In this study the nature and extent of the sexual assault and rape of male sentenced offenders and awaiting-trial detainees in Pretoria Local Correctional Centre were investigated. Prison gangs, overcrowding of correctional centres, the involvement of correctional officials and the sexual orientation of the potential victim were highlighted as risk factors in the sexual assault and rape of male offenders and awaiting-trial detainees. As this study focused on both the victim and the offender of male-on-male sexual assault and rape, both victimological and criminological theories were used as a theoretical basis. Creswell’s dominant-less-dominant model of combination was used in this study, with the dominant model being the qualitative methodology, and the less-dominant model the quantitative methodology. Non-purposive sampling was used, as the researcher could not identify the victims and/or perpetrators of male-on-male sexual assault and rape individually. In order to obtain in-depth information on the research participants’ experiences of sexual activities and rape in the correctional centre, face-to-face structured interviews were conducted with one hundred research participants. After the analysis and interpretation of the data, it became evident that male-on-male sexual assault and rape, as well as consensual sexual activities, do occur in this correctional centre. Research participants highlighted four types of sexual engagements in this correctional centre, namely the need for emotional sex, survival sex, compliant sex and forced sexual acts. The reasons offered for the occurrence of rape in this correctional centre include that an agreement had not been reached between inmates and because of that the rape will take place, corruption by correctional officials, the involvement of prison gangs and the use of deception by the perpetrators. Six research participants revealed that they had been the victims of rape. All the victims were raped within days or weeks after their arrival at the correctional centre. Five of the victims did not receive medical treatment after the rape, and none of the victims received counselling or therapy after the rape. Five of the research participants reported that they had sexually assaulted and/or raped other inmates. Four of the perpetrators were awaiting trial for an aggressive offence (armed robbery) and one for a sexual offence (rape). The perpetrators forced their victims to engage in oral sex, inter-femoral sex and anal sex. The aims of the study were reached and recommendations for further research were also made. Emanating from the feedback of the participants as well as the literature review, the researcher developed an Offender Sexual Assault Protocol. The Department of Correctional Services can use this protocol to reduce and manage sexual assault and rape in male correctional facilities. / Thesis (DPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Social Work and Criminology / unrestricted

M.A. / Any organization or structure over time has a historical background, a reason for existence, and an objective. In this sense PAGAD is no exception. The aim of the following discussion is to place the establishment of PAGAD within a broader historical and ideological context. This section will be discussed under the following headings: Broad historical context. The objective of this heading is to state clearly that the establishment of PAGAD was not an one time only decision taken by a few disillusioned members of the community in the Western Cape. Indications are that the establishment of anti-crime forums had been present since the 1950s, each with different members, but always with the same purpose and goals. The main objective of this section is to indicate to the reader that the establishment of PAGAD had had a historical development. Fight against crime as explanatory condition. On the basis of the above-mentioned historical development, this section will be focussing on the socio-economical conditions prevailing in the Western Cape, in order to explain the development of so-called popular justice organizations. Ideological context of the rise of People Against Gangsterism and Drugs. The name of the organization already puts it against the background of tenn "popular justice". This section will attempt to put PAGAD in the framework of Muslim politics in the Western Cape. Division in PAGAD. This section will be focussing on the split in PAGAD during September 1996, on the ground of the ideological divisions in the Muslim community in the Western Cape. Although the split in the ranks of PAGAD occurred very early in the existence of the organization, it is very important to take notice of it, as the split was a result of the manifestation of ideological differences. There will be continuous reference to the said split in the cause of this case study as it altered PAGAD's objectives as well as its modus operandi. Relationship between PAGAD and Qibla and the strategy and objectives of Qibla. The objective of this section is to look into Qibla as such and to study Qibla's alleged role in the actions of PAGAD. Discussion on the aforementioned should not be seen as isolated from each other, but that it should be interpreted as a totality.

