M.A. / This study explores the ways in which children are affected by witnessing domestic violence. The literature reviewed shows that witnessing violence against their mother’s impacts upon their development in many different ways. The wide-range of problems associated with children exposed to wife abuse, including significant behavioural, emotional and cognitive problems, are described in this study. The outcomes and consequences are also discussed. Children respond to witnessing domestic violence in a variety of ways. These responses are mediated by many factors, for example, their age and gender, the intensity and frequency of the violence, parental responses, levels of family dysfunction, and the psychological disposition of the child. Children’s experiences vary according to these many characteristics. This study also examines various theoretical perspectives on exposure to domestic violence. These approaches provide an important framework that contributes to this understanding of this phenomenon. There are many shortcomings in this area research, and an in-depth understanding of the phenomena of witnessing marital violence during childhood is lacking. There is also minimal research examining the long-term consequences of exposure to marital violence, particularly with regard to the way that women’s lives are impacted upon as adults. / Dr. I. van der Merwe Prof. R.van Vuuren

M.A. / Sexual abuse of children has been a consistently high profile public issue throughout the late 1980’s and continues to be one. Nest and Woodhouse (1990:3) indicate that child sexual abuse and how to deal with it has become topics of enormous concern a preoccupation for health professionals no less than the media. Recent evidence points to an alarming prevalence of experiences of abuse, especially by young girls who become captive victims in their own homes. The researcher was therefore motivated to conduct this study because the incidents of child sexual abuse have increased dramatically in Soweto. Within the Western culture disclosure of sexual abuse and related interventions is well studied. In our black culture though, sexual abuse is regarded as a taboo, hence it is difficult for victims to report these cases. Even parents of abused children are not open about this problem and this makes it difficult for parents to deal with sexual abuse. The dilemma of non-disclosure causes a need for information about how parents in sexual abuse cases should handle the problem. The study focuses on formulating guidelines to help social workers in dealing with this issue of taboo. In this study the researcher conducted a groupwork with mothers of sexually abuse children in order to set a basis to develop a group intervention programme. Gomes-Schwartz (1990:20) indicates that mothers' responses to the disclosure often influence the relationship with their children. Developing a group intervention programme to address these damaged relationships is relevant to social work practice in South Africa. The aim of this study is to develop a group programme for mothers of victims of sexual abuse and to develop a treatment plan based on the literature survey. This is done by means of a literature survey (general) in the related field of child sexual abuse. The data gained from the literature study were used to develop a group programme and to make conclusions and recommendations in this regard. / Dr. E. Oliphant

University of Macau / Faculty of Law

Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

The personal and national dimensions of terrorism victimhood lend the victims their unique moral authority and political legitimacy. The analysis of the news media coverage of victims' campaigns, on issues such as memorialization, criminal justice, hostage crises and peace activism, reveals that the more such campaigns are closer in time, space, and relevance to the attack that the victim-advocates underwent, the greater are their chances for positive coverage. Deferential coverage of victims' campaigns reflects journalism's cultural role as reinforcing common values and myths, including by way of portraying victims as heroes. Where victims' campaigns are less related to the physical memory of the attack and more concerned with the military or legal aspects of terrorism, journalists take on their informational role and employ traditional professional standards. Such standards include subjecting victims to potential criticism, and at the very least "balancing" their arguments with official views. In issues where the victims' arguments seem far removed from their personal experience, their influence over the news media is small. This range of journalistic notions is offered under the organizing mechanism of the Experience-Argument Scale. The two extreme ends of the Scale, the "deferential" end and the "disregarding" end, are where journalism's missions are in danger of compromise. Journalism at the "deferential" end is emotional, reluctant to bring forth opposing opinions, and in effect may contribute to policies that are driven more by trauma than by considered opinion. At the other end of the Scale, journalism is deaf to the victims, and fails to enrich policy debates with the lessons of their experience. The comparative examination of coverage in the U.S. and Israel illuminates the different relationships between press and government in these two cultures, and how local responses to victims reflect the particular local history of terrorism, and the particular notions of nationhood, solidarity and patriotism.

