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This paper considers the role of Russian print media and government in forming and publicizing nationalist sentiment through a content analysis of newspaper coverage of ethnic conflict in Stavropol in 2007. It shows that though the government officially pursues an inclusive multicultural approach (which I call associative nationalism), newspapers owned by Kremlin-loyal business holdings printed quite nationalist and sensationalist versions of the events in question. I argue that this is a passive promotion of a dissociative type of nationalism on the part of the Kremlin, which works against its stated purposes of bringing together all those in the Russian territory into a united national identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes in the use of virtual reality when used to induce full-body ownership in violent offenders in order to elicit empathetic feelings by allowing them to embody the virtual body of a victim of domestic abuse. The authors explore potentially harmful effects to individuals participating in this kind of therapy and question whether consent is fully informed. The paper concludes with guidelines for ethical research and rehabilitation using this innovative technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introducing our Special Issue on marginalisation, this paper considers some of the challenges that this topic poses for legal scholars. The paper identifies that these challenges arise principally from the ambivalence of 'marginalisation' itself: at once an idea so broad that it arguably underpins the bulk of legal research (and socio-legal research in particular), but at the same time an idea that in practice too often quickly gives way to various other neighbouring ones: disadvantage, discrimination, disempowerment, exclusion, inequality, silencing, stigmatisation, victimisation and so on. This paper considers this ambivalence and traces etymological roots (and routes) by which we understand the margin, the marginalised and marginalisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the effect of shared group membership on civilian attitudes regarding insurgent forces during an armed conflict. We rely on the original survey conducted in eight towns of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts in May–June 2015. Based on the bivariate and multivariate analysis of the survey results, this article finds that a sense of shared identity with rebel forces at the start of the armed conflict in Donbas had a strong independent effect on civilian views of insurgents. Those respondents who identified themselves as residents of the region were more likely to attribute ideational motives to insurgents, report no knowledge of civilian victimization caused by rebel forces, and feel secure in their presence. By contrast, respondents identifying themselves as Ukrainian citizens were more likely to attribute material motives to insurgents, indicate their responsibility for attacks against civilians, and feel intimidated during direct encounters with rebels. These findings point to broader significance of identity cleavages in explaining the Donbas conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is an ongoing debate amongst hate crime scholars about the categories of victims that should be included within hate crime legislation. Some commentators argue that affording protection to groups based on predefined characteristics results in many victims being excluded from the legislation. They would prefer a more inclusive approach that would offer protection to a potentially limitless number of groups. This paper considers the question from a doctrinal perspective, and argues that a principled way of deciding the characteristics of hate crime is required. It will conclude that the core concern of hate crime legislation is with the furthering of the broader equality agenda and, as such, the victims of hate crime should form an exclusive group based on those characteristics protected under equality legislation. This approach can help provide a theoretical framework for hate crime legislation that can be more easily accommodated within criminal law principles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study two PDEs that generalize the urban crime model proposed by Short et al. (2008 Math. Models Methods Appl. Sci.18, 1249–1267). Our modifications are made under assumption of the spatial heterogeneity of both the near-repeat victimization effect and the dispersal strategy of criminal agents. We investigate pattern formations in the reaction–advection–diffusion systems with non-linear diffusion over multi-dimensional bounded domains subject to homogeneous Neumann boundary conditions. It is shown that the positive homogeneous steady state loses its stability as the intrinsic near-repeat victimization rate ε decreases and spatially inhomogeneous steady states emerge through bifurcation. Moreover, we find the wavemode selection mechanism through rigorous stability analysis of these non-trivial spatial patterns, which shows that the only stable pattern must have a wavenumber that maximizes the bifurcation value. Based on this wavemode selection mechanism, we will be able to predict the formation of stable aggregates of the house attractiveness and criminal population density, at least when the diffusion rate ε is around the principal bifurcation value. Our theoretical results also suggest that large domains support more stable aggregates than small domains. Finally, we perform extensive numerical simulations over 1D intervals and 2D squares to illustrate and verify our theoretical findings. Our numerics also demonstrate the formation of other interesting patterns in these models such as the merging of two interior spikes and the emerging of new spikes, etc. These non-trivial solutions can model the well-observed phenomenon of aggregation in urban criminal activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since its introduction, Black's (1976) theory of law has generated controversy (e.g., Eder, 1977; Stinchcombe, 1977), but few empirical evaluations. The most recent test (Gottfredson and Hindelang, 1979a) identified a number of empirical inadequacies and posited an alternative model to correct them.. This paper assesses both Black's and Gottfredson-Hindelang's models of Law, choosing as the arena of evaluation criminal law and its behavior. Analysis of data from a sample of criminal defendants identifies empirical inadequacies in both theories and raises questions about their validity, predictive power, and generality. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of these findings for the substance and underlying assumptions of both theories of law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Little information is available on the association between gender nonconformity during adolescence and subsequent mental health. While the distress related to gender nonconformity may be socially produced rather than attributed to individual-level factors, further research is needed to better understand the role of psychosocial factors in this context. Method: We analyzed data from the Tokyo Teen Cohort, obtained through random sampling of adolescents born between 2002 and 2004. We used inverse probability weighting to examine the association of gender nonconformity at ages 12 and 14 as a time-varying variable with subsequent mental health at age 16, while accounting for time-fixed and time-varying confounders. Furthermore, we used a weighting approach to investigate the mediating role of modifiable psychosocial factors in this association, addressing exposure-mediator and mediator–mediator interactions. Results: A total of 3171 participants were analyzed. Persistent gender nonconforming behavior at ages 12 and 14 was associated with subsequent depression (β = 2.02, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.85 to 3.19) and psychotic experiences (β = 0.33, 95% CI 0.14 to 0.52) at age 16. The results remained robust in sensitivity analyses. Approximately 30% of the association between gender nonconformity and depression was consistently mediated by a set of psychosocial factors, namely loneliness, bullying victimization, and relationships with mother, father, and friends. Conclusions: Persistent gender nonconformity during adolescence is associated with subsequent mental health. Psychosocial factors play a vital mediating role in this association, highlighting the essential need for social intervention and change to reduce stigmatization and ameliorate mental health challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research shows that violence is an important factor driving ethnic identification and grievances, but most works that explore micro-level effects focus on specific cases and have limited external validity. This article looks at the individual-level consequences of civilian victimization in a large sample across Africa. Combining georeferenced survey data from several rounds of the Afrobarometer, victimization events from the UCDP-GED, and data on collective targeting from the ethnic one-sided violence dataset, it studies the effect of exposure to violence on ethnic identification and self-reported ethnic grievances. Results show that violence increases ethnic identification and ethnic grievances particularly when it is committed by state forces and among individuals who belong to an ethnic group that was collectively targeted in the past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the possible advantages of introducing victim impact statements (VIS) in German criminal trials and its potential risks for defendants' rights. It describes VIS schemes in Australian jurisdictions and the structure of the German inquisitorial system that generally permits victim participation at trial to a greater extent than the structure of the adversarial system. It also discusses factors to consider before introducing a VIS scheme in Germany.

