Deconstructing Victim and offender Identites in Discourses on Child Sexual Abuse: Hierarchies, Blame and the Good/Evil Dialectic

McAlinden, Anne‐Marie

doi:10.1093/bjc/azt070

Cited by 65 publications

(54 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…Further, not all sex offenders pose the same degree of 'risk.' The popular conceptualisation of the adult male predatory 'paedophile' as being symptomatic of the threat posed by sex offenders as a whole also helps to mask other forms of risk concerning, for example, adult victims or offending by women or children (McAlinden, 2014a). Indeed, as discussed in the concluding section new and emerging forms of sexual offending such as 'sexting' or 'cyberbullying' or 'peer-to-peer grooming' present new challenges for popular and official discourses on sex offending and the contemporary risk paradigm.…”

Section: 'Imagined Risk': Media and Public Discourses On Sexual Offenmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this respect, 'the real child abuse stereotype' is comprised of binary assumptions about 'at risk' victims who are deemed to be vulnerable due to their age, gender and assumed innocence as children. This social construction of risk concerning victims is juxtaposed with that of 'risky' individuals who are conversely deemed threatening because of their distal proximity to victims in terms of age, gender and relationshipthe older adult predatory male who was previously unknown to their unsuspecting young victim (McAlinden, 2014a). This has also resulted in oppositional 'victim' and 'offender hierarchies' (Carrabine et al, 2004;McAlinden, 2014a) which cannot accommodate, for example, 'deviant' victims' or 'vulnerable' offenders who lie outside of dominant risk paradigms.…”

Section: 'Imagined Risk': Media and Public Discourses On Sexual Offenmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This social construction of risk concerning victims is juxtaposed with that of 'risky' individuals who are conversely deemed threatening because of their distal proximity to victims in terms of age, gender and relationshipthe older adult predatory male who was previously unknown to their unsuspecting young victim (McAlinden, 2014a). This has also resulted in oppositional 'victim' and 'offender hierarchies' (Carrabine et al, 2004;McAlinden, 2014a) which cannot accommodate, for example, 'deviant' victims' or 'vulnerable' offenders who lie outside of dominant risk paradigms. By way of example, in relation to sexually harmful behaviour by children and young people, there is a fundamental tension between 'perceptions of children as "at risk" and as potentially threatening' (Scott et al, 1998: 689).…”

Section: 'Imagined Risk': Media and Public Discourses On Sexual Offenmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Risk, Regulation and the Reintegration of Sexual Offenders

McAlinden¹

2017

Beyond the Risk Paradigm in Criminal Justice

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Section: 'Imagined Risk': Media and Public Discourses On Sexual Offenmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: 'Imagined Risk': Media and Public Discourses On Sexual Offenmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: 'Imagined Risk': Media and Public Discourses On Sexual Offenmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Risk, Regulation and the Reintegration of Sexual Offenders

McAlinden¹

2017

Beyond the Risk Paradigm in Criminal Justice

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“…Their stories have been included here deliberately as a means of "thinking otherwise" (Walklate, 2011, p. 187) about victimization and offending. Such inclusion importantly rejects the troubling division between victims perceived as blameless and those dismissed as having mismanaged lives (McAlinden, 2014;Pratt, 2005). The presence of female offenders contributes to further critical theorizing about the range of identities and experiences of women who have been sexually victimized and their relationship to the VIS network.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

'You Can't Stop the Bell from Ringing.' Protean, Unpredictable, and Persisting: The Victim Impact Statement in the Context of Sexually Assaulted Women.

Miller

2015

SSRN Journal

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The victim impact statement (VIS) is a victim's voluntarily written account of a range of harms experienced as a consequence of a crime. Rarely is the VIS investigated specific to sexual assault or from a theoretical perspective. This qualitative study was designed to address these gaps. Interviews were conducted with 44 participants who sought or provided VIS-related services in Canada. Findings were analyzed using insights from actor-network theory.Findings of the overall study are presented through three distinct but interrelated papers. "Obliging Detours" (Miller, submitted) describes the development of the VIS in Canada, and its multiple, innovative, and unauthorized pathways of use. These pathways created novel opportunities, demands, and risks for sexual assault victims, particularly those who were mothers, female offenders, or had been excluded at trial. "Relational Caring" identifies an ethic of care that underpinned use of the VIS by sexually assaulted women. Victims prioritized the well-being of others by constructing VIS narratives that privileged the harms experienced by others, protected future victims, and promoted the interests of intimate partner offenders. Victims who were mothers, iii especially those abused as minors, and those who were intimate partners of their offenders were particularly implicated. "Purposing and Repurposing Harms" demonstrates how harm descriptions were manipulated by victims and others in keeping with, and contrary to, legislators' design of the VIS. VIS repurposing occurred through victims' practices of strategic disclosure, which was intended to effect changes in others' behaviours, and harm peddling, which was the circulation of the VIS in nonsentencing arenas by victims and nonvictims to obtain compensation, child custody, and parole delay.Taken together, the findings revealed that the VIS has a protean nature that is produced by structural and relational factors, and lends itself to multiple uses in multiple contexts. VIS-related outcomes and the effects on victims and others could neither be wholly predicted nor prevented, and involved interactions beyond the criminal court setting. The protean, unpredictable, and persisting positive and negative effects of the VIS hold promise-and danger-for sexual assault victims.iv AcknowledgementsSincere thanks are owed to the women who were sexually assaulted and whose experiences are represented here. My heart often ached after the interviews, but never did I cry as much as I learned. Nonvictim participants spoke earnestly, and frankly, about the merits and the dangers of the victim impact statement in the context of sexual assault; thank you. I am also deeply appreciative of the skilled and supportive guidance offered by my thesis supervisor, Janice Du Mont, and thesis committee members Ted Myers and Dan Allman. In addition to her doctoral supervision, Jan has been a mentor since I was a graduate social work student, and provided the original research opportunities from which I launched a qualitative health research career...

