Trauma-informed social work practice is an approach to social work that takes into account the impact of trauma on the lives of individuals, families, and communities. This approach recognizes that trauma can have long-term effects on a person’s mental health, physical health, and well-being, and that individuals who have experienced trauma require specialized care and support.
The goal of trauma-informed social work practice is to create a safe and supportive environment for individuals who have experienced trauma. This approach emphasizes the importance of building trust and collaboration with clients, as well as empowering clients to make decisions about their own care. Trauma-informed social work practice also recognizes the role that societal and institutional trauma can play in the lives of individuals, and seeks to create change at a systemic level.
One of the key principles of trauma-informed social work practice is understanding the prevalence of trauma. Research has shown that a significant percentage of the population has experienced some form of trauma in their lives. This trauma can range from individual experiences, such as physical or sexual abuse, to collective experiences, such as discrimination or systemic oppression. Understanding the prevalence of trauma is essential in creating an environment that is sensitive to the needs of individuals who have experienced trauma.
Another principle of trauma-informed social work practice is the importance of safety. Trauma can create feelings of fear, anxiety, and vulnerability, which can make it difficult for individuals to engage in social work services. Trauma-informed social work practice emphasizes the importance of creating a safe environment for clients, both physically and emotionally. This may involve providing privacy and confidentiality, ensuring that clients have control over their own care, and creating a space that is calm and welcoming.
Trauma-informed social work practice also emphasizes the importance of empowerment. Clients who have experienced trauma often feel disempowered and may have difficulty trusting others. Trauma-informed social work practice seeks to empower clients by providing them with information, support, and tools to help them make decisions about their own care. This may involve working collaboratively with clients, recognizing their strengths and resources, and supporting them in setting goals that are meaningful to them.
Cultural humility is also a key aspect of trauma-informed social work practice. Social workers must recognize the ways in which cultural differences can impact the experience of trauma, as well as the ways in which cultural beliefs and practices can be a source of strength and resilience. Cultural humility involves recognizing one’s own cultural biases and limitations, and working to create a culturally responsive and inclusive environment for clients.
Finally, trauma-informed social work practice recognizes the importance of collaboration and partnership. Addressing the impact of trauma requires a multidisciplinary approach, and social workers must work collaboratively with other professionals, such as mental health providers, medical professionals, and educators. Trauma-informed social work practice also recognizes the importance of community partnerships, and seeks to create partnerships with community organizations and leaders to create a more supportive and responsive environment for individuals who have experienced trauma.
In conclusion, trauma-informed social work practice is an approach to social work that recognizes the impact of trauma on the lives of individuals, families, and communities. It emphasizes the importance of understanding the prevalence of trauma, creating a safe and empowering environment for clients, practicing cultural humility, and collaborating with other professionals and community partners. By adopting a trauma-informed approach, social workers can provide more effective care and support to individuals who have experienced trauma, and contribute to creating a more just and equitable society.
Parrhesia is a term that originated in ancient Greece and refers to the act of speaking candidly and freely, regardless of the potential consequences. In social work, parrhesia plays a critical role in fostering an environment of trust, honesty, and openness between social workers and their clients. By encouraging parrhesia, social workers can create an environment in which clients feel comfortable sharing their thoughts, feelings, and experiences, which can ultimately lead to more effective interventions and outcomes.
The practice of parrhesia in social work begins with the social worker. Social workers must be willing to engage in open and honest communication with their clients, even if it means challenging the client’s beliefs or values. By doing so, social workers can help clients identify and confront the issues that are preventing them from achieving their goals. In addition, social workers must be willing to share their own experiences and perspectives with their clients, as this can help to build trust and rapport between the two parties.
Encouraging parrhesia also requires creating a safe and supportive environment for clients to share their thoughts and feelings. This can be accomplished through active listening, empathy, and a non-judgmental attitude. Social workers must also be willing to validate their clients’ experiences, even if they do not necessarily agree with them. This can help clients feel heard and understood, which can be a critical first step in the healing process.
Another important aspect of parrhesia in social work is the use of power and privilege. Social workers must be aware of their own power and privilege in the therapeutic relationship and work to mitigate its effects. This may involve actively seeking out and addressing issues of oppression and inequality, or giving voice to those who are marginalized or underrepresented in society. By doing so, social workers can help to level the playing field and create a more equitable and just society.
Parrhesia can also be a powerful tool in addressing issues of social injustice and inequality. By encouraging clients to speak out against social injustices, social workers can help to raise awareness and spark meaningful change. This may involve engaging in advocacy work, such as lobbying for policy changes or organizing protests and other forms of collective action. By giving voice to those who have been marginalized or silenced, social workers can help to create a more just and equitable society.
In conclusion, parrhesia plays a critical role in social work by fostering an environment of trust, honesty, and openness between social workers and their clients. By encouraging parrhesia, social workers can create a safe and supportive space for clients to share their thoughts and feelings, which can ultimately lead to more effective interventions and outcomes. In addition, parrhesia can be a powerful tool in addressing issues of social injustice and inequality, as it gives voice to those who have been marginalized or silenced. As such, social workers must actively cultivate a culture of parrhesia in their practice, both for the benefit of their clients and for the betterment of society as a whole.
