Child Sexual Abuse Empirical Research On Understanding And Helping Victims And Offenders

Public policy responses to child sexual abuse are dominated by interventions designed to take effect only after offenders have already begun offending, and after children have already been sexually abused. Comparatively little attention has been given to alternative prevention strategies – particularly to those aimed at preventing sexual abuse before it might otherwise occur. Considerable knowledge has been accumulated on the characteristics, modus operandi and persistence of offenders, the characteristics, circumstances and outcomes for victims, and the physical and social settings in which sexual abuse occurs, but little work has been done to systematically apply this knowledge to prevention. This book aims to fulfill this objective through integrating clinical and criminological concepts and knowledge to inform a more comprehensive and effective public policy approach to preventing child sexual abuse. Empirical and theoretical knowledge concerning child sexual abuse is integrated with broader developments in evidence-based crime and child maltreatment prevention, leading to new ideas about understanding and preventing child sexual abuse. This book will be essential reading for anybody with interests in this field.

Published in 1999, this book is based on major research projects in Britain, Canada and Australia on the meaning, nature and impact of child sexual abuse. Theoretical perspectives include a consideration of the contextualisation of knowledge about child abuse; how sexual abuse may be embedded within other types of family pathology; and a feminist perspective on patriarchy and adolescent prostitution. The book also contains an important chapter with new data on male sexual offenders, and on men and women who kill children. A chapter on men who kill themselves when faced with accusations of child sexual abuse offers a humanistic perspective on the problem. Further chapters on social work processing of child sexual abuse cases, and of group treatment for victims point to further directions in research, policy and practice.

How can we understand offending and victimisation processes in relation to abuse images and the Internet? The contributors are amongst the foremost researchers and practitioners in this field, and their groundbreaking chapters lay down the foundations for systematic and critical development of knowledge and understanding.

Over the last decade there has been dramatically increased interest in the ways that technology has been used in the abuse and exploitation of children, due in part to increasing numbers of convictions for child pornography-related offenses. Opinion swings between those who feel that there is a danger of distorting the threat posed to children by technology, and those for whom it appears that the threat has been grossly underestimated. Current literature surrounding the debate at times seems to create more questions than answers and what quickly becomes apparent is that the data we have to inform our understanding is partial, potentially context specific, and at times seemingly contradictory. This book broadens our understanding of the complex nature of online sexual exploitation of children and considers the risk that those engaged in Internet-related offences pose to children in both the online and offline environments. It focuses on cutting-edge research and conceptual thinking that views perpetrators within context, examines those impacted by such offending, describes emerging legal and policy issues, and proposes innovative strategies for prevention within a dynamic global environment. Understanding and Preventing Online Sexual Exploitation of Children responds to the growing call for help across all practice areas, from judicial to therapeutic, and will provide an invaluable resource for practitioners and policy makers working in the field, as well as students and academics studying sexual exploitation and cyber crime.

Child Sexual Abuse: Forensic Issues in Evidence, Impact, and Management covers the issue of child sexual abuse from several viewpoints. The book approaches child abuse from both victimization and offender perspectives, offering applied perspectives from experts and practitioners in the field, including discussions on policing, child safety and intelligence. This is a significant divergence from the literature most commonly provided in the market. Other sections cover psychological, physical abuse, and neglect, protective factors (at individual and community levels), recognition, responses, biopsychosocial outcomes (dealt with in discrete chapters), public policy, prevention, institutional abuse, children and corrections, treatment, management, and much more. Approaches child sexual abuse from both victimization and offending perspectives Comprised of both empirical scholarship and applied material from global experts and practitioners Includes significant advances in areas such as disclosure, the neurological effects of child abuse, neuroplasticity, trafficking, and online and virtual child abuse

This work deals with the issues surrounding child sexual abuse, and is aimed at practitioners in social work, psychology and medicine, students in professional fields and researchers.