The influence of personality on violent victimization – a study on police officers

The current study aims to examine the influence of police officer characteristics, civilian characteristics, and possible interactions between both on violent victimization of police officers. Based on literature distinguishing between ‘provocative’ and ‘submissive’ victims, focus is given on effects of police officers’ personality in terms of the five-factor model plus risk-taking. Patrol police officers (n?=?1813) from Lower Saxony, Germany, completed a paper-and-pencil survey including personality assessments as well as questions about their last three police encounters. Binary logistic multilevel regression analyses demonstrate that police officers with higher scores on neuroticism and openness to experience were more likely to be violently attacked. Furthermore, agreeableness reduced police officers’ risk of violent victimization, while risk-taking and neuroticism increased their risk when confronted with a violent civilian. The study indicates that personality and especially traits that are assumed to provoke potential perpetrators were linked with violent victimization. It further stresses the need to include perpetrator attributes in victim studies in order to identify relevant interaction effects between both parties.     

The Relationship Between Child Maltreatment,Intimate Partner Violence Exposure,and Academic Performance

This article presents a longitudinal examination of the association between children's experiences of child maltreatment (CM) and intimate partner violence (IPV), alone and in combination, with children's academic performance. Integrated, administrative data from the Minnesota Departments of Education and Human Services were used to obtain a sample of 2,914 children. Data provided an opportunity to study comparisons of single (CM or IPV) and combined experiences (CM-IPV), longitudinally observe the impact of these experiences on academic functioning, and make comparisons to the general population. Results revealed significant differences in school attendance and math and reading performance by adverse experience. Children exposed to CM and IPV, individually or in combination, underperformed at school. IPV-exposed children had the poorest outcomes. Findings highlight the need for dedicated screening for adverse childhood experiences, particularly IPV exposure, and devoting greater educational and social service resources as a means of promoting future school achievement and adult functioning.     

我国家庭暴力问题再探

家庭暴力问题可以说自家庭这个社会团体的出现便存在,无论是中国还是外国概莫能外。家庭暴力问题已经成为构建和谐家庭与和谐社会的大敌,是造成社会不稳定、影响社会发展的重要因素。从家庭暴力的特性、加害人和被害人的互动关系、家庭暴力产生的原因和控制模式等方面进行探讨,有助于对家庭暴力问题的系统解决。     

域外警察介入家庭暴力法律制度架构之探析

20世纪70年代以来,家庭暴力问题日益受到国际社会关注。为了应对这一跨越国界、人群的全球性问题,西方许多国家全面展开防治家庭暴力的法律改革,其中警察介入家庭暴力已经形成了比较完善的法律规制体系。无论在基础理论领域,还是在刑事立法和司法政策方面均有重大的发展与突破。警察有权主动介入家庭暴力,对家庭暴力的受害者采取特殊保护措施,对施暴者采取限制措施。警察对家庭暴力实施者的逮捕权也不断扩大。     

中国内地与香港针对妇女和儿童性暴力的理论及实务研究

本文对中国内地和香港的性暴力有关情况进行了回顾研究。通过讨论社会对性暴力的认知说明了法律与社会支持机制及文化观念对受害者的报告和求助行为的影响,总结和评估了现有的干预及服务现状,进而对华人社会今后预防和制止性暴力提出了对策建议:(1)推进法制改革;(2)制定与完善反性暴力政策;(3)发展专业化和专门化的服务;(4)培训专业人员;(5)加强研究。     

Acute and Everyday Violence in Sri Lanka

Police torture in Sri Lanka has been subject to extensive investigation and condemnation but remains a widespread and seemingly entrenched practice. Seeking to understand the resistance of such practices to existing interventions, this article locates the police’s use of torture within a broader geography of social violence in Sri Lanka. We discuss the findings of extensive fieldwork conducted in the north-west of Sri Lanka where we examined not only police behaviour and interactions between police and the broader community but also the social dynamics relationships more generally. One significant finding was that violence against certain types of people, including police use of torture against such people, is generally accepted, even as the police are broadly criticised in the community for their unethical and ineffective behaviour. Another significant finding was that the society is riven with social hierarchies and that patterns of domination are embedded in social, political and symbolic systems. We conclude that police torture needs to be understood against the background of broader cultural practices whereby social subjects are disciplined and policed to produce appropriate citizens and punish social boundary violations.     

Spectator Violence in Sports: A North American Perspective

Spectator violence has long been associated with professional football in Europe. This article examines the issue of spectator violence from a North American perspective. We begin by noting that there is little systematic research into the scope of spectator disorder in North America. Perhaps for this reason there is little consensus about the true scale of the problem on this side of the Atlantic. It does seem clear at least that there is less spectator violence associated with professional sports in North America. After reviewing a number of explanations for this finding, we conclude that it has less to do with criminal justice policies or practices, than the social context surrounding the 'spectatorship' of sports in North America. Perhaps the most important explanation for the variance in crowd behaviour concerns the demographic profiles of sports spectators in European football and North American sports.     

Courtship Violence Among College Students: A Comparison of Verbally and Physically Abusive Couples

This study used a modified version of the Conflict Tactic Scale (Straus, 1990) to measure the expression of verbal and physical aggression among 572 college students (395 females and 177 males) involved in dating relationships over the previous year. Results indicated that 82% (n = 465) of the total sample reported having engaged in verbally aggressive behavior with a dating partner over the past year, whereas 21% (n = 116) admitted to acting in a physically aggressive manner over the same interval. No significant gender-based difference was found for verbal aggression scores; however, females were significantly more likely to report using physical force than were male students. Male and female students who used verbal aggression were characteristically similar to each. Both had experienced aggression from a parent as children and had drunk alcohol within 3 hours (before or after) an argument with a dating partner. Male and female students who admitted using physical force were dissimilar except that both had experienced parent-child aggression. For male students, having witnessed conjugal violence and their general drinking patterns were also significantly related to their using physical force, whereas for females, the use of physical force was associated with drinking alcohol within 3 hours of an argument with a dating partner.