This thesis is an anthropological study of Internet sexual offending, more specifically the viewing of child abuse media. It is based on 17 months of participant-observation in UK group programs for individuals who had downloaded illegal child abuse media, semi-structured interviews with participants, program staff, and police, and staff focus groups. Through engaging directly with offenders and those managing them, it provides an in-depth, qualitative understanding of how Internet use and perceptions of online spaces play a key role in Internet sexual offending, while also asking broader questions about online sociality, morality, and effects on normative behaviour. The central argument posits that in moving beyond commonplace explanations for Internet offending, more attention must be given to Internet use, perceptions and constructions of online spaces, and effects on social norms to explain this phenomenon. It then follows to suggest that for some offenders, these elements can be instrumental in their sexualization of children and choice to view abusive media. The thesis specifically explores why and how some people in the UK engage with illegal child abuse media, with particular attention to notions of risk, childhood, morality, and the Internet. Employing Foucauldian and neo-Foucauldian theory, anthropology of the Internet, and constructionist theories of childhood, focus is placed on multiple areas: the potential social, emotional, sexual, and Internet-specific factors associated with offending; participants' relationships with the Internet and constructions of online spaces; participants' perceptions of childhood and children online and offline; and, societal and institutional efforts to respond to the above, including the larger justice system and fieldwork group program. The general research areas are social science of the Internet, childhood studies, human sexuality, group therapeutic processes, policy and law, and research methodology and ethics.

Ce mémoire vise à identifier des profils au sein des processus de passage à l’acte d’agresseurs sexuels de femmes en tenant compte des facteurs prédisposants (deux ans avant le délit) et précipitants (48 heures avant le délit) à l’agression sexuelle. Les facteurs précrime composant le cycle délictuel sont internes et externes à l’agresseur. Notre échantillon est composé de 37 agresseurs sexuels de femmes. Dans le cadre d’un programme de prévention de la récidive, les participants ont identifié l’enchaînement d’éléments découlant d’évènements de vie importants, qui constitue une chaîne comportementale incluant six composantes : 1) évènements de vie ; 2) cognitions ; 3) émotions ; 4) fantaisies ; 5) comportements ; et 6) conséquences. L’ensemble des chaînes comportementales rapportées par un participant compose son cycle délictuel. Nous avons analysé ces cycles délictuels selon une méthode qualitative exploratoire afin de distinguer des similitudes et des divergences entre les participants. Nos résultats ont permis d’identifier trois profils de cycle délictuel : 1) axé sur la sexualité ; 2) axé sur l’antisocialité ; et 3) mixte. La dimension sexuelle se divise également en deux sous-groupes : 1) sexualité déviante ; et 2) sexualité déviante et/ou désinhibée. Les participants au cycle délictuel axé sur la sexualité (n = 17) rapportent des perceptions négatives d’autrui et de la vie, lesquelles sont principalement associées à de l’hostilité et des émotions négatives (ex.: dépression, anxiété). Les agresseurs présentant un cycle délictuel axé sur l’antisocialité (n = 6) rapportent, entre autres, des perceptions négatives de soi, d’autrui et de la vie, et ce, combinées à une valorisation de la déviance. Les émotions associées étaient généralement d’hostilité et négatives. Les délinquants sexuels ayant un cycle délictuel mixte rapportent, entre autres, des perceptions négatives d’autrui et de la vie ainsi qu’une valorisation de la déviance. Une combinaison d’hostilité et d’émotions négatives, ou d’hostilité, d’émotions négatives et positives, découlait de ces cognitions. / The aim of this thesis is to investigate offending process profiles amongst sexual aggressors of women which integrate predisposing factors (two years prior to the offence) and precipitating factors (48 hours prior to the offence). Precrime factors included in offence cycles are internal and external to sexual aggressors. Thirty-seven convicted sex offenders who participated in a relapse prevention group are included in this study. Participants identified important life events. The sequence following these events forms a behavioural chain, which includes: 1) life events; 2) cognitions; 3) emotions; 4) fantasies; 5) behaviours; and 6) consequences. The series of behavioural chains reported by each participant shape his offending process. Offending processes were analyzed based on a qualitative exploratory method to put forward similarities and differences amongst participants. Results suggest three main offending-process profiles: 1) sexuality-oriented; 2) crime-oriented; and 3) mixed (sexuality and crime-oriented). The sexual dimension encompasses two sub-groups: 1) sexual deviance; and 2) deviant and/or disinhibited sexuality. Sexuality-oriented offenders (n = 17) had negative views of others and of life in general, which were associated mainly with hostility and negative emotions (e.g. depression, anxiety). Crime-oriented offenders (n = 6) had various cognitions, including negative views of themselves, of others, and of life in general, as well as cognitions supporting deviance. Following emotions were mainly hostile and negative. Mixed-profile offenders had various cognitions, including negative views of others and of life in general, as well as cognitions supporting deviance. A combination of hostility and negative emotions, or hostility, negative, and positive emotions followed.

