Factors associated with contact child sexual abuse in a sample of indecent image offenders

Abstract

This study explored a sample of 244 UK adult male offenders convicted of offences involving indecent images of children (IIOC): 120 had a previous contact child sexual offence (defined as dual offenders) and 124 had no evidence of an offence against a child (defined as non-contact offenders). Offender groups were compared regarding their socio-demographic characteristics, previous convictions and IIOC possession. Key discriminatory factors that differentiated dual offenders were: access to children, previous offence history, sexual grooming and possession of IIOC that depicts similar-aged victims. In contrast, non-contact offenders could be identified from their greater amount and wider range of IIOC possession. The results suggest a homology between Internet behaviours, IIOC possession and victim selection. Implications for law enforcement agencies are discussed in terms of assisting investigative prioritisation by identifying those most at risk of committing sexual abuse against children.     

Youths who sexually harm: A multivariate model of behaviour

Abstract

This study investigates the variations in behaviour displayed by young people who sexually harm, as previous research has shown that they are not a homogeneous sample. Three conceptually distinct sets of behaviour were hypothesized, relating to various modes of interaction between the young people with harmful sexual behaviour (HSB) and their victim, victim as object, victim as person and victim as vehicle. Thirty-three behaviours were drawn from an extensive review of the files of 300 youths who had sexually harmed. The pattern of co-occurrence of the presence or absence of these behaviours was revealed by a multidimensional scaling procedure, Smallest Space Analysis (SSA). The results provide empirical support for three distinct behavioural themes; 258 (86%) of the youths could be assigned to one dominant mode of interaction (victim as object, victim as person or victim as vehicle). The findings have implications for the ways in which practitioners differentiate between young people with HSB.     

Redefining Humanitarian Intervention: The Historical Challenge of R2P

Through analyzing the various factors in R2P's genesis and expansion as an international norm, this article contends that the office of the UN Secretary-General has provided steady backing of R2P, allowing for its ongoing consideration within the UN bureaucracy and among member states. In this respect, R2P has been able to assert itself in a meaningful way, with member states compelled to revisit the central tenets of the norm within the General Assembly and special dialogues. The office of the Secretary-General has clearly interpreted R2P as a strong and effective reinforcement of Article 1 of the UN Charter and the overall UN mandate, using the norm to more strongly anchor existing UN principles and values.     

Migrations of manuscripts

This article considers the motivations behind the introduction of the statutory requirement for local authority landlords, in making a decision to allocate housing, to give certain groups of people a ‘reasonable preference’. The discussion is set in the context of an examination of theories of local government covering the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In particular, it examines whether central government's decision to restrict local authorities' previous freedom in this sphere was based on any principle or theory of local government or, rather, whether it was a pragmatic decision. An analysis of the Parliamentary debates leading to the relevant Housing Acts suggests that the central–local government relationship of this period was based on pragmatism. The over-arching question of the appropriate distribution of power and functions between the centre and the localities was relatively unimportant, compared with the very real question of how sufficient houses could be built, at rents that working class people could afford.     

Improving emergency management: A total quality management approach

We address the problem of managing emergencies in complex environments and examine the concepts of total quality management (TQM) as a means of increasing organisational capacity to reduce and/or respond to threatening events. The TQM approach initiates and integrates improvement in three fundamental areas of organisational design and operation: technical, organisational, and cultural. We apply this approach to the interactive environment of hazardous materials management and present an “action plan” for introducing TQM into community planning for risk reduction and response, focusing on the technical, organisational, and cultural components of the process. We present evidence of increased performance in reducing hazardous materials risk from field reports of communities that have adopted TQM practices. Finally, we conclude that TQM serves as a generative means of revitalising, renewing, and enabling community engagement in hazardous materials management.     

Classifying partner femicide

The heterogeneity of domestic violent men has long been established. However, research has failed to examine this phenomenon among men committing the most severe form of domestic violence. This study aims to use a multidimensional approach to empirically construct a classification system of men who are incarcerated for the murder of their female partner based on the Holtzworth-Munroe and Stuart (1994) typology. Ninety men who had been convicted and imprisoned for the murder of their female partner or spouse in England were identified from two prison samples. A content dictionary defining offense and offender characteristics associated with two dimensions of psychopathology and criminality was developed. These variables were extracted from institutional records via content analysis and analyzed for thematic structure using multidimensional scaling procedures. The resultant framework classified 80% (n = 72) of the sample into three subgroups of men characterized by (a) low criminality/low psychopathology (15%), (b) moderate-high criminality/ high psychopathology (36%), and (c) high criminality/low-moderate psychopathology (49%). The latter two groups are akin to Holtzworth-Munroe and Stuart's (1994) generally violent/antisocial and dysphoric/borderline offender, respectively. The implications for intervention, developing consensus in research methodology across the field, and examining typologies of domestic violent men prospectively are discussed.     

Morphometric criteria for sexing juvenile human skeletons using the ilium

Previous attempts to sex juvenile skeletons have focused on the application of qualitative or semi-quantitative techniques. This study applies a variety of geometric morphometric methods, including eigenshape analysis, to this problem. Six metric criteria for the ilia were tested with the aim of investigating previous ideas concerning sexually diagnostic characters. This study uses 25 ilia from juveniles of known age and sex from Christ Church, Spitalfields, London. Ninety-six percent of juvenile ilia were correctly identified as male or female using the shape of the greater sciatic notch. Identification accuracy is shown to improve with age for several criteria. Males were identified to a higher accuracy than females. Application of geometric techniques improves the understanding of the relationship between age, sex, and shape and the clarity with which these relationships can be quantified. Archaeological and forensic relevance of the results are discussed with recommendations for future application.