The case of Bradley Manning: state victimization,realpolitik and WikiLeaks

While the case of WikiLeaks release of classified documents and its founder, Julian Assange, has garnered much popular attention, the formal social control reactions to the alleged involvement of Private First Class Bradley Manning has remained, relatively glaringly absent from the media, public and political discussions. Moreover, while scant criminological attention has been given to the extradition of Assange on sexual charges and the situation of WikiLeaks, there has been no analysis of the control mechanisms that were placed on Manning in an effort to cease the release of US documents and his activity as a whistle-blower. This examination fills this void by adding to the literature on states’ responses to whistle-blowers by highlighting states’ mechanisms including retaliation and redirection to obscure its criminality as well the theoretical framework of realpolitik. While realpolitik has been used previously to explain motivations for state crime, it has not been applied as an explanation for the implementation of controls. Not only is the preservation of state legitimacy and practices of realpolitik central to the reactions of the government to this case of whistle-blowing, but that the responses denied a presumption of innocence and have violated basic human rights tenants, the Uniform Code of Justice, the US Constitution, thus making this a case of state victimization.     

Pride and prejudice: Comparative corruption research and the British case

In recent years, comparative corruption analysis has been fuelled by the growth of international survey data on related perceptions. Taking issue with the typological vein of such analysis, this article questions both the treatment of perceptions indices and the validity and pertinence of variables used to explain them. It is argued that perceptions are conflated with practice, whilst explanatory variables appear ungrounded in empirical reality. These limitations serve to reinforce expectations that corruption is a menace to be associated primarily with societies of the global periphery. Drawing on the supposedly paradigmatic case of Britain, the article suggests that the problem of bias in comparative scholarship is compounded by three factors: the failure of comparative and domestic-focused literatures to engage with one another in sufficient depth; the relative lack of qualitative research into corruption within core Western states; and the neglect of power in the study of perceptions and practices at comparative and domestic-focused levels of analysis.     

Vulnerability,context, and fear of victimization: Exploring race and ethnicity

The importance of individual- and structural-level factors in predicting fear of victimization has been a source of many empirical evaluations. Theoretical predictors that influence these associations such as those outlined in the vulnerability thesis on fear of crime regularly find that age, race, and gender are predictors of fear. We explore whether adolescent populations, not yet having internalized vulnerability, are more influenced by contextual factors. To explore this hypothesis, we employ the National Crime Victimization Survey: School Crime Supplement to examine the role of vulnerability on fear of victimization at school. Logistic regression suggests that contextual school-level factors may mediate the relationship between fear of victimization at school and individual characteristics such as age, race, and gender.     

The incest offender,power, and victimization: Scales on the same dragon

It is contended that incest is a specific case of a larger problem, that being inappropriate use of power, resulting in victimization of a weaker person. The article is primarily an exploration of ideas regarding root causes of such victimization. It is proposed that implied ownership is present in certain traditional family constellations in our society. It is further proposed that many factors, including this implied ownership, contribute to a profound lack of empathy on the part of the offender. Numbered among these factors are our individualistic, compartmentalized culture, developmental deficits, and overt choices on the part of the offender. Concluding comments call for further reflection and attention to the issues raised, with suggestions regarding important areas for focus and investigation.     

Household composition,routine activity,and victimization: A comparative analysis

Adults living in single-parent households report high rates of personal and household victimization. Data from the 1982 British Crime Survey and from the 1983 Victim Risk Supplement to the U.S. National Crime Survey are used to determine whether this higher risk is due to particular patterns of routine activity among members of single-parent households. Findings indicate that these persons are disproportionately victimized by present or former spouses. Often unemployed, they are at greatest risk in the home domain. Deleting close prior relationship incidents eliminates the effects of household composition on personal victimization and produces logit models that are similar for the U.S. and British surveys.     

Attitudes about rehabilitating sex offenders: Demographic, victimization, and community-level influences

In this study, attention was given to how demographic, victimization, and community-level factors contribute to the belief that sex offenders can be rehabilitated. A survey was conducted with 746 residents of Norfolk and Virginia Beach, Virginia. A vast majority of the sample thought it was impossible to rehabilitate sex offenders, and a sizeable proportion of respondents indicated that they did not know whether sex offenders could be rehabilitated. Results showed that very few factors predicted attitudes about rehabilitating sex offenders. The implications call for expanded efforts to educate the public about sex offenders, as well as strategies for strengthening support for rehabilitation. In particular, it is argued that more attention should be given to identifying the punitive aspects of rehabilitation and increasing awareness about treatment strategies among policymakers. The authors also call for reconceptualizing rehabilitation so the concept is driven by practical matters rather than politics.     

