Victims' perceptions of police response to domestic violence incidents

This study examined the nature of police response to domestic violence incidents with a focus on the identification of areas of police intervention that female victims of domestic abuse find “most” helpful and “least” helpful. The first part of the study was based on the analysis of a random sample of incident reports of domestic abuse cases recorded in 2000 and 2001. These reports were examined to obtain information about the characteristics of domestic abuse victims and summary information about the incidents of domestic abuse offenses. The second stage of the research study involved a telephone survey conducted with a random sample of fifty female domestic abuse victims who called the police. The study examined female victims' perceptions of how the police responded to the domestic abuse incidents, how helpful or not so helpful victims found the police to be when they responded to their calls, and how their cases were handled by the legal system.     

Key agent and survivor recommendations for intervention in honour-based violence in the UK

This paper concerns recommendations for intervention in honour-based violence (“HBV”) as recommended by individuals who face such violence in their everyday lives. Utilising data extracted from interviews conducted with 30 key agents and 8 South-Asian female survivors in the UK, this paper will argue that UK public agencies are struggling to cope with how to respond to HBV. This is despite the UK government recognising shortcomings in the support for victims in the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee report in 2008. In particular, participants identified that (a) the police, healthcare, and social services are particularly poor at supporting victims; (b) public sector workers require appropriate training and awareness on HBV; (c) education on HBV and forced marriages is absent in schools, colleges, and universities; and (d) more needs to be done to engage and educate communities about HBV and where victims can access support.     

Negative reactions to the sexually abused victims,withdrawing the complaint and outcomes of the litigation: the first data from Turkey

In order to provide psychosocial services to children with sexual abuse (SA) histories, their needs and problems should be initially identified. In this study, it is intended to determine the psychosocial problems of victims. Participants were 73 victims between aged between 16 and 21. A telephone interview form was used to collect the study data. It is found that there were several problems noted by victims, including underage marriage (15.1%), teenage pregnancy (6.9%), revictimization (13.7%), need for psychiatric support (21.9%) as well as negative social reaction (84.4%) and not being supported by family (41.1%). One-third of the victims (30.1%) had withdrawn the complaint for reasons such as SA being heard among social circle, the negative effect of court process on psychological well-being, make a new beginning and reasons related to the suspects. Finally, it was found out that 21.9% of the parents did not know the outcome of the litigation, 34.2% of them were satisfied with the case result, 43.8% of them were not satisfied with the penalty, 43.8% of the litigation process was ended in favor of the suspect and 43.9% of the suspects were punished. This study shows the need for prevention and intervention studies to solve the problems of SA victims, and it is essential to make the justice system child-friendly.     

Experiences of Stalking Victims and Requests for Help in Three European Countries. A Survey

Previous research by the Modena Group on Stalking (MGS) regarding awareness and recognition of stalking by police officers and general practitioners using case scenarios showed significant differences across three countries. It was also hypothesized that victims used different pathways when seeking help. To explore the experience of requesting help by victims of stalking in different European countries a detailed survey was completed by 391 victims of stalking in Belgium (n = 145), Italy (n = 126) and Slovenia (n = 120). The research confirmed the significant intensity and duration of stalking and psychological distress for victims. Victims used several pathways to survive stalking. Some victims reported that informal interventions they or family/friends implemented were effective, but the majority had to have recourse to helping agencies. Significant differences in help seeking behaviour were found between the three countries. In Belgium victims contacted the police, as well as other helping agencies, more often and more precociously than in Italy and Slovenia. Restriction orders against the stalker were considered the most effective intervention. Police were regarded as the least supportive agency, taking victims less seriously, and not being particularly effective at stopping the stalkers. Police were ranked after family/friends, lawyers and colleagues, with regards effectiveness, except in Belgium, where Police’s effectiveness was ranked second after lawyers. Stalking often requires the mobilization of multiple helping agencies by victims and it is important that victims are aware of what help is available to them and that agencies become more sensitive to their needs.     

Canada’s First Integrated Domestic Violence Court: Examining Family and Criminal Court Outcomes at the Toronto I.D.V.C.

