Harsh Punishment Research Articles

Italy’s fascist past: A difficult reckoning

ITALY’S FASCIST PAST: A DIFFICULT RECKONINGIn January 2002, a survey conducted by a popular television program revealed that 25 percent of young Italians held a favorable opinion of Fascism and Dictator Benito Mussolini. Shortly thereafter, Italy’s most prominent scholar of Fascism, Emilio Gentile, warned of a “retroactive de-fascistization” in Italian society: the widespread tendency to cast fascism in a benevolent light forgetting, or softening, its repressive and brutal features. For many Italians, Fascism was very diff erent from Nazism and Communist Totalitarianism — it might have been an authoritarian regime but it was not a bloody one. This assessment was no doubt further conditioned by the politics of memory promoted at that time by Silvio Berlusconi’s center-right government. However the origins of this watered-down interpretation go back much further. The idea that Italian Fascism was not on a par with other totalitarian regimes took root in the collective conscience following the end of World War II, as Italy attempted to rehabilitate its reputation in the eyes of the world, hoping to be spared harsh judgment and punishment on the international stage. Its cornerstone was the contrast between Italian Fascism and German National Socialism. On one side, the brutality and ideological fanaticism of the Nazis and on the other, the Italian Fascists, who according to the narrative were over-bearing but not so criminal This distinction between Fascism and Nazism has permeated Italian public opinion throughout the history of the Italian Republic. It was shared by historian Renzo De Felice and pervasive from the 1980s onward in mass media which were inspired by the new wave of revisionism.Over the last twenty years, the ‘dark pages’ of Italian Fascism — from the regime’s anti-Semitic policies to crimes committed in the colonies and Balkan territories occupied during the Second World War — have been thoroughly investigated in the historiography. Broad sectors of the public still however consider Fascism a mild dictatorship not without its merits. The country that invented Fascism, therefore, is still struggling to come to terms with the legacy of its Fascist past.

Kärleksfullt tilltal, kvarsittning eller kroppsaga: En modellgenererande undersökning om korrektionsmedel i 1800-talets folkskolereglementen

Compassionate Corrections, Detention or Corporal Punishment: A Model-Generating Study on Correctional Methods in Nineteenth Century Comprehensive School BylawsThis article aims to develop a systematising model to analyse correction and punishment in the nineteenth century elementary school in Sweden. The model is used to identify and compare the different forms of correction, to systematise mutual relationships between milder corrections and more harsh punishments, and to find patterns between faults and correction. The model is also used to systematically identify how expressions about correction and punishment change over time. The model is developed on the basis of normative material, which regulated how to maintain order in classrooms.

Some Thoughts on Michael Chwe’s „Jane Austen, Applied Game Theorist”

The article examines the decision-making components of Jane Austen’s six major novels as reconstructed in Michael Chwe’s book and his argument that Austen was a precursor of game theory. In her novels, Austen describes an abundance of strategic situations in the mating process within the British higher classes. Social constraints made mating within this world a tough game due to harsh punishments for failure, especially for women, and severe limitation on signaling interest or sympathy. Austen cleverly investigates this environment and reconstructs many aspects of strategic behavior that have their counterparts in formal concepts of game and decision theory. While she hasn’t made contributions to theory per se, she deserves being named a precursor of applied strategic thinking and an expert on a particular strategically sophisticated social environment.

Chamas for Change: A Community Based Strategy for Pregnancy, Infancy, and Women Empowerment

Background: Maternal mortality is the leading cause of death among women of childbearing age in Kenya, and 1 in every 19 infants dies before their first birthday. To address this, Chama cha MamaToto was developed as a community-based program for pregnant and breast-feeding women. It integrates health and social education to decrease poor health outcomes and parental stress. It also uses a table banking system called GISHE to develop financial independence. Central to Chamas is peer support and accountability, leading to empowerment of the women. This poster is an analysis of the program’s history, and a summary of data collected by the MNCH team from MTRH. 
 Results: Women in Chamas had 5 times the odds of delivering in a health facility (OR = 5.07, 95% CI: 2.74-9.39). Children in Chamas had 33% relative reduction in stunting. Women and children in Chamas experienced 30% absolute reduction in harsh punishment (p< 0.001) compared to the control group. The Chamas program showed the potential for combined relative reduction of stillbirths and infant deaths by 56 percent (p<0.083). Additionally, women in Chamas had an 35% absolute increase in EBF for 6 months. 
 Personal role: My role working with the Chamas program this summer involved a cost analysis of the program as well as developing an implementation manual. 
 Conclusion: The next steps for the program include a continued scale up in two new sub counties, validation of findings from a cluster RCT, and a scale up of the program to all of Kenya in 2019.