Reexamining the correlates of adolescent violent victimization: the importance of exposure, guardianship, and target characteristics

The present study examines the relative contributions of various theoretical constructs to violent victimization by operationalizing multiple measures of exposure to motivated offenders, guardianship, and target characteristics. Using a nationally representative sample of American adolescents, we conducted principal components factor analysis and logistic regression analysis to examine whether such measures do in fact represent empirically distinct constructs and if they are each correlated with violent victimization risk. Findings suggest that both nondelinquent and delinquent routine activities which expose adolescents to motivated offenders increase risk of victimization. In terms of guardianship, parental attachment appears to protect adolescents from victimization, although direct parental control actually increases risk. Finally, only one of four target characteristics-psychological vulnerability-was significantly associated with violent victimization risk. We discuss the implications for theory and future research in light of the findings.     

Criminal victimization of the elderly: An overview

This paper reviews existing literature and examines three questions : a) the nature and extent of criminal victimization of the elderly, b) the impact of crime on the lives of the elderly, and c) suggested crime prevention measures. One finds that contrary to popular opinion the elderly are less frequently criminally victimized than persons in younger age groups. The 1966 NORC survey, 1972 Denver Victimization Survey, and the 1973 LEAA Survey, all show that the elderly in comparison to younger age groups are victimized less frequently for most personal crimes. However, there is variability in regard to who among the elderly are more likely to be victimized. In profile the elderly at highest “risk” are single females who are socially isolated, have physical or mental impairments, incomes below $3000 per year, and live in or near high crime areas. Despite the fact that the elderly are less frequently victimized than others their “fear of crime” is greater, and has been increasing since 1965, than other age groups. Many factors are important in fueling their fear. Some of the more important concerns are the elderly’s physical and emotional vulnerability, especially in high crime areas, and their isolation (both socially and self-imposed) from others within a community. There are, however, efforts being made to further protect the elderly against crimes and to reduce their fear. Several examples of existing programs established in an effort to ameliorate the problems are specified. Also, suggestions, based on research findings, are made which could further deter crimes against the elderly and lessen the insidious fear of crime that exists.     

Routine activities and victimization at school: the significance of gender

Routine activities theory has not fully considered the role of gender in shaping victimization and yet, the research literature clearly demonstrates that gender is associated with an individual's risk of victimization. In addition to the pervasive effect of gender on victimization, gender shapes an individual's daily routines and thus may create a gender-specific relationship with victimization. This article explores the importance of gender in understanding the relationship between student's participation in extracurricular routine activities (e.g., student government, clubs, sports, and etc.) and the risk of victimization. From the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002, a sample of 10th-grade students was drawn for analyses. Hierarchical Generalized Linear Modeling was employed to explore the role of gender in the relationship between extracurricular routine activities and victimization at school. The results reveal that students' gender indeed interacts with several of the extracurricular routine activities creating gender-specific risks of victimization. This article highlights the importance of gender in explaining victimization and suggests researchers should consider how gender may interact with other routine activities and victimization.     

Violence, schools, and dropping out: racial and ethnic disparities in the educational consequence of student victimization

Without a doubt, exposure to violence and victimization can be profoundly detrimental to the overall well-being and development of all youth. Moreover, violence and victimization that occurs within a school context is particularly alarming because a successful educational process is essential toward establishing socioeconomic success later in life. The educational consequence of exposure to violence and victimization at school is uncertain for racial and ethnic minority students. This study utilizes data from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 and incorporates multilevel modeling techniques to examine the impact of violence and victimization at school on dropping out. The results indicate Black/African Americans and Latino American students who are victimized at school are at higher risk of dropping out. The implications of the evident racial and ethnic disparities in the relationship between victimization and dropping out within the U.S. school system are discussed.     

