When monsters make policies

7-8-2011 National:

Professor's new book examines sex crime policy in America

8:46 a.m., July 7, 2011--The high school senior accused of statutory rape against his sophomore girlfriend. The construction worker fined for indecency and branded a sex offender for life after taking an outdoor bathroom break. The family members of registered sex offenders who face public ridicule, anger and limited employment and housing opportunities.

Their situations aren’t unique, according to Chrysanthi Leon, an assistant professor of sociology and criminal justice at the University of Delaware. Rather, she says, they’re examples of what happens when “laws passed with the bogeyman in mind are applied to real people.”

Her new book, Sex Fiends, Perverts, and Pedophiles: Understanding Sex Crime Policy in America, examines the history and evolution of offenders — viewed in various points within the past century as nuisances, psychopaths, patients and monsters — and explains how we’ve reached a current tough-on-crime, one-size-fits-all approach.

Modern legislation for sex crimes is often based off the most gruesome, highly publicized cases and consequently does more to undermine public safety than bolster it, Leon writes.

By tracing the evolution of sex crime policy in America and debunking several myths surrounding sex offenders (the most common experience of sexual assault, for instance, occurs within families and among acquaintances, not by strangers), Leon illustrates that our “empirical picture” of the sex offender is a partial one.

“This partial view,” she says, “allows perpetrators to deny their offenses, victims to remain unidentified, and society to remain accepting of highly punitive symbolic policies that do not address the root causes of sexual assault.”

As a result, Leon argues, victim advocates, criminal justice and correctional employees, and experts in the social sciences have a major goal in shaping sex crime policy: “To insist that policy is grounded in what we know about the perpetrators of sexual violence, not what we fear about monsters.” ..Source.. by Artika Rangan

Read More of Article...

Article Summary only...

Positive approach key to sex offender change

3-1-2011 National:

Trailblazing authors have walked the walk for 40 years

John distorts his offense history and refuses to accept his sexual deviance. Although the other members of his treatment group vigorously challenge him, they are not fully transparent in their own disclosures. The therapist feels stymied. What should she do?

First, she should abandon confrontation and negative labeling. Next, she should race lickety-split for her computer and order a radical new book that will help her succeed as a therapist and also feel better about herself.

The visionary book is Rehabilitating Sexual Offenders: A Strength-Based Approach, written by the team at Rockwood Psychological Services in Canada. Under the leadership of Bill Marshall, a pioneer in the field, the program has successfully treated sex offenders for 40 years. Unlike most sex offender treatment programs, Rockwood has a negligible refusal rate and a negligible dropout rate. Offenders enter therapy, they complete therapy, and when they get out they are very unlikely to reoffend.

Therapist is the key

As psychologists know from the general treatment research, the therapeutic alliance is a primary factor in successful therapy, with more impact than any specific theory or technique. With sex offenders, who are often mistrustful and reluctant to enter therapy or disclose information that may be used against them, the therapist is even more critical, accounting for between 30% to 60% of change.

Like anyone else (only more so), John isn’t going to benefit from confrontation or shaming. Instead of being critical or judgmental, an effective sex offender therapist is empathetic, warm, respectful, and even humorous at times.

Toss out those iatrogenic labels

Language is powerful. When we call people names -- pedophile, rapist, offender, sex offender, deviant – we encourage their negative and harmful beliefs about themselves. That certainly doesn’t reduce shame or foster change.

Instead, the Rockwood authors (Bill Marshall, his son Liam Marshall, Geris Serran, and Matt O’Brien) focus on strengths, invoking a vocabulary heavily influenced by the positive psychology movement and motivational interviewing.

Their guiding principle:

Inside every offender is a good person waiting to throw off the burden of his dysfunctional past. It is the therapist’s job to facilitate the emergence of that good person.

For the remainder of this excellent post: by In the News, Karen Franklin

Read More of Article...

Article Summary only...

Police investigate author of pedophilia how-to book as they protect him

11-14-2010 Colorado:

DENVER - Police are investigating whether the author of a guide for pedophiles did anything illegal even as they try to protect him from a threat posted on a local website.

Phillip Ray Greaves II of Pueblo has drawn national attention because his self-published book for sale on Amazon offers advice to pedophiles on how to make a sexual encounter with a child as safe as possible.

Pueblo police heard news reports about the book and went to Greaves' home Thursday morning to interview him. Pueblo Detective Dustin Taylor described Greaves as co-operative and said he gave detectives a copy of the book when they asked for one.

"He was just a normal man. He didn't seem unnerved by us being there," Taylor said.

Police told Greaves that he'd been threatened on a local website and that they would monitor his home for his safety. Taylor said the author didn't seem fearful. Police would not elaborate on the threat, and the message was removed from the website, Taylor said.

Greaves, 47, has no criminal record and is not a registered sex offender, Taylor said. Taylor said authorities kept the book but don't expect criminal charges at this point.

"At this point we're still reviewing it, though there's still no indication of any crime being committed," Taylor said.

The book, "The Pedophile's Guide to Love and Pleasure: a Child-lover's Code of Conduct," includes first-person descriptions of such encounters, purportedly written from a child's point of view.