Background: Drug-facilitated sexual assault (DFSA) has emerged as a distinct category of sexual victimization and precipitates posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Few studies have examined the distinct psychological aspects of PTSD caused by DFSA. Gauntlett-Gilbert, Keegan and Petrak (2004) represent a notable exception and draw on cases, from their clinical experience, treated using Ehlers and Clarks' (2000) cognitive therapy (CT). Aims: This paper aims to further develop and refine clinical knowledge on CT for PTSD arising from DFSA and advance the findings of Gauntlett-Gilbert et al. (2004). Method: Systematic case based research was used to investigate the applicability of CT for PTSD related to DFSA. Three survivors were treated with CT within the South African context. Results: The case series corroborated existing findings but also documented the presence of somatic and visual intrusions among survivors with partial or complete amnesia for rape and illustrated the utility of imagery interventions in targeting intrusions. The study highlighted the role of physical paralysis in DFSA in compounding helplessness/powerlessness and the necessity of enhancing physical agency and building social support. Conclusion: Distinctive aspects of PTSD related to DFSA can be effectively treated by adapting CT to suit this population group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper stresses the need for a concise, non-polemical definition of criminology and offers one that emphasizes its empirical, non-speculative and non-normative nature and that restricts its subject-matter. The paper asserts that attempts to broaden the scope of criminology and to stretch its subject-matter have been detrimental to the discipline. They have led criminology astray. It argues therefore for a retrenchment and calls on criminology to make territorial concessions and to restrict its field of research to the pursuit of scientific knowledge about crime, offenders and victims. In line with this, the paper calls for separating criminology from the normative/dogmatic discipline of criminal law, from the political/ideological field of criminal policy and from the professional areas of criminal justice that are simply users of criminological knowledge. The paper argues that there is no logic, rationale or compelling reason dictating that the study of social reaction to crime, the study of making, unmaking and remaking the laws, be part and parcel of the empirical, non-normative science of criminology. It argues that there is no sound rationale for considering distinct disciplines such as penology or the sociology of punishment as branches of criminology. One of the questions it asks is "why should a practical, legal exercise like sentencing be part of a science of crime?" The call for criminology to detach itself from criminal policy and to devote itself to the scientific pursuit of knowledge about crime, offenders and victims logically leads to questioning current attempts to divorce victimology from criminology and to claim it to be an autonomous discipline it its own right. The paper laments the fact that in their missionary zeal victim advocates have killed any hope for victimology to develop into a truly scientific, objective, non-partisan discipline. They navigated it towards becoming a branch of social work. Since social work is not a science but a profession, the only hope for victimology to reclaim the status of a scientific discipline is to detach itself from victim policy and to revert to its original position as an integral branch of criminology. Following this, the paper calls attention to the basic differences between "sciences" and "professional disciplines". Criminology, it maintains, is a social/behavioral science. Criminal justice, policing, corrections, probation and parole supervision, after-care are not sciences. They are professions. The relationship of criminal justice to criminology is not dissimilar to that between nursing and medicine. Though related in some ways, they are distinct. Criminal justice is concerned with the "HOW" questions. Criminology's main preoccupation is with the "WHY" questions. The distinction between criminology as a social/ behavioral science and criminal justice as a profession and the need to teach them in separate settings, with different curricula, has long been recognized and is the dominant model in North America. There are university departments of criminology that have a theoretical and research focus and there are schools (or programs) of criminal justice as well as police colleges that have applied, practical, vocational and technological orientations. The paper then examines at length the fundamental differences between the social/behavioral science of criminology and the normative/ dogmatic discipline of criminal law. It stresses the autonomy of criminology and refutes the popular, yet fallacious argument that criminology's subject-matter is determined and circumscribed by the criminal law. It goes on to show why teaching criminology and criminal law under the same roof and within the same administrative structure is detrimental to the development and advancement of criminology.… [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In England and Wales, rape complainants currently receive little by way of pre-trial support and preparation. This stands in sharp contrast to prosecutorial practice in the USA where prosecutors meet with complainants prior to trial with the specific aim of preparing them for the unfamiliar process of testifying in criminal proceedings. This paper considers the case for adopting similar arrangements in rape cases in England and Wales. This is assessed primarily from an evidentiary perspective although due consideration is also given to the need to protect vulnerable complainants from the risk of secondary victimisation within the criminal trial process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper utilizes a national longitudinal probability sample of children to demonstrate how important exposure to multiple forms of victimization (polyvictimization) is in accounting for increases in children's symptomatic behavior. The study is based on two annual waves of the Developmental Victimization Survey that began with a nationally representative sample of children and youth ages 2 to 17. A broad range of victimization experiences were assessed using the 34-item Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire. Eighteen percent of the children experienced four or more different kinds of victimization (polyvictims) in the most recent year. Polyvictimization in the most recent year was highly predictive of trauma symptoms at the end of the year, controlling for prior victimization and prior mental health status. When polyvictimization was taken into account, it greatly reduced or eliminated the association between most other individual victimizations and symptomatology scores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since most crimes investigated by police result from notification by victims, crime victims can be viewed as the gatekeepers of the criminal justice system. This paper describes the results of a series of studies which employed multiple methodologies to investigate the decisions of property crime victims to notify the police. The four methods used in this research included (a) an archival analysis of police records, (b) interviews with crime victims, (c) simulation studies using college students, and (CI) experiments In a field laboratory. Two convergent findings emerged from the data. Social influence was found to be an important determinant of both the decision to call the police and the delay in such notification. If others advised the victim to call the police, the crime was more likely to be