Pitying the Third World: towards more progressive emotional responses to development education in schools

The development sector appeals to emotions in its marketing and education material to raise awareness and funds for its work. Much of this material is now directed at schools, where young people form long-lasting opinions about development and the developing world. This paper draws upon research with 118 students in five New Zealand/Aotearoa secondary schools to show that young people are not passive receptors of development marketing and education. Instead, they question the activities of international ngos involved in aid work and how they are meant to feel or act in response. We examine these emotional responses of young people and the demoralising feelings of guilt, sadness and scepticism that arise, often alongside an innocent paternalism and a desire to help. We outline possibilities for more socially progressive forms of development education, based on the recognition that young people are questioning old ways of doing aid work and looking for something new. We challenge ngos to be part of new forms of global connectedness that disrupt old ‘us and them’ binaries based on difference, and instead to pursue new linkages based on shared feelings of empathy, friendship and social justice.     

Can the RUVIS Reflected UV Imaging System Visualize Fingerprint Corrosion on Brass Cartridge Casings Postfiring?

Comparisons are made between the visualization of fingerprint corrosion ridge detail on fired brass cartridge casings, where fingerprint sweat was deposited prefiring, using both ultraviolet (UV) and visible (natural daylight) light sources. A reflected ultraviolet imaging system (RUVIS), normally used for visualizing latent fingerprint sweat deposits, is compared with optical interference and digital color mapping of visible light, the latter using apparatus constructed to easily enable selection of the optimum viewing angle. Results show that reflected UV, with a monochromatic UV source of 254 nm, was unable to visualize fingerprint ridge detail on any of 12 casings analyzed, whereas optical interference and digital color mapping using natural daylight yielded ridge detail on three casings. Reasons for the lack of success with RUVIS are discussed in terms of the variation in thickness of the thin film of metal oxide corrosion and absorption wavelengths for the corrosion products of brass.     

Rape,Defendant Anonymity and Evidence‐Based Policy Making

In 2010, the Coalition government announced in its Programme for Government, that: ‘We will extend anonymity in rape cases to defendants.’ The question of anonymity for defendants accused of rape and other sexual offences, has been repeatedly raised in parliamentary debates over several decades, and has also received frequent attention in newspapers and, to a lesser extent, in academic and professional literature. The debate includes an array of factual claims and arguments that rest on weak empirical foundations. In November 2010, the Ministry of Justice published a report entitled: Providing Anonymity to those Accused of Rape: An Assessment of Evidence, which was intended to provide an evaluation of evidence that would inform the debate over defendant anonymity. This article critically examines this report and its discussion of key issues such as false rape allegations, and considers whether its conclusions can be relied upon by policy makers.     

Religious-Related Abuse in the Family

Religion provides directives for positive moral action and the promotion of human welfare; but religious beliefs can also foster and justify abusive behavior in the context of family life and child rearing. Parents, who are emotionally distraught and cannot control their responses to their child’s needs or misbehavior, might wield religious ideas to intimidate and control their children. In our paper we set forth two fundamental types of religion-related emotional abuse and discuss the complex role that religion can play in perpetuating abusive family relationships. We address the emotional aspects of religion-related abuse and also its transgenerational transfer. We present a case illustration focusing on how such abuse leads to dysfunctional patterns of behavior in family relationships and disruptions in emotion regulation processes. Applying a Relational Family Therapy model, we consider select therapeutic implications for addressing and overcoming religious abuse and restoring functional emotion regulation processes in families.     

VHA Primary Care Providers’ Perspectives on Screening Female Veterans for Intimate Partner Violence: A Preliminary Assessment

Female Veterans experience intimate partner violence (IPV) at alarming rates. The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) requires foundational research to guide the development of policy and programs to detect IPV among women Veterans and provide interventions. This pilot study reports findings from in-depth qualitative interviews conducted with 12 VHA primary care providers treating female Veterans in the New England region. Although most providers indicated that they were not currently routinely screening for IPV, they expressed positive attitudes and beliefs about screening in VHA primary care settings. Themes also included the importance of a comprehensive health care response to IPV, such as interdisciplinary coordination of care and team-based approaches to detection and intervention. Barriers to routine screening were identified, as well as recommendations for training programs and clinical tools to inform the successful implementation of a standardized IPV screening and response program in VHA. Although preliminary, these findings represent an initial step in an essential line of research.     

Sexual Assault Resource Availability on Texas Higher Education Campuses: A Web Site Content Analysis

Sexual assault prevention and response remains a high priority for U.S. higher education institutions. Indeed, federal legislation and a recent White House task force have reiterated the importance of protecting college students from victimization during their tenure in postsecondary education. Informed by Eisenberg, Lechner, Frerich, Lust, and Garcia's (2012) content analysis, the current study uses a modified College Resources and Sexual Health (CRaSH) inventory to examine the status of 74 Uniform Crime Reports–reporting higher education institutions in Texas. Doing so assesses prevention, resources, response, and aftercare for victims of sexual assault. Findings demonstrate a primary reliance on target-hardening strategies, health clinics, and law enforcement responses, often to the neglect of advocacy, crisis intervention, and educational programs. Directions for research are discussed, and best practices in programming implementation to augment existing strategies are suggested.     

Secure pathways for women in the UK: lessons from the women’s enhanced medium secure services (WEMSS) pilots

Abstract

Women’s enhanced medium secure services (WEMSS) is a model of care aimed at providing a more appropriate level of security for women and, in so doing, reducing the number of women in high secure psychiatric services. In 2007, three Department of Health commissioned WEMSS pilots became operational. This study compared the clinical outcomes of women in WEMSS with control women in six standard medium secure services and one high secure service matched on key clinical and risk characteristics, in order to examine their pathways of care. Our findings confirm that the WEMSS pilots were successful in transitioning women from high secure services who had previously been thought unsuitable for medium secure services. However, WEMSS showed no additional clinical benefit, suggesting that these women could be cared for equally well within standard medium secure services. We make recommendations about WEMSS and the future shape of women’s secure care in England.     

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.     

Florida’s task force approach to combat human trafficking: an analysis of county-level data

Abstract

Since emerging in the USA during the 1990s, the multi-agency task force has become the preferred organizational structure for enforcing human trafficking laws and providing assistance to victims. These task forces often work across county lines and typically include law enforcement agencies, as well as social service and non-governmental organizations. The effect of collaborations with other types of agencies on law enforcement’s human trafficking arrests is unknown. County-level arrest data for human trafficking first became available through the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 2014. In this paper, we present findings from county-level analyses with human trafficking arrests in the State of Florida as the dependent variable. Independent variables include the presence of a task force, sociodemographic characteristics, tourism measures, and police officers per capita. The strongest predictor of human trafficking arrests is the presence of a task force.