Factors Associated with Delays of Days to Decades to Criminal Prosecutions of Child Sexual Abuse

Until the latter part of the 20th century, legal doctrines made it almost impossible to successfully prosecute in criminal court a case involving child sexual abuse (CSA), whether the complaint was timely or delayed. Many English-speaking countries have abrogated most formal legal barriers to prosecuting CSA cases, and courts are faced with the singular challenge of adjudicating sexual offenses against children that are reported to have happened years or decades earlier. We conducted analyses of 4,237 criminal complaints of CSA heard in Canadian criminal courts. There were several differences between timely and delayed prosecutions that led us to conclude that delayed prosecutions of CSA are common and due, in part, to the nature of the offense. Offense duration was associated with longer delays to prosecution. When the accused had access to the child through his position in the community, length of delay to prosecution was very long, particularly for male complainants. More research is needed on delayed CSA prosecutions, particularly given an apparent trend for jurisdictions to abolish barriers to criminal prosecutions of CSA that occurred years or decades earlier. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Black male client, white female counsellor: Making positive use of transference phenomena

The content and process of transference issues over a 9-month period of counselling contact between a white, female counsellor and a black, male client are examined. An attempt is made to show the positive effects that may come about through a non-ethnic- and non-gender-matched counsellor-client dyad, and to explore the benefits to the client of counsellor similarity and difference.     

Muslim Canadians: Immigration policy and community development in the 1991 census

Canada's Muslim population is rapidly increasing. Initial immigration was hindered by the racist White Canada policy, discarded in 1962. Thereafter, Muslims from South Asia and the Middle East entered Canada in large numbers as professionals and trained workers, as well as substantial numbers of refugees. While the community is well‐integrated economically, in terms of job classification and educational involvement, Muslims face prejudice and discrimination because of their race and religion. The most important challenge is passing on religious and cultural traditions to offspring, not only since their socialization occurs in a secular environment but also because the higher levels of economic and educational success within the Muslim community tend to break down religious and cultural barriers to mixed marriages. While characteristics of Muslim social identity, such as esteem for education and caring for older relatives, are positive factors encouraging group adhesion, negative forces, such as racism, also contribute to group maintenance.     

Evolution, Sociobiology, and the Atonement

This essay views Christian doctrines of the atonement in the light of evolution and sociobiology. It argues that most of the doctrines are false because they use a false premise, the historicity of Adam and the Fall. However, two doctrines are not false on those grounds: Abelard's idea that Jesus' life is an example and Athanasius' concept that the atonement changes human nature. Employing evolution's and sociobiology's concepts of the egocentric and ethnocentric nature of humanity and the synergy between genes and environments to produce a "nature," this essay shows that these two doctrines can be amalgamated to make sense of the atonement in the late twentieth century.     

The Multiculturally Responsive Versus the Multiculturally Reactive: A Study of Perceptions of Counselor Trainees

Findings suggest that the completion of or exposure to multicultural counseling coursework or literature does not necessarily indicate an acceptance of or valuing of multicultural counseling literature. Survey results of counselor trainees' observations and perceptions of peers whose perspectives on diversity differ are presented and discussed. Implications for training and supervision are addressed.