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Date: April 29, 2024 Mon
Time: 10:25 pm
Time: 10:25 pm
Results for child molesters
3 results foundAuthor: Huebner, Beth Title: Evaluation of Sex Offender Residency Restrictions in Michigan and Missouri Summary: Sex offender residency restrictions are a specific form of specialized sex offender legislation which prohibits registered sex offenders from residing within a certain distance from places where children congregate, such as schools or daycare centers. Residency restrictions were designed to enhance public safety by neutralizing the risk of recidivism posed by registered sex offenders released into the community (Levenson & Cotter, 2005; Sample, Evans, & Anderson, 2011; Simon, 1998; Socia, 2011). The assumption behind this legislation is that sex offenders choose their victims from the available population of the area in which they reside. Thus, attempts by the criminal justice system to increase the distance between registered sex offenders and potential targets should correspond to a decrease in recidivism among this group (Kang, 2012). Statewide residency restrictions have been adopted in some form by at least thirty states and at the municipal level in several others (Meloy, Miller, & Curtis, 2008). While empirical research on sex offender residency restrictions has grown, most current work has centered on documenting the unintended consequences of these policies. For instance, several studies have examined the potential for residency restrictions to adversely shape the availability of housing for registered sex offenders. Socia (2011) observed that in Upstate New York the neighborhoods least restricted by residency restrictions - and thus the areas that registered sex offenders would be allowed to live in - were less affordable, had fewer vacancies, and were concentrated in less dense, rural areas compared to restricted neighborhoods. Additionally, researchers have documented the effect of these laws on quality of life outcomes and reintegration (Levenson & Hern, 2007; Mercado, Alvarez, & Levenson, 2008). To date, there has been little research on the efficacy of residency restrictions in reducing recidivism among registered sex offenders. Very few studies were identified that directly examined the impact of these laws on sex offender recidivism (Blood, Watson, and Stageberg, 2008; Kang, 2012; Nobles, Levenson, and Youstin, 2012; Socia, 2012). Kang (2012) used individual-level data to follow cohorts of sex offenders and non-sex offenders released both before and after the implementation of residency restrictions, no attempt was made to account for selection bias arising either between the sex offender and non-sex offender cohorts. Overall, the research has not substantiated a link between residency restrictions and reduced crime; however, most of the work has examined crime rates and has not used an adequate comparison group. The goal of the current study is to build on extant research and consider the efficacy of residency restrictions enacted in Missouri and Michigan. Details: Final Report to the U.S. National Institute of Justice, 2013. 92p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 26, 2015 at: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/242952.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/242952.pdf Shelf Number: 129681 Keywords: Child MolestersChild Sexual AbuseResidency RestrictionsSex Offenders |
Author: Bakker, Leon Title: And there was light...Evaluating the Kia Marama treatment programme for New Zealand sex offenders against children Summary: About this evaluation - Kia Marama is the first New Zealand treatment programme for those imprisoned for sexual offences against children. It has run for seven years and its first graduates have lived for up to six years in the community. The time is right for evaluation of the programme's results, and that is the aim of this report. - The Kia Marama programme aims to prevent relapses by teaching offenders their offending is the result of linked steps of thought and behaviour. It offers skills and strategies to break these links, and opportunities for change right from initial assessment, through treatment, to post release. - Two hundred and thirty eight men have been released from prison as graduates of Kia Marama's first three years. A control group similar to the Kia Marama offenders was selected from all sex offenders against children convicted between 1983 and 1987. Comparison of these two groups enables us to assess the impact of the Kia Marama treatment programme. - A more detailed version of this report may be requested from the authors at the Department of Corrections. Key findings - Kia Marama treatment has a significant effect. The Kia Marama group has less than half the number of re-offenders than the control group, and this remains so even when numbers of previous sexual convictions are accounted for. The Kia Marama group has a reconviction rate of 8%, with analysis suggesting a final rate of 10%. (Another five men are likely to reoffend, bringing the total from 19 to 24.) The control group has a reconviction rate of 21%, predicted to rise to 22%. - These differences in reconviction and re-imprisonment suggest the Department of Corrections has reaped net savings of more than $3 million from its treatment of 238 Kia Marama offenders, once programme costs of $2 million are offset against a gross saving of $5.6 million. Less quantifiable social savings also result from fewer offenders and fewer victims. - Comparison between 19 Kia Marama graduates who re-offended and 219 who did not shows re-offenders tend to hold attitudes supporting their offending. Their thinking is often distorted; they accept rape myths and employ impersonal sexual fantasies which are slightly more sadomasochistic. They also have more conservative attitudes to women, internalise their anger, and are less able to empathise. Those who are not reconvicted tend to give up conservative attitudes towards women, but treatment seems to reinforce these beliefs in re-offenders. - Re-offenders tend to have a lower IQ. They are less likely to report female victims, more likely to report male victims or victims of both genders. Reoffenders are almost twice as likely to say their offending began before adulthood, and they report a higher incidence of exhibitionism. They are nearly three times more likely than their non reconvicted counterparts to report the death of a parent or caregiver during childhood, and five times more likely to be judged as having a severe literacy problem. Details: Christchurch [N.Z.] : Psychological Service, Dept. of Corrections, 1998. 