Is Gun Violence Contagious? A Spatiotemporal Test

Objectives

Existing theories of gun violence predict stable spatial concentrations and contagious diffusion of gun violence into surrounding areas. Recent empirical studies have reported confirmatory evidence of such spatiotemporal diffusion of gun violence. However, existing space/time interaction tests cannot readily distinguish spatiotemporal clustering from spatiotemporal diffusion. This leaves as an open question whether gun violence actually is contagious or merely clusters in space and time. Compounding this problem, gun violence is subject to considerable measurement error with many nonfatal shootings going unreported to police.

Methods

Using point process data from an acoustical gunshot locator system and a combination of Bayesian spatiotemporal point process modeling and classical space/time interaction tests, this paper distinguishes between clustered but non-diffusing gun violence and clustered gun violence resulting from diffusion.

Results

This paper demonstrates that contemporary urban gun violence in a metropolitan city does diffuse in space and time, but only slightly.

Conclusions

These results suggest that a disease model for the spread of gun violence in space and time may not be a good fit for most of the geographically stable and temporally stochastic process observed. And that existing space/time tests may not be adequate tests for spatiotemporal gun violence diffusion models.

     

The Portuguese Parliament and Public Opinion: A Case for Reform?

During the past decade, the Portuguese political system has been under close scrutiny. As in other Western democracies, the topic of citizens' dissatisfaction with democratic institutions has been at the centre of a wide debate amongst public opinion and politicians. This debate has focused on parliament and parliamentary reform has often been seen as a way of enhancing parliament's image. However, as this note will show, there is no clear evidence that the Portuguese are dissatisfied with this institution. Indeed, this is still an under-researched area. Why is there an assumption that the Portuguese parliament has a negative image? And why should this have consequences for parliamentary reform? In the context of the creation of a Portuguese Election Study, this note aims to raise questions for future research on this topic. The note will look into the concept of legislative support, assess the evidence available on the Portuguese parliament's popularity and suggest indicators that would help to clarify the Portuguese views on this. It will also explore the connection between legislative support and the role of parliament, to enquire whether popularity indicators can make a case for parliamentary reform.     

Intimate Partner Violence Against Women: Is Women Empowerment a Reducing Factor? A Study from a National Bangladeshi Sample

This article explores how women empowerment affects Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) in Bangladesh using a cross-sectional investigation of currently married women (n = 4,181) sampled via the Bangladesh Demographic Health Survey (BDHS), 2007. About one-fourth (24%) of currently married Bangladeshi women experienced both physical and/or sexual IPV in the past year. Prevalence of physical and sexual violence was 19.4% and 10.5%, respectively. Younger generation (age 15–24), illiterate, rural, and the poorest household wealth categorized women were much victimized. Current employment status predicted intimate partner violence. Household decision-making pattern also emerged as a predictor of IPV. Likelihood of all forms of IPV increases with increase of number of participation in household decision-making. Promoting women empowerment in the household without men’s support may put women at more risk of IPV.     

Are Domestic Violence Courts working for indigenous peoples?

It is well established that the disproportionate imprisonment rates for indigenous peoples surpass that of non‐indigenous peoples. What is troubling is the alarming statistic that indicates that the rate of apprehension, prosecution and recidivism of indigenous women surpasses that of not only non‐indigenous peoples but also male indigenous peoples. This article proposes a court setting for domestic violence that incorporates therapeutic jurisprudence as an appropriate vehicle for the recognition of an indigenous law system as the answer to this problem. The model proposed comprises two components; a specialized Domestic Violence Court underpinned by the doctrine of therapeutic jurisprudence and the implementation of an indigenous legal system such as tikanga Maori.     

Do Judicial Responses to Restraining Order Requests Discriminate Against Male Victims of Domestic Violence?

Every state in the United States authorizes its courts to issue civil orders of protection for victims of domestic violence. Ideally, restraining orders should be available to all victims. However, consistent with the patriarchal paradigm, research suggests that judicial responses to domestic violence temporary restraining order (TRO) requests may be sex-differentiated. This paper reports on a study that explored equal protection issues in family law by evaluating gender and violence profiles of a random sample of 157 TRO petitions involving intimate partners, dating couples, and married persons in a California district court. The majority of cases involved allegations of low or moderate levels of violence perpetrated by male defendants against female plaintiffs. Although there were no systematic differences in level of violence as a function of plaintiff sex, judges were almost 13 times more likely to grant a TRO requested by a female plaintiff against her male intimate partner, than a TRO requested by a male plaintiff against his female partner. Further analyses revealed that this sex differentiation was limited to cases involving allegations of low-level violence.

