Cybercrime victimization among young people: a multi-nation study

This study examines cybercrime victimization, what some of the common characteristics of such crimes are and some of the general predictors of cybercrime victimization among teenagers and young adults. A combined four-country sample (Finland, US, Germany and UK; n = 3,506) is constructed from participants aged between 15 and 30 years old. According to the findings, online crime victimization is relatively uncommon (aggregate 6.5% of participants were victims). Slander and threat of violence were the most common forms of victimization and sexual harassment the least common. Male gender, younger age, immigrant background, urban residence, not living with parents, unemployment and less active offline social life were significant predictors for cybercrime victimization.     

The Home Maintenance and Improvement Behaviors of Older Adults in Boston

Prior studies have found that older homeowners spend less money maintaining and improving their homes, which may reduce their quality of life and eventually pose larger, more costly housing problems. Delayed repairs and improvements may also have adverse spillover effects on neighborhoods. We explore the home maintenance expenditures, housing conditions, and credit access of older homeowners in Boston, Massachusetts, where many aging adults have limited incomes and live in older structures but also have substantial home equity that could be used as a financial resource. We find evidence that older homeowners spend less on home maintenance, and many live in low-income areas with high numbers of constituent complaints about housing conditions and less access to cheaper forms of credit. A particular policy intervention, the Boston Senior Home Repair Program, helps by providing home repair assistance to low- and moderate-income older homeowners.     

To evaluate the utility of smaller sample sizes when assessing dental maturity curves for forensic age estimation

Dental maturation and chronological age estimation were determined from 144 healthy Western Australian individuals aged 3.6-14.5 years. The results were compared with Farah et al.'s previous study which comprised a larger heterogeneous sample of Western Australian individuals (n = 1450). Orthopantomograms were analyzed with the application of Demirjian and Goldstein's 4-tooth method based on eight stages of dental mineralization. Analysis of variance revealed no significant differences in dental maturity scores in each age group among the males in both studies; similar results were seen in the females. Paired t-tests showed no statistical significance overall between chronological and estimated ages for the males in our sample (p = 0.181), whereas the females showed significant differences (p < 0.001). Our results show that smaller samples may be used when assessing dental maturity curves for forensic age estimation.     

A comparison of Demirjian's four dental development methods for forensic age assessment

The aim of this study was to determine the comparative accuracy of Demirjian's four dental development methods for forensic age estimation in the Western Australian population. A sample comprising 143 individuals aged 4.6 to 14.5 years were assessed using Demirjian's four methods for dental development (original 7-tooth: M(2), M(1), PM(2), PM(1), C, I(2), and I(1); revised 7-tooth: M(2), M(1), PM(2), PM(1), C, I(2), and I(1); 4-tooth: M(2), M(1), PM(2), and PM(1); and an alternate 4-tooth: M(2), PM(2), PM(1), and I(1)). When comparing all four methods, the 4-tooth method overestimated age in both males and females by 0.04 and 0.25 years, respectively. The original 7-tooth was least accurate for males, while the original 7-tooth, the revised 7-tooth, and the alternate 4-tooth were unsuitable for females. Therefore, we recommend the 4-tooth method to be used for forensic age estimation in Western Australian males and females, as it has the lowest overall mean deviation and the highest accuracy.     

Are older deafblind people being left behind? A narrative review of literature on deafblindness through the lens of the United Nations Principles for Older People

Underpinned by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRDP), Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is the international goal to ‘leave no one behind’. However, the World Federation of the Deafblind have argued that deafblind people have been excluded from international welfare and disability development programmes. Despite making up the majority of the deafblind population, it appears that older deafblind people are particularly invisible. The paper builds on the earlier work of others, which translated the UN Principles for Older Persons into the language of older visually impaired adults, by using them here as the lens for a narrative review of the literature on older deafblind people. It argues that existing research demonstrates that older deafblind people are not only being ‘left behind’ in benefitting from implementation of the UN Principles, but also that the focus of the UN Principles themselves risks maintaining or enhancing their exclusion. Further research and policy development with older deafblind people is required to ensure that international and national social welfare policies and provision are not nugatory to the older deafblind population.     

