Violence prevention in psychiatry: an umbrella review of interventions in general and forensic psychiatry

Relative risks of violence in psychiatric patients are high compared to the general population and existing evidence in non-psychiatric populations may not translate to reductions in violence in psychiatric populations. We searched 10 databases including Medline, EMBASE, CINAHL and Scopus, from inception until August 2015 for systematic reviews and meta-analyses of violence prevention interventions in psychiatry. Reviews were included if they used a hard outcome measure (i.e. police or hospital recorded violence, or reincarceration) and contained randomized or non-randomized controlled studies. Five reviews met our inclusion criteria (n = 8876 patients in total), of which four received a GRADE rating of ‘low’ or ‘very low’. Three randomized studies (n = 636) reported that therapeutic community interventions may reduce reincarceration in drug-using offenders with co-occurring mental illness (‘moderate’ GRADE rating). The lack of intervention research in violence prevention in general and forensic psychiatry suggests that interventions from non-psychiatric populations may need to be relied upon.     

Meet the Narco: increased competition among criminal organisations and the explosion of violence in Mexico

Several previous studies have found that interventions by security forces against criminal organisations result in increased violence related to organised crime. However, much less is known about how and why this effect occurs. Our study not only identifies the causal mechanisms that explain this outcome, but also evaluates the empirical validity of these mechanisms. Employing a novel data set, we find that following security-force intervention, the number of criminal organisations increases, and such greater fragmentation in turn raises the incidence of violence among criminal organisations as the relative power of the organisations changes. We employ a mediation model to verify the existence of these causal mechanisms. In addition, we find a decreasing rate of rise in levels of violence as the number of organisations increases.     

Psychopathic traits in Finnish homicide offenders with schizophrenia

There is a paucity of studies examining psychopathy in comparable samples of violent individuals with and without psychotic illness. The main goal of the study was to assess the prevalence and nature of psychopathic traits as measured by PCL-R among Finnish homicide offenders with schizophrenia. Further, the impact of co-morbid psychopathy on the homicidal incidents, as well as the associations of psychopathy and offender background factors, among offenders with schizophrenia was investigated.A retrospective study was performed using extensive forensic psychiatric evaluation reports and crime reports as sources of information. The sample consisted of 72 homicide offenders with schizophrenia and 72 controls without psychotic illness.Psychopathic features were prevalent among Finnish homicide offenders with schizophrenia, although for the most parts to a lesser extent compared to other homicide offenders. Like non-mentally ill psychopathic offenders, offenders with schizophrenia and many psychopathic traits are likely to present early starting problems in many areas of life and they also commit homicides that resemble other psychopathic offenders' in their choice of victims, intoxication and post-offense behavior.The observed prevalence of psychopathic traits highlights the importance of psychopathy assessment among violence-prone individuals with schizophrenia. In most respects, offenders with schizophrenia and high levels of psychopathic traits seem to be similar to psychopathic offenders without psychotic illness, which has implications for early intervention and management.     

From offender to situation: the 'cold' approach to sexual violence prevention?

Many commentators have pointed to the monstrous nature of sexual violence, with its related sense of pollution and disgust. In response, post-release regulation has a ‘hot’ quality: in the USA, sexually violent predator statutes, residency requirements, GPS satellite monitoring, and variations on the theme of community notification all speak of the expressiveness of the response. ‘Hot’ signifies and has embedded within it an ‘individualist’ rather than ‘structural’ account of action, emphasises a dramaturgical reading of the social world, and privileges the political rather than the problem-solving sphere. What has been far less explored, until recently, is research and prevention policy related specifically to the sexual violence itself, or the situation in which the offense occurs. By contrast to the ‘hot’ response, elision from offender to situation appears to betoken a ‘cold’ quality. This paper analyses the conceptual and empirical underpinnings of such a ‘cold’ situational approach, evaluates existing studies across settings, and assesses the implications of this problem-solving process for prevention policy and practice. It concludes by embedding the analysis within a broader precautionary politics of ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ control.     

