High-risk offenders have attracted much media, policy, and practice interest in recent years. New legislation and extensive multi-agency partnership have been initiated to improve the assessment and management of these offenders in the community. High-risk offenders have been defined as those who have committed a violent or sexual offence, or who are assessed as likely to do so. Sexual offences against children have fuelled this concern, not least the spectre of the ‘predatory paedophile’ at loose in the community.Protective measures to subject these offenders to longer custodial sentences have been combined with more intrusive and restrictive measures to manage such offenders in the community. Rather less attention has been paid to the emerging ‘Public Health Approach’ (PHA) with emphasis upon public awareness, education campaigns and offender treatment. This book brings together a wide range of research on current responses to ‘dangerousness’, including the author’s own original research on the community management of high risk offenders. A key feature of the book is a comparison of the community protection and PHA models, with a detailed exploration of what each approach can offer to the safe management of high risk offenders in the community.