Les premières études recensées ayant traité de la co-délinquance ont plus de cent ans. Comme il s’agit d’un sujet qui a de l’histoire, il y a eu une grande évolution dans la façon d’aborder la question et dans les méthodologies employées. Mais, ce n’est que depuis quelques années que la co-délinquance est étudiée par l’entremise de données d’arrestations policières et c’est ce type de données qui sera utilisé pour répondre à l’objectif principal, celui-ci étant la détermination des conditions expliquant le recours ou non à la co-délinquance pour commettre une infraction criminelle. De plus, pour répondre à notre objectif de recherche, nous avons opté pour une théorie structurante du crime, approche qui n’avait jamais été utilisé auparavant dans les études sur la co-délinquance. Comme méthodologie, nous avons utilisé un échantillon composé de 9 103 participations criminelles, de 8 243 événements distincts et de 3 356 individus et plusieurs prédicteurs ont été analysés afin de déterminer lesquels expliquent le mieux la co-délinquance. L’âge, le genre, les antécédents criminels, l’urbanité et le type de crimes sont toutes des variables qui ont été considérées. L’urbanité représente une nouveauté dans ce type de recherche, puisque nous avons recensé que très peu d’études ayant abordées la question. Alors, que pour le type de crime, nous l’avons détaillé, comme aucune étude sur la co-délinquance ne l’a fait auparavant (23 catégories d’infractions). Ce détail nous permet donc de bien cibler l’impact de chaque délit sur le recours à la co-délinquance. Le résultat émergeant des analyses de régression logistique est que le recours à la co-délinquance s’explique principalement par le type de crime commis, certains actes criminels sont plus propices à la co-délinquance que d’autres. Nous constatons également que les autres variables analysées ont très peu ou pas d’impact sur le recours à la co-délinquance, que ce soit l’âge, le genre, les antécédents criminels ou même l’urbanité. / First studies related to co-offending are more than a century old. Since this subject has greatly evolved during this time, the approach and the methodology used have been developed to follow the subject’s progression. But it is only in recent years that co-offending is studied through police arrest data and it is this type of data that will be used to meet the main objective which aims to be to determine conditions explaining the use or not to co-delinquency for committing a criminal offense. In addition, to meet our research objective, we opted for structuring a theory of the crime, an approach that had never been used before in studies of co-offending. As a methodology, we used a sample of 9 103 criminal participations, 8 243 separate events and 3 356 individuals and several predictors were analyzed to determine which best explain the co-offending. Age, gender, criminal history, urbanity and type of crimes are all variables that were considered. Urbanity is a novelty in this research, since we identified very few studies have addressed the issue. For the type of crime, we have detailed this variable as no studies on co-offending have done previously (23 categories of offenses). This detail allows us to identify the impact of each offense on the use of co-offending. The results obtained from the logistic regression analyze show that the use of co-offending is mainly due to the crime’s type; some crimes are more propitious to co-offending than others. We also find that other variables analyzed (age, gender, criminal history and urbanity) have little or no impact on the use of co-offending.

