Sexually Violent Predators: A Clinical Science Handbook

This information-rich volume expands current knowledge about sexually violent predators and critiques SVP laws with the goal of fostering improvements in clinical practice and public policy. It offers a finely detailed evidence base on this problematic class of offenders, including the complex interactions of biophysiological and environmental factors that contribute to criminal sexual behavior. Chapters discuss a wide range of assessment issues and instruments central to SVP evaluation, and the possibilities for developing interventions that address individual motivations and behaviors to reduce the risk of reoffending. And throughout, careful attention is paid to ongoing legal, ethical, and logical concerns regarding sexually violent offenders, their treatment and confinement, and their post-confinement placement. Among the topics covered: Civil commitment of sex offenders. The physiological basis of problematic sexual interests and behaviors. Sexually violent predator evaluations: problems and proposals. Cultural considerations in the assessment of sexually violent predators. Management of sex offenders in community settings. Effective use of an expert in sexually violent predator commitment hearings. Offering numerous issues for discussion and debate with considerable implications for clinical practice, policy, and the judicial system, Sexually Violent Predators will interest and enlighten forensic psychologists and psychiatrists as well as social workers, policy-makers, and legal professionals.