The potential influence of extralegal characteristics on the outcome of post-Furman capital cases (1972) has been a focus of criminal justice researchers and legal scholars. Much of this literature has assessed the impact of victim and defendant race on the likelihood of receiving the death penalty while a relatively underdeveloped body of research focuses on how victim sex may affect capital sentencing decisions. The present study uses focal concerns theory and the chivalry hypothesis to test the potential mediating effect of theoretical variables on the relationship between victim sex and juror capital sentence decision-making. In addition, it uses victim sex specific logistic regression models to examine if different theoretical and/or control variables are important predictors of receiving the death penalty for male victim cases versus female victim cases. Findings demonstrate that victim rape mediates the relationship between victim sex and juror death penalty decision-making. In addition, findings reveal that sex specific models better explain juror decision making than the full model including victims of both sexes and that different extralegal and legal characteristics predict juror decision to choose the death penalty in cases with male victims versus female victims. Theoretical and legal implications as well as directions for future research are discussed.

Bullying has been identified as a problem that can affect the physical and psychosocial health of both the aggressors and victims. Given the consequences for those who bully, for victims, and for the school environment, early intervention is important to minimize these risks. School staff need additional data to understand the scope of bullying and to adopt effective strategies. This study seeks to meet this need by analyzing the association of bullying behaviors and school climate perceptions of middle school students within the context of school membership. This study used Bronfenbrenner's ecological system theory. Within this framework, a bullying interaction occurs not only because of individual characteristics of the child who is bullying, but also because of actions of peers, teachers and staff; physical characteristics of the school environment; and most importantly, of student perceptions of these contextual factors. This study used survey data to analyze the effect of student perceptions of school climate on self-reported bullying behaviors of students in six Sarasota County middle schools. Data sources include student- and school level data. The researcher gathered student level data from a modified middle school YRBS survey the Sarasota School District administered to middle school students, in December 2003. The school level data were gathered from the Florida Department of Education Web site. The data were analyzed using multiple regression analyses and within multilevel models. The results indicated that bullying was a common occurrence in the schools. Approximately eight percent of students were bullied on a regular basis in school, with verbal bullying as the most common type of bullying and relational bullying as the least common. Bullying aggression for physical, verbal, and relational bullying was most common for boys. Girls reported higher levels of being victims of relational bullying. Bullying also varied according to school membership and grade membership. Bullying differed according to school climate perceptions, as well. Interestingly, the effect of some of these variables on bullying was modified by sex. Finally, school context was a significant predictor of bullying, in particular the percentage of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch.

This study sought to explain how crime victims emerged as a target group in the Swedish Social Services Act in 2001. The findings, derived from legislative documents, a literature review, and focus group interviews with social workers, showed that the 2001 provisions both duplicated and undermined pre-existing provisions of the Social Services Act. The explicit aim of the reform was to improve services to crime victims. The provisions did not, however, change the legal responsibility of the social services, nor did they strengthen the social rights of crime victims. The social services already assumed responsibility for crime victims according to other provisions of the act. To some degree, the reform can be explained symbolically. Support for crime victims was a complicated issue for the social democratic government. The economic crisis of the early 1990s ruled out reforms that might bring high increased costs. Yet expanding crime victims’ rights at the expense of the offender (e.g. toughening penal law and promoting victim impact statements) was not in line with social democratic ideology. By enacting the 2001 provisions, the government showed its commitment to providing support to crime victims. At the same time, the provisions did not increase costs or strengthen crime victims’ rights. In this way, the provisions solved a political dilemma for the government. Incorporating the 2001 provisions in the Social Services Act may seem to have been a modest reform. Symbolic politics, however, are not empty; rather, they reflect attitudes and beliefs. This study proposed that the reform revealed the state’s increasing concern with violence against women and individual responsibility. Furthermore, the provisions may have constituted a normative reorientation of the Social Services Act, in which individual responsibility increasingly replaced solidarity, the holistic view, and a right to assistance according to need.

