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Background: Specific treatment and interventions for individuals with Autism Spectrum Conditions who display harmful sexual behaviour have yet to be widely evaluated. This review aims to consolidate and assess the quality of research exploring non-pharmacological interventions for individuals with Autism Spectrum Conditions who display harmful sexual behaviour. Method: A systemic search of electronic databases was conducted. Articles were considered for inclusion, according to identified inclusion and exclusion criteria. At the end of the search, ten papers were deemed suitable for inclusion. Results: Ten studies were considered eligible for review, including a study of follow-up data of one of the original studies. Quality assessment indicated that the majority of papers provided weak research evidence, with only two papers receiving an "adequate" rating. A consistent methodological flaw was the lack of control groups for group interventions. Conclusions: There is currently a very small research base exploring non-pharmacological interventions for individuals with Autism Spectrum Conditions who display harmful sexual behaviour. The current research is littered with methodological flaws, however reveals some useful information regarding the use of functional behaviour assessment and individualised treatment planning, as well as some of the limitations of using adapted group CBT interventions. Suggestions for future research include; studies evaluating the effectiveness of behavioural interventions for individuals with Autism Spectrum Conditions who display harmful sexual behaviour, studies which include female participants, studies which utilise control groups where appropriate, and an evaluation of interventions for those with Autism Spectrum Conditions without Intellectual Disabilities.

Economists and political scientists have long debated the relations between economic inequality and corruption at the societal level. Extending this literature, we proposed and tested that economic inequality breeds the corrupt behaviour of individuals. Analyses of 45-year archival data from the United States found that official corruption crimes were more prevalent in years and states with greater economic inequality. Three subsequent experiments (N = 776) using economic games showed that individuals exposed to greater economic inequality exhibited more corrupt behaviour in both Chinese and American cultures. Furthermore, the increased desire for wealth and the perception of reduced fairness accounted for this effect. These findings highlight that excessive economic inequality creates a competitive environment in which people give priority to themselves over others and suggest a vicious cycle between economic inequality and corruption., (© 2022 British Psychological Society.)

Infant misidentification and abduction are recognized as "never" events for hospitals in the United States. As near misses are often unreported, root cause analysis of observed near misses may fail to uncover important contributors. We utilized failure mode and effects analysis to proactively identify and eliminate or reduce the risk of infant misidentification or abduction. We prioritized action plans based upon the highest risk priority failures and developed steps to eliminate the gaps in the infant identification process and the security within the Center for Women & Infants. The analysis identified 28 failure modes. Team discussion of the failure modes also yielded several collateral benefits of improvements in the unit climate. We present and discuss the action plans that were undertaken by the hospital to increase patient safety and reduce the risk of infant misidentification and abduction., (Copyright © 2021 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

In 2017, the Trump Administration restored local law enforcement agencies' access to military weapons and some other types of surplus military equipment (SME) that had been prohibited by the Obama Administration. The Justice Department background paper used to justify this decision cited two papers published by the American Economic Association. These papers used SME data collected with a 2014 Freedom of Information Act request and concluded that SME, supplied to local law enforcement by the federal government via the 1033 Program, reduces crime. Here we show that the findings of these studies are not credible due to problems with the data. Using more detailed audit data on 1033 SME, we show that the 2014 data are flawed and that the more recent data provide no evidence that 1033 SME reduces crime.

This article explores gaming manifestations of the US-centric Mexican threat narrative in the context of the so-called drug war, by analyzing Manichean representations of characters, settings, and language (English and Spanish). It argues that videogames construct the concept of the Mexican subject in direct opposition to the US subject--in a decontextualized enemy-hero dialectic--fueling damaging stereotypes that have important repercussions in social, economic, and political discourses in and about Mexico and the United States. This paper examines the stereotypes of Mexican peoples and cartels in videogames depicting the drug conflict and released between 2011 and 2016: "Call of Juarez: The Cartel," "Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel," "Grand Theft Auto V," and "Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands." Additionally, it reflects on projects such as "NarcoGuerra," which aims at counteracting stereotyped hegemonic discourses by promoting informed and empathetic representations of the so-called war on drugs. The overarching goal of this analysis is to provide an insight into gaming representations of the relationship between Mexico and the United States, the geopolitics of drug trafficking, and the neocolonial hegemonic frameworks that fuel them.

The main threats to world order are terrorist and extremist activities. On the world stage, countries unite into a coalition with the aim to increase the efficiency of the fight against terrorism. At the local level, the terrorist threat is fought by the security services. In order to prevent global human victims, which may arise as a result of terrorist attacks, the government is taking a number of normative legal acts, which prevent the activities of militants. The main problem that arises in the preparation of the law is the lack of a clear understanding of what the "terrorism" and "extremism" are. Therefore, in this paper, a complete analysis of these terms will be made on the basis of normative legal acts of some countries such as the USA, Russia, Kazakhstan, and scientists specialized in the subject. Research of the terms "extremism" and "terrorism" has shown that these concepts are different, but at the same time interconnected. This relationship is expressed in the fact that terrorism is a continuation of extremism, its next step. The disengagement of these concepts will allow the legislator to create more specific laws, that will cover the entire field of criminal activities.

