New zealand youth that sexually offend: improving outcomes for maori rangatahi and their whanau

Māori youth are overrepresented in criminal justice statistics and youth forensic services. Māori youth that engage in sexual offending behaviors have a higher risk of dropping out of treatment than Pākehā(1) youth. Research into Māori mental health is important to inform ongoing service development and is essential to strive for equity in mental health outcomes and offending rates among Māori. In this study, the researchers investigated the coexisting emotional and behavioral problems and victimization histories of an age-matched sample of Māori (n = 75) and Pākehā (n = 75) youth who were referred to a community treatment program for sexual offending in Auckland between 1996 and 2008. The Child Behavior Checklist was used to investigate ethnic differences. After controlling for socioeconomic deprivation, Māori youth scored significantly higher than Pākehā youth on the Delinquent Behaviors syndrome scale. Māori youth were also more likely than Pākehā youth to have a background of physical abuse. Implications of these findings are discussed, with regard to the unique needs of Māori youth and appropriate interventions.     

The Sexual Histories and Fantasies of Youthful Males: A Comparison of Sexual Offending,Nonsexual Offending,and Nonoffending Groups

The present clinical and theoretical literature suggests that adolescents' sexual histories and fantasies are factors contributing to the onset and perpetuation of criminal sexual behaviors. However, few data exist either to support or to refute such assertions. The purpose of the present study was to describe the self-reported sexual histories and fantasies of four groups: 104 incarcerated adolescent sexual offenders between 10 and 15 years of age, 198 16- to 20-year-old incarcerated sexual offenders, 124 incarcerated youth without a history of sexual offending, and 135 male nonoffending undergraduates. Youthful sexual offenders reported fewer consenting sexual experiences and more involvement in nonconsenting and paraphilic behaviors than both incarcerated nonsexual offenders and college males. Moreover, both sexual offenders and incarcerated nonsexual offenders reported more atypical and voyeuristic experiences, and fewer nondeviant sexual fantasies than college males. These results are discussed in terms of both social deficit and deviant conditioning models of sexual offending, leading to speculation that, contrary to clinical lore, criminal activity may be associated with suppressed levels of nondeviant fantasy rather than elevated levels of deviant fantasy.     

Developing Empathy in Sexual Offenders: The Value of Offence Re-Enactments

This paper describes an evaluation of different uses of roleplay to enhance victim-specific empathy in sexual offenders. Thirty-three men participated in a treatment program involving offence re-enactment as described by Pithers (1994) and Mann, Daniels, and Marshall (2002). A matched group of 33 men participated in a treatment program that was identical in all respects except that they did not complete offence re-enactments. Instead, they completed extra roleplays designed to enhance empathy for the short and long-term consequences for their victim(s). Results indicated that completing an offence re-enactment led to slightly better ability to identify some types of negative consequences for abuse victims, and identify cognitive distortions about their offending and women per se. Rapists in particular seemed more likely to benefit from offence re-enactment. The non-re-enactment group showed better understanding of lifestyle disruption effects for sexual abuse victims. The differences between the groups were not very marked, and the study only involved measures of cognitive empathy. Given the concerns about offence re-enactment expressed by Pithers (1997), this procedure should be used with caution and future investigations should test specifically for possible signs of damage caused by the procedure.     

Predictors of Recidivism in Australian Juvenile Sex Offenders: Implications for Treatment

Juvenile sex offenders charged with their first sexual offence were compared with recidivist juvenile sex offenders who had been charged with more than one sexual offence on a number of factors related to sexual offending. Participants were 70 male juvenile sex offenders, aged 13–21 years who were awaiting court disposition. Negative family history, negative family characteristics, school and learning problems, social skill deficits, deviant sexual experiences, deviant sexual fantasies, and cognitive distortions were assessed for their direct and mediating roles in recidivism. Path analysis indicated that poor social skills, learning problems, and deviant sexual experiences were causally related to recidivism of sexual offending. Poor social skills were directly related to recidivism, whereas cognitive distortions and deviant sexual fantasies mediated the role of learning problems and deviant sexual experiences. There was a significant association between deviant sexual experience and learning problems. The findings support the role of cognitive distortions and deviant sexual fantasies in recidivist sexual offending for this sample. The causal role identified for poor social skills and learning problems in recidivism for sexual offending has implications for treatment and therefore deserves further attention.     

