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In the US, as in most Western countries, the old doctrine is progressively falling into disuse that the purpose of the criminal law is to exact from the criminal a retributive suffering proportionate to the heinousness of the offense. Instead, the effort is being made to combine deterrence & public protection with restoration of the offender to a more self-sustaining role in the community. Probation provides the courts a constructive alternative to imprisonment; parole & the indeterminate sentence mitigate the inflexibility of statutory penalties. The current trend in the disposition of offenders is unmistakably toward individualized penal treatment administered within the framework of a flexible criminal code. While individualization of treatment regarding offenders is one goal, vast disparities between the laws & the practices of the many criminal jurisdictions of the US make movement toward greater uniformity another desirable goal. Though a guide toward both these goals, the Model Penal Code is not intended to be adopted uniformly by all states; its objective is to examine & make more explicit the problems of criminal law, to bring under discussion alternative solutions, & to express conclusions in clear statutory language. For the findings of the soc sci's to be brought adequately to bear upon the treatment & disposition of offenders, the sympathetic co-operation is required of the judges & the courts & the prisons & correctional institutions. AA.

In this study, we explored the attitudes of the general public towards juvenile offenders. Participants (N=1264), aged 18-87 (M=34), responded to a 17-item scale created based on public comments to news about juvenile offending on news portals and social media. Socio-demographic characteristics were also collected. The analysis revealed three interpretable factors: Fatalistic view, Accountability, and Family factors. The highest scores were obtained on the Accountability and the lowest on the Fatalistic view factor. Older participants, participants who are married, those who are parents, men, lower educated, and participants from rural areas hold harsher attitudes towards juvenile offenders. Those who have not had contact with juvenile offenders tend to attribute more responsibility to family factors. Of those who have been in contact with juvenile offenders, those who have higher scores on Fatalistic view and Accountability describe the contact as more negative.

Young people between the ages of ten and 17 inclusive who commit grave crimes are invariably sentenced to be detained under Section 53 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933. Subsection (1) provides that such children convicted of murder be detained during Her Majesty's Pleasure for an indeterminate period. The two ten‐year‐old boys convicted of killing James Bulger in 1993 come into this category. Subsection (2) of the 1933 Act provides that such children convicted of other serious crimes, usually involving actual or intended violence, which would attract a sentence of imprisonment of 14 years or more in the case of an adult, be detained for indeterminate periods in excess of the normal custodial limit for that age group. Common examples of this are those sentenced for rape, arson and robbery and those, such as Mary Bell in 1968 who, having been convicted of manslaughter, may be detained for a discretionary life period. This paper draws upon the findings of two research studies (Boswell 1991, 1995) to examine some of the characteristics of this small but singular group of young offenders, notably the population breakdown and the prevalence of background abuse and loss. Reference will be made to the exercise of professional discretion in the sentencing and custodial progressions to which this group is subject. Finally, some pointers for more just, humane and effective practice in this field will be identified.

Die demografische Entwicklung und die Statistiken von Polizei und Justiz deuten auf eine Zunahme des Randphänomens der "Alterskriminalität" hin. Zu den alterstypischen Straftaten gehören Beleidigungen, leichte Körperverletzungen, Vergehen im Straßenverkehr, Diebstahl und Betrug. Welche Beweggründe stehen hinter dem kriminellen Verhalten älterer Menschen über 60 Jahre? Die qualitativ-empirische Untersuchung orientiert sich am Ansatz der Heuristik und der Grounded Theory. Die Ergebnisse werden unter demografischen und alterskulturellen Aspekten diskutiert. Des Weiteren wird ein Bezug zur Sinnsuche und Integrität im Alter hergestellt. Der Band richtet sich an PraktikerInnen, WissenschaftlerInnen und Studierende der Fachrichtungen Gerontologie, Soziologie, Kriminologie, Soziale Arbeit, Jura und Psychologie.