Tuckers firm: a case study of British organised crime

This article provides a single case study of a British organised crime network operational from the late-1980s to 1996. The network centred around three security firms which spanned the ‘spectrum of legitimacy’ by legally providing security for licensed venues, whilst taxing and protecting drug dealers, and/or selling drugs in the nightclubs they protected. All three firms employed violence to prevent the encroachment of competitors and extort licensed businesses. Debt collection services were also used as a front for extortion. Actors were individually or collaboratively engaged in: the running of brothels and extortion of sex workers, robbery of drug dealers, burglary, the importation of drugs, and unlawful influence. At least three of the activities (robber, violence and unlawful influence) served a dual purpose: (1) To achieve immediate and tangible goals, such as preventing the encroachment of competing security firms, avoiding prosecution, and material gain; (2) To achieve more distant and abstract goal of creating, maintaining or inflating violent reputations.     

Cross border North Korean women trafficking and victimization between North Korea and China: An ethnographic case study

This is a case study on the trafficking of North Korean women via the interviewing of women trafficking victims. The study has an explorative nature. Its primary goal is to address the issues of the cross-border trafficking of North Korean women. In doing so, this research will describe the current picture of cross-border North Korean women trafficking operation between North Korea and China. It will uncover the identity and characteristics of traffickers, the identity and characteristics of victims and contributing factors of their victimization, and the cross-border trafficking routes and procedural networks of trafficking operation. The findings of the current study shows that the problem of North Korean women trafficking is worth being paid attention by the international community and that appropriate counter-measures need to be implemented. Also, this study hopes to facilitate more empirical research on this topic.     

Fear of crime and criminal victimization: Gender-based contrasts

Extant research on the fear of crime and criminal victimization had generally found that women express greater levels of fear than men. Using survey data, this study contrasted perceptions of safety and the fear of personal and property victimization among male and female respondents. Specifically considered was the relationship between demographic characteristics, fear facilitators, fear inhibitors, neighborhood context, and crime-related fear. Results indicated some gender differences in the influence explanatory variables had on fear, although not all achieved statistical significance. For both gender groups, respondents' perceptions of their neighborhood as orderly and satisfactory had the largest effect on perceptions. Gender-based differences in the outcome of the analyses further supported that males and females experienced fear based upon different factors.     

Experienced,vicarious, and anticipated strain: An exploratory study on physical victimization and delinquency

Most research on strain theory has focused on the effect of personally experienced strain on delinquency. This study focused on vicarious and anticipated strain; vicarious strain refers to the real-life strains experienced by others around the individual, while anticipated strain refers to the individual's expectation that current strains will continue into the future or that new strains will be experienced. Data from a national sample of adolescent boys were used to examine that type of strain involving physical victimization. A multiple regression analysis indicated that delinquency is related not only to experienced victimization, but also to certain types of anticipated and vicarious physical victimization.     

Young women and gang violence: Gender,street offending,and violent victimization in gangs

Drawing on multiple data sources in St. Louis, this article examines how gendered situational dynamics shape gang violence, including participation in violent offending and experiences of violent victimization. Combining an analysis of in-depth interviews with young women in St. Louis gangs with an examination of homicide reports from the same city, we find that young women, even regular offenders, highlight the significance of gender in shaping and limiting their involvement in serious violence. They use gender both to accomplish their criminal activities and to temper their involvement in gang crime. Consequently their risk for serious physical victimization in gangs is considerably less than young men's. St. Louis homicide data collaborate these qualitative findings. Not only are young women much less likely to be the victims of gang homicide, but the vast majority of female gang homicide victims were not the intended targets of the attack. In contrast, homicide reports suggest that the majority of male gang homicide victims were the intended targets. We suggest that gendered group processes and stratification within gangs are key factors explaining both violent offending and victimization risk in gangs.     

Crime in the country: The vulnerability and victimization of rural citizens

While a considerable body of research, theory, and statistics has developed concerning the “urban crime problem” in America, crime in rural areas has been comparatively neglected. This study addresses that neglect by refining and extending National Crime Panel victimization survey techniques to elicit the victimization experiences, perceptions, fears, and actions of residents of a highly representative rural county in the midwestern United States. The implications of this study are discussed, including the need to educate rural citizens concerning crime prevention in order to reduce their vulnerability to continued victimization. The data suggest that the romanticization surrounding rural America may help mask the fact that increasing diffusion of criminal behavior, along with increasing homogenization of our society, have significantly eroded the rural/urban dichotomy which has dominated criminological inquiry.