This paper investigates the psychological effects from stock market returns. Using an FBI database of over 55 million daily reported crime incidents across the United States, crime is proposed as a measure of psychological well-being. The evidence suggests that stock returns affect the well-being of not only investors but also noninvestors. Specifically, a contemporaneous negative (positive) relationship between daily stock market returns and violent crime rates is found for investors (noninvestors). A similar relationship is also found between local earnings surprises and violent crime. The contrasting relationships for investors and noninvestors suggests that relative wealth may influence well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Higher education institutions in the United States and the United Kingdom increasingly require prospective students to disclose past criminal history on admissions applications. However, a social movement aimed at improving opportunities for people with criminal records may force higher education to reconsider this practice. This paper offers a descriptive comparative analysis of admissions policies for people with criminal records in the US and UK by exploring policy contexts, written policies and admissions data. For the first time, admissions data were collected from a sample of UK universities, finding that while thousands of applicants with criminal records apply to universities, only a small percentage are rejected solely on the basis of their convictions. In addition, variation in the tone and scope of policies appears to reflect the variation in national criminal records laws between the US and UK. These, and other findings, have implications for the continued use of these policies.

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) have gained significant attention in recent years for their potential to impact education at a global scale. This paper presents the findings from a study that examined the cases of three MOOCs, including Human Trafficking, US Food System, and Animal Behavior and Welfare, that were specifically designed to effect attitudinal change in its participants, specifically focusing on the three aspects of attitudinal change, cognitive, affective and behavioral as well as general learning. The study examined learners' perceptions of attitudinal change, including according to the MOOC they took, the instructional method utilized, and the influence of attitudinal components on each other. The findings from this research provide a number of implications that could be helpful for understanding instruction and instructional design of MOOCs, particularly those MOOCs addressing attitude change.

This literature review of secondary school teachers' perceptions of student misbehaviour from 1983 to 2013 comprised studies from various countries including Australia, China, Greece, Jordan, Malta, the United Kingdom and the United States. Identified materials enabled international comparisons and the analysis of changes over time. Of the 20 papers included in the final review, most were categorised as looking at perceptions of serious student misbehaviours or high frequency student misbehaviours. The main conclusions were that teacher perceptions of high frequency misbehaviours and serious misbehaviours were largely consistent over time and between countries. Teachers perceived talking out of turn and similar misbehaviours as being most frequent. Teachers consistently perceived stealing and vandalism as serious misbehaviours while more extreme violent or potentially violent behaviours were not reported to occur frequently. The study raises the issue of the lack of a common research methodology in the reviewed materials, including agreed student behaviour descriptors, which impede conclusive recommendations.