reported, but, ironically, the greater the number of people consulted, the longer the delay in reporting the crime. The second convergent finding was that situational factors played a stronger role in affecting delay in notification than did characteristics of the victim. Situational factors Included the type of crime and the time of day when it was discovered, as well as the number of others talked to and the type of advice received from them. Several divergent findings across methods raised questions about the relative adequacy of each method for the problems being investigated, and helped identify sources of similarities and differences in the conceptual and operational definitions employed [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Little is known about the childhood antecedents and adult correlates of adolescent dual-harm (i.e. co-occurring self- and other-harm). We examine the longitudinal associations between (a) social and psychological risk factors in childhood and adolescent dual-harm and (b) adolescent dual-harm and social and mental health impairments in early adulthood. Methods: Participants (N = 1482) are from a prospective longitudinal community-representative study. Dual-, self-, and other-harm were self-reported at ages 13, 15, and 17. Social and psychological risk factors in childhood were assessed between 7 and 11; early adult correlates at age 20. Groups with dual-harm, self-harm only, other-harm only, and no harm were compared. Results: Between 13 and 17, 7.2% of adolescents reported dual-harm (self-harm only: 16.2%; other-harm only: 13.3%). Some childhood risk factors (e.g. sensation-seeking, parental divorce, victimization by peers) characterized all harm groups; others were common to the dual- and self-harm (anxiety/depressive symptoms, relational aggression) or dual- and other-harm groups only (low self-control, substance use, delinquency). Adolescents with dual-harm had reported more physical aggression and harsh parenting, and lower school bonding in childhood than any other group. In early adulthood, they reported more anxiety/depressive symptoms, psychopathy symptoms, homicidal ideations, delinquency, and victimization experiences than any other group. Conclusions: Adolescent dual-harm follows psychological problems and social disconnection in childhood and signals risk of psychopathology and isolation in early adulthood. To curb the burden from dual-harm, interventions must target adolescents, families, peer networks, and school environments. Differentiating youth with dual-harm from those with single-harm is important for developing personalized treatments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Peer victimization is associated with a wide range of mental health problems in youth, yet few studies described its association with mental health comorbidities. Methods: To test the association between peer victimization timing and intensity and mental health comorbidities, we used data from 1216 participants drawn from the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development, a population-based birth cohort. Peer victimization was self-reported at ages 6–17 years, and modeled as four trajectory groups: low, childhood-limited, moderate adolescence-emerging, and high-chronic. The outcomes were the number and the type of co-occurring self-reported mental health problems at age 20 years. Associations were estimated using negative binomial and multinomial logistic regression models and adjusted for parent, family, and child characteristics using propensity score inverse probability weights. Results: Youth in all peer victimization groups had higher rates of co-occurring mental health problems and higher likelihood of comorbid internalizing-externalizing problems [odds ratios ranged from 2.06, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.52–2.79 for childhood-limited to 4.34, 95% CI 3.15–5.98 for high-chronic victimization] compared to those in the low victimization group. The strength of these associations was highest for the high-chronic group, followed by moderate adolescence-emerging and childhood-limited groups. All groups also presented higher likelihood of internalizing-only problems relative to the low peer victimization group. Conclusions: Irrespective of timing and intensity, self-reported peer victimization was associated with mental health comorbidities in young adulthood, with the strongest associations observed for high-chronic peer victimization. Tackling peer victimization, especially when persistent over time, could play a role in reducing severe and complex mental health problems in youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Oral histories from 9/11 responders to the World Trade Center (WTC) attacks provide rich narratives about distress and resilience. Artificial Intelligence (AI) models promise to detect psychopathology in natural language, but they have been evaluated primarily in non-clinical settings using social media. This study sought to test the ability of AI-based language assessments to predict PTSD symptom trajectories among responders. Methods: Participants were 124 responders whose health was monitored at the Stony Brook WTC Health and Wellness Program who completed oral history interviews about their initial WTC experiences. PTSD symptom severity was measured longitudinally using the PTSD Checklist (PCL) for up to 7 years post-interview. AI-based indicators were computed for depression, anxiety, neuroticism, and extraversion along with dictionary-based measures of linguistic and interpersonal style. Linear regression and multilevel models estimated associations of AI indicators with concurrent and subsequent PTSD symptom severity (significance adjusted by false discovery rate). Results: Cross-sectionally, greater depressive language (β = 0.32; p = 0.049) and first-person singular usage (β = 0.31; p = 0.049) were associated with increased symptom severity. Longitudinally, anxious language predicted future worsening in PCL scores (β = 0.30; p = 0.049), whereas first-person plural usage (β = −0.36; p = 0.014) and longer words usage (β = −0.35; p = 0.014) predicted improvement. Conclusions: This is the first study to demonstrate the value of AI in understanding PTSD in a vulnerable population. Future studies should extend this application to other trauma exposures and to other demographic groups, especially under-represented minorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the relationship between personal experience with intimate partner violence (IPV) and political attitudes. I argue that by adopting salient legislation on violence against women, the state enables survivors to evaluate government performance on the basis of their ability to access resources for victims. As such, when survivors are unable to reach specialized public services, they might downgrade their evaluations of government performance. Focusing on Brazil and using survey data and qualitative interviews, this study finds that IPV survivors who have not used specialized services hold more negative views of government performance compared to nonvictims. Further analysis, including a series of placebo tests, lends additional support to the main results. This study has an intersectional component, as it also examines the relationship between race and access to services. These findings have implications for victims' democratic rights and access to justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study tested the independent effects and interactions of sympathetic nervous system reactivity and hostile attribution biases (HAB) in predicting change in pure and co-occurring relational bullying and victimization experiences over one year. Co-occurring and pure relational bullying and victimization experiences were measured using a dimensional