Special Issue "Trauma, Addiction and Criminality"
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A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2012
Special Issue Editor
Guest Editor
Dr. Flora I. Matheson
Centre for Research on Inner City Health, The Keenan Research Centre in the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael's Hospital 30 Bond Street, Toronto, Ontario M5B 1W8, Canada
Website: http://www.sph.utoronto.ca/faculty_template_new.asp?GetFile=MFlora
E-Mail: mathesonf@smh.ca
Interests: gender inequities in health; neighborhood & individual stressors; mental mealth & addictions; women's health; correctional populations
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Childhood trauma, through physical and/or sexual abuse and/or neglect, is pervasive in the general population. Actual prevalence rates vary depending on the scope of traumatic events examined. Estimates suggest that nearly 40 per cent of the general population (up to 60 per cent of women, and 20 to 30 per cent of men) have experienced some form of abuse or neglect in childhood. The consequences of trauma persist long after the experience is over and produce lifelong problems like depression, PTSD, substance abuse, low occupational attainment, poor medical health, and criminal involvement.
Prevalence and severity of lifetime interpersonal violence encountered by imprisoned men and women is scarce, contradictory and subject to under-reporting. However, evidence points to extensive trauma in this marginalized population with rates approaching 80% in some samples. Prevalence of PTSD has been estimated approximately at 48% within the female and 30% within male inmate populations. This Special Issue, “Trauma, Addiction and Criminality,” examines the role of trauma in the life trajectories of male and female offenders. The goal of the Issue is to shed light on the pervasiveness of the problem in the criminal justice system; explore the personal, social and health consequences of trauma for offenders; and, ponder what treatments might prove effective in this particularly vulnerable population.
Dr. Flora I. Matheson
Guest Editor
Submission
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. Papers will be published continuously (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are refereed through a peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed Open Access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1000 CHF (Swiss Francs).
Keywords
- prisoners
- offenders
- crime
- criminality
- incarceration
- risk behaviours
- violence
- trauma exposure
- intimate partner violence
- child abuse
- substance use
- mental illness
- post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- gender
Published Papers (2 papers)
 Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2012, 9(1), 97-99; doi:10.3390/ijerph9010097
Received: 20 December 2011 / Accepted: 22 December 2011 / Published: 3 January 2012
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Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2012, 9(5), 1908-1926; doi:10.3390/ijerph9051908
Received: 27 March 2012; in revised form: 28 April 2012 / Accepted: 2 May 2012 / Published: 18 May 2012
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Submitted Papers
Authors: Nancy Wolff 1 and Jing Shi 2
Affiliations: 1 Center for Behavioral Health Services & Criminal Justice Research, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, 176 Ryders Lane, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA; Email: jshi@cbhs.rutgers.edu
2 EJ Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, Director, Center for Behavioral Health Services & Criminal Justice Research, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 176 Ryders Lane, New Brunswick, NJ 08901; Email: jshi@cbhs.rutgers.edu
Abstract: Rates of childhood and adult trauma are high among incarcerate persons. It is estimated that half or more of male and female inmates experienced childhood physical victimization (56% for males and 54% for females). Sexual trauma experiences in childhood is reported significantly less by male inmates (less than 10%) than by their female counterparts (47%) (Wolff, Shi, & Siegel, 2009). This paper will develop rates of childhood and adult trauma for male and female inmates using two large data sets: a general population sample (N~8,000) and a soon-to-be-released population sample (N~4,000). Surveys were administered using an audio-computer-administered survey instrument. Respondents were asked, sequentially, if prior to age 18 anyone, including a relative or friend, ever “choked or attempted to drown you, hit you with some object that left welts or caused bleeding, burned you with a match, cigarette, hot liquid, or any other hot object, threatened or harmed you with a knife or gun.” Responses to these questions were used to measure physical victimization prior to age 18. In addition, they were asked another series of questions about sexual victimization prior to age 18, which included any experiences where anyone “touched, felt, or grabbed you in a way that you felt was sexually threatening, tried or succeeded in getting you to touch their genitals when you didn’t want to, made you have sex by using force or threat of force, made you have oral or anal sex by using force or threat of force.” These same questions were asked for the period after age 17. Descriptive analyses will examine the prevalence of current sleeping problems, drug/alcohol problems, head trauma, PTSD, and anxiety among people who experienced childhood and/or adult sexual or physical trauma. HLM models will be used to explore the association between childhood and adult trauma and depression, anxiety, substance use, interpersonal problems, and anger problems (each model estimated separately and controlling for age, gender, race, time incarcerated, and index offense).
Last update: 18 May 2012