What is the prevalence of abuse in the deaf/hard of hearing population?

It is thought that deaf or hard of hearing individuals are at greater risk of abuse than the hearing population. The purpose of this paper is to systematically examine and integrate existing literature to determine the prevalence rates of neglect, emotional, physical and sexual abuse and intimate partner violence (IPV). A set of inclusion and exclusion criteria was determined. Following this a comprehensive search of numerous databases was conducted. Fourteen studies met the inclusion criteria. Eight studies reviewed the prevalence of sexual abuse, seven reviewed physical abuse, five reviewed emotional abuse, four reviewed neglect and six examined IPV. This exceeds 14 as numerous studies examined multiple types of abuse. Quality assessment indicated 12 studies were of ‘moderate’ quality and the remaining two were rated ‘good’ quality. Issues with similar samples, a tendency towards young, educated women within the IPV data, and small samples suggest caution is to be used when interpreting their results. The reliance on written measures and the absence of an interpreter or translation of materials in some studies further complicates the results. All types of abuse were found to be more prevalent within the deaf and hard of hearing population compared to the hearing population.     

The Static-99R predicts sexual and violent recidivism for individuals with low intellectual functioning*

A current debate is whether actuarial risk assessment tools predict sexual recidivism in sexual offenders with intellectual disabilities (SOIDs). Since intellectual functioning exists on a spectrum, the present study examined the predictive validity of the Static-99R across the range of intellectual functioning. The sample was comprised of 454 adult sexual offenders assessed at an outpatient clinic and followed for an average of 10 years. Offenders in the extremely low/borderline group had higher scores on the Static-99R than other offenders, largely due to their score on the detachment subscale of the Static-99R, but did not have significantly higher recidivism rates. Calibration analyses suggested that the expected and observed recidivism rates did not differ significantly. Intellectual functioning did not add incremental validity to the Static-99R. Further, there was no interaction between intellectual functioning and actuarial risk score. The results suggested that the Static-99R can be used across the range of intellectual functioning, albeit somewhat more cautiously for those at the lowest and highest end of the intellectual functioning distribution.     

The legal geographies of transnational cyber-prosecutions: extradition,human rights and forum shifting

This article describes legal and human rights issues in three cases of transnational online offending involving extradition requests by the United States (US). These cases were selected as all suspects claimed the negative impacts of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) were sufficient to deny extradition on human rights grounds. We demonstrate how recent developments in UK and Irish extradition law raise human rights and prosecutorial challenges specific to online offending that are not met by established protections under domestic and internationally sanctioned approaches to extradition or human rights law. In these cases, although the allegedly unlawful conduct occurred exclusively online and concurrent jurisdiction enables prosecution at both the source and location of harm, we demonstrate why national courts hearing extradition challenges are extremely reluctant to shift the trial forum. We conclude by discussing the implications of the new geographies of online offending for future criminological research and transnational criminal justice.     

The contribution of Tamara Hareven to the understanding of carework

Tamara Hareven was widely recognized for her contribution to the study of the family in the context of economic activity, but she was also a pioneer in developing an understanding of carework, the unpaid work that families, usually women, do for the young, and the dependent elderly. This article reviews her insights from interviews in Manchester and in Kyoto, where she examined family strategies for combining paid work and carework among working class families. She described how women integrated child care and economic activity in the decades when women were expected to be at home and out of the labour force. The Manchester interviews also revealed the role of the adult child providing care for the elderly parent and how this role changed rapidly between early and later cohorts of adult children born in the early 20th century. From this she developed her insights on the importance of the historical context for understanding how transitions to parent care differed for different cohorts. In the early 21st century, carework has become integral to the study of the family and of women's roles in the family. Tamara Hareven's work provides early insights as to how these issues were managed in the context of more traditional family roles in the early 20th century.     

What Can We Learn About the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program by Looking at the Tenants?

Abstract

Several recent studies have found that homeownership has positive effects on children's development. This article extends these studies by testing whether these effects depend on neighborhood conditions. This extension is important because many low‐income families that become homeowners under current policies promoting homeownership for the poor are likely to purchase homes in troubled or distressed neighborhoods.

Homeownership in almost any neighborhood is found to benefit children, while neighborhood effects are weak. This suggests that the children of most low‐income renters would be better served by programs that help their families become homeowners in their current neighborhoods instead of helping them move to better neighborhoods while remaining renters. However, the positive effects of homeownership on children are weakened in distressed neighborhoods, especially those that are residentially unstable and poor. Thus, helping low‐income families purchase homes in good neighborhoods is likely to have the best effects on children.     

Against General Theory in Comparative Research

This paper argues against the search for a general theory of crime causation in comparative criminology. It includes a critique of two advocates of general theory, and offers three propositions which suggest appropriate strategies for theory construction in comparative research.     

Exporting and importing criminality: Incarceration of the Foreign Born

Since previous studies have found that crime rates vary by immigrant group there is a need to dis‐aggregate immigrants by country of birth in order to obtain a more accurate representation of the relationship between migrants and crime. This study examines data from six countries (Australia, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, and the U.S.A.) on the country of birth of their inmate populations. The following observations are reasonable conclusions from the data available. First, the percentages of each home country's inmate population that is foreign‐born varies remarkably. Second, in general foreign‐born inmates tend to come from regions outside the region within which the host country was located, though in most cases from regions that were proximate. Third, given the small number of countries reporting, it is intriguing that just a small number of countries and regions can account for such a high proportion of a home country's inmate population if one includes the numbers of a country's citizens who are housed in foreign prisons as part of that original country's inmate population. The paper concludes with a discussion of a number of policy implications that flow from these findings.     

Acculturating Contexts and Anglo Opposition to Immigration in the United States

This article explores the impact of novel change in the ethnic composition of Americans’ local context on their attitudes toward immigrants and immigration policy preferences. Adapting the “defended‐neighborhoods hypothesis” regarding residential integration and black‐white interracial relations to the context of immigration and intercultural relations, this article advances the acculturating‐contexts hypothesis. This hypothesis argues that a large influx of an immigrant group will activate threat among white citizens when it occurs in local areas where the immigrant group had largely been absent. This theoretical argument is explored within the context of Hispanic immigration and tested using national survey and census data. This article demonstrates that over‐time growth in local Hispanic populations triggers threat and opposition to immigration among whites residing in contexts with few initial Hispanics but reduces threat and opposition to immigration among whites residing in contexts with large preexisting Hispanic populations.     

The Paradox of the Politically-Sophisticated Partisan: The French Case

The erosion of partisan ties observed in many advanced industrialised democracies has been attributed to a cluster of factors associated with societal modernisation. This article considers the impact of one of these explanatory factors, the political sophistication of the electorate, in the case of France. Specifically, it tests the proposition that a more highly-educated and better-informed electorate will be less partisan. Its findings challenge a number of the assumptions behind the ‘independent’ voter thesis. The evidence points to the fact that it is lower rather than higher cognitive mobilisation that is associated with apartisanship. More politically-sophisticated voters, young and old alike, tend to have stronger party attachment and to rely on this rather than on complex evaluations of issues and policy to guide their voting decision.