Domestic Violence Abusers: A Descriptive Study of the Characteristics of Defenders in Protection from Abuse Orders in Sedgwick County,Kansas

Protection from abuse orders have been presented in the contemporary literature as one of many tools in protecting battered women. While protection from abuse orders provide legal protection from abuse, many abusers violate these court orders. The current study describes the characteristics of 1,873 alleged domestic violence abusers in Sedgwick County, Kansas. Data were collected from protection from abuse filings over a 12-month time frame. The data were used to examine the demographics of offenders as well as to assess the prior arrests of the offenders. Results showed that abusers were typically white males, average age of 33 with extensive past criminal arrest histories.     

精神病人限定刑事责任能力评定量表在强奸案件中的运用

目的探讨《精神病人限定责任能力评定量表》在强奸案件中的运用。方法用《精神病人限定责任能力评定量表》评定为限定刑事责任能力的77例强奸案例,完成了量表评定,同时将限定刑事责任能力进行三级划分。结果小部分组、部分组、大部分组量表评定分逐渐升高,且具有显著性差异,量表共16个条目与评定分相关,相关系数从0.265至0.611不等,因子分析得到7个因子,解释75.784%的变异。结论精神病人限定责任能力量表内部构建合理,在强奸案件中其评定总分能有效反映三级限定刑事责任能力之间差异。     

SMS. OMG! LOL! TTYL: TRANSLATING THE LAW TO ACCOMMODATE TODAY'S TEENS AND THE EVOLUTION FROM TEXTING TO SEXTING

Around the country some teenagers are using their cell phones to distribute nude or seminude pictures of themselves through text messages. An alarming number of these teenagers who are caught possessing or distributing the pictures face criminal charges as a child pornographer. Some face the possibility of jail time; others must register as a sex offender. Such harsh punishments are the product of laws that have not caught up with technology's advancements. This Note suggests that child pornography laws be restructured to include a category for juvenile “sexters” so these teenagers are not prosecuted as adults or forced to register as sex offenders. The laws should recognize different categories of sexters and provide rehabilitation programs suited to respond to the level of risk each sexter presents.     

论无特殊身份者参与身份犯的基本界限与程度

在身份犯中,由于具备特殊身份的自然人的危害行为才可能侵犯法益,或加重、减轻法益的侵害,因此,刑法典分则将其作为一种特殊的犯罪类型加以规制。但不具备特殊身份者可以与具备特殊身份者共同侵犯身份犯保护的法益,因此,其可以成为身份犯的共同犯罪人。实行犯与正犯是两个不同的概念,具有不同的机能。对于无特殊身份者能否成为身份犯的共同实行犯之问题,须根据身份犯的实行行为分别而论。但无身份者不能成为身份犯的共同正犯,否则,"区别对待共同犯罪中的首恶者与胁从者,惩办少数,改造多数"之刑事政策就不能实现。     

论原始社会犯罪人赔偿制度

20世纪70年代开始至90年代,几乎所有西方国家都规定了罪犯赔偿制度。追溯罪犯赔偿历史,它是原始社会时期的一种犯罪治理手段,是犯罪的伴生现象。相较于今天的犯罪治理手段,它更注重个人身心、生活、行为和社会秩序的恢复。西方国家、伊斯兰社会和非洲、亚洲等的原始社会,都曾广泛采用罪犯赔偿制度。原始社会罪犯赔偿制度注重被害人的被害恢复,重视为避免社会冲突,要求罪犯承担弥补犯罪所造成的恶果的责任,同时也十分重视恢复社区安宁。这对于我们今天的犯罪治理有着重要的参考价值。     

The Victim–Offender Overlap Behind Bars: Linking Prison Misconduct and Victimization

Despite a growing body of research on the victim–offender overlap, limited scholarship has examined this phenomenon in the context of the prison. This paper advances theory and scholarship on the victim–offender overlap and prison social order by examining linkages between prison misconduct and victimization. Examination of the overlap in the prison context extends the generality of the model and provides greater insight into the implications of the prison experience on behavior. This paper uses nationally representative data from the Survey of Inmates in State and Federal Correctional Facilities and bi-probit analyses to estimate whether the overlap exists within the prison setting and whether victimization and misconduct can be explained using the same theoretical framework. Findings suggest that common and unique risk factors exist for victimization and misconduct. Results have implications for theory, research, and policy related to understanding the relationship between victims and offenders and deviance in the prison setting.     

