Intimate Partner Violence and Female Nurses’ Employment: Disclosure and Consequences

The study examined the relationship between women’s disclosure of intimate partner violence and their experience of employment interference, work-related consequences, and work participation in 140 nurses. Participants reported experiencing at least one employment interference tactic and 40 % of them disclosed their experience. Employment interference, work-related consequences, and work participation did not differ between nurses who disclosed violence/employment interference and those who did not. Further, our participants may have chosen to disclose employment interference in order to express their discomfort rather than to seek assistance or advice. Distribution of power governed by gender is an obstacle facing women in Jordan, limiting the extent to which they can be protected from experiencing IPV in the workplace.     

Adolescent Male and Female Gang Members’ Experiences with Violent Victimization, Dating Violence, and Sexual Assault

A substantial amount of scholarship has been devoted to examining the relationship between gang membership and criminal offending. This research has produced a wealth of qualitative and quantitative studies indicating that gang membership increases the likelihood of criminal offending for both males and females. Less research, however, has examined the relationship between gang membership and violent victimization. The present study adds to the literature by examining the relationship between gender, gang membership, and three types of victimization. Specifically, this paper focuses on whether self-reported gang membership is uniquely related to victimization experiences for females compared to males. Results from a statewide survey of public high school students in South Carolina indicate that gang membership is significantly related to the risk of victimization for both males and females. The implications of these findings for research and policy are discussed.     

“I didn’t do it,but if I did I had a good reason”: Minimization,Denial, and Attributions of Blame Among Male and Female Domestic Violence Offenders

Women are increasingly being arrested and prosecuted for assaulting an intimate partner. Whereas extensive research has been conducted to identify the treatment needs of male domestic violence offenders, few studies have examined females convicted of the same charges. In the present study 1,267 men and 159 women convicted of intimate partner abuse were compared on scales assessing attributions of blame for their recent offense, minimization, denial, and socially desirable responding. Research with male offenders has identified these factors as important treatment targets, as they appear to influence an offenders risk for noncompliance and recidivism. The results of the study suggest that both male and female domestic violence offenders engage in socially desirable responding during court-ordered evaluations, that both attribute greater blame for the recent offense to their spouse/partner than they acknowledge for themselves, and that significant numbers of both genders deny the recent incident and/or minimize the severity of the offense. Areas for further research are highlighted along with a discussion of the implications of these findings for practitioners.     

Anomie and Violence in Indonesia and Timor-Leste, 1997�C2009

The Indonesian social system began to disintegrate in 1997. In the aftermath of social collapse, many forms of state crime, organized crime, terrorism, ethnic violence, religious violence, assassinations and other political violence escalated. An anomie theory interpretation is offered of this rise and the subsequent fall of a complex of serious crime problems. Security sector reintegration, reintegration of perpetrators and reconciliation (without truth) played important parts in enabling the rebuilding of institutions of security.     

Where Do We Go from here?: Examining Intimate Partner Violence by Bringing Male Victims,Female Perpetrators,and Psychological Sciences into the Fold

Gender symmetry in intimate partner violence (IPV) has come to light in research, stirring much controversy. Historically, there has been resistance toward re-conceptualizing the problem from a psychology-informed framework, rather than from functional sociological discourse. Issues in examining IPV, with consideration of typologies, male victimization, and female perpetration, are discussed. Reporting, outcomes, revictimization, and perceptions of male victims and female perpetrators are addressed. An argument is offered for increased focus on psychological science, including theory and data from clinical, couple, and family systems disciplines, in addressing partner violence. A framework is provided for integrated, effective, and accurate approaches to IPV in discourse, policy, and service.     

