title: An evaluation of the use of phallometric assessment for men incarcerated for sexually offending against children in New Zealand: Past results and future directions.

authors: Jones, David Trevor

subjects: Phallometric Assessment

abstract: Phallometric assessment, the direct measurement of male sexual arousal in response to stimuli presented in a controlled setting, has been widely used in the assessment of sexual offenders to detect deviant sexual interests, determine treatment needs and inform risk assessments, but they have also been criticised due to a weak theoretical basis, wide variations in methodology and serious concerns around reliability and validity.  From 1999 to 2007, phallometric assessments were conducted at two treatment units for incarcerated child sex offenders in New Zealand using a standardised Monarch 3.1 phallometric system which provided a database of 583 cases for analysis.  This project, the only large scale analysis of phallometric data known to have been conducted using New Zealand data, was designed to explore a large number of research questions in three areas.  The first area explored the factor structure of the assessments and the relationships between arousal profiles and a variety of co-existing demographic and offence related variables including age, social desirability, victim gender and victim age.  The second area investigated the ability of a large number of possible phallometric indices to predict future both any sexual reconvictions and those involving children, with a particular focus on the role played by stimuli depicting teenagers.  The third area investigated the prevalence and effects of the deliberate suppression of arousal, and analysed the ability of physiological measures to detect such suppression.  The results of these investigations indicated that phallometric data factored according to the gender of the stimuli and could be further divided into age preferences resembling pedophila and teleiophilia.  Phallometric indices consistently related to known victim gender but not victim age, suggesting that these offenders tended to target victims based on gender preferences but not age preferences to the same degree, posing questions about the relevance of diagnostic labels for age based sexual preferences.  Phallometric results were demonstrated to be predictive of sexual reoffending against children and outperformed actuarial or structured dynamic variables.  The best predictions were obtained using ratio and z-scored differential deviance indices from initial assessments to predict sexual reconvictions involving children in a sample of extrafamilial offenders, with a maximum AUC found of .69.  Post-treatment assessments also predicted reconviction, but change scores from pre to post-treatment did not, suggesting that the practice of conducting post-treatment phallometric assessments is of little value.  The investigation into the suppression of arousal found that subjects could reduce the magnitude of their arousal, but could not reduce the discriminative abilities of interpretative indices.  In this sample, there was no reliable way to detect markers of suppression using GSR traces, respiration traces or the patterns in the penile traces themselves.  While many of these findings support those in the existing literature, others are original contributions which extend the literature, including the use of a Principal Component Analysis on raw phallometric data, an exploration of the effects of the use of pubescent stimuli, a mathematical rather than subjective analysis of the properties of penile, GSR and respiration data in relation to suppression, the use of Receiver Operating Characteristic analysis to clarify the relationship between arousal profiles and victim preferences and an analysis of the effects of varying significance levels on the detection of male victims and the prediction of recidivism.  Overall, this research extends and clarifies the phallometric literature through evidence that phallometric assessments may not provide a definitive measure of sexual interests and are not an absolute predictor of reconviction, but are the best available tool for measuring arousal patterns and could be a valuable contributor to a multimodal assessment of risk.

text: An evaluation of the use of phallometric assessment for men incarcerated for sexually offending against children in New Zealand: Past results and future directions. Phallometric assessment, the direct measurement of male sexual arousal in response to stimuli presented in a controlled setting, has been widely used in the assessment of sexual offenders to detect deviant sexual interests, determine treatment needs and inform risk assessments, but they have also been criticised due to a weak theoretical basis, wide variations in methodology and serious concerns around reliability and validity.  From 1999 to 2007, phallometric assessments were conducted at two treatment units for incarcerated child sex offenders in New Zealand using a standardised Monarch 3.1 phallometric system which provided a database of 583 cases for analysis.  This project, the only large scale analysis of phallometric data known to have been conducted using New Zealand data, was designed to explore a large number of research questions in three areas.  The first area explored the factor structure of the assessments and the relationships between arousal profiles and a variety of co-existing demographic and offence related variables including age, social desirability, victim gender and victim age.  The second area investigated the ability of a large number of possible phallometric indices to predict future both any sexual reconvictions and those involving children, with a particular focus on the role played by stimuli depicting teenagers.  The third area investigated the prevalence and effects of the deliberate suppression of arousal, and analysed the ability of physiological measures to detect such suppression.  The results of these investigations indicated that phallometric data factored according to the gender of the stimuli and could be further divided into age preferences resembling pedophila and teleiophilia.  Phallometric indices consistently related to known victim gender but not victim age, suggesting that these offenders tended to target victims based on gender preferences but not age preferences to the same degree, posing questions about the relevance of diagnostic labels for age based sexual preferences.  Phallometric results were demonstrated to be predictive of sexual reoffending against children and outperformed actuarial or structured dynamic variables.  The best predictions were obtained using ratio and z-scored differential deviance indices from initial assessments to predict sexual reconvictions involving children in a sample of extrafamilial offenders, with a maximum AUC found of .69.  Post-treatment assessments also predicted reconviction, but change scores from pre to post-treatment did not, suggesting that the practice of conducting post-treatment phallometric assessments is of little value.  The investigation into the suppression of arousal found that subjects could reduce the magnitude of their arousal, but could not reduce the discriminative abilities of interpretative indices.  In this sample, there was no reliable way to detect markers of suppression using GSR traces, respiration traces or the patterns in the penile traces themselves.  While many of these findings support those in the existing literature, others are original contributions which extend the literature, including the use of a Principal Component Analysis on raw phallometric data, an exploration of the effects of the use of pubescent stimuli, a mathematical rather than subjective analysis of the properties of penile, GSR and respiration data in relation to suppression, the use of Receiver Operating Characteristic analysis to clarify the relationship between arousal profiles and victim preferences and an analysis of the effects of varying significance levels on the detection of male victims and the prediction of recidivism.  Overall, this research extends and clarifies the phallometric literature through evidence that phallometric assessments may not provide a definitive measure of sexual interests and are not an absolute predictor of reconviction, but are the best available tool for measuring arousal patterns and could be a valuable contributor to a multimodal assessment of risk.