Les agressions sexuelles envers les enfants sont un fléau social important. Elles portent atteinte à l’intégrité physique et psychologique des enfants qui en sont victimes, entraînant des conséquences délétères pour l’enfant et ses parents. Ces derniers sont d’ailleurs considérés comme des personnes clés dans le rétablissement des enfants. Toutefois, les connaissances scientifiques dans ce domaine ont été principalement acquises auprès des mères, reléguant ainsi le père à une place secondaire. Cette thèse a pour objectif général d’élargir notre compréhension du vécu et du rôle des pères ayant à faire face au dévoilement de l’agression sexuelle de leur enfant. La présente thèse est composée de deux articles empiriques. L’objectif du premier article est de décrire le vécu des pères non agresseurs ayant un ou plusieurs enfants victimes d’agression sexuelle extra ou intrafamiliale sous l’angle de leurs réactions émotionnelles, cognitives et comportementales à la suite du dévoilement de l’AS. Pour ce faire, 17 pères provenant soit du Centre d’Expertise Marie-Vincent de Montréal, soit du Centre d’Intervention en Abus Sexuels pour la Famille de Gatineau ou encore soit de la population générale et ayant un ou plusieurs enfants victimes d’agression sexuelle intra ou extra-familiale ont été rencontrés pour une entrevue individuelle semi-dirigée. Les résultats démontrent que les pères rencontrés dans le cadre de cette étude vivent un véritable choc psychologique, s’apparentant à un traumatisme secondaire, à l’annonce du dévoilement. Cette étude a également mis en lumière la mise en place d’un travail de deuil chez les pères qui sont confrontés à la perte de l’innocence de leur enfant. Les objectifs du deuxième article est de décrire les répercussions du dévoilement de l’agression sexuelle sur la façon dont les pères s’engagent auprès de leurs enfants et de dégager les dimensions du soutien paternel offert à l’enfant. L’analyse du discours de 17 pères ayant vécus le dévoilement d’une agression sexuelle par leur(s) enfant(s) suggèrent que le dévoilement peut être considéré comme un élément de rupture dans le lien à l’enfant nécessitant une adaptation à cette nouvelle réalité. Bien que l’ensemble pères rencontrés expriment leurs inquiétudes pour leur(s) enfant(s) et leur désir de le(s) soutenir, les résultats mettent en évidence les difficultés pour certains pères de s’engager auprès de leurs enfants en raison soit d’une détresse psychologique personnelle importante, soit d’une ambivalence à l’égard de l’enfant ou encore en raison d’une sensation d’inconfort ressentie lors des contacts physiques au cours des soins primaires à prodiguer ou des situations de jeu physique. Leurs propos témoignent également de leurs volontés et de leurs capacités à aider l’enfant à composer avec les conséquences de l’agression sexuelle subie. La mise à jour d’une nouvelle dimension spécifiquement paternelle soit la capacité d’ouvrir son enfant victime d’AS sur le monde extérieur et ainsi jouer un rôle dans le développement de sa confiance en soi apparait comme un résultat novateur de la présente thèse. Les implications cliniques concernant les résultats obtenus dans le cadre de cette thèse ainsi que les pistes de recherche sont finalement abordées. / Child sexual abuse is a devastating social epidemic. It threatens the physical and psychological integrity of children who have experienced it, and brings about horrific repercussions for them and their parents. Yet, parents are considered to be key actors in the recovery of their children. Unfortunately, the current state of knowledge on parental support concerns almost exclusively mothers and not much is known in regards to the role played by fathers.. The principal objective of the present thesis is to further the current understanding of the role and realities experienced by fathers who dealt with the disclosure of their child’s sexual abuse. The present thesis is made up of two scientific articles. The objective of the first article was to describe the experiences of non-offending fathers whose children had been sexually abused either by someone related to them or not, in terms of their emotional, cognitive and behavioral reactions following disclosure. To accomplish this, 17 fathers whose children were the victims of extra or intrafamiliar sexual abuse were recruited at either the Centre d’Expertise Marie-Vincent in Montreal, the Centre d’Intervention en Abus Sexuels pour la Famille in the nearby region of Gatineau, or in the general population, and were asked to participate in a semi-structured interview. Results indicate that fathers in this study suffered from a noticeable psychological shock following disclosure that resembles indirect trauma. This study also brought into light the existence of a grieving process among fathers who were confronted to their child’s loss of innocence. The objectives of the second article were to describe the repercussions of disclosure