Child sexual abuse within the Catholic Church: a review of global perspectives

Child sexual abuse by Catholic priests is a global issue. Reports of abuse proliferated in the US in 2002, giving the appearance that it was an American phenomenon. However, by 2010, it was clear that abuse in the Catholic Church had affected countries around the world. Scholars in the US have published reports evaluating the nature, scope, and causes of the problem. Similarly, public inquiries and commissions have investigated the crises in other western and English-speaking countries, and research is ongoing. The reports have produced similar findings and recommendations for preventing abuse in the future, including better education and training about abuse; the need to respond quickly and thoroughly to victim–survivors; transparency in response to abuse; and coordinated responses with civil authorities.     

A general strain approach comparing the effects of victimization,social support,and perceived self-efficacy on LGBQ and heterosexual youth suicidality

LGBQ youth are more likely to consider, plan, and/or attempt suicide compared to their heterosexual peers. Evidence from the general population suggests that risky behaviors, like suicide, may be mediated by protective factors, including social support and self-efficacy. Using Agnew’s general strain theory and data from a statewide probability sample, the results of this study suggest that victimization, as a source of strain, is a risk factor for both LGBQ and heterosexual youth suicidality. While social support and self-efficacy reduce the risk of suicidality among heterosexual youth, they are not significant protective factors for LGBQ youth. Theoretical and policy implications are discussed.     

PTSD symptom reporting and persistent malingering in recipients of state compensation for violent crime victimization: an exploratory study

Previous research suggests that victims of violent crime who have applied for state compensation may persist in malingering after conclusion of the application process. To further explore this topic, the current study investigated differences in PTSD symptomatology between violent crime victims who had received compensation from the Dutch state and those who had been denied such compensation. Potential participants were approached through the Dutch Violent Offences Compensation Fund. Eventually, 125 victims agreed to participate and filled out a set of paper-and-pencil questionnaires. Both univariate and multivariate analyses revealed that recipients of compensation had reported higher symptom levels, than non-recipients but only when they could be qualified as probable malingerers. If compensation recipients could not be qualified as probable malingerers, they had reported lower symptom levels than non-recipients. This suggests that some victims will emotionally benefit from compensation, while others will unconsciously accept it as a validation of initially malingered symptoms. Results were discussed in terms of directions for future research and study limitations.     

When Will a Victim Be Secondarily Victimized? The Effect of Observer's Belief in a Just World,Victim's Innocence and Persistence of Suffering

According to the belief in a just world (BJW) theory, the most threatening victim for the observers' BJW is the innocent victim whose suffering persists. Consequently the innocent victim whose suffering persists should be more secondarily victimized by high-BJW participants than by low-BJW participants. However, research has never systematically tested this basic prediction of the theory. In these two studies we tried to determine the impact of the observer's BJW, the victim's innocence, and the persistence of the victim's suffering on secondary victimization. In study 1, an interaction between BJW and victim's innocence was found on the attractiveness of the victim. In study 2, an interaction between BJW, victim's innocence, and persistence of suffering was found on the derogation of the victim.     

CHANGES IN POLICE NOTIFICATION FOR RAPE, 1973–2000*

We use data from the National Crime Survey (NCS) and the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) to explore changes in the likelihood of police notification in rape incidents. The findings indicate that during the 1970s and 1980s there was a significant increase in police notification by third parties and by victims raped by non‐strangers. During the 1990s the increase in rates of police notification in rape incidents accelerated and broadened in scope. In addition, differences in police notification between stranger and non‐stranger incidents diminished during the 1970s and 1980s and, by the early 1990s there was no significant difference.     

The effect of respondents' just world beliefs and target person's social worth and awareness-of-risk on perceptions of a person with AIDS

The present research examined how individuals' just world beliefs affected their perceptions of a person with AIDS who was depicted as having contracted the HIV virus while either aware or unaware of health risks, and who was defined as either high or low in general social deservingness or worth. Dependent variables included respondents' affective reactions to the person with AIDS, their willingness to allocate resources to him, and their perception of the fairness or the unfairness both of his general plight and that various types of resources be given to him. Results indicated that those who were higher in just world beliefs were more emotionally negative to the other with AIDS, they were less willing to contribute resources to him, and they felt that it was less fair that such resource transfers be required. Similar response patterns were found when the other with AIDS was described as lower in social worth and when he was depicted as having contracted AIDS with full awareness of health risks. Implications of the findings were discussed in terms of how psychological theories of justice might inform health care policy.     

Women's fear of violent crime: An exploratory test of a feminist hypothesis

Government-sponsored national victimization surveys in several countries have found consistently that women's fear of violent crime is much greater than their actual chances of being violently victimized. Not suprisingly, most attempts to account for this discrepancy begin with the assumption that women's fear is subjectively based. A few feminist theorists, however, have challenged this view. They argue that women's fear of violent crime is much more objective than the crime surveys indicate. Women's fear results in part, they suggest, from being physically abused by a husband, boyfriend, or other male intimate; an experience largely untouched in the crime surveys. Such abuse creates a generalized fear of male violence, which has shown up in the victimization surveys as fear of violent crime in public places. This study tested, and found some support for, the feminist hypothesis, using data from a telephone survey of a representative sample of 315 Toronto women.     

Contributions of quantitative methods to the study of gender and crime,or bootstrapping our way into the theoretical thicket

Researchers concur on the importance of gender to the study of crime but not on the particular methodological strategy that should be used when studying the gender-crime relationship. This paper examines the actual and potential contributions of quantitative methods for unpacking the gender-crime relationship. Three bodies of literature pertaining to the gender-crime relationship are examined: (i) offending, (ii) victimization, and (iii) criminal justice processing. The findings from this review indicate that while much knowledge about the gender-crime relationship has been uncovered with quantitative data, a commensurate amount of theoretical knowledge does not exist. The author concludes with substantive and methodological suggestions for furthering our understanding of the gendercrime relationship. This paper was prepared for the Plenary Session,Journal of Quantitative Criminology 10-year Anniversary, 1995 Annual Meeting of the american Society of Criminology, Boston, MA.     

The Effect of Maternal Victimization on Children: A Cross-Informant Study

The impact of maternal victimization on the behavioral, social, emotional, and cognitive development in a group of 206 low-income, predominantly African American children from inner city, pediatric primary health care clinics was explored using mother, teacher, and self-report data. Results revealed that mothers with a victimization history reported more externalizing and internalizing behaviors in their children, compared to mothers who had not been victimized. Maternal victimization history was not related to teachers' ratings of children's behavior, child reports of social competence and depression, or standardized assessments of cognitive development. The relation between mothers' history of victimization and their reports of internalizing and externalizing behavior problems in their children was mediated by pathways through maternal depression and disciplinary practices (verbal aggression). These findings provide evidence for the link between maternal victimization and children's behavior problems. Treatment for victimized mothers that reduces their depressive symptoms and promotes adaptive parenting practices may lead to fewer behavior problems in their children.