The Council for the Administration of Criminal Justice and Protection of Juveniles

The Council for the Administration of Criminal Justice and Protection of Juveniles (Raad voor Strafrechtstoepassing en Jeugdbescherming) is an independent advisory, supervisory and judiciary board to the Netherlands Minister of Justice on matters relating to the prison system, the hospital order detention system, the probation system and the youth incarceration system. Members are recruited from a variety of backgrounds, such as magistracy, science, medicine, psychiatry and social work. As a rule, they have a full-time job in society. They are recruited by virtue of their expertise, competence and professional experience in relevant fields. Nowadays, there are about 60 members. The combination of the Council’s three tasks has been criticised. The argument is that the advisory and supervisory tasks of the Council could interfere with the independent and impartial nature of its judicial task. The supposed incompatibility of the three tasks has been one of the arguments of the Minister of Justice in defending his decision to set up an Inspectorate for the whole field of the administration of justice. This Inspectorate would overlap the Council’s supervisory task. So, legislation has been prepared in order to prevent overlap by taking away this task from the Council. The resistance to these plans was an important reason for the Dutch government to ask the Verwey-Jonker Institute to evaluate the performance of the Council. The Council performed very well in this evaluation. Its performance could not, therefore, really be used as an argument for curtailing its tasks. The independent nature of an Inspection Board is open to question, as it is functioning under the responsibility of the Minister of Justice. However, the Minister of Justice has not been convinced by this and other arguments, so there is a big chance that the Council will loose its supervisory task.

The gender gap in pro-environmental political participation among older adults

Citizens are increasingly concerned with environmental issues and some of them take contentious political actions or adapt their lifestyles to reduce their environmental footprint. Research finds that there is an eco-gender gap in everyday environmental behaviours, with women more active than men. However, studies of the eco-gender gap have infrequently looked at other forms of pro-environmental political behaviours and focused mostly on young people. We contribute to the literature by examining to what extent older women and men differ in a range of pro-environmental political behaviours, using a unique dataset based on a survey of individuals 64 years and older. We find strong evidence of a gender gap in everyday behaviours and political consumerism, but not in relation to contentious forms of political participation. This gender gap in relation to everyday behaviours and political consumerism diminishes with age.     

Application of three dental methods of adult age estimation from intact single rooted teeth to a Peruvian sample

Methods of estimating adult age at death from such dental features as root translucency, root length, and the extent of periodontosis in intact single rooted teeth have proven useful in studies of modern individuals, especially in estimating age in older adults. Questions remain however, concerning the impact of regional and population variation on accuracy. To examine this issue, three approaches to age estimation were applied to a diverse sample of 100 individuals from Peru. Mean errors of estimation for all three approaches were similar to those originally reported, suggesting minimal impact of population variation of the features measured. A new regression equation, specifically for Peruvian samples, is provided.     

从约会到同居:“他的”和“她的”同居决策比较--基于“90后”流动青年同居者的质性研究

未婚同居现象在中国日趋增多,但对于年轻人如何从约会发展到同居、性别是否以及怎样影响同居的动机与意义还缺乏研究。本文通过对94名正在同居和近期经历同居的"90后"乡-城流动青年的深入访谈,从性别视角探讨了影响年轻人从恋爱交往向同居转变的因素。研究发现,流动青年受访者的同居,无论男女大部分发生在有结婚意图甚至是订婚之后,但在同居决定如何受结婚目标推动上出现了明显的性别特征,女性更多地因道德规范压力,男性更多地出于经济和时间成本。同时,一些流动青年的同居决策也受到现实因素的影响,如为了相处或居住上的便利以及意外怀孕的发生,往往会推动男女加快向同居的转变;经济层面的考虑对同居决定的影响则因性别而异,女性更有可能出于经济需要而加快同居,而男性更多地因经济紧张而推迟同居。总之,传统性别文化规范和农村婚姻市场变动延伸到同居,并影响流动青年男女的同居决策。