In a Violent World a Just World Makes Sense: The Case of “Senseless Violence” in The Netherlands

Recent violent incidents in The Netherlands caused nationwide debates about their purported senselessness. Building on Lerner's Just World Theory (Lerner, 1980, The Belief in a Just World. A Fundamental Delusion, Plenum Press, New York), the present experiment sought to delineate the circumstances under which violence is perceived as senseless by outside observers. Participants were more likely to perceive an act of violence as senseless and to identify with the victim when there was no opportunity to blame the victim and when the victim was uninvolved with the perpetrator. These findings suggest that acts of violence are perceived as senseless when attributional strategies fail to uphold observers' belief in a just world.     

The 22nd Congress of the CPSU and the Tasks of the Soviet Science of International Law

The 22nd Party Congress provided a profound analysis of the international situation and its perspectives, the new relationship between the forces of progress, peace and socialism and those of reaction and war—the forces of the obsolescent capitalist system.     

The European Court of Human Rights,Amicus Curiae,and Violence against Women

Are international courts and advocacy group legal mobilization shaping human rights politics? This question poses a theoretical and empirical challenge to state dominated understandings of international litigation. This article theorizes the interaction between advocacy groups and the European Court of Human Rights and the role this participation plays in the enforcement and development of human rights. The analyses examine institutional factors shaping broad trends in mobilization complemented by two in depth studies examining a single mode of participation, amicus curiae and a single area of law, violence against women. The data identify the critical role standing rules, court review powers and group expertise play in transnational rights mobilization and development. The findings bring into question dominant understandings of international law and contribute to a more complex understanding of law in a global age where international courts and societal actors are shaping the direction of rights protection.     

网络民主与网络暴力

网络的出现给更多的人更多的表达机会,网民直接参与所带来的大量信息的交流与反馈似乎使直接民主成为可能。但网络是一把双刃剑,促进民主的同时也催生了网络暴力等。网络中的是与非并不是技术本身的必然。在目前的条件中网络民主形式必须结合网民实际的道德修养而论。直接民主难以在目前的网络秩序中实现,网络民主并不能等同于直接民主。     

Belief in a Just World,Causal Attributions,and Adjustment to Sexual Violence

What influence do the personal belief in a just world (i.e., the perception that one usually gets what one deserves) and different kinds of causal attributions have on adjustment to sexual violence? Using a sample of N = 62 victims of sexual aggression (mean age = 21.7) it was shown that respondents were better able to adjust to their experience of sexual violence the higher their personal belief in a just world. Moreover, the more respondents attributed their victimization to situational circumstances (external attributions) and the less they attributed their victimization to their character and personality (characterological self-attributions), the less they felt distressed by past victimization. The degree to which participants attributed their victimization to their own concrete behavior (behavioral self-attribution) was not related to their adjustment. Further analyses showed that the influence of the personal belief in a just world was mediated by the three attribution styles. Additionally, the adaptiveness of external attributions was moderated by participants’ just world belief.     

The War on Violence: Improving the Response to Domestic Violence in the Military

The Department of Defense has taken steps in recent years to improve outcomes for victims of domestic violence who reside on military installations. In 2000, the Defense Task Force on Domestic Violence was established, a military‐civilian group of experts charged with improving the military's effectiveness in addressing domestic violence in the Armed Forces in a variety of areas including offender accountability, coordination between military and civilian communities, and changing the military climate around domestic violence. This article will provide an overview of the Task Force, its work during the past three years, and its recommendations.     

The Influence of Domestic Violence on Preschooler Behavior and Functioning

Enhancing current explanations of domestic violence exposure effects on child cognitive and behavioral functioning was the purpose of this investigation. Participants were 31 domestic violence exposed and 31 non-exposed children ages 3 to 5 years and their single-parent household mothers. Child-mother pairs were matched for child’s age, gender, and ethnicity, mother’s age and education, and annual family income. Child cognitive and behavioral functioning was assessed via psychological assessment and parent report. The presence of mental health difficulties in mothers was assessed using self-report and clinician-administered instruments. Exposed children showed lower verbal functioning and higher internalizing behaviors than did their non-exposed peers. Exposed mothers displayed greater psychological difficulties than did their counterparts.     

The Effects of Domestic Violence on Women's Employment

This article presents some results of a random household survey that examined the effects of domestic violence on the labor force participation of 824 women living in a low‐income neighborhood. It also uses data from twenty‐four long interviews.
Eighteen percent of the respondents reported having experienced physical aggression in the past twelve months, and 11.9% reported more severe physical violence. Women who reported abuse were more likely to have experienced unemployment and held more jobs and to report more health problems. They also had lower personal incomes, and were significantly more likely to receive public assistance. At the same time, women who reported abuse were employed in roughly the same numbers as those who did not. Thus, it appears that domestic violence may depress women's socioeconomic and occupational status attainment over time, but does not affect employment status per se.  The article concludes with comments about the implications of the findings for the redesign of public assistance and job training programs.     

农村家庭暴力与女性暴力犯罪心理的形成和发展

家庭暴力在我国农村普遍存在,它不仅影响家庭和睦,严重摧残女性的身心健康,而且成为当今社会女性暴力犯罪心理形成的直接诱因。农村受虐女性经历困惑、伤心、绝望无助、报复泄恨等心理变化,最终形成了犯罪心理并在特定情景下激化成暴力犯罪行为。应据此采取有效措施,预防女性暴力犯罪心理、犯罪行为的发生发展。     

Evangelizing Congress: The Emergence of Evangelical Republicans and Party Polarization in Congress

The realignment of evangelical voters is well‐documented, but religion's impact within Congress is less clear. New data on home churches of members of Congress shows that the realignment of congressional evangelicals, combined with their growth and distinctly conservative legislative behavior, has significantly contributed to party polarization in Congress. Controlling for other factors, evangelicals are significantly more conservative than members of other religious traditions. This conservatism also has second‐order effects on the polarization of the House, where their more partisan proposals comprise a larger share of the roll‐call agenda when Republicans are in the majority. Moreover, evangelical Republicans in Congress differ significantly from evangelical Democrats in terms their geography, denominations, and experiences prior to Congress.     

The Effects of Scale Carving on Instruments Assessing Violence

Little research has examined the properties of survey instruments when the full instrument is not administered (scale carving). The purpose of the present study was to test scale carving effects on survey instruments. Participants completed carved and whole versions of two instruments measuring violent behaviors and attitudes at two sessions. Findings indicated that administering select subscales rather than the entire instrument affects psychometric properties of certain instruments. For instance, mean scores of certain instruments differed depending upon whether the instruments were administered in their entirety or in carved versions. Reliability coefficients did not differ between carved and whole versions, and correlation coefficients were moderate. Therefore, psychometric properties of carved instruments should be assessed prior to their use in research.