李阳家暴事件的法律思考

家庭暴力这一带有普遍性的丑恶现象,是一个全球性的社会问题。家庭暴力侵害着妇女的身心健康、破坏家庭和睦、危害社会稳定,为社会所不容。本文将从李阳家庭暴力事件入手,分析我国家暴立法和执法中的不足,简要分析我国与其他国家在处理家暴问题上存在的差距,就如何预防和制止家庭暴力作简单的探讨,呼吁全社会对家庭暴力问题的共同关注和协助,共同来预防和消除家庭暴力。     

中文BBS论坛中涉日议题的网络民族主义呈现

互联网BBS论坛为民族主义问题的开放讨论提供了全新而自由的平台。基于特殊事件的民族主义分析框架,是否适用于网络常态舆论中与民族国家相关问题的探讨,是一个值得检验的命题。本研究发现,网络常态舆论中的涉日议题在不同论坛具有不同类型偏好;涉日议题并非均为负面话题,也不能普遍性地引发具有民族主义倾向的讨论;该类议题所触发语言暴力的程度低于其他常规性议题;不同论坛间用户在部分议题类别上呈现出较为明显的态度差异。     

Psychopathy and Violent Crime: A Prospective Study of the Influence of Socioeconomic Status and Ethnicity

The relationship between psychopathy and violence is well-established. However, few studies have examined the extent to which this relationship is influenced by sociodemographic predictors of violent criminality. In this prospective study we examine the power of psychopathy to predict criminal violence across ethnicity and levels of socioeconomic status in 199 European American and African American U.S. county jail inmates. A Psychopathy x SES x Ethnicity interaction was identified such that among European Americans psychopathy predicted recidivism at lower levels of SES but was unrelated to recidivism at higher levels of SES. The predictive power of psychopathy was relatively stable across SES among African Americans. The implications of our results for psychopathy and violence prediction are discussed.     

Violent Victimization,Aggression, and Parent-Adolescent Relations: Quality Parenting as a Buffer for Violently Victimized Youth

Prospective associations between violent victimization, the quality of the parent-adolescent relationship, and the subsequent onset of violent aggression were examined. Using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), participants were divided into violent and non-violent cohorts based on whether they had committed an act of violence prior to Wave 1. Results showed that violent victimization at Wave 1 predicted the onset of violent aggression at Wave 2 for adolescents who were non-violent at baseline. Earlier violent victimization, however, had no effect on aggression trajectories for baseline violent adolescents. Parent-adolescent relations functioned as a protective buffer, such that violently victimized adolescents who reported high quality relationships with parents were less likely to be involved in violent aggression at Wave 2. Subsequent gender interaction analyses revealed that while the buffering effect was evident for males, parent-adolescent relations did not protect females from the onset of aggressive behaviors. Findings are evaluated in light of social learning and cycle of violence theories that highlight the role of violent victimization among adolescents.

暴力与屠杀:刑法上的“敌人”还是刑法上的“不人道”

法律对屠杀问题的回应,始终在两种模式之间徘徊:一种是以国家刑法为给养来源的刑法上的敌人模式,另一种是源于国际刑法的刑法上的不人道模式。后者更适合屠杀的定性标准,它暗示了在大量死难者面前,对人性的否定。建立刑法上的不人道模式需要回应三个方面的问题:第一,罪的含义;第二,归责;第三,惩罚的实质。首先,根据《国际刑事法院规约》第7条,我们至少可以认为反人道模式中被保护的人性包含着两个相辅相成的要素:每个人的特殊性,以及每个人都平等地归属于人类共同体。其次,在归责问题上,我们不能满足于只制裁处于权力链条最顶端的人,还必须考虑等级体系的所有级别。最后在惩罚实质上,我们不仅要在刑罚制裁上考虑惩罚的本质,而且还需要从修复以及协商的角度看待这一问题。文章最后指出,刑法上的不人道模式成为一个可以实现的、普世的理想,尚需国际法与国内法的合作以及各个学科之间的协力。     

暴力犯罪：一个概念的解读

暴力犯罪不仅仅是犯罪学上的概念,而且与刑法学具有密切联系,研究刑法学意义的暴力犯罪具有理论意义和实践意义.从我国〈刑法〉来看,暴力犯罪不仅涉及刑法总则犯罪论与刑罚论的联系,而且还关系到刑法分则对暴力犯罪犯罪构成的规定.目前理论学界对暴力犯罪的概念争议较大,因此,研究刑法学意义的暴力犯罪,必须厘清相关理论争议,界定＂暴力＂与暴力犯罪的概念,从概念上解读暴力犯罪,揭示暴力犯罪的刑法规范性、手段暴力性、暴力程度性和对象双重性等特性,从而划定我国〈刑法〉中暴力犯罪的概念,以此为刑法学研究暴力犯罪的相关问题提供理论起点.