bifactor model, aiming to address methodological limitations of categorical approaches, using data from 300 preschoolers (Mage = 44.70 months, SD = 4.38). Factor scores were then saved and used in nested path analyses with a subset of participants (n = 81) to test main study hypotheses regarding effects of HAB and skin conductance level reactivity (SCL-R). Bifactor models provided good fit to the data at two independent time points. HAB and SCL-R interacted to predict increases in co-occurring relational bullying/victimization with evidence for over- and underarousal pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relation between peer victimization and depressive symptoms is complex, requiring the use of methodologically rigorous designs to examine these relations and potential mediating factors. The current study used a random intercepts cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM) to investigate both between-person and within-person associations in peer victimization, depressive symptoms, and family cohesion across five waves in a sample of adolescents (N = 801, ages 13–15 years at recruitment) in the Northeast. We also investigated the moderating effects of sex and victimization status (i.e., bullying victimization vs. peer victimization). Overall, findings revealed a reciprocal relation between peer victimization and depressive symptoms for females, but no relation for males. A reciprocal relation between peer victimization and family cohesion was found for males. No significant differences were found by victimization status. Future research on peer victimization and associated outcomes and the role of family should account for both between-person and within-person variance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the implications of recent research findings that establish that older victims of crime are less likely to obtain procedural justice than other age groups. It explores original empirical data from the United Kingdom that finds evidence of a systemic failure amongst agencies to identify vulnerability in the older population and to put in place appropriate support mechanisms to allow older victims to participate fully in the justice system. The article discusses how the legally defined gateways to additional support, which are currently relied upon by many common law jurisdictions, disadvantage older victims and require reimagining. It argues that international protocols, especially the current European Union Directive on victims' rights, are valuable guides in this process of re-conceptualisation. To reduce further the inequitable treatment of older victims, the article advocates for jurisdictions to introduce a presumption in favour of special assistance for older people participating in the justice system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines women's attitude towards intimate partner violence among 331 Bangladeshi women in five selected disadvantaged areas of Dhaka city. This study used a shorter version of the Inventory of Beliefs about Wife Beating (IBWB) to measure women's attitude towards intimate partner violence. The results revealed that the mean score on the wife-beating scale of 15 items was 7.81 (SD=4.893). Significant amounts of the variance (42.9%) in women's attitude towards intimate partner violence can be attributed to respondent's education (B=−0.60, p<0.001), husband's education (B=−1.251, p<0.01), exposure to mass media (B=−1.251, p<0.01), respondent's current age (B=0.081, p<0.05), age at marriage (B=0.215, p<0.01), intimate partner violence victimization within the last 12 months (B=−1.533, p<0.001) and women receiving micro-credit (small-scale loan or financial assistance) (B= −2.214, p<0.001). The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of the findings. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The purpose of this paper is to examine the seriousness of the problems of sex crime victims, and to clarify the nature of sex crimes which were reported to the police between October 1997 and January 1998 throughout Japan through a questionnaire survey. The samples of this study were 204 female victims aged 18 and over of sex crimes which were reported to the police. The survey revealed empirical analysis on them; Most of the subjects replied they felt terrible threatening, some of them felt threatening of death when they were victimized and they tried to resist offenders' attack only to fail. Though more than a month passed since incidence occurred, they experienced flashback, invasion to memory, nightmare, avoidance of related stimuli and hyper vigilance. Additional samples of 703 incidents and 553 offenders were also analyzed simultaneously. The offenders confessed they chose the victim because victims looked tractable and not to report to their victimization to the police not because of sexy dress. Some ideas for innovation of reducing the damages of victimization were proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What are the consequences of being the victim of crime for political participation? Previous studies report mixed results with respect to voter turnout, in contrast to the positive effects found for other indicators of political engagement. However, previous turnout studies have failed to differentiate between violent and non-violent crime, and have relied on cross-sectional survey data that is prone to measurement biases and selection effects. This article addresses these shortcomings via a panel analysis of official registry data from Denmark recording individual-level turnout in two municipal elections (in 2009 and 2013) and victimization from violent and non-violent crime. It identifies the effect of victimization by comparing changes in turnout between the two elections for victims and two different counterfactual groups: non-victims in the general population, and individuals who were victimized after the 2013 election. The results show that victimization from violent crime increases turnout by 2 to 3 percentage points. The study further demonstrates a large negative between-individual effect of victimization, suggesting that previous studies have been marred by severe selection bias. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The links between sexual harassment victimization and aspects of psychopathology are well-established in adolescent research, but whether sexual harassment victimization undermines positive aspects of psychological health and the moderating role of relational support in the link between sexual harassment victimization and psychological ill-health remains unknown. Using a cross-lagged model, we examined (a) the bidirectional and longitudinal links between sexual harassment victimization and adolescent psychological health (emotional problems and well-being) and (b) the moderating role of relational support from parents, teachers, and peers (best friends and classmates) in the link between sexual harassment victimization and adolescent psychological health. We used two waves of self-reported data (separated by 1 year) from 676 Swedish adolescents (50% female; mean age = 13.85 years at the point of first data collection). Controlling for the effects of gender and subjective socioeconomic status, the cross-lagged model revealed that sexual harassment predicted emotional problems positively and well-being negatively. Moreover, well-being predicted sexual harassment negatively. Relational support from classmates moderated the link in the direction from sexual harassment victimization to emotional problems. Relational support did not moderate the link to well-being. The findings provide new and important insights into the role of sexual harassment victimization in adolescent psychological adjustment and potential approaches to intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High