The problems that gang members create within adult correctional facilities continue to receive attention in the literature. Gang members within juvenile institutions have received far less attention from researchers, and misconduct of these juveniles, both serious and non-serious, is relatively unexplored. This study explored the institutional misconduct of 4,309 male delinquents released from the Texas Youth Commission. Youths younger at commitment, those with a higher TYC risk score, and those youths with emotional problems were found more likely to commit both serious and non-serious institutional misconduct, regardless of gang membership. This thesis concludes with suggestions for additional research on gang members within juvenile institutions and the relationship of gang membership to institutional misconduct.

The purpose of this study will explore increasing gang membership, gang structure, and strategies utilized by the criminal justice system in attempting to curb gang-related crime and activities. Through a quantitative research study, the researcher examined crime in the cities of Garden Grove, California and Santa Ana, California in an attempt to determine the success of the Santa Nita Gang Injunction in reducing crime within the injunctions "safety zone."

MPM / Department of Public and Development Administration / See the attached abstract below

Segregation is increasing in Sweden, and the political discourse about violence in Swedish suburbs has intensified dramatically throughout the last years. Segregated areas are often described as dangerous areas with a lot of insecurities. In this paper, I´m going to present a case study of Botkyrka municipality which is in south Stockholm. The purpose of this study is to see if media and political discourse are stigmatizing Botkyrka or not. By interviewing people living in Botkyrka, I get their perspective of living in Botkyrka municipality. This case study can be exemplifying a case study of suburbs in Stockholm as the discourse can be similar to other suburbs in Stockholm. This case study is following an abductive qualitative approach using theories as neighborhood-effect, segregation, and territorial stigma to answer the research questions “Does the image of Botkyrka municipality presented by political actors and media create territorial stigmatization of Botkyrka municipality?” and  “What are Botkyrka municipality as an organization doing to decrease segregation, and what are the biggest challenges in their work?” Interviews are conducted both randomly in chosen areas and in-depth interviews with chosen respondents. Findings from this case study show that certain areas of Botkyrka are stigmatized, that citizens in Botkyrka refer to some areas as dangerous, which is also presented in political discourse and media, as events taking place in these areas are referred to Botkyrka, it creates a territorial stigma of Botkyrka municipality. As some neighborhoods in Botkyrka is affected more negatively by school segregation, youth in these areas face a higher risk of getting excluded from society and fall into a destructive way of living, as influences among youth living in low-economic neighborhoods are strong predictors of negative behaviors, such as drug abuse, crime, and participation in the job market. Territorial stigma and the neighborhood-effect becomes obstacles in the work of decreasing segregation, further, inequality is an obstacle in the work of decreasing segregation. The unequal access to different key resources as housing, education, and jobs are great challenges in process of decreasing segregation.

Epidemiological methods and public health theories can be tied to theories of crime and delinquency and used to create evidence-based policy. Interdisciplinary theoretical approaches to existing, and emerging, public health and criminal justice problems hold great promise. Differential association theory postulates that close association with delinquent peers leads to an increase in deviant activities such as illicit drug use. Social cognitive theory postulates that health behavior change is driven by the interaction of (a) cognitive states that support a health outcome, (b) the social and contextual environment, (c) and individual action. Combined, these theories can be applied to drug eradication programs as well as other health and crime issues. Focus groups and interviews were performed to identify rates of illicit substance use among incarcerated African American adolescent male gang members and nongang members. The policy recommendations illustrate the convergence of criminological and epidemiological theory under the new paradigm of epidemiological criminology or ??EpiCrim.??

Large-scale criminal violence (LCV) as a phenomenon has had little academic discussion despite its large effects in the lives of thousands of people around the world, with regions such as Latin America being particularly affected by it. Despite the extensive literature on civil conflicts on one hand, and criminal and gang behavior on the other, there is still an important gap on the causes of violence perpetrated by organized criminal actors.  This thesis contributes to this research gap by asking under what conditions do criminal actors trigger large-scale violence? Through a quantitative cross-country study focused on Latin America, this thesis explores the role that territorial availability plays in the onset of LCV. Empirical findings were not conclusive due to a lack of statistical significance; however, data seems to suggest that higher levels of territorial availability could be associated with an increased likelihood of LCV onset, especially when controlling for factors such as equal resource distribution and when adjusting the sample size to include only state with no active conflicts. Finally, this research points to the imperious need of better data regarding criminal violence, and criminal-related homicides to gain better knowledge of LCV patterns and to build evidence that supports pathways towards reducing it.