The nature of the different types of sexual offending against children
Online sexual offending against children is an ambiguous and controversial phenomenon, as it is include various behaviours, such a grooming, sharing indecent images of children (IIOC) or contacting other offenders with similar interest. Also, the role of the technology is argued amongst professionals, if it is a tool or an influencing and creative force that produced a new type of criminal. As the majority of young people use the Internet, it provide a wide range of opportunity for the offenders to contact their potential victims (Ybarra et al., 2004). According to the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (2010), it has been an increase in sexual solicitations towards children in recent years online. Furthermore, the public and experts also became more aware of the issue, however there are many areas, such as the characteristics of the perpetrators, their communications, practices and risk factors that needs to be studied and researched further (Beech et al., 2008).
In term of risks, in regards of sexual offending against children there are several such as age, gender, sexual preference, ACEs (Felitti et al., 1998), relationships and digital behaviours. Adolescents (age between 13 and 17) spend more time online unsupervised than children (12 and below), use more social networking and messaging sites and more likely to be involved in risky sexual activities, therefore they are much higher at risk for online sexual offending (Baumgartner et al., 2010; Mitchell et al., 2007; Vaala and Bleakley, 2015). According to Wurtele (2012), it is easier to get sexual compliance from adolescents due to their attention seeking, inexperience, naivety and curiosity about sex and relationships. In regard of gender, girls are the majority of the victims of online sexual offences, which mirrors offline victimisation. Boys, on the other hand – as they are more likely to engage in risky sexual behaviour – are victimised online on a higher rate. LGBTQ+ minorities also at risk, as they often visit sex/gender related sites and online communities (Baumgartner et al., 2010; Jonsson et al., 2014; Wolak et al., 2009, 2010). Furthermore, teenagers with ACEs, history of abuse, mental health issues, loneliness, and with bad relationship with their parents are more likely to seek company online. Spending more time on the Internet without supervision may lead and increase the risk of victimisation (Mitchell et al., 2007; Wolak et al., 2010). In regard of risky behaviours online by children, such as visiting adult sites and chatrooms, engaging profanity, using sexually provocative language and nicknames and sexting are considerable factors of online sexual solicitation (Baumgartner et al., 2010; Wolak et al., 2010; Malesky, 2007).
There are two main types of online sexual offending, such as online grooming and proliferation of indecent images of children (IIOC). These cyber enabled crimes, compare to their traditional equivalent are operating a much wider scale through various forms of information communications technology (ICT).
Proliferation of indecent images of children (IIOC)
Defining ‘indecent’ could be quite challenging due the ambiguous nature of the notion: Protection of Children Act 1978 and Criminal Justice Act 1988 describes IIOC as still and moving images of an abused and/or exploited children. Before the Internet the possession, distribution and production of these images were quite a rare occurrence. According to Middleton (2009) images of child abuse multiplied due the development of technology, which also reduced the cost and detection such activities and increased their availability. In 2005, one third of all sexual offences were internet related in England and Wales, which is nearly five times increase since 1999 (Home Office, 2006). According to the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP, 2012), possessing and managing IIOC are considered risky behaviour, which may also lead additional (physical) abuse. Pseudo images (digitally constructed photos) are also problematic, as they are artificially manipulated for instance a child’s face inserted on a woman’s body or the IIOC entirely built by an application therefore involve ‘no real victims’ (Quayle and Taylor, 2003; Davidson et al., 2010).
Online grooming:
This form of offence against children is defined as a process in which by the offender prepares the victim and the environment for the purposes of the abuse, for instance getting the child’s trust and compliance, also obfuscating the crime itself (Craven et al., 2006). O’Connell (2003) models online grooming as process made of the offender’s efforts regarding accessibility, opportunity and vulnerability. This research identified seven stages in this process, such as: friendship and relationship forming; risk assessment; exclusivity; sexual; fantasy re-enactment, and damage limitation. Furthermore, according to Bryce (2010) offenders and their activities are frequently overlap, for instance producers, consumers and distributors of IIOC are involved in several forms of exploitation and abuse simultaneously.
Types of offenders:
According to Bryce (2010) online offenders are not share many characteristics, except being male. On the contrary, Babchishin’s (2011) meta-analysis of online sex offenders indicates they are high likely to be young, single, jobless, Caucasian and high intelligence, also with no criminal record (Webster et al., 2012). The study categorised these criminals as intimacy seeking, adaptable and hyper sexualised offenders. In contrast, in a 2007 paper Howitt and Sheldon revealed that offenders often in a relationship and have children themselves. In regards to cover their online activities, offenders use various level of protection to hide their identity, communications and IIOC. Carr (2004) have found only a quarter of the offenders she interviewed used some kind of security measure, however nowadays more and more technology available for criminals (Tor for example) to hide their activities.
Strengths and weaknesses of policing/prevention strategies in regard sexual offending against children
In recent years, information and communication technologies (ICT), especially mobile phones, internet has become essential to adolescents’. ICTs provide a platform for education, entertainment, networking, also it could be a valuable resource for the disadvantaged and marginalised youth (Guan and Subrahmanyam, 2009). However, as ICT become more common, the risk it presents also become more extensive, such as invasion of privacy, cyberbullying, online grooming, sexting, dating abuse, and proliferation of IIOC (Zweig et al., 2013).
