Hands-on Killing of Intimate Partners as a Function of Sex and Relationship Status/State

Guided by evolutionary psychology and a situational perspective on violence, we generated three hypotheses to investigate whether the percentage of intimate partner homicides by beating, a hands-on homicide method, varies with the victim-offender relationship. We tested these hypotheses with a national database that includes incident-level information on over 50,000 intimate partner homicides. Results indicate that: (1) men are more likely than women to kill a partner by beating, and (2) men are more likely to kill their partners by beating when the relationship is dating or non-marital cohabiting (versus legal marriage). We argue that the lack of commitment in these non-marital relationships may produce greater jealousy in men, driving the perpetrator to kill his victim in a more violent manner (i.e., beating), relative to men who kill their wives.     

Filicide-suicide in Chicago, 1870-1930

Filicide (the killing of a child by a parent) followed by the offender's suicide is a tragic but, fortunately, rare event. The contexts and circumstances surrounding filicide-suicide may provide insight into parental psychology. The authors test several hypotheses about filicide-suicide using a database including incident-level information on 11,018 Chicago homicides during 1870-1930. The results provide some support for the hypothesis of differential risk of suicide following filicide by genetic parents and stepparents and replicate previous research indicating that filicides with multiple victims are more likely to end in the offender's suicide than are filicides with a single victim; parents are more likely to commit suicide following the filicide of an older child than of a younger child; and older parents, relative to younger parents, are more likely to commit suicide following filicide. The discussion situates these results within the existing literature and highlights important directions for future research.     

Bullying and fear of victimization: Do supportive adults in school make a difference in adolescents’ perceptions of safety?

This study examines the role played by a limited number of fear-of-crime correlates in structuring variations in fear of violent victimization expressed by a nationally representative sample of U.S. adolescents who participated in the 2013 National Crime Victimization Survey School Crime Supplement. Results show that both male and female adolescents who experienced bullying victimization also felt a higher level of fear of victimization at school and elsewhere. Conversely, adolescents who received emotional support at school from teachers and other adults were significantly less likely to be fearful. When controlling for the selected predictors, female adolescents were not more fearful than their male counterparts. Additionally, findings indicate that, especially for male adolescents, a positive school climate has the capacity to moderate the effect of bullying victimization on one’s fear of crime.     

The Purchase of Intimacy

Students of the intersection between monetary transfers and intimate social relations face a choice among three ways of analyzing that relationship: as hostile worlds whose contact contaminates one or the other; as nothing but market transactions, cultural constructions, or coercion; or as differentiated ties, each marked by a distinctive set of monetary transfers. A review of payment practices, legal disputes, and recent legal theory illustrates the weakness of the first two views and the desirability of further pursuing the third alternative.     

Fine tuning the Zelizer view

Fine and Lapavitsas accept my critique of neoclassical economics as well as my empirical findings, but too hastily reject the arguments underlyng both of them. Despite their complaints to the contrary, my work provides viable definitions of money and markets, offers a theoretically motivated research program, demonstrates the heterogeneity of money and markets, deals with standard economic processes, and addresses general theoretical issues. Within recent economic sociology, both 'context' and 'alternative' approaches improve on the stark choice between neoclassical economics and conventional Marxist political economy posed by Fine and Lapavitsas.     

Die Farben des Geldes

Die Pluralisierung kultureller Formen ist auch in der Ökonomie nicht folgenlos geblieben. Der umfassende Prozess der Homogenisierung von Konsumpräferenzen und Warenangebot legt zwar die Auffassung nahe, dass die ökonomische Entwicklung zu einer Nivellierung bislang distinkter kultureller Praxen führt, doch es zeigt sich bei näherer Betrachtung, dass auch die ?konomie eine kulturell feinkörnig differenzierte Sphäre ist. Homogenisierung und Differenzierung sind zwei Seiten einer Medaille. Deshalb hat die Homogenisierung von unterschiedlichen kulturellen Praktiken durch ökonomisch oder politisch intendierte Versuche der Vereinheitlichung unter multikulturellen Bedingungen von jeher zu Gegenbewegungen geführt, die den Fortbestand von Unterschieden, Abgrenzungen und Vielfalt sicherten. Zu Konflikten führt das Beharren gesellschaftlicher Gruppen auf kultureller Unterscheidbarkeit nur dann, wenn dieser ambivalente Prozess mit Segregation, Benachteiligung und Ungleichheit einhergeht.     

Size and scope of the tobacco trade on the darkweb

Globally, tobacco is responsible for the death of approximately 6 million individuals per year. In reaction, governments have enacted tobacco control policies that cope with the harmful effects of the drug. However, these policies have also created geographic price disparities and increased the effort needed to purchase legal tobacco products. The result was the creation of a new illicit tobacco market. While tobacco smuggling continues through conventional avenues, a new generation of traffickers have turned to a different source for the illicit distribution of tobacco – the internet, specifically the darkweb. The purpose of this paper is to describe the size and scope of illicit trafficking of tobacco on cryptomarkets, and the diverse types of tobacco-related products available on the cryptomarkets. Our analysis will provide guidance for policymakers, researchers, and all interested in the illicit trade of tobacco.