Feelings of revenge, retaliation motive, and posttraumatic stress reactions in crime victims

Individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are often said to experience strong feelings of revenge. However, there is a need for confirmatory empirical studies. Therefore, in a study of 174 victims of violent crimes, the relation between feelings of revenge and posttraumatic stress reactions was investigated. Feelings of revenge were correlated with intrusion and hyperarousal but not with avoidance. Feelings of revenge explained incremental variance of intrusion and hyperarousal when the variance explained by victimological variables was controlled. The retaliation motive implied in feelings of revenge did not account for the relation between feelings of revenge and posttraumatic stress reactions. However, the relation was moderated by the time since victimization. Therefore, feelings of revenge must presumably be regarded as a maladaptive coping reaction to experienced injustice, but not in the first period after victimization.     

Posttraumatic anger, recalled peritraumatic emotions, and PTSD in victims of violent crime

A mixed cross-sectional and longitudinal design was employed to explore the association between posttraumatic anger and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD; symptoms) in victims of civilian violence. It was speculated that this relationship is mainly due to concurrent recalled peritraumatic emotions. Such emotions may be interpreted to result from anger-rooted threat perceptions and to share similarities with posttraumatic intrusion symptoms. In addition, predictors of PTSD maintenance were investigated. Cross-sectional data indicated that posttraumatic anger and several indices of PTSD were highly interconnected. Recalled peritraumatic emotions partly accounted for the relation between posttraumatic anger and posttraumatic intrusions (n = 177). Only posttraumatic intrusions were associated with PTSD symptom persistence at follow-up (n = 56). Findings were discussed in light of study limitations and directions for future research.     

The prediction and control of organized crime: A risk assessment instrument for targeting law enforcement efforts

Linking isolated instances of organized crime in a systematic way can inform law enforcement in identifying high-risk activities and markets and prioritizing them according to objective factors known to be associated with organized crime. There are five ways in which risk assessment organized crime can be achieved. Improvements to data collection, utilizing a team approach to gather information, identifying common elements in organized crime incidents, understanding the parameters of a risk assessment instrument, and connecting organized crime risk assessment to the implementation of law and policy are practical ways in which organized crime activity can be better anticipated, investigated, and prevented. Connecting isolated incidents to organized crime through better information from offenders, victims, and police is possible with teams of investigators, researchers, and analysts. An organized crime risk assessment tool is presented that offers systematic analysis of opportunity factors, the criminal environment, and harm potential among the seventeen risk factors identified. Risk assessment can be used to evaluate the influence of organized crime in local jurisdictions, and the impact of new laws and policies that affect commerce and criminal opportunities.     

Construct validity,reliability and predictive validity of the dynamic risk assessment and management system (DRAMS) in offenders with intellectual disability

Background. There have been a number of developments in the assessment of dynamic risk in the criminological literature. The dynamic risk assessment and management system (DRAMS) has been developed to facilitate the measurement of dynamic factors of risk for offenders with intellectual disability. Method. The study was designed to assess the construct validity, reliability and predictive utility of the DRAMS in 23 male forensic patients in a high secure setting. Predictions were made against independently collected incident data. Concurrent validity was assessed against the Ward Anger Rating Scale (WARS). Results. A reformulation of the individual section variables according to convergent and discriminant correlational analysis revealed Cronbach's alpha levels of >.8 for all sections apart from mood (alpha .750) and items retained to facilitate clinical information (alpha ?.017). Two hundred pairs of WARS and DRAMS assessments revealed orderly sectional correlations. The sections of mood, antisocial behaviour, and intolerance/agreeableness predicted incidents with a medium effect size as did total DRAMS score. There were highly significant differences between assessments taken 1 or 2 days prior to an incident and control assessments conducted at least 7 days from an incident. Conclusions. The reformulated DRAMS has good construct and concurrent validity. It appears to be a reliable assessment tool and informs on risk levels relating to stable and acute proximal factors. It appears as an important addition to the utility of risk assessments for this population.     

Exploring the residual effects of malingering in mock victims of violent crime: an experimental vignette study

The current study investigated the residual effects of malingering in a sample of 94 Dutch university students. Participants were ordered or advised (but not obliged) to fake psychological symptoms in response to an imaginary act of violent crime victimization in order to obtain financial compensation from the Dutch state or to respond honestly. Participants’ willingness to malinger was assessed with three types of questionnaires: (1) a questionnaire which measures the tendency to report bizarre and unlikely symptoms, (2) a questionnaire which measures the tendency to underperform on facial recognition tasks, and (3) a questionnaire which measures the tendency to report extremely high levels of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms. After completion of a Sudoku puzzle, participants were again instructed to fill out the three questionnaires, but this time they all had to respond honestly. Results indicated that participants who had been instructed to malinger (ordered or advised) had higher scores on all questionnaires, not only on the first but also on the second occasion. This suggested that residual effects of initial malingering had occurred. Results further suggested that detection of residual effects may depend on measurement method and instruction wording. Findings are discussed in light of the literature and study limitations.     

Perceived risk of crime: A tale of two immigrant groups in Metro Detroit

A particular source of anxiety for many immigrants is personal safety. This study examines the levels and correlates of perceived risk of crime among two understudied immigrant groups, Arab and Chinese immigrants, who resided in an understudied geographic area, the Detroit metropolitan area. Results suggested several universal and immigrants-specific correlates that are significant predictors of Arab and/or Chinese immigrants' perceptions of crime, including self-defense ability, police effectiveness, neighborhood collective efficacy, language proficiency, expectation of U.S. crime condition prior to arrival, and perception of home society crime. Implications for future research are discussed.     