This is the first quantitative study to examine Canada’s only Integrated Domestic Violence Court. The methodology used a quasi-experimental design with parallel groups with baseline equivalence. Results demonstrate that when support services are provided to victims of domestic violence during family separation, children benefit from greater involvement with both parents. There was more compliance with child support in the integrated court than the comparison group and compliance in custody and access were two variables that predicted the type of final custody orders. There were fewer judges involved in the IDVC court than comparison group; however, there were no differences in the number of court appearances between groups. The IDVC demonstrates a promising intervention to address domestic violence that involves both criminal and family law courts. Future research is needed to explore the views of children, victims and offenders about their experiences with the IDVC.     

The Social Construction of Roles in Intimate Partner Violence: Is the Victim/Perpetrator Model the only Viable one?

An ongoing discussion in the partner violence (PV) literature exists concerning the respective roles of perpetrator and victim. Most of it is gender based. The classical feminist argument is that women are victims of the violence and this is sustained by the social perception of them as victims. More recently increased recognition of mutual violence has taken place, calling into question the gender-based victim/perpetrator model. Recent research further calls into question this role differentiation through findings indicating that a majority of the protagonists in the PV drama view themselves as victims. A corollary to this controversy is that whether a man or a woman is the victim, the principal client in conventional intervention with PV is the woman. This paper will argue that the relevancy of gender-based role differentiation for most PV cases is not supported by recent data, and that incorporating an interactive perspective enables a more complex view than the classical victim/perpetrator one, and may improve our practice with PV populations.     

Pedophilia on the Internet

The Internet provides adults and children with a medium for professional and personal communication throughout the world. As widespread communication in cyberspace grows exponentially, the potential for Internet-related crimes, such as cyberstalkng, has accelerated. Children are particularly vulnerable to sexual predators, such as pedophiles, on the Internet. This article reports cases of pedophiles who used the information superhighway to exploit child victims. Two models of pedophilia on the Internet are discussed: a trust-based seductive model and a direct sexual model. This article explores the role that mental health professionals may play in the assessment of Internet pedophilia. For example, mental health professionals may provide psychiatric treatment to victims of Internet pedophiles. Psychiatrists may be involved in the evaluation of perpetrators of Internet crimes in a clinical or forensic setting. Governmental agencies, the criminal justice system, school, or the media may request consultations by mental health professionals as part of a multi-disciplinary approach to prevention. Methods of government intervention are discussed.     

Stalking in the Context of Domestic Violence

Abstract

This article examines the effect of criminal justice intervention in domestic violence on stalking in that relationship. Almost two hundred female victims of misdemeanor domestic violence in three jurisdictions were interviewed three times after their cases had closed. Qualitative interviews were conducted with a subsample of 21 victims who had experience with stalking. Specific court outcomes in domestic violence cases and whether or not the victim cooperated with the prosecution do not impact whether or not a domestic violence victim experiences subsequent stalking. Women who experienced stalking in addition to domestic violence were more likely to use the system in the future than women who just experienced domestic violence. The qualitative interviews revealed additional findings regarding victims' opinions of the criminal justice response to stalking in the context of domestic violence.     

Catch‐22: Exploring Victim Interests in a Specialist Family Violence Jurisdiction

Research and advocacy over the past few decades have combined to draw attention both to the inadequacies of criminal justice intervention in domestic violence as well as the law's positive potential. Radical changes in law, policy, and practice have been implemented in the civil and criminal jurisdictions in most western countries, including Australia. More proactive intervention from criminal justice agencies has not been without its critics. The interests of victims of domestic violence have been portrayed by some as being in conflict with those of the justice system. This article explores this interaction using evaluation surveys and qualitative data from interviews with 360 victims of domestic violence in an urban Australian jurisdiction. Using a smaller subset of respondents, the article provides an exploratory examination of victims’ engagement with criminal prosecution and how they place themselves within the decision‐making process and the objectives of the system. The article concludes that there is significant congruence between victim objectives and interests and those of a public‐interest justice system.     

