Description
Book SynopsisThis book explores the subjects of child sex abuse, flaws in the justice system, cultural support for vigilantism, prison violence, and the socio-legal philosophy of punishment. Child sex abuse leaves a scar that lasts a lifetime. Can any legal punishment balance the scales of justice? Can sex offenders ever repay their debt to society, or more importantly, to the victim? For some victims of this traumatic abuse, the debt remains unpaid, and it accrues interest. Vigilantes seek to avenge child victims by hunting down sex offenders in the community. Sometimes prisoners in correctional facilities conspire with rogue correctional officers to mete out their own form of âœconvict justiceâ on people who hurt children. While their motives and methods differ, these outraged citizens seek retribution through violence because they are disgusted with a justice system they believe shows extraordinary leniency toward child sex abusers.
Whether this violence occurs in the community or in ja
Trade Review
"Theoretically informed and rich in diverse data sources, Avenging Child Sex Abuse captures the poignant tension between the desire to make victimizers suffer and the dangers of vigilantes seeking to exact "justice." Based on extensive research—including first-hand accounts by avengers—Joshua Long illuminates the inner life of those who "take matters into their own hands" and the challenges that emerge in processing abusers in the criminal justice system. More generally, this volume forces us to think more closely about the meaning of justice and why vigilantism seems, at once, understandable and disquieting. A compelling story is told and new avenues for criminological inquiry are created—all of which makes this an important contribution."
Francis T. Cullen. Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus. University of Cincinnati
"In the long-running debates about what constitutes justice or even whether we should care about justice, it is easy for people to want to simplify these emotionally charged issues into black-and-white. But if the thinking and research of the last several decades has taught us anything, it is that people’s intuitions of justice are nuanced and sophisticated. Joshua Long’s new book, Avenging Child Sex Abuse, provides an extremely interesting and unique contribution to the debates, illustrating how complex justice calculations in the real world can be – and how desperately important doing justice can be to ordinary people."
Paul H. Robinson. Colin S. Diver Professor of Law. University of Pennsylvania Law School
Table of ContentsIntroduction
Chapter 1: Ted Got What He Deserved
Chapter 2: Sowing the Wind
Chapter 3: The Hunt
Chapter 4: Contempt for Court
Chapter 5: Moral Murder
Chapter 6: Charles Bronson Bad
Chapter 7: Convict Justice
Chapter 8: Maxima Culpa
Chapter 9: A Bomb Built in Hell: The Criminology of Vigilantism
Chapter 10: Avenging Angel
Concluding Thoughts: Justice or Revenge?
Appendix A: The Interrogation of Steven D. Sandison
Appendix B: Mad Doctors by Jason Vukovich
Appendix C: Distillation of the "Moral Vigilante" by Jason Vukovich
Appendix D: Letter to the Students by Jason Vukovich
Index
