of that special issue, noted the apparent increase in sex oenses in the United States, the abolition of most sexual psychopath laws, and the trend to handle sexual oenders through the criminal justice system by means of incarceration (Cavanaugh & Rogers, 1985). Although psychotherapeutic approaches were controversial, the editors of that issue viewed research in this area as being increasingly recognized as legitimate.
In the intervening years little was changed, yet much was changed. Popular concerns about sex oenders persist, society continues to struggle with how best to handle sex oenders, and it seems any serious approach to the problem invariably engenders controversy. Yet, who in 1985 would have guessed that the 1990s would bring sexual predator laws to Arizona, California, Kansas, North Dakota, Washington, and Wisconsin; chemical castration to California; and voluntary surgical castration to Texas?
The American Psychiatric Association's task force on dangerous sex oenders observes that most sex oenders do not have a paraphilic disorder for which psychopathological understanding and therapeutic approaches are appropriate (Zonana et al., 1999). For those sex oenders who have a sexual paraphilia and who desire treatment, the task force recommends making appropriate treatment available, but not through statutory or judicial coercion. Societal concerns about public safety can be addressed via customary sentencing alternatives'' ( p. 176) but should not be appeased by the civil commitment of dangerous sex oenders. The other side of the punishmentยฑtreatment dilemma is, however, that extended sentencing, regardless how structured, would likely result in costly carceral care for many oenders who are not at high risk for reoending. As the task force remarked, civil commitment legislation was in part a response to the recent trend towards ยฎxed sentences with occasional mandatory release of a dangerous oender who then commits a horrible sex oense; now the task force raises the possibility of resurrecting controversial indeterminate sentencing at least for repeat sex oenders' ' ( p. 35).
Substantial advances have been made, through research, in identifying strengths and shortcomings of various therapeutic approaches, yet far more research is needed regarding, for example, the ecacy of SSRIs. (Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, marketed as antidepressants, have been used for impulse control generally and for control of sexual impulses in paraphilias.) Of greater import, however, are the considerable changes in social policies, with legislatures turning to