I’ve worked for almost a year on the new issue of the Federal Sentencing Reporter, which covers recent developments in the punishment and management of sex offenders.  My copies arrived in the mail yesterday.  (I have a few extras, which I would be happy to distribute free of charge; just send me an email if interested.)  My introductory essay is available on SSRN.  Here is a summary of the other articles:

Sex Offender Treatment: Reconciling Criminal Justice Priorities and Therapeutic Goals

Professors Mary Ann Farkas and Gale Miller of the Marquette University Department of Social and Cultural Sciences identify important tensions in the therapist’s role when sex offenders are required to undergo treatment by the criminal justice system.  “Divided loyalties may arise,” they argue, “when treatment professionals feel a conflict between their professional responsibility to facilitate client change and their legal/criminal justice responsibilities.”  For instance, if an offender tells his therapist about a previously undisclosed offense, the therapist may be obliged to report the offense for possible prosecution.  Likewise, the therapist’s ability to sanction clients for noncompliance with the treatment program also puts therapists into a more punitive and less therapeutic role.  In light of such concerns, the authors call for treatment providers to modify their programs in various ways when they serve “involuntary” clients.