Social Control of Sex Offenders (PDF)

D. Richard Laws received his PhD from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, USA, in 1969. He has held professional positions in California, Florida, and two Canadian provinces. He is a past president of the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers. He has published eight books and numerous articles on research and treatment. Currently, he is an honorary professor at the University of Birmingham, UK.

“D. Richard Laws traces the rise of the modern sex offender containment industry back through time, from the U.S. colonial era through the 19th century’s medicalization of deviance and onward to efforts at scientific crime control and prediction by early 20th century criminologists. … Those within the industry will appreciate his insider perspective on the contemporary debates in risk assessment and treatment, while the public and policymakers will benefit from his sensible recommendations for modest reforms.” (Karen Franklin, Amazon.com, January, 2017)

“Social Control of Sex Offenders is a timely, useful, efficient, easy-to-read book that would be most appropriate for the beginning scholar or informed community member to read. … the book provides a handy reference for refreshing one’s understandings and remembering how and from where our current practices have evolved and emerged. … a book that effectively and efficiently serves the needs of multiple groups of readers, and doing it in a way that is easy and enjoyable to read.” (Richard Tewksbury, Rutgers University, clcjbooks.rutgers.edu, March, 2017)



“For those wishing to understand the historical context of sex offender management, Laws’s book is a good place to start. … He traces the history of moral panics and the resulting sex offender management methods back to colonial America, a historical analysis that I have not seen in similar works. Another unusual feature of Social Control of Sex Offenders is a chapter on international methods of sex offender management.” (Philip H. Witt, PsycCRITIQUES, Vol. 61 (46), November, 2016)