Juvenile female sexual offenders: Clinical characteristics and treatment issues

The phenomenon of juvenile female sexual offending was explored through the study of 67 youths who had been referred for either community-based or residential treatment following a documented history of sexual perpetration. These youths were compared to a group of 70 juvenile male sexual offenders across three parameters: developmental and psychiatric characteristics, history of maltreatment, and sexual perpetration characteristics. Relative to the juvenile males, the histories of the studied females reflected even more extensive and pervasive childhood maltreatment, with many of the youths exposed to the modeling of interpersonal aggression by females as well as males. The majority of these juvenile female sexual offenders demonstrated repetitive patterns of sexual offending with multiple victims, suggesting psychosexual disturbances equivalent in severity to the comparison group of males. The authors discuss typological impressions of this clinical population and their special treatment needs.     

Childhood Attachment,Childhood Sexual Abuse,and Onset of Masturbation Among Adult Sexual Offenders

Written autobiographies of 48 incarcerated adult male sexual offenders (22 rapists, 13 intrafamilial child molesters, and 13 extrafamilial child molesters) were used to generate retrospective self-report measures of their childhood maternal and paternal attachment, childhood sexual abuse experiences, and onset of masturbation. Contrary to expectation, the offenders as a combined group more often reported secure than they did insecure childhood maternal and paternal attachment. There were no differences between the three offender subgroups with respect to maternal attachment; however the rapists and the intrafamilial child molesters were more likely to report insecure paternal attachment than were the extrafamilial child molesters. There were no differences between these offender subgroups in the frequency with which childhood sexual abuse was reported. However, offenders with insecure paternal attachment were more likely to report having been sexually abused than were those with secure paternal attachment. Sexually abused offenders in turn reported earlier onset of masturbation than did those who were not sexually abused. These results are consistent with contemporary attachment models linking insecure childhood attachment to childhood sexual abuse, and with traditional conditioning models linking childhood sexual abuse, early masturbation, and sexual offending.     

Postrelease specialization and versatility in sexual offenders referred for civil commitment

Offense specialization and versatility has been explored previously in the prior criminal records of sexual offenders. The present study expanded these findings by examining offense specialization and versatility in the postrelease offending of a sample of sexual offenders referred for civil commitment and released. Criminal versatility (not limiting one's offending to sexual crime) both before and after commitment was the most commonly observed offending pattern in the sample. Specialist offenders (those for whom sexual offenses constituted more than half of their total number of previous arrests) were more likely than versatile offenders to specialize in sexual offending on release, perhaps indicating that specialization is a stable offending tendency. When compared by referral status, recidivism records indicated that offenders who were committed for treatment were more likely than observed, noncommitted offenders to specialize in sexual offending on release. When compared by offender classification, child molesters and offenders with mixed aged victims were much more likely than rapists and incest offenders to specialize in sexual offending on release.     

Empathy,Self-Esteem,and the Adolescent Sexual Offender

Though empathy training is routinely utilized in the treatment of adolescent sexual offenders, there has been little research to support the link between a lack of empathy and sexual offending. Alternatively, self-esteem building is not as frequently incorporated into treatment. This paper reports our exploration of these two variables as predictors of sexual offense. Offenders' (N = 84) scores on a general measure of empathy were no lower than the scores of nonoffenders (N = 113), although their self-esteem scores were significantly lower. Correlation and regression analyses of empathy and self-esteem with relevant background variables tended to support our findings and the validity of our measures. Ambiguities in the conceptualization of empathy may retard our understanding of its usefulness as a treatment and its power as a predictor of sexual offense. Although limitations in study design point to the need for additional sophisticated research, low self-esteem may be a contributor to adolescent sexual offending and may serve as a target for treatment of these youthful offenders.     

Phonemic awareness and early spelling skills in urban Australian Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children

This study investigated the phonological awareness and early spelling skills of 10 Australian Aboriginal and 10 non-Aboriginal children in their first year of schooling at urban schools. Phonological awareness was assessed using a standardized test (the Queensland University Inventory of Literacy), and children completed a standard spelling task that required them to generate spelling attempts in response to 12 line drawings of familiar animals. Spelling was analysed using the Spelling Scoring Sensitivity procedure. All children performed within the normal range for scores on the QUIL. However, as a group, Aboriginal children performed more poorly than their non-Aboriginal peers. Statistically significant differences were found on the subtests non-word spelling, non-word reading, and phoneme segmentation. Both formal scoring and informal observations were used to examine the spelling skills of participants. Possible explanations of the differences between groups are discussed in terms of health and cultural factors, and implications for the education of Aboriginal children are suggested.     