on the ways fathers involve themselves with their children and to isolate the different forms of support offered by fathers to their sexually abused children. Qualitative content analyses from 17 fathers who dealt with the disclosure of sexual abuse on their children suggests that it could be interpreted as an element of ‘severance’ in the bond with the child, which requires adaptation to a new reality. Even though all of the interviewed fathers expressed their concerns for their children and their desire to help them, findings highlight the difficulties of some fathers to involve themselves with their children because of their own important psychological distress, their ambivalence toward the child or because of feelings of uneasiness that were stirred up while providing to the primary needs of the child or during physical play. Analyses shed some light on these father’s capacities to help their children deal with the consequences of sexual abuse. The acknowledgement of a new form of support specific to fathers, namely, the ability to open the child to his outside world and in doing so playing a role in the development of self-esteem, constitutes a ground-breaking finding of the present thesis.

Critical Review of the LiteratureCan Borderline Personality Disorder be treated effectively in forensic settings? A systematic reviewBorderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a common diagnosis in forensic settings. Certain features of BPD, such as impulsivity and emotional dysregulation, can create a vulnerability to impulsive acts. The condition is also associated with poor mental and physical health, making the treatment of BPD and its clinical features an important goal in forensic settings. This paper reviews evidence for the effectiveness of treating BPD and its symptoms using psychological approaches in forensic settings. A systematic search found 2913 papers, of which 13 met the inclusion criteria. The papers reported nine separate studies (six controlled) that implemented four distinct interventions, often adapted for particular forensic settings. Improvements in overall BPD symptomatology and specific BPD symptoms were reported for all types of intervention, although few differences in outcome between intervention and control groups were found. There were also reported improvements in BPD-related behaviours, but data on offending behaviour were absent. Heterogeneity in study quality and design makes it challenging to draw any firm conclusions about the effectiveness of any one form of treatment over another, nor about which treatment may best suit a particular setting. Further randomised controlled trials are needed to answer these questions. Service Improvement ProjectEvaluation of a brief educational intervention for clinical staff aimed at promoting trauma-informed approaches to careThere is growing evidence that trauma plays an important role in the aetiology of severe and enduring mental health problems. Yet staff can be reluctant to ask patients about trauma for reasons such as anxiety about harming patients and limited access to training. Where services have adopted trauma-informed approaches (TIAs) to mental health care (i.e., considering the ways in which trauma affects individuals when planning and delivering services), improved clinical outcomes have been observed. With this in mind, a new educational video was developed for mental health staff at an NHS trust. The video was intended to be (a) brief (10 minutes); (b) contemporary and engaging; and (c) accessible using computers, smartphones and tablets. Forty-one multidisciplinary staff viewed the video. Quantitative and qualitative evaluation indicated improvements in self-reported knowledge and confidence with regard to trauma, and a decrease in worries with regard to asking patients about such experiences. Participants found the video to be enjoyable, understandable and informative. Importantly, many indicated that it spurred them to further action, such as further training and asking patients about possible trauma. These findings indicate that a video of this type can offer an important ‘taster’ of trauma-related learning, constituting an important step towards embedding trauma-informed ways of working at a service. Main Research ProjectThe Role of Intrusive Imagery in Hoarding DisorderThe cardinal feature of Hoarding Disorder (HD) is persistent difficulty discarding possessions, with the resulting clutter compromising the intended use of living areas. Within the dominant cognitive-behavioural model of hoarding (Frost & Hartl, 1996), hoarding behaviours are positively and negatively reinforced in the context of certain object-related beliefs. Available treatments for HD have so far yielded modest outcomes, indicating a need for new approaches. Intrusive imagery has so far been neglected in HD research, despite the frequency of trauma in the histories of people with the condition. To address this, 27 individuals