The Impact of Children on Intimate Partner Abuse Victims’ Service-Seeking

Intimate partner abuse is a major problem. This is especially true when there are children present. In attempt to stop the cycle of abuse, it is of critical importance to understand the impact children have on the relationships and the decision-making process of those involved. This research is part of a larger project examining the help-seeking behaviors of victims of intimate partner abuse. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 26 victims of intimate partner abuse who eventually sought services. This paper reports on how children affect the decision of their parent to either seek services while in an abusive situation or to postpone seeking services. This study focuses on 19 of those respondents with children. Both quantitative and qualitative data analyses were conducted. This paper utilizes part of the qualitative data relating to the import of children in the decision-making process. Analysis reveals that for all respondents, children were important to their decision-making process. Several themes related to children were identified, including those who identified leaving the situation and seeking services because of their children and those who postponed seeking services because of their children. Implications for prevention and intervention in cases of intimate partner abuse will be discussed.     

Examining the Effectiveness of Restorative Justice in Reducing Victims’ Post-Traumatic Stress

Crime victimisation is a significant life event that can lead to the development of post-traumatic symptomology. Compared with the general population, victims of crime are significantly more likely to present with symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Restorative justice is an approach to criminal justice that considers the goal of the justice system to restore victims to their state pre-victimisation. The purpose of this review was to evaluate the effectiveness of restorative justice in reducing symptoms of post-traumatic stress that develop following victimisation. Relevant databases were searched to identify quantitative studies measuring post-traumatic symptoms in victims of crime who successfully completed either a restorative justice or customary justice intervention. A total of seven studies were identified examining one or more facet of post-traumatic symptomology. These studies provide modest support that restorative justice did produce a greater improvement on post-traumatic symptoms than customary justice procedures. However, this was only consistently evidenced for symptoms of avoidance and intrusion, whereas there were mixed findings with regard to the subscales of negative alterations in mood and cognition, and arousal and reactivity. Reasons for these inconsistencies are discussed and recommendation made for further empirical work on this subject.

     

Predicting the occurrence of stalking in relationships characterized by domestic violence

A high correlation has been found between domestic violence and stalking. However, very few studies have examined what factors predict the occurrence of stalking in relationships characterized by domestic violence. Using in-depth interviews with victims of domestic violence whose cases have gone through the criminal justice system, this article explores this issue. It was found that experiences of stalking by their abusers were very prevalent in this group of domestic violence victims. In terms of predicting stalking, domestic violence victims who were not in a relationship with their abuser, whose abusers had an alcohol or drug problem, who experienced more controlling behaviors by their abusers, and who had experienced prior stalking by their abusers were at the greatest risk of experiencing more severe stalking. Implications for intervention are discussed.     

Juvenile Involvement in Fratricide and Sororicide: An Empirical Analysis of 32?Years of U.S. Arrest Data

Despite the interest in juvenile homicide offenders, few studies have systematically examined their involvement in incidents involving specific victims. This study focused on one victim type, the killings of siblings. To date, siblicide research has been based primarily on case studies. Bivariate and multivariate techniques were used to systematically investigate offender, victim, and incident characteristics associated with fratricides and sororicides committed by juvenile homicide offenders in single victim, single offender incidents over a 32-year period (1976–2007), as recorded in the Supplementary Homicide Report data base. Juvenile sororicide offenders, relative to juvenile fratricide offenders, were significantly more likely to be female and to kill younger victims. The article concludes with a discussion of the findings in terms of past research, their implications for intervention and prevention, and directions for future research.     

Post-Relationship Stalking: The Experience of Victims With and Without History of Partner Abuse

This article analyses a side of the post-relationship stalking that has been neglected: the experience of women that were victims of this type of violence without having any history of abuse during their prior relationship. It analyses the differences between post-relationship stalking victims with and without history of partner abuse on what concerns to suffered stalking dynamics, emotional answers and types of coping strategies. This survey gathered data using online resources and the sample was constituted by 107 female post-intimate stalking victims. Results revealed that victims who were targets of past violence suffered a more serious post-relationship stalking campaign. Results also demonstrated that fear towards stalking behaviours is an endemic response when dealing with such experiences. Post-relationship stalking victims, in general, have also revealed being actives in coping with their individual experiences of victimisation.     