Greaves argues that pedophiles are misunderstood, as the word literally means to love a child. He adds that it is only a crime to act on sexual impulses toward children, and offers advice that purportedly allows pedophiles to abide by the law.

Greaves also self-published other books on Amazon and was a frequent writer to the Pueblo Chieftain editorial page. His letters to the editor were mostly about local matters and the role of government. Last month, Greaves wrote a letter calling for criminal fines to go to "randomly selected charities" instead of the government.

Amazon has declined comment to The Associated Press. Greaves also declined an interview but told The Smoking Gun website on Wednesday that he suffers from depression and that he had sexual contact with children while still a child himself.

The website said that when asked if he had engaged in sexual acts with children as an adult, Greaves first said "could have" before saying that he hadn't. He also said he suffered a mental collapse about three years ago while working as a nursing home aide.

Greaves said he had only sold one book and insisted it doesn't advocate for adults to harm children.

"The best advice I can give a pedophile is, accept that masturbation is your best friend," Greaves told The Smoking Gun. ..Source.. by Kristen Wyatt

Read More of Article...

Article Summary only...

Is Banning Pro-Pedophilia Books the Right Answer? (Time Magazine)

11-13-2010 Colorado:

From Time Magazine by Meredith Melnick

On Oct. 28, a book called The Pedophile's Guide to Love and Pleasure: A Child-Lover's Code of Conduct went on sale in Amazon's Kindle store.

Three weeks later, following negative media attention and vows of boycotts by hundreds of angry customers, the retail giant pulled the book. Of course, the book wasn't the first or only one of its kind for sale by Amazon — and certainly not the only one available on the Internet.

Initially, Amazon defended selling the book, stating that removing it would be tantamount to censorship: "Amazon does not support or promote hatred or criminal acts; however, we do support the right of every individual to make their [sic] own purchasing decisions." (More on Time.com: TIME Special on Pedophilia)

And although the company didn't go on to explain why it removed the book — you can assume it was a public-relations decision — it is noteworthy that several other books sympathetic to pedophilia have been available on the site for years. The public furor over these texts centers around the concern that they condone or encourage potential pedophiles. It is also, as Salon staff writer Tracy Clark-Flory keenly notes, a "classic case of the general public successfully uniting against an easy villain — with little gained beside the reinforcement of social norms."

So the question is, can books like these really increase the abuse of children? Clark-Flory reports:

Dr. Fred Berlin, director of the Sexual Behavior Consultation Unit at Johns Hopkins, compares the potential impact of books like this to pro-anorexia online support groups. "There's literature out there on the Internet suggesting that it's OK to be [sickly] thin and that society shouldn't force you into a different lifestyle," he explains. These sites might not be making women anorexic, but it certainly encourages them to engage in self-harm and, in Greaves' case, harm to others. Dr. Wesley B. Maram, a forensic and clinical psychologist, agrees: "Somebody who is struggling with pedophilia" might "feel support seeing this." He says "it may give them some comfort, it might encourage them." However, pulling the e-book from Amazon doesn't solve that particular problem. Amazon made a savvy business decision, perhaps, but ultimately it won't do much to stop the book from being distributed. Not only is the material likely to pop up elsewhere, but there are countless other online resources for pedophiles looking for a sense of community and pointers like those offered up in the book. The book has been merely banished to the darkest corners of the Web.

..For the rest of the story..

Read More of Article...

Article Summary only...

Consensual Consequences

11-4-2010 National:

A True Story of Life with a “Registered Sex Offender” by Lynn Gilmore

CONSENSUAL CONSEQUENCES is the gripping true story of how one woman fell in love with a registered sex offender.

This captivating story profiles the life of an average American family who is living a not-so-average life. Lynn was an educated woman who found herself in a dead-end marriage, and after much soul searching she realized what she must do. Enter a new love, a good honest man living with the label of "registered sex offender." Why would an educated woman fall in love with someone with such a label? Could this unlikely companion be Lynn's knight in shining armor? What are the consequences of this unusual love affair? As America wages war on every sex offender in the U.S.—no matter how minor the offense—how has this family coped with this scarlet letter and the restrictions placed on them? All of these questions are answered in this powerful story of true love and heartache while living in fear of vigilantism and simultaneously battling a system that punishes their whole family endlessly.


ENDORSEMENT:
“As a survivor of severe child abuse and sexual abuse, I usually avoid books like this, especially ones that focus on the abuser rather than the abused. Yet, after reading Consensual Consequences, I realize how much I didn’t know and how much society does not know: ‘Ninety-three percent of sex offenses are committed by someone NOT on the registry.’

“I also did not know how someone could have a life sentence outside of prison but this is precisely what this book exposes. I find the book provides a public service, educating readers about the truth regarding names on the sex offender registry. This book tells us things we don’t want to know, but which we must learn if we are ever to achieve any justice in the violent society in which we live.

“This book gives voice to the MANY families whose lives are affected on virtually every freedom that this country is supposed to uphold.”

– Lois Einhorn, Ph.D., Author of Forgiveness and Child Abuse: Would YOU Forgive?

..Source.. by Robert Reed Publishers

Read More of Article...

Article Summary only...