In the United States, as in most Western coun tries, the old doctrine is progressively falling into disuse that the purpose of the criminal law is to exact from the criminal a retributive suffering proportionate to the heinousness of the offense. Instead, the effort is being made to combine deter rence and public protection with restoration of the offender to a more self-sustaining role in the community. Probation pro vides the courts a constructive alternative to imprisonment; parole and the indeterminate sentence mitigate the inflexibility of statutory penalties. The current trend in the disposition of offenders is unmistakably toward individualized penal treat ment administered within the framework of a flexible criminal code. While individualization of treatment regarding offend ers is one goal, vast disparities between the laws and the prac tices of the many criminal jurisdictions of the United States make movement toward greater uniformity another desirable goal. Although a guide toward both these goals, the Model Penal Code is not intended to be adopted uniformly by all states; its objective is to examine and make more explicit the problems of criminal law, to bring under discussion alternative solutions, and to express conclusions in clear statutory lan guage. For the findings of the social sciences to be brought adequately to bear upon the treatment and disposition of of fenders, the sympathetic co-operation is required of the judges and the courts and the prisons and correctional institutions.— Ed.

Intro -- A Practical Guide to Working with Sex Offenders -- Cover -- Of related interest -- Title Page -- Copyright -- Contents -- Introduction -- 1. A Brief History of Sex -- Sexual behaviour -- Biology -- Sex, sexology and sexuality -- Sex and gender -- 2. Sex and Sexuality -- Sex, love, power and sexuality -- The portrayal of sex -- 3. Theories of Sexual Offending -- Why do they do it? -- Treatment -- 4. People Who Sexually Harm Others -- Typologies -- Offending against children -- Sexual violence -- Female perpetrators -- Stalking -- Mental illness -- Harmful sexual behaviour by young people -- Older people -- 5. Theories of Risk -- The risk society -- Probability -- Perceptual bias, likelihood and complexity thinking -- Defensive, defensible, precautionary principle and false positives -- Prior assumptions and Bayesian inference -- 6. Assessing the Risk of Those Who Cause Sexual Harm -- Organizational defensive and professional defensible decision-making -- Using risk assessment 'tools' -- 7. Legal Contexts -- Prosecutions -- Consent -- Sentencing -- Civil orders -- Children and young people -- Mental health -- 8. Approaches and Debates -- Treat, cure or control? From theory to practice and from practice to effective outcomes -- A brief history of interventions -- The rise of evidence-based practice -- Control, treat and correct -- Cognitive behavioural approaches -- Programm-ization -- Empathy -- Adverse childhood experiences and DESISTANCE -- 9. The Reflective Professional -- Promoting positive change to reduce the risk of future harm -- Professional values and personal change -- A person-centred approach -- Thinking critically about complex behaviours -- Looking after ourselves -- References -- Appendix: List of Sexual Offences (Sexual Offences Act 2003) and Recorded Number of Sexual Offences (2019) -- Subject Index -- Author Index.

The justice system in the United States has long recognized that juvenile offenders are not the same as adults, and has tried to incorporate those differences into law and policy. But only in recent decades have behavioral scientists and neuroscientists, along with policymakers, looked rigorously at developmental differences, seeking answers to two overarching questions: Are young offenders, purely by virtue of their immaturity, different from older individuals who commit crimes? And, if they are, how should justice policy take this into account? A growing body of research on adolescent development now confirms that teenagers are indeed inherently different from adults, not only in their behaviors, but also (and of course relatedly) in the ways their brains function. These findings have influenced a series of Supreme Court decisions relating to the treatment of adolescents, and have led legislators and other policymakers across the country to adopt a range of developmentally informed justice policies. New research is showing distinct changes in the brains of young adults, ages 18 to 21, suggesting that they too may be immature in ways that are relevant to justice policy. This knowledge brief from the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Law and Neuroscience considers the implications of this new research.

We investigated whether birth order and birth interval are associated with phallometric responding among 168 sex offenders. Based on the immunoreactivity hypothesis, we predicted that a larger number of older brothers and a shorter birth interval between the offenders and their next older brothers would be associated with more deviant responding. Results showed that a larger number of older brothers (but not older sisters, younger brothers, or younger sisters) was associated with more deviant responding on the Most Deviant Index, a general measure of sexual deviance. A larger number of older brothers was associated with arousal to nonsexual violence against women and children, but contrary to expectation, the same association was also found for the number of younger brothers. A short birth interval with the next older brother was associated with greater relative arousal to nonsexual violence, but the correlation with the Most Deviant Index did not reach statistical significance. Overall, results were consistent with the main predictions, but the effects of birth order and birth interval were mostly restricted to arousal to nonsexual violence. Birth order and birth interval were not associated with pedophilic interests or gender preferences.

