Aggressive/intrusive behaviours,harassment and stalking of members of the United Kingdom parliament: a prevalence study and cross-national comparison

Politicians suffer intrusive and aggressive behaviours from members of the public, often lone actors fixated on personal grievances. Few explorations of intrusive behaviours towards politicians have been published; their results are not directly comparable. We surveyed intrusive/aggressive behaviours towards UK members of parliament (MPs); our survey instrument was then administered to MPs at three other parliaments (Queensland, New Zealand, and Norway), providing a cross-national, four-site comparison. 239 MPs completed the UK survey. This 38% response rate produced prevalence rates remarkably similar to the other sites, New Zealand having an 84% response rate. 81% of UK MPs had experienced one or more of the 12 behaviours specified, the mean being five. 18% had been subject to attack/attempted attack, 42% to threats to harm and 22% to property damage. In 53% of respondents, experiences met definitions of stalking or harassment. This has implications for the provision of risk assessment and management.     

Safety,Satisfaction, and Settlement in Domestic Relations Mediations: New Findings

Researchers and mediators have long been concerned about coercion, intimidation, and safety threats that could occur in mediation for cases where previous violence between the parties has occurred. Most of the research focuses on screening tools to identify parties at risk. When parties screen positive for intimate partner violence (IPV), some proceed to mediation and some do not, depending on the policies of individual mediation programs. But this misses a step: Some cases may benefit from mediation while others won't, but how can we predict whether mediation will be useful and safe in specific instances? This study uses survey data obtained from parties in domestic relations mediations to examine issues of safety, satisfaction, and settlement in the presence of various IPV behaviors.     

犯罪学视角下的足球观众暴力探析

我国足球联赛实行职业化以来,足球观众暴力这种新型的暴力犯罪形式愈演愈烈,并有向西方足球流氓行为发展的趋势。足球观众暴力可分为言语暴力和身体暴力两种表现形式。从犯罪学的角度,可用紧张理论、社会学习理论以及匿名性理论来解释足球观众暴力。除通过立法手段来预防外,运用犯罪学中情境犯罪预防理论的相关技术性措施来预防足球观众暴力能收到更好的效果。     

Family Court Enhancement Project: Improving Access to Justice

In 2013, Minnesota's Fourth Judicial District was one of four courts in the country selected by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women to receive a Family Court Enhancement Project (FCEP) grant, a multiyear demonstration initiative designed to build the capacity of court systems and partner stakeholders to improve child custody decision making in cases involving domestic violence. The FCEP enabled the project sites to explore, implement, and assess new and innovative court and noncourt procedures and practices. This article is an exploration of the outcomes of this project.     

AFCC Think Tanks: Promoting Dialogue on Difficult Issues in Family Law*

This article examines three think tanks sponsored by the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts, which convened representatives of different disciplines, often with differing perspectives, to address policy and practice dilemmas in family law and dispute resolution. This essay was initially commissioned by the Nuffield Foundation, London, UK, as an Insight Article for its Family Justice Observatory, which aims to improve the use of data and research evidence in the family justice system in England and Wales. The think tank process is described and analyzed, identifying factors that created challenges and those that led to success.     

Entrenched Postseparation Parenting Disputes: The Role of Interparental Hatred?

There is an emerging view that the term “high conflict” oversimplifies the nature of destructive family dynamics, especially with respect to the small but resource‐intensive group of separated parents who remain deeply enmeshed in legal battles and parental acrimony. In this Article we propose that interparental hatred may be a key relationship dynamic driving the behavior of some in this group. We suggest a distinction between two types of interparental hatred: one that arises from responses to separation‐related stresses (reactive hatred) and the other (entrenched hatred) that is indicative of more embedded, dysfunctional interpersonal dynamics and/or personality structures. While reactive hatred is typically time limited and amenable to professional intervention, entrenched hatred tends to overwhelm rationally informed attempts to mediate, negotiate, or even adhere to orders regarding suitable parenting arrangements. We contend that while effective intervention in these cases requires all the generic skills and responses necessary for dealing with highly conflicted disputes, it is also important to name and appropriately challenge interparental hatred when it is detected.     

Popping the cultural bubble of violence risk assessment tools

Violence risk instruments are administered in medico-legal contexts to estimate an individual’s likelihood of future violence. However, their ostensible limitations; in particular their mono-cultural and risk-centric composition, has drawn academic attention. These concerns may facilitate erroneous risk evaluations for certain non-white populations. Yet it remains unaddressed how cultural differences will be appraised in a risk assessment framework and which specific cultural factors should be considered. Provisions under the Canadian Criminal Code allow for Gladue Reports, to be sought by judicial officers prior to sentencing Indigenous people. Gladue Reports provide insights into an Indigenous person’s unique circumstances that may have led to their offending as well as community-based options for rehabilitation. We proffer that there may be value in augmenting the risk evaluation with culturally relevant Gladue style considerations identified by relevant Indigenous people to provide a more holistic account of an Indigenous individual’s circumstances.     

The relation of ADHD and violent aggression: What can we learn from epidemiological and genetic studies?

Disruptive behavior includes psychopathological and behavioral constructs like aggression, impulsivity, violence, antisociality and psychopathy and is often closely related with diagnostic categories like conduct disorder (CD), attention deficit disorder (ADHD) and antisocial personality disorder (ASP). There is now clear evidence that neurobiological and environmental factors contribute to these phenotypes. A mounting body of evidence also suggests interactive effects of genetic and environmental risks.In this selective review we give an overview over epidemiological aspects of the relation between ADHD and antisocial behavior, including violent aggression and psychopathy. Moreover, we summarize recent findings from molecular genetic studies and particularly discuss pleiotropic effects of a functional polymorphism of the serotonin transporter promoter gene (5HTTLPR) and childhood adversity on ADHD and violent behavior. The reported gene–environment interactions are not only informative for understanding the neurobiological underpinnings of disruptive behavior, but also throw some light on the relation between ADHD and violent behavior from a genetic perspective. The impact of genetic research on forensic psychiatry and future directions of neurobiological research are discussed.     

Children Resisting Contact with a Parent Due to Abuse,Alienation, or Other Causes: Can a Proactive Role for Lawyers Contribute to Better Outcomes?

Lawyers have a significant role to play in cases where children are resisting contact with a parent, or the family appears to be going down that path, in the context of parental alienation, family violence or other factors. These cases pose great challenges for lawyers dealing with parents, as their clients are often anxiety‐ridden, angry, scared, and may have difficulty focussing on the long‐term interests of their children or themselves. A lawyer may be one of the first professionals encountered by the parents; lawyers for parents are advocates, but they are also in a position to provide wise counsel, to help triage the situation, provide practical advice, and early, helpful solutions. This article sets out practical suggestions for lawyers acting for parents. What can and should lawyers do to ensure they are part of the solution, not part of the problem? Lawyers need to be able to identify the potential problems and provide practical help to the family – whether they are acting for the “preferred” parent, the “rejected” parent, or the involved children.     

The Language of Hysteria: A Misappropriation of the Master Narratives

Bronfen discusses the language of hysteria in conjunction with recent discussions of ethics, notably in the sense that the hysteric gesture of misappropriating a grand narrative such as humanism confronts the manner in which discussions of gender might traverse alterity without effacing or occluding it.