The presentation of self in everyday prison life

Today, Italian prisons are reporting the highest level of overcrowding ever recorded. In reference to this situation, this article proposes an ethnographic study carried out inside the prison of Padua as a voluntary 2 years’ experience. It documents the values and conventions that convicts share in prison and details the ways in which prisoners constantly construct and adapt to an informal conduct’s rule system, the inmate code. It also illustrates the interactions among fellow prisoners as scenes or plays enacted by various teams. The prisoners’ words reveal a complex universe based upon three basic conditions: loyalty, discipline and circumspection. Finally, we argue about the fading of the distinction between the prison front stage and the back stage and we analyse the possible consequences.     

Youth violence in South Africa: the case for a restorative justice response

Crime presents a fundamental challenge in South Africa. Particularly disturbing is the prevalence of violence committed by and against young people. The main purpose of this article is to look at how South Africa should deal with the issue of youth violence. It argues that while structural violence constitutes a significant contextual cause of the phenomenon, a more proximate and specific cause lies in young people’s exposure to direct violence in their schools, homes and communities. In many cases, therefore, simply sending young people to prison – where they may experience even greater levels of violence – is not the answer. This article thus examines the potential merits of restorative justice as a response to the problem of youth violence, focusing particularly on the 2009 Child Justice Act. This research is based on fieldwork in South Africa and draws upon both the author’s qualitative interview data and a range of surveys with young people conducted by the Center for Justice and Crime Prevention in Cape Town.     

Book review: Prison life and predicting violence

Jack Henry Abbott, In the Belly of the Beast: Letters from Prison, New York: Random House, 1981, xvi + 166 pp.

John Monahan, The Clinical Prediction of Violent Behavior Rockville, Md.: National Institute of Mental Health, 1981, xi + 134 pp.     

Youth violence: an exploratory study of a treatment program in a central Illinois county

A local treatment provider has developed an OPTIONS program to prevent adolescent aggression. The program is designed for youths who displayed threatening or abusive behaviors, particularly toward family members. This study described the characteristics of juveniles and their families who were referred to the program and if the program participation helped reduce the severity of violence and improve the communication skills among program participants. Referrals came from law enforcement, juvenile court services, school resource officers, and parents. Information on 100 juveniles and their families were provided by the counselors of the program. The findings showed that a large percentage of juveniles came from unstable families with a family history of criminal convictions, substance abuse, or mental illness. Program participants showed an improvement in communication skills and reduction in their levels of dangerousness.     

Trauma symptoms and life skill needs of domestic violence victims

This study identified the trauma symptoms and life skill needs of 84 domestic violence victims from three domestic violence programs. Women completed two self-report tools: Trauma Symptom Inventory (TSI) and Occupational Self Assessment (OSA). Staff members participated in focus groups regarding their perceptions of the women's needs. Women scored within the clinical range on the Defensive Avoidance (39.8%), Intrusive Experiences (30.1%), and Tension Reduction Behavior (24.1%) clinical scales of the TSI. On the OSA, the groups' priorities differed although all demonstrated a desire to function more independently. Their mental health functioning and prioritization of needs differed based on their level of involvement with the service delivery system. Staff members believe women lack skills in the areas of money management, seeking and obtaining employment, locating permanent housing, independently completing self-care and home management activities, managing stress, and parenting. The findings indicate that both mental health and life skills needs must be addressed.     

Youth violence at school and the intersection of gender, race, and ethnicity

Purpose

Research has revealed that school-based activities are related to youth violence at school; however, the intersection of gender, race, and ethnicity in this relationship remains uncertain.

Methods

This study utilizes data from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 and incorporates multilevel modeling techniques to examine the intersectionality of gender, race, and ethnicity in the relationship between school-based activities and youth victimization at school.

Results

Racial and ethnic minority male involvement in school sports is linked to an increase in school-based victimization, while White American male involvement in school sports is associated with a decrease in school-based victimization. On the other hand, school sports appears to be an insulating factor against victimization for girls regardless of their race or ethnicity.

Conclusions

This research underscores the importance of understanding the intersection of gender, race, and ethnicity when examining youth violence.     

Reporting violence to the police: Predictors through the life course

Scholarship focused on factors that influence police reporting has a long history in the literature. Yet we lack a complete understanding of how these factors differentially influence reporting by age.

Purpose

This paper aims to enhance our understanding of underreporting by investigating the relationship between reporting and age, and how this relationship differs by crime type. The study further investigates whether a variety of characteristics differentially influence reporting across the life course. Finally, the study asks how the nature of reporting varies by the victim's age.

Methods

National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) data were used to assess whether there are age-related differences in the factors influencing the rate and nature of police reporting.

Results

The findings suggest that the rate of reporting differs by crime type but that it generally increases throughout the life course. The influence of incident, victim, and offender characteristics on police reporting varies, not simply between juveniles and adults, but also between young and older adults. The proportion of incidents reported to police by the victim his/herself also continues to increase with age.

Conclusions

This suggests that disparities in police reporting cannot be reduced to juvenile-adult comparisons and should be studied across the full life course.     