Owning solutions: a collaborative model to improve quality in hospital care for Aboriginal Australians

Well-documented health disparities between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (hereafter referred to as Aboriginal) and non-Aboriginal Australians are underpinned by complex historical and social factors. The effects of colonisation including racism continue to impact negatively on Aboriginal health outcomes, despite being under-recognised and under-reported. Many Aboriginal people find hospitals unwelcoming and are reluctant to attend for diagnosis and treatment, particularly with few Aboriginal health professionals employed on these facilities. In this paper, scientific literature and reports on Aboriginal health-care, methodology and cross-cultural education are reviewed to inform a collaborative model of hospital-based organisational change. The paper proposes a collaborative model of care to improve health service delivery by building capacity in Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal personnel by recruiting more Aboriginal health professionals, increasing knowledge and skills to establish good relationships between non-Aboriginal care providers and Aboriginal patients and their families, delivering quality care that is respectful of culture and improving Aboriginal health outcomes. A key element of model design, implementation and evaluation is critical reflection on barriers and facilitators to providing respectful and culturally safe quality care at systemic, interpersonal and patient/family-centred levels. Nurses are central to addressing the current state of inequity and are pivotal change agents within the proposed model.     

The Criminal Activity of Sexual Offenders in Adulthood: Revisiting the Specialization Debate

Two major hypotheses have been put forward to describe the criminal activity of sexual offenders in adulthood. The first hypothesis states that sexual offenders are specialists who tend to repeat sexual crimes. The second hypothesis describes sexual offenders as generalists who do not restrict themselves to one particular type of crime. The current state of knowledge provides empirical support for both the specialization and the generality hypothesis. The presence of both generality and specialization in the offending behavior of sexual offenders is not as contradictory as it may first appear. However, methodological problems limit the possibility of drawing firm conclusions. Indeed, the specialization hypothesis is based on just one parameter of criminal activity, that is, recidivism, which only takes into account two consecutive crimes. The generality hypothesis is focused mainly on two criminal activity parameters, participation and variety, which do not take into account the dynamic nature of criminal activity over time. Developmental criminology provides a new paradigm to explore the issue of generality and specialization in the offending behavior of sexual offenders.     

Personality-Based Typology of Adolescent Male Sexual Offenders: Differences in Recidivism Rates,Victim-Selection Characteristics,and Personal Victimization Histories

California Psychological Inventory scores from 112 adolescent male sexual offenders aged 12–19 (M = 15.59, SD = 1.46) were examined. A cluster analysis of factor-derived scores revealed four personality-based subgroups: Antisocial/Impulsive, Unusual/Isolated, Overcontrolled/Reserved, and Confident/Aggressive. Significant differences were observed between groups regarding history of physical abuse, parental marital status, residence of the offenders, and whether or not offenders received criminal charges for their index sexual assaults. Subgroup membership was unrelated to victim age, victim gender, and offenders' history of sexual victimization. Recidivism data (criminal charges) were collected for a period ranging from 2 to 10 years (M = 6.23, SD = 2.02). Offenders in the two more pathological groups (Antisocial/Impulsive and Unusual/Isolated) were most likely to be charged with a subsequent violent (sexual or nonsexual) or nonviolent offense. The four-group typology based solely on personality functioning is remarkably similar to that found by W. R. Smith, C. Monastersky, and R. M. Deisher in 1987 from their cluster analysis of MMPI scores. In addition to implications for risk prediction, the present typology is suggestive of differential etiological pathways and treatment needs.     

The Criminal Histories and Later Offending of Child Pornography Offenders

The likelihood that child pornography offenders will later commit a contact sexual offense is unknown. In the present study, we identified a sample of 201 adult male child pornography offenders using police databases and examined their charges or convictions after the index child pornography offense(s). We also examined their criminal records to identify potential predictors of later offenses: 56% of the sample had a prior criminal record, 24% had prior contact sexual offenses, and 15% had prior child pornography offenses. One-third were concurrently charged with other crimes at the time they were charged for child pornography offenses. The average time at risk was 2.5 years; 17% of the sample offended again in some way during this time, and 4% committed a new contact sexual offense. Child pornography offenders with prior criminal records were significantly more likely to offend again in any way during the follow-up period. Child pornography offenders who had committed a prior or concurrent contact sexual offense were the most likely to offend again, either generally or sexually.     

CSCI Joe Doupe Lecture: End stage renal disease among Aboriginal people

Aboriginal people in Canada have an increased prevalence of ESRD, are more likely to initiate renal-replacement therapy on hemodialysis, and are much less likely to receive a kidney transplant compared to non-Aboriginals. Once established on dialysis quality of care and survival is similar for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people with ESRD. Understanding issues central to the health and outcomes of Aboriginal patients with ESRD, and documenting potential inequities in care, is essential to guide strategies to develop a new model for delivery of services for management of ESRD among Aboriginal people. Two areas in particular require further investigation for Aboriginal people with ESRD, namely the need to further investigate potential barriers to kidney transplantation, and reasons for lower rates of peritoneal dialysis as a form of renal replacement therapy. Research in this area will enable targeted interventions to be developed in partnership with the Aboriginal communities, with a goal to increase the health outcomes and quality of life for Aboriginal people with ESRD.     

