A Practical Guide to Working with Sex Offenders

Description

Many safeguarding practitioners do not specialise in work with sex offenders, but do find themselves working with them and need professional understanding and expertise to do so. This book provides professionals with a clear understanding of current theory and good practice. Designed as a complement to specialist assessment processes, it covers relevant theory, ranging from current research on to neurobiology and sexual deviance, through to types of offending and offender profiles. It also lays out key areas of good practice, from carrying out assessments, managing risk and making complex decisions through to current legislation and how best to safeguard families. Taking you from the fundamental principles right through to responding to complex cases, this book is essential reading for all safeguarding professionals. A Practical Guide to Working with Sex Offenders Cover Of related interest Title Page Copyright Contents Introduction 1. A Brief History of Sex Sexual behaviour Biology Sex, sexology and sexuality Sex and gender 2. Sex and Sexuality Sex, love, power and sexuality The portrayal of sex 3. Theories of Sexual Offending Why do they do it? Treatment 4. People Who Sexually Harm Others Typologies Offending against children Sexual violence Female perpetrators Stalking Mental illness Harmful sexual behaviour by young people Older people 5. Theories of Risk The risk society Probability Perceptual bias, likelihood and complexity thinking Defensive, defensible, precautionary principle and false positives Prior assumptions and Bayesian inference 6. Assessing the Risk of Those Who Cause Sexual Harm Organizational defensive and professional defensible decision-making Using risk assessment ‘tools’ 7. Legal Contexts Prosecutions Consent Sentencing Civil orders Children and young people Mental health 8. Approaches and Debates Treat, cure or control? From theory to practice and from practice to effective outcomes A brief history of interventions The rise of evidence-based practice Control, treat and correct Cognitive behavioural approaches Programm-ization Empathy Adverse childhood experiences and DESISTANCE 9. The Reflective Professional Promoting positive change to reduce the risk of future harm Professional values and personal change A person-centred approach Thinking critically about complex behaviours Looking after ourselves References Appendix: List of Sexual Offences (Sexual Offences Act 2003) and Recorded Number of Sexual Offences (2019) Subject Index Author Index