levels of crime are a key driver of emigration from Latin America and the Caribbean. But can emigration change public opinion about how best to respond to crime? Focusing on the political economy of remittances—the money migrants send to their families and communities—this study argues that emigration can increase support for violent responses to crime. Migrants' families often spend remittances on investment goods, which makes them more vulnerable to crime and more supportive of violence to protect themselves. An analysis of AmericasBarometer data finds that remittance recipients are more likely both to fear crime and to be victims of crime than nonrecipients. They are also more approving of vigilantism, more tolerant of police bending the law to apprehend criminals, and more supportive of deploying the military in crime fighting. These findings contribute to our knowledge of the consequences of international migration for political development in migrant-sending countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Civil protection orders are one of the most widely used legal interventions for intimate partner violence. Every American state has legislation that allows victims to seek legal remedies through protection orders such as preventing abusers from contacting them, requiring perpetrators to stay away from specific locations, and ordering removal of firearms. However, judges do not grant every petition for a protection order. This study analyzed over 1000 civil protection order cases from Nebraska to identify how factors not prescribed in the legal statute contribute to a determination of whether victims receive protection. The results suggest that victims' gender and the counties in which they file influence victims' chances of obtaining a protection order. Male victims, victims with children with their abuser, and married victims are significantly less likely to receive protection orders, even after controlling for the severity, recency, and type of abuse. Both male and female victims who file their cases in metropolitan counties are more likely to receive protection orders than their nonmetropolitan counterparts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In spite of long‐term declines in the violent victimization of U.S. police officers, the danger of police work continues to structure police socialization, culture, and behavior. Existing research, though attentive to police behavior and deviance that negatively affects the public, analytically ignores how the danger of policing engenders officer behavior that harms police themselves. Drawing on ethnographic observations and interviews in three U.S. police departments, this article describes how police are informally and formally socialized into the danger imperative—a cultural frame that emphasizes violence and the need for officer safety—and its effect on officer behavior. As a result of perception mediated through the danger imperative, officers engage in policy‐compliant and policy‐deviant behaviors to protect themselves from violence. Unfortunately, policy‐deviant behaviors such as unauthorized highspeed driving and not wearing a seatbelt, though justified in the name of safety, lead to catastrophic car accidents that injure and kill both police and members of the public. This article concludes with discussion of how seemingly mundane policy deviant behaviors are a reflection of assumptions within police culture that undergird police practices that damage public wellbeing and perpetuate boarder inequalities in U.S. policing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Victims have become a topic of scholarly debate in conflict studies, especially regarding the impact of their activism on the evolution and termination of violence. Victims of terrorism are now enlisted within counter-terrorism, given their moral authority as spokespeople for counter-narratives and de-escalation. Our research explores how Spanish terrorism victims' associations have evolved across eras of political violence and how they mediate the translation of international War on Terror discourses into Spanish counter-terrorism. We offer a topography of how the War on Terror has opened a 'social front' in Spanish counter-terrorism, with Spanish political elites prominently employing the victims' associations to this end. Contemporary terrorism discourses are read back onto the memory of ETA, with victims' associations assisting the equation of ETA with al-Qaeda and ISIS. Collective memory of the defeat of ETA has also contributed the veneer of 'lessons learned' to contemporary counter-terrorism measures. Our research explores the fluidity of terrorism-memory and the importation of global terrorism discourses into Spanish politics, relying upon interviews with key stakeholders in victims' associations, local politics, and the research director of the new Victims of Terrorism Memorial Centre in Vitoria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides an overview of current knowledge about the relationship between mental illness, violence, homicides, and suicides, with a view towards crafting sensible public policy options for reducing gun violence towards self or others. With this knowledge as a backdrop, the limitations of the federal National Instant Background Check System (NICS) as both over-inclusive and under-inclusive in identifying people with mental illness who pose potential risks are discussed. Finally, the article describes emerging approaches for identifying and removing firearms from persons who pose potential risks of gun violence towards self or others, including Extreme Risk Protection Orders ("Red Flag Laws") and other options. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Can crime victimization increase support for iron-fist crime-reduction policies? It is difficult to assess the political effects of crime, mainly because of the presence of unmeasured confounders. This study uses panel data from Brazil and strategies for reducing sensitivity to hidden biases to study how crime victims update their policy preferences. It also examines survey data from eighteen Latin American countries to improve the external validity of the findings. The results show that crime victims are more likely to support iron-fist or strong-arm measures to reduce crime, such as allowing state repression. Affected citizens are also found to value democracy less, which might explain their willingness to accept the erosion of basic rights in favor of radical measures to combat delinquency. These findings reveal that exposure to crime can change what people think the state should be allowed to do, which can have important political implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Social support has been shown to be associated with a reduced likelihood of developing psychotic experiences in the general population and even amongst those at high risk due to exposure to multiple forms of victimisation (poly-victimised). However, it is unclear whether this association is merely due to the confounding effects of shared environmental and genetic influences, or reverse causality. Therefore, we investigated whether social support has a unique environmentally mediated effect on adolescent psychotic experiences after accounting for familial factors, including genetic factors, and also prior psychopathology. Methods: Participants were from the Environmental Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study, a nationally-representative cohort of 2232 UK-born twins. Adolescents were interviewed at age 18 about psychotic experiences and victimisation exposure since age 12, and their perceptions of social support. Prior childhood mental health problems and psychotic symptoms were assessed at age 12. The discordant twin method was used