[Selected Issues]
Sexual offending, prostitution
and human trafficking - notes
1 Introduction
1.1 Information paper
1.1.1 First info session:
Questions @ Yasmin van Damme.
• Paper is 50% of the marks – extra information:
o MAX. 3000 words, but know that is not a lot, so it is the maximum but is also
the goals sort of. It is a guideline.
o Respect the following deadlines:
o There won’t be interim feedback. But if you have questions, then can always
send her an email.
o If you change a few things like the topics or table of contents, she will not give
any extra feedback for it. The deadlines are the only moments that we will get
feedback.
o Subject:
▪ The subject doesn’t fully need to be covered in the course, but there
must be a link.
▪ It doesn’t need to be a legal subject, but go through the course schedule
and choose the frame of one of those topics. It can be something
psychological of social etc.
▪ It doesn’t need to be about Belgium, can be about any country!
▪ It doesn’t need to be an empirical research paper
o Tips for the research questions in your paper: Try to answer them but know that
that is not always the intention. → Especially motivation important.
• Evaluation of the paper:
o 1/10 be an academic writer: layout; language, structure,…
o 3/10 Contextualization, comprehensiveness: did you read a lot about it? Did you
become ‘an expert’, can you give the context,…?
1
, ▪ Introduce the topic shortly. Don’t spend a thousand words on the legal
context etc…
o 6/10 Line of argumentation, critical view: substantiating your own opinion.
Elaborate on your own opinion. bv. Als je tegen legalisatie bent van prostitutie,
dan moet je ook teksten hebben gelezen die voor de legalisatie bent, zodat je
daarvoor tegenargumenten kan vinden.
• Bad examples:
o Your assignment may not be discreptive (no copy paste of others work). No or
yes-questions.
▪ Bv. The crime sextortion/ legal analysis on applicable legalization in
Belgium and the need for creation of a separate crime.
o Don’t use an ‘Overview of article…’
o ‘comparisson between’ → but WHY! Mention that in the title.
• General tips:
o No descriptive paper
o Check your spelling: use the tools of the university
o Use sources and show that you used them
o Make it original, personal, critical, on the level of master students
o Look at the reader for hundreds of examples of good research questions
o If you oppose, propose! Give an idea on how to make it better. But if you come
to the conclusion that something is great, explain why and add what can make
it better?
1.1.2 Second infosession:
• You don’t have to include a legal aspect. You can focus on a sociological or
psychological aspect.
• It has to have a direct link
• You can send your subject etc earlier than April → in that way you can get feedback
earlier.
• Make clear in your title what you’re going to do.
• How to?
o Course
o Specific aspect of it, touchy subject or something were there are no conclusions
or controversial topic
o Get inspiration out of your reader.
• 3000 words do not include footnotes.
1.2 Aim and phenomena selected
1.2.1 Aim
To gain a proper, nuanced and multi-perspective understanding of the causes, mechanisms,
dynamics and complexity of a cluster of specific (crime) phenomena, i.e. sexual offending,
prostitution and human trafficking, as well as of their interrelations and of societal and (criminal)
policy reactions thereto
1.2.2 Issues selected / modules:
OVERVIEW OF THE SELECTED TOPICS:
1. Introduction
2. rape, sexual assault & sexual harassment
3. trafficking in human beings
a. legal approaches and policies | phenomenon and dynamics
4. prostitution
2
, a. legal approaches and policies | phenomenon and dynamics
5. child sexual abuse & abuse of power or authority
6. sexual exploitation of children, child sexual exploitation material (CSEM) & grooming
7. pornography, exhibitionism, revenge porn & voyeurism
8. bestiality, animal porn, BDSM & necrophilia
9. AI & robots
1.2.3 Perspective and dimensions
• legal dimension
o domestic, European, international and comparative criminal,
administrative/immigration, social and extraterritorial jurisdiction law
• prevention strategies and societal and (criminal) policy reactions
• phenomenological and epidemiological data
• victim perspective
• offender perspective
• children’s rights perspective
• moral dimension: sexuality morality and attitudes
• economic dimension: demand and supply (elasticity) in the sexual services market,
…
• corporate dimension: corporate and chain responsibility, sectoral self-regulation
• gender and gay dimensions
• migration perspective: international and EU third country national migration, free
movement EU
• European and international policy level and actor perspective
o EU (Council, EC, EP, Europol, etc), Council of Europe, OSCE, ILO, UN
• multi-actor perspective
o police, labour and social inspection services, prosecution services, immigration
services, border guards, tax administrations, city administrations,
neighbourhoods, NGO’s, health and welfare sector
1.2.4 expectations (compétences)
