Sexual murderers perpetrate homicide and rape/sexual abuse, but it is unclear whether they should primarily be considered homicide offenders, sexual offenders, or both. Most studies have merged ...together different types of non-homicidal sex offenders (NHSOs), neglecting to consider the potential differences between the nonviolent and violent sex offenders. Here, we suggest it is important to isolate those violent sex offenders who inflict severe physical injuries that could potentially lead to a lethal outcome. Therefore, the aim of the current study is to compare different measures of the criminal career on three groups of sex offenders: NHSOs, violent NHSOs, and sexual homicide offenders (SHOs) using data from 616 incarcerated male sex offenders in a Federal penitentiary in Canada. Interestingly, the group of sex offenders with the worst criminal career profile was not the SHOs, but the violent NHSOs. Violent NHSOs had the greatest number of prior convictions and the most varied and versatile criminal career. Therefore, we suggest that based on their criminal career, SHOs should be considered more as murderers than sex offenders. However, to fully answer this question, future studies should include a group of non-sexual homicide offenders.
Problems in emotional functioning have been identified as a risk factor for both sexual and violent offending, yet the precise pattern of impairment in emotional functioning that is experienced by ...sexual and violent offenders remains unclear.
In this study, we examined self-reported difficulties in emotion regulation, the use of different strategies for regulating emotions, levels of trait alexithymia, and dispositional mindfulness in men with a history of sexual offending, non-sexual violent offending, homicide, and community controls.
A comparison between these groups showed that while sexual offenders had some circumscribed difficulties in emotional nonacceptance, violent offenders showed more generalized problems in emotional nonacceptance, alexithymia, and mindfulness. In contrast, homicide offenders reported few difficulties compared with other offender groups.
Our results have implications for the allocation of individuals to treatment modules aimed at improving emotion regulation to reduce negative affect and offending behavior.
•Sexual offenders show some circumscribed difficulties in emotional nonacceptance.•Violent offenders show more generalized problems in emotional nonacceptance, alexithymia, and mindfulness.•Offenders should not be allocated to interventions aimed at improving emotion regulation on the basis of offense type alone.
Violent victimization—particularly when it happens to young people—can inflict a wide array of negative consequences across the life course. Nevertheless, some victims are more likely to suffer these ...consequences than others, and we do not have a very good understanding of why that is. One promising avenue of research is to examine how individuals’ differential risks of being victimized affect the extent to which they experience negative outcomes. By using propensity score matching and data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (N = 8,323), in this study I estimate the heterogeneous effects of adolescent violent victimization on several problematic outcomes in early adulthood (violent and property offending, subsequent violent victimization, depressive symptoms, hard drug use, and low educational attainment). Individuals’ differential risks of adolescent violent victimization are estimated with a host of personal, social, and contextual factors, including prior experiences with crime and violence. The results show that the consequences of adolescent victimization in early adulthood are more pronounced for youth with the lowest risks of being victimized. These findings have important implications for theory, research, and practice, and they emphasize that the consequences of victimization cannot be understood separately from the sources of victimization.
Although religion and crime occupies a relatively small space in contemporary criminological research, religious beliefs, and practices are central to classical social theory. This study uses fixed ...effects models to analyze three waves of panel data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health to examine the relationship between a multidimensional measure of religiosity and several forms of delinquency. The results indicate that the relationship between religiosity and delinquency is offense-specific. While religiosity is inversely related to substance use in the presence of social bonds and predictors of delinquency, its relationship with non-violent delinquency is mixed. Finally, religiosity is not associated with violent offending. The results suggest that renewed interest in religion among criminologists is warranted.
There are formidable challenges to providing widely agreed upon, logical, coherent, and useful classification schemes in the forensic domain. Most attempts to classify types of crime focus on surface ...features of offences and group together those that have similar elements in terms of specific kinds of behaviour (e.g., violent offending, property offending, sexual offending). In this paper I argue for an evolutionary approach to the classification of offences which is based on the sorts of moral violation that they represent. Drawing from research on the evolution of morality more generally, and Haidt's moral foundation theory more specifically, I argue that there are (at least) five distinct offence types based on each of the five moral foundations outlined by Haidt. This approach to the classification of crime, I suggest, can help us to both understand why certain acts become criminalised and why there is significant cross-cultural and historical variation in the range of acts that are prohibited by social groups and are subject to third-party sanctions. The implications of this approach for explaining criminal offending and rehabilitating individuals who commit crime is also considered.
