The Relationship of Abuse to Women’s Health Status and Health Habits

The present study examined the relationship between exposure to abuse and women’s health status and health behaviors in a sample of rural women. One hundred forty-eight women visiting a community health care center completed survey packets that included measures that assessed: exposure to abuse, impairment associated with exposure to abuse, physical and mental health problems, health behaviors, and the extent of health care usage. Results indicated that exposure to abuse was positively and significantly related to the adoption of a negative psychological perspective, which in turn was negatively correlated with physical and mental health, as well as with the practice of healthy behaviors. Results also showed that women exposed to abuse engage in less healthy behaviors and utilize more health care resources than do women with no such exposure. Implications for improving the assessment and treatment of abuse in health care settings are discussed. This article is based on a thesis completed by the first author with the same title as this report.     

Black and Blue Bloods: Protecting Police Officer Families from Domestic Violence

Officer‐involved domestic violence (OIDV) is a national problem, with police officer families having higher rates of domestic violence than non–police officer families. OIDV is also an underresearched problem with few studies or proposed solutions. Many victims of OIDV do not report their abuse precisely because their abuser is a police officer, whom they fear is in a unique position to protect him/herself from any legal consequences. Often, OIDV complaints are not investigated properly in a nonbiased manner. While a handful of police agencies around the country have developed specific policies and procedures to deal with OIDV, Washington State has enacted legislation that requires its police agencies to adopt OIDV‐specific policies. The International Associations of Chiefs of Police (IACP), an organization that addresses various issues confronting law enforcement, has also developed a model policy on OIDV. This Note proposes that, in light of the Washington legislation and the model policy proposed by the IACP, each state should enact a statute that requires its police agencies to develop policies on OIDV. This Note also outlines a specific set of procedures that such statutes should, at a minimum, require its police agencies to adopt, ranging from educating police officers on domestic violence to developing guidelines on responding to and investigating OIDV complaints.     

Therapists Behind Bars: Criminalizing Gay‐to‐Straight Conversion Therapy

Conversion therapy is a practice used to “change” an individual's sexual orientation from homosexual to heterosexual. Parents who expose their child to conversion therapy drastically increase the child's likelihood of developing anxiety, depression and self‐destructive behavior. Currently, 18 states ban mental health professionals from conducting conversion therapy. However, in those states, if a mental health professional conducts the therapy, the penalty is only a relatively small fine for unprofessional conduct. Additionally, to report their therapist, victims must file a complaint, which poses difficulties for minors. This Note proposes a criminal statute for mental health professionals who conduct conversion therapy.     

浅析非典型虐待行为的刑法规制

发生在幼儿园、养老院、社会救助站等监管机构的非典型虐待行为与发生在家庭成员之间的虐待行为一样,具有严重的社会危害性,需要受到刑法的规制。两类虐待行为主体之间的关系看似不同,实则有着本质上的趋同性——都是一种十分紧密的社会关系,有较为明确的强势方和弱势方。但是,现行刑法对虐待罪的犯罪主体范围规定得过于狭窄,刑法中的其他相关罪名也不能完全涵盖需要科处刑罚的非典型虐待行为,只有通过修改法律扩大虐待罪的主体范围,才能使非典型虐待行为得到刑法的全面规制。     

行政执法人员滥用职权罪浅析

滥用职权是行政机关在行使职权过程中经常出现的一种严重违法现象。滥用职权行为超越刑法界限必然导致构成滥用职权罪,而行政执法领域又是行政滥用职权的多发领域。正确分析及认识其滥用职权罪的原因,并找出相应对策,对推进我国依法行政具有重要意义。     

Protect Our Children: Vaccination Exemptions Can Establish Child Abuse and Neglect

The need to protect public health has increased as the anti‐vaccine movement is on the rise. Exemptions to vaccination requirements have become more lax, and parents find ways to avoid vaccinating their children, thereby exposing not only their children to the dangers of serious diseases, but other children as well. This Note proposes a federal statute mandating that parents subject their children between the ages of infancy and 6 to acquire vaccinations for all diseases recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention unless a licensed physician recommends otherwise.     

Changing institutional culture in the wake of clerical abuse – the essentials of restorative and legal regulation

The Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse completed its final report in December 2017 after five years of hearings. The Royal Commission was the culmination of pressure from a series of public inquiries about institutional sexual abuse and sustained advocacy from victims and survivor support groups. The Commission made recommendations designed to change institutional leadership, governance and culture. The challenge is to have that change embedded in institutional culture. This paper considers how this might be done in a specific institution, the Catholic Church given that more than two-thirds of reported abuse in faith-based institutions occurred within its ranks. Regulatory theory suggests effective regulation must be responsive to past institutional behaviour. In the case of the Church, the task is profound given its strong self-protective culture which has long shielded abusers. The form of regulation must provide a balance where criminal sanctions loom large in the background while redress processes proceed in the foreground to repair both the harm suffered by survivors and renew Church culture.     

An Investigation of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Depressive Symptomatology among Female Victimsof Interpersonal Trauma

This study examined factors associated with PTSD-depression comorbidity among a sample of 162 adult female rape or assault victims with PTSD, as well as potential differential predictors of PTSD and depression severity. PTSD-only participants reported higher levels of childhood sexual abuse than those with comorbid PTSD and depression, and the PTSD/MDD group reported relatively more distorted trauma-related beliefs, dissociation, PTSD severity, and depression severity. Distorted trauma-related beliefs and dissociation were the strongest unique predictors of higher PTSD and depressive symptoms. Rates of PTSD and depression comorbidity did not appear to be a function of symptom overlap. Study findings suggest possible explanations for the high PTSD and depression comorbidity rates commonly found among victims of interpersonal violence. This research was supported in part by a grant to Patricia A. Resick from the National Institute of Mental Health (R02-MH51509).     

College Student Evaluations of Parent–Child Disciplinary Situations

This study examined the influence(s) of the type of physical discipline administered and the type of child misbehavior on college student’s evaluations of parent–child disciplinary situations. Participants evaluated vignettes describing a child’s behavioral transgression and the subsequent parental disciplinary response. Evaluations were assessed in terms of the abusiveness, effectiveness, and appropriateness of the discipline. As predicted, evaluations varied as a function of both the type of physical discipline and the type of behavioral transgression. For example, parent–child interactions were evaluated as being more abusive when the severity of the discipline exceeded the severity of the transgression. Gender differences emerged with women evaluating mild discipline as being just as appropriate as moderate discipline while men evaluated mild discipline as being less appropriate than moderate discipline. Further, men evaluated moderate and severe discipline as being more effective than mild discipline. Results are discussed in terms of how the current research extends previous work in this area. Implications and areas for future research also are discussed.