Search

Objectives: There is a rich body of research on how and why victims report crime to police, but little is known about the crime reporting process itself. This paper explores the relationship between victim satisfaction with the police after reporting crime and the various reporting channels victims used, as well as the subsequent police response. Methods: We capitalize on a large-scale nationwide survey among victims in the Netherlands (N = 25,760). Using linear regression, we test how victim satisfaction with the police relates to the reporting channel used, follow-up contact by the police, and action taken by the police while controlling for type of crime, its impact on victims, their needs and their sociodemographic characteristics. Results: The model explains 38% of the variance in victim satisfaction. The crime reporting channel and subsequent police response to crime reports show largest effects. When victims had in-person conversations with the police, the police reported back to them, and took further action, victims were most satisfied. Conclusions: This study shows the importance of how police operate during and after victims report a crime for their satisfaction with police. The results suggest that police may be able to positively affect victim satisfaction by taking relatively simple measures. More research is needed to test this hypothesis using (quasi)experimental designs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary accounts of the concept of exploitation can be grouped into camps that tie the wrongness of taking advantage of another person to: (1) the unfair division of benefits resulting from an interaction; (2) excessive benefits resulting from structural injustice; and (3) a failure of respect for others' humanity. In practice, accounts of exploitation that focus on the fairness of benefits resulting from individual transactions and, to a lesser degree, unjust social and economic institutions have dominated the applied ethics literature using the concept of exploitation. However, fairness-based accounts of exploitation have a difficult time explaining a common dimension of purportedly exploitative cases in the press and academic literature—namely the absolute deprivation of and/or experience of injustice by victims of exploitation. In this paper, I argue that a respect-based account can explain how exploitation arises both from individual interactions and against a backdrop of injustice. Specifically, our connections with one another and social and economic institutions specify the duty of beneficence and political responsibility to promote just institutions. Exploitation takes place when people fail to act on these specified obligations in favor of their own benefit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Another three articles deal with perpetrating cybercrimes or "pseudo-cybercrimes", but their focus is on how these crimes are committed. The third paper bridges research on cybercrime victimization and cybercrime perpetration and provides a glimpse at the state of knowledge about a specific form of cyberviolence. In part because victims of cybercrime are relatively easy to find, considerable research has been conducted on cybervictimization across a variety of cybercrimes. The articles included in this issue reflect three broad areas of cybercrime research: cybercrime victimization, cybercrime perpetration, and techniques and facilitators of cybercrime. [Extracted from the article]

Trafficking in human beings (THB) is a widespread, transnational issue in the European Union (EU). Member states act as source, transit, and destination countries for intra-EU trafficking, in addition to being a major destination region for external THB victims. This study presents a new dataset of THB victims observed in each EU member state per year and by type of exploitation going back as far as 2001 and employs exact matching methods to test the link between different prostitution policies and Roma secondary education attainment rates on observed THB victimization. The paper also builds off previous literature to compare how different legal prostitution models and THB supply factors are expected to influence various types of THB. The results indicate that legalized prostitution and lower educational attainment among the Roma community increase observed THB victimization, especially THB for the purpose of sexual exploitation. The paper does not find that the Swedish model significantly increases or decreases observed THB victimization. In demonstrating how matching methods can be utilized to uncover policy patterns in THB outcomes, this study provides a blueprint for how other hidden phenomena, such as corruption or migration, can be robustly and empirically tested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change and related adaptation strategies have gender-differentiated impacts. This paper reviews how gender is framed in 41 papers on climate change adaptation through an intersectionality lens. The main findings show that while intersectional analysis has demonstrated many advantages for a comprehensive study of gender, it has not yet entered the field of climate change and gender. In climate change studies, gender is mostly handled in a men-versus-women dichotomy and little or no attention has been paid to power and social and political relations. These gaps which are echoed in other domains of development and gender research depict a 'feminization of vulnerability' and reinforce a 'victimization' discourse within climate change studies. We argue that a critical intersectional assessment would contribute to unveil agency and emancipatory pathways in the adaptation process by providing a better understanding of how the differential impacts of climate change shape, and are shaped by, the complex power dynamics of existing social and political relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Human trafficking occurs when a person uses force, fraud, or coercion to obtain an act or service from another person. While trafficking is often depicted as a crime perpetrated by strangers, recent literature has found family members can also be traffickers. Only four peer reviewed studies have specifically examined familial trafficking. Method: The current study builds upon this sparse literature by reviewing medical charts of patients in a large hospital system who were identified as survivors of familial trafficking between October 2017 and September 2021. Descriptive statistics are reported for all 39 identified patients. Results: Majority of patients were female (92.3%) and under 36 years old (56.4%; M = 34.2, SD = 11.6). Despite most patients now being adults, all except one were minors at the time the trafficking began. Parents were the most common perpetrator (66.7%) followed by aunt/uncle (12.8%). Nine cases were chosen, given level of detail in patient charts, to be highlighted in a case series to further describe the experiences of these survivors. Cases examined included labor trafficking, parents as perpetrators, intersection of substance use, and males as victims. Force was the most common means of control used and often manifested as physical or sexual abuse that preceded the exploitation. Another reoccurring theme was substance use being a factor when parents were perpetrators. Conclusion: The findings from this paper can help inform screening techniques by encouraging providers to inquire about familial relationships. Findings may also be helpful for providers working with this population and future research endeavors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the question whether and to what extent the experience of online hate speech affects victims' sense of security. Studies on hate crime in general show that such crimes are associated with a significantly higher feeling of insecurity, but there is little evidence concerning feeling of insecurity due to online hate speech. Based on a secondary data analysis of a representative population survey in Lower Saxony, Germany, on the topic of cybercrime in 2020 (N = 4,102), we tested three hypotheses regarding the effect of offline and online hate speech on feelings of insecurity. As a result, compared to non-victims, victims of online hate speech exhibit a more pronounced feeling of insecurity outside the Internet, while victims of other forms of cybercrime do not differ in this regard from non-victims. We found no effect for offline hate speech when relevant control variables were included in the statistical model. Possible reasons for this finding are assumed to lie in the characteristics of the phenomenon of online hate speech, for example, because the hateful content spreads uncontrollably on the Internet and reaches its victims even in protected private spheres. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In the U.S., there are approximately 1,300 abusive head trauma (AHT) cases reported annually, with 25% of them fatal. Objective: This is a descriptive study of child maltreatment (CM)-related homicides resulting from AHT. Methods: Data from the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) for 2012–2017 were used to describe child homicide cases resulting from AHT of children aged 0–17 years. Results: During 2012–2017, among the 1,957 deaths from CM-related homicides, 230 resulted from AHT. More than half of the victims of AHT were male children, and greater than half of the AHT-related deaths were perpetrated by males, with fathers as the perpetrator in 43% of the cases. In addition, more than one-third of AHT victims (44%), as well as perpetrators (36%), were White, non-Hispanic. Almost half of AHT victims had a previous history of abuse, 37% had a nonfatal injury prior to their death, and 22% of their deaths were precipitated by child's crying behavior. Conclusion: This paper describes the prevalence of AHT deaths from 2012 to 2017 data, along with multiple risk factors that are associated with victim death AHT and perpetration of this type of maltreatment. These findings can inform targeted prevention strategies for the most extreme forms of AHT, those that result in child death. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teen dating violence (TDV) affects millions of young people in the USA each year (Basile et al. 2020) and is associated with a myriad of negative consequences across the lifespan, including placing individuals at greater risk for experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV) in their more permanent relationships in adulthood (Exner-Cortens et al. Pediatrics 131(1):71-78 Exner-Cortens et al. 2013; Exner-Cortens et al. Journal of Adolescent Health 60(2):176-183 Exner-Cortens et al. 2017). The CDC developed the Dating Matters®: Strategies to Promote Healthy Teen Relationships comprehensive prevention model to prevent TDV and its consequences among young people, and it was found to be effective at reducing TDV perpetration and victimization compared with another evidence-based program (Niolon et al. American Journal of Preventive Medicine 57(1):13-23 Niolon et al. 2019). Dating Matters addresses multiple risk and protective factors for TDV through its multiple components, many of which are shared risk and protective factors for other forms of violence and risk behaviors among adolescents. This article introduces this special section, which includes three papers examining these secondary outcomes of the Dating Matters comparative effectiveness, multi-site, longitudinal cluster randomized controlled trial and concludes with an invited commentary by Debnam and Temple (2020). This introduction briefly discusses the Dating Matters comprehensive prevention model, the comparative effectiveness trial used to evaluate effectiveness, the outcomes examined by the three papers included in this special section and the commentary from external reviewers. This special section makes an important contribution to the field of violence prevention, highlighting a preventive intervention for TDV that addresses a constellation of risk and protective factors and demonstrating its effects on multiple adolescent risk and violence outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This systematic review is a 5-year update of a previously conducted review on the longitudinal predictors of domestic violence perpetration and victimization. This review adopted the term 'Intimate Partner Violence (IPV)' to align with current literature and addressed two aims: to identify any novel longitudinal risk factors since the previous review, and to determine if a distinction could be drawn between risk factors for perpetration and victimization (a limitation identified by the previous review). Methods: Twelve studies met the inclusion criteria of prospectively investigating childhood/adolescent predictors (prior to age 18) for adulthood IPV perpetration and victimization. Peer-reviewed papers were identified via the following databases in November 2020: MEDLINE, APA PsycINFO, SocINDEX, EMBASE, and Scopus. Study quality was assessed using the Cambridge Quality Checklists. Results: Consistent with the previous review, child and adolescent abuse, family of origin risks, child and adolescent behavioral problems, and adolescent peer risks were identified as significant predictors of IPV perpetration and victimization. The current review, however, adds nuance to these findings, identifying potential moderating and/or mediating factors and additional risk factors, including mental health and cultural and attitudinal risks. Conclusion: This review re-emphasizes the importance of developmental risk factors for adulthood IPV perpetration and victimization, and their role in prevention and intervention efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to provide new evidence on the indirect cost of neighbourhood crime rates on mental wellbeing of residents. Crime places a heavy burden on the economy, and it receives significant attention from the public. Yet, the connection between crime and health for victims and non-victims is not well captured in the literature. Using spatial methodology, we differentiate the effect on mental wellbeing of residents due to the crime rates in their immediate neighbourhood (local) and crime rates in the surrounding areas (spatial). The main innovation of the paper is to use these crime rates at small geographical level (around 8500 residents) to better translate the changes in crime in the neighbourhoods and their effects on a person's mental wellbeing. This is different to other studies that looked at crime incidences in larger geographical units. Our estimation results show that the increase in local and spatial crime rates against the property negatively affect the mental wellbeing of residents. The negative impact of spatial crime rates against the person is also present and is 6.7 times larger than the effect of property crime rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The social, discursive practice of othering in violent extremist discourse serves to present outgroups as distant yet real threats to the ideological and physical territories of an ingroup which a terrorist claims to represent. However, the role of grammatical choices (namely, non/transactive construction, voice, and mood) in enacting the othering act within the context of radicalisation to terrorism remains to be empirically verified. This paper explores the patterning and pragmatic functions--namely in framing situations, coercing into violence, and legitimising hostile actions against Others--of the syntactic structure of the othering utterances. The othering