Exploring the Role of Self-Control Across Distinct Patterns of Cyber-Deviance in Emerging Adolescence.

A disproportionally large number of adolescents engage in cyber-deviance. However, it is unclear if distinct patterns of adolescent cyber-deviance are evident, and if so, whether and to what extent low self-control is associated with different patterns of cyber-deviance. The current study addressed this research gap by examining the relationship between self-control and distinct latent classes of adolescent cyber-deviance net of potential confounders among a cross-sectional sample of 1793 South Australian adolescents.

Assessing the Effectiveness of a Specialized, Field-Based Treatment Program for Youth Who Have Committed Sexual Offenses in an Australian Jurisdiction.

This study provides an evaluation of recidivism outcomes for a specialized, field-based treatment program for youth who perpetrate sexual offenses in an Australian jurisdiction. Using survival analyses, recidivism outcomes for the treatment group ( = 200), who were followed for an average of 5.07 years ( = 3.

Duration of stay and rate of subsequent criminal conviction and hospitalisation for substance use among young people admitted to a short-term residential program.

Introduction: This study examined the association between program duration and rate of criminal conviction and hospitalisation for substance use up to 15 years later among young people admitted to a short-term residential program for drug and alcohol use.

Methods: Data were derived from linked administrative records of all clients referred to a modified therapeutic community for young people from January 2001 to December 2016 in New South Wales, Australia (n = 3059). Cox proportional hazards regression analyses examined the rate of conviction (separately for any offence, violent offence, non-violent offence and administrative offence) and hospitalisation for substance use, up to 15 years post-program among young people who attended treatment for 1-29 days, 30-59 days, 60-89 days and 90-120 days.

The Efficacy of Outsourced Employment Services for Adults Exiting Australian Prisons.

Crime rates in Australia have declined or been steady over the past decade yet prison populations are at all-time highs. Similarly, unemployment rates have been low but unemployment for those ex-prisoners seeking work is very high. In this paper, we draw on the findings of an Australia-wide survey of government-funded employment service providers who support working-aged Australians including ex-prisoners in their search for work.

Hospitalisation following therapeutic community drug and alcohol treatment for young people with and without a history of criminal conviction.

Introduction: This study examines the association between treatment in a therapeutic community for adolescents with drug and alcohol problems on hospitalisation outcomes up to 15 years later for all clients, and separately for those with and without a history of criminal conviction.

Method: A quasi-experimental design was used to examine the linked administrative health and criminal justice records for all adolescents admitted to the Program for Adolescent Life Management (PALM) from January 2001 to December 2016 (n = 3059) in Sydney, Australia. ICD-10AM codes were used to designate hospitalisation outcomes as either physical injury, mental health problems, substance use disorders, or organic illness.

Associations Between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Trauma Among Young People Who Offend: A Systematic Literature Review.

This systematic review synthesized current knowledge about the prevalence of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) among young people known to have offended and examined evidence of associations between ACEs, trauma symptoms, and offending behavior. A systematic search of English-language, peer-reviewed studies published from the year 2000 onwards was conducted. A final pool of 124 studies that reported quantitative data were included in the review.

Noncompleted Sexual Offenses: Internal States, Risks and Difficulties Related to Crime Commission through the Lens of Sexual Offenders.

The study aims to generate insights from sexual offenders on the influence of internal states and how they perceive risks of apprehension and difficulties in the context of sexual offenses, that is when offenders initiated the offense but were stopped or discouraged either before or during sexual contact. Adult males incarcerated for sexually offending completed a self-report questionnaire. Regression models, including interaction effects, were estimated.

Implications of sex offender classification on reporting demographic characteristics, health, and criminal careers: results from an Australian jurisdiction.

Background: Cross-sectional and retrospective offence data are often used to classify sex offenders in epidemiological and survey research, but little empirical evidence exists regarding the practical implications of this for applied research. This study describes the classification of sex offenders from a cohort of prisoners recruited as part of an Australian inmate health survey and the implications for reporting results.

Methods: Data-linkage was used to join the New South Wales (NSW) Inmate Health Surveys to the states re-offending database to identify men with histories of sexual offending.