ProbDetect: A choice probability-based taxi trip anomaly detection model considering traffic variability

Taxi service is an essential complement to public transport systems due to its convenience and availability. It often provides hundreds of millions of rides for urban travelers every year in cities across the world. At the same time, the number of trip-induced passenger complaints about trip anomalies (trips with anomalous trip length, time, fare, etc.) is also considerable. Hence, the taxi regulators impose harsh penalties on verified trip anomalies. The existing anomaly verification process is labor-intensive, and it does not consider the traffic variability as well as the passengers’ perception of trip anomalies. Quite often the imprecise and unfair outputs are generated as a result. To tackle this issue, we propose a choice probability-based taxi trip anomaly detection model (ProbDetect) that considers the taxi drivers’ route choice behavior as well as the traffic variability. We first generate a route choice set for each OD pair based on the massive taxi GPS trajectory data. Second, we assign each route with a choice probability derived from a cumulative multivariate probability over differences of generalized costs. Third, we distinguish the unintentional anomalies from the intentional anomalies using the expected and the realized choice probability. Lastly, the model is tested on 5000 OD pairs using 180 days of taxi GPS data in Shanghai, China. Three types of anomalies are detected as a result. Insights into the driver’s route choice behavior are derived as well.

Mandatory minimum sentencing policies and cocaine use in the U.S., 1985\u20132013

BackgroundAs of May 2017, the United States federal government renewed its prioritization for the enforcement of mandatory minimum sentences for illicit drug offenses. While the effect of such policies on racial disparities in incarceration is well-documented, less is known about the extent to which these laws are associated with decreased drug use. This study aims to identify changes in cocaine use associated with mandatory minimum sentencing policies by examining differential sentences for powder and crack cocaine set by the Anti-Drug Abuse Act (ADAA) (100:1) and the Fair Sentencing Act (FSA), which reduced the disparate sentencing to 18:1.MethodsUsing data from National Survey on Drug Use and Health, we examined past-year cocaine use before and after implementation of the ADAA (1985–1990, N = 21,296) and FSA (2009–2013, N = 130,574). We used weighted logistic regressions and Z-tests across models to identify differential change in use between crack and powder cocaine. Prescription drug misuse, or use outside prescribed indication or dose, was modeled as a negative control to identify underlying drug trends not related to sentencing policies.ResultsDespite harsher ADAA penalties for crack compared to powder cocaine, there was no decrease in crack use following implementation of sentencing policies (odds ratio (OR): 0.72, p = 0.13), although both powder cocaine use and misuse of prescription drugs (the negative control) decreased (OR: 0.59, p < 0.01; OR: 0.42, p < 0.01 respectively). Furthermore, there was no change in crack use following the FSA, but powder cocaine use decreased, despite no changes to powder cocaine sentences (OR: 0.81, p = 0.02), suggesting that drug use is driven by factors not associated with sentencing policy.ConclusionsDespite harsher penalties for crack versus powder cocaine, crack use declined less than powder cocaine and even less than drugs not included in sentencing policies. These findings suggest that mandatory minimum sentencing may not be an effective method of deterring cocaine use.

Syrian Refugees in Turkey and the Politics of Postconflict Reconciliation

AbstractFinding suitable settlements to civil wars, then proceeding to reconcile and reintegrate civilian communities to realize such settlements and avoid future conflict, poses many seemingly insurmountable challenges. The Syrian conflict is a case in point. Not only has a settlement proved elusive, but little is known about how the millions of civilian refugees who have fled the war feel about postconflict reconciliation and the future of their country. We use an original survey of 1,384 Syrian refugees conducted in Turkey in 2016 to draw attention to how refugees view the politics of postconflict reconciliation and reconstruction. We find that refugees desire peace in Syria more than anything else, yet they also desire harsh punishments for the perpetrators of violence, especially against civilians, from all sides of the conflict, which is likely to complicate any process of reconciliation.

Correctional Autonomy and Authority in the Rise of Mass Incarceration

Much of the literature explaining both mass incarceration and increasingly harsh punishment policies has been dominated by a focus on factors external to prisons, such as macrolevel explanations that point to political factors (like a popular rhetoric of governing through crime) or social structures (like the presence or absence of a strong welfare state). Where scholarship has focused on factors internal to prisons, explanations have often focused less on individual actors or correctional influence and more on processes, such as routinization, legalization, and risk management. This article argues for the importance of an additional explanatory factor in understanding the phenomenon of mass incarceration: the internal and relatively individualized influence of correctional officials, especially mid-level bureaucrats, who exercise autonomy and authority not only over prisoners and prison policy implementation but over policy initiation.

