This book aims to explore sex offenders' perspectives of the way they are treated and managed. Whilst a great deal has been written about sex offenders and their treatment within the criminal justice system, few studies have approached the issues through an understanding of offenders' own views and perspectives on their offending behaviour and others' responses to it. This book aims to redress this imbalance. The book is based on in-depth interviews with 32 convicted male sex offenders attending three different sex offender treatment programmes (the prison based Sex Offender Treatment Programme, Behaviour Assessment Programme and the community-led Sex Offender Groupwork Programme). Through gaining an understanding of offenders perceptions of initiatives designed to both treat and control their risk of future offending, Offending Identities at the same time helps us to evaluate the effectiveness of such schemes.

Based on in-depth interviews with 32 convicted male sex offenders attending three different treatment programmes, this text explores sex offenders' perspectives on the way they are treated and managed.

Sex offending, and in particular child sex offending, is a complex area for policy makers, theorists and practitioners. A focus on punishment has reinforced sex offending as a problem that is essentially ‘other’ to society and discourages engagement with the real scale and scope of sexual offending in the UK. This book looks at the growth of work with sex offenders, questioning assumptions about the range and types of such offenders and what effective responses to these might be. Divided into four sections, this book sets out the growth of a broad legislative context and the emergence of child sexual offenders in criminal justice policy and practice. It goes on to consider a range of offences and victim typologies arguing that work with offenders and victims is complex and can provide a rich source of theoretical and practical knowledge that should be utilised more fully by both policy makers and practitioners. It includes work on female sex offenders, electronic monitoring and animal abuse as well as exploring interventions with sex offenders in three different contexts; prisons, communities and hostels. Bringing together academic, practice and policy experts, the book argues that a clear but complex theoretical and policy approach is required if the risk of re- offending and further victimisation is to be reduced. Ultimately, this book questions whether it makes sense to locate responsibility for responding to sexual offending solely within the criminal justice domain.

Desistance is one of the big news stories of the criminological world. Research suggests that, as ‘offenders’ turn their backs on crime, they often change their identities as well as their behaviour. Yet we know much less about how reforming or transforming identity might be affected by gender, age or ethnicity. This book focuses on diversity and showcases research from a wide range of authors in the field. It considers the similarities and differences between desisting from crime and recovering from addiction. Taking the desistance and recovery debates in unfamiliar directions, it examines the experiences of change for individuals seeking healthier and more successful futures.

This book deals with society's responses to sex offenders. This issue is of vital interest to law enforcement professionals and society at large. This subsection of the population generates as much or more fear than virtually any other segment in the community. The chapters in this book deal with recidivism, tracking and location, impulsivity, long-term care, and reunification.

Identity crime, which encompasses both identity theft and identity fraud, is one of the fastest growing crimes around the world, yet it lacks its own identity: there is no universally accepted definition, little understanding of what the crime is or should be, and no legal framework placing the crime into a coherent and effective grouping of criminal sanctions. In this book, Dr. Syed Ahmed addresses and proposes solutions for resolving these issues and tackles head-on the various facets of what is needed to deal with Identity Crime. A comprehensive and an exhaustive study of different types of Identity Crime is conducted and practical recommendations for preventing and minimizing the impact of identity crime is presented for all to consider.

This book explores the role that religion plays in the lives of imprisoned homicide offenders. Drawing on interviews in an English prison, the author examines how they narrate their life stories and how religion intersects with other categories to rebuild their personal identities after committing a crime and being labelled as murderers or killers. This book seeks to bridge the gap between macro and micro phenomena, examining religion as both a social institution and a personal experience. It also explores the mediating role of institutions with regards to the nature and extent of their influence upon individual choices and actions, and provides insights into the nature of the therapeutic prison. It seeks to create some clarity of understanding the complex nature of religiosity, narrative, identity, desistance and rehabilitation whilst critically examining elements of social identity that may restrict or enhance this process. It provides a series of recommendations for organisations working with convicted homicide offenders/offenders and speaks to academics and practitioners in the fields of criminology, sociology, psychology and religious/theological studies.