Breaking the Cycle: Understanding the Needs of Women Involved in the Criminal Justice System and the Role of Mentoring in Promoting Desistance.

An increasingly popular gender-specific intervention to assist women involved in the criminal justice system (e.g., ex-prisoners) is mentoring.

Preventing Sexual Violence Through Bystander Intervention: Attitudes, Behaviors, Missed Opportunities, and Barriers to Intervention Among Australian University Students.

The concept of bystander intervention is gaining popularity in universities as a mechanism to prevent sexual violence. Prior research has focused on correlates of bystanders' intentions to intervene and intervention behaviors in situations where there is a risk of sexual violence. The current study builds on this literature by exploring the nature of missed opportunities, including perceived barriers to intervention.

Sexual behaviour in preschool children in the context of intra-parental violence and sexual coercion.

Background: Very little is understood about the developmental antecedents of sexual behaviour prior to adolescence.

Aims: Our aim was to examine the impact of different forms of intimate partner violence on early childhood sexual development.

Methods: We used data from an ongoing prospective longitudinal cohort study of Canadian families.

Abuse Experiences of Family Members, Child Maltreatment, and the Development of Sex Offending Among Incarcerated Adolescent Males.

Child sexual abuse is considered a risk factor for the development of sexual offending in adolescence. Beyond this, comparisons of the risk factor profiles between adolescent sex offenders (ASOs) and adolescent non-sex offenders (ANSOs) have uncovered minimal differences. However, differences between ASOs and ANSOs in terms of patterns in the abuse histories of their family members have rarely been studied.

Offense Trajectories, the Unfolding of Sexual and Non-Sexual Criminal Activity, and Sex Offense Characteristics of Adolescent Sex Offenders.

The current study examines offending trajectories of adolescent sexual offenders (ASOs). Until recently, classification frameworks have not been designed to account for the heterogeneity of offending patterns in adolescence, how these are associated with the unfolding of sexual and non-sexual criminal activity, and whether and to what extent they are related to the characteristics of sex offenses in adolescence. The current study takes a longitudinal view of offending in adolescence by examining retrospective longitudinal data of 217 ASOs referred for treatment to a clinical service between 2001 and 2009 in Australia.

Sexual Violence and Abuse Against Children: A First Review Through the Lens of Environmental Criminology.

Most criminal justice responses to address sexual violence and abuse against children are aimed at identifying and incarcerating offenders or at best, trying to prevent them from reoffending. This policy situation, primarily characterized by tertiary intervention strategies, is exacerbated by a lack of evidence-based knowledge about the circumstances in which this phenomenon occurs. This specific information can inform certain types of primary and secondary prevention strategies.

Merging developmental and criminal career perspectives: implications for risk assessment and risk prediction of violent/sexual recidivism in adult sexual aggressors of women.

Currently, a majority of actuarial risk-assessment tools for sexual recidivism contain static risk factors that measure various aspects of the offender's prior criminal history in adulthood. The goal of the current study was to assess the utility of extending static risk factors, by using developmental and criminal career parameters of offending, in the actuarial assessment of risk of violent/sexual recidivism. The current study was based on a sample of 204 convicted sexual aggressors of women incarcerated in the province of Quebec, Canada between April 1994 and June 2000.

Toward a developmental taxonomy of adult sexual aggressors of women: antisocial trajectories in youth, mating effort, and sexual criminal activity in adulthood.

Recent studies suggest that sexual aggressors of women are characterized by early- and late-onset antisocial trajectories. However, these studies have not examined the role of mating effort and its role on sexual offending in adulthood. This study examined differences in the level of mating effort of early- and late-onset offenders and the association between mating effort and sexual offending in adulthood.

Heterogeneity in antisocial trajectories in youth of adult sexual aggressors of women: an examination of initiation, persistence, escalation, and aggravation.

Recent explanatory models of sexual aggression of women have emphasized the role of an antisocial tendency in explaining sexual aggression. If those models agree about the importance of an antisocial propensity, they disagree about the presence of a single or multiple pathways leading to sexual aggression. Currently, no empirical studies have examined within-individual changes of antisocial behavior in youth of sexual aggressors of women and whether those changes are related to the unfolding of the sexual and nonsexual criminal activity in adulthood.