This paper empirically investigates the impact of broadband diffusion on crime. I employ state-level data on high-speed Internet penetration and criminal activity in the United States from 2000 to 2012. To tackle the endogeneity of broadband diffusion, I rely on a set of technologically motivated instrumental variables. The outcomes show that the impact of high-speed Internet diffusion on crime is negative and it is not significant for more severe offenses. Concerning the underlying mechanism, I find support for the hypothesis that the broadband-driven crime reduction occurs through a voluntary incapacitation effect, as people change their leisure time allocation by spending more time at home and off the streets. This in turn reduces the availability of criminal opportunities – and crime levels. Finally, my results suggest that the voluntary incapacitation effect concerns both sides of criminal interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The measurement of crime in the United States is one that has constantly evolved since national efforts began in 1930. However, the measurements of victim and offender characteristics, specifically race and ethnicity, have not developed at the same pace, nor as rapidly for crime data as it has for other fields. This paper examines two primary criminal justice data sources, the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) and the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) and compares them for context to the United States Census. Analysis shows that the Census has continually expanded racial and ethnic categories while the crime data instruments have mostly refined them only by name. The paper concludes with suggestions for revision of the crime data collection instruments, specifically NIBRS, and a discussion of research and policy implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Donohue and Levitt (2001) presented evidence that the legalization of abortion in the early 1970s played an important role in the crime drop of the 1990s. That paper concluded with a strong out-of-sample prediction regarding the next two decades: "When a steady state is reached roughly twenty years from now, the impact of abortion will be roughly twice as great as the impact felt so far. Our results suggest that all else equal, legalized abortion will account for persistent declines of 1% a year in crime over the next two decades." Estimating parallel specifications to the original paper, but using the seventeen years of data generated after that paper was written, we find strong support for the prediction and the broad hypothesis, while illuminating some previously unrecognized patterns of crime and arrests. We estimate that overall crime fell 17.5% from 1998 to 2014 due to legalized abortion—a decline of 1% per year. From 1991 to 2014, the violent and property crime rates each fell by 50%. Legalized abortion is estimated to have reduced violent crime by 47% and property crime by 33% over this period, and thus can explain most of the observed crime decline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Annals of Criminology is the property of Cambridge University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Introduction: The epidemic of gun violence in the United States (US) is exacerbated by frequent mass shootings. In 2021, there were 698 mass shootings in the US, resulting in 705 deaths and 2,830 injuries. This is a companion paper to a publication in JAMA Network Open, in which the nonfatal outcomes of victims of mass shootings have been only partially described. Methods: We gathered clinical and logistic information from 31 hospitals in the US about 403 survivors of 13 mass shootings, each event involving greater than 10 injuries, from 2012-19. Local champions in emergency medicine and trauma surgery provided clinical data from electronic health records within 24 hours of a mass shooting. We organized descriptive statistics of individual-level diagnoses recorded in medical records using International Classification of Diseases codes, according to the Barell Injury Diagnosis Matrix (BIDM), a standardized tool that classifies 12 types of injuries within 36 body regions. Results: Of the 403 patients who were evaluated at a hospital, 364 sustained physical injuries—252 by gunshot wound (GSW) and 112 by non-ballistic trauma—and 39 were uninjured. Fifty patients had 75 psychiatric diagnoses. Nearly 10% of victims came to the hospital for symptoms triggered by, but not directly related to, the shooting, or for exacerbations of underlying conditions. There were 362 gunshot wounds recorded in the Barell Matrix (1.44 per patient). The Emergency Severity Index (ESI) distribution was skewed toward higher acuity than typical for an emergency department (ED), with 15.1% ESI 1 and 17.6% ESI 2 patients. Semi-automatic firearms were used in 100% of these civilian public mass shootings, with 50 total weapons for 13 shootings (Route 91 Harvest Festival, Las Vegas. 24). Assailant motivations were reported to be associated with hate crimes in 23.1%. Conclusion: Survivors of mass shootings have substantial morbidity and characteristic injury distribution, but 37% of victims had no GSW. Law enforcement, emergency medical systems, and hospital and ED disaster planners can use this information for injury mitigation and public policy planning. The BIDM is useful to organize data regarding gun violence injuries. We call for additional research funding to prevent and mitigate interpersonal firearm injuries, and for the National Violent Death Reporting System to expand tracking of injuries, their sequelae, complications, and societal costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to highlight some implications of the creation of closed, culturally alien communities and the possible consequences of their functioning from a criminological and victimological perspective. Various processes emerging since about the second half of the 20Thcentury, in Europe as well as in the United States of America, have caused cultural transformations leading to the emergence of cultural pluralism (polyculturalism, multiculturalism) in various forms. This represents one of the greatest challenges of the modern world on many levels, including prophylaxis and crime prevention. Of particular concern is the issue of assessing the behaviour of an offender belonging to a closed, culturally different group. variants of such a situation can be considered - when the perpetrator and the victim belong to culturally different communities or the same one, and depending on whether the perpetrator's behaviour constitutes an act judged negatively in the closed group to which they belong or whether it fulfils the characteristics of a crime in the legal system of the external community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the potential importance of crime rates in investments, there are no indices dedicated to evaluating the financial impact of crime in the United States. As such, this paper presents an index-based insurance portfolio for crime in the United States by utilizing the financial losses reported by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The objective of our paper is to introduce new risk hedging financial contracts for crime, consistent with dynamic asset pricing. Underlying the index, we hedge the investments by issuing marketable European call and put options and providing risk budgets. These budgets show that real estate, ransomware, and government impersonation are the main risk contributors in our index. Next, we evaluate the performance of our index via stress testing to determine its resilience to economic crisis. Of all the factors considered in this study, unemployment rate has the potential to demonstrate the highest systemic risk to the portfolio. Our portfolio will help investors envision risk exposure in the market, gauge investment risk based on their desired risk level, and hedge strategies for potential losses due to economic crashes. In conclusion, we provide a basis for the securitization of insurance risk from certain crimes that could forewarn investors to transfer their risk to capital market investors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The number of sexual crimes committed against women in the United States is high, and the prevalence of these crimes is on the rise. Although these crimes are heinous and have severe consequences on survivors, they are highly excused in U.S. society, and the responsibility for the assault is often shifted from the perpetrators to the survivors. In this paper, we will review the influence of willing substance use and race and ethnicity on the attribution of blame and responsibility in rape crimes. More specific cally, we will present the results of an analysis of variance (N = 316) of (a) the willing use of alcohol, marijuana, and heroin and (b) race and ethnicity (Black, Hispanic, and White) on blame attribution in rape crimes. Additionally, we will review the findings on the influence of participants' demographics. Our results provide support for previous findings regarding the impact of alcohol and introduce new insight about the influence of race and ethnicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background & Methods: National protests in the summer of 2020 drew attention to the significant presence of police in marginalized communities. Recent social movements have called for substantial police reforms, including "defunding the police," a phrase originating from a larger, historical abolition movement advocating that public investments be redirected away from the criminal justice system and into social services and health care. Although research has demonstrated the expansive role of police to respond a broad range of social problems and health emergencies, existing research has yet to fully explore the capacity for health insurance policy to influence rates of arrest in the population. To fill this gap, we examine the potential effect of Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on arrests in 3,035 U.S. counties. We compare county-level arrests using FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program Data before and after Medicaid expansion in 2014-2016, relative to counties in non-expansion states. We use difference-in-differences (DID) models to estimate the change in arrests following Medicaid expansion for overall arrests, and violent, drug, and low-level arrests., Results: Police arrests significantly declined following the expansion of Medicaid under the ACA. Medicaid expansion produced a 20-32% negative difference in overall arrests rates in the first three years. We observe the largest negative differences for drug arrests: we find a 25-41% negative difference in drug arrests in the three years following Medicaid expansion, compared to non-expansion counties. We observe a 19-29% negative difference in arrests for violence in the three years after Medicaid expansion, and a decrease in low-level arrests between 24-28% in expansion counties compared to non-expansion counties. Our main results for drug arrests are robust to multiple sensitivity analyses, including a state-level model., Conclusions: Evidence in this paper suggests that expanded Medicaid insurance reduced police arrests, particularly drug-related arrests. Combined with research showing the harmful health consequences of chronic policing in disadvantaged communities, greater insurance coverage creates new avenues for individuals to seek care, receive treatment, and avoid criminalization. As police reform is high on the agenda at the local, state, and federal level, our paper supports the perspective that broad health policy reforms can meaningfully reduce contact with the criminal justice system under historic conditions of mass criminalization., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