A Two-Way Street for Alcohol Use and Partner Violence: Who’s Driving It?

Using lifetime data from two waves of the National Epidemiologic Surveys on Alcohol and Related Conditions, this study sought to examine sex- and race-specific risks in the temporal relationship between adult onset severe physical intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization and alcohol misuse (binge drinking) and alcohol use disorders (abuse and dependence) and whether or not childhood trauma moderated these relationships among U.S. non-Hispanic White and Black women and men. IPV predicted most alcohol outcomes among White and Black women and White men. Conversely, binge drinking among White and Black women and alcohol abuse among Black women and men predicted IPV. Childhood trauma moderated the relationship between IPV and alcohol misuse mainly among Black respondents, with an increased risk of either outcome among those without childhood trauma. These findings suggest a reciprocal relationship between IPV victimization and alcohol misuse, with implications for sex- and race-specific prevention and intervention efforts.     

Is There a Case for Strict Liability?

In this short paper, I shall answer the title’s question first in the context of criminal law and then in the context of tort law. In that latter section, I shall also mention in passing contractual and other forms of civil liability that are strict, although they will not be my principal focus. My conclusions will be that strict liability is never proper as the basis for retributive punishment; that it is a very crude device for achieving deterrence through nonretributive penalties; and that with respect to tort liability, it is best justified as a means of defining insurance categories.     

Universal Jurisdiction for International Crimes – A Case Study

There is generally no agreed doctrinal definition of universal jurisdiction in customary and conventional international law. However, this does not preclude any definition, which embodies the essence of the concept as the ability to exercise jurisdiction irrespective of territoriality or nationality. Therefore, the concept of universal jurisdiction applies to a situation where “the nature of (an) act entitles a State to exercise its jurisdiction to apply its laws, even if the act has occurred outside its territory, has been perpetrated by a non-national, and even if (its) nationals have not been harmed by the acts.”     

The Trip – A Case of Problematic Friendship?

In Sweden, there have been several cases in recent years where local politicians and officials have been accused of corrupt behaviour. This article concerns one such case, where a Chairman of the Municipal Board and a County Governor were invited by a wealthy business man to the inauguration of a vacation facility abroad. Their travel costs and lodgings were paid for by the business man, whose firm also sold equipment to the municipality as well as the county. When the trip became known to the prosecutors at the Swedish National Anti-Corruption Unit, a police investigation was conducted and charges raised against them for giving (the business man) and receiving (the Chairman and the County Governor) bribes. Eventually, after two trials (District Court and Court of Appeal), the Chairman, County Governor, and the business man were cleared of all charges against them. The trip was viewed by the courts as a gift, not a bribe. It is argued that the case raises interesting questions about entangled friendship relations and the blurred boundaries between private and professional roles which are important for understanding local corruption (and allegations of corruption) in Sweden. Therefore, the article's main focus concerns what could be described as actions in the grey zone.     

Feigning Hand Preference? A Case Report Preliminary Data

Hand preference may be crucial in the forensic domain, notably in cases where the assailant is known to be left‐handed and the defendant claims to be right‐handed (or vice versa). In such cases, forensic psychologists or physicians may be asked to test the hand preference of the defendant. However, hand preference may be faked. The case described here illustrates this problem and addresses potential solutions. We also present preliminary data showing that a standard instrument for measuring handedness is sensitive to feigning. We conclude that when hand preference is determined, multiple sources of information should be assessed in order to identify possible feigning.     

Victim or Offender? Heterogeneity Among Women Arrested for Intimate Partner Violence

Mandatory arrest laws for intimate partner violence (IPV) have increased both the number and proportion of arrests that involve female defendants. Whether these numbers should be as high as they are remains a source of controversy. Most practitioners argue that women are usually arrested for defensive actions used in the face of assaults perpetrated by their spouse/partner. Others believe that these higher arrest rates more accurately reflect the true prevalence of physical aggression perpetrated by women. One way to help clarify this debate is to take a closer look at the women charged with IPV. The present study used self-reported information and criminal justice records on prior aggression to classify 485 women convicted of IPV into four distinct subtypes (i.e., no prior violence, primary victim, primary aggressor, and primary aggressor not identified). Despite the fact that all of these women were arrested for and convicted of IPV, analyses consistently found that few of the women could be considered as the primary aggressor in their relationship. Nor, however, were all of the women classified as primary victims. Methodological issues are discussed as well as the policy, practice, and research implications of this study.