utterances, as realized in a set of eight public statements produced by former al-Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden, were sorted manually and analysed qualitatively to help understand and showcase how grammar was strategically leveraged in the process of radicalisation. Results show that the act of othering in the dataset operates within the victimization and injustice frameworks to morally sanction antagonism and aggression via: (i) overt othering, where transactive construction, only declarative mood and active voice are used, and (ii) covert othering, in which nontransactive construction, any mood type, and passive voice are utilized. Overt othering foregrounds, through assertions and statements of presumed facts, the negative agentive role of Others and the diagnostic framing of the causal relationships between Others and negative experiences. Covert othering backgrounds this agentive role to place prominence on immoral actions and to serve in the motivational function of framing. The grammatical patterns provide evidence of the strategic character of OBL's verbal aggression and how different mood types tend to construct the directive, illocutionary point of the utterances and to enact prognostic framing. The analytical strategy aids in threat assessment and preventing radicalisation by sensitizing assessors to, first, the kind of semiotic clues to engagement in the social and discursive process of radicalisation where utterances count as calls for action and activators of a reality of deontology, and, second, to the social functioning of terrorist texts in: (i) promoting putative readers' awareness of particular outgroups, and (ii) ideological positioning and encouraging and legitimating violence that is liberty, loyalty and care metavalues-based. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I provide an account of the wrong that is done to women when everyday people fail to believe allegations of sexual assault made by women. I argue that an everyday person wrongs both the accuser and women causally distant from the accuser when they fail to believe the accuser's allegation. First, I argue that there are responses that we, as everyday members of society, owe to victims of sexual assault. A condition enabling everyday people to respond in the way owed to victims is that they have an outright belief that the accuser was assaulted. Actively suspending judgement about whether a crime occurred is in tension with the ability to respond to the victim in a way that supports and validates them. When an everyday person fails to have an outright belief in the truth of an allegation, they wrong the accuser because they risk failing to satisfy the conditions enabling them to fulfill their obligation to her. Second, I argue that everyday people wrong women who are causally distant from the accuser because in our social context, women are often treated in particular ways – especially in the sexual domain – because they are women. As a result, when women hear that an everyday person fails to believe a particular allegation, they easily project themselves into the accuser's position and reasonably worry that if they were to be assaulted, they too would be met with doubt and disbelief by the people in their community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extant evidence indicates that exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACE) tend to cluster among children and adolescents. Considering that adolescents from African countries present higher risk of being exposed to multiple ACE compared to other countries, the identification of victimization profiles in this population is clearly warranted. The aim of this study was to determine meaningful clusters of individuals with similar experiences of ACE in a sample of Kenyan adolescents. Latent class analysis (LCA) was conducted to identify latent classes of exposure to ACE. In addition, the relationships between the latent classes and gender, parental education, living arrangements and diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were estimated. A three-class solution was found to be the best description of ACE, and the classes were labelled "Low Risk", "Intermediate Risk", and "High Risk". Compared with the Low-Risk class, the High-Risk class was found to be significantly more likely to have a diagnosis of PTSD and being a female may be an antecedent risk factor for high exposure to ACE. The Intermediate Risk class was significantly less likely to have parents with high school or college education. This paper indicates that Kenyan adolescents present higher risk of being exposed to multiple ACE and that trauma research may turn its focus on the individual as the unit of analysis rather than traumatic events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies on the relationship between racial composition and interracial hate crimes are largely cross-sectional, while little is known about longitudinal developments. This paper examines the impact of longitudinal changes in the racial composition of regions on interracial hate crimes in the USA. We use official statistics on 120,000 White on Black hate crimes that were committed across 3500 regions in the period between 1990 and 2014. Applying longitudinal multi-level modelling, we find that during this period there was an overall decline in interracial hate crimes. Furthermore, our results reveal that the decline was more pronounced in regions that witnessed a significant reduction in the share of Whites. Despite concerns that increasing racial diversity may lead to more interracial animosity and hate crimes, our study suggests the opposite. As the numerical predominance of White people in USA erodes, the number of White on Black hate crimes decreases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the moderating role of problem-talk partnerships with peers who are rejected, victimized, or unpopular on links between self-perceived victimization by peers and depressive symptoms. Problem-talk partnerships are friendships that involve frequent discussion of problems and personal struggles. 267 adolescents (152 girls; mean age of 14.4 years) participated in a short-term prospective study with identical measures administered in two annual waves. The adolescents completed a battery of self-report questionnaires assessing peer victimization and depression. They also completed a peer nomination inventory and identified friends with whom they frequently discuss problems. High levels of peer nominated victimization, social rejection, and unpopularity among problem-talk partners were linked to elevated associations between self-reported victimization and depressive symptoms. The effects for unpopularity levels among problem-talk partners were moderated by gender. Compared to boys, girls' adjustment was more strongly influenced by unpopularity among problem-talk partners. Conversely, friendships with peers who were not problem-talk partners did not have a consistent moderating role. The full pattern of findings highlights the need to consider the social adjustment of dyadic partners when examining the psychosocial impact of perceived victimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops a simple model to examine the economic consequences of two different criminal market structures in the private protection and extortion industry: (1) horizontal (decentralized) governance and market structure and (2) hierarchical (centralized) governance and market structure with a criminal organization. Forming a criminal organization produces positive or negative effects on its members and social efficiency. These results depend on the potential competitiveness among criminals and the ability of a criminal organization’s boss to target more valuable extortion