Iffland, J. A., Berner, W., Dekker, A., & Briken, P. (2016). What keeps them together? Insights into sex offender couples using qualitative content analyses. Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy, 42(6), 534–551.
This research was aimed at interviewing people to analyze their adjustment strategies. The main idea of the study is that couples are stable and both partners are interested in maintaining the relationship because it has some features they would have difficulties finding (Iffland et al., 2016). Such a result applies to most interview participants and thus portrays the situation in sex offender couples in general. The authors highlight the answers people gave to the questions during the interview and reflected on them as linkers of particular behavioral patterns (Iffland et al., 2016). Concerning the use of this article for my essay, I suppose it would be perfect for explaining the modern perception of the sex offensive behavior phenomenon. Moreover, this research would help me illustrate how differently people’s attitudes vary despite the commonly assumed way of perception. This article would help me support arguments on the importance of public opinion on different issues society faces, including sex offenses. Furthermore, it would help me show that people do not always state their opinion honestly in public, which means that stereotypes can still predetermine huge groups’ behavior.
Rowlands, M. T., Palk, G., & Young, R. McD. (2017). Psychological and legal aspects of dangerous sex offenders: A review of the literature. Psychiatry, Psychology and Law, 24(6), 812-824.
This article’s main idea is that prediction of sex violation cases requires a system of assessing the level of danger in couples, implying the “biological, sociological, psychological and ecological factors” (p. 821). The author supports his ideas by analyzing the perception of a ‘dangerous person’ in different countries and providing a clinical assessment of such risks. This article would help me demonstrate the importance of a complex approach to any problem that has to be solved by the government through the example of sex crimes. I would use this research for the arguments related to the unfairness of people’s treatment of celebrity sex offenders. For example, I would mention the necessity to understand dangerousness while assessing people’s ability to remain in society.
Strange, C. (2018). Determining the punishment of sex criminals in confederation-era Canada: A matter of national policy. The Canadian Historical Review 99(4), 541-562.
This article contains a historical review of punishment for a sex offense in Canada. The main idea of the research is that punishments for sex-related crimes have become milder, and the system of punishment in this field was not clear from the beginning. Supporting the claim, the authors say that “in the decade following Confederation, twenty-six men were sentenced to death for sex crimes, but none was executed.” (p. 543). This article would be helpful for my essay because it contains a thorough overview of the stages of changing the government’s attitude to sex crimes. Therefore, I would use it to reflect on the strictness of crimes in the past and the present consequences of the law mildness.