Richard Gordon Wright - Sex offender laws: failed policies, new directions

No volume this exhaustive, dealing with such emotionally charged subject matter, would be possible without a stellar cast of contributors, supporters, and colleagues. My deepest gratitude goes to Jennifer Perillo, my publisher at Springer. Thank you for your vision, your faith in my approach, your patience, and your overall tremendous positive nature. I wish all authors and editors would have the great fortune of working with you. Without your vision and initiative, this important work would not have happened.

This volume includes a plethora of gifted and brilliant scholars. They are both my colleagues and intellectuals I look up to. I am very appreciative of their commitment to the issue of sexual violence prevention and their willingness to take on this project. A heartfelt thank you to Karen Terry, Alissa Ackerman, Lisa Sample, Mary Evans, Jill Levenson, Rachel Bandy, Francis Williams, Michelle Meloy, Shareda Coleman, Charles Scott, Elena del Busto, Corey Rayburn Yung, Jo-Ann Della Giustina, Kim English, Andrew Harris, Cheryl Radeloff, Erica Carnes, and Patricia Wetterling. It is my sincere hope that we will continue our intellectual and scholarly paths to ending sexual violence.

I am very grateful to the support of Bridgewater State College. The support provided by the Center for the Advancement of Research and Teaching (CART), the Adrian Tinsley Program (ATP), the Office of Academic Affairs, and particularly former Vice President Ron Pitt, and the college as a whole, has been a vital part of this endeavor. A special appreciation goes to the Criminal Justice Department and most notably, Moira OBrien, Meghan Chase, and Michelle Cubellis. As undergraduate students who assisted with this research, both Ms. Chase and Ms. Cubellis represent the best of our program. I was privileged to be your mentor, and I look forward to seeing how you change the world. Maybe Ill get to work on your book in a few years.

No editor is worth his salt without another critical pair of eyes. I am very appreciative to Barry Phillips for his help in editing my chapters. Thanks also to Nancy Ryan for her personal encouragement. Thanks are due to Carol Rose, John Reinstein, Norma Shapiro, Ann Lambert, and the Massachusetts Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. In this era of American history, the importance and role of the ACLU cannot be understated. A past-due thank to you Carole Upshur, who guided me through the process of becoming a scholar.

I am very appreciative of the assistance of Todd Shuster of the Zachary Shuster Harmsworth Literary Agency in making this work appear in print. Of course, no work such as this is possible without the lifetime guidance and support of ones parents. To my mother, Gertrude Wright, I offer a perpetual, humble, thank you.

Finally, it is my deepest hope to all of those who have been victims of sexual violence: This book was intended to validate your pain and loss and to call for logic, reason, patience, justice, and persistence to guide the governments response. Governments foremost responsibility is to keep people safe. We hope this book will aid in that pursuit.