From Procedural Justice to Procedural Injustice: Understanding Prison Staff and Inmate Conflict

AbstractThis article focuses on the idea of procedural justice in prison. Prison employees in our case study explain that using respectful language improves their interactions with the inmates. However, some interviewees describe harsh language and threats used against the inmates. We identify this as procedural injustice where they force the inmates to comply by threatening them with harsh punishment. The choice to use respectful behaviour is dependent on whether or not inmates question their authority. Training needs to focus on helping prison workers present themselves as legitimate authority figures rather than authoritarians.

A World of Blame to Go Around: Cross-Cultural Determinants of Responsibility and Punishment Judgments.

Research finds collectivists make external attributions for others' behavior, whereas individualists make internal attributions. By focusing on external causes, collectivists should be less punitive toward those who harm others. Yet, many collectivistic cultures are known for strict retributive justice systems. How can collectivists simultaneously make external attributions and punish so harshly? We hypothesized that unlike individualists whose analytic tendencies engender a focus on mental states where judgments of accountability stem from perceptions of a harm-doer's agency, collectivists' holistic cognitive tendencies engender a focus on social harmony where judgments of accountability stem from perceived social consequences of the harmful act. Thus, what leads collectivists to make external attributions for behavior also leads to harsh punishment of those harming the collective welfare. Four cross-cultural studies found evidence that perceptions of a target's agency more strongly predicted responsibility and punishment judgments for individualists, whereas perceived severity of the harm was stronger for collectivists.

Juvenile Court Outcomes Following Youth’s First Arrest: A National Test of the Racial and Ethnic Threat Hypothesis

Using nationally representative data, this research examined the associations between indicators of minority threat and juvenile justice processing following a first arrest. At intake, increasing Black presence in the community resulted in leniency, rather than severity. Once adjudicated, the size of the Black population had a nonlinear inverted-U shaped relationship with probability of placement. Increasing Hispanic presence was associated with leniency in disposition, and economic threat was not significantly related outcomes. Indicators of minority threat did not exacerbate outcomes for minority youth. These findings suggest that, contrary to the expectations of minority threat theory, the growing presence of minorities in communities may weaken social control and harsh punishments, particularly once the size of the minority population reaches a critical threshold.

Psychodynamic Approaches to Behavioral Change

Psychodynamic Approaches to Behavioral Change

THE INFLUENCE OF TAXPAYERS’ TAX LIABILITY, AFFORDABILITY AND MORALITY ON TAX AMNESTY PROGRAM IN MALAYSIA

Tax amnesty is described as a restricted-time opportunity for a precise organisation of taxpayers to pay a defined quantity in change for forgiveness of a tax liability (including interest and penalties) related to a previous tax duration or durations and without fear of criminal prosecution. It is generally expired once some authorities begin a tax investigation of the past-due tax. In some cases, legislation extending amnesty additionally imposes harsh penalties to those whose square measure eligible for amnesty that do not take it. Tax amnesty is one in all voluntary compliance methods to extend assets and government income. Data of this study were collected from 105 respondents from the areas of Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, which are opened to all taxpayers regardless of background.

What\u2019s Happening During Home Visits? Exploring the Relationship of Home Visiting Content and Dosage to Parenting Outcomes

Introduction Research has documented modest positive impacts of early childhood home visiting programs. However, understanding more about what home visitors do during visits and how much time they spend on specific topics may provide insight into the variability in effectiveness of services. Methods Outcome data were collected via parent survey at program enrollment and 12 months from 123 women in three MIECHV-funded home visiting models. Home visitors completed weekly home visit content and activity logs. Results Families received an average of 28 visits during the study (3.1 visits per month). Of ten content areas, the three most often discussed were early childhood development, physical care of children, and the parent–child-relationship. Multivariate regression models were used to explore the association of home visit dosage, home visit content and cumulative risk factors on parenting outcomes. Women whose visits were focused more on parenting topics reported lower parenting-related stress at follow-up compared to those whose visits had less parenting content. Additionally, higher-risk women who received greater numbers of home visits showed larger reductions in their attitudes about harsh punishment over time, compared to high-risk women with fewer home visits. Discussion Receiving home visits that emphasize parenting content may contribute to reduced parenting-related stress. For high-risk women in particular, receiving more visits overall may be important to achieving positive outcomes. Implications for practice include working to engage and retain high-risk families. Future home visiting research calls for improved methods for collecting data on content/activity during visits, the necessity for long-term follow-up, and testing for the effectiveness of varied and flexible visit schedules/content focus for women and families with trauma exposure.

