Failure to protect : America's sexual predator laws and the rise of the preventive state

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Title:

Author:

Janus, Eric S.

ISBN:

9780801443787

Personal Author:

Janus, Eric S.

Publication Information:

Ithaca, N.Y. ; London : Cornell University Press, 2006.

Physical Description:

ix, 184 p. ; 24 cm.

Contents:

New legislative approaches -- Judicial promises and betrayals -- A factual primer on sexual violence -- Benefits and costs -- Feminism, the culture wars, and sexual violence -- Harbinger of the preventive state? -- There are alternatives -- The politics of sexual violence -- Righting public policy against sexual violence.

Abstract:

"Most crimes of sexual violence are committed by people known to the victim - acquaintances and family members. Yet politicians and the media overemphasize predatory strangers when legislating against and reporting on sexual violence. In this book, Eric S. Janus goes far beyond sensational headlines to expose the reality of the laws designed to prevent sexual crimes. He shows that "sexual predator" laws, which have intense public and political support, are counterproductive. Janus contends that aggressive measures such as civil commitment and Megan's law, which are designed to restrain sex offenders before they can commit another crime, are bad policy and do little to actually reduce sexual violence. Further, these new laws make use of approaches such as preventive detention and actuarial profiling that violate important principles of liberty."--BOOK JACKET.

Subject Term:

Sex offenders -- Legal status, laws, etc -- United States.

Civil commitment of sex offenders -- United States.

Sex crimes -- United States.

Preventive detention -- United States.

Electronic Access:

Table of contents only http://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/ecip0614/2006017142.html

Copies:

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Item Barcode	Shelf Number	Copy	Status
Searching... 1:IIEMSA	1:GEN-BOOK	33168020393076	345.730253 J35F 2006	1	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

Most crimes of sexual violence are committed by people known to the victim--acquaintances and family members. Yet politicians and the media overemphasize predatory strangers when legislating against and reporting on sexual violence. In this book, Eric S. Janus goes far beyond sensational headlines to expose the reality of the laws designed to prevent sexual crimes. He shows that "sexual predator" laws, which have intense public and political support, are counterproductive. Janus contends that aggressive measures such as civil commitment and Megan's law, which are designed to restrain sex offenders before they can commit another crime, are bad policy and do little to actually reduce sexual violence. Further, these new laws make use of approaches such as preventive detention and actuarial profiling that violate important principles of liberty.

Janus argues that to prevent sexual violence, policymakers must address the deep-seated societal problems that allow it to flourish. In addition to criminal sanctions, he endorses the specific efforts of some advocates, organizations, and social scientists to stop sexual violence by, for example, taking steps to change the attitudes and behaviors of school-age children and adolescents, improving public education, and promoting community treatment and supervision of previous offenders.

Janus also warns that the principles underlying the predator laws may be the early harbingers of a "preventive state" in which the government casts wide nets of surveillance and intervenes to curtail liberty before crimes of any type occur. More than a critique of the status quo, this book discusses serious alternatives and how best to overcome the political obstacles to achieving rational policy.