What's the Use of a Hashtag? A Case Study

Although there are now sophisticated techniques for the analysis of social media, socio‐legal studies has yet to draw on them fully. In this article, we demonstrate how Twitter can produce insights about protest, law, and legality, through a case study of protests against the ‘bedroom tax’. The first involved challenging a policy in the courts using a test case or cases. We discuss the litigation strategies and the mess they created and counterpose those strategies with those of four prolific ‘tweeps’ who participated in our study. We argue that, despite the small number of participants, these people have, in their own way, been enormously influential and made things happen. Our position is not evaluative of the different strategies – but, rather, one that recognizes that legality is mobilized in different ways.     

Michelin II: A Per Se Rule Against Rebates by Dominant Companies?

In its Michelin II judgment of September 2003, the CFI foundthat Michelin breached Article 82 EC by setting up a systemof rebates that could potentially induce loyalty and excludeits competitors. This paper comments extensively on MichelinII and other cases, with a focus on what sort of competitionpolicy is desirable as regards rebates by dominant companies.Contrary to Michelin II, pricing policies of dominant companieswhich are not linear and not strictly reflecting economies ofscale are not necessarily anticompetitive and may indeed havesignificant pro-competitive effects. Furthermore, a requirementthat a rebate scheme be "economically justified" is very difficultto apply in practice, and the Court should not have put theburden of proof for the justification of quantitative rebatesupon the dominant company. Most preoccupying is the Court'srejection of the effect criterion when deciding on the legalityof a rebate: Such an approach, which differs markedly from USand UK law as well as from the OECD report on fidelity discounts,will generally result in a disproportionate per se-prohibitionof any pricing behaviour and in economic inefficiencies. A fairerand clearer approach could therefore distinguish between rebatesthat are per se allowed and other rebates that ought to be prohibitedonly if they have effects on the market.     

The Independence of Kosovo: A Unique Case of Secession?

The issuance of the Declaration of Independence by Kosovar authoritiesin February 2008 has been treated by the United Nations as notcapable of creating a precedent in international law. The questionremains as to whether the act was in conformity with internationallaw. In resolution A/RES/63/3, the United Nations General Assemblydecided to request the International Court of Justice to renderan advisory opinion on that question. The Kosovo case, consequently,raises issues that merit further consideration. A legal findingby the Court would be worth all this trouble if it clarifiedthe rules regarding post-colonial-age secessions, even thoughits conclusion on the situation of Kosovo will not be likelyto affect the matter of recognition to any great extent. Internationalintervention as a title to sovereignty is given some truth followingthese events concerning Kosovo. The conformity or not with internationallaw of a unilateral act always depends on the legality of boththe root for its initiation and the original rationale. Fromthis perspective, the independence of Kosovo is indeed a uniquecase of secession.     

Does Perceived Injury Explain the Effects of Gender on Attributions of Blame for Intimate Partner Violence? A Factorial Vignette Analysis

Perpetrator and victim gender influence how blame is assigned in intimate partner violence (IPV) scenarios. Although men’s differential capacity to inflict and sustain harm is posited as the reason male perpetrators and victims receive more blame for IPV, it is possible that other aspects of the construct of gender, such as gender role beliefs, underscore these effects. Using a sample of 323 college students and a factorial vignette design that varied body sizes and genders of victims and perpetrators, we examined the extent to which perceptions of physical injury accounted for the effects of perpetrator and victim gender on blame attributions, and whether adherence to traditional gender roles moderated any influences of gender unassociated with perceived injury. For female perpetrators, participants estimated lower levels of perceived injury and greater victim blame, with the former effect predominantly accounting for the latter. Male victims were viewed as less injured and more blameworthy, but the latter finding was not predominantly driven by injury perceptions. Perceived physical injury also did not account for why females perpetrating against males were blamed least. Controlling for differences in perceived injury, those holding more traditional gender views blamed victims of female violence more than victims of male-perpetrated violence. Notably, variations in body physical size were not associated with injury perceptions or blame attributions. These findings overall suggest that gender does influence blame attributions by way of perceived physical injury, but other aspects of the construct of gender are also relevant to these evaluations.