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This thought-provoking work raises important questions about sex offender laws, drawing from personal stories, research, and data to prove the policies promote fear, destroy lives, and fail to protect children. Do sex offender laws protect children, or are they inherently unfair practices that, at their worst, promote vigilante justice? The latter, this book argues. By analyzing the social, political, historical, and cultural context surrounding the emergence of current sex offender policies and laws, the work shows how sex offenders have come to loom as greater-than-life monsters when, in many cases, that is not true at all. Looking at its subject from a fresh viewpoint, the book shares research and new analyses of data and qualitative evidence to show how sex-offender laws are not only ineffective, but engender destructive fear and anxiety. To help readers understand the impact of these laws, the author presents interviews with sex offenders and their families as they describe the day-to-day reality of living on the sex offender registry. Citing research and statistics, the book challenges the idea that sex offenders must be continually monitored and publicly identified because they are incurably predatory. Most important, the study shows that undue sex offender panic is preventing policymakers from addressing the true threats to children--poverty and growing inequality.

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CHOICE Review

The words sex offender are often blown out of proportion, and sociologist Horowitz (St. Francis College, Brooklyn) argues successfully for a closer look at this particular label. This is a comprehensive study of the way that society tries to protect children yet has gone overboard and ended up damaging the families of people who have been convicted of this offense. The author has collected demographics, statistics, and, most compelling, case studies of sex offenders and their families. It is clear after reading this book that in a misguided effort to protect children, US society has created a new category of people who have been convicted and condemned to lives as pariahs. Yes, there are people out there who deserve the label, but for every one of them, there are many more who made innocent mistakes and are now condemned to decades of shame and guilt. Especially compelling are stories about entrapment by law enforcement, unjust laws, and seizure of property by the state. The author should be applauded for her brave, well-researched stance. A highly readable book for criminal justice and social science collections. Summing Up: Essential. All levels/libraries. --Susan J Zuber-Chall, formerly, Emporia State University

Notas de autor provistas por Syndetics

Emily Horowitz , PhD, is chairperson and associate professor of sociology and criminal justice at St. Francis College in Brooklyn, NY.