Study Finds Disparate Gender Differences in Victims of Child Sex Trafficking

Youth involved in sex trafficking have extensive victimization experiences during childhood, and these experiences vary by gender. In the nationally representative study, 75 percent were males and 25 percent were females. Almost two-thirds of the girls were molested as a child, half were raped, and three-fourths were emotionally abused as a child, compared to 36 percent of males who were molested, 31 percent who were raped, and 37 percent who were emotionally abused. Eighty percent of females reported three or more victimization types compared to males (49 percent), and 31 percent of females experienced all five types of prior victimization compared to 11 percent of males.

Becoming Sober – A ‘Voice’ for Mothers Navigating the Child Welfare System

Stigmatized and ignored, pregnant women and mothers with substance use disorders often are voiceless. Researchers used documentary photography as platform to enable mothers in recovery to be heard. Results reveal a shared perception. For mothers with a substance use disorder involved with the child welfare system it is easy to fail and hard to succeed. The emotional jeopardy of child welfare system interactions was described by the mothers to result in feelings of defeat and an increased vulnerability to reoccurrence of substance use.

‘Virtual nature’ experiences reduce stress in prisons

For people who are in jails or prisons, experiencing nature virtually is usually their only option. A new study from University of Utah researchers finds that exposure to nature imagery or nature sounds decreased physiological signs of stress in the incarcerated, and spurred their interest in learning more about the habitats they experienced. The researchers also found that, in general, people didn’t strongly prefer visual to auditory nature experiences.

FRIDAY, MAY 21: Expert Panel on Policing and Racism, Insights from Psychological Science

A panel of experts in psychological science will present the latest research on racial bias and police encounters. Journalists are invited to attend this one-hour panel presented by the Association for Psychological Science.  WHEN: Friday, May 21, 2021; 2:30 p.m. EDT  WHERE: Via Zoom (link will be provided to registered journalists); register at [email protected]   TOPICS WILL INCLUDE: …

UNH Expert Offers Comment on Supreme Court Reform and New Commission

Ryan Vacca, a professor at the University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law with an expertise in federal judiciary reform, and who recently advised the House in advance of the hearing, is available to discuss the problems plaguing the federal judicial system, how and why previous efforts have failed, arguments for and against court packing, and how the reforms might be structured to avoid past problems.