ijcs
|
|
Abstract: Despite their high-profile nature, there has been a lack of scholarly research on bias-motivated homicide in the United States. One explanation for this dearth of prior research is the lack of official data available on this type of crime. In response, the current study proposes an alternative method for studying one form of bias crime, homicides targeting homeless persons, using open-source data (e.g., court documents, news media reports, advocacy group chronologies, etc.). To demonstrate their utility, open-source data are employed to empirically examine anti-homeless homicide incident, suspect, and victim characteristics. Findings reveal that anti-homeless homicide tends to be committed in public parks with blunt objects by groups of young males against older, solitary male victims. Implications for policy are briefly discussed. Keywords: Homicide, homelessness, open-source data.Download Full Article |
|
|
Abstract: Media reports of the continued violence and discrimination experienced by African Foreign Nationals1 in South Africa have brought into the forefront victimisation of this sector, despite pledges by the government and law enforcement agencies to put a stop to it. This is also linked to current social milieu debates taking place within international trends on migration. Studies and evidence have shown that although the attitudes towards foreign nationals vary across South Africa's socio-economic and ethnic spectrum, foreigners who live and work in South Africa do face discrimination by citizens, some government officials, members of the police, and by private organisations who are contracted to manage their detention and deportation. This research, with a qualitative approach, explores the persistent issues that threaten African Foreign Nationals. Fifty participants were selected through a purposive sampling technique. The main aim of this research was to examine the issues that threatened the safety and security of African Foreign Nationals in Durban, South Africa. It was found that offences such as physical assault (i.e. Grievous Bodily Harm - GBH), arson, rape, verbal abuse, house robberies, property damage as well as discrimination were serious crimes perpetrated against African Foreign Nationals which was often characterised by xenophobic violent attacks against them. Keywords: Victimisation, South Africa, Migrants, Foreign Nationals, Discrimination. |
|
|
Abstract: The effects of violence on the person are extensive, more so, for persons disabled through violence. Research in occupational therapy has shown the effectiveness of occupations in helping displaced refugees to construct new identities and navigate new ways of belonging within asylum countries. No research thus far has focussed on the role of occupation for healing in contexts of sustained violence. Aim: To explore the role of occupations in the healing journeys of people physically impaired by violence. Study Design: Qualitative; Narrative Inquiry. Methodology: Photovoice and Narrative Interviews. Data Analysis: Narrative-analytic methods were used to produce explanatory stories.Findings: These are presented with a specific focus on the impact/influence of violence on personal and societal occupational engagement and the restorative role of collective occupations within the participants’ healing journeys. The findings suggest a need to reframe violence as a collective occupation that dehumanizes, and healing as a collective process that (re)humanizes within a broader framework of Ubuntu as an interactive ethic. These findings call for a shift in focus for rehabilitation practices involving individuals disabled through violence, in contexts of sustained direct and structural violence such as South Africa. Keywords: Violence, context, disability, healing, occupation.Download Full Article |
|
|
Abstract: Most tests of criminological theories have been carried out in the western world, especially the United States. Agnew developed a General Strain Theory and claimed that it could account for deviance/crime in the developing countries. However, the support for the theory was generally mixed at best. The goal of this study is to examine the major theses of general strain theory in relation to youth violence in Nigde, a small city in central part of Turkey. The data came from a random sample of 974 students drawn from the lists of the university students at Nigde University (N= 12,514). Data were analyzed by using logistic regression analysis. The present study focused on three important research questions: Is the influence of strain on violence positive, Is the impact of strain on violence is mediated by anger, and Is the effect of strain on violence moderated by some criminal and non-criminal copings? The results indicated that few strain variables had direct positive impacts on violence. Anger had positive effect on the dependent variable. Few interactions between the strain and coping variables were observed. In short, the overall results gave a limited support for the three major arguments of general strain theory. Keywords: General strain theory, Violence, Crime, Deviance, Youth, Turkey.Download Full Article |
|
|
Abstract: This paper analyzes actions taken by eight special programs for homicide reduction implemented in the states of Bahia, Ceará, Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais, Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, as well as the Brazilian Federal District. It aims to understand the historical permanence of lethal violence as one of the most striking social characteristics of Brazil and defends the argument that the prevention and tackling of homicides – understood in a broad sense that includes all intentional violent deaths – are operated, both politically and institutionally, from a symbolic simulacrum that causes incremental initiatives to fail to reach the architecture of criminal justice and public security institutions. As structural reforms in the criminal justice and public security system face several obstacles to being approved by the Legislative Branch, this simulacrum makes the police force and other institutions belonging to the system to continue operating from a center of criminal policies that do not depend on the construction of a democratic project of public security, protection of life or civil and human rights. The study reiterates that the debate on transparency and data quality can allow actions to strengthen institutional capacity for monitoring and evaluation and/or strategic litigation, which in turn may weaken of the path dependence and worldviews that operate the identified simulacrum. In other words, the debate on transparency and data quality is one of the strongest battlefronts for the reduction of violence and for the democratization of public safety in Brazil. Keywords: Violence, Homicides, Simulacrum, Public safety in Brazil. |