Sex Offenders

An authoritative and in-depth treatment of the latest research into the criminal careers of sex offenders, providing background and investigating the policies used to combat one of society’s most intractable public issues.

• Features chapters based on original research from the most prominent scholars in the field of sex offender and criminal career research
• Deals with the entire criminal careers of sex offenders from youth to adulthood
• Illustrates the significance of the criminal career approach for theory, treatment, research, and policy regarding sex offenders
• Covers a wider breadth of topics than existing texts and uses data from various studies and countries, including the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and the Netherlands
• Features an introductory chapter charting the origins of the criminal career perspective as well as the history of sex offender research, pinpointing the most important research questions and current debates in both fields

Notes on Contributors ix

Forewords xvii

Preface xxi

Acknowledgements xxv

Part I Theoretical and Conceptual Issues in the Study of Sex Offending 1

1 The Criminal Career Paradigm and Its Relevance to Studying Sex Offenders 3
Arjan Blokland & Patrick Lussier

2 Criminal Career Features in Theories of Sexual Offending 23
Jo Thakker & Tony Ward

3 An Integrated Life]Course Developmental Theory of Sexual Offending 43
Stephen Smallbone & Jesse Cale

Part II Criminal Career Patterns of Sex Offenders and Associated Issues 71

4 Criminal Careers for Different Juvenile Sex Offender Subgroups 73
Jan Hendriks, Chantal van den Berg, & Catrien Bijleveld

5 The Childhood Risk Factors of Adolescent]Onset and Adult]Onset of Sex Offending: Evidence From a Prospective Longitudinal Study 93
Patrick Lussier, Arjan Blokland, Jeff Mathesius, Dustin Pardini, & Rolf Loeber

6 Assessing the Continuity of Sex Offending Over the Life Course: Evidence From Two Large Birth Cohort Studies 129
Wesley G. Jennings, Alex R. Piquero, Franklin E. Zimring, & Jennifer M. Reingle

7 Antisocial Trajectories in Youth and the Onset of Adult Criminal Careers in Sexual Offenders of Children and Women 143
Jesse Cale

8 Offending Patterns Over Time: An Examination of Specialization, Escalation, and De]escalation in the Commission of Sexual Offenses 171
Benoit Leclerc, Patrick Lussier, & Nadine Deslauriers]Varin

9 Criminal Career Features of Female Sexual Offenders 199
Miriam Wijkman & Catrien Bijleveld

10 Mayhem by Occupation: On the Relevance of Criminal Careers to Sexual Homicide Offenders 219
Matt DeLisi

11 Changing Prevalence of Sex Offender Convictions: Disentangling Age, Period, and Cohort Effects Over Time 231
Brian Francis, Claire Hargreaves, & Keith Soothill

12 Life]Course Transitions and Desistance in Sex Offenders: An Event History Analysis 257
Arjan Blokland & Victor van der Geest

13 Offending Trajectory and Residual Offending of Adult Sex Offenders: A Person]Oriented Approach to Risk Prediction 289
Patrick Lussier & Garth Davies

14 The Concentration of Sex Offenses in British and Dutch Families 321
Steve van de Weijer, Sytske Besemer, Catrien Bijleveld, & Arjan Blokland

Part III The Criminal Career Approach and Associated Policy Issues 349

15 Estimating the Size of the Sexual Aggressor Population 351
Martin Bouchard & Patrick Lussier

16 Potential for Redemption for Sex Offenders 373
Kiminori Nakamura & Alfred Blumstein

17 Policing Sex Offenders, Past and Present: The Role and Importance of a Criminal Career Approach in Helping Shape Future Policies 405
Patrick Lussier & Arjan Blokland

Index 429

Arjan A.J. Blokland is a senior-researcher at the Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement (NSCR) and a professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Leiden University, the Netherlands. His work has been published widely in criminology and psychology journals.

Patrick Lussier is an Associate Professor at the School of Criminology at Simon Fraser University, Canada. He is the co-director of the Centre for Research on Sexual Violence (CrSV) in Burnaby, British Columbia. He is co-principal investigator of the Vancouver Longitudinal Study of the psychosocial development of children. His work has been published in numerous academic journals.

Legal interventions for sexual offenses are based on various assumptions about the criminal careers of sex offenders: that sex offenders are persistent offenders, that they offend at a high rate, and that they specialize in sexual offending. Despite this reliance, the empirical research on sex offenders' criminal careers is sparse, and the few studies that do exist give reason to question and further investigate these assumptions.

Bringing together a group of internationally renowned scholars, this volume offers an authoritative overview of the criminal careers of sex offenders from youth to adulthood, while questioning our received ideas and pushing the boundaries of our current empirical knowledge. Bringing together original research on sex offenders and career criminals, and performing an in-depth investigation into existing policies, the articles offer a substantial basis from which to cultivate forward-looking policy approaches for those involved in criminology and psychology research, criminal justice, and social work.

“This is very timely book, and contains highly relevant up-to-date information that will be essential reading for those in the sex offender field. Therefore, I cannot recommend it highly enough and it will be a welcome addition to the bookshelves of those working in the field, as well as students and those interested in the criminal trajectories of sexual offenders.”

Anthony Beech, Professor in Criminological Psychology, Head of the Centre for Forensic and Criminological Psychology, University of Birmingham

“A great deal of sexual offending research has not fully benefited from theoretical and empirical advances in criminology. Sex Offenders: A Criminal Career Approach is an important and welcome contribution to addressing this gap, and thereby enhancing our understanding of sexual offending.”

Michael Seto, Ph.D., Royal Ottawa Health Care Group

“This is a ground-breaking and brilliant volume, which is essential for scholars and practitioners wanting to distinguish between myths about sex offenders and up-to-date scientific evidence.”

Rolf Loeber, Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry, Professor of Psychology and Epidemiology University of Pittsburgh

“For too long, theory and research on sex offenders developed mostly outside of criminology. That has changed. Professor Blokland and Professor Lussier—two of the leading scholars in criminology—have produced a tour de force on the criminal careers of sexual offenders. The book is sure to inspire researchers and assist practitioners who supervise these challenging clients. Prepare to be impressed!”