Comparison of Abuse Alleged by Same- and Opposite-Gender Litigants as Cited in Requests for Abuse Prevention Orders

Domestic violence is commonly portrayed as something male batterers do to their female victims. Much research excludes study of female-perpetrated violence. This study develops a two-gender measure of abuse as documented by requests for protection. All nonimpounded Abuse Prevention Orders (M.G.L. c. 209A) issued in Massachusetts' Gardner District Court in the year 1997 were analyzed by gender to examine the level and types of violence alleged by plaintiffs. The level and types of violence were categorized and measured by examining Abuse Claimed Checkboxes found on each Complaint for Protection and by applying quantitative scales to affidavits, or plaintiff statements, filed as part of each request for protection. Despite widespread misconceptions that tend to minimize female abuse, examination of these court documents shows that male and female defendants, who were the subject of a complaint in domestic relation cases, while sometimes exhibiting different aggressive tendencies, measured almost equally abusive in terms of the overall level of psychological and physical aggression.     

Pathways to aggression: A factorial survey of “Routine conflict”

Based on data collected in 1994 from a factorial survey of 2052 respondents, this paper examines how routine conflict may escalate into aggression taking into account social context and characteristics of the victim and offender. Following Luckenbill and Doyle's (1989) suggestion, we developed a series of scenarios to examine the influence of structural position on the emergence of disputes and the legitimation of aggression. The analysis reveals a direct relationship between the intensity of an attack with the emergence of a dispute and the legitimation of aggression. Results indicate that situational aspects of structural position do not extend beyond sex differences. This emphasizes the generalizing effect of male on male confrontation in the legitimation of aggression. The strengths and limitations of scenario-based research for understanding violence in society are discussed. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the annual meetings of the American Society of Criminology, Miami, November 1994.     

Prevalence of spouse aggression in Hong Kong

The present study explored the extent of spouse aggression in Chinese families in Hong Kong. Subjects were 246 female and 136 male undergraduate students who reported on the various forms of interparental aggression and violence. About 75% of the subjects reported interparental verbal or symbolic aggression and 14% indicated the use of physical violence between parents. In general, compared to mothers, fathers engaged in more verbal aggression against their spouses. Mothers were as likely as fathers to use actual physical force toward their spouses. Interparental responses to family conflicts did not vary with children's gender except that female subjects observed that fathers reasoned less but engaged in more insulting, throwing, smashing, hitting, or kicking things than mothers.     

Toward Conflict or Compromise? How Violent Metaphors Polarize Partisan Issue Attitudes

We know much about how opinion leaders drive mass partisan polarization with position-taking cues but little on how different message types polarize citizens, and who responds most to those messages attributes. This article contributes new insights by investigating how exposure to common violent metaphors interacts with audience personality traits to polarize partisans on issues. Building from research on conflict orientations, we theorize that aggressive rhetoric primes aggression in aggressive partisans, motivating greater intransigence on party positions. As a consequence, aggressive partisans are pulled further apart on issues, thereby reducing prospects for compromise. We find support for our predictions in two large nationally diverse survey experiments conducted in very different political contexts. Our results demonstrate the subtle power of aggression in public opinion and highlight the important moderating role of individual differences in the communication of partisan conflict.     

The interplay between bystanders’ intervention styles: An examination of the “bullying circle” approach

This study explores correlations between bystanders’ intervention styles by means of the bullying circle model. Three aims were examined in this study. First, we reevaluated the number and type of bystander intervention styles in aggressive school incidents. Second, we examined the association between reports of relational aggression and victimization and bystander intervention styles. Third, we estimated relationships between the different bystander intervention styles, by examining two directional paths. Participants were 1,518 adolescents (61.9% boys, 38.1% girls) from 15 Israeli religious and secular middle and high schools. The data analysis indicated two new intervention styles: help-seeker and passive bystander. Two structural models, illustrating the path leading to and from provictim and antivictim bystander intervention styles are presented. The distinction between the “participant-role approach” and the bullying circle is discussed in order to address the theoretical difference between social categorization of fixed bystander roles as opposed to rating bystander intervention styles on a continuum.     

