"Theoretically informed and rich in diverse data sources, Avenging Child Sex Abuse captures the poignant tension between the desire to make victimizers suffer and the dangers of vigilantes seeking to exact "justice." Based on extensive research-including first-hand accounts by avengers-Joshua Long illuminates the inner life of those who "take matters into their own hands" and the challenges that emerge in processing abusers in the criminal justice system. More generally, this volume forces us to think more closely about the meaning of justice and why vigilantism seems, at once, understandable and disquieting. A compelling story is told and new avenues for criminological inquiry are created-all of which makes this an important contribution."
Francis T. Cullen. Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus. University of Cincinnati
"In the long-running debates about what constitutes justice or even whether we should care about justice, it is easy for people to want to simplify these emotionally charged issues into black-and-white. But if the thinking and research of the last several decades has taught us anything, it is that people's intuitions of justice are nuanced and sophisticated. Joshua Long's new book, Avenging Child Sex Abuse, provides an extremely interesting and unique contribution to the debates, illustrating how complex justice calculations in the real world can be - and how desperately important doing justice can be to ordinary people."
Paul H. Robinson. Colin S. Diver Professor of Law. University of Pennsylvania Law School
Francis T. Cullen. Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus. University of Cincinnati
"In the long-running debates about what constitutes justice or even whether we should care about justice, it is easy for people to want to simplify these emotionally charged issues into black-and-white. But if the thinking and research of the last several decades has taught us anything, it is that people's intuitions of justice are nuanced and sophisticated. Joshua Long's new book, Avenging Child Sex Abuse, provides an extremely interesting and unique contribution to the debates, illustrating how complex justice calculations in the real world can be - and how desperately important doing justice can be to ordinary people."
Paul H. Robinson. Colin S. Diver Professor of Law. University of Pennsylvania Law School