This heuristic study examined potential serial sexual homicide offenders (SSHOs), an unacknowledged offender group comprised of aspiring and probable SSHOs, and compared them with successful SSHOs. ...Data were collected on six aspiring SSHOs who each failed a single homicide attempt, 16 probable SSHOs who committed 17 homicides in separate events, and 13 successful SSHOs who killed 90 victims in separate events. The study results indicate that while potential SSHOs share more in common with successful SSHOs than they do with single‐victim nonsexual homicide offenders, and that there is an overlap between potential SSHOs and successful SSHOs, there is currently insufficient evidence to suggest that there are discreet transitions among categories. While few potential SSHOs strive to become successful SSHOs, this may be due to weak or nonexistent emotional triggers. Being a potential SSHO does not appear to be a predictable first step on a pathway towards becoming a successful SSHO, as potential SSHOs cannot reliably be thought of as prospective SSHOs if all things were equal. The present study could not foresee all potential SSHOs becoming successful ones. An as yet unidentified number of factors still appear to separate potential SSHOs from successful SSHOs.
Abstract
Elder mistreatment is common in both community and institutional settings. However, the prevalence of elder mistreatment and its association with risk factors in sheltered homes are unknown. ...The primary objective of this study was to determine the prevalence and types of mistreatment among elderly living in sheltered homes. A second objective was to compare socio-demographics and other characteristics between elderly groups with or without a history of mistreatment. This cross-sectional study was conducted in 43 sheltered homes and utilized a face-to face, self-reporting interview with residents to complete structured question regarding each participant’s previous 12 months. The questionnaires included seven sections, including one section for demographics, five sections for subtypes of mistreatments (physical, psychological, financial, sexual, and neglect), and one section about health status and functional capacity. Among the 446 elderly participants, 81% of all participants experienced at least one type of mistreatment. Psychological was the most common type of elder mistreatment (71%), followed by neglect (67%), financial mistreatment (54%), and physical mistreatment (13%). Sexual mistreatment was rarely reported by the participants (0.01%). The most common risk factors associated with elder mistreatment were female gender and chronic illnesses. Elder mistreatment is common among the elderly living in sheltered homes, particularly in woman and those with chronic illness. Further studies are needed to better understand the risk factors that lead to the high prevalence of mistreatment in these settings.
Although past research highlights a close relationship between alcohol and crime, its role as a static (i.e., stable) and dynamic (i.e., changing) risk factor of violent delinquency has been less ...studied. Cross-lagged dynamic panel models were employed to address this issue based on a longitudinal Korean adolescent sample. Despite the significant independent effects of baseline individual differences in alcohol use, its impact on violence was no longer statistically significant when accounting for within-individual changes in alcohol consumption. However, we also found interaction effects between baseline and within-individual changes in alcohol consumption; youth who consume more alcohol at earlier ages and engage in more alcohol use over time are more likely to engage in violence. Findings stress the importance of studying static and dynamic factors and their interaction to provide a greater understanding of violent delinquency. Limitations and implications for policy and practices are discussed.
•Childhood sexual abuse had direct and indirect effects on juvenile violent delinquency.•CU traits mediated between childhood sexual abuse and juvenile violent delinquency.•CU traits mediated between ...childhood emotional neglect and juvenile violent delinquency.•CU traits did not mediate between physical abuse and juvenile violent delinquency.•CU traits significantly predicted juvenile violent delinquency.
Adolescents in China suffer a high prevalence of childhood maltreatment, which has been shown to facilitate juvenile violent delinquency. Studies have implicated a relationship between callous-unemotional traits and both juvenile violent delinquency and childhood maltreatment. However, the complex relationships among these three variables have not yet been examined.
This study aimed to investigate the mediating role of callous-unemotional traits in the relationship between different types of childhood maltreatment and juvenile violent delinquency.
Childhood maltreatment and callous-unemotional traits were assessed in a sample of 441 juvenile violent offenders and a control group of 543 non-offenders, using questionnaires.
After controlling for socio-economic status, a mediation analysis determined the direct, indirect, and total effect of the mediation of callous-unemotional traits in the relationship between childhood maltreatment and juvenile violent delinquency.
The results showed no mediation of callous-unemotional traits in the relationship between physical abuse and juvenile violent delinquency. However, callous-unemotional traits mediated the relationship between sexual abuse and juvenile violent delinquency as well as between emotional neglect and juvenile violent delinquency.
Our findings suggest that sexual abuse has both a direct and indirect effect on juvenile violent delinquency via callous-unemotional traits, whereas childhood emotional neglect had only an indirect effect on juvenile violent delinquency.
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