This paper examines the relationship between income inequality and property crime using Census block group data from three US cities: Nashville, TN, Portland, OR and Tucson, AZ. This paper is one of very few to examine this relationship at such a fine geographic level, which is typically less than one square mile in size. We find that income inequality across block groups plays a key role in determining the level of property crime. As the income gap with one’s poorest neighbouring block group widens, the level of property crime in the richer block group increases. Also, the poorest block group in an area tends to experience less property crime, holding all else constant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of intellectual property rights (IPR) infringement on the input (R&D spending) and output (patents) of the research process. The extant literature proxies IPR enforcement via composite indices or indicators of institutional quality, whereas this paper employs a direct (hard) measure of IPR crimes. Using data across U.S. states, results show that IPR crimes reduce research spending but do not impact patenting. Upon comparison with a broader measure of weak institutional quality (corruption), we find that greater corruption has a robust negative effect on patenting, but not on R&D spending. Quantitatively, the elasticities of R&D spending with respect to IPR crimes are greater than those of patents with respect to corruption, suggesting that studies that proxy IPR crimes via other measures are likely underestimating their impacts on technological change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both in-person and online sexual grooming of children is a common process used by those who sexually abuse children. Sexual grooming refers to the method by which an adult manipulates a potential minor victim into situations where sexual abuse can more readily take place while at the same time preventing the minor from disclosing the abuse or others recognizing the inappropriate behaviors. Child sexual grooming is considered a precursor to the criminal act of child sexual abuse; however, in some jurisdictions child sexual grooming in and of itself is considered a standalone criminal offense. Both federal and state governments in the United States have created anti-grooming laws to criminalize these preparatory acts to protect children before the sexual abuse can occur. This paper will explore the current research on sexual grooming to provide a framework for understanding sexual grooming behaviors, critically examine federal and state sexual grooming legislation, and provide recommendations on how to evaluate and integrate sexual grooming research into criminal prosecution and policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The majority of gun violence in the United States does not result in physical injury and therefore cannot be completely measured using hospital data. To measure the full scope of gun violence, the nation's crime reporting systems that collect police reports of crimes committed with a firearm are vital. However, crime data reporting conventions may underestimate gun violence in the U.S. This paper compares crime data sources to assess underestimation of gun violence. Findings: The Federal Bureau of Investigation's Summary Reporting System (SRS) and National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS) measures of gun violence were compared in 2019 for states comprehensively reporting data to both systems. Gun violence is underestimated in the SRS compared to NIBRS. Within the sample, 18.8% more aggravated assaults with a firearm are recorded and 2.1% more robberies with a firearm are recorded in NIBRS. The proportion of assaults and robberies committed with a firearm measured in both sources did not differ. If the additional gun violence events recorded in the NIBRS sample are consistent with national crime reporting, the number of additional gun violence events per year captured using NIBRS totals approximately 65,071 additional events, or an additional 178 gun violence events per day. Of the additional gun violence events, approximately 31% are due to omitted crime categories, with the remaining variation driven mostly by aggravated assaults with a firearm. Conclusions: Police data are important data sources for estimating the full scope of gun violence. Comparisons between police data sources suggest that the proportion of crimes committed with a firearm is unchanged. Due to crime reporting conventions, however, the number of gun violence events may be substantially understated. Despite advantages in measuring gun violence, agency participation in NIBRS is alarmingly low and jeopardizes accurate and reliable national crime data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Death by suicide among Black people in the USA have increased by 35.6% within the past decade. Among youth under the age of 24 years old, death by suicide among Black youth have risen substantially. Researchers have found that structural inequities (e.g. educational attainment) and state-specific variables (e.g. minimum wage, incarceration rates) may increase risk for suicide among Black people compared to White people in the USA. Given the limited understanding of how such factors systematically affect Black and White communities differently, this paper aims to examine these relationships across US states using publicly available data from 2015 to 2019. Design/methodology/approach: Data were aggregated from various national sources including the National Center for Education Statistics, the Department of Labor, the FBI's Crime in the US Reports and the Census Bureau. Four generalized estimating equations (GEE) models were used to examine the impact of state-level variables on suicide rates: Black adults suicide rate, Black youth (24 years and younger) suicide rate, White adult suicide rate and White youth suicide rate. Each model includes state-level hate group rates, minimum wage, violent crime rates, gross vacancy rates, and race-specific state-level poverty rates, incarceration rates and graduation rates. Findings: Across all GEE models, suicide rates rose between 2015–2019 (ß = 1.11 – 2.78; ß = 0.91 – 1.82; ß = 0.52 – 3.09; ß = 0.16 – 1.53). For the Black adult suicide rate, state rates increased as the proportion of Black incarceration rose (ß = 1.14) but fell as the gross housing vacancy rates increased (ß = −1.52). Among Black youth, state suicide rates rose as Black incarcerations increased (ß = 0.93). For the adult White suicide rate, state rates increased as White incarceration (ß = 1.05) and percent uninsured increased (ß = 1.83), but fell as White graduation rates increased (ß = −2.36). Finally, among White youth, state suicide rates increased as the White incarceration rate rose (ß = 0.55) and as the violent crime rate rose (ß = 0.55) but decreased as state minimum wages (ß = −0.61), White poverty rates (ß = −0.40) and graduation rates increased (ß = −0.97). Originality/value: This work underscores how structural factors are associated with suicide rates, and how such factors differentially impact White and Black communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I propose a new theory that ascribes the increasing female crime share to unequal emancipatory advancement between women's ideological aspirations and institutional means in modern times. Accordingly, it is proposed that an incommensurate pace in progression inflicts gender-specific deprivation on women, which increases their share of crime. The theory is tested with Uniform Crime Reporting data from 1980 to 2017 across offense types. The findings indicate that mismatched liberation increases the female share of violent and property crimes, especially for adult cohorts and among samples after 1988 when women's ends-means gap was found to be enlarged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

