Setting the scene

<Abstract: Chapter 1 aims to set the scene for the book, outlining the social and political context in which practitioners are working with sexual offenders. It provides an overview of the scope of the problem, including an historical perspective on professional approaches and key policy changes over the past 25 years. The chapter describes the Challenge Project – an important source of the clinical and evidence-based approaches elaborated throughout the subsequent chapters, and concludes with an overview of the main typologies and theoretical approaches from recent years, that offer models for understanding sexual offenders.>