Gender,Child Maltreatment,and Delinquency

Prior research and theorizing have suggested that the relationship between child maltreatment and delinquent outcomes is gendered. However, research to date that has sought to test this hypothesis has been incomplete due to issues such as inconsistency in findings, focusing on a single type of maltreatment or delinquent outcome within a given study, and an overreliance on nonprobability samples. The authors sought to expand on this literature by examining the effects of several different types of child maltreatment on six different delinquent behaviors during middle adolescence in a nationally representative probability sample of American adolescents. Results suggest that in the case of physical abuse and alcohol use, child maltreatment shapes delinquent behaviors differently for girls and boys, with several other types of delinquent behaviors being similarly shaped by child maltreatment among girls and boys. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

How Surrogate Impact Panels Function in the Context of Intimate Partner Violence: A Mixed-Methods Study

ABSTRACT

Intimate partner violence (IPV) continues to be an urgent social problem, despite decades of intervention and prevention efforts. Restorative justice programs (e.g., victim impact panels) may be a useful addition to intimate partner violence (IPV) intervention, but it is unclear how these panels operate and to what extent they are consistent with restorative justice models. This naturalistic study of IPV surrogate impact panels used ethnographic observation of panels (n = 18), archival analysis of audience responses to the panel (N = 287), and focus groups and interviews (k = 4) with IPV survivors, an audience member, and batterer intervention providers to investigate these gaps. Findings suggest the panels manifest interactional processes consistent with restorative justice principles. Implications, limitations, and future aims of research on these panels are discussed.     

A Model for Female-Perpetrated Domestic Violence

Child abuse often coexists with intimate partner violence. However, limited studies incorporate both phenomena in a single study. Moreover, the examination of female-on-male violence is an important development. Hence, an intrinsic case study of domestic violence is presented to provide insights regarding the nature and impact of female-perpetrated violence. The research approach was qualitative and demonstrated that a model for abusive behavior seems to be similar for both sexes. The data revealed theoretical trends such as the reality of an intergenerational transmission of violence into adulthood, as well as abusive partners presenting with borderline traits.     

Adolescent suicide myths in the United States

In the United States, teen suicide rates tripled over several decades, but have declined slightly since the mid-1990s. Suicide, by its nature, is a complex problem. Many myths have developed about individuals who complete suicide, suicide risk factors, current prevention programs, and the treatment of at-risk youth. The purpose of this article is to address these myths, to separate fact from fiction, and offer recommendations for future suicide prevention programs. Myth #1: Suicide attempters and completers are similar Myth #2: Current prevention programs work. Myth #3: Teenagers have the highest suicide rate. Myth #4: Suicide is caused by family and social stress. Myth #5: Suicide is not inherited genetically. Myth #6: Teen suicide represents treatment failure. Psychiatric illnesses are often viewed differently from other medical problems. Research should precede any public health effort, so that suicide prevention programs can be designed, implemented, and evaluated appropriately. Too often suicide prevention programs do not use evidence-based research or practice methodologies. More funding is warranted to continue evidence-based studies. We propose that suicide be studied like any medical illness, and that future prevention efforts are evidence-based, with appropriate outcome measures.     

Applying Violentization: From Theory to Praxis

A holistic, agentive, and progressive violent crime control policy derived from the theory of violentization will be presented. The theory is based on three main ideas: (1) violent dominative encounters, (2) violentization process, and (3) violent communal disorganization and organization. On the basis of each one of these ideas, specific policy recommendations are developed for stymieing the formation of attempted and completed violent criminal acts; the development of violent, ultraviolent, and violent predatory criminals; and the transformation or maintenance of the communities in which these criminals evolve and later commit their crimes. The policy formulated is holistic because it attacks the problem of violent crime on three different integrated levels, and takes into account that not all violent criminals, violent criminal acts, and communities are equally violent; thereby, different modes of intervention are needed for them. The policy is agentive because it views both actual and potential violent criminals as active agents in their commission of violent criminal acts and rehabilitation. Finally, the policy is progressive because it makes education—antiviolent, remedial, vocational, and higher education, and gainful employment in legitimate occupations—the cornerstone of violent crime prevention and violent offender rehabilitation.     