American cities today are simultaneously the same and different from Wilson's classic portrayal in The Truly Disadvantaged ([1987] 2012), first published over 30 years ago. Concentrated poverty and racial segregation endure, as do racial gaps in multiple aspects of wellbeing. But mass incarceration, the dramatic drop in violent crime, immigration, rising income segregation, the suburbanisation of poverty, and other macrosocial trends have transformed the urban scene. The paradoxical result is that cities today are both better and worse off. In this paper, I put forth a unifying framework on persistence and change in urban inequality, highlighting a theory of neighbourhood effects and the higher-order structure of the contemporary metropolis. I apply this analytic framework to examine: (1) neighbourhood inequality as an important driver and mediator of urban transformation; (2) racial disparities across the life course in compounded deprivation, poisoned development, and intergenerational mobility; and (3) how everyday spatial mobility beyond the local neighbourhood is producing new forms of social isolation and higher-order segregation. I conclude with a challenge to dominant policy perspectives on urban racial inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Few prior studies have examined the extent to which the behavior and characteristics of political extremists are related to their position within radical groups. In this paper we concentrate on one of the most fundamental distinctions in groups: That between leaders and followers. Our main goal is to investigate the comparative propensity of leaders and followers to engage in political violence. In a sample of individuals who have committed ideologically motivated political crimes in the United States (N = 1,331). we found that even though leaders were more ideologically committed to the group's goals and ideologies, they were at the same time less likely to engage in violent acts. Moreover, we found that leaders in radical criminal organizations shared many characteristics with leaders in noncriminal organizations. Specifically, in comparison to followers, they were more often male, older, and they were more likely to belong to an ethnic majority. We consider implications for future research and policy of the fundamental conclusion that compared to leaders, followers in terrorist organizations are more likely to engage in violent acts., (© 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Copyright of Regional Studies is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Abstract: Using the Flint, Michigan water crisis as a backdrop, this review piece explores the concept of white innocence. The concept of white innocence presents us with an analytic tool to understand the frustrating endurance of white supremacy within the U.S. settler state and how white supremacy operates through a range of geographically grounded practices. This paper makes an explicit link between work on settler colonialism and white innocence outlining how the burgeoning work on settler societies opens space to a productive engagement with the concept of innocence. I contend that white innocence as a concept needs to be more fully grounded in work that engages with settler colonialism and within the United States specifically. White innocence also inculcates the agency of whites in a society that is built through the explicit exploitation of persons of color as well as the way white institutions continue to expose persons of color to a range of negative impacts. This paper begins with a review of the literature on whiteness within geographic research. The last several years has seen a series of important interventions in the literature and geographers are increasingly turning to the concept of white supremacy to explain racism in 21st century U.S. society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data on U.S. states, this paper studies the factors driving lottery-related crimes, focusing on spillovers from other gambling and corruption. Although state-sponsored lotteries have become quite popular in the United States in recent years, formal research on their causes is rather limited. Results show corruption to increase lottery-related crimes, while higher lottery prize money and greater economic prosperity have the opposite effect. We find crowding out from electronic gaming machines. However, competition from Native American casinos or casino gambling crimes does not significantly impact lottery crimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to report on the findings and lessons that were learned from the many cases of internet fraud complaints that are gathered by the Federal Trade Commission in the USA. The implications that are contained in the behavior of the complaints and trends identified are critical for addressing all types of online criminal activities in the increasing world of cybercrimes.Design/methodology/approach Data for this paper are extracted from the Consumer Sentinel Network Data Handbook covering a period of 13 years. Using the raw data, the occurrences were plotted and trends (number of cycles, time between cycles, and leading state and lagging states) were identified. Descriptive statistics covering the 13 years were examined and discussed. Using 20002 as the base year, the rate of growth of each of the states were ranked annually and were tested for stability and predictability using non-parametric approaches.Findings The key findings are indigenous to the occurrences of online fraud complaints in the USA. However, as the leading nation with the best database on fraud complaints, the findings are mission critical to fraud prevention across the globe. Specifically, this study found that since 2002, there have been four distinct cycles. Each cycle is clearly noticeable because there is a rapid growth in the number of crime complaints in the beginning half of the period followed by a slowing down period. However, the speed of change from one cycle to the next is steeper and the time gap is faster. While it is true that from the perspective of all the 50 states, the ranks appear to change every year and thus are not stable. However, the majority of the changes are relatively small so their relative positions by rank are still predictable.Originality/value The paper extends existing understanding of online fraud occurrences in the USA. The findings are timely and based on longitudinal data that span over a decade. The four new cycles identified are critical to the body of knowledge. The observed change in time from one cycle to another and its changes from a mathematic to a geometric one are also new. The findings are invaluable to persons working in law enforcement related occupations (auditors, lawyers, forensic experts, among others) and who must deal with the increasing problem of online fraud and cybercrimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Police–community relations are strained in the United States, especially along racial lines. This paper assesses community perceptions of crime and the police before and after the implementation of an intervention aimed at eliminating overt drug markets through focused deterrence and police–community partnerships emphasizing racial reconciliation. Mail surveys were sent to every household living within a two-mile radius of the block group where the intervention took place and we estimate differences-in-differences OLS models to examine whether the intervention changed perceptions of crime and police trust and legitimacy. Relative to non-black respondents, black respondents perceived a reduction in non-violent crimes and disorder as well as less racial profiling after the intervention; these results are robust to a number of robustness checks. We did not observe a change with respect to perceptions of police effectiveness, fairness, or other measures of police legitimacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we describe the assessment and planning phase of the Thrive community‐based initiative to reduce violence and address other determinants of health in a community in the Southwestern United States. Using community‐based participatory research (CBPR) and an implementation science framework, we engaged residents and other key stakeholders as equal partners in the assessment and planning process. The Thrive assessment and planning phase involved collaboration among researchers, residents, law enforcement, nonprofit agencies, public health, local government, and other cross‐sector partners. We used implementation science in order to examine the barriers and facilitators to addressing community health and safety, to assess the nature and scope of health and safety issues, to review existing solutions, to assess the acceptability and necessary adaptations of selected interventions, and to assess feasibility and sustainability of the initiative. Through interviews, focus groups, analysis of crime incident data, geomapping, and direct observations, our findings highlighted the presence of an open‐air drug market, the high‐stress nature of the community, concern for the lack of opportunities for youth, the lack of trust between residents and law enforcement, and a need to address the built environment to promote safety and well‐being. Highlights: This study highlights the utility of CBPR and implementation science for crime/violence prevention.Through cross‐sector partnerships, the nature and scope of community crime/violence were assessed.Findings highlighted an active drug market, high‐stress, concern for youth, and lack of trust in police. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mugshot websites have become popular -- and controversial -- across the United States as news outlets seek more Web traffic and the advertising revenue that accompanies it. Proponents argue that online photo galleries showing recent arrests in the community are a modern incarnation of a practice that newspapers and television stations have done for years and provide a valuable public service. However, critics contend such sites may demonize innocent people, perpetuate racial stereotypes, and permanently brand individuals with a digital scarlet letter. As the national conversation on criminal justice shifts following the police killing of George Floyd, newsrooms are beginning to reevaluate their mugshot galleries and several have decided to discontinue them. With the law providing little, if any, help, according to First Amendment scholars, the issue is primarily an ethical one. This paper analyzes the controversy through the lens of the Society of Professional Journalists' Code of Ethics. It concludes that, while mugshot sites are not an inherently unethical journalism practice, many news outlets present mugshots utilizing ethically dubious methods that urgently need to be reformed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using crime data for the 48 continental and conterminous US states and the distribution dynamics approach, this paper detects two distinct phases in the evolution of the property crime distribution: a period of strong convergence (1971-1980) is followed by a tendency towards divergence and bimodality (1981-2010). Moreover, the analysis reveals that differences in income per capita and police can explain the emergence of a bimodal shape in the distribution of property crime: in fact, after conditioning on these variables, the bimodality completely disappears. This empirical evidence is consistent with the predictions of a two-region model, that stresses the importance of income inequality in determining the dynamics of the property crime distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses papers in the special issue on crime trends with topics including comparison of crime rate trends in the U.S. based on two major sources of crime data, decline in age-specific felony arrest rates in New York State between 1990 and 2010 and the variation in teen fertility and violent crime.

