Communicating about child sexual abuse with the public: learning the lessons from public awareness campaigns

Despite numerous public awareness campaigns child sexual abuse (CSA) remains a significant global issue affecting millions of children. This suggests that such campaigns have had minimal impact, and the paucity of good quality empirical evaluation makes it difficult to establish what has worked and what has not. This article considers how different and evolving approaches to public awareness campaigning on CSA since the 1990s have influenced (or not) attitudinal and behavioural change. The article reviews a number of key initiatives from around the world and identifies common themes that can inform campaigning and prevention efforts. Recommendations for further research efforts, social problem framing, and targeting are offered. The article concludes by arguing that more recent multi-faceted campaigns which combine a range of messaging methods are more likely to turn public awareness campaigning into public action campaigning.     

Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)--standardised investigations and classification: recommendations

Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) still accounts for considerable numbers of unexpected infant deaths in many countries. While numerous theories have been advanced to explain these events, it is increasingly clear that this group of infant deaths results from the complex interaction of a variety of heritable and idiosyncratic endogenous factors interacting with exogenous factors. This has been elegantly summarised in the "three hit" or "triple risk" model. Contradictions and lack of consistencies in the literature have arisen from diverse autopsy approaches, variable applications of diagnostic criteria and inconsistent use of definitions. An approach to sudden infant death is outlined with discussion of appropriate tissue sampling, ancillary investigations and the use of controls in research projects. Standardisation of infant death investigations with the application of uniform definitions and protocols will ensure optimal investigation of individual cases and enable international comparisons of trends.     

White collar crime,consumers and victimization

Consumers have long been recognized as one of the major groups of victims of white collar and corporate crime, although many of the activities which harm them are not widely regarded as ‘crime’. They tend to attract less publicity, and have been subject to less academic research, particularly in comparison with major financial frauds or cases involving mass harms. Moreover, there has been a tendency to view consumers as a relatively undifferentiated group, all of whom are likely to be victimized. This article identifies a wide range of crimes which affect consumers and explores some of the characteristics of victims and offenders, arguing that while all consumers are at risk, the impact of consumer crime, like other forms of crime, reflects wider patterns of structural inequality and falls most severely on the most disadvantaged.

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Elements Needed for Quality Batterer Intervention Programs: Perspectives of Professionals Who Deal with Intimate Partner Violence

Batterers intervention programs (BIPs) constitute a primary intervention for perpetrators of intimate partner violence (IPV). There is little understanding as to what elements are necessary for a good intervention program. We conducted 36 individual semi-structured interviews with professionals working with BIPs. Our results yielded three thematic categories: (1) optimal BIP structure—group size and program duration should foster change and interaction, (2) facilitator characteristics—co-facilitation is ideal, and facilitators should have IPV training, and (3) program approaches–programs should challenge their clients on their behavior, promote an environment of safety and openness, and strive to adapt to clients.     

Shrinks vs. shysters

In 1976, the Pennsylvania legislature passed a new mental health law which was designed to give civil and due process rights to the mentally ill, as well as to speed up the deinstitutionalization process. The psychiatric profession voiced loud disapproval of the new law. The public interest bar entered the issue, opposing the psychiatrists. In 1978, the law was amended, and most of the hard-won patients' rights were lost. This paper analyzes the reasons behind the psychiatric demand and victory, as well as the reasons for the lawyer's unsuccessful opposition, using two similar battles, one fought in the British Parliament in the eighteenth century, and one in the California legislature in the early twentieth century. Conclusions are drawn concerning the reason for the legislative “turnabout,” and predictions concerning the course of future battles are made.     

Crime and economic instability: the real security threat from North Korea and what to do about it

This essay examines the domestic and international causationof the socioeconomic transformation that has taken place inthe DPRK since the 1990s. In the process the essay demonstrateshow the DPRK socio-economy has become an enabling environmentfor crossborder illicit economic activity. The argument is thatthere is little evidence that the DPRK government fully comprehendsthe potential problems for its own society from the lack ofregulation of market transactions and therefore not much likelihoodthat it is currently able or willing to prevent spillover ofthe numerous grey areas of North Korean marketization into thesocio-economies of its neighbours. What is therefore neededis positive interaction by foreign economic interlocutors, includinggovernments and international institutions. A policy of 'intelligentintervention' that combines closely monitored but relativelysubstantial economic interaction integrally linked to a programmeof market institution-building in the DPRK, along with a policyof military deterrence, could best contribute to preventingthe growth of economic and political instability in NortheastAsia.