Hebephilia refers to sexual interest in pubescent children who are beginning to show early signs of sexual development but are sexually immature. The present study examined the relationship between hebephilia and victim age choice in a sample of 2,238 adult male sexual offenders. On average, offenders were 39 years old at the time of their assessments, and approximately half (48%) were referred by probation or parole offices. Assessment data included self-report, sexual arousal measured by volumetric phallometry, and victims' ages. Results suggested that, similar to pedophilia, hebephilia had a medium sized association with a greater number of victims under age 11 and a small sized association with a greater number of victims ages 11 to 14. Unlike pedophilia, a small positive association was consistently found between hebephilia and a greater number of victims ages 15 or 16. Furthermore, a small positive association was observed between victim age polymorphism and hebephilia and pedophilia. The present results suggested that hebephilia was associated with a greater number of victims age 14 or younger and had similar victim age correlates to pedophiles.

The technologies used in the electronic monitoring of offenders continue to develop, and next-generation "tags" will likely feature new capabilities. As the technology becomes more powerful, older criminal justice institutions and practices may appear increasingly anachronistic in one form or other, and their legitimacy called into question. Electronic monitoring systems may appear progressive alternatives to older forms of punishing. However, given the surveillant and controlling qualities of electronic monitoring systems, extending their use is in many respects troubling. This article seeks to examine the electronic monitoring of offenders in the light of the concepts of "penal moderation" and "penal excess", as well as to reflect on this sanction at the interface of the academic fields of the sociology of punishment and surveillance studies. It is argued that issues relating to intended aims and actual effects of the electronic monitoring of offenders go to the heart of contemporary debates and contradictions regarding penal purpose, the effects of the criminal justice system, electronic surveillance, and explanations of penal change.

Focused on maritime piracy in the oil-producing Niger Delta (Nigeria), this article addresses three main questions. First, how can we measure the escalation or decrease of criminal violence at sea? Secondly, what is the relationship between piracy and the (permanent) crisis of the state in Africa? Finally, what is the relationship between violence at sea and conflicts onshore? Actually, there are not enough data to monitor the real trend of maritime piracy in Nigeria. Another difficulty is that statistics and the international community focus on attacks against "big" commercial boats and the oil industry. As a result, they ignore "small" trawlers and fishermen who are the first victims of pirates in terms of homicides. Moreover, quantitative monitoring does not give details on the political economy of piracy. Too often, security analysts provide simplistic explanations that point to usual stereotypes on Africa: poverty, the failure of the state, etc. But the problem is more complex. The modernization of maritime piracy is different from a quantitative growth and has a lot to do with the local dynamics of political conflicts and crime in the oil-producing coastal states of Nigeria. Adapted from the source document.

This article discusses the findings from a survey of 14-16 year olds made subject to a supervision order in 1978. The social enquiry reports and case files of 241 girls and 971 boys reveal a number of noticeable differences between the sexes in the imposition of this particular sentence. Girls are made subject to an order for less serious offences than committed by boys, after having been involved in fewer previous misdemeanours and for having committed fewer current offences. Taken together, the data would appear to point to a degree of discrimination in the administration of juvenile justice. This pattern is set within the contexts of the supervision order being a disposal of wide and often unspecified remit and can thereby be readily interpreted by both sentencers and social workers or probation officers as extending general superintendence to wayward youngsters. Because troublesome girls are viewed as exceptional delinquents, they are vulnerable to a greater degree of control and regulation `for their own good' than are boys. Whilst ideas of welfare that are enshrined in legislation directed at young offenders have a benign objective, an emphasis upon `needs' can be variously interpreted meaning that everyday typifications become expressed in the penological regulation of delinquent girls.