Magister Scientiae (Occupational Therapy) - MSc(OT) / Street gangs have become a permanent feature of the social landscape in the Western Cape, South Africa. Various strategies have been developed to address the issue of gangsterism. The study focused on one strategy, disengagement. Disengagement is regarded as the process in which active gang members withdraw from their affiliated gangs and re-integrate into society. Much of the research that has been conducted in the area of disengagement has been done internationally, and there is very little research that explores how youth leave gangs within the South African context. Therefore, the current study explored young men’s perceptions and experiences of disengaging from gangs and how occupations facilitate and sustain the disengagement process. In the present study, occupation is defined as activities and tasks of everyday living that give meaning or value to one’s life. Occupation is associated with health and well-being, but occupations can also be unhealthy and dangerous. A qualitative approach, using an explorative research design, was adopted in order to explore the topic within a South African context, namely the townships of Nyanga and Langa, which are located on the Cape Flats. Through the use of purposive and convenience sampling, ten members of two groups, namely, the Peace Team and Project Playground, were invited to participate in the study. The Peace Team was established in 2013 by former gang members in response to the conflict amongst the youth of Nyanga and to encourage gang members to leave gangs. Project Playground is a Non-Governmental Organisation that services the areas of Langa and Gugulethu through a variety of community development projects and after school programmes. An initial focus group was conducted with some of the participants. Thereafter, semi structured interviews were conducted with each of the ten participants (until data saturation was reached). After the individual interviews were completed, a second focus group was conducted with some of the participants to discuss and explore issues that were uncovered during the individual interviews. All focus groups and interviews were voice recorded and transcribed verbatim, and transcriptions were then compared to the recordings to assure accurate reflections thereof. Thematic analysis was used to identify codes, categories and themes. Once transcription was completed coding was commenced. Through the use of codes, the researcher was able to reorganize data in a way that facilitated the interpretation and enabled the researcher to organize data into categories that were analytically useful to the study. Categories were then grouped in sub-themes and finally themes, based on similarities and patterns. Rigor and trustworthiness was ensured through various means including triangulation of data sources (multiple participants), data gathering methods (focus groups and individual interviews), member checking, keeping an audit trail and reflexivity. Ethical clearance was obtained from the Senate Research Committee of the University of the Western Cape, registration number 15/7/86. From the data five themes emerged to form the findings. These themes were: (1) The reason why, (2) The price of gang life… the fine print, (3) Time to get out… I didn’t sign up for this, (4) Getting out and staying out, and (5) The price of my freedom. The study contributed to current knowledge in occupational therapy and occupational science regarding how engagement in meaningful occupations promotes health and well-being. In understanding these occupations and what meaning they hold, it assists occupational therapists in planning, implementing and evaluating appropriate interventions to help gang members to disengage from gangs and engage in meaningful and healthy occupations that support their reintegration into the community in pro-social ways.

Gang membership is associated with increased exposure to risky behaviors, including violent victimization and other negative health outcomes (Krohn and Thornberry 2008; Howell and Decker 1999) Using a sample of 74 African American female gang members from Champaign IL, this study explores the association between gang friendships and risky sexual behavior, specifically the number of sexual partners an individual has had. I argue that gang friendship networks are proxies for risky behavior and this may extend into the realm of sexual health as well. Understanding the effect of friendship may help to explain an individual’s propensities towards risky sexual behavior above and beyond individual level attributes, as friendship has been linked to peer influence. I will examine three main research questions. (1) What is the broad effect of friendship on sexual risk taking among female gang members? (2) How does gang affiliation alter the effect of friendship? and (3) How does the effect of friendship differ based on the strength of the tie? Findings suggest that friendship networks have a strong prediction effect on number of sexual partners amongst gang women in my sample, but varies based on type of friendship and strength of tie. Results suggest that affiliated gang friends increase the likelihood of having more sexual partners, whereas non-affiliated and non-gang friends decrease this likelihood. When disaggregated, the strength of the relationship is significant.