victims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geographic forecasting of crime can be done by considering prior crime or by considering spatial risk factors, e.g., using risk terrain modeling (RTM). The present paper tests both methods, but primarily focuses on RTM and on increasing our understanding of forecasting by attempting to compare the spatial risk factors for where the number of crimes is high with the spatial risk factors for where the risk of victimization is high. This is performed by fitting negative binomial models on crime around bus stops and comparing them to the same models with the number of bus passengers as exposure variable. The models also take the surrounding environment into account by fitting multi-level models with neighborhood level predictors of concentrated disadvantage and collective efficacy. The results show that some types of facilities are risk factors for crime, but not for victimization. This results in new insights into how flows of people impact on forecasting, as for instance a school is a spatial risk factor for crime, while not being associated with an elevated risk per person. The results also show that the neighborhood level of collective efficacy is a stable and significant risk factor both for crime and for risk of victimization, highlighting a potential for better crime forecasting by combining different spatial and theoretical perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the effects of COVID-19 on service-engaged female survivors of IPV and makes recommendations for service providers based on these survivors' voices. The researchers adopted an exploratory, descriptive, and qualitative approach to inquiry due to the novelty of the research questions during the early days of the COVID-19 in March 2020. Semi-structured interviews with service-engaged survivors were analyzed using inductive and deductive coding processes. Two categories arose from our qualitative questions. The first category, related to experiences with service providers, included the themes of varying levels of support and isolation. Within the theme of isolation, survivors discussed both positive and negative aspects of isolation. The second category refers to the impact of COVID-19 on survivors' daily lives and focused on the theme of escalation. The theme of escalation had two subthemes 1) escalation of life-generated risks and 2) escalation of partner-generated risks. Given that the pandemic will continue until vaccines are fully distributed and that future public health emergencies may mirror many of the challenges identified in the current context, survivors residing at home will continue to need services, and agencies will continue to need additional resources to provide them. Therefore, we discuss recommendations that can have a bearing on services offered in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines whether adolescents can be reliably categorized into subgroups based on their patterns of anxiety levels over time and whether low levels of social support from parents, peers, and their school, and high levels of peer victimization, predict a pattern of increasing anxiety. Participants were 3392 youth from the Longitudinal Study of Australia's Children (LSAC). Youth-reported anxiety was measured at three occasions at ages 12/13 years, 14/15 years, and 16/17 years, with social support and victimization assessed at age 12/13 years. Anxiety trajectories were identified using latent class growth mixture modelling, and predictors of class membership were examined using multinomial logistic regression analyses. Three discrete classes of anxiety trajectories were identified. Most youth fell within a stable-low anxiety symptom class (89.5% males; 78.2% females), with smaller percentages in low-increasing (5.6% males; 14.4% females) or high-decreasing (4.9% males; 7.4% females) classes. Low support from parents and teachers, low sense of school belonging, and high peer victimization predicted membership of the low-increasing anxiety trajectory class, irrespective of gender. Social support did not moderate the effect of peer victimization upon the risk of developing anxiety, with peer victimization remaining a risk factor even when adolescents experienced good social support from parents, peers, and school. The findings highlight the need for screening in early adolescence to identify those who are experiencing low social support and high peer victimization and are thus at increased risk of developing anxiety problems. These youth could then be offered targeted intervention to reduce the likelihood of anxiety development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper first discusses why it is important to research the relations between migration, arts, and cultures. Second, it discusses the most promising methodological options to do it fruitfully. It concludes by claiming that the additional value of such investigations is both to allow a more comprehensive understanding of the migration process, and to move away from the victimization of migrants "rehumanize" them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing theories of fraud provide some insight into how criminals target and exploit people in the online environment; whilst reference to psychological explanations is common, the actual use of established behavioural theories and/or methods in these studies is often limited. In particular, there is less understanding of why certain people/demographics are likely to respond to fraudulent communications. This systematic review will provide a timely synthesis of the leading psychologically based literature to establish the key theories and empirical research that promise to impact on anti-fraud policies and campaigns. Relevant databases and websites were searched using terms related to psychology and fraud victimisation. A total of 44 papers were extracted and 34 included in the final analysis. The studies range in their scope and methods; overall, three main factors were identified: message (n = 6), experiential (n = 7), and dispositional (n = 21), although there was some overlap between these (for example, mapping message factors onto the dispositional traits of the victim). Despite a growing body of research, the total number of studies able to identify specific psychological processes associated with increased susceptibility to online fraud victimisation was limited. Messages are targeted to appeal to specific psychological vulnerabilities, the most successful linking message with human factors, for example, time-limited communications designed to enact peripheral rather than central information processing. Suggestions for future research and practical interventions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, data from the NCS and NCVS are developed for the purpose of describing long-term trends in male and female violent victimization for the period 1973–2004. More specifically, gender-specific trends in violence are compared according to crime type and victim–offender relationship. Despite their potential usefulness, these data have not been published previously. The data reveal that the gender gap in robbery victimization has remained relatively stable while the gender gaps in aggravated and simple assault victimization have narrowed over time. Results varied when the data were disaggregated by victim–offender relationship. Male and female rates of nonstranger simple assault and nonstranger robbery were roughly equivalent throughout the period, and the greater risk for male nonstranger aggravated assault that was evident three decades ago has largely disappeared. The gender gap persists in stranger assault, but has narrowed somewhat because male rates of victimization have declined more than female rates. In addition, male and female trends