Clare Gunby

What women want: The importance of qualitative approaches in evaluating work with women offenders

In 2004 the Government in England and Wales published a new policy on responding to women who offend. The aims were to reduce women’s involvement in crime and to divert them from prison. The ‘Together Women’ project was funded under this policy initiative to demonstrate how services for women offenders should be provided in the community. The first stage of the associated evaluation included interviews with Together Women’s clients as their feedback was seen as important in helping to develop effective services and as an early indicator of impact. However, the final assessment of impact relies on a quantitative assessment based on project files and criminal records data. The only interviews to be conducted will focus on asking sentencers about whether they use Together Women to divert women from custody. This article draws on interviews conducted with Together Women clients in the project’s development phase to argue that outcome evaluations which rely exclusively or mainly on information in project databases and criminal records may not capture key elements which make an intervention ‘work’. Neglecting service users’ insights may lead to under-estimating resource needs, unrealistic target setting, and the eventual abandonment of promising ideas in favour of the next ‘new’ magic bullet.

Sexually deviant juveniles: comparisons between the offender and offence characteristics of ‘child abusers’ and ‘peer abusers’

Abstract The last decade has seen increased concern regarding the sexual offences committed by young people. In line with this concern is an interest in developing an empirical research base that can help identify typologies of juvenile sex offenders and, in turn, direct resources. The current study investigated whether youths who sexually offend against children (individuals at least 5 years younger than themselves) differ in terms of offender and offence variables from juveniles who sexually assault members of their peer group. Findings were developed from data extracted from 43 files held by local Youth Offending Teams. Perpetrators of abuse were all male and were aged from 10 to 17 years. Findings indicated that juvenile child abusers experienced greater deficits in self-esteem and social isolation. In contrast, peer abusers had witnessed family violence more frequently and had family members associated with criminal activity more often. Logistic regression analysis found the variables of ‘knowing the victim’, ‘lacking age appropriate friends’, and ‘having been the victim of bullying’ all reliably predicted offender status (child vs peer). Findings suggest different typologies of juvenile sex offenders may have different routes to abusive behaviour and therefore require interventions that are tailored to their criminogenic needs.

Regretting it After? Focus Group Perspectives on Alcohol Consumption, Nonconsensual Sex and False Allegations of Rape

Research indicates that individuals often endorse beliefs that false allegations in rape cases are commonplace and are also reluctant to believe a woman who states she was raped whilst drinking alcohol. On this basis, it can be hypothesised that people are increasingly likely to believe that false allegations occur more often when the complainant has been drinking. In order to examine the ways in which alcohol intoxication and false allegations of rape intertwine, this article critically examines the findings of four focus groups which were based around a vignette in which sex takes place between intoxicated individuals and consent is disputed. The article examines participants’ personal beliefs around three major themes: ‘not quite rape’; false allegations of rape; and voluntary intoxication and intercourse. Although participants acknowledged that sexual intercourse when drunk to the point of incapacity may amount to an unpleasant experience, it was held to constitute something distinctly different to rape. Participants also argued that it would be unfair to hold a defendant criminally liable for intercourse when parties were equally drunk and that alcohol-involved consensual sex may be reclassified as rape the next morning in order to rationalise regretted drunken behaviour.

Gender differences in alcohol-related non-consensual sex; cross-sectional analysis of a student population

BackgroundSexual offences are a global public health concern. Recent changes in the law in England and Wales have dramatically altered the legal landscape of sexual offences, but sexual assaults where the victim is voluntarily intoxicated by alcohol continue to have low conviction rates. Worldwide, students are high consumers of alcohol. This research aimed to compare male and female students in relation to their knowledge and attitudes about alcohol and sexual activity and to identify factors associated with being the victim of alcohol-related non-consensual sex.Methods1,110 students completed an online questionnaire. Drinking levels were measured using the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test. Non-consensual sexual experiences were measured using the Sexual Experience Survey. Univariate and multivariate analyses were undertaken using chi square and backwards stepwise logistic regression respectively.ResultsA third of respondents had experienced alcohol-related non-consensual sex. Male and female students differed in the importance they gave to cues in deciding if a person wished to have sex with them and their understanding of the law of consent. 82.2% of women who had experienced alcohol-related non-consensual sex were hazardous drinkers compared to 62.9% who drank at lower levels (P < 0.001). Differences existed between men and women, and between those who had and had not experienced alcohol-related non-consensual sex, in relation to assessments of culpability in scenarios depicting alcohol-related intercourse. A third of respondents believed that a significant proportion of rapes were false allegations; significantly more men than women responded in this way.ConclusionsAlcohol-related coerced sexual activity is a significant occurrence among students; attitudinal and knowledge differences between males and females may explain this. Educational messages that focus upon what is deemed acceptable sexual behaviour, the law and rape myths are needed but are set against a backdrop where drunkenness is commonplace.

Diverting women from custody: The importance of understanding sentencers' perspectives

There is an unusual degree of consensus around the idea that the trend towards using custody more frequently for women should be reversed. Both the current and previous governments in England and Wales have invested in the development of community-based one-stop shop centres for women with this in mind. Interviews with a small sample of judges and magistrates, after the Together Women project had been running in their areas for three years, suggest that the increased provision of community support for women has been welcomed. However, other changes may be needed before one-stop shops are seen as a replacement for prison rather than just as a useful supplement to community orders. These interviews also suggest that sentencers see the probation service as having a key role to play in bringing about such a transformation.

Location, libation and leisure: An examination of the use of licensed venues to help challenge sexual violence

Anti-rape campaign messages have increasingly targeted men in order to educate them on the law of (sexual) consent. The 18–24 age demographic are at increased risk of experiencing sex offences, with over half of these crimes involving alcohol consumption. The interactions which culminate in alcohol-involved rape often commence in night-time venues, making intuitive sense for prevention campaigns to be based within licensed establishments. The Night Time Economy, however, comprises venues where people go to drink, have fun, take ‘time out’ and which are characterised and criticised for their promotion of sexism. This article therefore asks: how useful are licensed spaces in promoting rape prevention discourses amongst young men? To this end, the article analyses 41 students’ discussions (across six focus groups) regarding a rape prevention campaign that ran in one English city and that directed its prevention advice at males. In doing so, we argue that environments which incite narratives of loss of control and hypersexuality compromise the ability to counter sexual offending. We also argue that the presence of sexually violent advertising within licenced spaces undermines considerably the call to end gendered violence.

Too Drunk to Consent? Exploring the Contestations and Disruptions in Male Focused Sexual Violence Prevention Interventions

Primary prevention interventions, often in the form of media campaigns, are frequently utilized in order to tackle sexual violence. However, many in the United Kingdom have been criticized for perpetuating victim-blaming, due to their focus on the behaviour of women. One notable exception is a Liverpool City Council Campaign, which targeted young men (aged 18–24) in a bid to reduce rates of alcohol-related rape. Drawing upon an assessment involving 41 male university students, this article generates original insights into the development and utilization of male-focused rape prevention interventions. As this analysis shows, the young men’s responses to the campaign involved negotiating discourses of sex, consent, rape, sexuality and gender – especially masculinity. While participants frequently drew upon stereotypes and misconceptions, moments of contestation and disruption emerged. We argue that interventions should concentrate upon masculinity and moments of disruption and contestation (possibly through the use of peer group discussions), in order to encourage critical reflections on gender and sexual violence and to potentially engender more ethical practices.