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The purpose of this study was to explore the risk factors and the impact of a prostitution diversion program on prostitution recidivism. Risk factors and recidivism were explored using chi-square, t tests, and survival analysis. Participants were 448 individuals who were arrested for prostitution and attended a prostitution-focused diversion program. Of the sample, 65 were rearrested for prostitution (14.5 %) within the first 12 months after the arrest leading to their involvement in the diversion program. Prior arrest for prostitution, addiction to drugs and/or alcohol, and childhood physical abuse were found to be risk factors for prostitution rearrest. The relationship between program completion and recidivism was found to be significant with the participants who completed all program requirements less likely to have been rearrested. Future studies on risk factors for recidivism and program impact should include separating males and females as well as exploring those who began sex work before age 18 compared to those who began after age 18. The program components could also be provided to women while incarcerated to compare risk factors and the impact on recidivism. (Contains 1 figure and 2 tables.)

This study examines a sample of 136 male and female juveniles charged with attempted homicide or homicide. The purpose of this study is to explore the differences between nondirect file male and female juvenile homicide offenders regarding individual, family, and crime circumstances. Findings suggest that compared to male juvenile offenders, female juvenile homicide offenders have higher rates of reported childhood abuse, more serious substance abuse, and mental health problems including suicidal ideations, depression, anxiety, anger, and irritability. Male juvenile homicide offenders reported higher rates of substance use than their female counterparts but the females had more serious substance abuse problems. Female juveniles were found to more often kill a person known to them and male homicide offenders were found to more often kill a stranger. These findings suggest strongly that male and female juvenile homicide offenders are dissimilar and require unique assessment and treatment. (Contains 1 table.)

The aim of this study is to provide school social workers with an outline of the indicators common to school fire setters regarding their experiences of bullying and victimization by bullies. A sample of juvenile fire setters (N = 379) between the ages of five and seventeen years attending a fire-setter intervention program completed a modified Peer Relations Questionnaire. The purpose of this study was to determine if there are any differences regarding bully or bully victim characteristics between juvenile fire setters who set fires at school and those who set fires in other locations. Almost a third of the sample (32.7%, n = 125) indicated that they had set a fire at school and reported a higher rate of having been bullied than non-school fire setters. Implications for school social work practices are discussed. (Contains 2 tables.)

Background: To explore whether social or emotional outcomes for high-risk early adolescent youth that attended an established preventive intervention called the Chicago Child-Parent Center Preschool Program (CPC) are moderated by individual, family and program variations. Purpose: Two questions are addressed: (1) Do the effects of CPC preschool participation on early adolescent social and emotional competency vary by sex of child, family risk status, parent education and family structure? (2) Do estimated effects on early adolescent social and emotional competency vary by program length in the preschool and school-age components of the program? Programme description: Located in or close to elementary schools in the Chicago public school system, the CPC program provides educational and family-support services to children between the ages of 3 and 9 (preschool to 2nd or 3rd grade). Within a structure of comprehensive services similar to Head Start, the intervention emphasises the acquisition of basic skills in language arts and math through relatively structured but diverse learning experiences that include teacher-directed, whole-class instruction, small-group and individualised activities, and frequent field trips. Sample: Data for this investigation were drawn from the Chicago Longitudinal Study (CLS). The CLS follows a cohort of 1539 disadvantaged, minority children (93% African-American, 7% Latino or Other) who were born in 1980 and attended kindergarten programs within the Chicago Public School System in 1985/86. Out of the full sample of 1539, a subset of 989 children (64% of the sample) received preschool services from one of Chicago's 20 Child-Parent Center (CPC) programs. An additional set of 550 children (36% of the sample) did not attend CPC preschool and serve as a non-CPC comparison group. The study sample are 1378 primarily African-American youth who participated in the CLS and had scores for two or more identifiable social and emotional competency indicators by age 15. Design and methods: Follow-up of a non-randomised alternative intervention matched-group cohort at age 15 years. Differential effects were estimated using multiple regression. Program interaction terms (e.g., program [times] sex or program [times] parent high school graduate) were added to the basic regression model specification that already included the main effects of each variable included in the interaction. Results: Some 12% (or 11 of 92) of the interaction terms for social and emotional outcomes by age 15 were significant at the 0.01 or 0.05 level. The most frequently detected differential effects were for family risk level (high or low) and sex of child. Conclusions: Most children appear to benefit equally from participation in the CPC program. The prediction from ecological theory that children experiencing a large number of environmental risk factors (e.g., high family risk status and low parental education levels) are more likely to benefit from program participation was supported. (Contains 1 figure and 3 tables.)