year: 2014

title: The manufacture and mechanical properties of aligned long harakeke fibre reinforced epoxy composites

authors: Le, Tan Minh

subjects: compression moulding

abstract: Aligned long harakeke fibre reinforced epoxy composites were prepared using hand lay-up followed by compression moulding. Densities of harakeke fibre and epoxy resin were determined for the purpose of composite design. The evenness of composites fabricated by two different size moulds was compared. It was found that more even composites were produced when using a small mould than a big mould. In this work, the dependence of tensile and flexural properties of harakeke/epoxy composites on fibre content was also investigated. The results showed that the addition of fibre enhanced tensile properties of epoxy. The tensile strength and Young’s modulus increased with the volume fraction of harakeke fibre. The flexural strength and flexural modulus increased as the fibre volume fraction increased up to 0.4. Further addition of fibre did not result in an improvement of composite flexural properties.

text: The manufacture and mechanical properties of aligned long harakeke fibre reinforced epoxy composites Aligned long harakeke fibre reinforced epoxy composites were prepared using hand lay-up followed by compression moulding. Densities of harakeke fibre and epoxy resin were determined for the purpose of composite design. The evenness of composites fabricated by two different size moulds was compared. It was found that more even composites were produced when using a small mould than a big mould. In this work, the dependence of tensile and flexural properties of harakeke/epoxy composites on fibre content was also investigated. The results showed that the addition of fibre enhanced tensile properties of epoxy. The tensile strength and Young’s modulus increased with the volume fraction of harakeke fibre. The flexural strength and flexural modulus increased as the fibre volume fraction increased up to 0.4. Further addition of fibre did not result in an improvement of composite flexural properties.

year: 2012-07-09

title: Breaking barriers and empowering perspectives: Centering women's voices in the mongrel mob wāhine toa

authors: Arnold, Annaliese

subjects: gang research

abstract: Gang communities in Aotearoa New Zealand have traditionally been sites of masculinity where specific forms of 'maleness' - including resistance to authority, antisocial behaviour, and expressions of violence - are embraced, expressed, and enforced through various internal cultural norms and reactions to the outside world. The dominant narrative that informs public perceptions of New Zealand gangs is often centered on crime, poverty, and Indigeneity. Much less is known about the role of women in these communities, particularly as their voices have only recently emerged from one of the largest gang chapters in the country. This research, conducted in close collaboration with wāhine within the Mongrel Mob Kingdom's first female-only chapter, Mongrel Mob Wāhine Toa, uses a participatory action research approach with photovoice methodology. Drawing on the personal narratives of six wāhine, this study aims to better understand their perspectives and experiences of contributing to a fledgling movement that privileges women within a predominantly male-centered gang environment. Photovoice is used alongside semi-structured interviews to provide depth and breadth to the data, allowing the wāhine to visually and verbally express their experiences and perspectives. Themes include navigating marginality, empowerment, and resistance. The long-range goal of this work is to inform context-sensitive policies and interventions for wāhine in gangs in Aotearoa. By foregrounding the perspective of wāhine, this study contributes to breaking down barriers and reshaping discourses around women in gangs, with implications for well-being and empowerment.

text: Breaking barriers and empowering perspectives: Centering women's voices in the mongrel mob wāhine toa Gang communities in Aotearoa New Zealand have traditionally been sites of masculinity where specific forms of 'maleness' - including resistance to authority, antisocial behaviour, and expressions of violence - are embraced, expressed, and enforced through various internal cultural norms and reactions to the outside world. The dominant narrative that informs public perceptions of New Zealand gangs is often centered on crime, poverty, and Indigeneity. Much less is known about the role of women in these communities, particularly as their voices have only recently emerged from one of the largest gang chapters in the country. This research, conducted in close collaboration with wāhine within the Mongrel Mob Kingdom's first female-only chapter, Mongrel Mob Wāhine Toa, uses a participatory action research approach with photovoice methodology. Drawing on the personal narratives of six wāhine, this study aims to better understand their perspectives and experiences of contributing to a fledgling movement that privileges women within a predominantly male-centered gang environment. Photovoice is used alongside semi-structured interviews to provide depth and breadth to the data, allowing the wāhine to visually and verbally express their experiences and perspectives. Themes include navigating marginality, empowerment, and resistance. The long-range goal of this work is to inform context-sensitive policies and interventions for wāhine in gangs in Aotearoa. By foregrounding the perspective of wāhine, this study contributes to breaking down barriers and reshaping discourses around women in gangs, with implications for well-being and empowerment.

year: 2025