Profile of Men Who Are Victims of Physical Violence by an Intimate Partner

The objective of this study was to characterize the profile of men who are victims of interpersonal physical violence (IPV) by an intimate partner. This study is a retrospective analysis of suspected cases of male victims of IPV by an intimate partner, aged 18 years or older, treated at a Forensic Medicine and Dentistry Center in Brazil. Sociodemographic variables of the victims, the types of violence and the patterns of injuries were evaluated. Over this period, 1520 suspected victims of IPV by an intimate partner were examined; 14.6 % (n = 222) of them were men. Based on Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) two dimensions were formed: the first dimension (internal reliability = 0613) was primarily formed by the relationship between aggressor and victim, the marital status and the type of IPV, and the second dimension (reliability = 0509) by the day of week, the period of day and the marital status.     

Security in the Interparental Subsystem (SIS) Scale: Psychometric Characteristics in a Sample of Portuguese Adolescents

The Security in the Interparental Subsystem Scale (SIS) is based on emotional security theory. This study examined the psychometric properties of an adaptation of the SIS to a sample of Portuguese adolescents (60.3 % girls; 10 to 18 years old; Mage?=?13 years; N?=?229), recruited in public schools. Discriminant and concurrent validity were assessed by analyzing SIS dimensions associations with adolescents’ exposure to interparental conflict (IC), and psychological adjustment, respectively. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of the SIS supported a six-factor solution, with satisfactory internal consistency. Evidence for discriminant and concurrent validity was provided: most SIS dimensions significantly discriminated between adolescents exposed to higher vs. lower levels of IC; and a significant positive association between emotional reactivity and adolescents’ externalizing symptoms was found. These findings suggest that the SIS is a reliable tool for assessing adolescents’ emotional insecurity in the interparental relationship within the context of this sample.     

Context manipulation in police interviews: a field experiment

Journal of Experimental Criminology - Recent writing and research on interrogation has highlighted the potential importance of the physical context in which the interview takes place. Whereas...     

Applying Precaution in EU Authorisation of Genetically Modified Products—Challenges and Suggestions for Reform

In this article, I endeavour to examine concrete challenges that arise with regard to implementation of the precautionary principle in the field of European Union regulation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Developed by the European courts into a general legal principle, precaution requires EU regulators to strike a balance between scientific and political legitimacy when taking decisions on risk‐entailing products. Following this understanding, the current GMO legislation creates precautionary governance structures that allow for a broad input into the authorisation process, not only of scientific, but also of ‘other legitimate factors’. At the same time, it can be criticised for narrowly defining precaution as a decision rule, which, if applied correctly, will lead the decision maker to the ‘right’ decision. I argue that this misconception is one of the reasons why, in the current authorisation practice, the EU institutions fail to apply the principle in a balanced way, falling into the extremes of either purely science‐based decision making or a highly politicised precautionary rhetoric. I suggest that in order not to be paralysing, precaution should be understood as a procedural principle that provides for precautionary governance, thus enabling regulators to make appropriate risk choices.     

Security policies and the weakening of personal data protection in the European Union

In recent years, the reinforcement of security policies alongside the expansion of information systems for law enforcement and crime prevention entailed growing restrictions to personal data protection principles and procedural rights in the European Union. This paper seeks to elucidate this trend, while matching it with an EU institutional discourse based on balancing and proportionality. Indeed, EU institutions regularly present security measures and fundamental rights as somewhat symmetric values to be easily conciliated through balancing and proportionality. Considering the raising of the protection of personal data to the status of a fundamental right by the Charter of Fundamental Rights, its effect on a possible rebalancing of the values at stake is discussed. Yet, we conclude, for the time being, the potential for just and democratic solutions provided by the ideas of balancing and proportionality does not appear to be properly used.