who met the DSM-5 criteria for HD and 28 community controls (CCs) were interviewed about their everyday experiences of mental imagery. Participants were also asked about the images they experienced during two recent real-life examples of actual or attempted discard of (1) an object of low subjective value; and (2) an object of high subjective value. Everyday imagery in the HD group commonly reflected themes of illness, death and reminiscence. Imagery in HD participants tended to carry negative emotional valence in comparison with CCs, and was associated with greater interference in everyday life and attempts to avoid the imagery. HD participants reported more negative experiences of intrusive imagery in comparison with CCs during recent episodes of discarding objects of low subjective value. However, HD participants experienced positive imagery when discarding, or trying to discard, high value objects. These findings indicate that although people with HD frequently report traumatic histories, this is not reflected in the everyday imagery that they experience. There is some evidence to suggest that the negative and positive memories experienced in relation to low and high value objects may aid our understanding of discarding and saving behaviour in HD. The theoretical and clinical implications of these findings are further discussed.

Les premières études recensées ayant traité de la co-délinquance ont plus de cent ans. Comme il s’agit d’un sujet qui a de l’histoire, il y a eu une grande évolution dans la façon d’aborder la question et dans les méthodologies employées. Mais, ce n’est que depuis quelques années que la co-délinquance est étudiée par l’entremise de données d’arrestations policières et c’est ce type de données qui sera utilisé pour répondre à l’objectif principal, celui-ci étant la détermination des conditions expliquant le recours ou non à la co-délinquance pour commettre une infraction criminelle. De plus, pour répondre à notre objectif de recherche, nous avons opté pour une théorie structurante du crime, approche qui n’avait jamais été utilisé auparavant dans les études sur la co-délinquance. Comme méthodologie, nous avons utilisé un échantillon composé de 9 103 participations criminelles, de 8 243 événements distincts et de 3 356 individus et plusieurs prédicteurs ont été analysés afin de déterminer lesquels expliquent le mieux la co-délinquance. L’âge, le genre, les antécédents criminels, l’urbanité et le type de crimes sont toutes des variables qui ont été considérées. L’urbanité représente une nouveauté dans ce type de recherche, puisque nous avons recensé que très peu d’études ayant abordées la question. Alors, que pour le type de crime, nous l’avons détaillé, comme aucune étude sur la co-délinquance ne l’a fait auparavant (23 catégories d’infractions). Ce détail nous permet donc de bien cibler l’impact de chaque délit sur le recours à la co-délinquance. Le résultat émergeant des analyses de régression logistique est que le recours à la co-délinquance s’explique principalement par le type de crime commis, certains actes criminels sont plus propices à la co-délinquance que d’autres. Nous constatons également que les autres variables analysées ont très peu ou pas d’impact sur le recours à la co-délinquance, que ce soit l’âge, le genre, les antécédents criminels ou même l’urbanité. / First studies related to co-offending are more than a century old. Since this subject has greatly evolved during this time, the approach and the methodology used have been developed to follow the subject’s progression. But it is only in recent years that co-offending is studied through police arrest data and it is this type of data that will be used to meet the main objective which aims to be to determine conditions explaining the use or not to co-delinquency for committing a criminal offense. In addition, to meet our research objective, we opted for structuring a theory of the crime, an approach that had never been used before in studies of co-offending. As a methodology, we used a sample of 9 103 criminal participations, 8 243 separate events and 3 356 individuals and several predictors were analyzed to determine which best explain the co-offending. Age, gender, criminal history, urbanity and type of crimes are all variables that were considered. Urbanity is a novelty in this research, since we identified very few studies have addressed the issue. For the type of crime, we have detailed this variable as no studies on co-offending have done previously (23 categories of offenses). This detail allows us to identify the impact of each offense on the use of co-offending. The results obtained from the logistic regression analyze show that the use of co-offending is mainly due to the crime’s type; some crimes are more propitious to co-offending than others. We also find that other variables analyzed (age, gender, criminal history and urbanity) have little or no impact on the use of co-offending.