Dėl ypatingos savo padėties vaikai yra išskirtinė asmenų grupė. Nors jie, kaip ir suaugusieji, turi prigimtines teises, kurių niekas negali nei atimti, nei apriboti, tačiau jas realizuoti dėl savo neveiksnumo negali. Vaiko interesus atstovauja ir gina vaiko tėvai, įstatyminiai atstovai, valstybė. Tačiau ar visada šie atstovai sąžiningai vykdo savo funkcijas ir jomis nepiktnaudžiauja? Būtent šiame magistro darbe ir analizuojama, su kokiomis konkrečiomis problemomis bendrojo lavinimo mokyklose susiduria nuo nusikaltimų nukentėję moksleiviai, kokiomis kryptimis šiuo metu yra vystoma nuo nusikaltimų nukentėjusių moksleivių socialinė integracija ir adaptacija, analizuojama kaip ši sistema galėtų būti tobulinama. Nuo nusikaltimų nukentėjusių vaikų socialinė integracija ir adaptacija yra vienas pagrindinių tikslų, užtikrinant tinkamą vaiko teisių apsaugą. Atlikus su tiesioginiu šio magistro darbo objektu susijusius tyrimus, paaiškėjo, kad bendrojo lavinimo mokyklose dirbantys pedagogai neigiamai vertina moksleivių teisių apsaugos (tame tarpe ir teisės į tinkamą socialinę integraciją ir adaptaciją nukentėjus nuo nusikalstamos veikos) situaciją. Prie tokio neigiamo situacijos vertinimo daugiausia prisideda aukštas nusikalstamumo lygis bendrojo lavinimo mokyklose, nepakankamas specialistų, atsakingų už tinkamą nuo nusikaltimų nukentėjusių moksleivių integraciją į mokyklos bendruomenę skaičius, taip pat kiti faktoriai. Tokias problemas lemia ir su moksleivio asmenybe bei jo požiūriu į... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Schoolchild (and all children on the whole) is a very special social group that requires intensive care and protection. On the one hand schoolchild is a social group that should be under special protection and intense care, but on the other hand situation of the protection of children rights got worse and is under close observation. Social adaptation and integration of the victims of the crime is one of the backgrounds to ensure the protection of children rights. The essential points this dissertation are the problems of the victims of the crime that they are facing in the school, analysis of the instruments that are used for social integration and adaptation of the victims of the crime, also analysis of the direction which should be chosen for the reasonable social integration and adaptation of such people and what implementations should be done in order to form a proper legislation of this social problem. According to the researches that were completed in connection with this dissertation, the situation of the protection of children rights in Lithuanian schools is not proper. This fact is proved by many factors, such as the high level of delinquency in the schools (especially physical and psychological violence), low number of qualified professionals, that are specializing in the sphere of social integration and adaptation of the victims of the crime (“victims” are meant as children) and protection of children rights, negative atmosphere of the school because of the local... [to full text]

Research object: violence against children. Research objective: to discuss the notion of crime victim, to assess crime emergence and its outcomes of children psychosocial development, as well as to investigate children attitude towards crime Tasks: 1. To find out the crime circumstances and issues that children deal with both at school and outside it. 2. To analyse the children attitude towards their safety at school and outside it. 3. To establish the reasons of crime that leads to children’s hospitalization. 4. To find out what emotional suffering children face after they have experienced crime. 5. To investigate where children affected by crime go for help. Research methods: • Questionnaire • Interview methodology • Case analysis Inferences: The study shows that girls are more often affected by emotional violence when boys – by physical crime. Research results demonstrate that children are more often affected by violence in families addicted to alcohol drinking. The study had showed that children prefer to seek for help at the social pedagogue and less often – at the psychologist or the class educator, what draws inference that the social padagogue at school is more and more confidenced and trusted by children.

