Developing a therapeutic environment for boys in secure settings who have sexually offended

Abstract

The role of secure units in helping sexually abusive adolescent boys to change their behaviour and attitudes is examined. The problems presented by 23 adolescent sex offenders at Glenthorne Youth Treatment Centre were used to identify issues for management and treatment. These boys had committed a variety of non-sexual offences, and were responsible for 691 recorded crimes. Many had committed violent offences and had emotional, educational, relationship and substance-abuse problems. In contrast to the situation in community settings, the use of offence-focused groupwork and individual psychological therapy is limited in secure units. Many of these boys are not suited to this kind of work, or are not yet ready to benefit from it. Secure units also have difficulty resourcing these types of intervention. Nevertheless, the secure unit environment can be organised and structured to effect changes in behaviours and attitudes associated with sexual offending. Attention should be given to particular aspects of residential practice, including anti-discriminatory practice, organisational values, establishing behavioural boundaries, challenging unacceptable behaviour and language, reinforcing appropriate behaviour, encouraging interpersonal problem-solving, providing effective supervision based on an evaluation of risk, and education to raise victim awareness and respect for others. Liaison with community programmes for sexually abusive adolescents should be encouraged.     

A case study of a male sex offender with zoosexual interests and behaviours

Abstract

This paper reviews assessment, treatment and supervision issues in relation to a high-risk, borderline functioning, male sex offender with zoosexual interests and behaviours. Mr Z was convicted of multiple sexual offences including rape, indecent assault and indecent exposure as well as actual and threatened bodily harm. He was convicted for two counts of attempted buggery of horses and he received a Probation Order to engage in group and individual work, as deemed appropriate. Significant treatment challenges emerged due to his cognitive/intellectual difficulties, coping problems (including anger management issues) and dissimulation. Further, continuing evidence of high-risk behaviours associated with his index offence as well as previously identified patterns of offending were reported. Ongoing concerns prompted a referral for a polygraph examination to gain additional information about Mr Z's offence history and to achieve a better understanding of his treatment needs. These findings are discussed and specific attention is focused on Mr Z's zoosexual behaviours.     

Stolen Children,Invisible Mothers and Unspeakable Stories: The Experiences of Non-Aboriginal Adoptive and Foster Mothers of Aboriginal Children

One of the measures of the cultural, if not political, success of sustained Aboriginal activism on the issue of the forced removal of children from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, leading up to the instigation of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission's inquiry into the issue and the widely disseminated publication of its findings in 1997, is that it now appears nearly impossible to tell the story of indigenous child removal in terms other than those provided by the powerful Aboriginalised tropes and narrative modes that have come to shape both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal understandings of issue. I do not wish to take issue with the long-overdue emergence of Aboriginal voices and an Aboriginal discourse on this issue. However, as the older ways of understanding the meaning of removing indigenous children from their communities ‘for their own good’ (Link-Up & Wilson 1997) have lost their provenance and are replaced by Aboriginal stories with the critically revised meanings of cultural loss, ethnocide, grief and harm, which are expressed in a wide range of discourses (see, for example, Ward 1988; Edwards & Read 1989; Roach 1990; Huggins & Huggins 1994; Smallacombe 1996; Harrison 1997), it becomes apparent that there are still more stories to be told about how Australian's high assimilationist policies of forced child removal and placement played out on the lives of the men, women and children of the nation. From a (non-Aboriginal) feminist perspective, a particular case in point is the stories of the non-Aboriginal women who, both knowingly and unknowingly, came to adopt and foster these children, raising them as their own?a task in which many have been engaged for upwards of 30 or 40 years. These women, who must on any estimate number in their thousands across the nation, remain all but invisible in both the former and now discredited accounts of indigenous child removal and placement, and in more recent Aboriginal revisions of this appalling history. This paper presents preliminary analysis of research undertaken with a small group of these women in 1997 and 1998.     

性贿赂犯罪化问题的刑法学思考

在物质生活极大丰富的当今社会,权色交易日趋严重,性贿赂已经成为催生腐败,危及国家工作人员职务行为廉洁性的温床,严重阻碍我国民主法治和政治文明的发展。但是,我国现行刑法重点规制物质性利益的贿赂犯罪,对于涉及非物质性利益的性贿赂犯罪问题没有明文规定,法律上的漏洞引起了实践中的茫然。因而,有必要对比古今中外的立法例,详细分析性贿赂犯罪化问题的若干争议,认真考察性贿赂犯罪化的可行性,并从现实角度对现行法律进行重新建构。     

A behavioral measure of the enthusiasm gap in American elections

What are the effects of a mobilized party base on elections? I present a new behavioral measure of the enthusiasm gap in a set of American elections to identify how the turnout rate of the party faithful varies across different contexts. I find that the advantaged party can see its registrants turn out by four percentage points more than the disadvantaged party in some elections, and that this effect can be even larger in competitive House districts. I estimate the net benefit to party vote share of the mobilized base, which is around one percentage point statewide, and up to one and one half points in competitive House contests. These results suggest that the partisan characteristics of an election have consequences not just for vote choice, but for the composition of the electorate.     

