Citation

Olver ME. Sex Roles 2010; 63(11-12): 900-903.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s11199-010-9769-3

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

As a group, sex offenders tend to be a reviled and feared segment of society. This is perhaps no better captured than in descriptive terms such as "monster," "predator," "pervert," "sexual deviant," and "psychopath" that abound in media depictions of these individuals. On the one hand, the reaction is understandable as sex offenders do terrible things, but are they monsters, perverts, or uncontrollable sex fiends? Written by a practicing sexologist (Dr. Laura J. Zilney) and an academic criminologist (Dr. Lisa Anne Zilney), Reconsidering Sex Crimes and Offenders: Prosecution or Persecution? is a critical examination of sex offense crimes, sex offender legislation, and the people behind the crimes that society labels abhorrent or deviant.In the first chapter, Zilney and Zilney trace the origins of societal conceptions of sexual deviance, rooted in early Christian religion and the medical model, and point out that many of the behaviors considered bizarre or aberrant by today's standards h...

Language: en