Child sexual abuse: informed or in fear?

A number of major organisations have, over the last five years or so, become involved in offering advice on the taking and use of photographs of children. The Information Commissioner's Office, for example, has issued guidance on the legal situation surrounding the photographing of children and the NSPCC has drawn up recommendations, for community groups, concerning the placement of children's photographs on websites

Grappling with smoke: investigating and managing organised child sexual abuse: a good practice guide

There has been, and remains, a great deal of concern among policy makers, practitioners, the media and members of the public concerning organised child sexual abuse (OCSA). OCSA includes the following types of case: • Child sexual abuse (CSA) by multiple offenders (a small proportion of these cases may also involve allegations of ritual or satanic CSA) • Sex offenders who abuse a series of children • Sex offenders who abuse children with whom they work The study described in this research report* involved the following: • A postal questionnaire survey carried out among police child protection teams and children’s services departments, and selected NSPCC projects. (Information was obtained on 51 OCSA cases.) • Interviews with agency workers concerning specific cases of OCSA that they had investigated or managed. These interviewees comprised police officers, social workers and staff from voluntary agencies/NGOs, including the NSPCC. Interviews were carried out with 30 agency workers. • Interviews with agency workers who had either more specialist knowledge of OCSA cases or who could provide input on the broader aspects of investigating and managing OCSA. Interviews were carried out with 13 agency workers. All of the above work was carried out in London in 1995 and 1996. It was funded by the NSPCC (National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children). The research report contains numerous findings on the special issues that arise in the investigation and management of OCSA cases. It also makes a whole series or recommendations as to how practitioners should respond to these cases. The research report addresses work in the following areas: Area Child Protection Committees [now superseded by Local Safeguarding Children’s Boards]; the handling of OCSA in general; and then the specific issues that arise in terms of the roles of the police, children’s services departments, the NSPCC, the criminal justice system, the Prison Service, Customs and Excise, other ACPC agencies (health, education and probation) and voluntary agencies/NGOs. This work remains one of the few studies of OCSA. *Gallagher, B. (1998) Grappling with Smoke. Investigating and Managing Organised Child Sexual Abuse: A Good Practice Guide. London: NSPC

Family participation in initial child protection case conferences: report on a pilot project for Liverpool Area Child Protection Committee

Family participation in child protection conferences, and also the wider child protection system, has been a major issue in terms of policy, practice and family rights, and it raises a number of questions regarding, for example, parents being able to put their perspective and the sharing of information between agency workers. Aware of all of these concerns, the then Liverpool Area Child Protection Committee embarked upon a pilot project to assess the feasibility of family participation in initial cases conferences in three districts. Family members were invited to attend conferences between November 1991 and January 1992. Family members attended 20 conferences in this period. The pilot exercise was evaluated by means of questionnaires administered to agency workers (81 agency workers completed, between them, a total of 125 questionnaires in respect of the 20 conferences) and interviews with at least one family member from 17 of the families represented at the 20 conferences. The results were as follows: family members firmly believed they should be invited to attend initial case conferences, even though they found them very stressful and the conference format was not conducive to their participation. Efforts to prepare family members for participation were at least moderately successful and family members participated in the conference to a moderate degree at least. The presence of a family member did have some effect on agency worker behaviour and it affected the attitudes of a large number of agency workers. Training for family participation was highly valued but there was insufficient provision. Many of the problems experienced through participation were specific to particular families, agencies or conferences. Exclusions, of family members, were rare. Young people are able and willing to participate in cases conferences. The conclusions of the research are that: family members should be invited to initial cases conferences but more effort need to be invested in the training of agency workers and the preparation of family members. Chairpersons and keyworkers should be involved in briefing family members before the conference and de-briefing them afterwards. Resources need to be invested in the practical or logistical aspects of family participation. The format of conferences needs to be changed to make it more suitable to family participation. Family members should be provided with a contract that sets out what they should expect from participation and the child protection system. Family members should have access to an independent person to discuss any questions or concerns they have about participation or cases conferences more generally. Family participation should be subject to an on-going monitoring exercise to determine its effects

Construct validity, dimensionality and factorial invariance of the Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale: A bifactor modelling approach among children of prisoners

The Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale (RSES; Rosenberg, 1989) has traditionally been conceptualised as a unidimensional measure of self-esteem but empirical evidence is equivocal, with some studies supporting a one-factor solution and others favouring multidimensional models. The aim of this study was to examine the factor structure, factorial invariance and composite reliability of the RSES within a European sample of children affected by parental imprisonment (N = 724). The study specified and tested six alternative factor models using conventional confirmatory factor analytic (CFA) techniques and a confirmatory bifactor modelling approach. The RSES was most effectively represented by a bifactor model including a general self-esteem factor comprising of all ten scale items and separate method effects for the positively and negatively phrased items. This model was found to be factorially invariant among boys and girls. Composite reliability indicated good internal consistency for the general self-esteem dimension but slightly less so for the positive and negative methods effects. Results are discussed in terms resolving the debate surrounding the appropriate factor structure and scoring of the RSES

The Impact of Rape Myth Education on Jury Decision-Making: A Systematic Review

A systematic review of research exploring the impact of providing rape myth countering information to mock-jurors was conducted. The primary aim of the review was to inform the development of an educational intervention for jurors to reduce potential bias in their decision-making based on belief in prevalent rape myths. In total, the following 12 databases were searched: British Education Index, CINAHL, Child Development and Adolescent Studies, Criminal Justice Abstracts, Educational Administration Abstracts, ERIC, MEDLINE, PsycArticles, PsycInfo, PubMed, Scopus, and Social Care Online. The databases were filtered to return peer-reviewed publications, written in English, and published between 1980 and 2020. The search returned 5,093 potential articles. After duplicates were removed, the 2,676 remaining publications were screened. Only studies that presented rape myth countering information to participants within a mock-juror paradigm were included. Studies that did not compare an information condition to a no-information control condition were excluded, as were those which concerned male rape myths, given the focus on female rape myths beliefs in this review. Six studies were reviewed and were critically appraised in line with criteria based upon validity criteria utilized by Dinos et al. (2015). Some evidence emerged to suggest that the provision of judicial directions, expert witness testimony, and complainant statements regarding rape myths can impact upon jury decision-making, though findings were mixed overall. Study limitations regarding internal and external validity were frequently present. Recommendations regarding future research questions and methods are advanced, including that which can inform the development of an effective intervention for jurors.<br/