Les agressions sexuelles envers les enfants sont un fléau social important. Elles portent atteinte à l’intégrité physique et psychologique des enfants qui en sont victimes, entraînant des conséquences délétères pour l’enfant et ses parents. Ces derniers sont d’ailleurs considérés comme des personnes clés dans le rétablissement des enfants. Toutefois, les connaissances scientifiques dans ce domaine ont été principalement acquises auprès des mères, reléguant ainsi le père à une place secondaire. Cette thèse a pour objectif général d’élargir notre compréhension du vécu et du rôle des pères ayant à faire face au dévoilement de l’agression sexuelle de leur enfant. La présente thèse est composée de deux articles empiriques. L’objectif du premier article est de décrire le vécu des pères non agresseurs ayant un ou plusieurs enfants victimes d’agression sexuelle extra ou intrafamiliale sous l’angle de leurs réactions émotionnelles, cognitives et comportementales à la suite du dévoilement de l’AS. Pour ce faire, 17 pères provenant soit du Centre d’Expertise Marie-Vincent de Montréal, soit du Centre d’Intervention en Abus Sexuels pour la Famille de Gatineau ou encore soit de la population générale et ayant un ou plusieurs enfants victimes d’agression sexuelle intra ou extra-familiale ont été rencontrés pour une entrevue individuelle semi-dirigée. Les résultats démontrent que les pères rencontrés dans le cadre de cette étude vivent un véritable choc psychologique, s’apparentant à un traumatisme secondaire, à l’annonce du dévoilement. Cette étude a également mis en lumière la mise en place d’un travail de deuil chez les pères qui sont confrontés à la perte de l’innocence de leur enfant. Les objectifs du deuxième article est de décrire les répercussions du dévoilement de l’agression sexuelle sur la façon dont les pères s’engagent auprès de leurs enfants et de dégager les dimensions du soutien paternel offert à l’enfant. L’analyse du discours de 17 pères ayant vécus le dévoilement d’une agression sexuelle par leur(s) enfant(s) suggèrent que le dévoilement peut être considéré comme un élément de rupture dans le lien à l’enfant nécessitant une adaptation à cette nouvelle réalité. Bien que l’ensemble pères rencontrés expriment leurs inquiétudes pour leur(s) enfant(s) et leur désir de le(s) soutenir, les résultats mettent en évidence les difficultés pour certains pères de s’engager auprès de leurs enfants en raison soit d’une détresse psychologique personnelle importante, soit d’une ambivalence à l’égard de l’enfant ou encore en raison d’une sensation d’inconfort ressentie lors des contacts physiques au cours des soins primaires à prodiguer ou des situations de jeu physique. Leurs propos témoignent également de leurs volontés et de leurs capacités à aider l’enfant à composer avec les conséquences de l’agression sexuelle subie. La mise à jour d’une nouvelle dimension spécifiquement paternelle soit la capacité d’ouvrir son enfant victime d’AS sur le monde extérieur et ainsi jouer un rôle dans le développement de sa confiance en soi apparait comme un résultat novateur de la présente thèse. Les implications cliniques concernant les résultats obtenus dans le cadre de cette thèse ainsi que les pistes de recherche sont finalement abordées. / Child sexual abuse is a devastating social epidemic. It threatens the physical and psychological integrity of children who have experienced it, and brings about horrific repercussions for them and their parents. Yet, parents are considered to be key actors in the recovery of their children. Unfortunately, the current state of knowledge on parental support concerns almost exclusively mothers and not much is known in regards to the role played by fathers.. The principal objective of the present thesis is to further the current understanding of the role and realities experienced by fathers who dealt with the disclosure of their child’s sexual abuse. The present thesis is made up of two scientific articles. The objective of the first article was to describe the experiences of non-offending fathers whose children had been sexually abused either by someone related to them or not, in terms of their emotional, cognitive and behavioral reactions following disclosure. To accomplish this, 17 fathers whose children were the victims of extra or intrafamiliar sexual abuse were recruited at either the Centre d’Expertise Marie-Vincent in Montreal, the Centre d’Intervention en Abus Sexuels pour la Famille in the nearby region of Gatineau, or in the general population, and were asked to participate in a semi-structured interview. Results indicate that fathers in this study suffered from a noticeable psychological shock following disclosure that resembles indirect trauma. This study also brought into light the existence of a grieving process among fathers who were confronted to their child’s loss of innocence. The objectives of the second article were to describe the repercussions of disclosure on the ways fathers involve themselves with their children and to isolate the different forms of support offered by fathers to their sexually