The self-regulation model of sexual offending: Relationship to risk and need

In the present study, we evaluated the validity and utility of the self-regulation model in a sample of 275 adult male sexual offenders treated within the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC). Individuals following different self-regulation pathways, as delineated in the SRM, were compared on offence characteristics, static and dynamic risk measures, and various treatment targets. Multivariate analyses revealed that, in general, offenders guided by approach-motivated goals exhibited more problematic offence characteristics as well as greater risk and treatment need than individuals guided by inhibitory goals. However, several other important distinctions were noted across offenders with different goals and strategies toward offending. These findings highlight the main importance of utilizing a comprehensive and multidimensional offence process model that emphasizes multiple routes to offending in sexual offender treatment. Implications of these findings for the effective assessment and rehabilitation of sexual offenders are discussed.     

Rough-and-Tumble Play and the Development of Physical Aggression and Emotion Regulation: A Five-Year Follow-Up Study

This is a follow-up to a study demonstrating that rough-and-tumble play was related to physical aggression in the preschool years. Fathers reported on the frequency of father-child rough-and-tumble play interactions, and the degree to which fathers were dominant in the play dyad was observed and coded from play interactions. In this follow-up study, school-aged children’s physically aggressive behaviors and emotion regulation abilities were assessed with questionnaires 5 years later. Higher frequencies of father-child rough-and-tumble play in the preschool years were associated with more physical aggression and worse emotion regulation 5 years later for children whose fathers were less dominant, over and above the effects of physical aggression in the preschool years. Rough-and-tumble play was unrelated to these measures among children whose fathers were more dominant during play. This study shows that early rough-and-tumble play continues to be related to children’s psychosocial adjustment over time, and that the effect remains moderated by the quality of the father-child relationship during play.     

The flip side of ISP’s liability regimes: The ambiguous protection of fundamental rights and liberties in private digital spaces

Since the inception of the Internet, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have been used to segment cyberspace and make it possible for national states to apply their local laws to conduct having effects within their borders. This is true in particular in the realm of intellectual property. When one looks at the national regulatory regimes supposedly framing the behavior of ISPs, there appear to be more similarities than differences at a first glance. Does this mean that the national or regional legal frameworks regulating the behavior of ISPs, which are increasingly considered to be the sword of public authorities, should be identical in all legal systems? Is it not true that the content of these national or regional legal frameworks regulating the behavior of ISPs should partly depend upon the local trade-offs among conflicting fundamental rights and liberties? Indeed, private power can jeopardize the exercise and the very core of individuals’ prerogatives as much as public power and priorities vary from one legal system to another. This paper therefore seeks to highlight the dependence of national regulatory modes framing the conduct of ISPs upon the strength of certain fundamental rights and liberties. More precisely, while the first part aims to explore the influence of certain fundamental rights and liberties upon the regulatory modes set up by national legislators, and in particular free speech, from the perspective of the user-to-user relationship, the second part of this article is devoted to the protection of these fundamental rights and liberties from the perspective of the intermediary-to-user relationship. It shows that at least within two legal systems the dependence described initially is in reality altered by the prevalence of the intermediary’s interests, even if the latter are in part affected by a recent trend towards more state interventionism. As a result, national solutions appear to be less innovative than foreseen.     

Hearing the Voice of the Child: Current Practice in Family Courts in Germany

German family courts have a long‐standing tradition of hearing the child's voice when proceedings affect the child. This article aims to provide an overview of the German procedural rules. The current role and practice of child hearings in family courts and the direct effects on the child are discussed in detail. The perceived benefits, challenges, and pitfalls are deliberated from the viewpoint of the psychological expert. Hearing the voice of the child in person is increasingly viewed as beneficial to the proceedings if the judges and other professionals involved possess the necessary qualifications and competence.     

The GDPR: A game changer for electronic identification schemes? The case study of Gov.UK Verify

This article offers an interdisciplinary analysis of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the context of electronic identification schemes. Gov.UK Verify, the UK Government's electronic identification scheme, and its compatibility with some important aspects of EU data protection law are reviewed. An in-depth examination of Gov.UK Verify's architecture and the most significant constituent elements of both the Data Protection Directive and the imminent GDPR – notably the legitimising grounds for the processing of personal data and the doctrine of joint controllership – highlight several flaws inherent in the Gov.UK Verify's development and mode of operation. This article advances the argument that Gov.UK Verify is incompatible with some major substantive provisions of the EU Data Protection Framework. It also provides some general insight as to how to interpret the requirement of a legitimate legal basis and the doctrine of joint controllership. It ultimately suggests that the choice of the appropriate legal basis should depend upon a holistic approach to the relationship between the actors involved in the processing activities.     

