Thesis advisor: Thomas O'Hare / Domestic violence is a widespread social problem impacting an estimated 6.2 million women in the United States each year (Department of Justice, 2008). The purpose of this study was to determine the existence, prevalence, and degree of disparity in prosecution and sentencing based on domestic violence status, victim-offender characteristics, and victim-offender relationship. The study specifically looked at cases of assault and battery, which is the most prevalent type of offense in domestic violence (Buzawa, Buzawa, and Stark, 2012; Payne & Wermeling, 2009). This study utilized simple random sampling, involved an archival analysis of court records, and examined a ten-year period (2000-2010) at Salem District Court in Essex County, Massachusetts. This investigation found that the likelihood of a case not being prosecuted was affected by whether or not it was a domestic violence incident. Fifty-five percent of domestic violence cases resulted in dismissal, while only 45% of the non-domestic violence cases were dismissed. If prosecuted, 84% of domestic violence cases resulted in a suspended sentence, while only 21% of the non-domestic violence cases that were charged resulted in a suspended sentence. The results also showed that the degree of social closeness between a victim and offender influences the likelihood that a case will be prosecuted. For instance, an offender who assaults a family member or an acquaintance is more likely to be prosecuted than one who assaults an intimate partner. In addition, among prosecuted cases, domestic violence offenses resulted in shorter sentences and less severe sanctions relative to other offenses. The most significant implication of this study is that domestic violence victims continue to receive unequal treatment by the criminal justice system. Policy makers and those in the advocacy field can utilize this information to improve the prosecutorial and judicial response to domestic violence and to better guide victims through the judicial process. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Social Work. / Discipline: Social Work.

Prior research has shown that psychopathic traits correlate with ability to make more accurate assessments of vulnerability based on nonverbal cues (Wheeler, Book, & Costello, 2009; Book, Costello, & Camilleri, 2013). The current study aims to provide further support for this finding, examine effect of criminal experience, and determine if the finding generalizes to females and non-Caucasians. An online survey was conducted, where each participant was shown several videos of people walking alone down a hallway. After each video, they were asked to rate the vulnerability of the depicted person. Higher levels of psychopathic traits (measured by the Elemental Psychopathy Assessment (EPA; Lynam et al., 2011)) were found to correlate with more accurate assessments of vulnerability when white or black males were assessing videos of males of their same race. Prior criminal behavior, however, did not relate to better accuracy, despite its relation to psychopathic traits. Results for females were not consistent with findings for males, indicating the finding may not generalize across gender. Potential reasons for these findings are discussed.

This study examined the relationships among participants’ emotional intelligence and participants’ sympathy for an alleged rape victim[1], sympathy for a defendant, and verdict in a mock rape case. Participants were 219 (127 female, 92 male) United States jury eligible individuals between the ages of 18 and 66. Participants were given a rape trial summary accompanied by a manipulated emotional facial expression of the alleged rape victim (angry, sad, afraid, or neutral), or no photograph. Participants were asked to render an individual case verdict and complete a questionnaire with measures to test sympathy for the alleged rape victim, sympathy for the defendant, self-emotional intelligence, other-emotional intelligence, and rape-myth acceptance. Results provided evidence that self and other-emotional intelligences are positively correlated; sympathy for rape victim and sympathy for the defendant do have an effect on case verdict; and, participant characteristics including gender, age, and race are predictive of rape myth acceptance, sympathy for the defendant, sympathy for the victim, and emotional intelligence. Further research should expand on emotional intelligence as a juror characteristic in the United States as well as internationally. [1] The term rape victim, rather than rape survivor, is used in this study to refer to an individual’s victim status in the context of the legal system.

