Risk assessment of sex offenders: the current position in the UK

This paper examines the various risk factors that are considered in the current risk assessments used with sex offenders, and the strengths and weaknesses of each. In addition, particular attention is given to the assessments that are currently employed within the prison and probation services. Static instruments, dynamic instruments and combined approaches are evaluated, as are clinical assessments of risk. In particular, the now commonly used joint Prison‐Probation Offender Assessment System risk prediction instrument (OASys) is considered, with an evaluation of the relevance of the factors included in making an assessment of risk and whether this is supported by research into recidivism amongst sex offenders. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Comparing Theoretical Perspectives on Female Sexual Offending Behaviors: Applying a Trauma-Informed Lens

This article provides historical and contemporary perspectives on female sexual offending behavior, divided into three sections. The first section provides background context including incidence, prevalence, and mediating factors in female sex offender (FSO) behavior. The second section overviews the evolution of theories used for understanding the etiology of FSO behaviors including psychodynamic, behaviorist, and trauma-informed perspectives. This discussion includes each theory’s background, key concepts, and application to understanding FSO behavior. The final section focuses on lessons learned from this analysis of theoretical thought on FSO etiology and the state of FSO etiology science today.     

Working with perpetrators of domestic violence to protect women and children: a partnership between Cheshire Probation Service and the NSPCC

Domestic violence is increasingly becoming recognized as a serious social problem with an enormous cost to society. While historically services have been established for women survivors, it is only recently that programmes designed to address men's violence towards women have become established, led predominantly within the criminal justice sector. This paper describes one such programme established in partnership between Cheshire Probation Service and the NSPCC. It identifies a number of factors considered to be essential in its successful implementation, including the importance of working in partnership, a sound and shared theoretical basis, the provision of a parallel support package for women and children and ongoing programme evaluation. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

中国与中东的军事外交

本文论述中华人民共和国成立以来,特别是1955年万隆会议后中国与中东国家军事交往史和重大事件,如20世纪五六十年代中国在道义和物质上(包括军援)支持中东地区的民族解放运动;自1956年中国与埃及建交后,中国在绝大多数中东国家中建立使馆武官处,军事外交工作有了很大进展;军贸工作也取得良好成绩,中国与中东国家的友好合作关系显著加强。作为联合国安理会常任理事国,中国参加了联合国在中东地区的维和行动,并派海军舰艇赴亚丁湾参加防范索马里海盗的护航行动。     

中国与中东的军事外交

本文论述中华人民共和国成立以来,特别是1955年万隆会议后中国与中东国家军事交往史和重大事件,如20世纪五六十年代中国在道义和物质上(包括军援)支持中东地区的民族解放运动;自1956年中国与埃及建交后,中国在绝大多数中东国家中建立使馆武官处,军事外交工作有了很大进展;军贸工作也取得良好成绩,中国与中东国家的友好合作关系显著加强。作为联合国安理会常任理事国,中国参加了联合国在中东地区的维和行动,并派海军舰艇赴亚丁湾参加防范索马里海盗的护航行动。     

Registration,Residency Restrictions,and Community Notification: A Social Capital Perspective on the Isolation of Registered Sex Offenders in Our Communities

This article highlights the importance of social capital for registered sex offenders who are reintegrating back into their communities. Although not always identified among community corrections, the sex offender registry creates a punitive atmosphere that diminishes the amount of available social capital for all involved—community members, sex offenders, and the government. Lost social capital contributes to recidivism, reentry problems, and mental health issues among registered sex offenders. We argue that deterrent and protective features of the sex offender registry are overemphasized and the goal of reintegration has been undermined. The loss of social capital exacerbates (1) the minimization of trust, (2) low expectations of rehabilitation and reentry, (3) limited contact and information from role models, (4) increased access to criminal capital, (5) formal sanctioning power of the registry, and (6) loss of sanctioning power from family and communities. Through this in-depth analysis, we argue that the current state of the registry system harms the social capital of all involved when a sex offense occurs—not just the offender—and we assess directions for future practices, as well as policy implications.     

Homecoming as Safe Haven or the New Front: Attachment and Detachment in Military Couples

Traumatized military couples represent a new population for the application of attachment theory constructs. An innovative clinical social work practice model, grounded in a synthesis of social and psychological theories, aims to assist these couple and families who are navigating very difficult transitions. Since social support is known to be a central protective factor in mediating the long-term adverse effects of combat trauma, this therapeutic focus addresses two compelling problem areas: the disruption of secure attachments and affect dysregulation. The effects of deployment stressors on soldiers, their intimate partners, and their families are discussed in depth. Clinical illustrations highlight the utility of a phase-oriented culturally responsive couple therapy practice approach that has clear clinical implications for military couples.

