Food security and secure food in the Anthropocene

Delinquency in middle class areas (and why it is low) has been a neglected topic in criminology. The book by Singer [1] advances knowledge about this topic, focussing on Amherst (NY), but also comparing it with the high crime area of Newark (NJ). The book discusses various community and neighborhood factors that might have contributed to the low crime rate in Amherst, but also emphasizes the importance of parenting and juvenile justice processing. The book highlights the need for more research on community/neighborhood effects on offending after controlling for individual and family factors. It also highlights the need for more research on self-reported delinquency versus court processing of middle class versus lower class youth, and on possible juvenile justice system biases after controlling for characteristics of offenses and offenders. Its main policy implications are that more programs and opportunities are needed for youth in lower class areas, there should be more efforts to increase collective efficacy in these areas, and juvenile court processing should be minimized as much as possible.     

Lifting the Domestic Violence Cloak of Silence: Resilient Australian Women’s Reflected Memories of their Childhood Experiences of Witnessing Domestic Violence

Recognition is growing that childhood witnessing of domestic violence is tantamount to child abuse due to the damage the experience may have on the witnessing child’s long-term emotional and social wellbeing. This paper helps to lift the cloak of silence that surrounds the child witnessing phenomenon by presenting the recollected adult memories of six female former child witnesses. Utilizing a mixed case-study and consensual qualitative research design, the study’s findings reveal that the potential threat to a child witness’s immediate and long-term wellbeing can be mediated through the progressive development of a range of adaptive coping strategies. Of these, the strategy of establishing a safe place and a supportive relationship outside of the abusive nuclear family home seems pivotal to the witnessing child’s resilient ability to move on and lead a ‘rewarding’ adult life. The paper closes with a discussion on how the research findings can be progressed.