Peer aggression is a significant problem among adolescents; it is relatively common and frequently experienced among adolescents. Recently, there has been growing attention to the occurrence and impact of bullying on adolescent's well being at school. There is still a lot to learn about why certain adolescents are targets for bullying. This study explores how certain personality traits, behaviors, and social status may be predictors for those who are targeted as victims of peer aggression. Students in three middle schools and one junior high school from three different school districts in Texas were asked to participate in this study. The sample consisted of 233 students. Students were both males and females who were attending 6th, 7th, and 8th grade and were between the ages of 12 and 15. Data was aggregated for each participating student from demographic information collected from the Cover Sheet, with participant demographics, Bullying/Victimization Scale (BVS), Behavior Assessment System for Children - Self-Report (BASC-SRP), and Social Support Scale for Children and Adolescents (Social Support - CFS). The data obtained supported the expectation that adolescents who presented with symptoms of depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, high external locus of control, low self-reliance, and high sense of inadequacy are more likely to become victims of peer aggression than adolescents who are more socially competent, more psychologically well-adjusted, and who have a higher internal locus of control. Additionally, adolescents who show signs of social stress may also be more likely to become victims of peer aggression. This is an important step in the needed research because the victim is often overlooked when peer aggression is occurring. Identification of potential victims and assistance with development of their social skills may aid them in avoiding acts of peer aggression.

Past research has demonstrated that people prefer donating to a single identified donation recipient rather than abstractly presented donation recipients (i.e., the identifiable victim effect). The current study applies this conventional wisdom to cause-related marketing (CRM) advertising campaigns. The results show that the identifiable victim effect might not always be powerful within CRM advertising campaigns. Specifically, an advertisement with message evidence having statistical information about donation recipients is more effective for the people who possess an independent self-construal level. In contrast, a CRM ad with anecdotal message evidence about an identifiable donation recipient is effective for the people with an interdependent self-construal level. Theoretical and practical implications and directions for future research are discussed. / text

Victim precipitated homicide is a phenomenon generally credited to the seminal work of Marvin Wolfgang (1957, 1958, 1967). While a limited number of studies have been conducted supporting this concept, limited understanding exists of the event dynamics of homicidal transactions in general and victim precipitated homicides in particular. In this study, the presence of an audience and alcohol impairment are treated as catalysts that influence the dynamics of the homicide event. It is hypothesized that homicide events are more likely to take shape as victim precipitated transactions when audience members are present. It is further hypothesized that the victim’s consumption of alcohol serves as a moderator between the presence of an audience and victim precipitated homicide. These hypotheses were tested using a dataset of 473 homicides occurring in Dallas, Texas from 1988 to 1997. The author found support for the first hypothesis postulating that the presence of an audience increases the odds of a victim precipitated homicide, but found little support for alcohol as a moderating factor. Potential theoretical and policy implications and future research are discussed.

Participants on sex offender treatment programmes (SOTPs) seem to value victim empathy (VE) training exercises, despite there being little evidence to suggest that these reduce risk of reoffending. Participants also appear to value their therapeutic relationships. There has been very little research into SOTP facilitators’ views on treatment. This study explores whether facilitators also feel VE training is a useful part of treatment and if seeing empathy develop in offenders strengthens therapeutic alliance. 12 prison SOTP facilitators were interviewed. The transcripts were analysed using content and thematic analysis, there were six main findings. Facilitators were concerned that the perceived impact of VE was superficial compliance and the particular emotional aspect of VE training may help facilitators to empathise with difficult group members. This study contributes a facilitator perspective to the debate on including VE training in SOTPs, and suggests further research be completed into empathy constructs and how these apply to facilitators work.