Developing a peace course in police studies: how a culture of peace can enhance police legitimacy in a democratic society

This paper reflects my experiences developing a course within the Criminal Justice Technology Associates of Science degree program at Valencia College that fuses topics unique to peace and police studies. The key challenge in developing this course was in confronting the paradox of the police as instruments of both peace and conflict. In dealing with this paradox, students examine the role of the police in a democratic society and the authority of the police to use coercive force. Key topics covered in this course include defining peace, the police role in peace movements, the history, structure and strategies affecting the police, causes of violence, conflict analysis and conflict intervention, and ethical foundations for peace. In addition, this course examines occupational, organizational, institutional factors that contribute to the development of a unique police subculture that values crime fighting as its core responsibility and the impact of that orientation on police attitudes and behaviors toward the public. Throughout the course, students are challenged to envision a new paradigm for policing that emphasizes a culture of peace rather than a culture of conflict.     

In a Violent World a Just World Makes Sense: The Case of “Senseless Violence” in The Netherlands

Recent violent incidents in The Netherlands caused nationwide debates about their purported senselessness. Building on Lerner's Just World Theory (Lerner, 1980, The Belief in a Just World. A Fundamental Delusion, Plenum Press, New York), the present experiment sought to delineate the circumstances under which violence is perceived as senseless by outside observers. Participants were more likely to perceive an act of violence as senseless and to identify with the victim when there was no opportunity to blame the victim and when the victim was uninvolved with the perpetrator. These findings suggest that acts of violence are perceived as senseless when attributional strategies fail to uphold observers' belief in a just world.     

渎职侵权犯罪的社会因素分析

渎职侵权犯罪具有极为严重的危害,它直接侵害了国家、集体、公民个人的财产和安全,严重影响社会稳定。在源头上预防和减少渎职侵权犯罪,就显得极为重要。分析渎职侵权犯罪形成的社会因素,进而更好地打击渎职侵权犯罪,建立大预防格局具有深远的现实意义和指导意义。本文就渎职侵权犯罪的社会成因及其预防对策方面作了有益的探索。     

The influence of contextual information regarding the breakdown of relationships and perpetrator-target sex composition on perceptions of relational stalking

ABSTRACT

The present study examines the influence of prior relationship (with contextual information regarding the breakdown of the relationship) and perpetrator-target sex composition on perceptions of relational stalking. The study employed an experimental 7?×?2 independent measures design, and the sample comprised 1,260 members of the community residing in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. Participants received one of 14 versions of a hypothetical scenario and responded to scale items concerning the situation described. The situation was perceived to be most serious when the perpetrator was a stranger or a physically violent ex-partner and least serious when the perpetrator was an ex-partner of an unfaithful target. Scenarios involving a male perpetrator and a female victim were also perceived to be more serious than scenarios involving a female perpetrator and a male target. It is apparent therefore that the context of the relationship breakdown and the sex of the perpetrator and target significantly influence perceptions of relational stalking.     

Fueling the Fire: Violent Metaphors,Trait Aggression,and Support for Political Violence

The recent concurrence of violent political rhetoric and violence against political targets in the U.S. and abroad has raised public concern about the effects of language on citizens. Building from theoretical foundations in aggression research, I fielded two nationally representative survey experiments and a third local experiment preceding the 2010 midterm elections to investigate support for violence against political authority. Subjects were randomly assigned to view one of two forms of the same political advertisements. Across all three experiments, mild violent metaphors multiply support for political violence among aggressive citizens, especially among young adults. Aggressive personality traits also predict support for political violence in both national studies. This work identifies dynamic roots of violent political orientations and reveals for the first time surprising interactions between this elite discourse and personality traits in citizens.