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The Influence of Pornography on Sexual Crimes

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Handbook of Sexual Assault

Part of the book series: Applied Clinical Psychology ((NSSB))

Abstract

There are several approaches to the study of the role of pornography in the etiology and maintenance of sexual crimes. One may (1) study the correlation between pornography consumption in the general population and the incidence of sexual crimes, (2) examine this relationship cross-culturally, (3) examine the effect of these materials on normals in the laboratory, (4) examine the effects of these materials on sex offenders, or (5) attempt a synthesis of this research through a comparative study of the similarities and differences between sex offenders and other males. The simple approach is to draw a sample of sex offenders and ask them about their pornography consumption. All of these approaches have basic flaws, but each contributes to the complete picture.

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© 1990 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Murrin, M.R., Laws, D.R. (1990). The Influence of Pornography on Sexual Crimes. In: Marshall, W.L., Laws, D.R., Barbaree, H.E. (eds) Handbook of Sexual Assault. Applied Clinical Psychology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0915-2_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0915-2_5

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4899-0917-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4899-0915-2

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