Evaluation of a restorative justice-based,community-based program for people who have offended sexually: participant impact

Community Justice Initiatives, Kitchener, Canada, offers a Restorative Justice program called Revive to people impacted by sexual harm, including men who have offended sexually. This volunteer-led program treats participants with compassion while holding them accountable for sexual harm perpetrated. Program goals include reducing isolation, promoting self-awareness, and fostering healing. Based on restorative justice principles, positive community reintegration and reduction of further sexual offending are the ultimate goals of the program.

We evaluated information from a questionnaire administered at intake, after the 7-week phase, and again after participation in the peer-support group. Participants responded quantitatively about the impact of Revive on six sexual offense-related outcomes statements (e.g., gaining understanding of their triggers, understanding why they sexually offended). They also indicated the impact of Revive on psychosocial dimensions such as stigma perception and social support. Qualitative questions further elucidated the experience of Revive participation. Findings suggest that Revive has an impact on self-understanding of why they sexually offended, victim empathy, as well as stress reduction and increased self-esteem. We conclude that the restorative justice framework is a very hopeful, positive one and that the Revive program is effective at enacting restorative justice-based principles.     

Immature offenders. A critical history of the representations of the offender in restorative justice

This paper reconstructs and discusses how the ‘offender’ is represented within policy documents, legal statutes and scholarly literature on restorative justice, published and circulated in England and Wales over the last thirty years. The research first outlines the most wide-ranging and recurrent images and implicit assumptions of the offender in restorative justice. A set of specific offender’s features will be singled out, and the ‘ideal offender’ of restorative justice will be profiled. The final step of this work consists of mapping out the cultural context within which this ideal has emerged, in a historical perspective. The overall goal is to shed light on some taken-for-granted images surrounding the offender in restorative justice, and on the cultural context within which they have developed. In this way, it is possible to contribute toward the critical re-assessment of restorative justice whilst considering implications beyond the British context.     

Effectiveness of a risk–need–responsivity‐based treatment program for violent and sexual offenders: Results of a retrospective,quasi‐experimental study

Purpose

Relapse prevention is an important goal in correctional settings. Although there is strong evidence for the effectiveness of certain treatment programs for juvenile offenders, those for adults lack such evidence. This study evaluated the effectiveness of a risk–need–responsivity (RNR)‐based intervention.

Methods

A quasi‐experimental, observational study design and cox regression analysis were used to compare treated violent and sexual offenders (n = 171) with untreated offenders (n = 241).

Results

Both groups were observed for an average of 7.9 years. Recidivism rates of treated offenders (11.7%, n = 20) were similar to those of control offenders (15.8%, n = 38; p = .25). When controlling for confounding variables, the hazard of recidivism in the treatment group was 5.2% lower than that in the control group. Subdividing the treatment group resulted in lower hazard ratios for offenders still in therapy when released and offenders cancelling therapy. However, none of the group differences was statistically significant.

Conclusion

Our results show that control and RNR‐based treatment groups had comparable recidivism rates with a trend towards a positive treatment effect, especially for people in outpatient treatment. However, criminal history, age at the start of follow‐up, and actuarial risk of recidivism were significantly associated with recidivism. Future research needs to apply elaborate methodological approaches to detect robust treatment effects and consider different criteria of treatment effectiveness. Furthermore, the influence of prison climate, motivational factors, intervention quality, and factors supporting the success of outpatient treatment should be considered in future studies of larger offender samples.     

CO‐OFFENDING AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE DELINQUENT CAREER*

This article examines the role of co‐offending in the development of the delinquent career. Hypotheses derived from Reiss's (1986, 1988) taxonomic theory of co‐offending are tested, using police‐reported data on the delinquent careers and co‐offending of 55,336 Canadian offenders. Support is found for a taxonomic theory and for age‐related and functional theories of co‐offending. The taxonomy consists of two types of offenders—high activity (3 percent) and low activity (97 percent)—whose co‐offending patterns differ during the teenage years but not during childhood. For low‐activity offenders as teenagers, the proportion of co‐offenses decreases with criminal experience. The rate of co‐offending by high‐activity offenders as teenagers is lower at onset than for low‐activity offenders, and it varies little with criminal experience. For both offender types, the proportion of co‐offenses decreases with age, is slightly less in males, and varies with the type of offense. For both offender types, the proportion of co‐offenses in childhood offending is greater than in the teenage years and is unrelated to the offender's age or criminal experience.