The psychologist who reportedly influenced the decision to release rapist John Worboys has spent her career calling for a softer approach to dealing with sex offenders, Guido can reveal. Yesterday’s papersreported that Dr Jackie Craissati was hired by Worboys’ defence team to compile the report that helped convince the Parole Board he should be released. She declined to comment. We can now reveal that Dr Craissati has spent the last 30 years lobbying for soft justice for sex offenders:

• She was quoted in an article headlined “Can paedophiles be good people?” downplaying the crimes of less “severe” child sex abusers, even comparing some sex offenders to people involved in bar fights
• She claimed the police should only be “worried about” 25% to 33% of people who access child pornography, despite evidence showing the number who pose a risk is 85%
• Wrote a book aimed at the Probation Service calling for “a community treatment approach” for sex abusers
• She began the book by quoting extensively from Lolita
• She repeatedly promoted pro-release viewpoints and downplayed the likelihood of sex offenders to reoffend, writing that “not all perpetrators reoffend, and some not for long periods of time” and “The message that ‘there is no cure’ is disheartening and probably untrue: it would seem that – despite under-reporting – a number of convicted sex offenders do not sexually reoffend”
• She unbelievably argued that “treatment… has allowed some [abusive] fathers and children to re-establish a warm and close relationship” 
• She criticised the “excessive emphasis” on “punitive controls” on sex offenders for “increasing an offender’s emotional instability”
• She wrote an academic paper asking “Should we worry about sex offenders who deny their offences?”, in which she claimed there was a lack of association between sex offenders denying their crimes and an increased risk of reoffending
• She has criticised media coverage of paedophiles: “The coverage tends to make child molesters defensive, anxious, withdrawn, uncooperative. It makes my job much more difficult. It makes them go back into themselves”
• In just two weeks she is due to give a speech at Goldsmiths University titled “Ten myths about sex offenders” where she will criticise the “emotionally-driven response” of the public

The psychologist who reportedly wrote the Worboys report has spent her career calling for sex offenders to be “treated” in the community and downplaying their likelihood to reoffend. Just this month she is due to lecture us on “myths” about sex offenders. Is this how Worboys ended up being approved for release? Because some right-on academic with a penchant for soft justice has been waging a 30-year personal crusade against giving sex offenders the punishment they deserve? The public should be told…