A Social Interactionist Approach to the Victim-Offender Overlap

A social interactionist perspective suggests that violent offenders are frequently victims of violence because of the way they behave, and the way third parties behave during verbal disputes that lead to escalation. We examine to what extent violent offenders are more likely to be victimized because they tend to engage in provocative actions, are less likely to engage in remedial actions, and more likely to be intoxicated, and because third-parties have a greater tendency to encourage aggressive behaviors during disputes involving offenders. Analyses are based on an original situational-level survey of male inmates and men in the community about characteristics of their verbal and violent interpersonal disputes. We examined the extent to which various dispute-related behaviors and third-party actions mediated the relationship between offending and two study outcomes: whether the dispute became violent and whether the antagonist was victimized. Using two measures of violent offender status, we find that violent actors are more likely to engage in verbal aggression during disputes, are less likely to engage in remedial actions, and are more likely to be intoxicated. Third parties are more likely to be present during the disputes of offenders and they tend to encourage escalation. Combined, these situational processes mediate a substantial portion of the relationship between offending and violent victimization. The findings indicate the victim-offender overlap is partly due to the behaviors of offenders and third parties during disputes that significantly increase the risk of conflict escalation.     

Self Reports of Violence

Self-report data are used to compare the relative incidence of aggression and violence among ex-mental patients, ex-offenders, and the general population and to examine the effect of socio-demographic variables on the frequency of these behaviors. Frequency was measured by reported frequencies of aggressive behaviors during the preceding year, by whether respondents could recall serious disputes, and by the recency of the disputes they recalled. In support of studies that have relied on official arrest statistics, the evidence suggests that ex-offenders engage in violence with greater frequency than the other two groups and that they have a greater tendency to physically attack and injure their antagonists when involved in violent disputes. Ex-mental patients appear to use weapons more frequently than the general population, but they are no more likely to injure antagonists. In contrast to labeling theory, police were no more likely to become involved or to make an arrest in incidents involving ex-patients or ex-offenders.     

Taking sides: Gender and third‐party partisanship in disputes

We examine the role of a norm protecting women in understanding third‐party partisanship in verbal and violent disputes. Our analyses are based on reports provided by male inmates and men they know who have never been arrested. The results show that third parties are more likely to support female adversaries than male adversaries. The gender effect is stronger when we control for the relational distance between adversaries, which indicates that a privacy norm might inhibit this normative protection. The gender effect is somewhat weaker when we control for the relative physical size of the adversaries, which indicates that a general norm protecting vulnerable people partly explains the gender effect. The strong gender effect that remains, however, demonstrates the importance of the normative protection of women, regardless of relative size, during disputes. The results have implications for research on situational factors in violence and violence against women.     

BIG PEOPLE HIT LITTLE PEOPLE: SEX DIFFERENCES IN PHYSICAL POWER AND INTERPERSONAL VIOLENCE*

The role of physical size and strength in sex differences in violence is examined using a sample of ex-offenders, ex-mental patients, and the general population. In incidents not involving weapons, males are more likely than females to engage in attacks and injure their adversaries, and females are more likely to be attacked and injured, primarily because of differences in physical power. In incidents involving weapons, the greater power of males is partially neutralized, and females are more likely than males to injure their adversary. The results show that physical differences between men and women are an important factor in explaining sex differences in violence.     

Wounding Words: Maternal Verbal Aggression and Children's Adjustment

Psychological maltreatment, including verbal aggression, has been implicated as an important contributor to children's behavioral problems. The present study looked specifically at the relationship between different forms of maternal verbal aggression and their association with children's adjustment. Mothers from Violent and Nonviolent families were compared on their use of various verbal aggression tactics, as measured by the Conflict Tactics Scale (Straus, 1979). Mothers from both groups used threats and insults with comparable frequency. In both groups, insults were predictive of children's adjustment. The relationship was particularly striking in children from violent homes. We conclude that chronic exposure to inter-parental violence may render children emotionally susceptible to maternal disparagement.     

