in both under and over 16 categories. This is contrary to usual double-standards where males are perceived to be more in control of sexual experiences and almost applauded for losing their virginity at a young age. What became clear from the victim blaming comments was that moral outrage towards the increasing sexualisation of children, especially female, was the primary sentiment expressed

Course: Counter Fraud and Criminal Justice Studies - BSc (Hons) - C1592

Date Deposited: 2020-11-23

URI/permalink: https://library.port.ac.uk/dissert/dis13618.html