Where Do They Belong? Giving Victims a Place in the Criminal Justice Process

Historically, victims once had an active participatory role in the criminal justice process and were responsible for not only initiating but also for prosecuting offenders. In common law countries, victims were gradually sidelined and by the 20th century, their role was reduced to that of a witness to a crime against the state. The exclusion of victims from the criminal justice process is a major source of dissatisfaction for victims as many of them want to participate in the criminal justice process. This has fuelled initiatives with restorative justice that claim to more fully include victims than conventional criminal justice. This paper examines three different approaches found in the literature on how to let victims participate. One view is that victims should leave the criminal justice system and that criminal justice should be replaced by alternative, restorative justice schemes in which victims are granted full recognition and respect for their dignity. A second approach is to integrate restorative practices such as victim-offender mediation in the criminal justice process. The third approach is to integrate victim participation and respect (so-called restorative values) in the criminal justice system. These three approaches are discussed and compared with one another. The paper closes with recommendations for criminal law reform.     

Secondary Victimization of Crime Victims by Criminal Proceedings

It is conceivable that criminal proceedings cause psychological harm to the crime victims involved, that is, cause secondary victimization. To investigate this hypothesis, negative and positive effects of criminal proceedings were investigated, as perceived by 137 victims of violent crimes who were involved in trials several years previously. Trial outcome and procedure variables were measured as potential causes of secondary victimization. Results show a high proportion of victims reporting overall negative effects. Powerful predictors were outcome satisfaction and procedural justice, but not subjective punishment severity, interactional justice, and psychological stress by criminal proceedings. The practical implications of the results pertain to whether victims should be advised to report the crime to the police or not, and to appropriate prevention and intervention measures of secondary victimization by criminal proceedings.     

An arresting experiment: domestic violence victim experiences and perceptions

This study looks at the experiences and perceptions that domestic violence victims reported with Mills's power model. The victims' partners were the primary research participants in an arrest experiment. The following were empirically examined: the occurrence of violence following suspect arrest, victim perceptions of personal and legal power, victim satisfaction with the police, and victim perceptions of safety following legal intervention. Race and two victim resource measures (i.e., employment status and income advantage) explained variance in perceptions of independence. A police empowerment scale was used to measure legal power. It was found that arrest affected the probability of re-occurring domestic violence. Suspect arrest and the victim's perceptions of legal power were related to perceptions of safety following police intervention. The study concludes with some implications for domestic violence research, programs, and perspectives.     

“They Arrested Me—And I Was the Victim”: Women’s Experiences With Getting Arrested in the Context of Domestic Violence

Since the implementation of mandatory and pro-arrest policies, there has been a sharp increase in the number of women arrested for violence against intimate partners; many of these women are also victims of intimate partner violence (IPV). Through questionnaires and interviews, this study uncovers the experience of getting arrested from the perspective of women who were both victims of IPV and arrested in IPV-related incidents. Women reported that their arrest was unexpected, led to multiple losses and collateral consequences, and served as a turning point in their relationships. Findings support emergency intervention services that include alternatives to arrest for women experiencing IPV.     

Deaths associated with choking in San Diego county

Death from choking is the fourth most common cause of unintentional-injury mortality, but little data are published on causes or locations of these episodes. These deaths typically are peaked at the extremes of age, with young children and the elderly having the greatest rate of fatal choking. Our objective was to characterize the causes of fatal airway obstruction in adults. The San Diego County Medical Examiner's database was searched for deaths attributed to choking in decedents 18 years and older during the 10-year period from 1994 to 2004. Data were abstracted regarding the underlying medical conditions, items choked on, location of the choking, and treatments involved in the individual cases. We found 133 victims who died from choking, with 14% having using alcohol or other sedatives and 55% having a documented neurological deficit or anatomic difficulty with swallowing. The most common specified food objects that victims choked on were meat products, and 45% occurred at home, followed by 26% at supervised facilities, and 14% at restaurants. Of the 19 choking episodes occurring in restaurants, only one employee was documented to attempt a resuscitative effort. Most victims who choked to death had an underlying neurological deficit, and occurred at home or supervised facilities appear to have an appropriate initial-response intervention.