Over the past two decades, concern about adolescent sex offenders has grown
at an astonishing pace, garnering heated coverage in the media and providing
fodder for television shows like Law & Order. Americans. reaction to such
stories has prompted the unquestioned application to adolescents of harsh
legal and clinical intervention strategies designed for serious adult
offenders, with little attention being paid to the psychological maturity
of the offender. Many strategies being used today to deal with juvenile sex
offenders.and even to define what criteria to use in defining "juvenile sex
offender".do not have empirical support and, Frank C. DiCataldo cautions,
may be doing more harm to children and society than good.

The Perversion of Youth critiques the current system and its methods for
treating and categorizing juveniles, and calls for a major reevaluation of
how these cases should be managed in the future. Through an analysis of the
history of the problem and an empirical review of the literature, including
specific cases and their outcomes, DiCataldo demonstrates that current
practices are based more on our collective fears and moral passions than on
any supportive science or sound policy.

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