Addressing common myths and misconceptions about sexual offending, this book highlights the current state of scientific knowledge about the origins and the development of sexual offending. It offers a critical overview of current criminal justice policies and close to 100 years of research on how to best improve these policies through theoretically-grounded and methodologically- rigorous research. Focusing on proactive prevention-oriented strategies, this book revisits popular ideas about sexual offending through an evidence-based lens, addressing ideological and populist discourse that has led to ineffective and reactive policies. It advocates for a clearly defined concept of the phenomenon of sexual offending to underpin research and treatment. Uniquely, authors