Differential perceptions of the seriousness of male violence against female intimate partners among Jews and Arabs in Israel

Crime seriousness studies have consistently shown wide consensus regarding the high perceived seriousness of violent offenses. However, socio-cultural models suggest wide variability between social groups with regard to the seriousness of certain types of violent crime. This is particularly true in the case of male violence against female intimate partners. The present study examines these contradictory propositions in Israel focusing on its two main ethnic groups--Jews and Arabs. In an attitudinal survey, respondents were required to evaluate the seriousness of hypothetical crime scenarios representing a number of criminal offenses including male violence against female intimate partners. As expected, the findings revealed significantly more permissive attitudes to male violence against female intimate partners among Arab respondents than among Jews. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

The correctional melting pot: Race, ethnicity, citizenship, and prison violence

The United States prison population is becoming more diverse and comprised of increasingly more violent inmates. Although race has been cited as a risk factor for inmate violence, most prior research had narrowly investigated White/Black differences in inmate misconduct. Using a sample of 1,005 inmates from the southwestern U.S., the current study explored racial, ethnic, and citizenship correlates among male and female prisoners. Negative binomial regression models indicated that net of controls, Hispanics and Native Americans were the most violent male prisoners, while African Americans and Native Americans were the most violent female inmates. The current study was admittedly modest in scope; however, the findings were couched within a broader, imperative sociological framework that lamented the increasing interplay between communities and prison and the role of prison as a social institution.     

UNSTRUCTURED SOCIALIZING,COLLECTIVE EFFICACY,AND VIOLENT BEHAVIOR AMONG URBAN YOUTH*

Relying on extensions of routine activities and social disorganization theories, we examine whether 1) neighborhood social characteristics shape opportunities for the development of unstructured socializing with peers among adolescents, 2) whether unstructured socializing leads to an increase in violent behavior within urban communities, and 3) whether neighborhood collective efficacy modifies the impact of unstructured socializing on violence. The study outlined in this article uses three waves of data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods Community Survey and Longitudinal Cohort Study. Results from multilevel linear models suggest that neighborhood collective efficacy supports the development of unstructured socializing with peers. Multilevel Rasch models of violent behavior indicate that, consistent with previous research, unstructured socializing is a powerful predictor of violence. Collective efficacy exerts an independent influence on violent behavior and attenuates the effect of unstructured socializing on this outcome.     

Roads diverged: An examination of violent and nonviolent pathways in the aftermath of the Bosnian war*

Despite renewed interest among criminologists in war and genocide, still understudied are the implications of mass violence for human development and behavior over the life course. By drawing on detailed life history data gathered from 55 male Bosnian refugees and nationals, in this work, I examine the shared beginnings of men who experienced the Bosnian war and genocide (1992–1995) in their youth, as well as examine their divergent pathways over time and across two distinct postwar contexts. My findings reveal that violent pathways are shaped by the confluence of social–psychological mechanisms (e.g., the normalization of violence) and exogenous risk factors (e.g., family disruption and loss of male role models). Compared with nonviolent men, who emphasize themes of catharsis and resilience, and the emulation of prosocial models of masculinity, violent men's narratives are distinguished by themes of persecution and exile, the emulation of violent role models, and contextual barriers to attaining valued masculine identities. Beyond the experience of war, these findings have implications for understanding how early experiences of chronic violence and community disruption shape turning points and cultural frames over the life course, and they indicate that studies of violent pathways should grant greater primacy to the social–historical context and the meaning individuals ascribe to their experiences.     

Violent crimes in native and foreign national offenders

Although the foreign national population in Spanish prisons has doubled during the past decade from 22% to 44%, few studies have investigated the contribution of foreign nationals to criminality and their risk profiles compared to natives. The present paper compared rates of violent conviction in 917 native and 657 foreign national male offenders, and explored differences in risk factors for violence between groups using logistic regression, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, and positive and negative predictive values (PPV and NPV, respectively). Natives and foreign nationals showed no significant differences in the rate of violent conviction (19.6% vs. 17.2%, respectively). However, when multivariate models were developed to predict violence in the samples using logistic regression, between-group differences in the risk profiles of violent and non-violent offenders were found. Implications of the findings for research, public policy and risk management were explored.     

