Thinking About the Sexually Dangerous

About the Book

This volume provides a clear and compelling introduction to one of the most significant topics in society today. Compiled by members of a Harvard seminar, it directs attention to psychoforensic issues most often raised by the general public and by students of social science and criminal justice.

The frequently asked questions about the sexually dangerous address:

• conceptions of dangerousness
• attempts to confine the sexually dangerous
• psychological theories of causation
• psychological contributions to treatment
• media, political, social, and religious reactions, and
• statutory, judicial, and other legal responses.

• serial, spousal, child, date, and statutory rape
• consensual sadomasochism
• surgical and chemical castration
• repressed memory and false confession
• video voyeurism
• restricting child pornography
• the labeling of object and speech, and
• post-imprisonment civil confinement in mental hospitals.

The extensive bibliography directs students and the public interested in further cases and analyses to the important world where psychology and law, morality, and political and social policy interact. This brief and readable book is the first place to look for what most people want to know about the sexually dangerous.

About the Author

Ellsworth Lapham Fersch, J.D., Ph.D., has taught at Harvard University during the three decades since receiving his education there. A licensed clinical psychologist and member of the Massachusetts bar, he has directed The Court Clinic, practiced clinical and forensic psychology, and written about topics at the intersection of psychology and law.