394 results for author: James R. Marsh

Research Brief: Suicide and Bullying

In a recent blog post for stopbullying.gov, the authors review the literature to determine possible links between bullying and suicide in children and youth.They conclude that many factors may increase a youth’s risk of suicide—including mental health history, family history of suicide or child maltreatment, alcohol and substance abuse, and isolation—and caution against assuming there are “simple” causes for suicidal thoughts or behavior. Check out the post here.

OVC Video Series Addresses Children’s Exposure to Violence

The Department of Justice's Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) has released “Through Our Eyes: Children, Violence, and Trauma,” an online video series to address the needs of children exposed to violence and victimization.The series includes a public awareness video in which victims discuss the effects of the violence and trauma they experienced; and three topic-specific videos detailing evidence-based treatment, child advocacy strategies, and community-based approaches to help those affected. Visit http://www.ovc.gov/pubs/ThroughOurEyes/index.html for details.

Sixth Circuit Rejects Commonsense Approach to Child Pornography Restitution

Last week, the Sixth Circuit issued this confusing decision on child pornography restitution in the combined cases of United States v. James D. Gamble and Shawn Crawford. The Court held that the child pornography restitution statute contains both a cause-in-fact requirement—i.e., a showing that the defendant's conduct actually caused the victim's losses—and and a requirement that the cause be proximate. The Court found that "the statute still allows victims to collect more restitution than under earlier and concurrent restitution statutes. The statute expands the definition of victims and the categories of losses for which victims can ...

Ending the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in California

Today the National Center for Youth Law released a new report, Ending Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children: A Call for Multi-System Collaboration in California. Report author Kate Walker, an Equal Justice Works Fellow and Attorney at the Center, commented that "Every day, the unthinkable happens: thousands of America's children are coerced into performing sex for hire. Exploitation can start as young as age ten. Some exploited children are brutally beaten and raped. Others are isolated, drugged, and starved until they become "willing" participants. Yet, these children are regularly arrested and held in juvenile detention facilities even ...

Federal Child Pornography Offenses – Report to Congress

This report is the result of a multi-year process in which the United States Sentencing Commission (“the Commission”) examined cases of offenders sentenced under the federal sentencing guidelines and corresponding penal statutes concerning child pornography offenses. The purpose of this report is to contribute to the ongoing assessment by Congress and the various stakeholders in the federal criminal justice system regarding how federal child pornography offenders are prosecuted, sentenced, incarcerated, and supervised following their reentry into the community. This report complements and expands upon the Commission’s 2009 report, ...

Sticks and Stones: Defeating the Culture of Bullying

Emily Bazelon has written a timely groundbreaking book on bullying, its root problems and real-world solutions. Sticks and Stones: Defeating the Culture of Bullying and Rediscovering the Power of Character and Empathy defines what bullying is and, just as important, what it is not. Bazelon explores when intervention is essential and when kids should be given the freedom to fend for themselves. She also dispels persistent myths: that girls bully more than boys, that online and in-person bullying are entirely distinct, that bullying is a common cause of suicide, and that harsh criminal penalties are an effective deterrent. Above all, she believes that ...

Child Pornography: A Modern Day Childhood Gonorrhea Epidemic

I am reading a fascinating book by Lynn Sacco, an assistant professor of history at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, entitled Unspeakable: Father-Daughter Incest in American History. Unspeakable is an excellent book which explains how cultural mores and political needs distorted attitudes toward and medical knowledge of patriarchal sexual abuse at a time when the nation was committed to the familial power of white fathers and the idealized white family.For much of the nineteenth century, father-daughter incest was understood to take place among all classes and legal and extra-legal attempts to deal with it tended to be swift and severe. But ...