This study is a qualitative research study that is based on conventional content analysis. The purpose of the study is to investigate experiences and experiences of working with sexual offenders convicted in probation. The study is based on interviews with employees from the probation service, there were 6 respondents who participated in the study who shared their experiences from a stigma perspective. In the study, categories were formed based on the interviews and also core category. The most salient result is that the legislation, punishment and treatment are presented as opposites but rehabilitation can be part of the penalty. The categories are: Changes within the organization, Punishment, Legislation & Rehabilitation, The Perpetrator and the Return to Society, Society's Attitudes & Stigma and the last is the core category: Sexual Crime And Society & Overall Analysis. Furthermore, the study shows that stigma is common when there is a conviction of sexual crime. / Studien är en kvalitativ forskningsstudie. Syftet med studien är att undersöka erfarenheter och upplevelser av att arbeta med sexualbrottsdömda inom frivården. Studien bygger på intervjuer med anställda från frivården, 6 respondenter som deltog och delade med sig av sina erfarenheter.  Utifrån resultatet bildades kategorier och även en kärnkategori. Det mest framträdande i resultat är att lagstiftningen, straffet och rehabiliteringen framställs som motsatser men rehabilitering kan vara en del av straffpåföljden. Kategorierna är följande: Förändringar inom organisationen, Straffet, lagstiftning & rehabilitering, Förövaren och återgången till samhället, Samhällets attityder & Stigmatiseringen. Den sista är kärnkategorin som är följande: Sexualbrottslighet och samhället. Vidare visar studien på att stigmatisering är vanligt förekommande när det handlar om arbete med sexualbrottsdömda personer.

A violência sexual é um problema de saúde pública que afeta boa parte da população mundial. Seu estudo, entretanto, é marcado por dificildades conceptuais, legais, epidemiológicas e metodológicas. Dentre os diversos modos de se entender e examinar a violência sexual, as atitudes são comumente investigadas, sobretudo com o emprego de escalas Likert. Contudo, o escalonamento psicofísico pelos métodos de Thurstone possui características típicas de escalas intervalares que lhe conferem vantagens em relação às escalas ordinais. O principal objetivo da presente pesquisa foi construir uma escala de distâncias psicológicas de descritores sexuais para cada grupo experimental através do Caso V da Lei do Julgamento Comparativo de Thurstone. 132 participantes, divididos em três grupos controle, sobreviventes (mulheres vítimas de violência sexual) e reeducandos (homens agressores sexuais) avaliaram oito termos sexuais (cócegas, cheiro, toque, beijo, nudez, agarrar, esfregar e gemer) pelo método de escolha forçada de julgamento de pares. A cada par de termos sexuais apresentado aleatoriamente, os sujeitos deviam escolher aquele com o maior conteúdo sexual. Resultados indicaram que os descritores toque, cheiro e cócegas foram constantemente julgados com os menores conteúdos sexuais entre os três grupos, enquanto beijo e gemer foram os que mais alteraram de ordem entre os grupos. Literatura sobre aspectos linguísticos dos estímulos utilizados não foi suficiente para explicar a escolha de uma palavra em detrimento de outra, reforçando-se a ideia de que os julgamentos foram diferenciais de acordo com as variáveis e o grupo ao qual os participantes pertenciam. Dessa maneira, homens julgaram os descritores com valores próximos, deixando a escala com menor amplitude, o que indica baixa discriminação e necessidade de menos conteúdo sexual para que as palavras fossem percebidas sexualmente. Reeducandos apresentaram o mesmo padrão de resultados, mas de maneira acentuada. Mulheres, por outro lado, tiveram boa discriminação dos termos sexuais e apresentaram maior amplitude na escala. Para as sobreviventes, o padrão de resultados foi o mesmo das mulheres, com poucas variações. As diferenças encontradas entre grupos podem ser decorrentes de atitudes sexuais e em relação à violência sexual e do modo como mulheres e homens processam informação sexual, sendo atravessadas por questões sociais de gênero / Sexual violence is a public health problem that affects a portion of the world population. Its study, yet, is marked by conceptual, legal, epidemiological, theoretical and methodological difficulties. Among the various ways of understanding and examining sexual violence, attitudes are commonly investigated, mainly by employing Likert scales. However, psychophysical scaling by Thurstones methods possess characteristics typical of interval scales, which gives it advantages over ordinal scales. The major goal of the present research was to build a scale of psychological distances of sexual descriptors for each experimental group through the Case V of Thurstones Law of Comparative Judgment. One hundred and thirty two participants, divided in three groups control, survivors (female victims of sexual violence) and inmates (male sex offenders) evaluated eight sexual words (tickle, smell, touch, kiss, nude, grab, rub, and moan) by the forced choice method of pairwise judgment. To each word pair was presented randomly, subjects were asked to choose the one with the higher sexual content. Results indicated that the descriptor touch, smell, and tickle were constantly judge as having the lowest sexual content amongst the three groups. Literature abou linguistic aspects of the used stimuli was nou sufficient to explain the choice of one word over another, reinforcing the idea that the judgments were differential according to the variables and the group to which the participant belonged. Thus, men judged the descriptors as having similar values, making the scales amplitude smaller, which indicates lower discrimination and the need for less sexual content for the words to be perceived sexually. Inmates showed the same pattern of results, but in a accentuated manner. Women, on the other hand, had good discrimation of the sexual descriptors and exhibited higher scale amplitude. For the survivors, the pattern of results was the same as for the women, with few variations. The found differences between groups may be due to attitudes toward sexuality and sexual violence, and to the way women and men process sexual information, being permeated by gender social issues