Prevention
To answer these cyber-enabled crimes, several prevention strategies, programs, guidelines and methods have been implemented. Several websites (such as https://www.nspcc.org.uk) has been created in order to inform parents and children in regards the risk and dangers online, and provide advice how to avoid them. They advise and warn about risky websites and behaviours, how to protect ones privacy and identity, offline communication and potential steps a parent can do to prevent victimisation.
In regards to sexting via mobile phones, there are numerous educational campaigns exist to raise the issues and consequences of such activity. However, as they focusing mainly sexting amongst children, they disregard such communication between adult and children, which is quite problematic. Overall, the existence of these online-safety related sites is a positive thing, however their usefulness, efficiency and impact is not known entirely (Wurtele et al., 20016).
Role of the Parents
According to Wildsmith et al. (2013) good relationship between parents and their children significantly reduce the risk of online victimisation. Furthermore, parental supervision also a protective element in relation to online safety (Whittle et al., 2013). As we discussed in the previous section, there are several online-safety website available for parents if they wish to access relevant material. However, these resources often amplify the risks online, such as kidnappings or sexting (Vaala and Bleakey, 2015), also they recommend to supervise and limit their children’s activity online and use protective applications. While these practices work with young children, adolescents are not limited to use one ‘safe’ device. In regard of sharing personal information, which is not directly related to online sexual offending (Finkelhol, 2014), it is highly recommended not to share on social media. Furthermore, there are few issues in regards prevention methods through parents, such as lack of knowledge or device at home, barriers to articulate and discuss a sensitive subject or existing domestic struggle. These factors exaggerate the risks of online sexual offending, therefore these children should be able access external help and support, through schools and other institutions.
Schools’ role in online safety
Another line of defence and prevention lies within the classroom, where information regarding ICT risks can be thought. They can provide a qualified personnel and the technology to deliver internet safety education to the children and allow class debate and discussion about online threats, prevention and virtual etiquette. Moreover, there are online education programmes, like iKeepSafe but they mainly focus on ‘panic driven’ advice and ‘untested assumptions’ in regard internet safety and victimisation (Finkelhor, 2014). Although, these initiatives have the tendency of victim blaming and sexist communication (Dobson and Ringrose, 2016). As these efforts focus on prevention, legal advice also should be given just as how to recognise online and offline sexual offences and how to respond to them appropriately (Wolak et al., 2009; Wolak and Finkelhor, 2013, Wurtele, 2012). However, adolescents instead of reporting online related sexual offending to authorities, they more likely to share it with their peers according to Katz (2013) and Whittle (2014). In reflection above, we can assert that education plays a critical role in prevention of online solicitation, however adolescents should be involved in a much greater degree, in cooperation with ICT actors and law-enforcement agencies.
Policing, Technology and Policy
Technology enabled crimes against children, such as online grooming or IIOC, however it also provide methods to prevent such crimes. Government and Law Enforcement bodies, like the Hi-Tech Crime Unit (HTCU), the Police Central e-Crime Unit (PCeU) and Home Office’s Centre for Applied Science (CAST) are working together to develop technological solutions to answer challenges of the Police, such as preventing online child abuse or investigate it (Lilley, 2016). Furthermore, Police use ‘forensic investigation tools’ (Association of Chief Police Officers, 2007) and search engines have embedded algorithms to reduce accessibility to IIOC through their platforms (Steel, 2015). The acknowledgement of unique strategies regarding online sex offenders become prevalent during UK’s first significant investigation of IIOC (Operation Ore) in 1999. In 2004, the National Probation Service for England and Wales considered banning sex offenders using ICT. In 2007, the Home Office recognised that issues regarding protection of children needs to be addressed according to ICT developments. They suggested policies with mandatory email registration, polygraph test and tagging for registered sex offenders. By 2010, these plans were discussed in the mainstream media (Beckford and Stokes, 2010) and tracking email addresses’ of sex offenders has been stopped due Human Right concerns. The notion of limiting offenders’ access online content has been tried in 2011, and the Court of Appeal stated:
‘A blanket prohibition on computer use or internet access is impermissible. It is disproportionate because it restricts the defendant in the use of what is nowadays an essential part of everyday living for a large proportion of the public, as well as a requirement of much employment’ (Regina v Smith (2011) EWCA Crim 1772)
Therefore, law enforcement agencies were required to utilise and develop alternative crime prevention methods in order to accommodate the legal, technological and professional requirements.
Situation specific crime prevention
Situational crime prevention theories in practice using ICTs to limit the offender’s ability to access IIOC (Taylor and Quayle, 2016). However this approach has its own limitations, such as the ‘hidden’ nature of the crime, the offender’s technological capability and the Internet itself, where the crime takes place. For instance, a monitoring software allows authorities to notice any wrongdoing, collect evidence and act immediately if necessary. However, offenders could avoid this detection with an unknown device for the authorities. Furthermore, resources of the Police are finite, therefore it needs to be optimised and existing technical and legal challenges to be resolved in order to apply successfully this prevention strategy (Lilley, 2016).