Violent Conduct and Victimization Risk in the Urban Illicit Drug Economy: A Prospective Examination

A small but growing body of criminological research examines the nature of social control mechanisms in the context of urban illicit drug markets in order to understand patterns of violence. Several studies find that merchants operating in this economy experience relatively high rates of violent victimization. Existing theoretical and empirical research suggests, however, that an aggressive posture serves a deterrent function in the illicit marketplace. Merchants with a violent persona will have significantly lower rates of victimization compared to their less-violent counterparts. Using a within-person design applied to prospective longitudinal data from a sample of urban males, this paper examines the proposition that violent conduct attenuates the relationship between participation in the illicit drug marketplace and risk for violent victimization. Combined, the results offer partial support for this proposition. We discuss the implications of this study for research on violent behavior, illegal drug markets, and victimization.     

Female criminality in modern Egypt: A general outlook

While interest in women criminality in Egypt goes back to the turn of the century, academic concern for studying female offenders appeared several decades later. Early studies on Egyptian women inmates have revealed several characteristics that were confirmed in more recent studies. The typical female offender in Egypt tends to be urbanite, poor, middleaged, married, illiterate, unemployed, and instigated by male associates. Women are more likely to be involved in crimes of morality and drug trafficking while men are disproportionally convicted for both property and violent offenses. The family milieu and social environment play a major part in female delinquency. There is some evidence that women who assume the male role get more involved with law violation.     

TRENDS IN THE GENDER GAP IN VIOLENT OFFENDING: NEW EVIDENCE FROM THE NATIONAL CRIME VICTIMIZATION SURVEY*

Recent research has compared male and female trends in violent offending in Uniform Crime Report (UCR) arrest data with similar trends derived from victims' reports in the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) and has concluded that the two data sources produce contrary findings. In this article, we reassess this issue and draw different conclusions. Using pooled National Crime Survey (NCS) and NCVS data for 1973 to 2005, we find that the female‐to‐male offending rate ratios for aggravated assault, robbery, and simple assault have increased over time and that the narrowing of the gender gaps is very similar to patterns in UCR arrest data. In addition, we find that these patterns are in part caused by larger decreases in male than female offending after the mid‐1990s and not by recent increases in violent offending rates among females. We conclude that changes in the gender gaps in aggravated assault, robbery, and simple assault are real and not artifacts; therefore, these changes deserve serious attention in future research. We conclude with a discussion of several hypotheses that might account for a narrowing of the gender gap in nonlethal violent offending over time.     

RACE-SPECIFIC EMPLOYMENT CONTEXTS AND RECIDIVISM*

Although much literature has examined macrolevel employment contexts and crime rates and, at the individual level, employment and offending, few studies have examined systematically whether macrolevel employment contexts influence individual-level offending. At the same time, emerging literature on prisoner reentry increasingly underscores the potential importance of the social environment for impeding or facilitating successful transitions back into society. All three avenues of inquiry have emphasized the salience of race-specific and offense-specific effects. This study extends prior work on ecology and offending, employment and crime, and prisoner reentry by examining the race-specific effects of unemployment rates and manufacturing employment rates on violent, property, and drug recidivism. By analyzing data on male ex-prisoners released to 67 counties in Florida, we found, as hypothesized, that Black ex-prisoners released to areas with higher Black male unemployment rates have a greater likelihood of violent recidivism. No comparable effect was identified for White exprisoners. However, we found that White ex-prisoners, especially those without prior violent convictions, have a lower likelihood of violent recidivism when released to areas with higher White male manufacturing employment rates. We discuss the findings and their implications for theory, research, and policy.     

Female juvenile murderers: Biological and psychological dynamics leading to homicide

The increasing involvement of girls under 18 in violent crime has been a matter of growing concern in the United States in recent years. This article reviews the arrests of female juveniles for violent crime and then focuses specifically on their involvement in homicide. Arrests of girls for murder, unlike arrests for assault, have not risen over the last 30 years, suggesting that the dynamics that propel female juveniles to engage in lethal violence differ from those contributing to assaultive behavior by this same group. A review of the literature indicates that theories as to why female adolescents kill do not take into account recent scientific findings on brain development and the biological effects of early trauma in explaining serious violent behavior by girls. Three cases, evaluated by the authors, involving female adolescents charged with murder or attempted murder, are presented. The authors focus on the biological and psychological dynamics that help explain their violent behavior. They discuss the effects of insecure attachment and child maltreatment, and trace a critical pathway between these early experiences and future risk of violent behavior. The dynamics of child maltreatment in fostering rage and violence are discussed thereafter in terms of offender accountability. The article concludes with a discussion of treatment and recommendations for future research.     

