Human Rights and Sexual Offenders

Abstract

The treatment and management of sex offenders both in detention and in the community raises human rights concerns in an era when community protection arguments are increasingly dominant in governmental policy. The chapter examines rights concerns with treatment such as drug therapy, with sentencing and detention, and with community measures. The discussion in the chapter highlights the importance of rights and risk discourse in the treatment and management of sex offenders. The chapter, with two European examples, illustrates the application of a rights framework, the use of risk penology and the implications for community protection. It finally talks about pharmacotherapy, a sex offender treatment to lower the testosterone levels in male sex offenders through the use of drugs.