Degrees of Memory of Childhood Sexual Abuse Among Women Survivors in Therapy

Past and current memory for childhood sexual abuse reported by a clinical sample of 160 women survivors was assessed utilizing a structured clinical interview. Response alternatives for memory were ordered along a continuum. To minimize treatment effects, participants were interviewed as early in therapy as possible. Fairly complete recollection both in the past and currently was reported by 26.3% of the sample, 36.9% apparently lost and subsequently recovered sexual abuse memories, and 36.9% endorsed intermediate degrees of memory. Only 2.5% indicated a decrease in degree of recollection over time. Age at onset was the only abuse characteristic found to differentiate participants with fairly complete memory from the rest of the sample. Findings are interpreted as illustrating that conclusions about memory for abuse are highly dependent on the way inquiries are conceptualized and worded.     

Facilitating corruption and human rights violations: the role of international financial institutions

The connection between corruption and the suppression of human rights has been recognized by scholars of human rights, state and state-corporate crime, non-governmental organizations, the United Nations as well as various governments. Scrutiny of governmental and/or regime corruption has been a primary focus, in relation to barriers and/or violations of human rights. Additionally, multinational companies’ complicity in corruptive policies and practices has raised concerns, in particular in the arms and natural resources sector. Glaringly absent, however, within the criminological literature are discussions of, and research on, the role of international financial institutions (IFIs) in relation to high levels of state corruption, save for the relatively little criminological research that has explored how cooperative endeavors between international financial institutions, transnational corporations, and states often result in demonstrably harmful activities as a result of structural adjustment policies. As such, it seems appropriate to consider how certain components and/or policies of IFIs facilitate rather than constrain corruptive practices by regimes, militias, paramilitaries, and transnational corporations. Such an exercise is not only important for its etiological contributions, but also to draw criminological attention to this phenomenon and because these organizations have stated a commitment to reducing state level corruption. I hope to extend the focus and insights of criminological analysis of crimes of globalization herein.     

That Was Then, This Is Now, What About Tomorrow? Future Directions in State Crime Studies

Research and theorizing on state crime has come to play an important role in the fields of criminology and criminal justice for understanding the worst of crimes: those of powerful state agencies and agents. Since William Chambliss’ (1989) ASC presidential address, scholars of state crime have made advances in theoretical modeling and analyzing core enactment and etiological factors of crimes of the state (e.g., Barak 1991; Friedrichs 1998; Grabosky 1989; Kauzlarich and Kramer 1998; Kramer and Michalowski 2005; Kramer et al. 2005; Michalowski and Kramer 2006; Mullins and Rothe 2008a, b; Pearce 1976; Ross 1995, 2000; Rothe 2009; Rothe and Mullins 2006, 2008). Nonetheless, the study of state crime still has a long way to go before it ever reaches the magnitude or legitimacy afforded to the study of traditional street crime. It is with this in mind that several leading scholars of state criminality have come together and reevaluated the state of state crime and the ways in which the field must move forward. This kind of inventory, where scholars examine the past, present and future of the field, is not without precedent. For example, almost a decade ago (Ross et al. 1999) explored the difficulty of conducting state crime research and made a series of recommendations on how it could be improved. Nearly 7 years later (Rothe and Friedrichs 2006) re-evaluated the state of state crime and called for more attention to those beyond US crimes of the state and include crimes of globalization and also international controls such as the International Criminal Court (Friedrichs and Friedrichs 2007; Rothe and Mullins 2006; Rothe et al. 2006, 2008). Since that time, there has been substantial movement by scholars of state crime in these other areas, yet, as we note, there still remains key issues that need to be addressed and overcome: it is with this that we again revisit the field of state crime. We wish to thank all of those that contributed to our discussions and thoughts during the American Society of Criminology Roundtable on State Crime I and II, November 2007.

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Unveiling The Headscarf Debate

In March 2004 the French parliament controversially adopted legislation regulating the wearing of symbols indicating religious affiliation in public educational establishments. This note discusses several features of the new law indicating its origins, its rationale and its position within French constitutional discourse on religious freedom and secularity. It is based on a panel discussion held in April 2004 within the Gender Studies Programme at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute, Florence. Placing the French legislative initiative in the context of recent developments in national and European case law (suggesting clear limitations to freedom of religion), the note explores the complexity of issues of gender, identity and difference in the present debate, especially when considered in the light of reactions to the law in Islamic countries.     

Sexual murderers' implicit theories

Interviews with 28 sexual murderers were subjected to grounded theory analysis. Five implicit theories (ITs) were identified: dangerous world, male sex drive is uncontrollable, entitlement, women as sexual objects, and women as unknowable. These ITs were found to be identical to those identified in the literature as being present in rapists. The presence of dangerous world and male sex drive is uncontrollable were present, or absent, such that three groups could be identified: (a) dangerous world plus male sex drive is uncontrollable; (b) dangerous world, in the absence of male sex drive is uncontrollable; (c) male sex drive is uncontrollable in the absence of dangerous world. These three groups were found to differ in motivation: (a) were motivated by urges to rape and murder; (b) were motivated by grievance, resentment and/or anger toward women; (c) were motivated to sexually offend but were prepared to kill to avoid detection, or secure compliance.     

Reconstituting social order and social control: Police accountability in Canada

Despite the important role which the police play in the reproduction of social order, there is a lacuna in critical criminological literature on the policing of democratic societies. As a consequence, the mistaken impression is fostered that policing in Canada is not problematic. This paper challenges this view, documenting the extent of police malpractice and raising the question of the need for police accountability. Within this context the authors discuss three forms which police accountability has historically taken: judicial inquiry, community police monitoring groups, and consultative liaison panels. One problem which the authors note is the way in which all three models depend upon the police for information about the nature of crime and policing, making them susceptible to dominant discourses about policing. Thus they continue by discussing the left realist model as potentially a fourth model. This form of police accountability emerged in Britain during the 1980s and is characterized by the production of an alternative discourse on crime and police practices based on locally conducted and controlled victimization surveys. The extent to which this practice of police accountability might be relevant to the Canadian context remains yet to be explored. The authors note in closing, however, that this is an empirical and not a theoretical question, meaning that Canadian criminologists must become more practical and less academic in their discourses of social control. “A riot is at bottom the language of the unheard” (Revd. Martin Luther King, 1967)