Non-situational crime prevention
This form of approach does not require a computer or other device with Internet connection as it is a more direct approach. Using tag (electronic monitoring) to monitor and track sex offenders, might deter, but not prevent someone to commit a crime. On the other hand, tagging could be an effective way to supervise low risk offenders and reduce reoffending, which may be a cost effective alternative to imprisonment (Padgett et al., 2006; National Audit Office, 2006). Apart from Gies et al. (2012) study, which shows that even high risk sex offenders comply more and offend less likely when monitored, there are limited research on this topic, especially in regard to reoffending, deterrence, effectiveness and how this technology alters the offenders’ behaviour (Criminal Justice Joint Inspection, 2012). Polygraph also can be used to observe sex offenders compliance and it can increase the quality of criminal history convicted offenders’ provide (Grubin et al., 2004). Conversely, the use of this technique has been critiqued by academics that it is ‘coercive’ and consent is ‘illusory’ (Bull et al., 2004), also it disrupts offenders’ rehabilitation (Wilcox, 2013).
Conclusion
In this limited version of Rapid Evidence Assessment (REA) cyber-enabled crimes, such as sexual offending against children and relevant policing/prevention strategies were evaluated. Within these topics, this paper focused on indecent images of children (IIOC), online grooming, the types of offenders, several prevention methods and techniques, legal and technological challenges. In terms of procedure and narrowing the available material, this REA used articles published in the US, UK and EU between 2010 and 2020, including all research methods. These literature were identified mainly in Web of Science and in Edinburgh Napier University LibrarySearch engine.
Technological developments influenced criminality and victimisation in the last two decades, creating new type of crimes, risks and challenges for authorities. Online sexual offending against children is one of these cyber-crimes, which gained attention from the public and academics considerably. Two main theme emerged in regard this offence: grooming and proliferation of indecent images. Both of these, target children where and when they are most vulnerable, unsupervised, having difficulties and/or unaware of the risks they taking. In regards the offenders, this scooping of articles have found several inconsistencies in their characteristics, such as their background and relationships. Furthermore, prevention methods of these offences are multi-agency, technology, legislation and resource dependent, with different level of success rate. Also, these approaches are often not well researched, therefore we don’t know much about their impact and efficiency on criminal behaviour and reoffending. Overall, this simplified REA have found that online sexual offences are prevalent and serious threats to children, but law enforcement agencies and legislative bodies aware of this issue and taking preventive measures. However, the sensitive and hidden nature of this type of crimes, also because the several legal and technological issues present, it is challenging to paint an accurate picture on this criminal activity, therefore it is more difficult to prevent it.
By Wendy Sinclair-Gieben, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons, Scotland and Stephen Sandham, Her Majesty’s Deputy Chief Inspector of Prisons, Scotland.
It goes without saying that prison inspection and monitoring bodies should provide important safeguards against breaches of human rights. How far do they really do so in practice? And how do we measure up in Scotland to the test of demonstrating our independence from the Scottish government and making a difference to policy and practice?I will attempt to answer these questions by briefly describing the challenges we face in Scotland, the resources we can marshal to address them, and the political context in which we manoeuvre.
It is starkly clear to anyone working in the justice system in Scotland today that the challenges presently facing the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) are enormous. The Scottish prison system is designed to deal with approximately 7,700 prisoners, but for the last 12-18 months it has regularly had more than8,200 prisoners. Despite the introduction of new legislation to discourage short-term sentences, the evidence so far suggests that these numbers will not decline for at least the next year. This has often left the SPS with 500-700 additional prisoners – the equivalent of a medium sized prison -having to be squeezed into the existing estate. This still contains a number of Victorian prisons that I have officially described as no longer fit for purpose in a modern prison system. The result has been a sustained period of overcrowding, particularly in one antiquated Victorian prison, with the inevitable consequences for prisoners. Single cells have had to be converted into double cells that sometimes breach international standards on space per prisoner. Deeply regrettable restrictions in regime and purposeful activity have had to be imposed, and prisoners have experienced frustrating delays in accessing the rehabilitation programmes that might assist them to secure progression to more open conditions, or support an application to the Parole Board.
These same pressures of overcrowding have contributed to a worryingly high level of staff sickness amongst Scottish prison staff, which in turnhas imposed more pressure on the remaining workforce. And the morale of prison staff has not been helped by media scrutiny which is nearly always negative, and not always for justifiable reasons. On the issue of staffing, I would count two further setbacks:the retirement of the currentvisionary Chief Executive, and collective disappointment at the failure to secure staff backing for a plan to professionalise the SPS workforce.
As I write this article, we are just at the start of whatever additional challenges will arise from the coronavirus. We have already seen in Italy the potential consequences of lock downs and restrictions on prison visits. It is obvious what the loss of another 20% or more of prison staff on sick leave could entail: further restrictions on hours out of cellsand other activities, and, even worse, the inability of health service staff to cope should the virus spread widely throughout our prisons.
In such situations effective monitoring of the conditions and treatment of prisoners becomes even more important. Are we up to the task here in HMIPS? I would normally have had no hesitation in saying yes, but these are not normal times, and I am acutely aware that our own capacity to monitor effectively will be impacted severely by the coronavirus.
Here’s how Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons for Scotland (HMIPS) works. As Chief InspectorI am blessed here with a small but hugely dedicated team of 12 professional staff, and 120 wonderful volunteers who make up our team of Independent Prison Monitors (IPMs). Our IPMs provide a continuous programme of weekly visits by committed enthusiastic volunteers who care passionately about the treatment of prisoners. They hold prison governors to account through a series of quarterly meetings where the governor in charge meetsthe independent prison monitors, provides a report on what has been happening in the prison, and discusses the latest monitoring findings. Moreover, IPM monitoring reports help inform where we target our inspections, when we carry out a more in-depth assessment of conditions every 3 years or so, and what to focus on during each inspection. The IPMs are not merely advisory: they have a vital role in monitoring the action the prison management commits to making in response to our inspection findings. The two parts of the oversight system inform each other and, working together, provide tighter more effective monitoring of conditions than either part could achieve on its own.
