Sex Offender Literature Review

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Recommended: Can sexual offenders be treated and rehabilitated

Introduction
Prison occupies a central symbolic role within the criminal justice system and is meant to be a critical deterrent to future offending. The commonly held view is that offenders must be placed in prison because they have deviated from society’s norms. They are typically branded as misfits or lawbreakers.
According to Smith (2004) a sex offender is “someone who has committed or attempted to commit any type of illegal or non-consensual sexual act and/or any sexual behaviour involving children under the legal age of consent, based upon the laws governing the location where the sexual behaviour occurred."
The purpose of the Department of Corrections in Queensland is to provide, in partnership with other key criminal justice agencies “community safety and crime prevention through the humane containment, supervision and rehabilitation of offender” (Queensland Corrective Services, 2009). Probation and Parole officers supervise sex offenders who have been placed on community-based orders by the courts, as well as offenders released on parole from prison. They work to integrate offenders through management systems and ensure that they are all provided with the appropriate classification and supervision in rehabilitation programs to maximise their chances of reintegration into society upon their release.
To understand the role of probation and parole officer, rehabilitation programs, media’s effect on legislation and community awareness and the unpredictability of future behaviour will be reviewed to allow a better understanding of the given scenario and the important role that officer’s play when reintegrating sexual offenders back into the community as opposed to incarceration to prevent recidivism.

Rehabilitation Progra...

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...Merril D. 2004. “Encyclopaedia of Rape.” Library Journal, 129 (18):120-120. Accessed March 2, 2014.
Stathopoulos, Mary. 2010. "Measuring sexual offender recidivism." Australian Centre for the Study of Sexual Assault Awareness, 25 (1). Accessed March 1, 2014. http://www.aifs.gov.au/acssa/pubs/newsletter/n25/n25-3.html.
White, Rob and Perrone, Santina. 2010. “Recidivism, Rehabilitation and Restorative Justice.” In Crime, Criminality & Criminal Justice, edited by Bill Gillespie, 546-567. Victoria: Oxford University Press.
White, Rob and Perrone, Santina. 2010. “Crime and Media.” In Crime, Criminality & Criminal Justice, edited by Bill Gillespie, 33-50. Victoria: Oxford University Press.
White, Rob and Perrone, Santina. 2010. “Incarceration and Prisonisation.” In Crime, Criminality & Criminal Justice, edited by Bill Gillespie, 475-509. Victoria: Oxford University Press.

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