Beyond fear: the role of peritraumatic responses in posttraumatic stress and depressive symptoms among female crime victims

This study examines peritraumatic (and posttrauma) responses in a sample of female crime victims who had been sexually or physically assaulted within the previous 2 months. Women were interviewed about their emotional and behavioral responses during the trauma and assessed for posttraumatic stress disorder and depression symptomatology. Results indicate that women experience a wide range of behavioral and emotional responses during a traumatic event and that these responses have implications for posttrauma adjustment. Women who experienced behaviors typical of a freeze response are more likely to have a greater degree of symptomatology after the assault. Peritraumatic emotions, other than fear, such as sadness, humiliation, and anger, also appear to be related to posttrauma depression symptoms. These findings highlight the necessity of exploring the full range of possible reactions during a trauma.     

Predictors of trauma symptomatology in sexually abused adolescents: a 6-month follow-up study

This study examines the natural course of trauma-specific symptoms 6 months after disclosure. Furthermore, this study investigates whether severity and type of abuse (intrafamilial or extrafamilial sexual abuse), negative appraisals, coping strategies, and crisis support measured at time of disclosure can be predictive of trauma symptoms 6 months later. Sixty-five sexually abused Flemish adolescents are reassessed 6 months after disclosure. Information from the participants is obtained through self-report questionnaires. Forty-six percent of the adolescents report clinically significant trauma symptoms. Although internalizing symptoms significantly decreases after 6 months, externalizing symptoms persist. Type or severity of the abuse does not account for differences in symptomatology. Two predictors of ongoing trauma symptomatology are identified: postdisclosure trauma symptomatology and a lack of initial crisis support. Information on the victims' postdisclosure symptomatology as well as information on the initial received social support is critical in understanding which abused adolescents are most at risk for poor outcomes in the long term.     

Don't help victims of crime if you don't have the time: Assessing support for Good Samaritan laws

Criminologists tend to study crimes that include active behaviors by offenders. Much less attention is given to inaction - or crimes that are defined by the absence of behaviors. A number of different crimes of omission, however, are included within state statutes. In recent times, a great deal of legislative attention has been directed towards whether Good Samaritan laws should be developed- laws that require bystanders to help those who are imperiled. This article describes a pilot study involving a survey of 134 “bystanders” to determine their attitudes about helping and their support for laws mandating that bystanders help crime victims. Results show that the sample overwhelmingly indicated that they would help others themselves, but there was mixed support for laws requiring that individuals help those in need. Support for Bad Samaritan laws was related to age and education. Implications are provided.     

Predictive validity of the dynamic risk assessment and management system in individuals with intellectual disability residing in the community

Background. The Dynamic Risk Assessment and Management System (DRAMS) was created to measure dynamic risk in individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID). Steptoe, Lindsay, Murphy, and Young, (2008) examined the construct validity, reliability and predictive validity of the dynamic risk assessment and management system (DRAMS) in offenders with intellectual disability and found that the total DRAMS score and sections on mood, antisocial behaviour and intolerance/agreeableness predicted incidents with a medium effect size for offenders with ID residing in high secure settings.     

Diamonds,gold and crime displacement: Hatton Garden,and the evolution of organised crime in the UK

The 2015 Hatton Garden Heist was described as the ‘largest burglary in English legal history’. However, the global attention that this spectacular crime attracted to ‘The Garden’ tended to concentrate upon the value of the stolen goods and the vintage of the burglars. What has been ignored is how the burglary shone a spotlight into Hatton Garden itself, as an area with a unique ‘upperworld’ commercial profile and skills cluster that we identify as an incubator and facilitator for organised crime. The Garden is the UK’s foremost jewellery production and retail centre and this paper seeks to explore how Hatton Garden’s businesses integrated with a fluid criminal population to transition, through hosting lucrative (and bureaucratically complex) VAT gold frauds from 1980 to the early 1990s, to become a major base for sophisticated acquisitive criminal activities. Based on extensive interviews over a thirty year period, evidence from a personal research archive and public records, this paper details a cultural community with a unique criminal profile due to the particularities of its geographical location, ethnic composition, trading culture, skills base and international connections. The processes and structures that facilitate criminal markets are largely under-researched (Antonopoulos et al. 2015: 11), and this paper considers how elements of Hatton Garden’s ‘upperworld’ businesses integrated with project criminals, displaced by policing strategies, to effect this transition.     

Sex disparities in arrests by residence,race, and age: An assessment of the gender convergence/crime hypothesis

In this report we examine whether differences in sex disparities in crime exist by population subgroup (residence, race, and age), using arrest data from the Uniform Crime Reports. We assess the utility of the gender equality/crime position as an explanation of any differences that do exist, and we propose alternative interpretations of the data. The major finding is that for most offenses, the differences in the female percentage of arrests (FP/A) are borderline or negligible. In those few instances where differences in FP/A exist across the comparison groups, they appear to have little or no relation to levels of gender-role convergence from one subgroup to another. Instead, we conclude that the differences in FP/A can be explained better as due to differences in willingness to sanction female offenders, to variations in opportunities for traditional female-based consumer crimes, and/or to differing levels of economic vulnerability among some groups of females.     

Fear of crime while camping: examining perceptions of risk,safety precautions,and victimization effects

Past research suggests that fear of crime is influenced by several factors including perceptions of risk and previous victimization. Fear of crime may also vary by location and context. The current study examines the influences on fear of crime among campers including perceptions of risk and past experiences with victimization while camping. Survey data collected from individuals camping in state and national parks were analyzed. Fear of crime was significantly related to perceptions of risk and taking safety precautions, however experiencing a previous victimization while camping was only marginally related to fear. Participants expressed higher levels of fear and perceptions of risk in their own neighborhoods compared to when camping. These results are discussed in terms of policy implications and suggestions for further research.