In order to truly deal with mass incarceration, it is necessary to deconstruct some of the myths it is built upon. One of the main ones being that excruciatingly long prison sentences are necessary to, or even effective in, deterring crime. It is increasingly being recognized that the main driver of mass incarceration is not the imprisonment of people for "nonviolent" and drug crimes, but rather the over-sentencing of people for serious and violent crimes.2 More people are coming around to the fact that we cannot address mass incarceration without addressing long-term sentences. For instance, Nazgol Ghandnoosh, Ph. D. and his colleagues note that the "growing 'lifer' population both illustrates and contributes to the persistence of mass incarceration,"3 and that "the United States cannot end mass incarceration as long as an exclusively punitive approach dominates for individuals convicted of serious and violent offenses."4 Moreover, as Marie Gottschalk points out, “people convicted of violent crimes accounted for almost two-thirds of the overall growth in state prisons from 1994 to 2006."5 Considering that over the past dozen years there were fewer incarcerations for drug offenses and other non-violent crimes, it follows that the percentage of people serving time for serious and violent crimes also continues to grow. Mass incarceration is a mistake. Acknowledging that the main driver of mass incarceration is long sentences for violent and serious crimes and that the theory of deterrence greatly contributes to the criminal justice system’s ability to hand down these long sentences, then the need for corrective action becomes obvious. A fact that never gets mentioned, but makes the need for corrective action even more dire, is the fact that it is a myth that increasing prison sentences deter crime. Thus, on a daily basis people are being over-incarcerated based on a myth. Society recognizes four justifications for imprisoning people: rehabilitation, retribution, incapacitation, and deterrence.6 Of these four, the three with the greatest impact upon our current system of mass incarceration are retribution, incapacitation, and deterrence. This paper mainly concerns the latter justification - deterrence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nationally, juvenile justice reforms have largely rolled back the surge in youth incarceration that resulted from the "tough on crime" era of the late 1990s and early 2000s: the numbers of young people arrested, detained, and placed in the justice system has fallen by half to the lowest numbers the country has seen since the 1980s. This paper analyzes gender-specific trends in juvenile justice involvement to assess whether declines in juvenile justice-involved youth population have made it possible to eliminate the practice of detaining or placing girls in juvenile justice facilities in many jurisdictions around the country. Descriptive data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics "Arrest Data Analysis Tool" as well as the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's "Easy Access to Juvenile Court Statistics" and "Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement" are compiled to provide an overview of gender demographics and charge severity at arrest and placement over time. Findings indicate that in many states girls numbers are sufficiently small and the severity of their offenses sufficiently low-level that targeted policy changes, diversion efforts, and investment community-based prevention and intervention programing could eliminate confinement altogether.

