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      Chapter 1 Introduction: constructing sex crimes and sex offenders

      Introduction

      Social work with people who sexually harm others is complex and demanding. It involves feelings, thoughts and actions, and is imbued with values. It occurs in a range of settings and is undertaken by qualified, trainee and unqualified social workers. A social work approach incorporates values, psychological perspectives and consideration of sexual violence as part of a social context. Social work is not an activity undertaken by isolated workers; it takes place within agencies that have policies and procedures to guide practice. This book is not a replacement for official guidance; rather, it seeks to provide an in-depth exploration of issues that make up social work practice. Practice issues are located in the social, political, administrative and welfare context of the UK, primarily focusing on England and Wales; while policy and procedural issues may remain geographically specific, other matters have a wider currency.

      Social work is currently undergoing radical change in the UK due to central government initiatives designed to address perceived (albeit contested) shortcomings in education and practice. This means that any description of how social work is delivered is contingent and subject to significant caveats, including the increasing tendency for the four constituent nations (England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) to develop their own health and welfare services and structures. In addition to this, there is a move to more regionalised approaches to welfare delivery within England itself, devolving increased public service financial responsibility to newly constituted political bodies that will take localised decisions on what is the best model to meet their needs. Inevitably, there will be a fragmentation of structures that social workers find themselves practising in, which may lead to the development of very different approaches and job expectations.

      Social workers currently work in what can be broadly termed as ‘statutory’ services (local government and some charitable organisations with legal mandates to provide specific services, as well as criminal justice agencies) and private, voluntary or independent (PVI) organisations. The former tend to have duties placed on them for delivering core elements of policy, whereas the PVI sector provides services that are contracted or seen as complementary, although this distinction has become increasingly blurred with a decrease in state-delivered services and an increase in contracting out services to the PVI sector.

      Social workers have tended to specialise in working either with children (and their families) or working with adults, a distinction that has grown over the previous 30 years and looks likely to continue through, for example, the appointment of separate chief social workers for children and for adults in England (Department of Health, 2014).

      The landscape is further complicated by those who focus on mental health and learning disability, which constitute separate fields of practice. Criminal justice is also a separate social work domain in England, although it is seen as a core social work activity in Scotland. Increasingly, adult services in England are being organised and delivered within overall health provision and it is likely that social workers with adults will be part of an integrated health and community social care framework.

      Wherever social workers are located, they work in multidisciplinary structures to deliver their service, and this is often supported by explicit policy recommendations. A range of professionals with different skills is encouraged to work in complementary ways in order to enhance welfare and to safeguard vulnerable people. This recognises that people have multiple needs that are best met by applying appropriate skills and knowledge, and social workers are often at the forefront of making assessments and judgements about the required level of intervention and resources. As we see in later chapters, responses to sexual offending and the safeguarding of vulnerable people require social workers to collaborate with criminal justice, health, education and other welfare professionals. Throughout the book, we explore the particular skills, values and knowledge that social workers utilise to ensure that individual and community safety is enhanced.

      The aims of this book are:

      ■ to recognise the emotional context of working with people who sexually harm others;

      ■ to consider values and ethics underpinning practice;

      ■ to reflect critically on current theories, research, policy and practice in relation to people who have sexually harmed others; and

      ■ to explore the role and practices of social workers in working with sexual offenders in order to safeguard vulnerable people.

      While these aims address the theory, methods and organisational practices of social work, they also recognise the importance of emotions in practising social work. As Olive Stevenson (2013, p 1) notes: ‘To be an effective social worker, there has to be a dynamic interplay between emotion and intellect’. This chapter considers the intricate interplay between feelings and knowledge in the practice of social work with people who sexually offend. The first area we consider relates to our values and the language used throughout the book. This involves recognising the constructive nature of language. The language we choose to use embodies our view of social work, sexual violence and the people that harm others sexually. We outline the values that inform the shape and content of the book, and we establish how key terms are used. In the next section, we explore popular knowledge about sex crimes and sex offenders as presented in the news media. The news media is a key source of (mis)information that shapes popular