Differentiating between physically violent and nonviolent stalkers: an examination of Canadian cases

This study is one of a few that empirically investigated factors that differentiated the physically violent stalker from the nonviolent stalker. Using discriminant analysis, 103 Canadian cases of "simple obsessional" stalking were examined. Overall, the success of the model for classifying cases into one of two groups was 81%. Results revealed that the physically violent stalker is more likely to: (a) have a stronger previous emotional attachment toward their victim; (b) be more highly fixated/obsessed with their victim; (c) have a higher degree of perceived negative affect towards their victim; (d) engage in more verbal threats toward the victim; and (e) have a history of battering/domestic abuse towards the victim. Overall, the variables that best differentiate the physically violent stalker from the nonviolent one appear to characterize underlying themes of anger, vengeance, emotional arousal, humiliation, projection of blame, and insecure attachment pathology.     

Violence between therapy-seeking veterans and their partners: prevalence and characteristics of nonviolent, mutually violent, and one-sided violent couples

Among male veterans and their female partners seeking therapy for relationship issues, three violence profiles were identified based on self-reports of physical violence: nonviolent, in which neither partner reported perpetrating physical violence (44%); one-sided violent, in which one partner reported perpetrating violence (30%); and mutually violent, in which both partners reported perpetrating physical violence (26%). Profiles were distinguished based on the veteran's psychiatric diagnosis, woman's age, and both partners' reports of the frequency and severity of violence. Men and women in mutually violent couples reported more verbal and physical aggression than did men or women in any other group. The three groups reported comparable rates of sexual aggression. Appraisals of marital satisfaction and intimacy were not different based on violence profile. No gender differences emerged in the self-reports of frequency and severity of verbal, physical, and sexual aggression.     

Impelling and inhibitory forces in aggression: sex-of-target and relationship effects

The finding of symmetry in intimate partner aggression is now generally accepted, but the convergence of male and female rates in these relationships remains unexplained. From qualitative analysis of male and female focus group discussions, we identified factors believed to influence the expression of aggression toward targets differing in sex and degree of intimacy. These factors were then used to construct a questionnaire in which 355 respondents indicated the applicability of the items to conflicts with a partner, a same-sex friend, and an opposite-sex friend. Principal component analysis revealed a clear two-factor structure of impelling forces (tending to provoke or initiate aggression) and inhibitory forces (tending to suppress or diminish the likelihood of aggression). Participants' scores on scales derived from these two factors were used in the subsequent analyses. Men reported lower inhibition and greater impulsion toward same-sex friends than to female friends and partners, who did not differ significantly from one another. Women showed lower inhibition to male targets, regardless of relationship, than to a female target. However, women rated their male partners as significantly higher on impelling forces than their male friends, who in turn were rated significantly higher than female friends. The results are broadly consistent with a sex-of-target effect corresponding to a chivalry norm held by both sexes that inhibits the expression of aggression toward women. The reasons why women are especially impelled to aggression by intimate partners are explored. Disaggregating the dynamics of interpersonal conflict into impelling and inhibitory components may prove useful in understanding and treating dispute escalation and resolution.     

“It Depends on the Outcome”: Prisoners,Grievances, and Perceptions of Justice

Social scientists have long investigated the social, cultural, and psychological forces that shape perceptions of fairness. A vast literature on procedural justice advances a central finding: the process by which a dispute is played out is central to people's perceptions of fairness and their satisfaction with dispute outcomes. There is, however, one glaring gap in the literature. In this era of mass incarceration, studies of how the incarcerated weigh procedural justice versus substantive justice are rare. This article addresses this gap by drawing on unique quantitative and qualitative data, including face‐to‐face interviews with a random sample of men incarcerated in three California prisons and official data provided by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). Our mixed‐methods analysis reveals that these prisoners privilege the actual outcomes of disputes as their barometer of justice. We argue that the dominance of substantive outcomes in these men's perceptions of fairness and in their dispute satisfaction is grounded in, among other things, the high stakes of the prison context, an argument that is confirmed by our data. These findings do not refute the importance of procedural justice, but show the power of institutional context to structure perceptions of and responses to fairness, one of the most fundamental principles of social life.     