Trait Empathy and Criminal Versatility in Sexual Offenders

Associations between trait empathy and criminal versatility were examined in a sample of 88 incarcerated adult sexual offenders (29 extrafamilial child molesters, 26 intrafamilial child molesters, and 33 rapists). Considerable criminal versatility was observed, with 60% of the whole sample and 88% of recidivist offenders having previous convictions for nonsexual offenses. Regression analyses showed significant associations between trait empathy and nonsexual offense convictions, but not between trait empathy and sexual offense convictions. More specifically, greater involvement in violent offending (e.g., assault, robbery) was associated with lower levels of empathic concern and higher levels of fantasy. Greater involvement in miscellaneous (e.g., traffic, drug, public order) offending was associated with lower levels of empathic concern. We argue that insufficient theoretical and empirical attention has historically been given to criminal versatility among sexual offenders, especially among child molesters. In particular, we suggest that developments in empathy training for sexual offenders may benefit from distinguishing needs of criminally versatile and non-versatile sexual offenders. More knowledge about trait empathy in sexual offenders, and about situational factors that may override otherwise normal empathic responsiveness, is needed.     

The Impact of Transitional Housing on the Post-Discharge Functioning of Former Foster Youth

Three years of data that describes the adaptation of 106 former foster youth to young adulthood are presented. Youth outcomes were compared on whether they initially resided in transitional housing (TH) at discharge or went to other living arrangements (OLA). Findings were that youth residing in the TH reported more housing stability, were less likely to be unemployed, used substances less, and had less criminal justice contact than OLA youth. However, multivariate analysis showed substance users and Caucasian youth had more housing instability than others, regardless of their initial discharge housing arrangement. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

A Prospective Longitudinal Study of Sexual Recidivism Among Adolescent Sex Offenders

This paper reports on a follow-up of a sample of 303 adolescent male sex offenders from New South Wales, Australia. Adult rearrest and reconviction data were obtained for 292 of these individuals. The mean observation period between their adjudication as adolescents and their follow-up as adults was 7.3 years. Seventy-five (25%) received further convictions for sexual offenses prior to their 18th birthday. As adults, 25 (9%) came to the attention of police for further alleged sexual offenses, including 14 (5%) who received convictions for these offenses. Of these, 11 (79%) also received new convictions for nonsexual offenses. Overall, 61.3% of subjects received convictions for nonsexual offenses as adults. Results suggest considerable diversity and persistence in delinquent and criminal behavior, and challenge assumptions about high transition rates from adolescent to adult sexual offending.     

Prediction of Recidivism in Extrafamilial Child Molesters Based on Court-Related Assessments

One hundred ninety-two convicted extrafamilial child molesters were followed for an average of 7.8 years after their conviction. The percentage of men who had committed a sexual, a violent, or any criminal offense by the 12th year was 15.1, 20.3, and 41.6, respectively. The sexual recidivists, compared with the nonrecidivists, demonstrated more problems with alcohol and showed greater sexual arousal to assaultive stimuli involving children than to mutually consenting stimuli with children. The violent recidivists, compared with the nonrecidivists, were more likely to have a history of violence in the families in which they were raised and were rated significantly more psychopathic on the Psychopathy Checklist—Revised (PCL-R). They also showed more sexual arousal to stimuli depicting mutually consenting sexual interactions with children than to adult stimuli. In terms of any criminal recidivism, recidivists were younger, had completed fewer years of school, and were raised in psychologically more harmful family environments compared with nonrecidivists. They also reported that, before 16 years of age, they were more likely to have been physically abused and were more likely to have been removed from their homes compared to those that did not recidivate. In addition, recidivists demonstrated more general hostility on the Buss–Durkee Hostility Inventory and were rated significantly more psychopathic on the PCL-R. The phallometric assessments revealed, that the criminal recidivists, compared to the nonrecidivists, showed more sexual arousal to stimuli depicting coercive sexual activity with children than consenting sexual activities with children. In addition, they showed more sexual arousal to scenes depicting adult rape then adult mutually consenting sex. Finally, the rcidivists also had more charges or convictions for violence and any criminal acts. The small number of significant differences between recidivists and nonrecidivists in the sexual and violent categories precluded an attempt to determine which combination of factors meaningfully predicted reoffending. However, for criminal recidivism, a stepwise discriminant function analysis to assess the combination of factors that most successfully distinguished between groups in terms of criminal recidivism was significant, with subjects' age, total number of criminal convictions, and pedophile assault index being retained for optimal prediction. The procedure correctly classified 70.6% of the original group, 82.8% of the nonrecidivists, and 52.6% of the recidivists. PCL-R Total Score alone was equally successful in a similar discriminant function.