Students’ Feelings of Safety,Exposure to Violence and Victimization,and Authoritative School Climate

Although many students feel unsafe at school, few malleable factors have been identified to increase students’ feelings of safety. Drawing on criminological behavior control theories, this study posits authoritative school climate as one such factor. With data from two nationally representative datasets, this study uses path analysis to examine the relationship between authoritative school climate and feelings of safety, as well as the extent to which this relation is explained by exposure to violence and victimization. Across both datasets, a more authoritative school climate was associated with increased feelings of safety at school. Both models also indicated that this relationship was explained in part by reduced exposure to violence and victimization, although the strength of this indirect effect varied across models. These findings suggest that strengthening students’ relationships with adults and increasing the fairness and consistency of rules in the school may both reduce exposure to violence and victimization and help students feel safer at school.     

The Competition–Violence Hypothesis: Sex,Marriage, and Male Aggression

Sexually active men, who are not in a monogamous relationship, may be at a greater risk for violence than men who are sexually active within monogamous relationships and men who are not sexually active. The current study examines changes in sexual behavior and violence in adolescence to early adulthood. Data on male (n = 4,597) and female (n = 5,523) respondents were drawn from four waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent and Adult Health (Add Health). HLM regression models indicate that men who transition to a monogamous, or less competitive, mode of sexual behavior (fewer partners since last wave), reduce their risk for violence. The same results were not replicated for females. Further, results were not accounted for by marital status or other more readily accepted explanations of violence. Findings suggest that competition for sex be further examined as a potential cause of male violence.     

Language,gender and ‘reality’: Violence against women

This paper examines the theory behind and some examples of the relationships between gender, language, cognition and perception in the context of the criminal justice system. In particular, we consider the language of domestic violence and sexual assault and how words and communication styles can affect and are affected by what we think and believe to be ‘reality’. The paper illustrates how the language used to describe violence against women may operate to minimise these acts, and the dominant conversational style and female violence victims' genderlect may collide to produce evidentiary issues and a credibility gap. We argue that there is an inherent dilemma in engaging with legal constructs which continue to negate women's understandings of reality, and that the voices of female rape and domestic violence victims remain muted by the baritone ‘voice’ of the legal system.     

Bus Stops and Violence,Are Risky Places Really Risky?

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.     

Childhood Maltreatment,Intimate Partner Violence,Work Interference and Women’s Employment

This study examined the long-term effects of childhood maltreatment, intimate partner violence (IPV) and work interference on women’s employment in a sample of 135 housed or homeless women. Work interference (defined as a partner’s interference with or restraint of a woman’s working) was reported by 60% of women who had experienced IPV and was more common among non-Hispanic White women. Abuse history of any type was not predictive of women’s employment or receiving job training, but child sexual abuse history and lifetime IPV were predictive of non-Hispanic White women’s not looking for a job. Receiving job training was negatively correlated with women’s current mental health. The study suggests different but overlapping pathways to the outcome of underemployment for racial/ethnic minority and majority women—namely, macro level factors and individual vulnerability factors, respectively. The need for trauma-informed services for unemployed and/or homeless women is highlighted.     

Women’s Knowledge of the Domestic Violence Legislation in Erbil,Iraq and their Response to Spousal Violence

This study assessed the knowledge of 82 married women about existing legislations and law enforcement structure in Iraqi Kurdistan region to combat violence against women and women’s response to spousal violence. A female physician interviewed the participants using a specially designed questionnaire. The women possessed good knowledge about the presence of legislation (76.8 %) and related law enforcement structure (70.7 % to 74.4 %) to combat violence against women, but they lacked adequate knowledge about how to contact the law enforcement agencies. Women’s response to spousal violence primarily included self-defense (37.8 %) or keeping silent (26.8 %), rather than seeking justice (4.9 %). Women’s educational status was positively associated with reporting violence to police (52.1 % vs 29.4 %, p = 0.041) and the health staff (62.5 % vs 35.3 %, p = 0.015). Further research is needed to explore the reasons behind women’s poor knowledge of the details of the existing law enforcement structure and women’s reluctance to seek justice.     

Partying,Cruising, and Hanging in the Streets: Gangs,Routine Activities,and Delinquency and Violence in Chicago, 1959–1962

Objectives

Examine relationships between routine activities, character contests in the form of “signifying,” and general delinquency and fighting in a street gang context.