This study explores the issues of subordination of women in Tajikistan through studying the phenomenon of violence against women. This study presents a socio-legal analysis of the responses of state and non-state institutions and how the justice system works for women, this study engaged in the feminist discourse on women's individual experiences of violence, the ‘woman question' in public and private, the construction of law and its effect on women and their subordinate position and how the laws and the legal and executive mechanisms construct the culture of inferiority of women in society. It employed qualitative methods of data collections, such as interviewing and participant observation along with a questionnaire. It draws on theoretical studies and the empirical work conducted in Tajikistan to present its findings. Theoretical input allows drawing on explanations and experiences provided in studies of VAW in other societies and empirical input allows placing them within the context of Tajikistan. This gives an opportunity to explore the interplay between hierarchical and structural basis of gender relations and women's individual experiences of violence. This study explores the power of societal norms and values pertaining women's subordination and male domination on individuals' perceptions of VAW and their responses to it. It analyses the socio-economic and legal context in Tajikistan and its influence on women's daily lives. This context also determines the choices women victims of violence are given and impacts women's decisions whether or not to seek solutions. The study establishes that the focus on increasing awareness of legal rights, or introducing new laws and making changes in the law, cannot in themselves provide women with long-awaited responses to the violence they experience. Changing the law, introducing well-developed law would be significant step forward but has to be accompanied by measures to bring a fundamental shift in attitudes. This study emphasises that the responses should encompass a number of initiatives and presents some examples of these.

The boundaries of victimhood have received increasing attention in criminology, particularly considering the recent proliferation in 'trauma talk' or 'trauma creep'. Noting the connections between victims and trauma, there is now increasing recognition of the impact of victimisation, not only on individuals, but upon families, communities and cultures with its effects extending across time, place and person. Following David Garland's assertion of the 'return of the victim' 15 years ago, the interests of victims have moved to centre stage of the criminal justice system with the experiences of some taken to be representative of others. While this has encouraged an appreciation of the extent of suffering in victimisation, it is easy to understand how we might 'lose sight of the individual victim'. This research presents a qualitative study of the phenomenon of bereaved family activism. Findings presented in this thesis are based upon 15 in-depth interviews and participant observations with Mothers Against Violence: a Manchester-based charity that emerged in response to an intense period of gun violence and ensuing community outcry in the 1990s. The aim of this thesis was to explore how victims have confronted and mobilised their experiences of lethal violence to promote acknowledgment and prompt recognition. By refocusing on the individual and foregrounding the victim, this thesis asked how those involved understand, make sense of and give value to their experience in light of their role in Mothers Against Violence. Data collected was analysed through thematic analysis, remembering the embedded nature of such stories in cultural, historical and biographical contexts, communities and the research exchange. Findings are presented as a way of following the stories of individuals to the moment of collective action. The primary contributions of this thesis can be summarised under the following headings; firstly, applications of 'trauma' in victimology; secondly, understanding victim movements such as Mothers Against Violence as spaces for emotional, social and practical learning; thirdly, conceptualising victimisation as one moment in a series of 'turning points'; and fourthly, the role of stories in prompting recognition, encouraging identification and assembling communities.

My novel, "Nine Times Out of Ten, You Don't Die," is the story of Layla Wisnewski and her quest to write a book about her famous father. In the 1970s, "Big Dan" Wisnewski was a motorcycle stuntman who broke more bones than anyone living. He jumped cars and buses and rivers atop a white Harley Davidson. Big Dan was considered an American Hero. Fast forward forty years, Big Dan has been dead for decades, and his daughter Layla is writing a book about his life. While researching the book, she learns she was kidnapped as a baby. This triggers a domino effect that leads Layla on a trail to uncover the many ways in which she has been lied to over the years and just how dangerous her family really is.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2006. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file viewed on (February 23, 2007) Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--York University, 2004. Graduate Programme in Psychology. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 178-215). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pNQ99191