South Africans live in a traumatized society where crime and violence are a big crisis. It is specially farm attacks that in the recent time show an increase. At the moment there are 274 farmers per 100 000 of the population in comparison with for example 153 policemen per 100 000, that are being murdered each year. In this study, a trauma counselling program is established, especially to give social support to victims of farm attacks. There are different reasons why a trauma counselling program for victims of farm attacks bas to be established: Farm attacks increase rapidly, - more than any other crimes. Farm attacks and - murder are brutal and gruesome. The farm attackers focus on torture and the infliction of severe pain and suffering. The fear that is inspired by this, leads to the termination of basic assumptions such as, that people are invulnerable, that there is a reason for everything happening and that something good will come forth. The termination of these basic assumptions lead to long term bio psychological changes in the life of the victim, his/her family and loved ones that saw or heard about the attack. This form of traumatization needs counselling. The purpose of this research was to determine the traumatic experience and the needs of victims after a farm attack. Through explanatory, descriptive, and exploratory evaluative research a way to establish and to guide the victims to take control of their lives, on the same level of social functioning as before the attack, is suggested. In this study the focus were on the following goals: Knowledge has to be gathered about the intensity of the attack and post traumatic stress reaction To achieve this aim a questionnaire for victims of farm attacks in the Northwest province has been designed and completed. The results show that there is a need for a trauma counselling program for victims of farm attacks. A trauma counselling program was designed after the results of the questionnaire were interpreted, other programs evaluated, and behavioural models studied The group work process seems to be the most appropriate to implement. The single system as method was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the designed counselling program. The results showed that the program could be used successfully to bring the necessary and desired changes in the lives of the victims of farm attacks / Thesis (Ph.D. (Social Work))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2004.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a recognized social problem. The IPV is common in all types of intimate relations, this essays purpose was focused on the violence performed by women against men. To find the social workers conceptions the study conducted a survey sent to local social service in Sweden. The essay had a statistic approach to visualize the social workers conceptions, and a discursive approach to focus on the language used in text answers. Different aspects of the violence were explored to find the conceptions. How the social workers explain the causes of violence related to gender, and if the social workers claim theirs knowledge about IPV is different depending of the offender’s gender. The result shows that the social workers claimed that they had less knowledge about IPV with a female offender than a male offender. When the social worker described the male victim the answers focused to the feeling of shame, which were not as connected to female victim as male. The study found that the social workers experience that they had less knowledge of IPV against men. Nearby half of the social worker claimed that they had less knowledge about IPV in relation to their job.

Pastaraisiais metais Lietuvoje pradėta plačiau kalbėti apie vaikų tarpusavio skriaudimą ir patyčias. Atlikti žvalgomieji tyrimai rodo labai didelį vaikų tarpusavio skriaudimo ir patyčių reiškinio paplitimą. Manoma, kad šį reiškinį sąlygoja tiek asmeninės vaikų savybės, tiek aplinkos neigiami veiksniai. Globos įstaigose gyvenantys vaikai dažniau nei kiti vaikai, gali tapti skriaudėjais arba būti skriaudžiami. Lietuvoje vaikų tarpusavio skriaudimo ir patyčių reiškinys nėra aiškiai apibrėžtas, nėra vieningos vaikų tarpusavio skriaudimo ir patyčių prevencijos programos, kuri būtų įgyvendinama visose vaikų ugdymo ir globos įstaigose. Šiuo metu siūlomose vaikų smurto, prievartos, patyčių prevencijos programose nepakankamai dalyvauja nevyriausybinių vaikų globos namų bendruomenės. Tyrimu siekiama išanalizuoti vaikų tarpusavio skriaudimo ir patyčių problemos teorinius aspektus, aktualumą, programų ir kvalifikacijos kėlimo renginių pasiūlą ir poreikį, nevyriausybinių globos namų vaikų tarpusavio skriaudimo ir patyčių atvejų sprendimo schemas, socialinės partnerystės ryšius, siūlymus nevyriausybinių vaikų globos namų veiklos tobulinimui. Tyrimu nustatyta, kad vaikų tarpusavio skriaudimo ir patyčių sąvoka apibūdinami tiek patyčių ir skriaudimo, tiek smurto ir prievartos atvejai. Visų grupių tiriamiesiems vaikų tarpusavio skriaudimo ir patyčių problema yra aktuali. Ekspertai ir nevyriausybinių vaikų globos namų darbuotojai teigia, kad valstybėje nepakanka prevencijos ir... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / In these latter years bullying and jeer among the children have become widely discussed issues in Lithuania. Pilot researches demonstrate the wide spread of bullying and jeer phenomenon among the children. It is considered that this phenomenon is conditioned by both, personal features of the children and negative impact from the surroundings. Children living in institutional care more often than others can become bullies or objects of bullying. In Lithuania the phenomenon of bullying and jeer among the children is not clearly defined and there is no unified program for preventing bullying and jeer among the children under implementation in all child education and care institutions. The participation of non-governmental children foster care homes community is not sufficient in currently recommended child violence, coercion, jeer prevention programs. This research aims to analyze the theoretical aspects of bullying and jeer among the children, their relevance, supply and demand of in-service programs, programs for solving bullying and jeer cases among the children in non-governmental foster care homes, social partnership, recommendations for developing activities in non-governmental child foster care homes. It was identified that the notion of bullying and jeer among the children also involves the cases of violence and coercion. The problem of bullying and jeer is relevant for all groups under investigation. Experts and employees of non-governmental foster care homes express... [to full text]