and the gender gap in nonlethal intimate partner violence differ from the patterns established in intimate partner homicide studies. The paper concludes with a discussion of research that is needed to understand why the gender gap in violent victimization has changed for some types of violence but not others, and how greater attention to gender will improve efforts to understand crime trends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The National Crime Victimization Survey has been informed by decades of methodological research on the measurement of victimization. Yet most criminologists have little knowledge of the process or outcomes of this research or its effects on the characteristics of the survey. Using in-house reports, conference papers, agency memoranda, and other documents, this paper describes some of the important methodological research that has taken place since the 1992 redesign of the survey. Much of the more recent research is the consequence of new initiatives for the survey, such as the measurement of hate crime victimization and victimization among the developmentally disabled, as well as periodic supplements. This research finds that the current characteristics of the NCVS reflect decisions made on the basis of methodological research, broader social and political factors, and budgetary constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Research consistently shows that crime concentrates on a few repeatedly victimized places and targets. In this paper we examine whether the same is true for extortion against businesses. We then test whether the factors that explain the likelihood of becoming a victim of extortion also explain the number of incidents suffered by victimized businesses. The alternative is that extortion concentration is a function of event dependence. Methods: Drawing on Mexico's commercial victimization survey, we determine whether repeat victimization occurs by chance by comparing the observed distribution to that expected under a Poisson process. Next, we utilize a multilevel negative binomial-logit hurdle model to examine whether area- and business-level predictors of victimization are also associated with the number of repeat extortions suffered by businesses. Results: Findings suggest that extortion is highly concentrated, and that the predictors of repeated extortion differ from those that predict the likelihood of becoming a victim of extortion. While area-level variables showed a modest association with the likelihood of extortion victimization, they were not significant predictors of repeat incidents. Similarly, most business-level variables significantly associated with victimization risk showed insignificant (and sometimes contrary) associations with victimization concentration. Overall, unexplained differences in extortion concentration at the business-level were unaffected by predictors of extortion prevalence. Conclusions: The inconsistent associations of predictors across the hurdle components suggest that extortion prevalence and concentration are fueled by two distinct processes, an interpretation congruent with theoretical expectations regarding extortion that considers that repeats are likely fueled by a process of event dependence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I reflect upon the legacy of the work of Jock Young for the development of a critical criminology. In doing this I also endeavour to offer a contribution to an internal history of both criminology and victimology but from a very particular, and personal, position. The paper falls into four parts. In the first I consider the time period from 1980-1997 and academic, political and policy debates therein. I have called this a time of 'emergent optimism'. The second part considers the years from 1997-2007 in which this optimism was subjected to challenge. The third part considers 2007 to date and the challenges that remain for both criminology and victimology in the absence of the voice of Jock Young. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A relatively limited number of studies have examined the effect of fear of crime and crime victimization on subjective well-being. This paper examines how fear of crime and crime victimization affect the well-being of people in Africa using data from the Round 4 of the Afrobarometer Surveys conducted in 20 countries. Consistent with the findings of previous studies, results from ordered probit and OLS regressions indicate that, each of fear of crime, theft victimization, and physical assault negatively influences well-being. In addition, the paper compares men and women on the basis of these effects, and finds that while fear of crime and theft victimization are significantly correlated with the well-being of women, neither has an effect on the well-being of men. However, physical assault significantly diminishes well-being for both men and women. The paper recommends that African governments pursue public policies that would improve labor market conditions, as lower unemployment could reduce crime, and increase well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As social media use becomes increasingly widespread among adolescents, research in this area has accumulated rapidly. Researchers have shown a growing interest in the impact of social media on adolescents' peer experiences, including the ways that the social media context shapes a variety of peer relations constructs. This paper represents Part 2 of a two-part theoretical review. In this review, we offer a new model for understanding the transformative role of social media in adolescents' peer experiences, with the goal of stimulating future empirical work that is grounded in theory. The transformation framework suggests that the features of the social media context transform adolescents' peer experiences by changing their frequency or immediacy, amplifying demands, altering their qualitative nature, and/or offering new opportunities for compensatory or novel behaviors. In the current paper, we consider the ways that social media may transform peer relations constructs that often occur at the group level. Our review focuses on three key constructs: peer victimization, peer status, and peer influence. We selectively review and highlight existing evidence for the transformation of these domains through social media. In addition, we discuss methodological considerations and key conceptual principles for future work. The current framework offers a new theoretical perspective through which peer relations researchers may consider adolescent social media use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies trends in female homicide victimization in Spain from 1910 to 2014 and puts them in relation with several indicators of the evolution of women's roles and status in the society. According to mortality statistics, female homicide victimization followed an overall upward trend interrupted only during the periods in which the country lived under dictatorships. Measures of women's roles and status in society show a change from traditional to non-traditional roles since the 1960s. A multivariate autoregression analysis suggests that the female homicide victimization trend is correlated mainly with opportunity-based and non-gender sensitive variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This paper reports an evaluation of a police-led target-hardening crime prevention strategy inspired by research concerned with space-time patterns of burglary. Methods: A total of 46 neighbourhoods in the West Midlands (UK) were randomly allocated to treatment and control conditions. Within treatment areas, resources were delivered to recent burglary victims and their close neighbours. Resources included inexpensive target-hardening measures as well as the delivery