A latent profile analysis of child maltreatment among at-risk youth gang members:Associations with violent delinquency, non-violent delinquency, and gang organizational structures

Background: The relationship between child maltreatment and later delinquency is an enduring concern worldwide. However, the maltreatment-delinquency relationship is relatively underexplored in youth gang populations. Consequently, to date, studies have not examined typologies of maltreatment and their associations with violent delinquency, non-violent delinquency, and gang organizational structures.Objective: First, to identify the characteristics of subgroups of youth gang members who varied in abuse type and severity within type. Second, to determine in what ways the profiles differed in terms of gang organizational structures, violent delinquency, and non-violent delinquency.Participants and settings: A sample of 161 youth gang members (mean age: 16.8; range: 12–24) were recruited and surveyed by outreach social workers in Hong Kong.Methods: Latent profile analysis was first used to examine heterogeneity in victimization experiences (physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect). Thereafter, non-parametric tests and post-hoc analyses were conducted to examine associations between the yielded typologies of maltreatment and gang organizational structures, violent delinquency, and non-violent delinquency.Results: Poly-victimization was prevalent in the sample, with 148 respondents (91.9 %) reporting at least two types of past abuses. Three profiles of maltreatment emerged, varying in abuse types and severity within types: ‘Minimally maltreated’, ‘Moderately maltreated, except sexual abuse’, and ‘Severely maltreated’. In comparison to the ‘Minimal’ maltreatment profile, the ‘Moderate’ and ‘Severe’ profiles were associated with greater delinquent behaviors and being in gangs that encouraged congregate illegal behaviors.Conclusions: There was a relationship between typologies of maltreatment and gang organizational structures, violent delinquency, and non-violent delinquency in the sample of youth gang members. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.</p

The Transplanted Appropriate Adult Scheme in China

Borrowed from England and Wales, the Chinese Appropriate Adult Scheme involves a dynamic of selective adaptation. This article analyses two salient features of the appropriate adult scheme within the Chinese context, in comparison with its counterpart in England and Wales: its complementarity of the juvenile's parent, and the passive role that appropriate adults play during pretrial interrogations. Drawing upon empirical evidence, the article argues that the transplanted Chinese appropriate adult scheme has failed to oversee the legality of interrogations, nor does it provide adequate safeguards for juvenile suspects. The concept of vulnerability that lies at the heart of the appropriate adult safeguard in England and Wales appears to be lost in translation. Rather than providing a safeguard for juveniles at their most vulnerable, the appropriate adult is more concerned with indulging the needs of the interrogators in China

If ‘Something Works’ is the Answer, What is the Question?

The aims of the paper are to present the argument for pluralistic evaluation, by outlining and assessing the various measures that have been and might be used in the United Kingdom, and to question the value of relying on reconviction rates. Most evaluation studies of offender programmes in the community and in prison have been based on single measures, mostly the recidivism rate. Some studies have evaluated the effectiveness of particular programmes in terms of the costs or of changing the attitudes or addressing the needs and problems of offenders. However, no single measurement can reveal the full picture of the effectiveness of a particular correctional programme. This paper criticizes current evaluation-driven practice - only do things that can be measured and divert resources from delivery to fairly unimaginative evaluation. It concludes that commitment to pluralistic evaluation in principle is often compromised in practice

Creating the national probation service - new wine, old bottles?

A chapter on the creation of the national probation servic

Moving probation forward : evidence, arguments and practice

Probation: Theory, Practice and Research is a core text on probation, edited by well-respected academics in the field. It is comprehensive and user friendly, covering various key topics in probation.The book also provides practical help to students and an up to date account of issues in criminal justice policy in the UK, as well as providing information to training officers, managers and practitioners in the field of probation and criminal justice

The end of probation?

This chapter looks at various aspects of the probation servic

End of Life Experience of Symptom Cluster and Their Management in Hong Kong Chinese Patients with Lung Cancer Who Receive Palliative Radiotherapy

Breathlessness, fatigue, and anxiety are distressing symptoms for patients with advanced lung cancer, however, they are not relieved by palliative RT and are often viewed as neglected areas of clinical practice. This paper aims to review definitions of, and explore patients’ experiences of, breathlessness, fatigue, and anxiety. Further, it will outline existing approaches, both pharmacological and non-pharmacological, to treat them. Current treatments and perceptions of these symptoms will be discussed in the context of Hong Kong health care service. The review of literature also shows that breathlessness, fatigue and anxiety appears to have similar emotional origins. A contemporary approach of using a common pyschoeducational intervention to treat these symptoms together as a cluster in end of life care will be discussed