Considerable attention has focussed on identifying individual factors associated with, or predictive of, sexual offending (e.g., Efta-Breitbach & Freeman, 2004). In light of these individual factors, clinicians and researchers have developed standardized instruments for assessing the risk posed by sexually offending youth. Two such instruments are the Juvenile Sex Offender Assessment Protocol-II (J-SOAP-II; Prentky & Righthand, 2003) and the Estimate of Risk of Adolescent Sexual Offence Recidivism Version 2.0 (ERASOR-II; Worling & Curwen, 2001). In addition to individual factors, research on crime has demonstrated that structural factors within the community may be important determinants of sexual and non-sexual offending (e.g., McCarthy, 1991; Ouimet, 1999; Shaw & McKay, 1942; Wirth, 1938). Therefore, the purpose of this study was twofold: (a) to compare the psychometric properties of two newly developed risk assessment instruments (i.e., J-SOAP-II and ERASOR-II) and (b) to use the better instrument to compare the levels of risk posed by sexually offending youth in 3 neighbouring, but diverse communities. Using file information, the J-SOAP-II and ERASOR-II were scored on 84 adolescent males between the ages of 11 and 20 years who had committed a sexual offence and received treatment at Youth Forensic Psychiatric Services (YFPS) in the Greater Vancouver Area (GVA; n = 30), Central Okanagan (CO; n = 26), and Thompson Nicola region (TN; n = 28). Calculations of interrater reliability and item-total correlations indicated that the J-SOAP-II was a better assessment instrument for this sample of offenders. Consequently, further regional analysis of risk was conducted using the J-SOAP-II data. Results indicated that although there were no regional differences among the severity and history of sexual offending, TN youth generally had a greater number of risk factors than did youth in CO and GVA. Specifically, youth in TN were found to be higher risk in the areas of intervention, general problem behaviour, iii and family/environment dynamics. These results suggest that to better understand youth who commit sexual offences and to provide appropriate prevention and intervention strategies for individual offenders and their communities, youth should not be evaluated in isolation from their social and community context. Recommendations for practice are discussed.