Women and Men in Jail: Attitudes Towards and Experiences of Domestic Violence

This study explores the pre-arrest domestic violence victimization and attitudes towards domestic violence reported by women and men confined in a Midwestern metropolitan jail. Results indicated that women in the jail sample had more fear for the safety of battered women than men in the jail sample. Women in jail were more likely than men in jail to view the legal system as a deterrent to domestic violence. Logistic regression models were constructed to explore associations between jail detainees’ pre-arrest experiences of domestic violence and their gender, age, education, race, parental status and other violent victimizations. The variables associated with pre-arrest domestic violence victimization were being a woman, a parent, a victim rape and a victim of threats with a deadly weapon.     

DISPUTES INVOLVING YOUTH STREET GANG MEMBERS: MICRO‐SOCIAL CONTEXTS*

This paper examines microsocial contexts of violent and nonviolent dispute‐related incidents involving gang members. Data consist of reports of field observations of twelve black and eight white youth street gangs in Chicago between 1959 and 1962. Dispute‐related incidents (N = 2,637) were classified according to three primary pretexts: normative or order violations, identity attacks and retaliation. Findings show that disputes associated with each of these generally unfolded consistently with expectations based on the extent to which status concerns were likely to be outweighed by such situational constraints as a close relationship between disputants and audience intervention. We suggest that understanding violence in the gang context will be enhanced greatly by further consideration of the microsocial level of explanation and linkages to its macro‐ and individual‐level counterparts.     

Reputation and behavior of battered women who kill their partners: Do these variables negate self-defense?

Vignettes describing a case in which a battered woman killed her husband were presented to college students. Independent variables were the presence or absence of verbal aggression by the woman toward her husband before the final beating, the woman's reputation and social desirability as a wife and mother, and whether or not a weapon was present when the battering husband threatened the woman before she killed him. After reading a vignette, subjects (N=413) selected a verdict, reported what influenced their verdicts, and completed attitudinal measures on sex-role attitudes, attitudes toward wife-beating, and “just world” attitudes. The presence of verbal aggression by the woman increased the odds of subjects choosing a guilty verdict by 1.71 times compared to the absence of verbal aggression. A defendant characterized as a “bad” wife/mother or a dysfunctional wife/mother was, respectively, 6.24 and 2.49 times more likely to be found guilty rather than not guilty by reason of self-defense (NGRSD) than the “good” wife/mother. Use of a weapon by the husband did not significantly increase the number of NGRSD verdicts over conditions in which no weapon was present. Neither subjects' attitudes nor demographics appeared to be related to their choice of verdicts.     

Male street youths' conflict: The role of background,subcultural, and situational factors

Using a sample of 125 homeless male street youth, we examine the formation of values that support violence and how these attitudes influence violence under different situational conditions. Findings indicate that abusive backgrounds, anger, violent peers, and the successful use of violence as a conflict management strategy are important in understanding the acquisition of values that support violence. These subcultural values in turn make street youths more sensitive to harm in dispute situations, and leave them more likely to demand reparation for harm and to persevere and use force to settle disputes. These youths are more likely to become immersed in disputes in which conflict is intense and which involve male harmoders. Finally, they are more likely to escalate conflict in public places. We discuss findings in terms of experiences and expectations that these youths bring to social interactions.     

AN EXAMINATION OF OFFENSE SPECIALIZATION USING MARGINAL LOGIT MODELS*

Research on offense specialization has concluded that there is a great deal of versatility in offending. Although the preponderance of evidence supports versatility, some research points to a small but significant tendency to specialize. Beyond this observation there is little consensus over the degree of offense specialization, the similarities and differences between people who commit violent acts and those who engage in other criminal behavior, or the extent to which general causal processes are sufficient to explain variation in diverse forms of crime and delinquency. At the heart of the confusion is the fact that criminal behaviors across a wide spectrum are positively correlated with one another. In our opinion, the conclusion that general offending trumps offense specialization is the result of research designs that predetermined such a conclusion. We propose an alternative method, marginal logit modeling, that supports many desirable features suited to the investigation of offense specialization. We analyze nine self‐reported delinquent behaviors (with a tenth category representing “No Offense”) from the Add Health study. We show that violent offenders are more likely to engage in additional violent offenses, nonviolent offenders are more likely to engage in additional nonviolent offenses. For some offense types, we find no evidence of a tendency to commit both violent and nonviolent offending. For others, the offense generalization effect is weak compared to the offense specialization effect.     