Gun Carrying and Gun Victimization Among American Adolescents: A Fresh Look at a Nationally Representative Sample

A scant literature has identified gun carrying as a potential risk factor for victimization at the individual level. To date, however, research has generally focused on high-risk individuals rather than samples drawn from the general population. Additionally, prior studies have not often enough included controls robust enough to feel strongly that the relationship between gun carrying and victimization, gun victimization in particular, is not simply the spurious outcome of factors that influence both variables. The current study uses data from Add Health participants (N = 13,568) to look at the effect of gun carrying on gun victimization among adolescents. Results suggest that even when robust controls are considered, a measure of gun carrying significantly and positively correlates with gun victimization. The results support a model of the gun carrying-gun victimization relationship wherein gun carrying increases risks for gun victimization independent of factors that may influence both risky behaviors and victimization. Implications for theory and policy are discussed.     

The special action office for drug abuse prevention : drug control during the nixon administration

The creation of the Special Action Office for Drug Abuse Prevention, during the Nixon Administration , provides a case study in presidential program management. Much has been said and written about the President-as-manager, especially in terms of hands-on program management. The Special Action Office, an outgrowth of the Nixon-Agnew “law and order” campaign, provided close proximity to the President and increased visibility for drug abuse prevention efforts.

The SAODAP utilized its focal position to coordinate the many and disparate drug abuse programs of the federal government. Many of these programs derived substantial financial as sistance from SAODAP efforts . However, President Nixon's counter-bureau-cracy philosophy caused the organization to become embroiled in controversy.

Although the Special Action Office for Drug Abuse Prevention eventually fell from presidential grace, the organization's creation and operation provide further insight into presidential management styles and the view of the President as a “general manager” of government.     

When a Veterans’ Treatment Court Fails: Lessons Learned from a Qualitative Evaluation

ABSTRACT

More than 500 veterans treatment courts (VTCs) provide thousands of eligible veterans across the nation alternative means of resolving criminal charges through a therapeutic, judicially supervised programs. The majority of those VTCs mandate that veteran participants work with a volunteer veteran mentor throughout their tenure in VTC programs. Mentoring has been heralded as a critical and valuable component of VTCs, and it is believed that mentoring discourages substance abuse and promotes adherence to substance abuse interventions. But very little is known about how mentoring actually works. Scant research documents how mentors interact with mentees, what their responsibilities are, or what impact they have on veterans’ progress through rigorous VTC protocols. Through interview data collected following the death of a veteran mentee in a northeastern Study VTC, this research provides in-depth analysis of how mentors and mentees understand their responsibilities with respect to illicit substance use and violations of VTCs’ sobriety requirements. This article provides background data on VTCs and veterans who participate in them, then explores interview and documentary data as part of a case study of a policy failure in the Study VTC. The article concludes with recommendations that could improve mentor/mentee relationships and VTC participants’ access to treatment.     

A Coordinated Community Response to Intimate Partner Violence on the College Campus

Recent statistics indicate that intimate partner violence is magnified on college campuses. In the university setting, victims of intimate partner violence may encounter numerous agencies (e.g., campus police, local courts, victim advocates) following reporting of victimization. The need for a coordinated community response to intimate partner violence of college students has been emphasized in recent years, yet little research has been conducted. This qualitative, exploratory study examines perceptions of 15 service providers in a recently implemented, campus-based, coordinated community response. Narrative data from semistructured interviews indicate that service providers are generally satisfied with the current response, but report a need for increased training and resources. Implications for future research, education, and public policy are discussed.     

