Components underlying sex offender treatment refusal: an exploratory analysis of the Treatment Refusal Scale—Sex Offender version

Abstract

Approximately half of sexual offenders in prison and community settings refuse to participate in sex offender treatment programmes; however, the reasons for this remain largely unexplored. This pilot study used the previously untested Treatment Refusal Scale—Sexual Offender Version in an English prison, with 72 adult males (63 treatment accepters and nine treatment refusers) imprisoned for sexual or sexually motivated offences. Principal factors analysis revealed three factors within the scale: “pressured to take part in programmes”; “fear of negative effects”; and “programme is not relevant to/appropriate for me”. Treatment refusers scored more highly than treatment accepters on the first and last components, while there was no statistically significant difference in the scores of the two groups on the “fear of negative effects” component. Suggestions for further development of the scale are discussed, along with the practice implications of these findings.     

The neurological determination of death: what does it really mean?

The recent Canadian forum's recommendations regarding "neurological determination of death" claim to have determined a "Canadian definition, criteria, and minimum testing requirements for neurological determination of death." In this review the problems with this statement are discussed. The criterion of neurological determination of death does not fulfill the definition of death, because there is continued integration of the organism as a whole. The tests for neurological determination of death do not fulfill the criterion of neurological determination of death because they do not show the irreversible loss of all critical brain functions. The forum has provided no coherent argument for why neurological determination of death should be considered death. I suggest that one cannot invoke expert opinion to clarify a criterion of death, and tests for this criterion of death, without a clear concept of what death is. The forum has clarified tests for what they call "neurological determination of death," but this is not death itself; rather, it is a neurologically devastating state. Whether this state of "neurological determination of death" is enough to justify the morality of harvesting organs prior to death is the real question. A potential solution to this question is discussed.     

The disutility of advance directives: we know the problems, but are there solutions?

Advance directives (ADs) are recognized in some form by the laws of every state. Despite the availability of ADs for more than twenty years, few adults have completed any type of AD document. Even when ADs are validly executed, physicians routinelyfail to honor patients' wishes. The lack of communication between physicians and patients may be the primary reason why AD completion rates remain so low. The failure to honor an AD may stem from the physician's belief that to honor a directive would not be in the patient's best interest. The adoption and enforcement by all states of the Uniform Health-Care Decisions Act, recognition of a physician's ethical duty to assist patients in AD formulation, and routine third-party payor reimbursement to physicians for their role in patients' advance care planning will encourage and facilitate the completion and subsequent honoring of patients' directives.     

The promise of humanistic policing: Is higher education living up to societal expectation?

More police agencies require incoming personnel to have a college education background. The hope is that collegeeducated officers will be more rounded thinkers and exhibit a greater humanistic bent. This study attempts to evaluate the efficacy of that line of reasoning. Students from three southern colleges read vignettes and sentenced a murder defendant and an automobile theft defendant to a term of imprisonment. Three hypotheses are tested. First, it is expected that policeoriented criminal justice majors will not issue more severe sentences. Second, it is anticipated that greater exposure to college from the freshman to the senior years will be accompanied by less severe sentences. Third, sentencing will be independent of social characteristics. The results provide little evidence supporting a more authoritarian and more punitive stereotype of criminal justice majors interested in pursuing police careers. A draft of this paper was presented at the annual meeting of the Southern Criminal Justice Association, Chattanooga, TN, 1999     

On the meaning of the likelihood ratio: Is a large number always an indication of strength of evidence?

There is general lack of awareness that high LR based on complex propositions e.g. three contributors, does not necessarily translate into probative evidence against a suspect. In some cases there is an increased chance of false inclusion of a person of interest. This is an issue for all LR-based models. One way to address this issue is to further evaluate or qualify the estimated LR by a performance test. Based on simulations, this was achieved by non-contributor-testing: replacing the reference profile of interest (typically the suspect's profile), by the profile of a simulated random man. An exact p-value can also be calculated, giving the chance of observing an LR-value exceeding the estimated if the defense hypothesis is true.     

The applicability of riparian rights doctrine in Botswana: the judicial refusal to depart from the common law principles?

At independence, a semi-dessert Botswana did not have developed water law besides the common law. The newly independent state of Botswana passed the first post-colonial water legislation a year after gaining independence. This article argues that even though the Water Act grants ownership of water sources to the State, the common law riparian rights remain intact. This article argues that the courts of Botswana are reluctant to depart from the common principles of land and water law derived from South Africa notwithstanding a change of water law in that jurisdiction.