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By Carla van Dam. Haworth Maltreatment and Trauma Press, Binghamton, New York, 2001.
Dr van Dam, a psychologist working in the forensic area, begins by stating that her book `was written to help readers know how to better protect children from potential child sexual molesters long before any abuse might otherwise occur' (p. 1). This the book promises to accomplish by assisting readers in both identifying those who might in the future molest their children, and by describing how to respond in a manner best calculated to protect children. The broad approach taken by this book is to mix scholarly references, case examples and practical commonsense advice. The intended readership is presumably anxious parents rather than academics. The references - which are for the most part venerable rather than current - are there, one suspects, to reassure the lay reader about the credentials of the author.
Dr van Dam provides for her readers what she describes as a `sex offender screening checklist summary'. This lists the...