Saving Children from a Life of Crime: Toward a National Strategy for Early Prevention

A great deal has been learned about childhood risk factors for offending and about effective interventions targeting these risk factors that reduce later delinquency and criminal offending. The time is right to implement a risk-focused, evidence-based national strategy for early prevention in the United States. A National Council on Early Prevention could provide technical assistance, skills, and knowledge to state and local agencies in implementing prevention programs; could provide funding, continuity, coordination, and monitoring of local programs; could provide training in prevention science for local people; could commission systematic reviews of the effectiveness of interventions; and could maintain high standards for evaluation research. The main aim of this article is to outline a national strategy for the prevention of delinquency and later offending. It identifies and discusses critical lessons learned from Western countries, such as Canada and Sweden, about the development of national crime prevention agencies.     

Suicide prevention: a pragmatic review of recent studies

Because of the almost complete absence of randomized controlled trials demonstrating the effectiveness of specific treatments, there is sometimes a degree of pessimism about our ability to prevent suicidal behaviors. However, the methodological challenges to produce such research are formidable and may never be overcome. Therefore, a pragmatic review of evidence-based methods of suicide prevention is required. This review of recent studies using a variety of research strategies, both nonpharmacological and pharmacological, particularly at the community level, provides persuasive data that suicide prevention is possible. This is achievable by the application of broad community and professional education programs, as well as by the optimum management of mental disorders.     

Organizational position and program implementation

Examples of policy implementation success suggest that organizational characteristics are important but policy researchers generally neglect the explicit study of organizational characteristics. Data from a mailed survey are used here to examine two organizational characteristics in one policy area in a single state. The advice of capacitybuilders' (federal and state agencies, municipal associations) about organizing local energy management programs through the appointment of “comprehensive local energy coordinators” is one concern. The other is the importance of the regular organizational position of the parttime community energy coordinators on the “comprehensiveness” of community energy programs.

The research develops a rudimentary methodology for studying program implementation which assesses organizational change by measuring differences among policies based on the dimensions of change embodied in a policy. Also devised are measures of program implementors' attitudes and perceptions in influencing program implementation. The findings demonstrate the usefulness of greater linkages of research across the organizational change and program implementation literatures.     

Suicidal Ideation Among Women Court-Referred to Batterer Intervention Programs

Identifying the prevalence and correlates of suicidal ideation in women mandated to batterer intervention programs is necessary to prevent suicide in this greatly understudied population. This study used cross-sectional, self-report survey methodology to identify the prevalence and correlates of suicidal ideation among 79 women attending batterer intervention programs. Of the sample, 33% reported experiencing suicidal ideation during the two weeks prior to entering the program. Multiple linear regression analysis indicated that (while controlling for number of batterer intervention sessions attended) symptoms of depression and borderline personality disorder, but not symptoms of antisocial personality disorder, were associated with suicidal ideation.     

An Examination of the Effects of Different Victimization Types on Psychological and Behavioral Health Outcomes and the Mediating Role of Stress

Although a considerable amount of research has highlighted the link between interpersonal victimization and adverse psychological and behavioral health, a paucity of research has examined and compared the effects of multiple forms of victimization in the same study. There is also a limited understanding of the underlying individual factors (e.g., emotional processes) that might link experiences of victimization to psychological and behavioral health adversities. To address these gaps, the author used a nationally representative sample of 19,422 Canadians aged 15 years old or older to examine the effects of different types of victimization on psychological and behavioral health outcomes, and to determine whether these associations are mediated by perceived stress. Results revealed that some victimization types (i.e., personal, household/property, cyberbully, ex-partner physical/sexual and emotional abuse) had statistically significant adverse effects on psychological and behavioral health outcomes (i.e., self-report mental health, life satisfaction, satisfaction with safety from crime, and alcohol/drug abuse). Results also revealed that perceived stress mediated the association between some victimization types and psychological, but not behavioral, health outcomes. Discussion points toward the utility of examining multiple victimization types, as well as other converging individual factors or adversities, in explaining psychological and behavioral health outcomes.     

