Sexually Violent Predators: An Overview

Abstract

Sexually violent predator (SVP) laws are legislative reactions to high-profile sexual offenses, often against children, and the risk these individuals may pose for future sexual offending. These legislative responses are based on the assumption that some sexual offenders are too dangerous to be released back into society after having served the entirety of a prison sentence for their original crime or crimes. This chapter presents an assortment of problems with SVP laws and evaluations, with the plethora of problems deriving from three overarching issues. First, it has a meager understanding of factors that cause individuals to engage in sexual offenses. Second, it is probable that violence results from a combination of biological and psychological factors specific to each offender in combination with environmental factors that make expression of these personal factors more or less likely. Third, SVP laws need to be reconciled with constitutional law. The chapter discusses law, public policy, and pragmatic issues worthy of consideration and empirical inquiry. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)