Present Status and Future Directions

Abstract

This book has provided a nearly exhaustive summary of present thinking and knowledge about sexual offenders. More than anything else, this summary reveals our incomplete knowledge in all aspects of the functioning of these men, and shows greater gaps in our knowledge in specific areas than we had realized. Clearly, continued research is needed, and the chapters of this book encourage confidence that future efforts will continue to give us an increasingly better understanding of both the development and persistence of sexual offending. Theoretical perspectives of the etiology and maintenance of sexual offending are only emerging, and at present the theories that are available represent a diversity of views, although it is clear that common threads are emerging. While it is evident that careful evaluations of treatment are only in their infancy, such appraisals as are at hand indicate that effective treatment programs are available. However, we do need more long-term follow-up studies with larger numbers of subjects than have been involved to date.