While researchers have assessed the prevalence and health impact of bullying, there are still relatively few successful interventions and strategies implemented to reduce and prevent bullying. A particular promising area is to know more about students who may be willing to intervene in a bullying situation, which is the focus of this thesis. Using the data from the Georgia Student Health Survey II (GSHS 2006) (n=175,311) an empirical analyses of students who state that they are willing to intervene in a bullying situation, their demographic characteristics and psychosocial attributes will be examined. The survey administered to students across Georgia in grades 6th, 8th, 10th and 12th measured the number of students who reported being a bully-victim, bully or a victim of bullying, and their likelihood to engage in risky behaviors. The results demonstrated students who were white and were girls were most likely to intervene in bullying situations. Grade level was not significant when it involved intervening, but was an important marker for the co-occurrence of bully-victims. One compelling finding is that the bully subgroup was most likely to always intervene. School climate factors such as success in school, clear expectations and liking school were significant indicators of willingness to intervene. These findings assist researchers and schools to better understand the characteristics of students who are willing to intervene and school factors that may promote students likelihood of intervening. These findings may guide how bullying is addressed in Georgia schools, and underscore the importance of providing safe school climates.

Magistro baigiamajame darbe „Nusikaltimų aukų pagalbos ir paramos sistema Lietuvoje“ nagrinėjama Lietuvoje egzistuojanti pagalbos ir paramos nusikaltimų aukoms sistema, jos sudedamosios dalys ir elementai. Tema yra mažai nagrinėta ir aktuali tuo, kad tai naujas socialinių paslaugų sektorius Lietuvoje, kadangi iš esmės tuo susirūpinta vos prieš dešimtmetį, todėl dar nėra atlikta šios sistemos kompleksinė analizė, nėra tyrimų, kitų išsamesnių apibendrinančių darbų. Šio baigiamojo darbo objektas – nusikaltimų aukų pagalbos ir paramos sistema Lietuvoje, tikslas – pateikti rekomendacijas sistemai patobulinti. Siekiant šio tikslo buvo sprendžiami tokie uždaviniai kaip, valstybinių įstaigų bei nevyriausybinių organizacijų veiklos pagalbos nusikaltimų aukoms srityje nagrinėjimas ir vertinimas, pagalbos ir paramos nusikaltimo aukai sistemos Lietuvoje turinio atskleidimas, remiantis teisine literatūra ir teisės aktais, statistiniais duomenimis, internetinių svetainių informacija bei kitais informacijos šaltiniais, kai kurių Europos Sąjungos valstybių narių pagalbos ir paramos sistemos nagrinėjimas, pagalbos teikimo labiausiai pažeidžiamoms nusikaltimų aukoms – moterims ir vaikams analizė ir vertinimas, remiantis ekspertų apklausa. Atsižvelgiant į tyrimo objektą ir tikslą, magistro darbe buvo analizuojami tarptautiniai ir nacionaliniai teisės aktai, reglamentuojantys nusikaltimų aukų apsaugą, taip pat buvo vertinama institucijų ir organizacijų veikla šioje srityje, remiantis įvairiais... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / In Master’s final thesis „The System of Help and Support for Crime Victims in Lithuania“ there is researched an existing in Lithuania system of help and support for crime victims, its components and elements. This theme has not been widely researched and is relevant because it is a new sector of social services in Lithuania. For the reason that this issue was raised only ten years ago there is no complex analysis of this system; there are no researches and other comprehensive resumptive works. The object of this final thesis is the system of help and support for crime victims in Lithuania; its purpose is to give recommendations for the improvement of the system. For the attainment of the purpose there were set the following tasks: the research and evaluation of the activity of public companies and nongovernmental organizations in the field of help and support for crime victims; the revelation of the content of system of help and support for crime victims in Lithuania on the ground of juridical literature, legal acts, data, information of Internet pages and other information sources; the analysis of some help and support systems of the member states of the European Union; the analysis and evaluation of help and support provided to the most vulnerable crime victims – women and children on the ground of the inquiry of experts. Considering the object and purpose of the research in this Master’s thesis there were analyzed international and national legal acts regulating the... [to full text]