Three other elements seem to mefundamental to the effectiveness of our oversight of Scotland’s prisons. Firstly, all our inspection and monitoring standards are grounded in human rights thinking. As a member of the UK National Preventive Mechanism, we are committed to doing all within our power to ensure compliance with the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT), the Mandela rules, and other international standards on the treatment of prisoners. Secondly, we are able to bring in specialist knowledge and expertise from other scrutiny bodies when we go in to inspect. Thirdly, we have sufficient independence from Government and from the Scottish Prison Service to challenge policy and practicewhen we have a duty to do so, while still enjoying a constructive relationship that promotes shared understanding and recognition of the challenges facing the prison service.
Our inspection and monitoring standards were comprehensively revised three years ago with considerable input from the Scottish Human Rights Commission (SHRC). They are independently appointed by the Scottish Parliament to promote respect for human rights everywhere in Scotland and encourage best practice in relation to their protection. The new standards have a very particular focus on the PANEL principles of Participation, Accountability, Non-discrimination andequality, Empowerment and Legality. That has really challenged our whole inspection and monitoring team to look at prisons through a human rights lens and forced us to think again about the way we pose questions to prisoners and prison staff.
We also take people from the SHRC in with us when we carry out our inspections. Their contribution has proved invaluable, particularly in challenging the SPS and indeed ourselves to think harder about the type of support provided for foreign nationals and other minority groups, and the adequacy of accommodation and other support available for disabled prisoners. We frequently conclude that not enough is being done for all these groups.
We benefit hugely too from the expertise of our other partner scrutiny agencies such as Health Improvement Scotland, Education Scotland, and the Care Inspectorate. Their combined expertise enhances our ability to assess the health, education, and progression services provided for prisoners in a way we simply couldn’t do on our own.
By far the most important aspect of our work is maintaining a delicate balance: to provide robust independent external scrutiny, but to do so in a way that maximises the prospects for influencing real change. Often it is relatively straightforward to identify and call out what is wrong and needs to be improved, but we are all aware of the number of inspection reports and thematic review reports across the world which have been published, sometimes to great applause, only to gather dust on the shelf thereafter.
In order to get anything done in the real world, our messages have to be conveyed with compassion and understanding of the pressures facing others. We need to avoid antagonising the politicians and civil servants from whom we seek change, orfatally undermining the morale of those striving hard at the sharp end of these extraordinary challenges.
For HMIPS, maintaining independence from Government is not easy –our funding comes from the Scottish Government, and we are technically Scottish Government employees. Without funding from the Scottish Government, we would not exist as an organisation and there would be little or no scrutiny of Scottish prisons at all. At the same time, HMIPS partly relies on the willingness of SPS to offer people on secondment to us. Without a few secondees from SPS, to work alongside our core HMIPS team, we would struggleto keep up to date with SPS policies, guidance, and processes. Moreover, in our experience secondees from the SPS very quickly turn from ‘poacher to gamekeeper’ and frequently know better than anyone else where the bodies are hidden or when inspectors aren’t being given the full story. For our part, we are encouraged that the SPS recognises the value that a secondment to HMIPS can have for individuals with potential and aspirations to go higher. We hope it will be seen as an integral part of career development programmes for governor grades.
Does all this mean our ability to criticise Government or the SPS is fatally compromised? Definitely not, but we do think carefully when drafting our reports how they will be received. We try to balance the identification of issues that need to be addressed with praise for good practice, and for the often outstanding efforts of staff at all levels of the SPS in extremely difficult circumstances. We always provide an opportunity for the SPS and the NHS to comment on our draft reports, so any factual inaccuracies can be corrected before publication, and we will adjust our assessment scores and accompanying narrative where persuaded by additional evidence. Moreover, while some might see the symbiotic nature of our relationship with the Scottish Government as a weakness, in my experience it does allow ready access to key decision makers within the Scottish Government and to Scottish Ministers themselves. It is also unquestionably the case that our recent reports and evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s different committees, along with inspection reports still in draft, have been a major influence in decisions by the Scottish Government to increase funding for the SPS and further energised action by the SPS to modernise the prison estate. Finally, we fully recognise that we have some way to go to achieve the lofty ambition set out in our strategic plan: to be recognised globally as at the leading edge of good practice in the scrutiny of prisons. Nevertheless, I am sure you willagree with me that it is always good to aim high!
Children as young as 7 are being put in danger by criminals who are taking advantage of how innocent and inexperienced these young people are. Any child can be exploited, no matter their background.
Criminal exploitation is also known as ‘county lines’ and is when gangs and organised crime networks groom and exploit children to sell drugs. Often these children are made to travel across counties, and they use dedicated mobile phone ‘lines’ to supply drugs.
How many young people are affected by ‘county lines’?
No one really knows how many young people across the country are being forced to take part, but The Children’s Commissioner estimates there are at least 46,000 children in England who are involved in gang activity. It is estimated that around 4,000 teenagers in London alone are being exploited through child criminal exploitation, or ‘county lines’.