Introduction: Women have lower rates of drunken driving than men, but their share of arrests has been climbing since 1985. These trends may stem from changes in women's lives that lead to more drinking and driving, or to greater reductions in male drinking and driving. Alternatively, changes in policy and enforcement that focus on less intoxicated offenders may inadvertently target female-typical offending patterns. This paper tracked male and female drunken driving rates and the DUI sex ratio in the United States from 1985 to 2015 across three data sources., Methods: The sex ratio and prevalence estimates were derived from official arrest statistics from Uniform Crime Reports, self-reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and traffic fatality data from the National Highway and Transportation Safety Administration. Rates were assessed for four age groups (18-20, 21-34, 35-49, and 50-64), and drunken driving trends tested using Augmented Dickey-Fuller time-series methods., Results: Decreases in DUI rates stagnated over the first decade of 2000, but have again begun to decline, according to self-reports and traffic fatality data, for all sex-by-age groups. Still, the gender gap in DUI arrests continues to narrow. From 1990 to the early 2000s, changes in social control that made female DUI more visible narrowed the gender gap in arrests. In more recent years, narrowing of the gap is due primarily to male rates declining more steeply than female rates., Conclusion: Results indicate that we need more research to understand why female declines have not kept pace with male declines and perhaps more targeted prevention efforts aimed at women., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

In not too long, our system of criminal justice will abandon the mythology of blameworthiness and desert, and not too long after that we will look back on retributive criminal justice with shuddering astonishment. Now, approaching the cusp of change, we have the unusual and ephemeral opportunity to observe and study criminal justice on the way to a paradigm shift, and to think about how the system we have will become the system to come. How will the retributivism we take for granted today be transformed into something different tomorrow? In this paper, I suggest that one of the drivers of the change to come lies in the use of empirically-informed risk assessment technologies in American criminal justice. As they develop, such technologies will inevitably smuggle radically transformative information about human wrongdoing into the criminal justice system and into our thinking about criminal justice generally. Moreover, they will deliver that information in a form well-tailored to drive change - a persistent and increasing flow of vivid, concrete, comprehensible facts that easily build into explanatory narratives about the genetic, environmental, cultural, and experiential causes of criminal behavior. Such concrete and credible criminogenesis narratives, I argue, will fuel deep and stubborn moral anxieties about retributivism, and their cumulative impact will ultimately drive us to reject retributive criminal justice., (© 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

