Treatment Fidelity in Sex Offender Programming: Assessing Delivery across Community Providers

In an effort to focus on treatment fidelity in the sex offender field, this study evaluated the treatment delivery of ten clinicians who provided treatment to sex offenders under community supervision. Data collection and analysis involved a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. Results revealed that treatment providers varied in their use of empirically-supported treatment techniques, their participation in the community containment approach, and their adherence to the treatment contract. These findings provide support for the continued study of treatment fidelity in the corrections literature. Implications and future directions are discussed.     

我国刑法共犯参与体系性质探讨——从统一正犯视野

在各国关于共同犯罪的刑事立法中,存在着区分正犯与狭义共犯的二元参与体系和不作上述区分的统一正犯体系两大类型,两种体系各有不同的特点。我国刑法并未提到正犯的概念,我国学者在共犯研究中鲜有涉及到我国犯罪参与体系性质的问题。我国刑法对共犯分类采用的是统一正犯体系,与传统的统一正犯体系相比又具有我国的特色。确定我国刑法所规定的犯罪参与体系性质对于我国共同犯罪理论与实务上一系列问题的解决有重要意义。     

Mental health expertise at prison reception

Although screening has become an established procedure in prison health care, some difficulties persist. In attempts to improve this, many local adaptations have been introduced, but few have been evaluated. We introduced an adaptation – mental health expertise (a Community Psychiatric Nurse, CPN) – into the reception area of a busy remand prison, and compared standard and enhanced assessment procedures over a six-month period. Referrals (n = 67) were significantly more likely to be suitable for onward caseworking by the clinical team after a CPN was introduced. The team showed little evidence of the ‘mission creep’ (where teams operating at a secondary level absorb mental health problems at a primary care level) that has been described elsewhere in the literature. Despite its limitations, this evaluation suggests that prison pathways can be improved by relatively inexpensive local initiatives, and that advancing specific mental health expertise into prison reception areas can enhance existing processes.     

Integration and offender mental health

Integrated care can introduce seamless coordinated pathways that are focused around the individual needs of patients, helping to prevent missed opportunities for intervention. Within offender healthcare, sequential funnelling through designated areas where screening can take place, along with co-location of services, lends itself to integrated working, at least in theory. However, within the offender healthcare pathway, service fragmentation and autonomous, disconnected (often referred to as siloed) working, has historically been the norm. If commissioned and designed to ensure and incentivise connections between services, whilst developing high quality service-focused research activities, pathways could enable clinical and social interventions, and outcomes, on a public health scale for these highly morbid populations. As such, offender healthcare offers a real opportunity to model integration for wider introduction across other health and social care areas. Discussed within is the call for integration, its concept, and its role within offender healthcare.     

THE IMPACT OF MEGAN'S LAW ON SEX OFFENDER RECIDIVISM: THE MINNESOTA EXPERIENCE*

Although Megan's Law was passed more than 10 years ago, very little is known as to whether it reduces sex offender recidivism significantly. Using a retrospective quasi‐experimental design, we examine whether community notification has a deterrent effect by comparing the recidivism rates of 155 level 3 (“high public risk”) sex offenders released from Minnesota prisons between 1997 and 2002 who were subject to broad notification with two separate control groups who were not. The first control group (referred to as the prenotification group) contained 125 sex offenders released between 1990 and 1996 (the 7 years preceding the implementation of the Community Notification Act) who likely would have been subject to broad community notification had the law been in effect at the time of their release. The second control group (referred to as the non‐notification group) was composed of 155 offenders (37 level 1 and 118 level 2) released between 1997 and 2002 who were not subject to broad community notification. The results from the Cox proportional hazards models reveal that broad community notification significantly reduced the risk of time to a sex reoffense (rearrest, reconviction, and reincarceration) compared with both control groups. The findings were mixed, however, for both non‐sex and general reoffending. Whereas broad community notification significantly reduced the risk of timing to both non‐sex and general recidivism compared with the prenotification group, no such effects were found in the non‐notification group analyses. We discuss the implications of these results and attempt to explain why Megan's Law seems to reduce sex offense recidivism in Minnesota.     

清代共同犯罪制度辨析

《大清律例》“共犯罪分首从”条是清代处理共同犯罪的总则性律条，它所规定的基本原则有两点：一是“共犯罪分首从”，二是“以造意者为首”。这种将共同犯罪人区分为首犯与从犯的分类方法，既不同于西方法律的“正犯与共犯”之分，也不同于当代中国法律的“主犯与从犯”之分。清代的共同犯罪制度体现了乡土中国独特的法律追求，应当引起当代法学界的重视。     

片面共犯理论的困境及出路探微

我国刑法并没有明文规定片面共犯，但关于其存废问题，中外刑法理论界一直众说纷纭。片面共犯理论主要有两个瓶颈：片面共犯与我国现有共犯理论的矛盾；片面共犯与间接正犯的关系。因此，应当拓展共犯理论的内涵，以达到整个共犯理论体系的协调；此外，应当认识片面共犯与间接正犯存在根本区别，间接正犯不能完全涵盖片面共犯。     

刑法第399条第4款的新解读

自新刑法颁布以来，理论界及司法实务界对于刑法第399条第4款的罪数形态及其适用范围的理解可谓见仁见智。对此问题的解答应回归到犯罪构成理论和法益保护理论上来，并在此基础上对此规定的罪数形态和适用范围做出重新解读。沿着这一逻辑路线进行解读，数罪并罚应是必然的解答。     

间接正犯特征探微

间接正犯是刑法理论和司法实践中的一种特殊的犯罪形态 ,有其独特的特征。深入剖析它的基本特征和构成特征 ,对于在理论上将间接正犯与教唆犯、亲手犯、共犯等相关概念区别开来 ,在司法实践中准确地认定间接正犯 ,都具有重要意义。     

Psychiatric disorders and management of sexual offenders in the prison psychiatric consultation unit of Marseille

Since 2017, complaints of sexual violence have increased in France. At the same time, the management of sexual offenders has been at the center of international public health policies. The prevalence of mental disorders among sexual offenders is an essential field of research. There are some published studies on the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in sexual offenders in detention, but there are few recent published studies among French individuals who were detained. Our objectives were to determine the prevalence of psychiatric disorders among persons detained for sexual offenses and the level of care received according to their diagnosis. For this purpose, we carried out a retrospective observational study from January 2017 to October 2021 of all adult sexual offenders, whether accused or convicted, who were seen in the psychiatric consultation unit of Les Baumettes prison, Marseille, France. The primary outcome measure was the psychiatric diagnosis entered in the medical records. One hundred forty-two patients were included in analysis. All patients were men, and the majority (n = 97, 68.3%) of these patients presented with at least one psychiatric disorder, principally a personality disorder (31.7%). 10.6% presented with a schizophrenic disorder, 4.9% a bipolar disorder, 3.5% a depressive disorder, 5.6% pedophilic paraphilia, and 25.4% an addictive disorder. Their management and comorbid addictions were analyzed in subgroups for each psychiatric disorder. Patients appeared to receive an appropriate level of care for their diagnosed disorder. It seems important to develop structured assessment of recidivism risk for better management of sexual offenders.