Application of DNA Forensic Techniques for Identifying Poached Guanacos (Lama guanicoe) in Chilean Patagonia*

Abstract: Guanaco (Lama guanicoe) is a protected and widely distributed ungulate in South America. A poacher, after killing guanacos in Valle Chacabuco, Chilean Patagonia, transported and stored the meat. Samples were retrieved by local police but the suspect argued that the meat was from a horse. Mitochondrial cytochrome b gene (774 pb), 15 loci microsatellites, and SRY gene were used to identify the species, number of animals and their population origin, and the sex of the animals, respectively. Analysis revealed that the samples came from a female (absence of SRY gene) Patagonian guanaco (assignment probability between 0.0075 and 0.0282), and clearly distinguishing it from sympatric ungulates (E‐value = 0). Based on the evidence obtained in the field in addition to forensic data, the suspect was convicted of poaching and illegally carrying fire arms. This is the first report of molecular tools being used in forensic investigations of Chilean wildlife indicating its promising future application in guanaco management and conservation.     

Abolishing Marriage: Can Civil Partnership Cover it?

This paper argues that all adult intimate relationships should be regulated under one single statute. This statute should be the Civil Partnership Act 2004 (which currently applies to same sex couples). The Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 (which applies to opposite sex couples), should be repealed; it should not be amended to include same sex couples. There would, as a consequence, be no such thing as (legal) marriage. Marriage as a legal construct is a heterosexual and patriarchal institution and is therefore so fundamentally flawed it is beyond the possibility of successful reform or repair. The present system of having two distinct legal means of relationship recognition is akin to sexual apartheid and is therefore unsustainable in the long term. Having a legal system which recognises only one form of legal partnership would therefore formally end a discriminatory system. Despite its drawbacks, Civil Partnership does not have the same extent of symbolic and practical degree of flaws as Marriage.

Female Sex Offenders: A Controlled Comparison of Offender and Victim/Crime Characteristics

The current study was a chart review of 31 female sex offenders (FSO), 31 male sex offenders (MSO), 31 female violent offenders (FO), and 31 male violent offenders (MO) using a 2 (female or male) by 2 (sex or violent offender) design. This is the first known study to employ three control groups when researching female sex offenders. Multiple variables appeared related to gender and crime. However, some variables emerged as FSO specific. They reported the least alcohol abuse history and had fewer admissions of guilt to the crime than the two violent offender samples. More FSOs knew their victim and were biologically related to their victim than MSOs. Lastly, the FSO sample was the least discriminating as to their victim’s gender and had the highest overall rate of sexual victimization.     

“先强奸后自愿发生性行为”除罪化的困境及其出路

将“先强奸后自愿发生性行为”直接除罪化,不仅缺乏理论依据,也违反了我国《刑法》明文规定,同时还导致了法规范的不协调。为了解决这些问题,应将具有这一特殊情形的强奸罪规定为亲告罪,即《刑法》应明确规定：“第一次性行为违背妇女的意志,但后来女方又多次自愿与该男子发生性行为的,对于先前的强奸行为,告诉的才处理。”     

活体跟骨数字X线片性别判定

目的应用数字X线摄影方法测量跟骨,评估5项测量指标在法医学性别判定中的价值。方法393例受试对象随机分组,实验组334例(男性148例,女性186例),验证组59例(男性26例,女性33例)。每一受试对象按照规定投照方法摄跟骨侧位DR片,分别测量5项跟骨长度指标。方差分析检验实验组各项指标性别间差异,Fisher判别分析及多元逐步判别分析建立性别判别函数。验证组样本数据回代,前瞻性评估判别效能。结果5项指标性别差异有统计学意义(P<0.001)。共建立了6组性别判别函数,性别判断正确率在78.4%～88.9%之间;回代检验,判断正确率在79.7%～86.4%之间。结论跟骨侧位数字X线片5项长度测量指标代入判别函数进行性别判定的方法可为法医学个人识别中的性别判定提供帮助。