What Makes Terrorism Salient? Terrorist Strategies,Political Competition,and Public Opinion

This article analyzes the determinants of terrorism saliency in public opinion. It is usually assumed that after a terrorist attack, terrorism becomes automatically salient. However, this assumption is only true in those countries where terrorist attacks are exceptional events. In democracies that have suffered domestic terrorism for decades, the evolution of terrorism saliency does not only depend on the frequency or intensity of terrorist attacks. In this article it is claimed that the tactics carried out by terrorist groups (the type of victim, especially) and the dynamics of political competition (especially the ideology of the incumbent) are also factors that explain the evolution of terrorism saliency. The article also analyzes how these two factors interact with citizens’ predispositions to explain variation in their reactions to terrorist threat. The empirical test relies on a novel database from monthly public opinion surveys in Spain from 1993 to 2012.     

Blaming the Victim: Perceptions About Incarcerated Sexual Assault Victim Culpability Among a Sample of Jail Correctional Officers

Research examining correctional officer perceptions about the sexual victimization of inmates is rare. This research offers a first glimpse of what personal, job-related, and attitudinal factors influence blaming incarcerated sexual assault victims among a sample of 376 jail correctional officers in one state. Surveys are utilized to elicit understanding about officer perceptions of incarcerated victims. Findings indicate that jail correctional officer blaming of incarcerated sexual assault victims is highly correlated with perceptions about rape myths and homosexuality. Specifically, officers who adhere to rape myths and disapprove of homosexuality are more likely to blame incarcerated victims of sexual assault. This study is a first to examine factors correlated with jail correctional officer blaming of incarcerated sexual assault victims. The results are useful in understanding the perspectives of jail correctional officers and experiences of victims incarcerated in jails. Implications for correctional institutions and authorities include attending to the issue of sexual assault in correctional facilities, understanding staff perceptions that are related to this issue, training of staff, and classification of inmates.     

The Victims’ Directive and What Victims Want From Restorative Justice

Following fierce campaigning by victims’ groups, the European Commission has entered into a process of legislative and policy reforms with the aim of repositioning the victim in criminal proceedings. By November 2015, member states will need to have demonstrated that they have modified their domestic laws to give effect to the Directive 2012/29/EU establishing minimum standards on the rights, support, and protection of victims of crime. For the first time, restorative justice is explicitly regulated at EU legal level, as the Directive aims to establish a baseline for its safe implementation across member states. With this EU-wide policy backdrop and using original data, the article posits evidence-based recommendations for the implementation of the Directive. The research was carried out in 2013–14 as part of the “Restorative Justice in Europe” project co-financed by the European Commission. The research took place in the United Kingdom and combined desk research and qualitative research strategies with victims, while it triangulated its findings with follow-up surveys with offenders and professionals.     

International and African Regional Instruments to Protect Rights of Child Victims of Transnational Trafficking

Abuse against children and the exploitation of children worldwide has become a growing concern. Child trafficking threatens children’s protection; and their right to survival, development and participation are violated. This article reviewed international and regional conventions and action plans that protect child victims of trafficking in Africa. It concludes that to fight trafficking, cross-border cooperation should be enhanced through bilateral, multilateral and sub-regional agreements. Furthermore, counter trafficking policies and measures targeting children should reflect a child-rights approach and children should be placed at the center of all initiatives and their best interest given primary consideration.     

Two Models of Monetary Redress: A Structural Analysis

Monetary redress is a developing area of human rights policy. The article examines how a redress program’s design affects the interests of program applicants. It distinguishes two program models, individual assessment and common experience, and explores their differing effects on applicants’ interests. Analyzing two Irish cases, redress for survivors of the industrial schools and the Magdalene laundries, the discussion is applicable to a wide range of redress programs including those in postconflict, transitional justice, and postcolonial contexts.     

The right to commemoration and “ideal victims”: the puzzle of victim dissatisfaction with State-led commemoration after 9/11 and 3/11

This article explores the puzzle of victim dissatisfaction with State-led commemoration following 9/11 and 3/11 by offering a cross-national case study through which to view key areas of theoretical debate in the sociology of human rights, cultural trauma and collective memory, and the politics of victimhood. Although State-led commemorative processes are often highly contested, we would expect them to be less so in the cases of 9/11 and 3/11, given broad social consensus about the victims’ right to commemoration and the traumatic nature of the events, and especially the “ideal nature” of the victims who as symbolic representatives of the State are conferred with great moral authority. Drawing on primary and secondary data on the commemoration of the attacks of 11th September 2001 and 11th March 2004 we find that despite sharp differences between commemorative processes, three common key areas of contestation and dissatisfaction for victims emerge: political instrumentalisation, hierarchies of worth and exclusion. We show how the status of ideal victimhood for victims of transnational terrorism carries within it an inherent paradox which provides the key to their dissatisfaction, namely the moral authority conferred on them as representatives of the State simultaneously depersonalises them, excluding them as individuals with rights and needs.     

刑事诉讼法再修改与被害人权利保障

刑事诉讼法再修改不应忽略被害人权利保障问题。被害人的合理定位应当是特殊的诉讼参与人,根据被害人的特殊诉讼参与人的诉讼地位及加强被害人权利保障的需要,刑事诉讼法应考虑赋予被害人知情权、要求获得司法机关保护权、执行阶段发表意见权和获得国家救助的权利。应当明确国家救助制度的国家责任性质,在刑事诉讼法中规定被害人有获得国家补偿的权利,而以《刑事被害人国家救助法》规定具体的原则、条件、程序问题。     

保护被害人义务的归属

保护被害人的义务具有多重归属,国家、社区、家庭以及公民自身都当共同承担保护被害人的责任。国家应当是对被害人实施保护的第一义务人,社区是对被害人实施保护的直接责任者,公民自身是保护被害人权利义务双重承担者。     

金融风险与金融犯罪被害

本文将金融风险和被害人因素结合起来，借鉴被害人理论，社会学的风险社会理论，经济学的金融风险理论，结合收集到的关于金融犯罪被害的实事材料，通过分析金融风险转化为金融犯罪被害的三种模式对导致金融犯罪被害的风险因素进行分析，探讨金融犯罪被害风险问题。具体分析金融风险与金融犯罪被害的关系，金融风险是在何种机制下转化成金融犯罪被害事实，这个转化过程是怎样发展演化的，找出由金融风险转化为金融犯罪被害的关键。在特定被害情境下，金融风险通过风险载体与加害人发生联系，并被加害人加以利用，进而使金融风险发展成金融犯罪的被害要因，由潜在的被害可能性向现实的被害结果转化。探索隐含于金融活动中的各种风险与金融犯罪被害之间的关系，为正确认识金融风险，化解金融风险，也可为防范金融犯罪被害提供决策依据和指导建议。因此，探索金融领域的风险与金融犯罪被害之间的作用机制，消除金融风险的负面影响，进而减少金融犯罪被害问题是十分有意义的。     

论刑事诉讼中的"强制起诉"

根据控审分离原则,对公诉案件是否提起公诉属于检察机关自由裁量的范畴,法院的主要职责是审判.但是,为了制约检察机关不起诉裁量权,保障被害人人权,德国、日本、韩国及我国台湾地区刑事诉讼法又规定了强制起诉制度,对于检察机关已经作出不起诉决定的案件,赋予被害人申请法院强制起诉的权利.对该制度进行比较研究,分析其合理性及限度,对于改革我国不起诉制约机制,加强被害人人权保障具有重要意义.