There is ongoing debate regarding the merits of decriminalization or outright legalization of commercial sex work in the United States. A few municipalities have officially legalized both the selling and purchasing of sex, while others unofficially criminalize purchasing sex but have decriminalized its sale. In addition, there are many other locales with no official guidance on the subject but have unofficially decriminalized sex work by designating specific areas in an urban landscape safe from law enforcement for commercial sex, by quietly ceasing to arrest sex sellers, or by declining to prosecute anyone selling or attempting to sell sex. Despite these efforts, it remains crucial to understand where in an urban area commercial sex exchanges occur—legalization and decriminalization may result in fewer arrests but is likely to increase the overall size of the sex market. This growth could result in an increase in sex trafficking victimization, which makes up the majority of commercial sex sellers in any domestic market. Given the distribution of prostitution activities in most communities, it is possible to use high-fidelity predictive models to identify intervention opportunities related to sex trafficking victimization. In this research, we construct several machine learning models and inform them with a range of known criminogenic factors to predict locations hosting high levels of prostitution. We demonstrate these methods in the city of Chicago, Illinois. The results of this exploratory analysis identified a range of explanatory factors driving prostitution activity throughout Chicago, and the best-performing model correctly predicted prostitution frequency with 94% accuracy. We conclude by exploring specific areas of under- and over-prediction throughout Chicago and discuss the implications of these results for allocating social support efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Girls are becoming involved in the juvenile justice system at a remarkable rate. As a result, the juvenile justice system must become more responsive to their physical, mental, and educational needs. Many of these girls bare been victims of childhood emotional, sexual, or physical abuse resulting in serious mental health problems. This article describes a psycho-educational group intervention designed for adolescent girls involved in the juvenile justice system that bare been affected by childhood abuse. The intervention takes place in a residential program for delinquent girls and is a voluntary group. The psycho-education format allows for the participants to gain information about what abuse is and what the impact of abuse can be on their thoughts and actions. The group format provides a supportive environment that promotes group curative factors and mutual aid. KEYWORDS group trauma intervention, gender-specific treatment, abuse, gift delinquency, mental health and delinquency DOI: 10.1080/01609510903092972

Research on female juvenile sex offenders is limited by small clinical samples. Little is known about the characteristics of female sexual offending and how it is related to child maltreatment. This study examines data from the case histories of 118 female juvenile sex offenders. In contrast to portrayals in previous research, this study shows that female sex offenders are not a homogeneous group. Findings also included differentiation between female juvenile sexual offenders with a history of child maltreatment and those without a history of child maltreatment. Female juvenile sex offenders who had a history of child maltreatment were more likely to have a current mental health diagnosis and experience clinical levels of anger-irritability and depression-anxiety than those without a history of child maltreatment. The impact of a history of sexual abuse for female juvenile sex offenders was found to be important with regard to higher levels of coercion of their sexual abuse victims. Important distinctions are highlighted that have implications for female-specific assessment, treatment, and prevention. Keywords: female, juvenile sex offender, child maltreatment, prevention

This study examines individual and family characteristics of a population of 29 adolescent females charged with homicide or attempted homicide in the juvenile justice system. The purpose of this study is to contribute to the limited knowledge about adolescent females charged with homicide. Data were collected including the MAYSI-2, a risk classification instrument, and social, educational and family histories. Findings include high rates of reported substance use, delinquent peers, early indicators of mental health problems, and limited control and supervision by parents. The most common weapon used was a car and the most common victim was a known person. A comparison was conducted on girls charged with homicide during the commission of another crime or committed during a conflict. The conflict group was found to victimized friends and family significantly more often than the crime group. The crime group showed higher use of alcohol and drugs, used a gun more and had co-offenders at a higher rate. A profile was developed to describe the typical adolescent female homicide offender found in this study. Treatment recommendations and future research were discussed. Keywords: homicide, juvenile justice, girl offenders, delinquency, female juvenile offenders

This study explores the moralization of purity and perceptions of harm as constraints on sex buying among men. Purchasing sex has long been considered an offense against public morality. While personal morality provides a powerful constraint on offending, and people may vary in the extent to which they experience moral intuitions about bodily and spiritual purity, research has so far neglected the role of purity moralization in understanding sex buying behavior. We hypothesize specifically that moral intuitions about purity constrain sex buying by leading people to perceive it as inherently wrong and by eliciting perceptions that sex buying is harmful to prostitutes. We test these hypotheses in a nationally representative survey of U.S. men (N = 2,525). Results indicate that purity moralization is associated with reduced sex buying, and that this relationship is mediated fully by perceptions of sex buying as harming prostitutes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sex trafficking in the United States has emerged as a critical social issue that negatively impacts the health and mental health of victims. The existence of sex trafficking in Hawaiʻi has been questioned due to a lack of empirical evidence and lack of successful prosecutions of sex traffickers. The purpose of this study is to determine the rate of sex trafficking and the sex trafficking experiences among clients of a large social service agency serving five islands in Hawaiʻi. The 363 participants completed a paper and pencil survey over a three month period in 2019. The survey included questions about the participants' experiences including sex trafficking and the Adverse Childhood Experiences Survey (ACES). Sex trafficking victimization experiences were reported by 97 (26.7%) of the participants. Of the sex trafficking victims, 23 (23.7%) reported that they were under age 18 when they were first sex trafficked. The sex trafficking victims identified as 83% female, 23% male, 1% transgender, and 1% non-conforming. Sixty-four percent of the sex trafficking victims identified as being all or some Native Hawaiian. Implications and policy recommendations from these findings were identified and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses the increasing popularity of the internet as a profi t center for the commercial sex industry. In their study of responses to decoy sex ads placed in an online forum, the authors found that those seeking escort services are highly infl uenced by the location of the ad as well as by the appearance, race, and ethnicity of those in the decoy photographs. They also discovered that ad responders were numerous and seriously intent on purchasing sexual services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This mixed-methods study explored entry into the sex trade industry and experiences of sex trafficking victimization among 478 adult women enrolled in a prostitution diversion program in a large southwestern state. Written responses to several open-ended survey questions were coded using a template approach to content analysis wherein a priori codes were identified based on characteristics of sex trafficking victimization identified in the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 (U.S. Department of State, 2000). Findings revealed that approximately one third of participants (n = 161) described sex trafficking experiences on entry into the sex trade industry, and quantitative analysis revealed that women who experienced sex trafficking as part of entering the sex trade industry were more likely to report abuse during childhood and adulthood, to report gang involvement, and to be involved in multiple types of sex trade industry work. Implications for policy and practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]