Most studies on the mental health consequences of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) focus predominantly on CSA survivors who do not commit sexual offenses. The current study examined the effects of CSA on 498 male adolescents adjudicated for sexual offenses who represent the small portion of CSA survivors who engage in sexual offenses. The prevalence of internalizing symptoms, parental attachment difficulties, specific sexual offending behaviors, and risk for sexually offending were compared among participants with and without a history of CSA. Results indicated that participants with a history of CSA were more likely to be diagnosed with major depression and posttraumatic stress disorder than those who did not report a history of CSA. A history of CSA was also positively correlated with risk for sexually offending and with specific offense patterns and consensual sexual behaviors. No significant differences emerged on parental attachment difficulties. These results highlight that adolescents adjudicated for sexual offenses with a history of CSA present with differences in sexual and psychological functioning as well as markedly different offending patterns when compared with those without a CSA history. Clinical implications and future directions are discussed.

Although executive dysfunctions are commonly hypothesized to contribute to sexual deviance or aggression, evidence of this relationship is scarce and its specificity is unproven, especially among adolescents. The objective of this study was to compare the executive functioning (EF) of adolescents with sexual offense convictions (ASOC) to that of non-sex-delinquents (NSD). A secondary goal was to assess the relationship among specific sexual offense characteristics (i.e., victim age), history of childhood sexual abuse (CSA), and EF. It was hypothesized that as a group, ASOC would present similar EF profiles as NSD. It was further hypothesized that ASOC with child victims would present significantly higher rates of CSA and more severe impairment of EF than ASOC with peer-aged or older victims and NSD. A total of 183 male adolescents (127 ASOC and 56 NSD) were interviewed to collect demographic information, sexual development history, history of CSA, an assessment of living conditions, and history of delinquency and sexual offending. Participants were administered the Delis-Kaplan Executive Functioning System and the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Youth Version. In accord with the first hypothesis, ASOC and NSD presented similar EF scores, well below normative values. Thus, EF deficits may not characterize the profiles of adolescents with sexual behavior problems. Contrarily to our second hypothesis, however, offending against children and or experiencing CSA were not associated with poorer EF performance. On the contrary, ASOC with child victims obtained significantly higher scores on measures of higher order EF than both ASOC with peer-aged or older victims and NSD. Implications of these results and future directions are discussed.

The current study examined the relationship among self-disclosure of illegal sexual behaviors and two conceptually relevant constructs in psychotherapy: childhood polyvictimization (i.e., cumulative types of victimization experienced during childhood) and caregiver attachment. Participants consisted of 63 adolescent males participating in mandated treatment for illegal sexual behavior. Childhood polyvictimization and caregiver attachment were expected to predict self-disclosure of illegal sexual behaviors. Quality of caregiver attachment was also expected to mediate the relationship between polyvictimization and disclosure. Consistent with our main hypothesis, results indicate that quality of caregiver attachment mediated the relationship between childhood polyvictimization and self-disclosure of illegal sexual behaviors in psychotherapy. The current findings highlight the impact of polyvictimization on important therapeutic processes as well as the importance of assessing for multiple types of victimization in adolescents who engage in illegal sexual behavior. Further clinical implications regarding the use of trauma-informed approaches during sex offender treatment are discussed.

Este artigo apresenta e convida a uma reflexão crítica sobre a questão hídrica no Nordeste brasileiro, a partir de um estudo de caso no Estado da Paraíba. O artigo apresenta alguns resultados parciais de uma das etapas da pesquisa de campo realizada no mês de julho de 2018, que buscou investigar o “novo caminho das águas” na Paraíba, a partir dos impactos decorrentes da construção do Canal das Vertentes Litorâneas, chamado “Canal Acauã-Araçagi”, considerada a principal obra hídrica do Estado, que visa ao aproveitamento das águas do Eixo Leste da Transposição do Rio São Francisco na Paraíba.

Neste artigo analisa-se novos processos de (re)territorialização ligados à construção de obras hídricas no Nordeste do Brasil, chamado “Canal Acauã-Araçagi”, situado no Estado da Paraíba (Região Nordeste). Para tal reflexão, busca-se apresentar o território estudado e seu novo contexto, caracterizado por um novo momento de intervenções estatais justificadas pela necessidade de resolver problemas históricos de escassez naquela região e as modificações que a própria pesquisa sofreu neste processo dinâmico de investigar a realidade social. Em segundo lugar apresentamos alguns pressupostos da investigação ancorados na teoria crítica e na ecologia política e o conceito de despojo multiple, para depois discutir criticamente alguns dados coletados nas atividades de campo realizadas no mês de Julho de 2018 na Paraíba, que chamamos de “novo caminho das águas”. Ao final, recorremos ao termo “segurança hídrica para o capital” para caracterizar os objetivos da obra, que contradiz o discurso oficial sobre sua necessidade/importância para o abastecimento humano em uma região com problemas de acesso e uso da água, apontando para um cenário de ampliação de conflitos territoriais naquela região.

To effectively address the needs of youth who perpetrate sexual violence and reduce rates of recidivism, a better understanding of the mechanisms of juvenile sexual offending is needed. Current literature identifies various factors that are believed to put youth at risk for sexual offending, two of which are empathy deficits and childhood sexual abuse (CSA). The extent to which empathy deficits contribute to juvenile sexual offending, however, is often debated, though studies have not yet explored a neurobehavioral model of this mechanism. This pilot study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to explore the neural correlates of empathy in juveniles who sexually offend (JSOs), and the possible role of CSA. A total of 38 males (ages 12-20) were enrolled, including 11 healthy control subjects and 27 JSOs, of which, 11 had a history of CSA. Participants underwent clinical assessment and completed an empathy task during fMRI. Using both whole-brain and region-of-interest analysis, results of the fMRI data showed no statistical differences in engagement of brain regions associated with empathy between controls and all JSOs. There were also no significant differences between JSOs with and without a history of CSA. These null findings pose implications for guiding future research studies with larger samples and more statistical power, and may support the need to further explore empathy-related explanatory models and interventions for JSOs. Neuroimaging may demonstrate to be a useful tool to identify individualized risk factors and aid in tailoring interventions for this population.

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Os textos do Dossiê Temático que seguem abaixo para a apreciação dos leitores são o resultado de um esforço coletivo empreendido por pesquisadores e pesquisadoras de diversas instituições do Brasil e do Canadá, a fim de refletir sobre conflitos socioambientais e o papel das diversas lutas e movimentos para a garantia de direitos socioambientais, no Norte e no Sul Globais. A ideia do Dossiê nasceu, inicialmente, após a realização de um congresso em outubro de 2017 na Bishop's University, em Sherbrooke (Québec-Canadá), intitulado “A luta pelos direitos socioambientais: o Brasil e o Canadá em Solidariedade.” Este foi um momento importante para realização de diálogos e trocas de experiências sobre diferentes conjunturas e contextos, em um momento de tamanhas violações de direitos e de avanço conservador em nível global. O evento foi um grande sucesso e apontou para uma possibilidade de compartilhamento das reflexões lá desenvolvidas em formato de dossiê.