Books
The following books are about sexual offenses and offenders, law and policy, and true life stories. As they relate to our issues and advocacy work, we are providing a list of books that may interest you. The information below is from public listing provided as description. These book descriptions and the content within each book are the views of their author and do not necessary reflect the views of OKRSOL.
Protecting Our Kids?: How Sex Offender Laws Are Failing Us
By Emily Horowitz
This thought-provoking work raises important questions about sex offender laws, drawing from personal stories, research, and data to prove the policies promote fear, destroy lives, and fail to protect children.
• Provides research-based evidence that the mean-spirited and panic-driven sex offender laws, aimed at branding a group of offenders as inhuman and unworthy of civil liberties and human rights, increases fear, destroys the lives of offenders and their families, and fails to protect children
• Shows that emphasizing sex offenders and stranger-danger as the primary threat to child well-being and safety prevents focus on and attention to policies that prevent far more pervasive forms of child abuse, such as physical abuse, neglect, and maltreatment
• Analyzes the sociohistorical context surrounding the emergence of current draconian sex offender policies
• Challenges the idea that sex offenders must be continually monitored and publicly identified
• Tells the stories of convicted sex offenders and their families and how they survive in a society that views them as the "worst of the worst"
Registered for Life: Consequences of a Former Sex Offender
By R Luther Cooper
For many the term sex offender is repulsive and is synonymous with every known true evil imaginable. This is not for the faint of heart but a chilling account of how this seemingly normal nice guy evolved over time into a sex offender and the path he traveled from his conviction, sentence, treatment and then ultimate release back into society. Today he is a member of a growing "despicable group of sex offenders" that society loves to hate and is now registered for life.
About the Author:
The author was a public service employee working for a law enforcement agency. Prior to this employment, Mr. Cooper was a transportation professional working for over seventeen years in the railroad industry. He is an Eagle Scout, professionally licensed building contractor and has been recognized for making significant community improvements in his hometown. Today, Mr. Cooper is an employer and operates a successful construction business, a problem property solution company, a retail outlet and a food service company. He is also the target of an uniformed and easily persuaded fear driven and at times vindictive society. He is a member of a growing number of former sex offenders that are the new scapegoat for a generation of ambitious politicians. In spite of this, Mr. Cooper has successfully re-integrated himself back into society and fights for the reformation of laws that hinder or outright prohibit recovering former sex offenders to live productive lives within our society.
(Mr. Cooper's real name is not Mr. Cooper)
Unprecedented: How Sex Offender Laws Are Impacting Our Nation
By J.B. Haralson and J.R. Cordeiro
Unprecedented represents thousands of hours of research and writing, but it's also infused with years of experience and wisdom. This unique book brings factual and experiential light to how sex offender laws are impacting our nation.
"Unprecedented provides an informative and comprehensive look at the complex issues associated with sexual offending. While in no way whatsoever condoning sexually-offensive behaviors, and while properly acknowledging the distress experienced by those who have been victimized, at the same time, it successfully focuses upon the inherent humanity that still exists among many who have improperly crossed such a line. Unprecedented provides a unique, and thoughtful, perspective that should be a must read for anyone interested in these vitally important public health and criminal justice issues."
-Fred S. Berlin, M.D., Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and member of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children, American Psychiatric Association, and the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers
Two to Six: A Sex Offender's Story
By James P. Cornelio
Mr. Cornelio spent over 20 years of his life as a corporate attorney in Manhattan. On December 12th, 2003, he was arrested and charged with crimes alleging child sexual abuse. This is his story of how he struggled to cope with those devastating charges. It begins when he receives a phone call from a woman claiming to be the mother of a teenage male prostitute. It ends when he hears the recording of a phone call used by the police to obtain his criminal indictment. In between, Mr. Cornelio seeks to uncover the truth about his crime, about his life, about himself. Only you can decide if he does so with the searing honesty such a quest demands.
Sex Offender Laws: Failed Policies, New Directions
By Richard G. Wright
In response to many high-profile cases of sexual assault, federal and state governments have placed a number of unique criminal sanctions on sex offenders. These include residency restrictions, exclusionary zones, electronic monitoring, and chemical castration. However, the majority of sex offender policies are not based on empirical evidence, nor have they demonstrated any significant reductions in offender recidivism. In fact, some of these policies have unintended consequences, which actually increase the likelihood of sexual offenses.
In this book, Wright critically analyzes existing policies, and assesses the most effective approaches in preventing sex offender recidivism. This provocative and timely book draws from the fields of criminal justice, law, forensic psychology, and social work to examine how current laws and policies are enacted and what to-date is known about their efficacy.
