Understanding Sex Crime Policy in America

8-15-2012 National:

Focusing mostly on the state of California, Chrysanthi S. Leon analyses contemporary sex offender punishment based on a historical context in Sex Fiends, Perverts, and Pedophiles: Understanding Sex Crime Policy in America. In doing so, Leon employs triangulation methodology by using descriptive statistics, archival research and participant observation.

Leon starts by describing the various classifications and images of sexual predators, such as the monster (the dangerous stranger), the patient (with an amendable pathology) and the nuisance (the bothersome child molester). Leon then discusses fallacies (deeply held beliefs) of sex crime, such as the stranger fallacy (that sexual offenders are mostly strangers), the singular sex offender fallacy (that all sex offenders are alike) and the new law fallacy (that new, increasingly punitive laws will deter and prevent offenses).

Leon then traces the "sexual psychopath era" from 1930 to 1955 when the dominant theories in criminology included the "sex fiend", a deviant person with a compulsive sex disorder. During this period, sensational stories of child victims were covered extensively, which resulted in the creation of educational short films focusing on the dangerous and monstrous stranger as offender. The focus of the sexual psychopath era was on "...incapacitation, biological research, public education or awareness, and rehabilitation" (p. 29). Incarceration rates did not change much during this era, but sex offenders were no longer viewed as suffering from biological defects (as described by earlier researchers, such as Lombroso), but rather mental illness. Civil commitment was therefore utilized quite often in comparison to criminal sentencing. In 1947, as a means of responding to the needs and concerns of the public, California implemented the nation's first registration law.

Rehabilitation became the focus from 1950 to 1980 during the "rehabilitation era". Published material during this period focused on sexual behavior (the Kinsey study among others) while books were written portraying the struggling sexual offender protagonists trying to live a "normal" life. Treatment and discussions concerning levels of harm and dangerousness of offenders were assessed. Civil commitment was often implemented, as was the restriction of obscene material even though registration with police, the death penalty and castration were also used.

Did rehabilitation and civil commitment work to amend sex offenders? Leon states that some sex offenders were screened out of the process while the more "useful citizens" received rehabilitation. Psychiatrists greatly influenced whether an offender should receive rehabilitation or prison. Violent offenders were often viewed as too problematic for rehabilitation, while child molesters made up a large percentage of both the civil commitment and the prison population. Nonpenetrating child molester often received civil commitment. Focusing much on diagnosis, little rehabilitation or treatment actually occurred, and individual treatment was extremely limited, while many offenders viewed as a "nuisance" and those who committed misdemeanors were sent to prison due to the fact that they did not "fit" the rehabilitation criteria. ..continued.. by Chrysanthi S. Leon