Harris D1, Ogilvie J1, Thomsen L1, Barton J1, Rynne J1
1Griffith University
Biography:
Dr Harris is the Deputy Director-Research of the Griffith Youth Forensic Service and a Senior Lecturer in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Griffith University. She has published more than 40 articles and book chapters and has given over 60 conference presentations. Her research examines sexual aggression through a developmental and life course perspective. Her study of civilly committed sex offenders in Massachusetts was funded by the Guggenheim Foundation and her current research is funded by Westpac. Her first book “Desistance from Sexual Offending” received the ANZSOC Book Award in 2019.
After decades of research on the long-term consequences of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), the bulk of our knowledge continues to be derived almost entirely from a now rather dated 10-item checklist of dichotomous variables. This study extends our understanding of childhood maltreatment by examining the onset, duration, and temporal ordering of several early developmental experiences known to be empirically correlated with subsequent involvement in the juvenile justice system.
This project ‘zooms in’ on the specific experiences of 20 Queensland youth adjudicated for sexual offences against women and children. We developed a visualisation technique—the ACE Matrix—to account for and describe the onset, duration, and temporal ordering of chronic ACEs. The ACE Matrix plots ACEs over time (at 12-month intervals) from birth until the young person’s referral for assessment.
Our temporal analysis suggested frequent changes in both accommodation and primary caregiver, which was indicative of severely disrupted attachments. It was often the case that participants began their lives with at least one biological parent (usually their mother), but that alternative carers usually appeared quite quickly. Our developmental visualisation technique emphasised the striking concentration of abuse and neglect experienced in the first six years of life. Implications for policy and practice are discussed and future research direction are presented.