of dedicated police advice. The evaluation consisted of both a resident survey and a statistical outcome analysis. Results: Results suggested that residents in treatment groups were slightly more satisfied with the police and more likely to have been contacted by the police concerning burglaries. Although they had more awareness of burglary, their fear of crime was not heightened. Statistical analysis suggested a very modest positive effect of intervention on crime and rates of re-victimisation. In particular, a survival analysis revealed that homes in low-crime treatment areas were less likely to be re-victimised than were those in similar control areas. Effects were more evident in low- than high-crime areas. Conclusions: Results suggest that a low-intensity target-hardening intervention which adopted a near-repeat victimisation targeting strategy had a modest positive effect on residential burglary without increasing residents' fear of crime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Victimology concerns victims of various traumas from accidents, disasters, assaults to wars. Survivors of trauma are also an area in clinical psychology since it is interested in the assessment and diagnosis of psychopathology and psychotherapy. Stress and mental health are intertwined; increased stress results in difficulties in feeling, thinking and behaving. The stress symptoms are an intrusion, avoidance, negative cognitions and mood, and arousal and reactivity. A trauma survivor might develop post-traumatic stress disorder. Healing trauma is so comprehensive that many professionals work from different aspects. From attorneys to mental health workers, many professionals deal with the aftereffects of trauma. Engaging with details of the trauma endangers not only the victims but also the professionals working with the victims. These professionals end up having psychological effects such as secondary trauma, vicarious trauma, compassion fatigue, countertransference and occupational burnout. Trauma has serious effects on its victims but not all effects are negative and paralyzing. Trauma victims might change their priorities in a way that they report more personal control over their life. This phenomenon is called posttraumatic growth. The paper aims to collaborate victimology with clinical psychology by highlighting psychopathology and psychological assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Argentina and Brazil report the highest incidence of the fear of crime across Latin America. Although the spread of crime and victimization may explain these trends initially, the focus in this paper is on the significance of non-criminal factors in explaining the fear of crime, such as socio-economic vulnerability, educational level and trust in people and institutions, as well as exposure to violence at one's place of residence. Using a subset of data from the 2017 edition of the Latinobarómetro survey (n = 2400), a regression analysis was conducted showing that the fear of crime is radically different between the two countries. In Argentina, as in certain European countries, people's fears of crime are positively associated with socio-economic vulnerability and in turn negatively associated with state-driven violence. The latter has a protective effect on Argentinians' feelings of insecurity, while in Brazil the fear of crime is to a greater extent a consequence of previous victimization and a general distrust in other people. Despite this key difference, our results shed light on the problem of social cohesion in both countries, suggesting that the fear of crime is a social rather than criminal issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One motivation for adopting a justice-based view of the right to self-defense is that it seems to solve the puzzle of how a victim may kill her attacker even when doing so is not predicted to protect her from the threat imposed upon her. The paper shows (a) that this view leads to unacceptable results and (b) that its solution to cases of futile self-defense is unsatisfactory. This failure makes the interest-based theory of self-defense look more attractive, both in the context of futile self-defense and in general. To understand how a victim might use force in this context, one need only point to some interest of hers that is threatened, and the best candidate for such interest in cases of futile self-defense is her honor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most research on Youth Intimate Partner Violence (YIPV) has focused on prevalence rates and associated factors. Less attention has been given to how victimization manifests itself in young women's lives. The aim of this paper is to further our understanding of the dynamics of violence and abuse by investigating the contextual, situational, and relational aspects of IPV among young women. We specifically ask what meanings are attributed to the abuse and what role digital media plays. Finally, to develop our understanding, we apply Johnson's typology of violence.Semi-structured interviews were performed with 33 young women from Norway and Sweden, aged 15 to 23 years old, who had all experienced some form of IPV in a heterosexual relationship. The analysis included both thematic and narrative analysis.Victimization was characterized by six overarching themes: control, humiliation, fear, sexual coercion, secrecy, and resistance. Meanings attributed to the violence include relating it to the couple's youth and the male partner's personal issues. Digital media played a central role in the victimization, but also in the women's resistance and protection. Applying Johnson's typology suggests that the violence can be understood as patriarchal terrorism.It is crucial that young people's intimate lives, in all their complexities, are acknowledged, if IPV prevention and intervention is to succeed. Researchers need to design their studies to include contextual, situational, and relational aspects. Failing to do so might result in a view of YIPV as isolated instances of conflict, overlooking its often pervasive and severe nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-021-00555-z [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crime hurts victims financially and often physically. This paper examines how individual well-being is affected by the direct experience of burglary and robbery, using micro-level happiness data from Japan. I find that the direct experience of burglary significantly reduces victims' reported happiness. In monetary terms, being burglarized is as bad as losing approximately $35,000-$52,500. This paper also tests for heterogeneous effects of victimization on happiness. Happiness of the wealthy, who can afford to lose some money as well as buy some safety, is not affected by the direct experience of burglary or robbery. Crime victimization hurts homeowners more than renters most likely because their barriers to mobility make it difficult for homeowners to move in response to crime victimization. Finally, this paper suggests that victims' psychological non-pecuniary costs are substantially larger than the pecuniary losses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic motives are not the only reasons for committing a (small) crime. People consider social norms and perceptions of fairness before judging a situation and acting upon it. If someone takes a bundle of printing paper from the office for private use at home, then a colleague who sees this can take action by talking to the offender or someone else (peer reporting). We investigate how fairness perception influences the decision to act upon incorrect behavior or not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In North America and Europe, numerous books, articles, and monographs on pirates have been published