to disentangle the relative family-wide and unique-environmental effects of social support on psychotic experiences in the general population and among poly-victimised adolescents. Results: Perceived social support, particularly from friends, was found to have a unique environmentally mediated buffering effect on adolescent psychotic experiences in the whole sample and in the high-risk poly-victimised group. Conclusions: The protective effects of social support on adolescent psychotic experiences cannot be accounted for by shared environmental or genetic factors, nor by earlier psychopathology. Our findings suggest that early intervention programmes focused on increasing perceptions of social support have the potential to prevent the emergence of psychotic experiences amongst adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study uses an intersectional approach to examine the "paradox" that disadvantaged victims often mobilize the police, despite their distrust and lack of confidence in the law. Data from the National Crime Victimization Survey (1994–2016) were analyzed using logistic regression to model the predicted probabilities of police notification by victims of crime. Economic disadvantage, as measured by family poverty and lack of a high school education, increased the probability that females reported their victimization to the police, but decreased the likelihood that males did so. Economically disadvantaged black females had the highest probability of reporting, while economically disadvantaged black and Hispanic males had the lowest. Examining the intersectional differences across social groups shows that reporting behavior is not just a function of one attribute but rather is a function of multiple identities and structural inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background False allegations of victimisation although uncommon are important to recognise. This paper examines those who falsely claim to have been the victims of stalking. Aims To highlight the phenomenon of false victims of stalking. Method Twelve individuals who falsely claimed to be victims of stalking were compared with a group of 100 true stalking victims. Results False stalking victims presented for help earlier than real victims and were less likely to claim harassment via letters. They reported equivalent levels of violence directed at themselves but seldom claimed others were attacked. Five types of false claimants were recognisable. False victims consumed more medical services than genuine stalking victims and they were more likely to be embroiled in legal action. They reported similar levels of distress with suicidal ruminations in over 40%. Conclusions The current interest in stalking is promoting false claims of being stalked. Early identification of these cases and appropriate intervention are essential to both minimising abuses of resources available to true victims and equally to ensure appropriate care for those who express their own disordered state in false claims of victimisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Outpatient civil commitment (OCC) provisions, community treatment orders (CTOs) in Australia and Commonwealth nations, are part of mental health law worldwide. This study considers whether and by what means OCC provides statutorily required "needed-treatment" addressing two aspects of its legal mandate to protect the safety of self (exclusive of deliberate-self-harm) and others. Method Over a 12.4-year period, records of hospitalized-psychiatric-patients, 11,424 with CTO-assignment and 16,161 without CTO-assignment were linked to police-records. Imminent-safety-threats included perpetrations and victimizations by homicides, rapes, assaults/abductions, and robberies. "Need for treatment" determinations were validated independently by Health of the Nations Scale (HoNOS) severity-score-profiles. Logistic regressions, with propensity-score- adjustment and control for 46 potential confounding-factors, were used to evaluate the association of CTO-assignment with occurrence-risk of perpetrations and victimizations. Results CTO-assignment was associated with reduced safety-risk: 17% in initial-perpetrations, 11% in initial-victimizations, and 22% for repeat-perpetrations. Each ten-community-treatment-days in interaction with CTO-assignment was associated with a 3.4% reduced-perpetration-risk. CTO-initiated-re-hospitalization was associated with a 13% reduced-initial-perpetration-risk, a 17% reduced-initial-victimization-risk, and a 22% reduced-repeat-victimization-risk. All risk-estimates appear to be the unique contributions of the CTO, CTO-initiated-re-hospitalization, or the provision of ten-community-treatment-days—i.e. after accounting for the influence of prior crimes and victimizations, ethnic-bias, neighborhood disadvantage and other between-group differences in the analysis. Conclusions CTO assignment's association with reduced criminal-victimization and perpetration-risk, in conjunction with requiring participation in needed-treatment via re-hospitalization and community-service, adds support to the conclusion that OCC is to some extent fulfilling its legal objectives related to protecting safety of self (exclusive of deliberate-self-harm), and others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A growing body of research explores the influence of involuntary criminal justice contact on political participation, demonstrating that all types of contact weaken political participation. We posit, however, that personal connections to civil society organizations (CSOs) moderate the negative effects of involuntary criminal justice contact on political participation, particularly political activism beyond registering to vote and voting. We test this proposition with individual-level and aggregate-level data from metropolitan and municipal Chicago. Our findings confirm a paradox of participation by custodial citizens. One, we demonstrate positive, statistically significant, and substantive effects of personal connections to CSOs on nonvoting political participation by custodial citizens. Two, the negative effects of involuntary criminal justice contact on voting participation among individuals and communities may endure, despite personal connections to CSOs, even in a state where the franchise is restored immediately after incarceration. Our study suggests that an associational account of political participation deepens our understanding of the political behavior of custodial citizens and their communities in the age of mass incarceration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This ethnographic study of criminal sexual assault adjudication shows how prosecutors, defense attorneys, and witnesses animate text message evidence. In contrast to other forms of courtroom testimony, text messages function as multiauthored representations of recorded correspondence in the past. Attorneys and witnesses animate texts authored by or said to characterize persons represented at trial. By whom and how the texts are animated shapes trial processes. Through a detailed comparative case analysis of two Milwaukee, WI, sexual assault trials, this article attends to the process by which text messages are said to personify or characterize authors’ meaning and intent. This animation of electronically transmitted text speaks to credibility and variably emphasizes a witness's place within gendered and racialized cultural norms. Rather than unsettling the trope of “he said, she said,” text messages become contested evidence animated by court actors within contexts of long‐standing cultural narratives of sexual victimization and offending. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses how people who become caught up in the criminal justice system in the U.S. are impacted by politics.