Tragically the young people exploited through ‘county lines’ can often be treated as criminals themselves.
We want these vulnerable children to be recognised as victims of trafficking and exploitation. We want them to receive the support they need to deal with the trauma they have been through.
How are children being exploited?
Criminals are deliberately targeting vulnerable children – those who are homeless, experiencing learning difficulties, going through family breakdowns, struggling at school, living in care homes or trapped in poverty.
These criminals groom children into trafficking their drugs for them with promises of money, friendship and status. Once they’ve been drawn in, these children are controlled using threats, violence and sexual abuse, leaving them traumatised and living in fear.
However they become trapped in criminal exploitation, the young people involved feel as if they have no choice but to continue doing what the criminals want.
What are the signs of criminal exploitation and county lines?
Returning home late, staying out all night or going missing
Being found in areas away from home
Increasing drug use, or being found to have large amounts of drugs on them
Being secretive about who they are talking to and where they are going
Unexplained absences from school, college, training or work
Unexplained money, phone(s), clothes or jewellery
Increasingly disruptive or aggressive behaviour
Using sexual, drug-related or violent language you wouldn’t expect them to know
Coming home with injuries or looking particularly dishevelled
Authorities in Copenhagen are set to open a second facility where drug addicts can shoot up under the supervision of social workers. The goal was to clean up the capital’s streets, but not everyone’s happy.
It’s a grey and rainy Wednesday morning in Vesterbro, Copenhagen’s former meat-packing district, but 40-year-old drug addict Annette is in a buoyant mood. Relaxing in a light and airy first floor office in the city’s drug consumption house, she told DW why this place has changed her life.
“Until quite recently I was homeless. The only options I had when I needed to take drugs were to hide in a basement or huddle behind a car – in the snow sometimes.”
The “fixing room” – as the Danes call it – allows users to inject hard drugs away from the streets, without fear of being arrested. (Nurses and social workers make up the staff at Copenhagen’s fixing room.)
“It can be hard to find a good vein on a drug user and often I’d have to try 15 times before I hit the right one. It was deeply unpleasant, but that’s what life was like for me.”
Hard tracks
The past six years of drug abuse have taken their toll on Annette’s body. Her cheeks are hollow; her denim jacket hangs loosely over her tiny frame, and all but one of her teeth are missing. Perhaps her upbeat demeanor is down to her having flushed cocaine into her veins shortly before I met her. But this safe haven for addicts has given her some dignity back, she says.
“I don’t need to hide anymore or be afraid that someone walking past while I’m shooting up in public might kick me and say: ‘Get out of my way, junkie.’ … My drug habits shouldn’t be anyone else’s business.”
While there have been more than 60 overdoses in the fixing room since it opened last year, no one has died. Drug dealing is not tolerated inside and police are a constant presence outside the yellow brick building, keeping a watchful eye on those hovering at the entrance.
While the surrounding area has been gentrified, the square next to the facility has been the center of Scandinavia’s biggest open drug scene since the late 1970s. Each day, between 500 and 800 people linked to drugs come to the area says manager Rasmus Koberg Christiansen.
Inspired by similar facilities in Germany, Switzerland and Spain, social workers and local residents campaigned for a consumption room in Vesterbro, in the hope of reducing death by overdose and dirty needles left lying in the streets. When a new government came to power in Denmark in 2011, funding was made available.
“After the first day, there had been 130 injections in the consumption room. We thought if we could have between 100 and 200 injections within a year, it would be a success. So after one day, we had achieved the goal. Now we see between 200-300 injections in the room a day,” says Christiansen.
According to a report from Copenhagen Council, the amount of drug paraphernalia left lying around the streets has been reduced by more than half since the drug consumption room opened.
However, while there may be less dirty needles in the area, the number of drug users in the area has not dropped.
“This place is only part of the solution. Our goal is to provide clean, calm and safe drug injections for the people who are using drugs in this area. But if the users tell us they want to do something else with their lives than take drugs, we can help them get treatment.”
Public reaction
“We are blessed that this neighborhood is positive about drug consumption. The problem is that the very close neighbors are very frustrated. That is very understandable, because of course we provide the service, but the users are still here and they can be very emotional, loud and sometimes violent.”
That frustration is strongly felt by Michael Knudsen, the caretaker of Rystensteen Gymnasium, the high school across the road.
“When the fixing room opened last year, we went along with it because they said it was temporary. But we were worried because we thought it would mean more drug users on our doorstep, and unfortunately that’s exactly what happened,” he says.
“Sometimes drug addicts will enter the school premises, use our toilets and computers and smartphones will disappear. Despite the fact that there’s a consumption room right there, they still inject drugs right under our noses and that scares our students. We even caught one of them selling drugs inside the school recently. Sometimes they are aggressive and it’s just a bad situation for us. Our students don’t feel safe,” he says.
While Knudsen has sympathy for what the fixing room does for improving the lives of drug addicts, he says the school wants it to go.
“We’ll have to find a political solution to this to move it somewhere else. We’re all in favor of helping drug users, but we just can’t live with the facility being ten meters from our students.”
Clearly living next door to where drug addicts are injecting is a challenge and the expansion of the consumption room this month is likely to provoke more anger. But the idea of giving addicts some dignity back and cleaning up the streets seems to have caught on – recently a British government minister went on a fact-finding mission to Copenhagen to see how the fixing room worked. Brighton Council in the south of England is now considering opening something similar.
