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As recently highlighted by Creaby-Attwood and Allely (2017), it is crucial that the possible innate vulnerabilities that contributed to sexual offending behaviour in an individual with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are taken into consideration for the application of a diversion programme to avoid the stigma of a criminal conviction or during sentencing for a non-custodial outcome. Specifically, in those defendants with a diagnosis of what used to be referred to as Asperger’s syndrome (AS) and now is recognised as an ASD and who are charged and convicted of a non-contact sexual offense, education and mental health intervention will best serve the interests of justice. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

This paper focusses on one particular type of sexual offending behaviour, namely, possession of child pornography. A systematic PRISMA review was conducted.

The authors linked examples of child pornography in the research literature to the ASD symptomology and describe how the symptomology explains such behaviour as not reflecting actual sexual deviance.

Downloading and viewing of child pornography by individuals with ASD has received relatively little research outside the mental health field. This review is of particular importance to those in the criminal justice system who may not have much knowledge and understanding of ASD. It is suggested that diversion programmes and mental health courts should be set up for this particular population charged with this particular crime in mind so that the necessary treatment/intervention/support and care can be given to this particular group.

The purpose of this article is to assess the extent to which Hong Kong’s laws deter its companies from engaging in corruption and bribery abroad.

A mix of economics, public administration, management and legal analysis was used to assess weaknesses in Hong Kong’s laws governing the prohibition of bribe payments abroad.

Hong Kong does not explicitly criminalise corporate bribery abroad. Companies – as legal persons – can not be found guilty of corruption. It is argued that Hong Kong’s Legislative Council should amend various laws to modernise Hong Kong’s approach to tackling corruption committed by its companies abroad. The various approaches lawmakers can take towards assigning responsibility for corruption to companies are presented. The approaches that prosecutors at the Department of Justice can take to adopt prosecutorial methods like those used in other upper-income jurisdictions and the ways that Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) can assist in this work are also described.

This research has practical findings for Hong Kong’s policymakers, law firms and companies which operate in Hong Kong. For policymakers, we describe legal changes Hong Kong’s legislators will likely make in the years ahead and the preferred ways of engaging in such change. For law firms, we describe the legal changes coming to Hong Kong which legal advisors will need to advise their clients on. For companies, we describe changes that companies operating in Hong Kong will likely need to comply with in the future.

This paper shows that when Hong Kong adopts best practice in the field of corporate criminalisation, Hong Kong’s role in “exporting” corruption will likely fall.

This article describes a set of legal changes which will change the way Hong Kong treats corruption. The literature tends to glamorise Hong Kong’s anti-corruption work. It is shown that its law falls far behind other jurisdictions, as well as how “treating companies like people” in the case of Hong Kong will likely change the way Hong Kong’s prosecutors think about crime and criminal perpetrators.

Large numbers of adults with mental illness detained by police, seen in the courts, and confined in prisons and jails has been a longstanding concern of officials in the mental health and criminal justice systems. Diversion programs represent an important strategy to counteract the criminalization of persons with mental illness. The challenge is to identify and integrate resources in such a way that an organization bridging the police, courts, mental health, substance abuse, homelessness, welfare and entitlements agencies would evolve that would effectively and appropriately serve offenders with mental health issues, keeping them stable in the community and reducing recidivism.

The purpose of this study was to describe programs that aim at programs to divert people with a mental condition from the criminal justice system to mental health services are being initiated, but reporting is limited and fragmented. This study described programs that aim at diverting persons with mental health conditions out of criminal justice systems to community mental health services, with the intention to inform research and practice.

A scoping review was used to map and synthesise diversion programs. Ten online data bases were searched. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews was used to direct the selection of sources. Research and evaluation publications and grey literature published from 2010 to 2021 in English language were included.

Eight distinct diversion programs were identified across 24 countries or territories covering five phases of the criminal justice process. Diversion programs included crisis intervention teams, the electronic linkage system, mobile crisis units, the criminal justice liaison program, problem-solving courts, the abstinence-based program, the community equivalence program and the forensic assertive community treatment program. Although distinct programs have the potential to form a system of diversion across the continuum of the criminal justice process, only two territories moved in that direction. Diversion programs reported overwhelmingly originated from high-income countries.

Stigma that labels people with mental health conditions as violent and dangerous need to be addressed. It is important to place diversion systems on national policy agendas and advocate for evidence-based interventions.

The study provides a blueprint on diversion systems to set a research agenda and develop a road map, tailored towards local contexts.

Scandals are a recurring feature of UK financial services and they were probably more common in the 1840s than they are in the 1990s. There is no overwhelming evidence that general financial practice is less ethical than it was and it appears more likely that ethical standards have risen. They are certainly higher than in the Victorian era, for example the ‘railway mania’ of 1845—46 which structurally established large‐scale financial fraud in Britain. During this period, hundreds of railway schemes were launched as a source of enormous fees for promoters, lawyers, engineers and surveyors. Many were never intended to be built, with some promoters (once they had accumulated substantial funds from investors) actively lobbying for their Railway Bills to be rejected by Parliament. However, this relative rise in the ethical standards of contemporary general financial practice will be of little comfort to the thousands of angry investors who have been mis‐sold pensions, or have been victims of modern scandals perpetrated by Peter Clowes, Roger Levitt or Robert Maxwell. Their anger is understandable because modern society expects increasing levels of security from its industries and institutions, and regulation is the medium for achieving this. Despite general trends towards deregulation, in financial services increasing regulation is inevitable, and politically desirable, because of the rising complexity and elaborate nature of exchange relationships. It is the state which is taking on the role of guaranteeing the security of those relationships. It is this guarantor role of the state which ensures that when scandals happen, the anger of victims is not merely directed at the fraudsters, but also at the regulatory system and the government which is responsible for that system.

