Women in Law Enforcement and Police Use of Deadly Force

We test the hypothesis that law enforcement agencies that have a larger share of female officers should experience lower rates of police use of deadly force. We use the Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics 2013 survey of police and sheriff departments (N?=?1,983). We measure police-involved violence as the number of civilians killed by law enforcement officers from 2013 through 2015 as reported by the website Mapping Police Violence. Using a variety of empirical estimators to take into consideration the structure of the distribution of police-caused deaths, we find consistent results that a higher share of female officers is associated with a higher likelihood of police-caused deaths. These results are consistent with prior findings within the literature and implies that in order to “fit in” with their male counterparts female officers will use coercive tactics to the same extent.     

Do Barriers to Crime Prevention Moderate the Effects of Situational Crime Prevention Policies on Violent Crime in High Schools?

This study investigates how barriers to school-based crime prevention programming moderate the effects of situational crime prevention (SCP) policies on levels of violent crime in U.S. public high schools. Using data from the 2008 School Survey on Crime and Safety, we estimate a series of negative binomial regression models with interactions to investigate whether the effects of SCP policies on violent crime vary by the presence of school-based barriers to crime prevention, such as poor teacher training, inadequate funds, and lack of parental support. Our results indicate that the effect of certain SCP policies operate differently depending on the presence or absence of specific limiting factors. Policy implications of this research suggest that schools can aid in preventing violent crime by addressing obstacles to the effective implementation of school crime prevention efforts.     

School Safety Strategies and Their Effects on the Occurrence of School-Based Violence in U.S. High Schools: An Exploratory Study

Recent incidents of school-based violence have resulted in the widespread implementation of school safety strategies across the United States. While research on these strategies has grown over the past decade, there is little understanding about their collective influence on indicators of school violence. Using data from the 2007–2008 School Survey on Crime and Safety, the present study explored responses of 936 school officials (N = 936) employed in high schools across the United States. Taking a confirmatory factor analytic approach, strategies were grouped into numerous factors based on their typology. Factor scores were then extracted and used as predictor variables in a negative binomial regression analysis to determine the extent to which types of safety strategies were associated with recorded incidents of school-based violence.     

The Effects of Changes in Dynamic Risk on Reoffending among Serious Juvenile Offenders Returning from Residential Placement

This study examines whether changes in dynamic risk during juvenile justice long-term residential placement affect recidivism. Advancing the work of prior dynamic risk change analyses, we examine a large sample of 11,891 male and 1930 female juvenile offenders while taking methodological steps to ensure successful and non-successful youth (in terms of recidivism) are (statistically) identical at admission. Specifically, we employ propensity score matching on residential placement youth who recidivate post-release and non-recidivists on static risk factors and initial dynamic risk scores assessed at admission to residential placement. Post-matching, changes in dynamic risk factors from initial assessment at admission to exit assessment at release are examined with a focus on whether those changes distinguish recidivists from non-recidivists. Separate analyses are conducted for male and female juveniles. Results indicate that changes in dynamic risk do affect recidivism likelihood, but that different factors matter for males and females. These sex-specific models allow for distinct policy recommendations.     

“I Wanna Make My Mom Proud of Me”: Embracing Mothers as Protective Factors Against Future Offending in Delinquent Youth

The potential protective factor of mothers is often overlooked in literature on juvenile delinquency. However, when hearing from incarcerated youth themselves, their mothers are a clear and unquestionable priority. Through embracing mothers using a strengths‐based lens, practitioners have an opportunity and responsibility to capitalize on this asset in a youth's life in an effort to aid rehabilitation and decrease recidivism. In this study, 1,008 writing samples from incarcerated youth were analyzed and writings to or about their mothers emerged prominently. Recommendations are shared on how to embrace and support mothers as protective factors against future offending among incarcerated youth.     

A social-cognitive model of animal cruelty

ABSTRACT

Recent decades have seen the emergence of social cognitive models of interpersonal aggression. These models, which have focused primarily on childhood aggression, have been the subject of extensive theoretical, methodological, and empirical attention. More recently, researchers have used social cognitive models to address adult interpersonal aggression as well as child abuse and neglect. This article will discuss the ways in which researchers can potentially extend this model to understand the abuse and neglect of animals. After a brief review of the literature on social-information processing, schemas, and normative beliefs about aggression, I will apply these mechanisms and findings to what we know about animal cruelty. I will also use current social cognitive models of aggression to describe potential directions for future research within the field of animal abuse and neglect scholarship.     

Differences in intimate partner homicides perpetrated by men and women: evidence from a Norwegian National 22-year cohort

Most of our knowledge about intimate partner homicide (IPH) is based on studies of men, as they outnumber women as perpetrators. From a total cohort of IPHs in Norway from 1990 to 2012 (N?=?177), we investigated differences between male (n?=?157) and female (n?=?20) perpetrators in terms of (a) IPH characteristics and sentencing issues, (b) sociodemographic, contextual and clinical factors, and (c) previous intimate partner violence. Multivariate logistic regression analyses indicated that, in comparison to male perpetrators, female perpetrators were more often in intimate partnerships without mutual children, had a greater number of accumulated welfare deficiencies, and tended to be ascribed different motives (fear and revenge) for their crimes.     

Burning bridges: why don’t organised crime groups pull back from violent conflicts?

Dominant theories of organised crime assume that criminal organisations which operate in extremely violent markets do so because they consider it financially cost-effective. This article contends that by using increasingly violent actions intended to deter competitors and government forces, criminal organisations sometimes eliminate their exit option, making the penalties for withdrawal to a less violent strategy significantly worse than those of continued violence. Based on a systematic examination of footage of public statements by 18 former associates of two Mexican organised crime groups (OCGs), La Familia Michoacana (LFM) and its offshoot Los Caballeros Templarios (LCT), this article argues that through gradual increases in their use of violence, these groups reached a ‘point of no return’. After reaching this point, desisting from further violence escalation became more hazardous than pursuing a violent path, even when the latter did not align with the organisations’ business interests.     

Key agent and survivor recommendations for intervention in honour-based violence in the UK

This paper concerns recommendations for intervention in honour-based violence (“HBV”) as recommended by individuals who face such violence in their everyday lives. Utilising data extracted from interviews conducted with 30 key agents and 8 South-Asian female survivors in the UK, this paper will argue that UK public agencies are struggling to cope with how to respond to HBV. This is despite the UK government recognising shortcomings in the support for victims in the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee report in 2008. In particular, participants identified that (a) the police, healthcare, and social services are particularly poor at supporting victims; (b) public sector workers require appropriate training and awareness on HBV; (c) education on HBV and forced marriages is absent in schools, colleges, and universities; and (d) more needs to be done to engage and educate communities about HBV and where victims can access support.     

A voice or a choice? Children’s views on participating in decisions about post-separation contact with domestically abusive fathers

ABSTRACT

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child explicitly calls for children to be granted the right to participate in legal proceedings that affect them. Despite this legal obligation and an evolving consensus that recognises children as social and competent actors, this rhetoric has struggled to achieve translation into meaningful practice reality, particularly when decisions are being made about contact arrangements for children where there has been a prior history of domestic violence. Drawing on the narratives of children who participated in three separate research projects in Ireland between 2009 and 2015, this paper will consider the manner in which they were involved in the decision-making process and the extent to which their views were ascertained and their voices heard. This paper concludes by raising the key question of how the child’s best interests can be served if the child’s views are not sought, heard or considered.