This book unmasks the sexual offender by providing clear, comprehensible information about the motivations, techniques, and dynamics of sexual offenders and their behavior. It not only explores the biases and myths that the reader may rely upon to understand deviance but also explains pathways to offending, the distorted thinking and relating that offenders engage in, and the ways offenders manipulate and exploit others. Sexual offenders are surrounded by mythology, fascination, and revulsion. People who commit sexual offenses present difficult and complicated issues interpersonally, as well as in treatment and management; denial, victim-blaming, aggression, and blatant chronic deception are inherent in interactions with them. Unfortunately, the failure to truly understand their motives and techniques helps provide excuses for and further camouflage of their deviance.
The first part of the text explores the presumptions commonly adopted about sexual offenders and shows how misinformation supports the inappropriate behavior of the sexual offender. The second section focuses on exposing the sexual offender using straightforward language and tangible examples. A final, third section includes safety and management strategies for dealing with sex offenders for those both inside and outside the realms of law enforcement and offender supervision.
This book is intended for anyone interested in learning about sexual offenders. It is useful for both professionals and non-professionals, including students, paralegals, victim advocates, and others involved in the criminal justice system or mental health field.
Introduction
Section I: The Offender’s Best Weapon: Society as the Audience to the Offense
1. The Co-Defendants: The Role of the Audience to a Sexual Offense
2. Weaponized Humanity: Why We Offer Denial and Disbelief to Offenders
3. Myth-Information: Our Misinformed Beliefs about Sexual Offenders
4. "I Know Him – He’s Not Like That": The Struggle to Believe
5. The Theater of Sexual Assault: The Act versus the Production
Section II: Unmasking the Sex Offender
6. Defining Deviance: The Pathway to Offending
7. Character Deviance: "He’s Not Sick – He’s Bad"
8. Sexual Deviance: The Sexual Pathway to Offending
9. Tools of the Trade: The Manipulations of the Offender
Section III: Prevention, Intervention, and Managing Relationships with Offenders
10. How Can I Have a Relationship with an Offender?
11. Assessing Promises: What Does Real Change Look Like?
12. "But I Am Telling the Truth!": Suggestions for Investigation, Supervision, and Treatment of Offenders
13. Prevention Tips and Strategies
14. "No Victims, No Excuses": Conclusion
Appendix A – Important Concepts to Remember
Appendix B – Important Concepts for Family Members/Spouse of the Offender
Appendix C – Questions to Understand the Offender and His Deviance
Index
Biography
Veronique N. Valliere is a licensed psychologist. She has her doctorate in clinical psychology from the Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology of Rutgers University. She has over 30 years’ experience in the field and has worked clinically with violent offenders and their victims, adult and child. She is the owner and director of Valliere & Counseling Associates, Inc., an outpatient treatment center for mental health and interpersonal violence, with offices that treat victims and offenders, as well as provides consultation, training, expert witness services, and evaluations. She serves on the Pennsylvania Sexual Offender Assessment Board, reappointed continuously since 1997. She has published on the topic of sexual assault and presented on the same at international, national, and local conferences. She has trained for the FBI, DOJ, DOD, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Ontario Police, Alberta Crown Prosecutor’s Office, Amber Alert, Army JAG Office, Pennsylvania State Parole, National Center for the Prosecution of Violence Against Women, and other agencies. She been a guest presenter at many forensic and violence related conferences. She is recognized as an expert on victim behavior and offenders, testifying nationally and internationally. She has testified before the US Congress and Judiciary Committee regarding sexual assault in the military, as well as consulted with the Department of Defense and the US Department of Justice. She has been interviewed for popular magazines on sexual assault and domestic violence, including New York Times, The Atlantic, People, Self, and Good Housekeeping. She has appeared on "PBS News Hour," "CBS This Morning," and other programs and radio shows. Dr. Valliere was used as an expert in the sexual assault trial of Bill Cosby. In 2009, she established an annual conference on the investigation, prosecution, and treatment of violence entitled "Right From the Start." Dr. Valliere is the author of Understanding Victim Response to Interpersonal Violence: A Guide for Investigators and Prosecutors, published by Routledge Press.
