Trends in the management of registered sexual offenders across England and Wales: a geographical approach to the study of sexual offending

Abstract

Social scientists, and geographers in particular, have long been interested in examining spatial patterns of offending in order to generate a “geography” of crime and criminality. This paper examines what value, if any, a geographical approach to the study of sexual offending might offer. Utilising published official data from England and Wales it presents for the first time geographical analyses of the registration, risk assessment and management of Registered Sexual Offenders (RSOs) across 42 Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangement (MAPPA) areas. In doing so it considers and evaluates the methodological issues pertaining to the use of such data and such a geographical approach. We conclude that geographical interpretations of both the incidence of RSOs and the rates of risk allocations between MAPPA areas provide valuable insights and raise new questions about the way in which RSOs are managed nationally and are thus worthy of further exploration.     

Can parity of self-esteem serve as the basis of the principle of linguistic territoriality?

In this paper, I argue that Philippe Van Parijs’ argument for the principle of linguistic territoriality rests upon an unexamined and unvindicated assumption, to the effect that most situations in which smaller languages are threatened by larger ones can be assimilated to ‘colonial cases’, that is to cases in which there is injustice as between the two linguistic groups, as opposed to ‘mere number cases’, that is cases in which linguistic groups of different sizes coexist in the absence of injustice. Moreover, I argue that Van Parijs underestimates the amount of coercion that will have to be applied even within linguistically defined territories in order to avoid the erosion of the smaller language.     

校园性侵犯：学理与立法的分析

为积极应对和解决校园性侵犯的问题,研究不能停留在案例剖析和防范措施等现象和技术层面,而要加强学理及法理上的反思。在学理方面,国外和台湾的研究具有借鉴价值。从立法方面看,校园性侵犯具有一些独特的特点,又存在着认识上的误区,其立法还需要一个过程。     

Violent Sex Offenses: How are They Best Measured from Official Records?

In the United States, sexually violent predator (SVP) commitment statutes generally require assessment of an offender's risk of subsequent sexual violence. Current actuarial methods for predicting sexual reoffending were actually designed to predict something else—charges or convictions for offenses deemed sexual based on information obtained from police “rapsheets” alone. This study examined the referral and past offenses of 177 sex offenders. Results showed that police rapsheets (and data based on them) underestimated the number and severity of sexually motivated violent offenses for which sex offenders were actually apprehended. Rapsheet violent offenses seemed a more accurate index of the conduct addressed by SVP legislation than were rapsheet sex offenses. We suggest that, when evaluating sex offenders for SVP status, actuarial instruments designed to predict violent recidivism (as measured by rapsheet violent reoffenses) might be preferable to those designed to predict sexual recidivism (as measured by rapsheet sexual reoffenses).

Identification of human semenogelin in membrane strip test as an alternative method for the detection of semen

Semenogelin (Sg), a protein originating in the seminal vesicles and a substrate for prostate specific antigen (PSA or p30), is a useful marker for the identification of semen. And detection of Sg has been available commercially in a membrane test recently. PSA is commonly used to detect semen in forensic significant samples taken from sexual assault cases. The strip PSA test has been available commercially from various manufacturers for many years. In this study, we evaluated two immunochromatographic membrane tests, one for Sg and the other for PSA by analyzing human semen, other human bodily fluids/materials including urine, blood, saliva, sweat, breast milk, vaginal secretion and fecal materials, semen from various animals and forensic casework samples. The data demonstrate that both Sg and PSA strip tests provide rapid and sensitive method for identification of seminal plasma. These results show that the immunochromatographic method for Sg detection is useful for the identification of seminal plasma in forensic samples, an alternative to the method for PSA detection.     

Post‐Secularism and the European Court of Human Rights: Or How God Never Really Went Away

This article analyses the critical yet elusive notions of state neutrality, secularism and religious coercion under the European Convention in light of the European Court of Human Rights recent decision in Lautsi v Italy. We contend that the real concern in the Italian crucifix case was not the infringement of the school pupils’ religious freedom nor the proselytising or coercive effect of the ‘passive’ religious symbols. Rather, opponents of the longstanding symbols were animated by desire for strict religious equality, a notion that is, correctly in our view, not guaranteed under the Convention. Lautsi has significantly cleared the conceptual undergrowth surrounding state neutrality and the varieties of secularism, reined in the elastic notion of religious coercion and eschewed attempts to squeeze the constitutional diversity of European religion‐state frameworks into a strict American‐style separationist mould. The Convention jurisprudence on freedom of religion has finally come of age.     

High road in regulating online child pornography in South Africa

Online child pornography is a repulsive reality which cannot be ignored; the biggest child pornography manufacturing ring in South African history was cracked with the arrest of eight family members. There are more than 116 000 Internet searches daily for child pornography. Pornography is no longer confined to consenting adults, children are not only being exposed to pornographic material but are increasingly being used as victims of child pornography. In South Africa, the Internet and Cell phone Pornography Bill tabled in 2010 aims to make it illegal for Internet and mobile phone service providers to distribute pornography or permit it to be distributed. The objective of the Bill is to protect children from child pornography and women from the indignity of being seen as objects of pornography. This paper takes as its focal point the continuing crisis which centres on the conceptual framework, the existing legislation regulating online child pornography and measures to curb infringement.     

After Waterhouse: vicarious liability and the tort of institutional abuse

As evidence of the extent of the abuse of children in residential care increases, our understanding of this terrible wrong has altered. These assaults are an institutional syndrome, at the same time that they are individual crimes; certain systems of institutional care are conducive to/foster abuse behaviour (acting as 'crucibles' rather than 'honeypots'for rogue paedophiles). A theory of vicarious (institutional) liability is appropriate if we understand a syndrome of institutional abuse in this way, as involving institutional responsibility in addition to individual fault. The recent decision of the Canadian Supreme Court in Bazley v Curry found a children's home vicariously liable for sexual assaults of an employee on the basis of responsibility through the creation of risk, an analysis of and apportionment of liability which is appropriate to the special syndrome of institutional abuse, while encouraging deterrence and providing fair and practical compensation to victims. This analysis/liability is supported by an economic analysis of institutional child abuse and decision making in child protection.     

论英美刑法中胁迫的理论基础——兼论对我国胁从犯规定的借鉴意义

胁迫是英美法系刑法中的一个概念,具体是指行为人在受到他人死亡或者严重的身体伤害威胁的情况下被迫实施一定的犯罪行为。胁迫作为一种公认的普通法辩护事由,有其科学合理之处。分析了英美刑法中胁迫的成立条件及其存在的理论根基,并分析了其对我国刑法中胁从犯规定的借鉴意义。     

从融合到分立:儿童网络色情信息犯罪的刑事规制

儿童网络色情信息犯罪侵害的法益是"直接层法益"与"间接层法益"双重法益。"直接层法益"为儿童的身心健康权利与以"免受性剥削和性虐待"为核心的被动性的性权利,"直接层法益"为个人法益;"间接层法益"为性道德等社会法益。而成年人网络色情信息犯罪侵害的主要是基于"性的隐秘性"善良性风尚和性道德的社会法益。法益具有立法检视功能和区分功能,客观上需要将儿童网络色情犯罪与成年人网络色情犯罪分离,进而设置独立的刑事规范,并对儿童网络色情信息范围、犯罪行为类型及网络服务提供商的责任重新进行建构。