abused children. Qualitative content analyses from 17 fathers who dealt with the disclosure of sexual abuse on their children suggests that it could be interpreted as an element of ‘severance’ in the bond with the child, which requires adaptation to a new reality. Even though all of the interviewed fathers expressed their concerns for their children and their desire to help them, findings highlight the difficulties of some fathers to involve themselves with their children because of their own important psychological distress, their ambivalence toward the child or because of feelings of uneasiness that were stirred up while providing to the primary needs of the child or during physical play. Analyses shed some light on these father’s capacities to help their children deal with the consequences of sexual abuse. The acknowledgement of a new form of support specific to fathers, namely, the ability to open the child to his outside world and in doing so playing a role in the development of self-esteem, constitutes a ground-breaking finding of the present thesis.

Le phénomène de la délinquance sexuelle évoque des émotions et des réactions fortes chez la population. L’intérêt, la curiosité, mais surtout les réactions face au phénomène font en sorte que le sujet reste populaire sur les scènes sociales, politiques et médiatiques. Les mesures légales et politiques permettant de l’encadrer ont évolué en fonction de ces réactions ou, plutôt, en fonction des représentations sociales au cœur de celles-ci. En effet, le public et les mouvements militants ont eu une grande influence dans l’adoption de ces mesures. Par ailleurs, la montée en popularité des réseaux sociaux numériques (RSN) a offert un nouveau terrain sur lequel ces groupes peuvent échanger, débattre, recruter et se mobiliser. En ce sens, étant donné l’influence du discours de ce genre de groupe sur l’adoption de mesures d’encadrement du phénomène et la popularité des RSN comme lieu d’échange sur des intérêts commun, nous trouvions pertinent de se pencher sur les représentations sociales de la délinquance sexuelle portées par leurs utilisateurs. Ainsi, l’objectif principal de ce mémoire est de décrire les représentations sociales du phénomène véhiculées par les utilisateurs d’une page Facebook précise, emblématique des mobilisations sociales en question. Pour se faire, nous avons effectué une analyse de contenu thématique des commentaires et interactions entre les utilisateurs, suivant la théorie des représentations sociales de Moscovici (1961) et ses trois composantes : informations, champ représentationnel et attitudes. Au total, 821 commentaires, sous 14 publications, ont été analysés. Les résultats ont démontré que la délinquance sexuelle est principalement un phénomène qui fait réagir et qui évoque beaucoup d’attitudes négatives. Les représentations de celle-ci sont aussi organisées sous trois dimensions soit, ses facteurs de cause et de maintien, ses manifestations (actes, auteurs et victimes), ainsi que les réponses sociales à son propos. Les résultats de cette recherche ouvrent la porte à des réflexions quant à la place et l’influence des attitudes des utilisateurs dans la théorie des représentations sociales. / The phenomenon of sexual offending has generated strong emotions and reactions among the population. Long lasting interest, curiosity, but especially social reactions, keep the subject popular on the social, political and media scenes. The legal and political measures adopted to manage this phenomenon have evolved according to these reactions, or rather, according to the social representations inspiring these reactions. Indeed, it has been shown that the public and activist movements had a great influence in the adoption of these measures. In addition, the rise in popularity of digital social networks (DSN) has offered a new environment in which these groups can exchange, debate, recruit and mobilize. Thereby, given the influence of the discourse of those groups on the adoption of measures to manage the phenomenon and given the growing popularity of DSN as a place of exchange on common interests, we found it relevant to look at the social representations carried by their users. Thus, the main objective of this master’s thesis is to describe the social representations of sexual offending carried by the users of a specific Facebook page. To do this, we performed a thematic content analysis of the comments and interactions between users, according to Moscovici’s social representation theory and its three components : information, representational field and attitudes. Overall, 821 comments, coming from 14 publications, were analyzed. The results show that sexual offending is a phenomenon that generates a lot of reactions and negative attitudes. The representations of the latter would also be organized under three dimensions : its cause and durability factors, its manifestations (acts, perpetrators and victims), as well as the responses to it. The results of this research open the door to new thoughts on the place and influence of attitudes in the social representation theory.