"This fine book by Richard Wright and his distinguished collaborators provides the evidence that wise policy-makers would want to consider. It covers every major field of research concerning sex offenders and sexual offenses and provides evidence of bad practices and policies. All intellectually honest politicians should read this book."
-Michael Tonry, LL.B,
Professor of Law and Public Policy
University of Minnesota Law School
Consensual Consequences: A True Story of Life with a "Registered Sex Offender"
By Lynn Gilmore
Consensual Consequences is the gripping true story of how one woman fell in love with a registered sex offender.This captivating story profiles the life of an average American family who is living a not-so-average life. Lynn was an educated woman who found herself in a dead-end marriage, and after much soul searching she realized what she must do. Enter a new love, a good honest man living with the label of registered sex offender. Why would an educated woman fall in love with someone with such a label? Could this unlikely companion be Lynn's knight in shining armor? What are the consequences of this unusual love affair? As America wages war on every sex offender in the U.S.-no matter how minor the offense-how has this family coped with this scarlet letter and the restrictions placed on them? All of these questions are answered in this powerful story of true love and heartache while living in fear of vigilantism and simultaneously battling a system that punishes their whole family endlessly.
Sex Panic and the Punitive State
By Roger N. Lancaster
One evening, while watching the news, Roger N. Lancaster was startled by a report that a friend, a gay male school teacher, had been arrested for a sexually based crime. The resulting hysteria threatened to ruin the life of an innocent man. In this passionate and provocative book, Lancaster blends astute analysis, robust polemic, ethnography, and personal narrative to delve into the complicated relationship between sexuality and punishment in our society. Drawing on classical social science, critical legal studies, and queer theory, he tracks the rise of a modern suburban culture of fear and develops new insights into the punitive logic that has put down deep roots in everyday American life.
"By design this penal system churns the poor and marginal, rendering them all but unemployable, thus poorer and ever more marginal. No legitimate theory of corrections, crime, or social order justifies this approach, which can only be understood as vindictive."
-writes anthropologist Roger Lancaster.
Despised Things
By Kenneth Kish
Inspired by true events, Despised Things is an account of Kev Ketch, a marked sex offender, who tells his interactions with Anna, Hank, Manny, and Cross that ultimately lead to his arrest, trial, and spiritual journey.
Kev has always believed that God watches the hearts of men, that as long as Kev tries to do what is right, his reward will be in the afterlife. Although Kev gave his “friends” everything they could want, everything they asked for, they still turned on him. As Anna and Hank manipulate young homosexual Manny in his direction, they set up a sex scandal and an arrest. An investigation into Kev’s arrest reveals that no fewer than fifteen felonies were committed against him; not just by Anna and Hank, but also by the county sheriff and the state’s attorney. But Kev is the only one that goes to jail. How is that possible? With his life in ruins, his reputation in shreds, his heart broken, he cries out to God only to discover he is…is what?
That is what happened to Kev; but what happened to his “friends” who put him in jail—nothing…
…except this book.
S.O. The New Scarlet Letters: Sex Offenders, Their Treatment and Our Challenge
By Marilyn Callahan and Tim Buckley
In Puritan America, a married woman’s illicit affair with a minister landed her in jail. After her release, Hester Prynne was sentenced to forever wear a big red “A” on her dress. Nearly 375 years later, the U.S. continues to be scandalized, tantalized, and perplexed by sex.
This book offers:
- Former offenders – inspiration and hope
- Neighbors and families – knowledge and courage
- Public agencies – best practices, leading to improved safety
- Professionals – better outcomes for clients
- Victims of assault – understanding and empowerment
- Lawmakers – ideas about fair, effective policies
It’s time to bring the subject of sex crime out of the Dark Ages and time to help victims shed the shame and trauma of their experience. It’s also time to allow offenders an opportunity to show they can change, make amends, and start to earn back trust and acceptance from society.
The World Calls Me Sex Offender
By James Clagen
What has the world called you in the past? What beliefs do you hold about yourself? Do you view yourself in light of what you did in the past? Is it possible that what you believe could be wrong? This is a true story about a person who committed a sex crime. It is also a story about restoration by the grace of God. This book could very well change your life forever and change how you view other people. It is full of the author's "closet of skeletons" and reveals how to remove them from your own life. It touches on addictions of all sorts and the way to overcome them. It also talks about how this world deals with people that they don't understand.
About the Author:
This is the first book by author James Clagen. It is the true story of his life. The names, places and situations have been altered to protect the lives of the people in it.