Youth,violence, and courtship in late-Victorian Birmingham: The case of James Harper and Emily Pimm

Late-Victorian England witnessed a decline in the recorded level of violence. Recent historical scholarship ascribes this fall to the 19th-century “civilising offensive” and suggests that male violence was effectively targeted by legislators and subject to increasingly stringent punishment by the courts. Yet concern with violence persisted. During the 1890s, it was expressed both in the enduring debate on the problem of male violence against women and in the growing anxieties surrounding youth gangs and “hooliganism.” This paper examines a criminal trial, held in Birmingham in 1898, which effectively fused these apparently disparate phenomena. The conviction of a young metal polisher, an alleged gang member, for the manslaughter of his former “sweetheart” aroused considerable comment in the local press. Both gang membership and violence against women were denounced as problems of the Birmingham “slums.” Close inspection of the trial reports suggests that neither the perpetrator nor the victim in this case conformed fully to the stereotypes of the gang member and his “moll” that were applied to them. Yet these stereotypes performed an important ideological function, distancing the problem of violence from the mainstream of civic life and thus preserving the veneer of English civility, whilst masking the persistence of male violence within courtship as well as marriage.     

Youth,violence, and courtship in late-Victorian Birmingham: The case of James Harper and Emily Pimm

Late-Victorian England witnessed a decline in the recorded level of violence. Recent historical scholarship ascribes this fall to the 19th-century “civilising offensive” and suggests that male violence was effectively targeted by legislators and subject to increasingly stringent punishment by the courts. Yet concern with violence persisted. During the 1890s, it was expressed both in the enduring debate on the problem of male violence against women and in the growing anxieties surrounding youth gangs and “hooliganism.” This paper examines a criminal trial, held in Birmingham in 1898, which effectively fused these apparently disparate phenomena. The conviction of a young metal polisher, an alleged gang member, for the manslaughter of his former “sweetheart” aroused considerable comment in the local press. Both gang membership and violence against women were denounced as problems of the Birmingham “slums.” Close inspection of the trial reports suggests that neither the perpetrator nor the victim in this case conformed fully to the stereotypes of the gang member and his “moll” that were applied to them. Yet these stereotypes performed an important ideological function, distancing the problem of violence from the mainstream of civic life and thus preserving the veneer of English civility, whilst masking the persistence of male violence within courtship as well as marriage.     

The relationship between life satisfaction, risk-taking behaviors, and youth violence

This study builds on existing criminological theories and examines the role of life satisfaction and self-control in explaining youth violence. Using data from a stratified cluster sample of 5,414 public high school students who responded to the South Carolina Youth Risk Behavior Survey, the study examines the relationship between adolescents'perceptions of life satisfaction, behavioral risky acts, and self-reported acts of violence. Analyses indicate that higher levels of life satisfaction are associated with lower violence. Participation in work and involvement in health-related risk-taking behaviors pertaining to sex, drugs, and alcohol are also associated with increased violence. The implications of these findings for criminological theory and for school-based violence prevention programs are discussed.     

A comparison of memory for homicide, non-homicidal violence, and positive life experiences

Defendants commonly claim amnesia for their criminal actions especially in cases involving extreme violence. While some claims are malingered or result from physiological factors, other cases may represent genuine partial or complete amnesia resulting from the psychological distress and/or extreme emotion associated with the perpetration of the crime. Fifty Canadian homicide offenders described their memories of their homicide, a non-homicide violent offense, and their most positive adulthood life experience. Self-reported and objective measures of memories for these events revealed that homicides were recalled with the greatest level of detail and sensory information. Although dissociative tendencies were associated with a self-reported memory loss, objective measures of memory quality did not reflect this perceived impairment, suggesting a failure of meta-memory. Recollections of positive life events were superior to those of non-homicidal violence, possibly due to greater impact and meaning attached to such experiences. Findings suggest that memory for homicide typically is enhanced by the powerful emotion associated with its perpetration.     

Continuities in marital violence

Marital violence studies of clinical populations of battered women indicate that, over time, violence becomes an habitual strategy for resolving conflicts resulting in escalation in frequency and severity of violence. This study examines the issue of continuity of marital violence among a national probability sample of female victims and male offenders. Findings indicate that among the general population, approximately one-half of all marital violence is suspended over a three-year period. Predictors of marital violence continuity were also investigated in an exploratory way.     

Ethical challenges in everyday practice for healthcare lawyers

A lawyer representing healthcare clients confronts numerous ethical issues in day-to-day practice. The authors, practicing healthcare attorneys, first give a quick overview of the history of today's rules of legal ethics, and then turn to hypothetical (but realistic) scenarios to examine counsel's duties under various circumstances. The Article concludes with an examination of the overriding duties of confidentiality and privilege, which guide the analysis of ethical concerns in all areas.     

Systemic violence in drug markets

Even without the protection of the state and courts, illegal drug markets are generally peaceable. However occasionally specific markets exhibit high levels of violence. This essay examines the sources that might generate such violence, some internal to organizations (successional and disciplinary), some between organizations (territorial or transactional) and others between drug dealers and the state or its representatives. Particular attention is given to the extremely high rates of killing in the high level Mexican drug markets in 2007–2008 and what motivates the variety of targeted victims, including innocent parties and corrupt officials. The other episode examined in detail is the US crack market in the 1980s. The emphasis here is on the youth of the participants, the value of the drug itself and the intensity of law enforcement. Peter Andreas and Joel Wallman made helpful suggestions. The discussion of US markets is adapted from MacCoun et al. [16].

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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.     

Physical violence in Utah households

Using the Conflict Tactics Scale, a random sample of 1471 Utah residential units was selected in 1986 to assess family violence. Results were compared with data from the Straus and Gelles (1986) United States national survey of family violence. Spousal violence rates in Utah households were slightly higher than those in the national survey. Income, employment status, education, family size, religiosity, marital power structure, and gender role orientation failed to differentiate spousal violence rates. Parent-to-child violence rates were less in Utah than in the national survey. Severe mother-to-child violence was influenced substantially by educational level, family size, employment status, and gender role orientation. High level of education for traditionally oriented mothers who are not employed was associated with severe physical violence toward their children.