Sex Offending Against Children

This authoritative and comprehensive second edition summarizes and integrates advances in assessing and treating pedophilia and preventing sexual offending against children. It synthesizes current research and offers evidence-based recommendations for practice and policy reform.

This report reviews the literature relating to sex offending against children. It is aimed at the UK police service, and focuses on those studies that have most relevance to police officers in their interaction with individuals who sexually offend against children. It covers three broad areas : the extent and nature of child sexual abuse, the characteristics of offenders and the risks posed by them, and the ways in which those risks can be managed.

This book provides extensive information on pedophilia (sexual interest in the prepubescent body age), hebephilia (sexual interest in the early-pubescent body age) and sexual offenses against children, i.e., the various forms of child sexual abuse, including the use of child sexual abuse images, along with the current state of knowledge concerning offender groups. The book makes it clear that pedophilia or hebephilia do not inevitably lead to offenses against children – that there are those who keep their desires in their fantasies and do not act them out on the behavioral level. The World Health Organization classifies pedophilia as a mental disorder. It can be safely assumed that many pedophile men in a given community live their lives, unrecognized and adamant about hiding their sexual drives from society and from themselves, and who are genuinely motivated not to act upon their sexual fantasies. The numbers of exactly this particular group of pedophilically inclined non-offenders can be increased by preventive therapeutic measures. For this purpose, two treatment programs have been developed at the Institute of Sexology and Sexual Medicine at the Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin (University Clinic) since the initiation of the Prevention Project Dunkelfeld in 2005 – First, the project involving adult participants (Berlin Dissexuality Therapy: BEDIT) and later, another for adolescents (BEDIT-A), who find themselves attracted to children. Both program manuals are completely integrated into this work, which reflects 15 years of assessment and treatment experience.

Written by a multi-disciplinary group of leading practitioners, Sexual Offending Against Children provides an account of the practice, policy and management issues involved in the assessment and treatment of adult and adolescent sexual offenders against children. Written for practitioners from all disciplines concerned with this area of work, it is underpinned by a strong theoretical base, giving a practical and detailed description of the management of sexual offenders, as well as the potential impact on service providers.

Contrary to popular belief, not all sex offenders who target children are pedophiles, and not all pedophiles commit sexual offenses. But what is unequivocal is that pedophilia, which is defined as a persistent sexual interest in prepubescent children, is an emotionally charged and controversial topic. Parents are understandably worried about the safety and well-being of their children and want to protect them from being sexually exploited. Mental health and criminal justice professionals want to learn more about the assessment methods and intervention techniques that are available to develop and implement effective policies and practices.In this book, author Michael C. Seto addresses key concerns and questions in dealing with these clinical populations: How can pedophilia be detected? What causes pedophilia and sexual offending against children, and what is the relationship between the two? How do we assess risk to sexually offend? Finally, what do we know about intervention and prevention to reduce the occurrence of sexual offenses against children? In addition to a comprehensive synthesis of theory and research, the author demonstrates how this knowledge informs current treatment practices with the inclusion of illustrative case examples, sample interview questions, assessment tools, and online resources.

Treating Child Sex Offenders and Victims is a practical manual designed to assist mental health professionals in the effective treatment of both victims and offenders through the development of specialized skills. The author discusses methods of treatment of offenders and includes an assessment battery, which measures their sexual attitudes. She also addresses ways of treating victims and minimizing trauma within the legal system. The volume will thus be invaluable for all mental health professionals who wish to learn effective treatment of the victims and the perpetrators of child sexual abuse.

In Sexual Aggression Against Children: Pedophiles’ and Abusers' Development, Dynamics, Treatability, and the Law, Drs. Blackman and Dring use multiple psychoanalytic principles to answer, “Why do people sexually abuse children?” and “Why are most abusers male”? They address the legal and mental health professions’ minimization of the horrific nature of child sexual abuse, explain how to assess pedophiles’ treatability, and discuss cases of adolescent and adult predators. Also, developmental analysis of sexual predation is integrated with a review of judicial decisions regarding civil commitment and punishment of abusers. The authors suggest how courts, evaluators, and legislatures can preserve constitutional rights of sexual offenders while prioritizing protection of children.