Magistro baigiamajame darbe pateikiama vagysčių kriminologinė charakteristika Jonavos rajone. Darbe siekiama pateikti vagysčių sampratą, vagysčių klasifikaciją bei jų priežastingumą. Darbe atliktas kriminologinis tyrimas, orientuotas į Jonavos rajone įvykdytų vagysčių kriminologinę analizę 2006 - 2008 m. laikotarpiu. Kriminologiniame tyrime tirta vagysčių vieta, laikas, objektas. Darbe taip pat analizuota vagystes padariusių asmenų charakteristika ir tirtos tokios asmenybės kategorijos kaip lytis, amžius, išsilavinimas, šeimyninė padėtis. Tyrimo viktimologinė kryptis nukreipta į vagysčių aukų asmenybės viktimologinę charakteristiką. Taip pat tirtos ir tokios nuo vagysčių nukentėjusių juridinių asmenų viktiminės savybės kaip jų apsaugos faktorius, veiklos pobūdis. Magistro baigiamojo darbo ketvirtojoje dalyje pateikiamos bendrosios ir individualiosios vagysčių prevencijos priemonės bei pateikiamas vagysčių prevencijos gerinimo projektas, t.y. pasiūlymai ir rekomendacijos, kurie formuojami atsižvelgiant į tyrime gautus rezultatus. / Master's Final work introduce criminological characteristics of the theft as a crime in Jonava district. The paper aims to present the concept of theft, their classification and causation. The work carried out in criminological research, focused on Jonava district to comply with theft criminological analysis of the 2006 - 2008 on period. Criminological study investigated place, time, object of theft. We also analyzed theft perpetrators characteristics and personality to deal with such categories as gender, age, education, marital status. The study focused on trends victims of identity theft victimological profile. Also covers such juridical persons - theft victims properties as their protection factor, nature of the activity. Master's final work in the fourth part contains the general and individual measures to prevent theft and theft prevention to improve the project, a.

The Rome Statute saw the provision of three statutory rights for victims: the right to participation, protection, and reparations. The addition of these rights is an attempt to incorporate elements of restorative and reparative justice processes into a primarily retributive system. The emerging jurisprudence shows there are competing tensions developing in all areas. The right to participation saw initially broad decisions consistently scaled back by the Appeals Chamber to ensure a more streamlined approach. The right to protection, in contrast, has continued to be upheld by all Court levels resulting in significant trial challenges and delays. While the right to reparations remains untested, it is likely to only partially fulfill restorative aims. This thesis argues that while victim involvement has altered the traditional trial process, restorative aims will remain unmet. However, victim involvement has begun to shed light on the competing purposes of justice within the Rome Statute framework.

In the last two decades, research has established a negative association between involvement in bullying and emotional health difficulties. Few studies, in comparison, explore the relationship between bullying and victimization and physical health. Moreover, studies are lacking on the influence of bullying on health in adolescence. Three studies were conducted to explore the association between bullying and adolescent positive and negative health behaviours. Using an ecological model, we examined the influence of bullying and victimization on physical activity and health status, risky sexual behaviours and sexual coercion, and dating violence perpetration and victimization. Each study explored how bullying influenced the relationship between environmental factors and adolescent health. Results suggest that both bullying and victimization can have a negative influence on risky health behaviours. As well, the findings suggest that relationships with adults may protect youth involved in bullying from negative health experiences. These results support a model of co-occurring health behaviours in youth, including involvement in bullying. Hence, we propose that teen health promotion programs target overall lifestyle choices rather than solely focusing on individual health behaviours. As well, we recommend that bullying prevention programs need to address engagement in unhealthy habits during adolescence, while being sensitive to the complex relationship between environmental and bullying factors that can influence physical health in adolescence. / Thesis (Ph.D, Psychology) -- Queen's University, 2007-07-18 21:11:08.184