A positive domestic violence screen predicts future domestic violence

The objective of this study was to determine if a brief screen for domestic violence (DV) predicts future violence. We conducted a cohort study of adult women who presented to an inner-city emergency department during an 8-week study period. Participants were screened for DV using the Partner Violence Screen (PVS). At 4 months, follow-up telephone interviews were conducted: rates of verbal and physical violence were measured using the modified Conflict Tactics Scale. Relative risks of violent events (physical and verbal) were calculated. Of the 215 women who enrolled, 36 (16%) had an initial screen positive for DV. Ninety-six women participated in the follow-up phase; of these women, 9% had screened positive for DV. At 4 months, women with DV were 11.3 times more likely to experience physical violence and 7.3 times more likely to experience verbal aggression. The study's screen identified women at high risk for subsequent physical violence and verbal aggression.     

Prisonization and accounts of gun carrying

This study examined inmate perceptions about the reasons other people carry guns. The sample consisted of seventy-three inmates who were incarcerated for gun-related violent crimes in Colorado. While most inmates said that people carry guns for self-protection and/or power, their accounts varied according to the number of years incarcerated. Both qualitative and quantitative analyses suggest that inmates incarcerated for long periods of time are likely to believe that others carry guns to feel powerful. In contrast, the results also indicate that inmates incarcerated for short periods of time are likely to believe that others carry guns for protection. These findings are consistent with theories about prison socialization. As inmates become immersed in the prison culture, they are also likely to change their perceptions about why others carry guns.     

Parental warmth amplifies the negative effect of parental hostility on dating violence

Past research has documented the positive association between parental hostility and offspring involvement in intimate partner violence. Researchers, practitioners, and parents typically adopt the standpoint that parental warmth may counter these negative lessons. However, Straus and colleagues argue that parents foster IPV to the extent that they teach their child that verbal and physical aggression are a normal and legitimate component of loving relationships. A strict interpretation of social learning theory would suggest that these lessons are more, not less, likely to occur when parental hostility is interspersed with displays of affection. The present study tests this idea using data from 2,088 undergraduate students from a large university in the Southeast. Consistent with Straus' arguments, findings suggest that, rather than attenuating the negative effects of hostility, supportive interactions seem to amplify the probability that offspring will emulate aggressive behaviors in their own romantic relationships. The same is true for the effects of harsh parenting for women. It seems that the best way parents can avoid contributing to their child's chances of being in a violent dating relationship is to eschew family interaction involving verbal and physical aggression.     

Gender effects in attitudes about family violence

We present results of perceptions of family violence from 176 telephone interviews conducted in a Standard Metropolitan Area in Northwest Arkansas. Four research questions are examined: (1) How do men and women differ in their perceptions about the seriousness and causes of family violence? (2) Do men and women differ in their acceptance of specific acts of interpersonal violence and does the gender of the aggressor and victim affect gender perceptions? (3) Do men and women differ in their views about the effectiveness of different intervention agencies? (4) Do men and women differ in their willingness to report acts of child abuse and does the gender of the parent and child affect the likelihood of reporting? Results indicate that females consider the problem as more serious and view public responses to family violence as more effective. Both male and females are more tolerant of acts of aggression and violence if directed by a woman toward a man. Females are more likely to report child abuse but there are significant interactions between the respondent's gender and the gender of the parent and child.     

The Severity of Violence Against Men Scales

In response to the need to differentiate the effects of female and male violence, scales were developed applicable to female violence against men. Two versions of the Severity of Violence Against Men Scale (SVAMS) were devised as a counterpart to the Severity of Violence Against Women Scales (SVAWS). On 10-point rating scales, college males (N = 570) rated how serious, aggressive, abusive, violent, and threatening it would be if a woman did each of 46 acts to a man. The mean of each act across the ratings was calculated and then submitted to factor analysis. Eight factors emerged representing threats of mild, moderate, and serous violence, actual mild, minor, moderate, and serious violence and sexual violence. Community men (N = 115) rated the same acts on seriousness, aggressiveness, and abusiveness. All factors were unidimensional. Second order factor analysis confirmed that two dimensions (physical threats and actual violence) were represented. In contrast to the SVAWS, sexual violence loaded with threats of physical violence. The groups' ratings of physical and emotional harm provided the weightings for future research with student (SVAMS-S) and adult (SVAMS) samples.