• understand/unveil the interaction between legal/regulatory frameworks and evaluative, normative and
attitudinal frameworks/discourses regarding sexuality, sexual behavior and exploitation
• independently consult, analyse and critically/scientifically assess sources, literature and research data
• apply knowledge of the European and international institutional and policy development context of
criminology and criminal justice when addressing sexual offending, prostitution and human trafficking and
reactions thereto
• address sexual offending, prostitution and human trafficking multi-dimensionally, multi-disciplinary,
through multiple (theoretical) frames and from a multi-actor perspective
• apply in-depth knowledge of the phenomena concerned (and reactions thereto) in scientific research
• understand and analyse current debates and issues regarding sexual offending, prostitution and human
trafficking crime (and reactions thereto)
• critically approach sexual offending, prostitution and human trafficking (and reactions thereto) through
research and the application of theory
• articulate a scientifically-reasoned opinion about sexual offending, prostitution and human trafficking (and
reactions thereto) that pays due attention to ethical, cultural and legal issues
• think independently and critically about societal and (criminal) policy reactions to the phenomena of sexual
offending, prostitution and human trafficking
• write a clear report on the results of (own) scientific research and/or personal views
• respect cultural differences, pluralism, gender and ethical standards
1.2.5 Teaching methods
• integration seminar
o building on and aiming at integrating knowledge that was acquired during a
range of courses
3
, o limited introduction to the topic and literature [presentations/videos] •
o traditionally focused on group discussion [optional in covid times]
• guided self-study
o mandatory readings [ahead of live Zoom Q&A/discussion sessions]
o optional readings as a courtesy (inspiration for papers, discretionary knowledge
consolidation, broadening & deepening)
• self-reliant study activities
o research: individual or group (4 students max) paper
o 3000 words/person, excluding footnotes and reference list or bibliography
1.2.6 Evaluation
• periodic (50%)
o oral exam with short-answer questions and open questions, balancing legal and
non-legal questions → may go to an written exam, not sure yet
o open questions envisage testing students’ understanding and analytical and
interpretational skills regarding the causes, mechanisms, dynamics, complexity
and interrelations of the phenomena concerned and regarding societal and
(criminal) policy reactions thereto
• non-periodic (50%)
o research paper
• participation in both non-periodic and periodic evaluation is mandatory
o otherwise, students will be declared “failed”, meaning that if the final score is
ten or more (out of twenty), this score will be reduced to the highest non-pass
grade
2 Rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment
For this module - and especially for rape and sexual assault - there is not really a definition
given by the international community. We can’t rely on a specific widely accepted definition.
This confronts us with a diversity of legal approaches. The legal approach and the conceptions
of rape and sexual assault are not the only and/or dominant approaches, but the legal
approaches do have an impact on the possibility of successful prosecution and conviction
rates.
Mandatory readings:
D. Brodowski (2017). Protecting the right to sexual self-determination: models of regulation and current
challenges in European and German sex crime laws. In: E. Saad-Diniz, O lugar da vítima nas ciências
criminais, São Paulo, Liber Ars, 15-28
M. Coy, L. Kelly, M. Garner, A. Kanyeredzi., & F. Vera-Gray (2016). From ‘no means no’ to ‘an enthusiastic
yes’: changing the discourse on sexual consent through Sex and Relationships Education. in V. Sundaram
& H. Saunders, (Eds.) Global Perspectives and Debates on Sex and Relationships Education: Addressing
Issues of Gender, Sexuality, Plurality and Power, London, Palgrave Macmillan, 84-99
➔ These articles focus on the consent issue.
R. Kaltiala-Heino, H. Savioja, S. Fröjd & M. Marttunen (2018). Experiences of sexual harassment are
associated with the sexual behavior of 14- to 18-year-old adolescents, Child Abuse & Neglect, vol. 77, 46-
57
➔ Focusses on sexual harassment issues, and this article focusses on a broad conception of the
concept ‘sexual harassment’. It makes a distinction between boys and girls.
L. Strikwerda (2015). Present and future instances of virtual rape in light of three categories of legal
philosophical theories on rape. Philosophy & Technology, Vol. 28, No. 4, 491-510
➔ The difference between rape and sexual assault.
G.F. Waterhouse, A. Reynolds & V. Egan (2016). Myths and legends: the reality of rape offences reported
to a UK police force. The European Journal of Psychology Applied to Legal Context, Vol. 8, 1-10
➔ Focus on rape myths.
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