BackgroundThe public health, public safety and clinical implications of violent events among adults with mental illness are significant; however, the causes and consequences of violence and victimization among adults with mental illness are complex and not well understood, which limits the effectiveness of clinical interventions and risk management strategies. This study examined interrelationships between violence, victimization, psychiatric symptoms, substance use, homelessness and in-patient treatment over time.MethodAvailable data were integrated from four longitudinal studies of adults with mental illness. Assessments took place at baseline, and at 1, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 24, 30 and 36 months, depending on the parent studies’ protocol. Data were analysed with the autoregressive cross-lag model.ResultsViolence and victimization were leading indicators of each other and affective symptoms were a leading indicator of both. Drug and alcohol use were leading indicators of violence and victimization, respectively. All psychiatric symptom clusters – affective, positive, negative, disorganized cognitive processing – increased the likelihood of experiencing at least one subsequent symptom cluster. Sensitivity analyses identified few group-based differences in the magnitude of effects in this heterogeneous sample.ConclusionsViolent events demonstrated unique and shared indicators and consequences over time. Findings indicate mechanisms for reducing violent events, including trauma-informed therapy, targeting internalizing and externalizing affective symptoms with cognitive–behavioral and psychopharmacological interventions, and integrating substance use and psychiatric care. Finally, mental illness and violence and victimization research should move beyond demonstrating concomitant relationships and instead focus on lagged effects with improved spatio-temporal contiguity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of African Studies Review 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.)

In 1867, the Government of India passed one of the most brutal-minded and draconian laws ever created in colonial India. Known as the ‘Murderous Outrages Act’, this law gave colonial officials along the North-West Frontier wide powers to transgress India's legal codes in order to summarily execute and dispose of individuals identified as ‘fanatics’. Arguments for the creation and preservation of this law invariably centred around claims about the purportedly ‘exceptional’ character of frontier governance, particularly the idea that this was a region that existed in a perpetual state of war and crisis. Far from being peripheral in its impact, this article explores how this law both drew upon and enabled a wider legal culture that pervaded India in the wake of 1857. It argues that this law was a signal example of British attempts to mask the brute power of executive authority through legalistic terms, and was also evocative of a distinctly ‘warlike’ logic of colonial legality. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Backgound: Limited data suggest that crime may have a devastating impact on older people. Although identification and treatment may be beneficial, no well-designed studies have investigated the prevalence of mental disorder and the potential benefits of individual manualized CBT in older victims of crime. Aims: To identify mental health problems in older victims of common crime, provide preliminary data on its prevalence, and conduct a feasibility randomized controlled trial (RCT) using mixed methods. Method: Older victims, identified through police teams, were screened for symptoms of anxiety, depression or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) one (n = 581) and 3 months (n = 486) after experiencing a crime. Screen positive participants were offered diagnostic interviews. Of these, 26 participants with DSM-IV diagnoses agreed to be randomized to Treatment As Usual (TAU) or TAU plus our manualized CBT informed Victim Improvement Package (VIP). The latter provided feedback on the VIP. Results: Recruitment, assessment and intervention are feasible and acceptable. At 3 months 120/486 screened as cases, 33 had DSM-IV criteria for a psychiatric disorder; 26 agreed to be randomized to a pilot trial. There were trends in favour of the VIP in all measures except PTSD at 6 months post crime. Conclusions: This feasibility RCT is the first step towards improving the lives of older victims of common crime. Without intervention, distress at 3 and 6 months after a crime remains high. However, the well-received VIP appeared promising for depressive and anxiety symptoms, but possibly not posttraumatic stress disorder. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: Patients with a severe mental illness (SMI) are more likely to experience victimisation than the general population.Aims: To examine the prevalence of victimisation in people with SMI, and the relationship between symptoms, treatment facility and indices of substance use/misuse and perpetration, in comparison with the general population.Method: Victimisation was assessed among both randomly selected patients with SMI (n = 216) and the general population (n = 10 865).Results: Compared with the general population, a high prevalence of violent victimisation was found among the SMI group (22.7% v. 8.5%). Compared with out-patients and patients in a sheltered housing facility, in-patients were most often victimised (violent crimes: 35.3%; property crimes: 47.1%). Risk factors among the SMI group for violent victimisation included young age and disorganisation, and risk factors for property crimes included being an in-patient, disorganisation and cannabis use. The SMI group were most often assaulted by someone they knew.Conclusions: Caregivers should be aware that patients with SMI are at risk of violent victimisation. Interventions need to be developed to reduce this vulnerability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BackgroundWe aimed to test whether childhood bullying victimization increases risk for age-related disease at mid-life using biological markers including inflammation and adiposity, independent of other childhood risk factors and key adult variables.MethodThe present study was a 50-year prospective longitudinal birth cohort study of all births in Britain in 1 week in 1958. Exposure to bullying was assessed prospectively when participants were aged 7 and 11 years (27.7% occasionally bullied; 14.6% frequently