This paper aims to explore the effects of formal police organizational structure on child sexual abuse case attrition.

Data from two surveys were merged for this analysis: a 1988 survey of child abuse enforcement in US police departments, and the 1987 Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) database produced by the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Based on the structure‐performance link that is rooted in structural contingency theory, this study examines the effects of both global and specific structural features on two case disposition ratios. Because structure is more easily malleable than other factors that may affect performance, such as environment and context, it is important to know whether certain structural arrangements produce more desirable outcomes than others.

The results indicate that the global structural variables included in this analysis play a small role in child sexual abuse case attrition. None of the variables included in the model influence the rate at which cases are designated as “founded”. The size and height of police agencies and the rate at which they designate cases as founded both influence their arrest rates for child sexual abuse cases.

The small sample size made it difficult to estimate the models. Future research should test the findings reported here using larger samples.

To the author's knowledge this is the first study to compare the effects of global and specific structures on police outputs.

Studies in criminal psychology are inevitably undertaken in a context of uncertainty. One class of methods addressing such uncertainties is Monte Carlo (MC) simulation. The purpose of this paper is to provide an introduction to MC simulation for representing uncertainty and focusses on likely uses in studies of criminology and psychology. In addition to describing the method and providing a step-by-step guide to implementing a MC simulation, this paper provides examples using the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Survey data. Results show MC simulations can be a useful technique to test biased estimators and to evaluate the effect of bias on power for statistical tests.

After describing MC simulation methods in detail, this paper provides a step-by-step guide to conducting a simulation. Then, a series of examples are provided. First, the authors present a brief example of how to generate data using MC simulation and the implications of alternative probability distribution assumptions. The second example uses actual data to evaluate the impact that omitted variable bias can have on least squares estimators. A third example evaluates the impact this form of heteroskedasticity can have on the power of statistical tests.

This study shows MC simulated variable means are very similar to the actual data, but the standard deviations are considerably less in MC simulation-generated data. Using actual data on criminal convictions and income of fathers, the authors demonstrate the impact of omitted variable bias on the standard errors of the least squares estimator. Lastly, the authors show the p-values are systematically larger and the rejection frequencies correspondingly smaller in heteroskedastic error models compared to a model with homoskedastic errors.

The aim of this paper is to provide a better understanding of what MC simulation methods are and what can be achieved with them. A key value of this paper is that the authors focus on understanding the concepts of MC simulation for researchers of statistics and psychology in particular. Furthermore, the authors provide a step-by-step description of the MC simulation approach and provide examples using real survey data on criminal convictions and economic characteristics of fathers in large US cities.

The Cook County State Attorneys’ Deferred Prosecution Program (DPP) is a pre-trial diversionary program that accepts first-time, non-violent defendants charged with a felony crime. The purpose of this paper is to document the development, implementation, and program patterns of the DPP to better understand the program’s scope and reach in diverting defendants from traditional criminal prosecution.

The approach to evaluating Cook County’s DPP is primarily qualitative. Through interviews with program administrators and current and former participants, the authors document the process of creating and implementing such DPP that aims to avoid a felony conviction altogether. The authors provide program participant patterns to shed light on the program’s scope and reach in diverting defendants from traditional felony prosecution.

Using data from staff, administrators, and program participants, the authors found that the DPP was developed and implemented through supportive leadership who instilled a culture of collaboration and buy-in. Expanding the program could include increasing the capacity of DPP to include additional participants or having a DPP incorporated into each branch court, instead of the centralized system under which it currently operates. Increasing the capacity and scope of the program could both further decrease criminal court caseloads and most importantly avoid a higher number of stigmatizing felony convictions for first-time non-violent defendants.

DPPs are cost effective and can be easily implemented within existing systems. Collaboration and buy-in from all stakeholders are crucial to the program’s success. DPP offers opportunities for expansion. Increasing the capacity and scope of the program could both further decrease criminal court caseloads and most importantly avoid a higher number of stigmatizing felony convictions for first-time non-violent felony defendants.

The main goals of DPP were two-fold. The first was to minimize the level of resources allocated for non-violent offenders in the criminal justice system by diverting such defendants out of the criminal justice system early in the process and reducing the recidivism rates of program participants. The second aimed to provide an option for eligible defendants to avoid a felony conviction, thereby avoiding the collateral consequences associating with a felony conviction.

Whilst small, the number of women in Cambodian prisons has been growing rapidly. These women are often first-time offenders, detained on drug or poverty-related offenses. Most women are detained pre-trial, then sentenced harshly. Children in Cambodia can accompany their mother in prison, but there is no standardized process for this to occur. Conditions within the prisons have been described as substandard and extremely challenging, with a lack of appropriate nutrition, health care, and environmental stimulation. There is also a lack of humanitarian programs addressing the specific needs and challenges faced by women prisoners, and their children. This chapter provides an overview of the work of This Life Cambodia, a Non-Government Organization (NGO), which delivers targeted programs to both women and their children, during and after imprisonment. It discusses the role of the This Life in Family (TLIF) program, which provides valued support to vulnerable families at risk of separation. The program primarily targets mothers in prison from poor, disadvantaged and multiple deprived communities, who are accompanied by, or separated from, their children.