35p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 8, 2017 at: http://www.corrections.govt.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/665635/kiamarama.pdf Year: 1998 Country: New Zealand URL: http://www.corrections.govt.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/665635/kiamarama.pdf Shelf Number: 148073 Keywords: Child MolestersChild Sex AbuseRecidivismSex Offender TreatmentSex Offenders |
Author: Wijkman, Miriam Title: Female Sexual Offending: Offenders, Criminal Careers and Co-offending Summary: 'I didn't believe it, I simply didn't believe it...when [the victim] told me that she [the suspect] would sexually assault him in his bed and while giving him a bath. I felt like laughing. I mean it was ridiculous. It was like everything was in reverse. The world upside down...it was surprising'. [male detective] 'You want to know what happens when a case of [sexual assault] comes forward involving a female suspect and a male victim at our office? The entire office breaks out in laughter. Lots of snickering. It's not taken seriously'. [female detective] 'We see women as mothers, as caretakers. We put women on a pedestal, and with good reason. The woman is the mother of the family - that's the image that we have of her'. [male detective] These quotations from police officers working at a sexual assault unit (Denov, 2004b) are characteristic of what many people think: sexual offenses are committed by men. This is also reflected in the fact that research on female sexual offenders is scarce: the majority of studies on sexual offending focus on adult or juvenile males. Worldwide, just a handful of studies have been published on female sexual offenders and their personal characteristics, offense characteristics, motives and criminal careers. This is also true for the Netherlands, where the studies for this thesis were conducted. At the same time, victim studies and self-report studies on sexual offending show that female sexual offending is not as rare as many may think. In Dutch victim studies between 1.3-1.5% of the female victims and 22.2-42.4% of the male victims reported they had been sexually victimized by a female perpetrator (Bakker et al., 2009; Bakker & Vanwesenbeeck, 2006; Dijk, Veen, & Cox, 2010) and international studies show a similar rate varying between 1-9.3% for juvenile females and 14-52% for juvenile males (Saradjian, 2010). Even if female sexual offenders may constitute a small group and may be responsible for a small proportion of all sexual offenses, the short-term and long-term impact of sexual victimization is relatively large, varying from medical and sexual problems to psychological problems and (sexual) revictimization (Beitchman et al., 1992; Browne & Finkelhor, 1986). Some scholars suggest that the effects of sexual victimization by a female perpetrator may be more serious than the effects of sexual victimization by a male perpetrator (Bunting, 2007; Denov, 2004a). The aim of this study is to describe the characteristics of female sexual offenders and their offending careers. It is well known that there is variation in various aspects of male sexual offending. Researchers have attempted to address this heterogeneity by developing classifications. Such classifications have been based on the age of the victim (child molesters versus rapists), the age of the offender (juvenile versus adult offenders), the presence of any co-offenders (solo-offenders versus co-offenders), whether there was physical contact with the victim (hands-on versus hands-off offenses) and offenders' criminal careers (versatile offenders versus specialized offenders). Such heterogeneity is arguably also present in female, adult, as well as juvenile sexual offenders. The rationale for studying female sexual offenders' characteristics, as well as heterogeneity in these characteristics, in terms of their offenses and victims (chapter 2 and 4), based on criminal career parameters (chapter 3), and based on co-offending patterns (chapter 5), is firstly to provide a knowledge base. A second rationale is to provide data to further theory formation on female sexual offending and risk assessment for (sexual) re-offending, treatment programs and intervention and prevention strategies (Blanchette & Taylor, 2010). Theories on female sexual offending are scarce; risk assessment instruments for this group do not exist. This introductory chapter provides an overview of sexual offending laws in the Netherlands (section 1.2), prevalence rates of female sexual offending as derived from victim-studies, perpetrator-studies and official judicial data, as well as a short discussion of the problems in establishing these rates (section 1.3), followed by an account of what is known of heterogeneity in sexual offenders and their criminal career (section 1.4). The research questions underlying this thesis are introduced in section 1.5 followed by a description of the data sources used to answer these questions (section 1.6). Details: Amsterdam: Free University, 2018. 171p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed April 4, 2019 at: https://research.vu.nl/ws/portalfiles/portal/42135775/digitale+versie+proefschrift+definitief.pdf Year: 2018 Country: Netherlands URL: https://research.vu.nl/ws/portalfiles/portal/42135775/digitale+versie+proefschrift+definitief.pdf Shelf Number: 155347 Keywords: Child MolestersCo-offending Criminal Careers Female Sex Offenders Sex Offenders Sexual Assaults Women Sex Offenders |