bullied). Blood inflammation biomarkers [C-reactive protein (CRP) and fibrinogen] and adiposity [body mass index (BMI) and waist:hip ratio] were measured at age 45 years.ResultsParticipants who had been frequently bullied in childhood showed increased levels of CRP at mid-life [β = 0.07, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.04–0.10] and higher risk for clinically relevant inflammation cut-off [CRP > 3 mg/l: 20.4% v. 15.9%, odds ratio (OR) = 1.35, 95% CI 1.12–1.64]. Women who were bullied in childhood had higher BMI than non-bullied participants and were at increased risk of being obese (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2: occasionally bullied: 26.0% v. 19.4%, OR = 1.45, 95% CI 1.18–1.77; frequently bullied: 26.2% v. 19.4%, OR = 1.41, 95% CI 1.09–1.83). Findings remained significant when controlling for childhood risk factors (e.g. parental social class; participants’ BMI and psychopathology in childhood) and key adult variables (e.g. adult social class, smoking, diet and exercise).ConclusionsBullied children show increases in risk factors for age-related disease in middle adulthood, independent of co-occurring childhood and adult risks. Given the high prevalence of bullying victimization in childhood, tackling this form of psychosocial stress early in life has the potential of reducing risk for age-related disease and its associated burden. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of African Studies Review 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.)

Zeroing in on private garden plots, the article discusses the manner in which Germans portrayed themselves in relation to displaced persons (DPs) – former foreign workers, Allied prisoners-of-war (POWs), and concentration camp inmates – in immediate post-Second World War Hanover. Challenging the notion that a coherent narrative of German victimization truly emerged only in the 1950s, the article reveals how German gardeners already articulated loudly a discourse through which they sought to depict themselves as decent, hard-working sufferers, while portraying displaced persons as immoral and dangerous perpetrators. The plots of garden owners, as foci of German yearnings for Heimat, came particularly under threat. Germans cherished such sites, not only because they provided the opportunity for procuring additional sustenance amidst a post-war world of scarcity, but because they symbolized longings to inhabit a peaceful, productive, and beautiful space into which the most turbulent history could not enter, and upon which a stable future could be constructed. Only with the removal of DPs could Germans claim for themselves the status of victims, while branding DPs perpetrators, and reaffirm past patterns of superiority and inferiority in both ethical and racial terms. In so doing, Germans could realize the innocence integral for achieving Heimat and establish democratic stability after 1945. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Urban ethnic minority youth are often exposed to high levels of aggression and violence. As such, many aggression intervention programs that have been designed with suburban nonethnic minority youth have been used or slightly adapted in order to try and meet the needs of high-risk urban youth. The current study contributes to the literature base by examining how well a range of social–cognitive, emotional distress and victimization, and prosocial factors are related to youth aggression in a sample of urban youth. This study utilized data gathered from 109 9- to 15-year-old youth (36.7% male; 84.4% African American) and their parents or caregivers. A series of hierarchical multiple regressions were fit predicting youth aggression from social–cognitive variables, victimization and distress, and prosocial variables, controlling for youth gender and age. Each set of variables explained a significant and unique amount of the variance in youth aggressive behavior. The full model including all predictors accounted for 41% of the variance in aggression. Models suggest that youth with stronger beliefs supportive of violence, youth who experience more overt victimization, and youth who experience greater distress in overtly aggressive situations are likely to be more aggressive. In contrast, youth with higher self-esteem and youth who endorse greater leadership efficacy are likely to be less aggressive. Contrary to hypotheses, hostile attributional bias and knowledge of social information processing, experience of relational victimization, distress in relationally aggressive situations, and community engagement were not associated with aggression. Our study is one of the first to address these important questions for low-income, predominately ethnic minority urban youth, and it has clear implications for adapting aggression prevention programs to be culturally sensitive for urban African American youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although there is considerable evidence that relational victimization is associated with depressive symptoms in youth, our understanding about the mechanisms by which victimization and depressive symptoms are linked is limited. The current study explored ruminating about victimization experiences as a potential mechanism that might contribute to an understanding of the association between relational victimization and depressive symptoms. We also tested the specificity of the proposed models by controlling for and testing parallel models of a highly related behavior: relational aggression. A sample of 499 adolescents from sixth through eighth grades participated. Teacher reports were used to assess relational victimization and relational aggression. Self-reports were used to assess depressive symptoms and rumination. The results showed that rumination partially mediated the association between relational victimization and depressive symptoms. No moderation effect was found. In contrast, rumination moderated the association between relational aggression and depressive symptoms. Specifically, relational aggression was associated with depressive symptoms for those adolescents who were also ruminators. Thus, ruminating about victimization experiences appears to be an important mechanism that functions differently for relational aggression and relational victimization in conferring risk for depressive symptoms. The findings offer important practical implications for those working with adolescents and also lay the groundwork for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]