Erin Gibbs Van Brunschot

Youthful Prostitution and Child Sexual Trauma

This paper has examined research that attempts to explain entry to prostitution in terms of the family experiences of young prostitutes. Though there is some evidence of rape, incest, and other kinds of sexual trauma in these backgrounds, this evidence is inconsistent and contradictory. A more plausible approach to the question is based on general control theories. Any traumas or conflicts that unattach children and youth from their families make youngsters highly vulnerable to delinquency. In the case of adolescent females, breach of family attachments appears to heighten the risk of early sexual involvements that, in the context of gender differences in sexual development, expose them to partners significantly older than themselves, and in significantly larger numbers than would otherwise be the case. These factors help explain the role of dysfunctional backgrounds in entry to prostitution without presupposing a role for unobservable traumas and psychiatric disturbances. They likewise recognize a role for the interaction between social control factors and the normal process of sexual development.

Childhood maltreatment and subsequent conduct disorders: The case of female street prostitution

The large literature on childhood abuse and neglect reinforces the importance of the family as a developmental crucible in the formation of individual propensities to delinquent and conforming conduct (e.g., Cookston, 1999; Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1990; Heck & Walsh, 2000; Loeber & Stouthamer-Loeber, 1986; McCord, 1979; Riley & Shaw, 1995; Sampson & Laub, 1993; West & Farrington, 1977). Often, the type of delinquent conduct exhibited is believed to correspond to the type of childhood maltreatment experienced during the early formative years in the family, resulting in ‘‘homotypic continuity’’ (Farley & Barkan, 1998; Farley & Kelly, 2000; Kagan, 1969; Goodman & Fallot, 1998; Messman-Moore & Long, 2000). Social learning theory suggests that childhood maltreatment incurs negative role models and that children may base their future behaviors on the models that they learn to imitate as children. Specific types of childhood maltreatment should therefore produce specific types of delinquency or conduct disorders, i.e., physical abuse leads to childhood aggression. Other analyses, however, suggest that childhood maltreatment is not predictive of specific future conduct disorders, but rather that the effects of maltreatment are more generalized, leading to ‘‘heterotypic continuity’’ in later life (Bennett, Hughes, & Luke, 2000; Brown, Cohen, Johnson & Salzinger, 1998; Kaufman & Widom, 1999; Kagan, 1969). Nowhere is this debate livelier than in the discussion of childhood predictors of female street prostitution and, specifically, the role of incest and sexual abuse in the genesis of prostitution involvement (Brannigan & Fleischman, 1989; Lowman, 1991). In the analysis here, we report the results of a study of problematic behaviors exhibited by a sample of prostitute females and a nonprostitute comparison group. Specifically, we investigate the role

Images of Prostitution

Abstract The prostitute is a cultural icon in North America and is often romanticized in the mass media and the public imagination. The prostitute and her participation in the sex trade, however, have been subject to a number of claimsmaking campaigns, each of which attempt to define both prostitution and its practitioners in specific, often contradictory, ways. To investigate these images and themes, articles from major Canadian newspapers representing five urban centers are examined to elucidate the most prevalent themes associated with the sex trade. Four themes prevail: nuisance, child abuse, violence, and non-Western prostitution. Examples of each theme are presented and implications of such images are discussed.

Postsentencing Supervision Punishment and/or Protection?

Postsentencing supervision of offenders is often justified by authorities as a means to improve public safety and promote positive behavior among offenders. The application of supervision and registration orders to offenders who have completed their sentences is claimed officially not as punitive but rather to secure the good conduct of these individuals and to ensure public safety. Yet the deployment of postsentencing measures does not easily fall within a particular sentencing system or philosophy. Using the example of Section 810 peace bonds under S.810.1 and 810.2 of the Canadian Criminal Code, and sex offender registration and surveillance in the United States, we suggest that the application of such postsentencing measures may be as punitive in nature as they are preventative.

Measurement Matters: Offense Types and Specialization:

Offender specialization—the tendency to repeat specific offenses—is the basis of practical orientations toward managing offending by the criminal justice system. Alternatively, dominant criminological paradigms postulate that offending versatility is the norm. We consider this incongruity by, first, considering “practice” in action, through the examination of the designations used by the Canadian criminal justice system to categorize offenders based on the assumption of specialization, and whether these determinations accurately reflect the offending behavior of offenders who have committed violent interpersonal crimes. Second, we compare several other measures of specialization among our population to investigate whether different measures produce similar findings regarding the repeat of specific offense types. Official criminal record data, from first offense to the end of the study date (2014), for a population of offenders in a western Canadian city who were convicted of violent interpersonal sexual and nonsexual offenses (N = 110), were used to examine the tendency toward specialization. We employ three measures of specialization: the specialization threshold, mean percent specialization, and the diversity index—across this group of career criminals. Results indicate that evidence of specialization depends on the way in which it is measured. Although there is some support for the treatment of individuals who sexually offend against children as a distinct group compared with those who are violent (sexually or nonsexually) toward adults, there is greater evidence of versatility among all offenders than there is of specialization. Our findings suggest that establishing the risk of future offending using models other than those geared toward offense specialization may be more effective for addressing offending patterns.

Justifying Insecurity: Canada’s Response to Terrorist Threat Circa 2015

On 22 October 2014, a gunman shot a soldier standing guard at the National War Memorial in Ottawa, Canada. An early statement by Prime Minister Stephen Harper indicated soon more would be learned. Media outlets picked up on this suggestion, with reports indicating the gunman was associated with Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). It is argued that Canada’s membership in a coalition of countries involved in air strikes against ISIS fighters served to create a context in which particular acts of violence were readily framed as evidence of the ISIS global threat. This chapter considers how framing perpetuates and sustains the notion of ‘foreign’ terrorist threat and considers implications for Canadian national security.