Locus of control in severely disturbed adolescents: Loci for Peers,Parents, Achievement,Relationships, and Problems

The validity of a multifactor conceptualization of locus of control (LOC) in severely disturbed adolescents was investigated. Ninety-two adolescents (44 female, 48 male) from a private psychiatric hospital completed the Children's Nowicki-Strickland Internal-External Locus of Control scale 3 months following admission. Five factors were found by both principal components and common factor analyses; the factors were named Peers, Parents, Achievement, Relationships, and Problems. Factors items had minimum loadings of 40, numbered 4 to 8 per factor, and accounted for 36.8% of the variance in principal components analysis and 28.5% of the variance in common factor analysis. Whereas traditional LOC was significantly related only to Global Assessment Scale (GAS) scores at admission and 3 months later, and to initial Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (3rd edition, revised) diagnosis of psychosis, individual factors were significantly related to IQ; GAS at admission, 3 months, and 15 months following admission; externalized aggression prior to admission; and diagnoses of psychosis, depression, and conduct disorder.Received doctorate in psychology from Stanford University. Current research interests include cost effectiveness and cost-benefit analysis of mental health services and substance abuse treatment programs, and cognitive determinants of premature cessation of therapy.Received doctorate in clinical psychology from George Washington University. Her current interests include individual psychotherapy with children and adolescents and research on the effectiveness of home-based services.Received doctorate in clinical psychology from George Washington University. His research interests include comorbidity of depression and conduct disorder, and outcome studies of adolescent disorders.Received M.D. from Harvard Medical School and is the former Head of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Rochester, and former Chief, Child Research Branch, National Institute of Mental Health. Major interests are inpatient adolescent treatment, family therapy, and individual psychotherapy.     

Workplace Relations and Agreement Making in the Australian Public Service

The Howard government has introduced major change to APS employment relations. The long-established centralised system has been replaced by a new employer agenda. Negotiations now occur at agency level and are regulated, as in the private sector, by the Workplace Relations Act 1996. Freedom of association is emphasised, as is the right for individuals to settle contracts with their employer. While the transformation is not yet complete, government policy is pushing toward a new paradigm for bargaining in the public sector.     

Mainstream Revolutionaries: Sinn Féin as a “Normal” Political Party?

Despite the seismic shift of Sinn Féin from being the “mouthpiece” of the Provisional Irish Republican Army to the largest nationalist force in Northern Ireland, the party continues to project its objectives within the revolutionary politics and tradition of 1916. Whilst various groups across the island of Ireland stress their loyalty to Irish independence and allegiance to their republican forefathers, 2016 also plays host to devolved assembly elections in Northern Ireland. The centenary of the Easter Rising is therefore a poignant moment to reassess republican politics, more specifically, the relationship between the armed revolutionary tradition and constitutionalism. Within the post-peace process era Sinn Féin have been accused of maintaining an autocratic culture and an intra-party framework that is more representative of a clandestine revolutionary organisation than a political party. Yet, simultaneously, Sinn Féin have not been immune to the pressures experienced by other modern political parties, bound by the laws of electoral competition and driven by office-seeking priorities. In order to explore Sinn Féin within the modern political arena, this article firstly examines the broader debate surrounding how armed groups make the transition into constitutional politics. Secondly, public opinion survey data is used to judge the basis of Sinn Féin's electoral appeal. Finally, internal party documents are used to examine party structure, intra-party democracy, and professionalisation in order to judge the extent to which Sinn Féin have completed the transition from being a “mouthpiece” to their armed counterpart, towards being a “normal” political party.     

Effectiveness of sex offender treatment for psychopathic sexual offenders

Meta-analyses have suggested that sexual offender treatment (SOT) completion is associated with lowered sexual recidivism rates for convicted sexual offenders. The paucity of properly designed studies allows for the alternative explanation of less recidivism among treated samples as reflecting that lower risk offenders disproportionately self-select into treatment. A test of the "self-selection explanation" can occur by investigating treatment effect on known high-risk offenders. Psychopathy correlates with increased sexual recidivism risk, such that an exploration of the SOT effect on psychopathic offenders could clarify the accuracy of the self-selection hypothesis. Additionally, the debated degree to which psychopaths are treatable might obtain clarification by a research review. This article examines empirical findings concerning the effectiveness of SOT for psychopathic sexual offenders. Ten studies were found to meet the minimal quality standards used, stemming from only four data sources. Shortcomings of existing research precluded clear conclusions, though trends in the data are delineated.