Relationships between Early Life Victimization,Antisocial Traits,and Sexual Violence: Executive Functioning as a Mediator

ABSTRACT

Few research studies examine how the relationship between trauma and executive functioning can influence sexual violence among youth. Knight and Sims-Knight (2004) proposed a Developmental Etiological Theory (DET) connecting early life physical and sexual victimization to sexual violence via antisocial traits. Drawing from research that identifies a link between early life victimization and executive functioning, this study tests an adaptation to the DET by including executive functioning as an intervening factor. Using data on adolescents adjudicated of sexual and non-sexual crimes in a western state (N = 200), multiple structural equation models tested direct and indirect relationships between early life sexual, physical victimization, and other adversity, four differential forms of executive functioning, callousness, and sexual violence. Results revealed statistically significant direct pathways between variables of interest and a multi-meditational effect of certain forms of executive functioning and callousness in the relationship between victimization and sexual violence. Treatment and research implications are discussed.     

The Vanishing Military Veteran: A Postmodern Disappearance of the Hero

This article brings a postmodern philosophical perspective on the impact of U.S. media, cyber-technology, and the loss of the veteran hero in our current day American culture. Societal ambivalence, media depersonalization, and techno-war tactics along with the collusion of institutional under-responsiveness contribute to the metaphorical and real disappearance, or lack of recognition, and alienation of the veteran and his or her behavioral health needs. This phenomenon also speaks to the denial of community and governmental responsibility that in fact, we all as a society, share toward returning service members in helping them to reintegrate into civilian life with renewed sense of hope, health, dignity, and identity.     

Really troubled girls: Gender differences in risky sexual behavior and its correlates in a sample of juvenile offenders

Despite numerous studies on the myriad of psychosocial factors that affect youthful offenders, research on gender differences with respect to risky sexual behavior are limited. Using data on juvenile offenders in a residential facility, we analyzed impact of gender on sexual behavior (N = 227). Girls reported higher likelihood of diagnosis with sexually transmitted diseases, and injecting drug use including heroin and cocaine than boys. Multivariate analysis indicated that number of sexual partners, childhood trauma, and services received from emergency shelter and psychiatric settings were associated with risky sexual behavior. Discouraging, abusive and dysfunctional home environment with little support from parents/caregivers, or teachers, priests/religious leaders appear to dispose youth to a life of risky sex, drugs and delinquency.     

Disability and sex work: developing affinities through decriminalization

This article argues that strong policy frameworks are required to support the health and well-being of sex workers, disabled people, and disabled sex workers. Through an examination of the context of sex work in Canada, we articulate the flaws of sex work criminalization and the persistent barriers that criminalization creates. Our analysis of the intersection of disabled sexuality and access to sexual services identifies how the sex industry can aid in the flourishing of the erotic lives of disabled people. The article culminates in a discussion of the benefits of sex work decriminalization for sex workers, disabled people, and disabled sex workers.     

You Catch More Flies With Honey: Sex Work,Violence, and Masculinity on the Streets

Violence among inner‐city men is a pressing social concern, and the central focus of much academic research. Many frame it as a phenomenon that certain men perpetuate—those who inhabit disadvantaged, impoverished communities—and argue it is linked to performances of “street” masculinity. In this article, I examine male street‐based sex workers’ willingness to become embroiled in violent exchanges. In a departure from theoretical predictions, my findings reveal these men expend considerable effort to remain nonviolent with others immersed in the sex trade, a decision based upon their desire for the acquisition of capital as well as their calculation of risks. In doing so, they construct and perform a nuanced version of masculinity, which I call pacifist masculinity. Few studies analyze peaceful and conciliatory interactions among men in these contexts, an absence that only serves to reify assumptions about rampant hostility and aggression. I draw on interviews with 19 men involved in street prostitution in Chicago in 2012. This article contributes to a clearer understanding of male–male violence in high‐risk environments, examines the prominent factors that inform decisions to assault others, and explores how such actions challenge hegemonic masculinity.     