Considerable attention has focussed on identifying individual factors associated with, or predictive of, sexual offending (e.g., Efta-Breitbach & Freeman, 2004). In light of these individual factors, clinicians and researchers have developed standardized instruments for assessing the risk posed by sexually offending youth. Two such instruments are the Juvenile Sex Offender Assessment Protocol-II (J-SOAP-II; Prentky & Righthand, 2003) and the Estimate of Risk of Adolescent Sexual Offence Recidivism Version 2.0 (ERASOR-II; Worling & Curwen, 2001). In addition to individual factors, research on crime has demonstrated that structural factors within the community may be important determinants of sexual and non-sexual offending (e.g., McCarthy, 1991; Ouimet, 1999; Shaw & McKay, 1942; Wirth, 1938). Therefore, the purpose of this study was twofold: (a) to compare the psychometric properties of two newly developed risk assessment instruments (i.e., J-SOAP-II and ERASOR-II) and (b) to use the better instrument to compare the levels of risk posed by sexually offending youth in 3 neighbouring, but diverse communities. Using file information, the J-SOAP-II and ERASOR-II were scored on 84 adolescent males between the ages of 11 and 20 years who had committed a sexual offence and received treatment at Youth Forensic Psychiatric Services (YFPS) in the Greater Vancouver Area (GVA; n = 30), Central Okanagan (CO; n = 26), and Thompson Nicola region (TN; n = 28). Calculations of interrater reliability and item-total correlations indicated that the J-SOAP-II was a better assessment instrument for this sample of offenders. Consequently, further regional analysis of risk was conducted using the J-SOAP-II data. Results indicated that although there were no regional differences among the severity and history of sexual offending, TN youth generally had a greater number of risk factors than did youth in CO and GVA. Specifically, youth in TN were found to be higher risk in the areas of intervention, general problem behaviour, iii and family/environment dynamics. These results suggest that to better understand youth who commit sexual offences and to provide appropriate prevention and intervention strategies for individual offenders and their communities, youth should not be evaluated in isolation from their social and community context. Recommendations for practice are discussed.

Considerable attention has focussed on identifying individual factors associated with, or predictive of, sexual offending (e.g., Efta-Breitbach & Freeman, 2004). In light of these individual factors, clinicians and researchers have developed standardized instruments for assessing the risk posed by sexually offending youth. Two such instruments are the Juvenile Sex Offender Assessment Protocol-II (J-SOAP-II; Prentky & Righthand, 2003) and the Estimate of Risk of Adolescent Sexual Offence Recidivism Version 2.0 (ERASOR-II; Worling & Curwen, 2001). In addition to individual factors, research on crime has demonstrated that structural factors within the community may be important determinants of sexual and non-sexual offending (e.g., McCarthy, 1991; Ouimet, 1999; Shaw & McKay, 1942; Wirth, 1938). Therefore, the purpose of this study was twofold: (a) to compare the psychometric properties of two newly developed risk assessment instruments (i.e., J-SOAP-II and ERASOR-II) and (b) to use the better instrument to compare the levels of risk posed by sexually offending youth in 3 neighbouring, but diverse communities. Using file information, the J-SOAP-II and ERASOR-II were scored on 84 adolescent males between the ages of 11 and 20 years who had committed a sexual offence and received treatment at Youth Forensic Psychiatric Services (YFPS) in the Greater Vancouver Area (GVA; n = 30), Central Okanagan (CO; n = 26), and Thompson Nicola region (TN; n = 28). Calculations of interrater reliability and item-total correlations indicated that the J-SOAP-II was a better assessment instrument for this sample of offenders. Consequently, further regional analysis of risk was conducted using the J-SOAP-II data. Results indicated that although there were no regional differences among the severity and history of sexual offending, TN youth generally had a greater number of risk factors than did youth in CO and GVA. Specifically, youth in TN were found to be higher risk in the areas of intervention, general problem behaviour, iii and family/environment dynamics. These results suggest that to better understand youth who commit sexual offences and to provide appropriate prevention and intervention strategies for individual offenders and their communities, youth should not be evaluated in isolation from their social and community context. Recommendations for practice are discussed. / Graduate Studies, College of (Okanagan) / Graduate

