Sexual Crime

A contemporary, fact-filled resource on the historical, legal, medical, and political aspects of a wide variety of sexual crimes. Authoritative and informative, Sexual Crime: A Reference Handbook offers a thoroughly up-to-date report on an issue of extraordinary urgency. It is an expert introduction to a variety of often misunderstood crimes. Sexual Crime begins with a background chapter outlining the causes and definitions of sexual crime, legal and cultural attitudes over the past three centuries, and common myths surrounding this sensitive subject. It then offers wide ranging coverage of issues, including date rape, crimes involving male victims, rape in prison, female perpetrators, medical treatments, political ramifications, and other contemporary issues.

This book brings together a thought-provoking collection of original contributions to the study of sexual crime prevention. Written in an accessible and practical style, the book begins with an exploration of the theoretical underpinnings of sexual crime prevention, as well as the history and development of prevention work over the years, providing an overview of prevention initiatives around the world. The second section spotlights three in depth case studies of organisations delivering prevention work in the UK. Final sections of the book explore the service user experience, impact of the media, and attitudes and consideration of future directions for prevention work. The book is relevant not only to psychologists, criminologists, social workers and students, but to practitioners, researchers and anyone with an interest in learning about sexual crime prevention.

This book explores the growing understanding and evidence base for the role of trauma in sexual offending. It represents a paradigm shift, in which trauma is becoming an important risk factor to be considered in the treatment of individuals convicted of sexual crime. The authors consider the theoretical and historical explanations and understandings of sexual offending and its relationship with early trauma, paving the way for a volume which considers client’s treatment needs through a new, trauma-informed lens. The experiences and challenges of specific groups are also explored, including young people and women. Readable, yet firmly anchored in a sound evidence base, this book is relevant to psychologists, therapists, criminologists, psychiatrists, mental health nurses, social workers, students, and to practitioners and the general public with an interest in learning more about the topic.

This book explores sexual crime and intellectual functioning. Drawing on expertise from clinical practice and applied research, the volume begins with an exploration of the theoretical and historical background to the interest in links between sexual offending and intellectual functioning. The authors then move on to discuss assessment of intellectual functioning in prison, interventions for low intellectual functioning, autistic spectrum and personality disorder. This book offers a rare insight into the phenomenon of high IQ and sexual offending, a much neglected aspect of the sexual crime literature, and includes novel research that unpacks this link. It further offers an extraordinary insight into the experiences of a person of superior IQ in the criminal justice system for a sexual offence. The book is relevant not only to psychologists, criminologists, social workers and students, but also to practitioners, researchers and the general public with an interest in learning about sexual offending and intellectual functioning.

The Language of Sexual Crime explores the role of language in the construction of identity of both perpetrators and victims of sexual violence, the ways in which language is used in the detection of sexually-motivated crime, and the articulation/manipulation of language in police interviews, the courtroom and the media.

This book interrogates the process of court reporting on rape and other sexual crime cases involving Australian footballers. At the intersection of sport, gender, media and the law, it uncovers the story behind rape myths and stereotypes in media. This book analyses newspaper reporting alongside transcripts of the trials they represent and interviews with the journalists themselves. Waterhouse-Watson’s work maps structural factors within newsrooms, and the complex relationship between the judiciary and media, that affect the practice of court reporting. This book approaches key journalism concepts like objectivity and balance critically, illustrating the layers of mediation that surround a complainant’s testimony; the way sport shapes the meaning of courtroom and media narratives in these cases; and the tension between racism and sexism when race is thematised or otherwise highlighted. Ultimately, the book proposes an ethics of court reporting that protects individual complainants, as well as advancing public understandings of the crime.