Sexual offenses cause harm to the victims’ physical and psychological functions. This study was conducted to evaluate the risk of incident psychiatric disorders in sexual assault victims. Taiwan’s National Health Insurance Research Database was used to conduct a nationwide population-based cohort study to assess the risk of incident psychiatric disorders in sexual assault victims and to further evaluate the respective risk estimates on the basis of diagnostic patterns. A total of 81 sexual assault victims and 324 controls matched by sex, age and residential area were included. The mean age of the sexual assault victims was 18.39 (sd 10.23) years, and 93.83% (76/81) of the sample were females. Sexual assault victims had a higher incidence density of psychiatric disorders than did the control group (9.2% per year, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.1–33.2% per year v. 1.1% per year, 95% CI .4–15.7% per year; p=.037). Sexual assault was an independent risk factor for incident psychiatric disorders, with an incidence rate ratio of 3.40 (95% CI 1.04–26.41) after adjustment for potential confounding factors. Assessment of psychiatric disorders should be implemented in the integrative care of sexual assault victims. Physicians providing clinical care to the sexual assault victims should receive more all-round training to understand and manage this type of violence.

The present study verified the existence of psychological profiles among Brazilian adolescent offenders, using data from a sample (n=858) collected with the Brazilian version of the Revised Jesness Inventory (JI-R-Br). This instrument is a comprehensive, self-report measure of personal dispositions (traits) that are associated with vulnerability to antisocial behavior (Impulsivity, Aggression/Hostility, Sensation Seeking) and adaptive patterns (Antisocial Values/Beliefs and Antisocial Attitudes). Cluster analyses showed three significantly distinct groups: group 1 (n=276), called Asocial, was comprised of impulsive/aggressive adolescents with high antisocial motivation, low self-control and very focused on their own needs. Group 2 (n=346), called Neurotic Antisocial, was comprised of adolescents with high rates of depression and anxiety, as well as low self-control, but with less antisocial motivation when compared with group 1. Group 3 (n=236) was similar to group 4 (normative group; n=572). Our results corroborate those described by other studies in the literature. They show the importance of different practices and/or interventions when working with offenders, given that there are different profiles based on different psychological characteristics/needs for this population.

Due to their age and lifestyle, female students in general are at an increased risk of various forms of sexual violence. Particular sociocultural contexts also form the background of gender-based violence in professional and academic structures. Yet despite institutional and legal efforts to protect (potential) survivors of sexual violence from primary (and secondary) victimization, persistent assaults demonstrate the reluctance of organizations and individuals to fully accept women’s experiences as being physically and psychologically harmful. Based on quantitative and qualitative data obtained in the context of the European research project “Gender-Based Violence, Stalking and Fear of Crime”,1 this article presents a comparative analysis of the prevalence of sexual violence, feelings of safety (or a lack thereof) and the reasons for (non-)disclosure for five European countries. A dataset of about 21,000 responses from German, British, Italian, Spanish and Polish students indicates that sexualized violence is a major problem at universities and that it has yet to be recognized as such. This – added to the fact that it is generally suppressed or concealed by universities – makes it society’s problem as well. The article discusses widespread social myths about victims and perpetrators, the role of the new media in victimization, and the issues of universities’ responsibility for their students (through institutional policy and specific responses to incidents of gender-based violence). The results presented here demonstrate the contradictory perceptions that students have in regard to their experiences and the nature of sexualized violence in an academic environment.

Pesticides are chemicals used to kill pests and other “rival” organisms which may cause damage to crops in agriculture. In some instances the vast usage of pesticides may create negative effects on the environment and its units like living and non-living organisms. Green criminology counts such harmful activities upon the environment as crimes or harms though such activities can be legal or illegal in nature. The case of the endosulfan disaster that occurred in Kasargod, Kerala can be accounted to environmental harms which detrimentally affected the environment and its units, especially humans. The pesticide endosulfan was sprayed aerially for around 25 years in cashew plantations situated in Kasargod and caused severe diseases and extensive malformations among people living in the region. In this paper the endosulfan disaster of Kasargod is approached through the green criminological perspective of environmental harms.

This study is based on crime mapping and crime analysis of property crimes in Jodhpur. The property crimes which were selected were house breaking, auto thefts and chain snatching. Data from police stations were used to generate the maps to locate hot spots of crimes. The profile of these hot spots was analyzed through observations supplemented with interviews of police officers and public 100 cases of house breaking and 100 cases of auto thefts were further analyzed to understand the contexts which lead to these crimes. These contexts are in consonance with situational crime prevention theories. This study may help to understand the environmental factors which may be responsible for certain places becoming hot spot areas of property crimes in Jodhpur.

Despite increasing awareness of human trafficking in Canada (and internationally), there is limited knowledge about how local communities are responding to the experiences of trafficked persons. By focusing on the case of counter-trafficking responses in a major city in western Canada, this project represents the first Canadian attempt to document how a major urban centre is addressing human trafficking. The exploratory project surveyed 53 respondents representing agencies involved in the counter-trafficking response, which in various capacities serve individuals victimized by trafficking. Building on the survey findings, five focus group discussions were also conducted. The article suggests that, while a criminal justice framework is important for addressing human trafficking, local strategies will benefit from an emphasis on cross-sector collaboration that emphasizes the rights of the trafficked persons above the needs of law enforcement. Implications for (inter)national responses are also presented.

The United Nations Asia and Far East Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders (UNAFEI) promotes community corrections through technical assistance for developing countries based on the United Nations policies related to offender treatment policy, particularly the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for Non-Custodial Measures and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Still, many Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries suffer from prison overcrowding and some of them largely rely on “imprisonment” as a single solution. This is due, in part, to the underdeveloped state of community corrections in many of these countries. Therefore, this paper considers the sustainable development of offender treatment for the effective prevention of recidivism through the analysis of the relationship between social conditions and the status of imprisonment in Asia.