Cruel and Unusual Punishment in the Roman Empire and Dynastic China

The paper compares cruel and unusual punishment in two ancient empires, Imperial Rome and Dynastic China, through an exploration their imperial legal codes and, to a lesser degree, through the examination of selected exemplary cases. The paper argues that both empires utilized extraordinary punishments in cases where conduct threatened social order or major cultural values. However, while the Romans generally extended these punishments to include cruel mass spectacles, the Chinese employed unusual public punishments in a more instrumental manner primarily to ward off the threat of disorder and the thirst for cruel spectacle for its own sake was absent.     

Psychological Boundaries and Ethnic Conflict: How Identity Constrained Choice and Worked to Turn Ordinary People into Perpetrators of Ethnic Violence During the Lebanese Civil War

Why do ordinary people commit ethnic atrocities? To understand the psychology of ethnic violence we constructed a pilot project based on narrative interviews with five ordinary people who participated in acts of ethnic violence during the Lebanese Civil War. The interviews present striking evidence that identity constrains choice for all individuals, regardless of their particular ideological or socioeconomic demographic background. Our findings challenge both the rationalist approaches of realistic conflict theory and rational choice and the institutional claims of consociational democracy and suggest the tremendous power of identity and perceptions of self in relation to others to constrain political actions.     

Responding to Heinous Crime: Best Practices and the Current State of the Art

Heinous crimes involve offenses that are odious, shockingly cruel, and abhorrent. Victims, criminal justice professionals, and the public at large struggle in their efforts to respond to heinous crimes in ways that simultaneously protect the public, promote rehabilitation, provide an opportunity for retribution, and punish. Heinous crimes present a severe challenge in a democratic society that seeks to respond to unspeakable acts in a just, principled, and fair manner. This article examines the nature of heinous crimes, explores their etiology, and considers the merits of possible responses in light of current knowledge and “best practices.” The author presents a comprehensive typology of heinous crime, based on a qualitative analysis of 13,000 parole cases, and explores the appropriate role of retribution and revenge, punishment, rehabilitation, and restorative and reparative justice.     

From population control to "reproductive rights": ideological influences in population policy

The author examines some of the ideological influences which have shaped population control policy in recent decades and considers the growing critique of what is now regarded as a narrowly focused policy, one which is based upon a simplistic definition and analysis of population growth in the less developed world. Focus is given to the important role of professional demographers in the US, who tailored their theories to provide a respectable justification for questionable policy intervention. The emergence of a population establishment in the US, based upon interconnected networks of foundations, private population organizations, and university population centers is outlined. These institutions provide a willing conduit for US government funding through the US Agency for International Development. Relevant interdisciplinary literature has raised concerns over issues such as the outside intervention in national sovereignty, ethical aspects associated with the implementation of fertility control programs, the exclusion of Third World scholars from research programs conducted in their own countries, and the unwillingness of programs to consider complex social and cultural dimensions of high fertility.     

The violence work of transnational gangs in Central America

Abstract

According to international relations scholars, an important change taking place in the post-Cold War context concerns the lethality of non-state armed groups (NSAGs). Underlying this observation is the conventional assumption that non-state violence is intrinsically illegitimate. This article shifts the analysis of violence away from the terrain of legitimacy, which tends to moralise the difference between state and non-state forces, and towards the terrain of work, where their violence features as part and not separate from a shared political economy. I propose the notion of violence work as a resourceful analytic into the dialectics of everyday violence and the complex processes of value production in social life. Against the background of the extreme cruelty attributed to transnational gangs in Central America, I argue that their violence work is expressive of prevailing modes of accumulating wealth in the region. Drawing on multi-sited fieldwork in Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Mexico, I show how gang violence work animates a system of economic cooperation that engages a wide array of subjects who traverse state/non-state and legal/illegal divides.