Offenders, Deviants or Patients? provides a practical approach to understanding both the social context and treatment of mentally disordered offenders. Taking into account the current public concern, often heightened by media sensationalism, it addresses issues such as sex offending, homicide and other acts of serious bodily harm. This fourth edition comes after extensive new research by academics and professionals in the field and reflects recent changes in law, policy and practice, including: new sex offending legislation proposals to amend homicide legislation a new mental health act. Using new case examples, Herschel Prins examines the relationship between mental disorders and crime and looks at the ways in which it should be dealt with by the mental health care and criminal justice systems. Offenders, Deviants or Patients? is unique in its multidisciplinary approach and will be invaluable to all those who come into contact with serious offenders or those who study crime and criminal behaviour.

This third edition of Offenders, Deviants or Patients? is aimed specifically at understanding the social context of the serious criminal offender who is deemed to be mentally abnormal. Using up-to-date case examples, Herschel Prins examines the relationship between abnormality and criminal behaviour, the extent to which this relationship is used or misused in the criminal courts, and the various facilities that are currently available for the management/incarceration of offenders/patients. Offenders, Deviants or Patients? will be invaluable to all those who come into contact with serious offenders, as well as those studying crime or criminal behaviour.

Public protection has become an increasingly central theme in the work of the criminal justice agencies in many parts of the world in recent years. Its high public profile and consequent political sensitivity means that growing numbers of criminal justice professionals find their daily work load dominated by the assessment and management of high risk of harm offenders. Developments such as sex offender registers and (in the UK) Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements (Mappa) have made this issue not only a core activity for police, probation and prison services, but to a range of other organizations as well, in particular social work and the health services. Partnership has become central to the concept of public protection. At the same time the concept of public protection has occasioned increased political debate. Protecting the public from high risk or dangerous offenders has become an international issue and has increasingly shaped criminal justice policy. This text brings together leading authorities in the field, providing authoritative coverage of the theory and practice of public protection, both in the UK and internationally. It provides a critical review of contemporary public protection practice as well as up-to-date research and thinking in the field.

A Sociology of Crime has an outstanding reputation for its distinctive and systematic contribution to the criminological literature. Through detailed examples and analysis, it shows how crime is a product of processes of criminalisation constituted through the interactional and organizational use of language. In this welcome second edition, the book reviews and evaluates the current state of criminological theory from this "grammatical" perspective. It maintains and develops its critical and subversive stance but greatly widens its theoretical range, including dedicated chapters on gender, race, class and the post-als including postcolonialism. It now also provides questions, exercises and further readings alongside its detailed analysis of a set of international examples, both classical and contemporary.

This book explores the controversial relationship between mental health and offending and looks at the ways in which offenders with mental health problems are cared for, coerced and controlled by the criminal justice and mental health systems. It provides a much-needed criminological approach to the field of forensic mental health. Beginning with an exploration into why the relationship between mental health and offending is so complex, readers will be introduced to a range of perspectives through which mental health and its relationship to offending behaviour can be understood. The book considers the politics surrounding mental health and offending, focusing particularly on the changing policy response to mentally disordered offenders since the mid-1990s. With dedicated chapters concerning the police, courts, secure services and the community, this book explores a range of issues including: • The tensions between the care, coercion and control of mentally disordered offenders • The increasingly blurred boundaries between mental health and criminal justice • Rights, responsibilities, accountability and blame • Risk, public protection and precaution • Challenges involved with treatment, recovery and rehabilitation • Staffing challenges surrounding multi-agency working • Funding, privatisation and challenges surrounding service commissioning • Methodological challenges in the field. Providing an accessible and concise overview of the field and its key perspectives, this book is essential reading for undergraduate and postgraduate courses in mental health offered by criminology, criminal justice, sociology, social work, nursing and public policy departments. It will also be of interest to a wide range of mental health and criminal justice practitioners.

Many safeguarding practitioners do not specialise in work with sex offenders, but do find themselves working with them and need professional understanding and expertise to do so. This book provides professionals with a clear understanding of current theory and good practice. Designed as a complement to specialist assessment processes, it covers relevant theory, ranging from current research on to neurobiology and sexual deviance, through to types of offending and offender profiles. It also lays out key areas of good practice, from carrying out assessments, managing risk and making complex decisions through to current legislation and how best to safeguard families. Taking you from the fundamental principles right through to responding to complex cases, this book is essential reading for all safeguarding professionals.

Social Work in Juvenile and Criminal Justice Systems sets the standard of care for mental health treatment and the delivery of social services to crime victims, juvenile and adult offenders, and their families. The chapters, all authored by experts in the field and all committed to the mission of social justice, are written with the clear understanding that we cannot study criminal justice in a vacuum. Therefore, a major focus of the book is on the renewed growing sense of the profession’s obligation to social justice. Each chapter interconnects with the various components of juvenile and criminal justice. Another prominent aspect of the book is that it is strength-based. It views those involved in the criminal and juvenile justice systems as individuals rather than inmates or criminals, each with unique positive talents and abilities. The book is divided into four sections. The first section discusses forensic social work, including crime and delinquency theories, trends, and ethical issues. The second section prepares social workers for practice in correctional institutions and explores crisis intervention with victims of violence, reentry of adult offenders in society, and aging in prison. The third section covers assessment and intervention in child sexual abuse, mental health and substance abuse, interpersonal violence and prevention, child welfare and juvenile justice. The final section presents an overview on social work in the twenty-first century, which includes restorative justice and the justice system, new ways of delivering justice, domestic violence, neighborhood revitalization, race and ethnicity, and social work practice with LGBTQ offenders. This book will be the best single source on social work in criminal justice settings and will prove to be an invaluable resource for the many professionals who have responsibility for formulating and carrying out the mandates of the criminal justice system.