Note: PARSOL does not necessarily endorse the following book suggestions, which come from suggestions by our members sent to info@parsol.org.
See Also: Book Reviews
The Anti-Registry Activist Manual- A Guide to Effective Advocacy
The Anti-Registry Activist Manual is a teaching and reference handbook for those who are new to this advocacy. We believe it contains valuable information for seasoned activists as well.
The Road to Freedom, 4th Edition
Written as if the authors were talking with the reader, this workbook covers all the components of sexual abuser treatment. Chapters include accepting responsibility; understanding and managing behavior; victim impacts; relationship and communication skills; thinking, feeling, and behaving; and relapse prevention. Each chapter includes numerous exercises, and later exercises sometimes refer back to earlier ones to help clients integrate the work. The examples provided cover a range of deviant behaviors from incest to exhibitionism to rape, making it more difficult for a client to claim “It doesn’t apply to me.” This workbook is ideal for clients in group therapy who want a deeper understanding of how they became sexually deviant and how they can redirect their lives. Incorporates the “Good Lives” model of seeking positive changes.
Your Life on the List
“Your Life on the List” is a book for Persons Forced to Register and their loved ones to navigate the myriad of complex sex offense laws. This book covers many common issues, including housing, employment, dealing with the police or vigilantes, and even covers recreation as a registrant. The book also contains a housing list and a comprehensive summary of post-release sex offense laws of all US states and territories.
A Tortuous Path: Atonement and Reinvention in a Broken System
In this thought-provoking sequel to his award-winning memoir, Trauma, Shame, and the Power of Love: The Fall and Rise of a Physician who Heals Himself, former elite cancer doctor and researcher, Christopher Pelloski, chronicles his compelling journey from federal incarceration to halfway house detention to the first few years of building a new “after” life. Alternating between humor, pathos, and measured outrage, Pelloski takes us with him as he weathers imprisonment, divorce, and medical board hearings, undergoes probation polygraph interrogations and court-mandated therapy, finds a new home, starts a new profession, reconnects with family and old friends, and forges new relationships in A Tortuous Path: Atonement and Redemption in a Broken System.
S.O. The New Scarlet Letters: Sex Offenders, Their Treatment and Our Challenge
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, 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.
Protecting Our Kids? How Sex Offender Laws Are Failing Us
Do sex offender laws protect children, or are they inherently unfair practices that, at their worst, promote vigilante justice? The latter, this book argues. By analyzing the social, political, historical, and cultural context surrounding the emergence of current sex offender policies and laws, the work shows how sex offenders have come to loom as greater-than-life monsters when, in many cases, that is not true at all. Looking at its subject from a fresh viewpoint, the book shares research and new analyses of data and qualitative evidence to show how sex-offender laws are not only ineffective but engender destructive fear and anxiety.
Sex Offender Laws, Second Edition: Failed Policies, New Directions 2nd Edition
The most comprehensive book available about sex offender policies and their efficacy, Sex Offender Laws has been widely embraced as a text for courses in criminal justice, social work, and psychology. Now updated to keep pace with rapidly changing laws and policies, this second edition features an increased emphasis on policy and program alternatives. It incorporates new content on high-profile issues affecting adolescent sex offenders, critical analyses of the results of recent studies on sex offender policies, effective approaches to preventing recidivism, and cutting-edge research in the fields of criminal justice, law, forensic psychology, and social work. The second edition continues to document and assess the full gamut of laws designed to respond to and prevent sexual violence.