in the past three decades. Although these publications do provide readers valuable information about piratical activities around the world, few of these contain a categorization of pirates. The purpose of this paper is to develop a typology for historical and modern pirates. This taxonomy is composed of three factors: position of state managers, ideology, and continuity of piracy. Each of these factors is divided into two levels: state-supporting vs. non state-supporting for stance of state managers; distinctiveness vs. indistinctiveness for ideology, and professional vs. amateur for continuity of piracy. Based upon these different levels, the author of this paper argues that pirates can be conceptually categorized as SDP, SDA, SIP, SIA, NDP, NDA, NIP, and NIA types. This typology will allow researchers of pirates to distinguish between sea bandits around the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper develops a model of crime reporting based on an economic approach. It identifies the principal costs and benefits of reporting from the victim’s perspective, taking account of insurance provision and the risk of intimidation by an offender. It shows how a victim might use backward induction to infer a rational reporting strategy. The recording of crime by the police is a process that relies on victim reports, and is thus influenced by the reporting decisions made by victims. The paper uses empirical evidence from the British Crime Survey and from the International Crime Victims Survey to explore the hypotheses generated by the model. It finds support for the suggestion that the propensity to report a crime increases with the size of the loss entailed. The paper also explores the implications of the findings for the estimation of the costs of crime. Reporting and intimidation costs are generally excluded from bottom-up estimates of costs, an omission that may be quite serious in the context of offences such as domestic violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the experiences and understandings of primary (K6) school pupils with regards to managing issues of risk and safety during their everyday use of information and communication technologies (ICTs). The paper is based on survey and interview data with pupils aged 7 to 11 years old in five English primary schools ( n = 612). Analysis of these data shows that whilst most pupils recognised a general need to be mindful of ICT-related risks and dangers, their actual experiences of risk tended to be described in terms of operational problems encountered when using ICTs. Conversely, pupils’ understandings of potential risk were often based upon exaggerated fears deriving from a number of moral panics relating to child safety. These data suggest that official notions of ‘e-safety’ remain abstract and poorly understood concepts for many children. In considering what implications these data have for the ongoing ‘e-safety’ agenda in UK schools the paper concludes by suggesting three possible areas of change: (1) re-orientating the topic and tone of the official discourses surrounding e-safety; (2) increasing pedagogical interventions in primary schools aiming at enhancing pupils’ critical literacy skills; and (3) establishing a meaningful and sustained dialogue between pupils, teachers and parents about safety and risk when using ICTs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although awareness of intimate partner violence (IPV) has increased, acknowledging that American military members and their families are particularly vulnerable to these forms of violence has been relatively recent. While scholars have shown that victims of IPV are unlikely to report their victimizations to the police (Venema Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 31(5), 872–899, 2016), virtually no attempts have been made to explore reporting crimes to the police by those in the military and/or victimized by someone in the military. In this paper, the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) data from 1992 to 2016 were used to examine whether incidents of intimate partner violence were less likely to be reported to the police if either the victim and/or offender were active duty military personnel. To ascertain whether military status affected decisions to report for other violent crimes, models predicting the probability of reporting to the police for robbery victimizations were also examined. This research revealed that a military connection significantly decreased the likelihood of IPV being reported compared to the civilian population, however, military status had no effect on the likelihood of robbery victimizations being reported. Results support the contention that the military culture may reduce the likelihood that IPV victimizations will be reported to police compared to their civilian counterparts. Because this was not true for robbery victimizations, policies directed at reducing the reluctance of IPV victims to seek justice through law enforcement channels are needed along with continued efforts to prevent IPV in the military specifically, and within the nation generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examined the mediating role of sexual assertiveness in the relationship between psychological, physical, and sexual intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization and unprotected sex as a result of condom use resistance among sexually active young women attending community college. Women reported engagement in unprotected sex as a result of a partner's use of one of 32 forms of condom use resistance (e.g., physical force, deception, or other forms of coercion to avoid using a condom during intercourse). Women ages 18-24 years (N = 212) attending community college were recruited through paper advertisements to complete assessments of social and dating behavior in the campus computer laboratory. Only the women with a history of sexual intercourse (N = 178; 84% of the sample) were included in analyses. More frequent engagement in unprotected sex as a result of a partner's condom use resistance was associated with physical, psychological, and sexual IPV victimization. Sexual assertiveness mediated the relationship between physical IPV victimization and the frequency of unprotected sex as a result of condom use resistance. Efforts to prevent dating violence and enhance the sexual health of community college women may benefit from focusing on targeting sexual assertiveness as a protective factor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: While much attention has been given to the prediction of violent offending behaviour amongst people with psychotic disorders, less attention has been given to the fact that these same individuals are often the victims of violence. In this paper, we examine victimisation amongst participants in a prevalence study of psychosis, and describe demographic and clinical correlates of victimisation. METHOD The study was based on the Australian National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing--Low Prevalence (Psychotic) Disorders. The participants were asked if they had been a victim of violence in the previous year. The association between selected demographic and clinical variables and being a victim of violence was examined using logistic regression.Results: Of the 962 individuals with psychosis, 172 reported being a victim of violence in the past 12 months (17.9 %). The odds of being a victim were increased in those who: (a) were female, (b) were homeless, (c) had a lifetime history of substance abuse, (d) had been arrested in the previous 12 months, (e) had poorer social and occupational function, and (f) had higher scores on the disorganisation summary score.Conclusions: Clinicians should remain mindful that one out of every six individuals