Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

“Dangerousness”, Paedophilia and the Case of Clarence Osborne

“Dangerousness”, Paedophilia and the Case of Clarence Osborne AUST & NZ JOURNAL OF CRIMINOLOGY (September 1981) 14 (131-137) "DANGEROUSNESS", PAEDOPHILIA AND THE CASE OF CLARENCE OSBORNE Paul R Wilson* "Dangerous" People Historically the label"dangerous" has been applied to a great variety of individuals and groups. Monahan and Geis have traced the use of the concept in American society and have pointed out that the term was applied to people who offended the moral or esthetic sensibilities of those holding power rather than to individuals who represent real threats. 1 Thus women defined as "witches" were categorized as "dangerous" and tortured or burnt at the stake. So too were the insane. Foucault's superb history of insanity, Madness and Civilization, makes it clear that the scourge, the rack, the stake and the gallows were common methods of dealing with the imagined threat the insane posed to society during the eighteenth century. 2 The belief that the mentally ill threaten the community is still evident in Australia today. Policies permitting involuntary civil commitment of such persons exist in every State of the Commonwealth" despite evidence to suggest that, as a group, the mentally ill are probably no more dangerous than their fellow citizens. 4 Indeed Australians have a sad history http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology SAGE

“Dangerousness”, Paedophilia and the Case of Clarence Osborne

Download PDF
7 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/sage/dangerousness-paedophilia-and-the-case-of-clarence-osborne-ehCKMiXs3m

References (18)

Publisher
SAGE
Copyright
© The Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology and Authors, 1981
ISSN
0004-8658
eISSN
1837-9273
DOI
10.1177/000486588101400302
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

AUST & NZ JOURNAL OF CRIMINOLOGY (September 1981) 14 (131-137) "DANGEROUSNESS", PAEDOPHILIA AND THE CASE OF CLARENCE OSBORNE Paul R Wilson* "Dangerous" People Historically the label"dangerous" has been applied to a great variety of individuals and groups. Monahan and Geis have traced the use of the concept in American society and have pointed out that the term was applied to people who offended the moral or esthetic sensibilities of those holding power rather than to individuals who represent real threats. 1 Thus women defined as "witches" were categorized as "dangerous" and tortured or burnt at the stake. So too were the insane. Foucault's superb history of insanity, Madness and Civilization, makes it clear that the scourge, the rack, the stake and the gallows were common methods of dealing with the imagined threat the insane posed to society during the eighteenth century. 2 The belief that the mentally ill threaten the community is still evident in Australia today. Policies permitting involuntary civil commitment of such persons exist in every State of the Commonwealth" despite evidence to suggest that, as a group, the mentally ill are probably no more dangerous than their fellow citizens. 4 Indeed Australians have a sad history

Journal

Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology – SAGE

Published: Sep 1, 1981

There are no references for this article.