Review – Alison Mountford, Psy D. (Protecting Society…)

Book offers comprehensive, readable exploration of highly charged topic
(November 2003 Issue)

Protecting Society From Sexually Dangerous Offenders:
Law, Justice, and Therapy
Edited by Bruce J. Winick, J.D. and John Q. La Fond, J.D.
American Psychological Association
Washington, DC, 2003

By Alison Mountford, Psy.D.
reprinted with Permission from New England Psychologist

The subject of sexually dangerous offenders is emotionally laden. The questions of how to identify these types of criminals, whether it is possible to treat and rehabilitate them, and how to best protect society and minimize the number of victims of these types of crimes are all controversial. As a society, we struggle with the role of the law in psychiatry, just as we struggle with how to strike a balance between our wish to punish and our wish to rehabilitate the sexually dangerous criminal.

The past 10 to 15 years have seen an increase in the publicity and the public outcry about certain high profile sex offender cases, both locally and nationally. As a result, state and federal laws have been enacted to try to better protect society from sexually dangerous criminals.

In “Protecting Society from Sexually Dangerous Offenders: Law, Justice and Therapy,” editors Bruce J. Winick, J.D. and John Q. LaFond, J.D., have compiled a collection of essays that appear destined to become identified as a seminal work in this field. The book is comprehensive, well organized and balanced. It is highly readable and is likely to be useful to a variety of readers from different professions.

“Protecting Society from Sexually Dangerous Offenders” is divided into six parts, each of which covers an important aspect of this field. The six general categories include: a review of the existing sexual predator laws and their problems; a discussion of the available methods for assessing sex offenders and predicting their risk for recidivism; a discussion of the existing treatments for adult sex offenders and the risks and benefits of civil commitment; a discussion of the constitutionality of the existing commitment laws; a review of some of the alternative treatments (including chemical castration) and an evaluation of the existing sexual predator laws and their costs to society. Each of the six categories has several chapters within it, and often the chapters offer opposing views on the topic.

In addition, Winick and La Fond have written an engaging introduction that provides the reader with a brief history of the recent laws in this area, a short synopsis of each chapter and a description of the audience the editors feel would most benefit from reading the chapter. Their discussion highlights the difficulty of working with this population and illuminates some of the ways in which the current laws create systemic problems.

Although Winick and La Fond are both legal scholars, they succeed in their goal of creating a book that is readable for other audiences including psychologists who are interested in this field. At the same time, some of the chapters present ideas that are quite challenging in the questions they raise. Although some of the sexual predator laws have been upheld by the Supreme Court, the authors raise questions about the effects of sexual predator laws on civil liberties, on the clinicians who must treat criminals who are civilly committed and even on other patients who might share a treatment facility with a sexually dangerous offender.

They also remind the reader that sexual predator laws often fail to protect the large number of victims who know their perpetrator. “Protecting Society From Sexually Dangerous Offenders” does not eliminate this subject’s emotional charge. But its careful exploration of the current state of the law and of treatment provides the reader with an excellent foundation for future research and policy debate.

Alison Mountford, Psy.D. is a psychologist at Wellesley High School. She has a private practice in Brookline, Mass.

–Review orignially displayed at http://www.masspsy.com/book/0311_ne_book_protecting.html