Tattoos and Other Body Modification Practices among Child Sex Offenders in Greece

Complete work in pdf

Author/s: Constantinos Togas , George Alexias, GEORGE ALEXIAS

Pages: 7-27
UDK: 343.261-053.2(495) 316.344.7(495)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.47152/rkkp.62.1.1

Abstract: Body modification encompasses procedures to achieve permanent or temporary alterations of the human body. Tattooing and body piercing have become the most prevalent forms of body modification. It is reported that getting tattoos while in detention is reported to be a common practice. Only a few studies have examined the prevalence of body modification practices in prisoners. The objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence of body modifications (tattoos and body piercing) and self-injuries among child sex offenders in a Greek prison, as well as to identify factors associated with having a tattoo or acquiring one while in prison. One secondary aim was to examine this population's main motives for body modifications and shed new light on their functions. The authors present the results of their original quantitative study (with a sample of 181 imprisoned child sex offenders) and discuss them in comparison to those of other studies.

Keywords: body modification, child sex offenders, tattooing, prisoners, self-injury

References:
Abiona, T.C., Balogun, J.A., Adefuye, A.S., Sloan, P.E. (2010) Body art practices among inmates: implications for transmission of bloodborne infections. American Journal of Infection Control, 38(2), pp.121-129. https://doi.org/ 10.1016/j.ajic.2009.06.006 Awofeso, N. (2002) Jaggers in the pokey: understanding tattooing in prisons and reacting rationally to it. Australian Health Review, 25, pp.162-169. https://doi.org/10.1071/ah020162. Awofeso, N. (2004) Prison argot and penal discipline. Journal of Mundane Behavior, 5(1), N/A. Awofeso, N., Williams, C. (2000) Branded tattooing in prisons. Tropical Doctor, 30, pp.186-187. https://doi.org/10.1177/004947550003000331. Batrićević, A., Kubiček, A. (2020) The role of tattoos in prison community. Journal of Criminology and Criminal Law, 58 (3), pp.7-22. https://doi.org/10.47152/rkkp.58.3.1 Braithwaite, R., Robillard, A., Woodring, T., Stephens, T., Arriola, K.J. (2001) Tattooing and body piercing among adolescent detainees: relationship to alcohol and other drug use. Journal of Substance Abuse, 13(1-2), pp.5-16. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0899-3289(01)00061-X. Braverman, P.K. (2006) Body art: piercing, tattooing, and scarification. Adolescent Medicine Clinics, 17(3), pp.505-519, abstract ix.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.admecli.2006.06.007. Brooks, T.L., Woods, E.R., Knight, J.R., Shrier, L.A. (2003) Body modification and substance use in adolescents: is there a link? Journal of Adolescent Health, 32(1), pp. 44-49. https://doi.org/10.1016/s1054-139x(02)00446-9. Bui, E., Rodgers, R., Cailhol, L., Birmes, P., Chabrol, H., Schmitt, L. (2010) Body piercing and psychopathology: a review of the literature. Psychotherapy and psychosomatics, 79(2), pp. 125-129. https://doi.org/10.1159/000276376. Burris, K., Kim, K. (2007) Tattoo removal. Clinics in Dermatology, 25 (4), pp. 388-392. https://doi.org/ 10.1016/j.clindermatol.2007.05.011. Choudhary, S., Elsaie, M.L., Leiva, A., Mouri, K. (2010) Lasers for tattoo removal: a review. Lasers in Medial Science, 25(5), pp. 619-627. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10103-010-0800-2 Cossio, M.L., Giesen, L.F., Araya, G., Pérez-Cotapos, M.L. (2012) Association between tattoos, piercings and risk behaviors in adolescents. Revista médica de Chile, 140(2), pp.198-206. https://doi.org/ 10.4067/S0034-98872012000200008. de Almeida, A. (2009). Inked women: narratives at the intersection of tattoos, childhood sexual abuse, gender and the tattoo renaissance. Master Thesis, University of Victoria, School of Child and Youth Care, Faculty of Human and Social Development. De Mello, M. (2000) Bodies of Inscription. A Cultural History of the Modern Tattoo Community. Durham, London: Duke University Press. Deschesnes, M., Fines, P., Demers, S. (2006) Are tattooing and piercing indicators of risk taking behaviors among high school students? Journal of Adolescence, 29, pp.379-393. https://doi.org/ 10.1016/j.adolescence.2005.06.001. Frank, A. (1995) The Wounded Storyteller: Body, Illness and Ethics. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press. Hellard, M.E., Aitken, C.K., Hocking, J.S. (2007) Tattooing in prisons - not such a pretty picture. American Journal of Infection Control, 35(7), pp. 477-480. https://doi.org/ 10.1016/j.ajic.2006.08.002. Hellenic Statistical Authority (2010) Retrieved 05-11-2023 from: www.statistics.gr Hewitt, K. (1997) Mutilating the Body: Identity in Blood and Ink. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press. Klügl, I., Hiller, K.A., Landthaler, M., Bäumler, W. (2010) Incidence of health problems associated with tattooed skin: A nation-wide survey in German-speaking countries. Dermatology, 221, pp. 43-50. https://doi.org/ 10.1159/000292627. Kosut, M. (2000) Tattoo Narratives: The intersection of the body, self‐identity and society. Visual Sociology, 15(1), pp. 79-100. https://doi.org/10.1080/14725860008583817 Lane, D. (2014) Tat’s all folks: an analysis of tattoo literature. Sociology Compass, 8(4), pp. 398-410. https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12142 Mafong, E.A., Kauvar, A.N., Geronemus, R.G. (2003) Surgical pearl: Removal of cosmetic lip-liner tattoo with the pulsed carbon dioxide laser. Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, 48(2), pp. 271-272. https://doi.org/10.1067/mjd.2003.29. McCarron, K. (2008). Skin and Self-Indictment: Prison Tattoos, Race, and Heroin Addiction. English Studies in Canada, 34(1), pp. 85-102. Moazen, B., Saeedi Moghaddam, S., Silbernagl, M.A., Lotfizadeh, M., Bosworth, R.J., Alammehrjerdi, Z., Kinner, S.A., Wirtz, A.L., Bärnighausen, T.W., Stöver, H.J., Dolan, K.A. (2018) Prevalence of Drug Injection, Sexual Activity, Tattooing, and Piercing Among Prison Inmates. Epidemiol Rev, 40(1), pp.58-69. https://doi.org/10.1093/epirev/mxy002. Nowosielski, K., Sipiński, A., Kuczerawy, I., Kozłowska-Rup, D., Skrzypulec-Plinta, V. (2012) Tattoos, Piercing, and Sexual Behaviors in Young Adults. The Journal of Sexual Medicine, 9(9), pp. 2307-2314. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1743-6109.2012.02791.x Patel, M., Cobbs, G. (2015) Infections from Body Piercing and Tattoos. Microbiology Spectrum, 3(6), pp. 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1128/microbiolspec.iol5-0016-2015 Peña-Orellana, M., Hernández-Viver, A., Caraballo-Correa, G., Albizu-García, C.E. (2011) Prevalence of HCV risk behaviors among prison inmates: tattooing and injection drug use. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 22(3), pp.962-982.https://doi.org/10.1353/hpu.2011.0084. Perju-Dumbrava, D., Ureche, D., Gherman, C., Chiroban, O., Bonea, L.S., Radu, C.C. (2016) Biblically inspired tattoos in forensic examinations made on inmates? bodies in prisons territorially assigned to the Forensic Institute of Medicine from Cluj. Journal for the Study of Religions and Ideologies, 15 (45), pp.338-356. Poulin, C., Courtemanche, Y., Serhir, B., Alary, M.(2018) Tattooing in prison: a risk factor for HCV infection among inmates in the Quebec's provincial correctional system. Annals of Epidemiology, 28(4), pp.231-235. https://doi.org/0.1016/j.annepidem.2018.02.002. Rabinerson, D., Horowitz, E. (2005) Genital piercing. Harefuah, 144 (10), pp. 736-738. Robinson, D., Mirabelli, L. (1996) Summary of findings of the 1995 CSC national inmate survey. In: Correctional Service Canada, Correctional Research and Development. Roggenkamp, H., Nicholls, A., Pierre, J.M. (2017) Tattoos as a window to the psyche: How talking about skin art can inform psychiatric practice. World Journal of Psychiatry, 7(3), pp. 148-158 https://doi.org/10.5498/wjp.v7.i3.148] Sarnecki, J. (2001) Trauma and tattoo. American Association of Anthropologists Journal of Consciousness, 12, pp. 35-42. https://doi.org/10.1525/ac.2001.12.2.35 Sindoni, A., Valeriani, F., Protano, C., Liguori, G., Romano Spica, V., Vitali, M., Gallè, F. (2022) Health risks for body pierced community: a systematic review. Public Health, 205, pp.202-215. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2022.01.035. Epub 2022 Mar 24. Stirn, A. (2003). Body piercing: medical consequences and psychological motivations. Lancet, 361(9364), pp. 1205-15. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(03)12955-8. Stirn, A., Hinz, A. (2008) Tattoos, body piercings, and self-injury: is there a connection? Investigations on a core group of participants practicing body modification. Psychotherapy research: journal of the Society for Psychotherapy Research,18(3), pp. 326-33. https://doi.org/10.1080/10503300701506938. Stirn, A., Oddo, S., Peregrinova, L., Philipp, S., Hinz, A. (2011) Motivations for body piercings and tattoos - the role of sexual abuse and the frequency of body modifications. Psychiatry Research,190 (2-3), pp. 359-63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2011.06.001. Sundberg, K., Kjellman, U. (2018) Tattoo as a document. Journal of Documentation, 74(1), 18-35. https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-03-2017-0043 Swami, V., Harris, A.S. (2012) Body Art: Tattooing and Piercing. In Thomas Cash (Ed), Encyclopedia of Body Image and Human Appearance, Academic Press, p.p. 58-65. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-384925-0.00012-2. Tran, N., Dubost, C., Baggio, S., Gétaz, L., Wolff, H. (2018). Safer tattooing interventions in prisons: a systematic review and call to action. BMC Public Health, 18, pp.1015. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-018-5867-x Wacquant, L. (2001) Deadly Symbiosis: When Ghetto and Prison Meet and Mesh. Punishment and Society, 3(1), pp.95-133. https://doi.org/10.1177/14624740122228276. Wohlrab, S., Stahl, J., Kappeler, P.M. (2007) Modifying the body: motivations for getting tattooed and pierced. Body Image, 4(1), 87-95. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2006.12.001.