In Scotland under the current legal framework this kind of facility does not exist (and will not, until the law changes) as the Police would have no discretion in the matter of arresting people who possess drugs. However in order to fight Scotland drug problems we should first reduce the harm these substances with an NHS initiative as this epidemic is a public health issue primarily.
The number of drug-related deaths increased by 27% in 2018 to reach 1,187 – the largest number ever recorded and more than double the number recorded a decade ago. Most of the increase in drug-related death rates has occurred in the 35-44 year old and 45-54 year old age groups. Greater Glasgow & Clyde had the highest rate at 0.23 per 1,000 population, followed by Tayside and Ayrshire & Arran with rates of 0.18 and 0.17 per 1,000 population respectively. National Records of Scotland
Boys in poor urban areas around the world are suffering even more than girls from violence, abuse and neglect, groundbreaking international research published suggests.
The study in the Journal of Adolescent Health, along with similar new research, suggests an adequate focus on helping boys is critical to achieving gender equality in the longer term.
“This is the first global study to investigate how a cluster of traumatic childhood experiences known as ACEs, or adverse childhood experiences, work together to cause specific health issues in early adolescence, with terrible life-long consequences,” Dr. Robert Blum, the lead researcher for the global early adolescent study, said in a statement. “While we found young girls often suffer significantly, contrary to common belief, boys reported even greater exposure to violence and neglect, which makes them more likely to be violent in return.”
The study from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health looked at childhood traumas suffered by 1,284 adolescents aged 10 to 14 in more than a dozen low-income urban settings around the world such as the United States, China, the U.K., Egypt and Bolivia.
Overall, 46 per cent of young adolescents reported experiencing violence, 38 per cent said they suffered emotional neglect and 29 per cent experienced physical neglect. Boys, however, were more likely to report being victims of physical neglect, sexual abuse and violence.
While higher levels of trauma lead both boys and girls to engage in more violent behaviours, boys are more likely to become violent. Girls tend to show higher levels of depression.
Separately, a new report to be released next month at an international conference in Vancouver concludes that focusing on boys is critical to achieving gender parity. The report from the Bellagio Working Group on Gender Equality — a global coalition of adolescent health experts — finds boys and men are frequently overlooked in the equality equation.
“We cannot achieve a gender-equitable world by ignoring half of its occupants,” the report states. “It is crucial that boys and men be included in efforts to promote gender equality and empowerment.”
For the past six years, a consortium of 15 countries led by the Bloomberg School of Public Health and World Health Organization has been working on the global early adolescent study. The aim is to understand how gender norms are formed in early adolescence and how they predispose young people to sexual and other health risks.
Evidence gathered by the study indicates boys experience as much disadvantage as girls but are more likely to smoke, drink and suffer injury and death in the second decade of life than their female counterparts.
The key to achieving gender equality over the next decade or so — as the United Nations aims to do — involves addressing conditions and stereotypes that are harmful to both girls and boys, the researchers say. They also say it’s crucial to intervene as early as age 10. The norm is now age 15.
“Gender norms, attitudes and beliefs appear to solidify by age 15 or 16,” the working group says. “We must actively engage girls and boys at the onset of adolescence to increase total social inclusion and produce generational change.”
Leena Augimeri, a child mental-health expert with the Child Development Institute in Toronto, agreed with the need to focus on boys as well as girls. At the same time, she said, the genders do require different approaches.
“Boys are equally at risk,” said Augimeri, who was not involved in the studies. “When we look at the various issues that impact our children, we have to look at it from different perspectives and lenses and you can’t think there’s a one fit for all.”
Apex Scotland’s work is about reducing re-offending, promoting desistance, tackling deprivation and making communities safer.
Those who are at risk of (re)offending are given the education, support and opportunities they need to change their behaviour, become effective citizens and live a fulfilling life.
There are many reasons why people get involved in crime. Often the people who use Apex Scotland services have been both the victims and perpetrators of crime. Their needs are both complex and varied and Apex believe that each person should receive the service that is best for them. The staff are committed to engaging with the people they work with, helping them to progress through the areas in their lives which, at that time, require more support and guidance towards a positive destination.
The need to make prisons places of hard work and meaningful employment is set out in the Government’s new Green Paper on justice reform.
Prison Industries are meeting the challenge by linking up with companies in the private sector.
One of these is Timpson – the UK’s largest shoe repairer, key cutter,
engraver and watch repairer. Timpson’s 2,400-strong workforce includes
89 ex-offenders who trained at the company’s prison workshops.
James Timpson is Managing Director of Timpson, and believes that
prison works for his company as well as for the former prisoners on his
payroll. And as a result, he’s always looking for his next ‘superstar’
employee.
‘I find the staff we’ve recruited from prisons are among the best
colleagues we’ve got,’ James says. ‘We see this as a great way of not
only helping people but of getting people to work for us.
‘We simply recruit people who we feel deserve a chance,’ he adds. ‘I
think the best way to avoid people going back to prison is to give them a
good job.’
Training on the job
James’ relationship with Prison Industries started eight years ago
when he recruited a young offender who impressed him during a visit to
HMYOI Thorn Cross.
‘When he was released I gave him a trial and he’s been with us ever
since and now ex-offenders make up about four per cent of our staff,’ he
says.
