Over the past several decades the seeming escalation of crimes involving sexually deviant, coercive, and aggressive behavior has become an increasingly serious problem, manifested in costs to both victims and society at large. The long-term psychological impact of sexual assault on adult and child victims has been documented numerous times. The costs incurred by society include a network of medical and psychological services provided to aid victim recovery, the investigation, trial, and incarceration of offenders-often in segregated units or special facilities-and the invisible but tangible blanket of fear that forces potential victims to schedule normal daily activities around issues of safety. Despite the gravity of the problem, there has been a paucity of empirical research directed at the etiology, course, remediation, and management of sexually deviant and coercive behavior. In treating these disorders and in making crucial decisions about how to manage these offenders, clinicians have been forced to rely on their personal experience. Such experience by its nature is unsystematic and lacks the validation that empirical research provides. The lack of sound empirical data addressing the problem is certainly noteworthy, though not surprising. The paucity of research in this area may well be attributable to historical scientific timidity about most aspects of sexual behavior. In 1922 Dr. Robert L.

It is the mission of this volume to accomplish functioning normally. Similarly, if our MMPI two goals: (1) present a relatively broad profile falls entirely within the designated spectrum or research focusing on biophysical 'normal range' we conclude that our person aspects of personality, (2) select those studies ality is functioning normally. Abnormal per examining normal personality. Both state sonality is thought of as so extreme ments require brief clarification. (schizophrenia, manic-depression, neurosis With regards to the first point, it will and the like) that it bears no resemblance, become evident why the qualifier 'relatively' is surely nothing to do with 'normals'. Such used. This area of inquiry is a recent one, only reasoning is surely one of the factors con within the past several decades moving into tributing to the sparse research on normal the neighbourhood of scientific respectability. personality (i.e. what is normal need not be As such, investigation has been limited to a investigated since, by definition, it is normal.)."

Over the past several decades the seeming escalation of crimes involving sexually deviant, coercive, and aggressive behavior has become an increasingly serious problem, manifested in costs to both victims and society at large. The long-term psychological impact of sexual assault on adult and child victims has been documented numerous times. The costs incurred by society include a network of medical and psychological services provided to aid victim recovery, the investigation, trial, and incarceration of offenders-often in segregated units or special facilities-and the invisible but tangible blanket of fear that forces potential victims to schedule normal daily activities around issues of safety. Despite the gravity of the problem, there has been a paucity of empirical research directed at the etiology, course, remediation, and management of sexually deviant and coercive behavior. In treating these disorders and in making crucial decisions about how to manage these offenders, clinicians have been forced to rely on their personal experience. Such experience by its nature is unsystematic and lacks the validation that empirical research provides. The lack of sound empirical data addressing the problem is certainly noteworthy, though not surprising. The paucity of research in this area may well be attributable to historical scientific timidity about most aspects of sexual behavior. In 1922 Dr. Robert L.