ABSTRACT
A number of different constituencies are competing with each other to claim and explain the phenomenon of the sex offender and to say what we should be doing with that offender. Criminologists refer to this as the struggle for ‘dominion’. In its broadest terms, there are community groups representing grass-roots; public opinion; the press and other media outlets; politicians seeking to be representative and responsible at the same time; and the ‘experts’ and practitioners in the form of doctors, penologists, therapists, police officers and others. The interaction between them all is complex – this is not a simple stand-off where the loudest voice gets to define what is happening.