Objectif : L’objectif de cette recherche était d’identifier les processus et facteurs impliqués dans le phénomène de l’abandon du traitement chez les délinquants sexuels et d’explorer les différences et similitudes entre les expériences d’abandon et les expériences de complétion d’un traitement. Méthode : Sept entrevues semi-dirigées ont été menées avec des hommes purgeant une peine fédérale en lien avec des délits de nature sexuelle. Ceux-ci étaient incarcérés dans un pénitencier ou en surveillance dans la collectivité sous la juridiction du SCC dans la région du Québec. Les entrevues ont été retranscrites et analysées selon une approche de théorisation ancrée. Résultats : Les résultats ont permis d’élaborer un premier modèle de l’abandon du traitement chez les délinquants sexuels. Ce modèle comprend deux voies, qui comportent chacune deux phases, soit la phase « Avant le programme » et la phase « Pendant le programme ». La Voie #1- Abandon rapide est caractérisée par la présence d’un conflit préexistant avant le début du programme. Pendant le programme, des insatisfactions à l’égard des intervenants surgissent et sont tolérées un certain temps avant l’abandon, qui survient typiquement après quelques séances seulement. Dans la Voie #2-Abandon tardif, des facteurs de vulnérabilité préexistants se retrouvent dans la phase « Avant le programme ». Pendant le programme, des conflits entre les participants et leurs intervenants ou leurs coparticipants surviennent et déclenchent des pensées d’abandon. Survient ensuite un événement précipitant qui favorise un discours interne décisif, puis l’abandon, qui prend place après plusieurs semaines de traitement. Les résultats permettent de constater que le concept de conflit se situe au coeur du phénomène de l’abandon du traitement chez les délinquants sexuels. De plus, les expériences d’abandon se démarquent par l’absence d’une alliance thérapeutique entre les participants et leurs intervenants. Plusieurs facteurs contributifs à la réussite sont également notés, notamment des perceptions favorables envers les intervenants et les autres participants, puis des dispositions personnelles favorables. / Objective: The objective of this research was to identify the process and factors that play a role in treatment drop-out for sexual offenders and to target the similarities and differences between the drop-out experiences and that of program completion. Method: Seven semi-structured interviews were conducted with men serving a federal sentence for sex-related crimes. These individuals were either incarcerated in a federal penitentiary or being supervised in the community under CSC jurisdiction in the region of Quebec. The interviews were transcribed and analysed according to a grounded theory approach. Results: The results enabled the elaboration of an initial model for treatment drop-out in sexual offenders. This model is comprised of two pathways containing two phases each: the "Before the program" phase and the "During the program" phase. Pathway #1-Rapid drop-out is characterised by the presence of a pre-existing conflict. During the program, unhappiness with the program facilitator arises and is tolerated for a brief amount of time before the individual drops out. In Pathway #2-Delayed drop-out, pre-existing vulnerability factors can be found in the "Before the program" phase. Over the course of the program, conflicts between the participants and either the program facilitator or co-participants arise and trigger the thought of dropping out. This is followed by a precipitating event that favors a decisive internal discourse followed by dropping out, typically much later in the program. The results from this research demonstrate that conflict appears to be at the heart of treatment drop-out for sexual offenders, combined with the absence of a quality therapeutic alliance between the participants and their program facilitators. Many factors contributing to treatment completion were also identified, such as a positive perception of the program facilitator and other participants, as well as favorable personal dispositions.

No description available.

No description available.