Research Summary: Public mass shootings tend to capture the public's attention and receive substantial coverage in both traditional media and online social networks (OSNs) and have become a salient topic in them. Motivated by this, the overarching objective of this paper is to advance our understanding of how the public responds to mass shooting events in such media outlets. Specifically, it aims to examine whether distinct information seeking patterns emerge over time and space, and whether associations between public mass shooting events emerge in online activities and discourse. Towards this objective, we study a sequence of five public mass shooting events that have occurred in the United States between October 2017 and May 2018 across three major dimensions: the public's online information seeking activities, the media coverage, and the discourse that emerges in a prominent OSN. To capture these dimensions, respectively, data was collected and analyzed from Google Trends, LexisNexis, Wikipedia Page views, and Twitter. The results of our analysis suggest that distinct temporal patterns emerge in the public's information seeking activities across different platforms, and that associations between an event and its preceding events emerge both in the media coverage and in OSNs. Policy Implication: Studying the evolution of discourse in OSNs provides a valuable lens to observe how society's views on public mass shooting events are formed and evolved over time and space. The ability to analyze such data allows tapping into the dynamics of reshaping and reframing public mass shooting events in the public sphere and enable it to be closely studied and modeled. A deeper understanding of this process, along with the emerging associations drawn between such events, can then provide policy and decision‐makers with opportunities to better design policies and communicate the significance of their goals and objectives to the public. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recording of crimes as terror incidents often falls in an unclear/fuzzy area due to overlaps with other crimes such as hate crimes, drug or mental health-related crimes, etc. This paper addresses the recording of crimes as terror crimes across US states, alternately considering both the prevalence and intensity of such crimes. Placing the explanatory variables under institutional, economic, social, political and enforcement categories, results show that weak institutions, ceteris paribus, undermine the recording of terror crimes. In other significant influences, states with greater ethnic homogeneity were less likely to have recorded terror crimes and more populous states had greater incidence (but not greater intensity) of recorded terror activity. Some implications for policy are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The "knockout game"--youths assaulting strangers at random with the goal of knocking them unconscious with a single blow—attracted intense attention in the United States for a brief period near the end of 2013. This paper examines the history of a set of claims about similar behaviors preceded that knockout game's eventual celebrity. It demonstrates the difficulty of successfully constructing a new crime problem; it took decades before a combination of elements—location, the characterization of offenders and victims, an emphasis on technology, and a prominent media venue willing to promote the story—brought these claims to prominence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most basic predictions of almost any model of crime is that individual time preferences matter. However, empirical evidence on this fundamental property is essentially nonexistent. To our knowledge, this paper provides the first pieces of evidence on the link between time discounting and crime. We use a unique dataset that combines a survey-based measure of time discount rates (at age 13) with detailed longitudinal register data on criminal behavior spanning over 18 y. Our results show that individuals with short time horizons have a significantly higher risk of criminal involvement later in life. The magnitude of the relationship is substantial and corresponds to roughly one-third of the association between intelligence and crime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historically, same-sex intimate partner violence (IPV) was ignored, and victims often experienced high rates of harassment and intimidation from police, leading to low reporting of same-sex IPV incidents, victims' unwillingness to cooperate with the police, and common arrests in such incidents. Although the Supreme Court's decision in Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) legalized and legitimized same-sex marriages and relationships in the U.S., mandating the inclusion of same-sex partners in protective order laws and yielding collateral benefits for victims of same-sex IPV, it is unclear if the decision has had a positive effect on same-sex IPV clearance rates. This study uses National Incident-Based Reporting System data to compare IPV clearance (arrest, dual arrest, victim noncooperation, and prosecution declined) pre (2013/2014) and post (2016/2017) Obergefell v. Hodges (2015). Regression results show no substantial changes in same-sex IPV clearance after Obergefell v. Hodges (2015). Compared to opposite-sex IPV, same-sex IPV was less likely to be cleared by arrest but much more likely to be cleared by dual arrest, victim noncooperation, and prosecution declined. Same-sex IPV involving Black couples and married partners were also less likely to be cleared by arrest but more likely to be cleared by dual arrest than Black/White same-sex IPV and incidents involving unmarried partners, respectively. Moreover, same-sex IPV victims experience unfavorable criminal justice outcomes in states with mandatory arrest policies but fare better in states that supported same-sex relationships prior to Obergefell. The implications of these findings for practice and research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior research shows that anti-immigration sentiment affects public opinion about criminal justice problems and solutions. However, we know little about how these sentiments affect public opinion about human trafficking. This paper attempts to fill this gap by examining the role of anti-immigration sentiment in shaping public support for anti-trafficking efforts in the United States. Specifically, this research examines the effect of anti-immigration sentiment on the public's understanding about vulnerabilities for human trafficking among migrant populations and corresponding support for policies directed at the protection of migrant trafficked persons. This is particularly important because public policies that safeguard migrant trafficked persons have been among the most difficult to pass despite strong support for the governmental prioritization of anti-trafficking efforts overall. Utilizing public opinion data from an original, nationally representative survey experiment of 2000 Americans, this study finds that anti-immigration sentiment (1) is associated with greater recognition of the vulnerability of immigrants to human trafficking victimization; (2) does not impact public support for a general governmental prioritization of human trafficking policies; yet (3) creates less public support for victim services for non-citizen trafficked persons; and (4) stems from differences in political views impacting support for services for immigrant victims. These findings contribute to an understanding of the role of anti-immigration sentiment in public opinion about crime and have implications for policies aimed at improving the identification of and outcomes for migrant trafficked persons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]