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“…Os abusadores sexuais de crianças têm sido tradicionalmente retratados ao público em geral como sujeitos psicologicamente doentes (geralmente psicóticos, psicopatas ou introvertidos), que atuam como predadores desenfreados de crianças. Tal estereótipo é provavelmente originado pela extensa cobertura midiática dos casos mais aberrantes e chocantes para a opinião pública (Fox, 2013;Mcalinden, 2014;Olver & Barlow, 2010;Pechorro, Poiares, & Vieira, 2008;Zgoba & Levenson, 2012). Em contrapartida, a carência de estudos com essa população revela que a avaliação da psicodinâmica de homens sob reclusão é relevante.…”

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Ofensores sexuais avaliados pelo Desenho da Figura Humana

2016

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RESUMOEste estudo se propôs a avaliar características psicológicas de ofensores sexuais intrafamiliares. Participaram do estudo 10 homens, entre 23 e 59 anos de idade, em situação de reclusão em um Centro de Ressocialização, pelo artigo 213 do Código Penal Brasileiro. Uma entrevista semidirigida e o Desenho da Figura Humana foram utilizadas como instrumentos. A coleta dos dados ocorreu de forma individual, sendo analisados no programa estatístico SPSS versão 22.0, para elaboração de análises descritivas simples. Os resultados dessa amostra apontam indicativos de dificuldade em lidar com impulsos corporais na busca pela satisfação imediata das necessidades, inclusive e, sobretudo, sexuais. Essas características foram recorrentes em alguns elementos dos desenhos, como a perspectiva em relação à localização na página, o tronco omitido e ausência de pupila nos olhos. Os principais resultados corroboram as características de personalidade retratadas comumente na literatura e confirmam a inexistência de um perfil psicológico para o ofensor sexual. Palavras-chave: desenho de figura humana; personalidade; vitimização sexual da criança. ABSTRACT -Sex offenders evaluated using the Human Figure DrawingThe aim of this study was to evaluate psychological characteristics of intra-family sexual offenders. The study included 10 men, between 23 and 59 years of age, who are inmates in a Resocialization Center as a function of Article 213 of the Brazilian Penal Code. A semi-structured interview and Human Figure Drawing were used, individually, as data collection instruments. Findings were analyzed by the statistic program SPSS version 22.0 for preparation of simple descriptive analyses. The results from this sample indicated difficulty in dealing with physical impulses in seeking immediate satisfaction of needs, including, and primarily, sexual needs. These characteristics were recurrent in some elements of the drawings, such as the location on the paper, the omission of the midsection and the absence of pupils in the eyes. The main findings corroborate the personality characteristics commonly portrayed in the literature and confirm the inexistence of a psychological profile of a sexual offender. Keywords: human figure drawing; personality; child sexual victimization. RESUMEN -Delincuentes sexuales evaluados por el Dibujo de la Figura HumanaEste estudio se propuso evaluar las características psicológicas de delincuentes que han cometido violencia sexual intrafamiliar. Participaron del estudio 10 hombres, entre 23 y 59 años de edad, en estado de reclusión en un centro de reinserción social, por el artículo 213 del Código Penal Brasileño. Se utilizaron como instrumentos una entrevista semi-dirigida y el dibujo de la figura humana. La recolección de los datos se realizó en forma individual y se analizaron los mismos mediante la programación estadística SPSS versión 22.0, para la elaboración de análisis descriptivos simples. Los resultados de esta muestra señalan indicativos de dificultad en lidiar con impulsos corporales, en la búsque...

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Deconstructing Victim and offender Identites in Discourses on Child Sexual Abuse: Hierarchies, Blame and the Good/Evil Dialectic

Cited by 65 publications

References 52 publications

Risk, Regulation and the Reintegration of Sexual Offenders

Risk, Regulation and the Reintegration of Sexual Offenders

'You Can't Stop the Bell from Ringing.' Protean, Unpredictable, and Persisting: The Victim Impact Statement in the Context of Sexually Assaulted Women.

Ofensores sexuais avaliados pelo Desenho da Figura Humana

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