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Innocence Betrayed: Paedophilia, the Media and Society

ISBN: 978-0-745-62889-9

October 2002

Polity

200 pages

Description
Innocence Betrayed is the first sustained attempt to address the issue of how we can best protect children from the threat posed by predatory paedophiles. It asks all the difficult questions: Can paedophiles be treated? Do they change their behaviour? Does naming and shaming help protect our children or make matters worse?
Combining the skills of journalistic research and academic scholarship, this engaging and accessible book carefully untangles the News of the World’s ‘Sarah’s Law’ and presents, for the first time, the behind-the-scenes reaction to the newspaper. It contains an enlightening series of interviews with paedophiles, both in a penal setting and after release, in England, Wales and North America, as well as interviews with the victims of sexual abuse.

This important and timely book will be of interest to anyone who wishes to understand the complexity of the problem posed by paedophiles and how we can make our communities safer places for children.

About the Author
Jon Silverman is the BBC’s Home Affairs Correspondent.

David Wilson is Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Central England in Birmingham, and is a former Prison Governor.

Features
  • A very readable and accessible book which is also rigorous and well researched.
  • Written by Jon Silverman (BBC Home Affairs Correspondent) and David Wilson (former prison governor) - public figures with many contacts in the press and media.
  • Based on original research with serving and released paedophiles, both in this country and North America.
  • Unique access gained to prisons and to The News of the World, and their "naming and shaming campaign".
  • First sustained attempt to answer the question of how to protect our children from the threats posed by predatory paedophiles.