Methods

Samejima’s (Estimation of latent ability using a response pattern of graded scores. Psychometrika monograph supplement 17. Psychometric Society, Richmond, VA, Retrieved 10 Aug 2011, from http://www.psychometrika.org/journal/online/MN17.pdf, 1969) graded response models and multilevel ordinal logistic regression models are estimated using data from Short and Strodtbeck (Group process and gang delinquency. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1965) study of street gangs in Chicago, 1959–1962. The primary sample consists of 490 boys representing 10 black gangs, 4 white gangs, 9 black lower-class groups, 4 white lower-class groups, 2 black middle-class groups, and 2 white middle-class groups.

Results

Unstructured and unsupervised socializing with peers significantly increased the likelihood of delinquency among the boys and explained a significant portion of the group-level gang effect. In addition, the more time the boys spent hanging in the streets and attending parties, the more likely they were to participate in signifying, which, in turn, increased their risk of fighting.

Conclusions

Findings provide evidence that gangs contribute to delinquency partly through their effect on the routine activities of members. Findings also suggest that signifying is an important mechanism by which unstructured and unsupervised socializing with peers leads to violence.     

Children’s Perceptions of Intimate Partner Violence: Causes,Consequences, and Coping

Children’s appraisals of conflictual and aggressive parental interactions mediate their effect on children’s adjustment. Previous studies have relied almost exclusively on self-report questionnaires to assess appraisals; consequently we know little about perceptions that occur naturally when children witness interparental aggression. This study employed a semi-structured interview to assess the thoughts and feelings of 34 children (ages 7–12) whose mothers were receiving services at domestic violence agencies, and mothers reported on interparental aggression that took place in the home. Children’s thoughts centered on consequences and efforts to understand why fights occurred. They generally viewed their mother’s partner as responsible for violence, though a significant number viewed both parents as playing a role. Sadness and anger were more common than anxiety, and children often attempted to stop or withdraw from fights or both. When asked why family violence occurs, most focused on perpetrators’ lack of control of anger or personal characteristics, but approximately one-third viewed victims as provoking aggression. These findings support the idea that children actively attempt to understand the causes and consequences of interparental violence and suggest that their perceptions and interpretations are important for understanding the development of beliefs regarding the use of violence in close relationships.     

‘Female Husbands’, Community and Courts in the Eighteenth Century

While there was no specific law prohibiting sex between women in the eighteenth century, some women were prosecuted as a consequence of same-sex relationships. These ‘female husbands’, women who married other women under male identities, often lived highly individual lifestyles; but their path through prosecution and punishment involved a much more intricate web of relations. Thus an exploration of their cases highlights important features of the contemporary criminal justice system as well as popular and elite attitudes to the specific offences. In particular, understandings of the role of the community in the discovery, prosecution, and punishment of criminal offences are complicated by an examination of the female husband cases. In a crucial period of change for the legal system, the complexities of its processes as well as the impact of class, gender, and culture are exposed. Light is shed upon the shifting roles and interests of the individual, the local community, and the courts at a point when criminal cases were in the early stages of a shift from private prosecution and public punishment to greater formality and state control. These unusual cases bring into focus the complex role of community relationships in an evolving legal system.     

Domestic Violence against Women in Cambodia: Husband’s Control,Frequency of Spousal Discussion,and Domestic Violence Reported by Cambodian Women

This study sought to examine the effects of husband’s control and frequency of spousal discussion on domestic violence against Cambodian married women, using the 2005 Cambodia Demographic and Health Survey data. The sample included 1,707 married women, aged 16–49 (M = 35.14). Structural Equation Modeling showed that husband’s control positively predicted both emotional and physical violence. Frequency of spousal discussion positively predicted emotional violence, an association consistent with the idea that a husband holding patriarchal beliefs would interpret women’s more frequent discussion as a violation of Cambodian norms for quiet, submissive wives. Frequency of spousal discussion and husband’s control were positively correlated. The role of gender issues in husband’s control and frequency of spousal discussion are discussed with respect to violence in the lives of Cambodian women.