Since then, James has worked with prison industries to set up special
training workshops for offenders. A workshop opened two years ago at
HMP Liverpool and it’s been a great success.
‘Today we have 12-14 prisoners being trained there at any one time,
and on release we guarantee them a trial period with Timpson,’ James
explains. ‘In 2009 we opened a second Timpson workshop at HMP
Wandsworth, which like Liverpool operates every weekday. We also have a
prison industry at HMP Forest Bank, where prisoners do welting, which is
part of the shoe repair process.’
And does he feel these workshops have been successful so far?
‘Well, 75 per cent of staff who join us from prison are still with us
after six months. We’ve got shops everywhere – 900 across the country –
so we’re very flexible about where people work. Some prisoners want to
work in their home areas, while others want to be far away from where
they come from, and we have the flexibility to help in both
circumstances.’
Room for expansion
The success of the workshops has led to plans to train prisoners in other areas of the Timpson empire.
A photo processing business as part of the Max Spielmann chain (owned
by Timpson) at women’s prison HMP New Hall has already been approved
and is in the planning stages. It will give the women who take part
confidence and skills, and as in male prison workshops, they will be
offered a trial job on release.
‘The business is growing very quickly so I always have room for more staff,’ James says.
‘I’m starting to recruit ex-offenders for other retailers as well, so
in the future all the jobs might not be for us specifically, but we’ll
still be providing jobs in retail. I think the whole corporate agenda is
moving towards this approach. Social enterprise is now becoming much
more relevant, it’s seen as something that’s good for the business, but
also good for society.’
Success stories
In the eight years he’s been involved in working with prison industries, James admits there have been some hiccups.
‘We’ve had to let people go sometimes – we give people a chance but we don’t take any messing,’ he says.
But the cases that don’t work out are clearly outweighed by those
that do. He cites the example of an ex-offender from Liverpool who had
never worked in his life and had problems with drugs and alcohol.
‘He was 47, and had been in prison for 28 years on and off. He’s been
with us for two years, and he keeps his monthly pay slips on a board to
show the months he’s been out of prison. He’s great.’
Ex-offender Sarah is another shining example of how employment can help rehabilitate offenders.
‘She served a five year sentence before joining us, then became
runner up in our Apprentice of the Year 2009 competition,’ James says.
‘She’s about to start managing a shop and everyone thinks she’s
absolutely wonderful.’
And with successes stories like this behind him, James believes his
business contemporaries would do well to join forces with Prison
Industries.
‘I would say that if you’re in the business of wanting good people to
work for you, you would be wise to look for talent in strange places,
and one of those places may be prisons because from our experience,
we’ve found lots of superstars there.’
How we reduce reoffending to improve public safety is going to change. Have your say in the Green Paper consultation: ‘Breaking the cycle: effective punishment, rehabilitation and sentencing of offenders.’
100s arrested, ringleader charged after feds crack dark web bitcoin transactions.
A South Korean man has been charged with running the largest-ever dark web child porn ring, hosting nearly eight terabytes of vile videos depicting sexual exploitation of children and infants. Hundreds of users have been arrested.
Jong Woo Son is facing
multiple federal child porn charges for running a massive trove of child
sexual exploitation that investigators have called the “world’s largest dark web child porn marketplace,”
a nine-count indictment unsealed on Wednesday has revealed. The charges
include advertising and distributing child porn as well as money
laundering.
US federal investigators were able to trace the site to Son’s home thanks to a computer glitch that revealed his IP address. Servers that were home to some 200,000 different videos, uploaded by members of the site in exchange for “points” allowing them to view more of the depraved content, were kept in his own bedroom.
Browsers hunting for legal porn were warned away with a red-lettered notice on the site’s front page: “Do not upload adult porn.”
The site’s location on the dark web meant accidental viewers were
unlikely, as it could only be accessed with the exact address. Users
paid for the abhorrent clips in points they bought with Bitcoin, which –
despite its reputation for anonymity – helped investigators track them
down.
“You may try to hide behind technology, but we will find you and arrest you and prosecute you,” US Attorney for the District of Columbia Jessie Liu said during a press conference on Wednesday.
“The scale of this crime is eye-popping and sickening,” John Fort, chief of IRS criminal investigations, told reporters, crediting “our agency’s ability to analyze the blockchain and de-anonymize Bitcoin transactions” with the “identification of hundreds of predators around the world.”
Among
the hundreds of suspects arrested since the site’s seizure in March
2018 were several former US government employees. Richard Gratkowski, a
former Homeland Security Investigations agent, was sentenced to 70
months in prison in May, after using his own government passport as
identification to open an account with Bitcoin wallet company Coinbase,
which he used to pay for his sick entertainment.
US Army veteran Stephen Langlois received 42 months in prison that same month for downloading 114 videos. Another unidentified former federal law enforcement agent had the equivalent of 50 hours of child porn footage downloaded from the site.
South Korean authorities have arrested over 300 suspects in addition
to Son, noting that most were unmarried office workers in their 20s,
though some had sex crimes on their record. UK authorities have also
nabbed some of the site’s users, including one man sentenced to 22 years
in prison in March for repeatedly abusing two young children and
uploading the footage to Welcome to Video.
Investigators from the Center for Missing and Exploited Children examining the footage were shocked to find that nearly half of it had not previously been encountered and depicted children unknown to authorities.
Beyond Barriers 