Pedophiles in the Ultra-Orthodox Haredi Sector in Israel: Thought Processes Regarding their Actions

ABSTRACT

This study explores thought patterns of Jewish Ashkenazi Ultra-Orthodox pedophiles in Israel and how they resolve the contradiction between their commitment to Jewish Law and having committed sexual offenses against minors. Ten adult men participated in this study. Using open semistructured interviews, their cognitive distortions before, during, and after the abuse were examined. Content analysis revealed that participants used cognitive distortions based on their own world of Jewish Law and social-cultural values. The insular nature of Ultra-Orthodox society and its many prohibitions, especially regarding sexuality, tempted offenders to test boundaries. When sexual drive was high, internal control mechanisms were ineffective even in presence of external control mechanisms. Some participants recognized the contradiction between their behaviors and being Ultra-Orthodox Jews, and others did not. Based on the findings, a flow chart was devised describing the cognitive processes of Jewish Ultra-Orthodox pedophiles. Theoretical and practical implications of the results were examined.     

Teacher Sexual Misconduct: Grooming Patterns and Female Offenders

Educator sexual misconduct has received increasing attention over the past decade. The attention has exposed a number of concerning issues, including a lack of formal research in the area and difficulties in recognizing and prosecuting cases. Public responses to high profile cases of sexual misconduct involving female teachers suggest that gender-biased views on sex offenders remain prominent in society. This article will review the literature on female teacher sexual misconduct in addition to what is known about grooming patterns and warning signs. Finally, current dilemmas in resolving cases of educator sexual misconduct will be discussed, and basic prevention strategies will be recommended.     

The Lived Experience of the Adolescent Sex Offender: A Phenomenological Case Study

Treatment for adolescents with sexually maladaptive behaviors is a continuing intervention that is changing and developing as greater understanding about this population of adolescents is obtained. The majority of treatment programs for adolescent sexually maladaptive behavior contain programming components that include cognitive distortions/thinking errors. Interviews including a conceptual mapping exercise were conducted with four adolescents adjudicated to a secure care program for sexual behaviors. All four boys completed an interview and a conceptual map of their perceived experiences as an adolescent with sexual maladaptive behaviors. All interviews were audio recorded. Analysis of the interviews and conceptual mappings yielded five themes present in the boys’ experience as well as a consideration of the role early trauma may have in the establishment of cognitive distortion development. Contributing environmental and familial factors also play an important part in sustaining cognitive distortion. Main themes include: loss of responsible father or father figure, inability to regulate emotion, lack of personal and parental boundaries, and early exposure to pornography. The contributing influence of responsible male father figures may play an even greater role in the lives of young males than originally thought. How the adolescent inaccurately perceives his environment—in essence what he tells himself and continues to tell himself to make sense of his world—are building blocks in the development and continuation of thinking errors/cognitive distortions used to commit and justify sexual offending behaviors.     

Student involvement in the UK sex industry: motivations and experiences

The Student Sex Work Project was set up in 2012 in the United Kingdom (UK) to locate students who are involved in the sex industry, to discover their motivations and needs, and in doing so provide an evidence base to consider the development of policy and practice within Higher Education. As part of this initiative, a large survey was undertaken comprising students from throughout the UK. Reporting on the findings from this survey, the article sheds some light on what occupations students take up in the sex industry, what motivates their participation and how they experience the work. The study also offers a much‐needed empirical input to the ongoing academic debates on the nature of sex work. The results suggest that there can be little doubt of a student presence within the sex industry in the UK. The motivations and experiences of student sex workers cover elements of agency and choice as well as of force and exploitation and it is suggested that student sex work is best understood from a polymorphous framework which leaves room for a wide variety of experiences and challenges.     

Homeless Military Veterans and the Intersection of Partner Violence

The objective of this paper was to identify, screen, and assess homeless veterans through outreach for domestic abuse services. This study focuses on 507 homeless veterans, from 2002 to 2007 identified in a homeless shelter and a transitional housing program. Homeless veterans completed the Domestic Violence/Abuse Screen (DV/AS) and psychosocial assessment. The majority were males, African American, divorced, Army, Vietnam, substance-dependent, and homeless, while the minorities had combat-PTSD; were charged and convicted of domestic violence; were on supervised parole or probation; had juvenile records; were victims of domestic violence during rearing; had a perpetrator relative; had prior domestic violence treatment; and were referred for domestic abuse treatment services. There is a lack of research evidence for the effectiveness for screening of homeless veteran partner violence. This sample shows the benefit of integrating domestic abuse screening into homeless programs and more research.