NCJ Number
70970
Editor(s)
D J West
Date Published
1980
Length
223 pages
Annotation
Twenty papers presented at the 12th Cropwood Roundtable Conference in December 1979 in Great Britain focus on the treatment of sex offenders in the criminal justice system.
Abstract
The papers are grouped into three sections: general principles of social policy, information about various types of offenses and offenders dealt with by the criminal justice system, and the assessment and treatment of sex offenders by psychologists and psychiatrists. The opening papers contain some critical analyses of society's reactions to deviant behavior. Political considerations regarding sexual standards are pointed out, and the importance of some means of control other than the criminal law is emphasized. One paper discusses the arguments put forth by pedophiles which challenge the establishment view of their behavior as damaging, sick, and rightly subject to punishment. Also, the results of investigations into public opinion about specific types of behavior are reported, views propagated by the media that are mistaken for public opinion are discussed, and the proper role of the criminal law in this area of conflicting values is considered. The second group of papers begins with a review of the substance of the sex offenses reported in official records and the punishments awarded. Other papers discuss sentencing practices for sex offenders, child molestation, rape and physical violence, prostitution in the context of Great Britain's Street Offenses Act and prostitution in the West End of London and in Mayfair. The last section includes commentaries on the confusing range of therapeutic needs presented by sex offenders and the difficulties of meeting them in penal settings; applications of penile response monitoring; characteristics of 100 cases of indecent exposure referred to the Midland Centre of Forensic Psychiatry in the West Midlands; the nonviolent sex offender; and a guided self-help approach to treatment of the habitual sex offender used in Washington State (U.S.), which trains sex offenders in more acceptable lifestyles by means of peer group discussion. Each group of papers is followed by a short summary of points from the conference discussions. The papers include tables, footnotes, and references. For individual papers, see NCJ 70971-70980. (Author abstract modified)