This report is the result of a literature study and questionnaire which gave insight on the role of Department of Correctional Services in the rehabilitation of child molesters. Correctional Services has adopted a new approach, where offenders need to change their negative behavior and be rehabilitated. Corrections have a societal responsibility towards the community to guide the offender on his rehabilitation path. This study was conducted to give a better understanding of rehabilitation to child molesters. It seems that child molesters will re-offend if they are not included in a thorough treatment programme. The purpose of this research is to determine if the Department of Correctional Services delivers on its legal and social responsibility towards the rehabilitation of child molesters. It is evaluated against international benchmarks. In this study the researcher gathered information on the profile of a child molester, the programmes currently available in Correctional Services, and also the involvement of the community in this process. Corrections cannot work alone, and needs the help of the community and leaders in the community to assist it in this process. Correctional Services faces many challenges in order to succeed in the rehabilitation of offenders. Currently there is a shortage of social workers and psychologists in the Department of Correctional Services, and the Department cannot, therefore, fully succeed in its rehabilitative role. Another aspect is that treatment is voluntary, and offenders can decide if they want to become involved or not. Only if the judge decides that the offender must be included in therapy, can he be forced to do so. / Penology / M.A. (Penology)

The researcher conducted a mixed method research study on parole violations from a South African perspective. In South Africa, there is limited research regarding the causes of parole violations. Thus, the study is mainly descriptive, but also exploratory in nature and considered a first of its kind. The study aimed to explore parole violation as a phenomenon through the perceptions, opinions, attitudes and incident recall of re-incarcerated parolees. Furthermore, the study aimed to describe the causes for parolees to fail on parole. A two-phase sequential mixed methods research design was used that involved the collection and analysis of primarily quantitative data from self-administered questionnaires. These questionnaires were complemented by a qualitative data collection phase consisting of focus group interviews. A representative sample (n=111) chosen according to the various ethnic groups was drawn from a population of 1 111 adult male parole violators in the Gauteng region (aligned to the regional divisions used by the Department of Correctional Services and not to the provincial borders) for the quantitative phase. Non-probability sampling was used to select 22 participants who volunteered for the second, qualitative phase of the study (focus group interviews). Descriptive statistical analysis was used to analyse the data collected from the questionnaires. The data was analysed by means of frequencies (frequency tables and graphs) to describe one variable and cross tabulations (contingency tables) to show bivariate quantitative data. All the focus group interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim for analysis. The transcripts provided a complete record of the discussions and helped to facilitate the analysis of the data according to identified, recurring themes. On release, many stigmatised and rejected parolees face widespread post-release challenges that prevent successful reintegration. The study revealed that poor pre-release planning and post-release support, a lack of education, unemployment, substance abuse, and a loss of family support are described as the main causes of parole violations. The recommendations from the research findings showed the importance of pre-release planning, risk assessment, employment, education, treatment for drug and alcohol abuse, community partnerships, family involvement, and graduated responses to parole violations that are fair, consistent, and legal. / Penology / D.Lit. et Phil. (Penology)