Book Review: Care of the Mentally Disordered Offender in the Community
| Author | Herschel Prins |
| Published date | 01 June 2002 |
| Date | 01 June 2002 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/026455050204900224 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
177
The opening chapter contains detailed
accounts from five men of their abuse.
Whilst the style of these accounts is
factual and not intended to shock, it is
likely that even the hardened worker will
still find the detail difficult to absorb.
The following chapters provide an
understanding of child sexual assault, and
an understanding of adult male rape/
sexual assault. The closing chapters attend
to the process of recovery and applying
practical steps.
This elegant book should be
available to offenders undertaking sex
offender programmes in custody or in the
community. It will greatly assist the
endeavours of group facilitators, therapists
and counsellors.
Mike Head
Senior Probation Officer,
London
Care of the Mentally Disordered
Offender in the Community
A. Buchanan (ed)
Oxford Medical Publications, 2002;
pp333; £34.50, pbk
ISBN 0-19-263058
This is indeed the era of risk assessment
and management (which has come to
replace the notion of dangerousness),
blame and safety, and, in particular, public
safety. These particular considerations
apply most powerfully in respect of
mentally disordered offenders. In a
thoughtful introduction to this book,
Professor Paul Mullen ends on a note that
epitomises the dilemmas faced by all
mental health professionals: “ultimately
mental health professionals can best
contribute to the overall safety and peace
of their communities by acting as
therapists, not as jailers” (p.xviii). These
dilemmas and the various perspectives
and controversies that underpin them are
ably and interestingly identified by the
authors Dr. Buchanan has assembled.
They are drawn, predominantly, from the
disciplines of psychiatry and
psychology, supported by lively and
informative contributions from
sociology, mental health administration
and law. There are no direct contributions
from social work, probation and
community mental health nursing (and
there may be some who will lament this).
However, these professions are referred
to, most notably in the contributions by
Buchanan himself, McGuire and Fennell
and Yeates. In his preface, Dr. Buchanan
indicates that he has exercised a light
editorial hand, justifying this on the
grounds that he had “been surprised
by the degree to which the contributors
have noted the same things and
interpreted them differently”. In my view,
this seems to have been a wise
decision, reflecting as it does, the
differing perspectives on this complex,
inter-professional arena. The book is
divided into three parts. Part I (four
chapters) is devoted to the broad social,
administrative and clinical contexts of
work with mentally disordered offenders.
Part 2 (six chapters) deals, more
specifically, with clinical aspects. Part 3
(three chapters), deals predominantly
with the thorny problems of inter-agency
co-operation and liaison. In a short
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