with a psychotic disorder reports being a victim of violence in the previous year. Models of care that address issues related to symptom relief, accommodation, and exposure to high-crime areas may reduce the rates of victimisation amongst those with psychotic disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a psychobiographical analysis of a young woman who committed suicide over 50 years ago. Among the documents analyzed are her letters, a high-school diary, creative writing, college newspaper book reviews, and academic papers. Using both an Eriksonian and object-relational theoretical framework, the roles of faith, hope, and despair in suicide—and the ways in which these were represented in the young woman's self-system—are analyzed. Although she possessed strong elements of both faith and hope, along with a will to implement them in a purposeful manner, she was prone to the defense mechanisms of splitting, devaluation, and dissociation, which led to an inability to create an abiding sense of self that may have prevented her descent to despair. Among other issues discussed in the article are the usefulness of psychobiography as a method of studying suicide and both the benefits and limitations of spiritual faith in countering depression and suicide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An overview of various articles published within the issue of the magazine related to environmental criminology is presented, including a focus on surveillance as a form of social control, an argument that routine activity theory could turn its attentions to the victims of crime, and an analysis of the impact of a natural disaster on crime using the routine activity concepts.

This paper introduces the idea of "domain-specific" models of victimization as a means of improving the fit between theoretical concepts in routine activity theory and available data. Peoples' activity and their victimization experience can be divided into domains such as work and leisure. This paper focuses on the work domain. It demonstrates that activities performed as part of the occupational role affect the risk of victimization at work to a much greater degree than demographic characteristics of workers. These findings provide support both for routine activity theory generally and for domain-specific models as a particular approach to testing the theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An exploratory examination of criminology curricula, scholarly books, professional journals and reports is presented to substantiate the neglect of women in the works of most mainstream criminologists. Recent publications by Leonard (1982) and Schur (1984) suggest that this male view of criminology has distorted our definitions of crime and our responses to victims of male crime. These authors also indicate that the failure to include women in intellectual pursuits of the discipline has resulted in inadequate theories that do not explain women's behavior and research based on false assumptions about the roles of men and women. While there have been numerous efforts to remedy this neglect of women during the last two decades (e.g., Bowker, 1977, 1980; Cullen, 1983; Reid, 1981, 1982), academic criminology continues to present a predominantly male perspective. In order to hasten the integration of women into the criminological curricula, theories, and research projects, this paper suggests changes in program policies that could be implemented by the leadership in professional associations (American Society of Criminology and Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences) that would encourage research in the area of women and crime as well as enhance the prestige and credibility of scholarship in this area of criminology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the police have been identified as a key service provider when responding to domestic violence and abuse (DVA), very few studies have investigated their response in relation to children. This review aims to examine children's experiences of police response in the context of DVA and to explore how the police understand and respond to children living with DVA. A rapid review of the empirical literature on the police response to DVA involving children was undertaken. PsycINFO, Web of Science and ProQuest were searched. Studies with a qualitative element, concerning children under 18 with experience of police involvement, or police experiences of children, in the context of DVA were included. The final sample comprised of six studies. Using reflexive thematic analysis, four key themes emerged in relation to children: children's experiences of DVA; fear, uncertainty, and mistrust of police; confronting "childism": a matter of children's rights; and going beyond empathy: equality and justice. Regarding the police, three key themes emerged: variability in police response; limited view of police role; lack of professional competence. The findings underscore the need for awareness raising and an urgent review of the training officers receive regarding the impact of DVA on children. They also highlight the pivotal role of police when responding to DVA where children are present, as well as to advance the frontiers of research by including not only adults and professionals but also the most vulnerable DVA victim: the child. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sixteen months after Donald J. Trump announced his candidacy for president of the United States a Washington Post headline read: "2016 is the rape election." This paper examines the evolution of the discourse of sexual misconduct in the 2016 US presidential campaign. Using qualitative media analysis as our method, we examined coverage in the Washington Post and New York Times. Our analysis provides insight into the ways in which the sexual misconduct allegations against Trump were framed in partisan terms and as, foremost, a political issue; we refer to this as the politicization of sexual misconduct. We argue that the politicization of sexual misconduct operates as a form of symbolic annihilation to trivialize and omit victims' experiences in media coverage and we draw on empirical data to identify four rhetorical processes that comprise the politicization of sexual misconduct: (1) focus on the character of the accused (rather than harm to victims); (2) comparing severity of allegations relative to other politicians; (3) leveraging victim stories for political gain; and (4) dismissal of allegations as politically motivated lies. Ironically, however, our findings also reveal that coverage of sexual misconduct throughout the 2016 campaign provided an unforeseen context for dozens of women to publicly narrate their own stories—in an attempt to be heard—the consequences of which, we suggest, set the conditions for a wave of women coming forward with allegations of sexual misconduct against powerful men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online victimization via cyberbullying and cyberstalking are plaguing our young online users. These tormenting and intrusive behaviors have infiltrated relationship formation, online communication and social identity. Friends and romantic partners have become increasingly dependent on the use of technology to initiate relationships. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the current state of these online crimes and the involvement of youth and young adults. We will consider current responses by our criminal justice system, as well as our educational and community groups. Based on what is currently implemented and its success factor, we will make our assertions about the effectiveness of scholastic work and its influence on what we are doing to combat these forms of cybervictimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]