Gender effects in eyewitness accounts of a violent crime

Abstract

This research examined two aspects of gender effects in eyewitness accounts: whether there are gender differences in memory for a violent crime and how gender of perpetrator/victim affect witnesses' evaluations of perpetrator/victim behavior. Eighty male and 84 female university students saw a film showing a simulated manslaughter with either a male or female perpetrator stabbing a male or female victim. A female advantage was found in overall memory of the crime, and both a male perpetrator and a male victim were assigned more culpability than their female counterparts. It is suggested that females may have more elaborated categories for person information than males, which should facilitate female accuracy in person memory. Alternatively, the present findings may reflect a more general female advantage in episodic memory performance. Stereotype assimilation is suggested to account for the differential evaluations of a male and female perpetrator/victim.     

Gender Differences in Specialization in Intimate Partner Violence: Comparing the Gender Symmetry and Violent Resistance Perspectives

Research on male domestic violence offenders has typically considered them to be highly specialized offenders, and specialized theories and policies have been developed to address this type of offending. Some scholars have suggested that intimate partner violence is not as specialized as has been previously assumed. Especially in terms of gender differences, intimate partner violence research and theory suggest some variability in the level of specialization apparent for offenders. The current study uses the gender symmetry and violent resistance perspectives of women’s use of intimate partner violence to examine gender differences in specialization among a sample of intimate partner violence arrestees. Analyses employed multivariate models estimating the diversity index as a measure of specialization in general and multilevel item response theory to assess specialization in intimate partner violence specifically. Results indicate that female arrestees demonstrate significantly greater levels specialization as compared to male arrestees, providing support for the violent resistance perspective. Implications of these results and directions for future research are discussed.     

Callous and unemotional traits and social cognitive processes in a sample of community-based aggressive youth

Psychopathic traits are associated with violent, aggressive behaviors and recidivism in adulthood. To increase positive treatment outcomes, it is arguably beneficial to identify and treat psychopathy as early as possible. Furthermore, because research shows that the effectiveness of behavior modification is likely to be affected by the social information-processing patterns of aggressive children, it is important to understand the relationship between conduct-disordered traits and social cognitions. The results of this study showed that callous/unemotional traits in a community-based sample of behavior-disordered youth (57 male, 19 female; 10-19 years of age; 63% African American) significantly predicted values in obtaining a tangible reward and getting into trouble or being punished. However, callous/unemotional traits, impulsivity/conduct problems, and narcissism failed to predict positive expectations regarding receiving a tangible reward, reducing aversive treatment, and demonstration of dominance. Implications for these results are presented.     

Racial differences in violence and self-esteem among prison inmates

Recent scholarship in social psychology suggests that individuals with an elevated sense of self-esteem may respond aggressively or violently when this heightened egoism is threatened. The present study explores differences in self-esteem, aggression, and violent behavior among a sample of 644 male state prison inmates. The results indicated that Black inmates expressed higher levels of self-esteem than White inmates. Although Blacks and Whites did not differ on a psychological measure of aggressive personality, Black prisoners reported more violent behavior than Whites. Moreover, high self-esteem predicted violent behavior inside prison, but only for Whites. This finding suggests that the relationship between high self-esteem and violence may be race-specific.     

Psychosocial Perspectives of Girls and Violence: Implications for Policy and Praxis

Psychosocial and feminist criminologies produce a complex etiology of adolescent female violence, and advance understanding of much female behavior that juvenile authorities formally address: mental health disturbances. When girls’ violent behaviors are considered within a psychodynamic theoretical framework, policy problems are dramatically redefined, resulting in a reformulation of the social problem, newly contextualized, and the collective responses to the troubled girls it has defined. This paper places known etiologies of violent behaviors, including case study material, in a context of extant social policies that impact and determine the social location and control of violent girls. We argue that efficacious policy responses would be psychosocially informed, and focus upon a more holistic mental health praxis, rather than criminal justice practices alone.     