Le 29 juillet 1994, Megan Kanka, une jeune fille de sept ans de la municipalité de Hamilton au New Jersey, est enlevée, agressée sexuellement et tuée par ce qui se révélera être son voisin d’en face, Jesse Timmendequas. À l’époque, l’assaillant de Megan avait déjà fait l’objet de deux condamnations pour agression sexuelle. Suite à cette tragédie, les parents de Megan luttèrent pour la création d’une loi qui révélerait automatiquement au public l’identité et le lieu de résidence des délinquants sexuels. Moins de trois mois plus tard, la « Loi de Megan » était ratifiée. Ainsi un répertoire étatique centralisé de délinquants sexuels en partie disponible au public fut créé. Notre étude se centre sur ce cas et tente de comprendre comment une construction particulière de la délinquance sexuelle comme problème social mena à la réponse pénale spécifique qu’était la Loi de Megan. Pour ce faire, nous analysons les discours et argumentaires politiques en lien avec l’affaire. Huit entretiens avec différents acteurs impliqués dans le débat politique menant à la création de la loi de Megan furent effectués. Une analyse de plus de 150 articles de journaux et de quelques projets et textes de lois fut également effectuée. Nos résultats soulignent d’abord le rôle primordial qu’avait le contexte sociopolitique autant sur la construction du problème social de la délinquance sexuelle que sur la solution qui lui était liée. L’analyse du cas nous indique également que la dyade problème-solution s’élabora en conjonction, dans un cadre temporel uniforme, dont les seules étapes détectables sont celles du narratif de la mort de Megan et de l’élaboration concrète de la loi. En d’autres mots, la mort de Megan ne constituait qu’un point focal qui permit à des acteurs de mettre en pratique des concepts déjà largement partagés. L’étude conclue en liant le contexte sociopolitique du Canada à celui retrouvé dans notre étude de cas et suggère qu’une construction similaire de la délinquance sexuelle comme problème peut facilement être envisageable chez nous. Si personne ne souhaite l’occurrence d’une situation comparable à celle vécue par Megan Kanka et sa famille, cet élément nous apparaît comme étant celui qui propulserait réellement cette construction sur la place publique, à condition bien évidemment qu’une personne ou un groupe de personnes en fassent une question à débattre. / On July 29th 1994, Megan Kanka, a 7 year old girl from Hamilton Township in New Jersey, is kidnapped, sexually molested and killed by what will prove to be the Kanka’ front door neighbor, Jesse Timmendequas. At the time, Megan’s assailant had already been twice convicted of sex crimes. Following this tragedy, Megan’s parents fought to obtain a law that would notify the public on the identity as well as the residency of sex offenders. Less than three months later, "Megan’s Law" was ratified. A state-wide sex offender registry was thus created, for which public notification was partly available. Our study focuses on this case, as we try to understand how the construction of sexual offending as a social problem led to the specific penal response that was Megan’s Law. To accomplish this, we analyzed the political discourse and arguments inherent to the case. Eight interviews with different political actors involved in the political debate leading to the implementation of Megan’s Law were conducted. Over 150 newspaper articles and some pieces of legislation were also analyzed. Our results highlight the essential role that the sociopolitical context had on the construction of sex offending as a social problem as well as the solution to which it was linked. Analysis of this case also indicates that the problem-solution dyad was constructed in conjunction, in a uniform time frame, for which the only detectable stages were those of the narrative concerning the death of Megan and the actual development of the law. In other words, Megan’s death was only a focal point that allowed certain political actors to turn into action already widely shared concepts. The study concludes by linking Canada’s sociopolitical context to the one found in our case study, and suggests that a similar construction of the sex offender problem can easily be considered. Though nobody wishes for the occurence of an event comparable to that experienced by Megan Kanka and her family, this element appears to us as one that would propel this construction to a public arena, provided of course that a person or a group of people make the issue the topic of a public debate.

Mental health services in South Africa and the field of psychology are not keeping up with the changed landscape of child sexual abuse that includes women who perpetrate these violations. New laws have not made a massive impact on out of control behaviours, while the paucity of mental health services for women who sexually violate children is a significant failing in mental health service provision. Exploratory, descriptive research approached the topic from the perspective of the psychology of healing rather than the psychology of wrongdoing. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with 38 professionals in relevant fields, purposefully selected in four provinces in South Africa that revealed a lack of knowledge, resources, and funding, as well as gaps in curricula. Some practitioners were willing to work with women who sexually violate children, while others were either unwilling or reluctant to do so for various reasons. Women who sexually violate children are typically not mentally ill but could have mental disorders and lives dominated by dysfunction and trauma. Data were analysed utilising Attride- Stirling’s (2001) thematic networks, while Gannon, Rose, and Ward’s (2008) descriptive model of female sexual offending (DMFSO) provided the theoretical framework. Recommendations include establishing online services to aid perpetrator disclosure and therapeutic interventions, providing individual psychotherapeutic interventions to uncover more than recent trauma, directing donor funding to sex offender programmes, networking among service providers including government agencies, and training those within the mental health services environment and the criminal justice system. Furthermore, mental health and relevant medical practitioners need to ensure comfort with their sexuality and to resolve their psychological blind spots before offering psychotherapeutic interventions to women who sexually violate children. / Psychology / Ph. D. (Psychology)