Welfare Reform: Prescription for Abuse? A Report on New Research Studies Documenting the Relationship of Domestic Violence and Welfare

Anecdotally, welfare‐to‐work programs have documented that domestic violence serves as a welfare‐to‐work barrier by partners' interference with education, training and work, or by physical or mental trauma which also prevents employment. Four new research studies, which, although using different methods, including random and nonrandom surveys of welfare caseloads and random neighborhood surveys, document high and remarkably consistent prevalence of domestic violence within welfare caseloads. Although much more needs to be known, the prevalence of domestic violence in these women's lives requires specific domestic violence‐sensitive welfare policies lest women become injured during the welfare‐to‐work process.     

The Effects of Feminist Mobilization and Women’s Status on Universities’ Reporting of Rape

ABSTRACT

When establishing the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault, President Obama reminded universities of their obligation to report accurate rape statistics to the Department of Education. Research has not determined, on a national scale, what factors explain variation in (under)reporting. Using data from 413 top universities’ websites and institutional and archival data, we examine how state- and university-level factors shape universities’ rape reporting. Universities with a greater feminist presence and antiviolence activism, and those located in states where women have higher socioeconomic status and more American Association of University Women partnerships, report more rapes. We examine underreporting as an institutional rather than an individual-level phenomenon, connect campus reporting to the larger reporting literature, and provide practical policy and program implications.     

Proactive and Reactive Violence among Intimate Partner Violent Men Diagnosed with Antisocial and Borderline Personality Disorder

Personality disorder features have been an important basis of many batterer typologies (Babcock et al. J Fam Violence 15:391–409, 2000; Holtzworth-Munroe and Stuart Psychol Bull 116:476–497, 1994), most notably Antisocial and Borderline Personality Disorders. Aggression that partner violent men commit has also been found to be heterogeneous, motivated by the need to control (proactive) or enacted out of emotion (reactive). In the present study, men who were physically abusive towards their female partner (N = 124 couples) were administered the SCID-II diagnostic interview for Antisocial (ASPD) and Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). It was hypothesized that partner violent men diagnosed with ASPD would show highest levels of proactive violence whereas men diagnosed with BPD (alone or comorbidly with ASPD) were expected to be reactively violent. Results suggest that violence perpetrated by men with different personality disorders differs in its function. Within the context of intimate relationships, BPD/comorbid men appear to use violence more reactively, while ASPD men tend to use violence both proactively and reactively. Implications for treatment are discussed.

Disproportionality and Disparities among Sexual Minority Youth in Custody

Research indicates that sexual minority youth are disproportionately criminalized in the U.S. and subjected to abusive treatment while in correctional facilities. However, the scope and extent of disparities based on sexual orientation remains largely overlooked in the juvenile justice literature. This study, based on a nationally representative federal agency survey conducted in 2012 (N?=?8785; 9.9% girls), reveals that 39.4% of girls and 3.2% of boys in juvenile correctional facilities identified as lesbian, gay, or bisexual. These youth, particularly gay and bisexual boys, report higher rates of sexual victimization compared to their heterosexual peers. Sexual minority youth, defined as both lesbian, gay, and bisexual identified youth as well as youth who identified as straight and reported some same-sex attraction, were also 2–3 times more likely than heterosexual youth to report prior episodes of detention lasting a year or more. Implications for future research and public policy are discussed.     

Public Willingness to Downsize Prisons: Implications From Oregon

Abstract

After decades of the steady growth of inmate populations, the mass imprisonment movement has stalled and serious attempts are being undertaken to downsize prisons. At issue, however, is whether the American public will endorse this policy agenda. This issue is explored with data from a 2010 survey of 1,569 Oregon adults. On a broad level, the respondents favored a preventative-rehabilitative approach to crime control and endorsed a range of reentry services for inmates. Most significant, the sample supported specific policies, including community sanctions and several forms of early release, to reduce prison populations. Notably, however, they did not embrace downsizing for the purpose of lowering spending—a finding that should be explored in other states. These results indicate that, at least in Oregon, the public is willing to consider efforts to downsize prisons. Capitalizing on this public support remains the challenge to be addressed.     

Hidden in plain sight: political opposition and hegemonic authoritarianism in Azerbaijan

This paper examines the consolidation and maintenance of hegemonic authoritarianism in post-Soviet Azerbaijan. Hegemonic regimes are characterized by their nearly total lack of political competition. Despite the presence of opposition parties and regular elections, the incumbent in these cases is reelected with 70% or more of the vote. What does it take to sustain overwhelming margins of victory in regular elections in the face of institutionalized opposition? Previous studies have suggested that either violent repression or institutionalized co-optation of opposition groups is central to securing long-term hegemonic regime stability. These mechanisms explain how rulers forestall potential opposition. Upon coming to power in 1993, however, Heydar Aliyev – like many post-Soviet leaders – inherited a genuine, existing opposition in the Popular Front movement. I suggest that in the presence of an intractable opposition, Azerbaijan's rulers have taken a different approach with regard to regime maintenance. Drawing on over 50 original interviews conducted during 6 months of field research, I identify the mechanisms by which the government has “hidden the opposition in plain sight” by making it effectively difficult for existing opposition groups to function as credible political parties. Since the mid-1990s, the Aliyev regime has used informal measures to prevent these groups from aggregating and articulating the diverse interests present in society from visibly competing in elections and from serving effectively in government to craft and implement policy. These practices have rendered the opposition technically legal, but completely ineffective. Besides weakening the opposition, these measures produce a series of mutually reinforcing effects – including noncompetitive elections by default and a politically disengaged society – that sustain long-term regime stability. The paper concludes by examining this argument in comparative perspective. Hegemonic regimes have proliferated in the post-Soviet region, and I suggest that this strategy is an important factor in sustaining many of these regimes.     

Liberalisation and Seigniorage revenue in Kenya,Ghana and Tanzania

To inform policy, our study identifies which populations of AIDS-affected children are in need of educational assistance. Using the 2004–2005 Malawi Integrated Household Survey, multilevel models examine the association between AIDS-related impacts and educational outcomes. Double and maternal orphans are more likely to be out of school and behind in grade level; living with an adult suffering from a potential AIDS-related illness is also associated with disadvantage. These disparities are not explained by poverty status. Where both poverty and AIDS are endemic, both traditional development aid and orphan-specific programming are essential for equitable access to education.     

The effect of faith program participation on prison misconduct: The Life Connections Program

Faith-based programming is one of many potential tools for preparing inmates for successful reentry into society. The current study used official records of inmate misconduct and attitudinal survey data to investigate whether participation in a faith-based program reduced the likelihood of prison misconduct. The results indicated that program participation did lower the probability of engaging in serious forms of misconduct. No effect was discovered, though, for less serious forms of misconduct or for both types of misconduct considered simultaneously.