LOCAL POLITICS AND VIOLENT CRIME IN U.S. CITIES*

Recent research has begun to examine the effects of politics on crime. However, few studies have considered how local political variation is likely to affect crime. Using insights from urban politics research, this paper develops and tests hypotheses regarding direct and conditional effects of local politics on violent crime in 958 cities in 1991. Results from negative binomial regression analyses show that violent crime rates vary by local political structures and the race of the mayor. In addition, the effects of structural factors such as poverty, unemployment, and female‐headed households on violent crime depend on local form of government and the number of unreformed local governmental structures. Implications for systemic social disorganization and institutional anomie theories are discussed.     

The Influence of Violent Victimisation on Police Officers’ Organisational Commitment

Previous research found job stressors and social resources to be consistent predictors of organisational commitment across occupations. Surprisingly, to date, stressors that are rather specific to police officers’ jobs have rarely been explored in this context. The present study addresses this topic by investigating the influence of directly experienced civilian-related violence on organisational commitment in police staff. As social resources are considered to buffer the negative effects of job stressors on organisational commitment, such an effect was also expected regarding violent victimisation. Additionally, the study raised the question of whether the same influence factors of organisational commitment can be found for male and female police officers. Data were collected from 1,931 German patrol police officers. Results indicated a decrease of organisational commitment following experiences of violent victimisation during the last 12 months. In line with expectations social resources (group cohesiveness, immediate supervisor support) were shown to have a commitment-enhancing effect with group cohesiveness also buffering experiences of violent victimisation. Additionally, evidence yielded that social support from immediate supervisors mediates the relationship between organisational stressors and organisational commitment. In case of gender-specific influence factors no significant differences could be found.     

Are the same factors related to participation and frequency of offending by male and female prisoners?

Abstract

This paper is the first to compare correlates of participation and frequency of violent and property offending by male and female offenders. The criminal career approach suggests that different features of criminal careers may have different correlates and predictors, whereas Gottfredson and Hirschi argued that all criminal career features have the same correlates and predictors. This paper investigates how much 24 explanatory constructs, derived from social learning, labelling and personality theories, were related to participation and frequency of offending. Samples of 118 male prisoners and 93 female prisoners in Trinidad were interviewed to determine whether they participated in violent and property crimes and the frequency with which they committed these crimes. The results showed that these theoretical constructs (especially labelling) were much more related to participation than to frequency, but they were similarly related to violent and property offending. They were similarly related to male and female frequency but not to male and female participation in offending. In general, different factors influenced participation and frequency, although impulsivity was related to both for males and females. It is concluded that existing theories need to be improved to explain the frequency of offending.     

Street youths' violent responses to violent personal, vicarious, and anticipated strain

Utilizing general strain theory, this study explored the role experienced violent victimization, vicarious violent victimization, and two forms of anticipated violent victimization, played in the generation of street youths' violent offending. Basic models showed that experienced, vicarious, and fear of anticipated victimization were associated with violent offending. Full models suggested that only experienced violent victimization had a lower order relationship with violence. The relationship between experienced victimization and violence was further moderated by negative emotionality and low constraint. Males were also more likely to respond to experienced victimization with violence at higher levels of social support. Findings also revealed the relationship between vicarious violent victimization and violence was moderated by low constraint. Further, anticipated risk of violent victimization was associated with violent offending at lower levels of constraint, greater negative emotionality, and higher levels of social support. Results are discussed and avenues for future research are offered.     

Violent behavior in female inmates: possible predictors

Research findings have been equivocal regarding the relationship between experiencing trauma and exhibiting violent behavior in women. This study seeks to determine predictors of violent behavior in female inmates utilizing various conceptualizations of traumatic experiences. Results indicate a significant univariate relationship between experiencing more frequent physical abuse experiences, both interpersonal and noninterpersonal types of trauma, and both physical and sexual assaults with frequency of engagement in violent behavior. The regression model explained approximately 21.0% of the variance in violent behavior. Furthermore, frequency of physical abuse experiences was a significant predictor of frequency of engagement in violent behavior and explained 12.74% of unique variance. These results suggest that the frequency of physical abuse experiences may serve as a risk factor for women's violent behavior. Although more research is needed, it appears that addressing the potential for violence in women who experience abuse may be an appropriate target of treatment.