Educating students from refugee backgrounds: ethical conduct to resist the politics of besiegement

The settlement in Australia of people fleeing from war and persecution is claimed as proof of its humanitarian credentials. Australia’s identity as a settler colony draws attention to a darker history, featuring colonial practices that remain in the background of educational debates. The paper begins with two examples of harsh and punitive punishment, endorsed electorally and mobilised to manage the racial other. This background sets the context for understanding the cultural politics of besiegement and its implications for schooling. We explore how teachers might be freed up from existing discourses of power and knowledge, by examining their ethical conduct (‘care of the self’). Using findings from two Australian studies conducted in the cities of Brisbane and Greater Western Sydney, we explore possibilities for developing alternative political subjectivities for teachers and pre-service teachers. It is through careful attention to their ethical sensibilities that teachers will be empowered to steer education towards a different ontological politics.

Persistently Harsh Punishments Amid Efforts to Reform: Using Tools From Social Psychology to Counteract Racial Bias in School Disciplinary Decisions

In response to concerns about overly harsh and racially inequitable school discipline, schools have introduced disciplinary reforms. However, even in schools where these reformative programs are present, many students continue to be subject to developmentally inappropriate discipline and striking racial gaps in disciplinary outcomes persist. Teachers’ implicit racial bias likely contributes to racial disparities in school discipline. In this article, I highlight two social psychological skills—perspective-taking and individuating—that have been found to reduce the effects of implicit bias in nonschool settings. I suggest that if developed in educators, these social psychological skills could also help reduce racial disparities in school discipline. I discuss implications for future research and policy.

The role of childhood stress in symptoms of social phobia and agoraphobia in adulthood

In a sample of 1000 Polish and German probands recruited via the internet, we studied the associations of nine childhood stress factors (physical abuse, periodic harsh physical punishment, threat of physical violence, sexual abuse, neglect, long-term absence of a parent, violence between parents, arguments between parents and financial hardship) with later agoraphobic and sociophobic symptoms. Especially neglect showed a strong association to both forms of phobic symptoms. Threat of physical violence aswell as periodic harsh physical punishment and threat of physical violence also showed an association to both forms of phobic symptoms. The study revealed plausible associations for both forms of anxiety and various childhood adversities, though the amounts of explained variances were generally small.

Community perceptions of home environments that lead children & youth to the street in semi-rural Kenya

Research with street-involved children and youth (SICY) in Sub-Saharan Africa over the past three decades has established a complex web of both micro and macro-level factors that simultaneously "push" and "pull" children and youth to the street. There is still little research with adult family and community members in communities from which SICY originate. Forty men and women from five semi-rural villages in Meru County, Kenya participated in a Rapid Rural Appraisal utilizing a fishbone diagram to explore main and underlying reasons for why children may be or may feel unwelcome in the home and thus migrate to the street. Responses were analyzed in terms of ecological levels, child or parent perspective, and the push/pull framework. Overall, community members identified families and households experiencing stress and lacking the necessary resources to successfully adjust and adapt. Four ecological levels of influence were proposed as main reasons, with parent and caregiver factors mentioned most often, followed by household factors, children’s intrapersonal factors, and interpersonal (family) factors. Community and environmental level factors were also proposed as underlying factors. Analysis by gender revealed that both men and women emphasized push factors over pull factors, though men proposed more pull factors (from peers and street life) than women did. Men placed more responsibility on the children than women did, citing children's negative behaviors, dissatisfaction with home, and a desire for independence and work/income. Women, in contrast, emphasized children's feelings of being unloved and the experience of harsh punishment or abuse from caregivers. Findings suggest that interventions to reduce street involvement should support economically, medically, and psychologically vulnerable families and households through comprehensive family strengthening programs that build financial capacity, improve parenting and communication skills, and promote education over child work and labor.

Parenting adolescents with ASD: A multimethod study.

A number of studies have concluded that parents of children with ASD experience high levels of parenting stress. However, little is known about their parenting behaviors. Especially parenting in adolescence remains under investigated, although this period is associated with additional challenges for both adolescents and their parents. In this study, 44 adolescents with ASD and a control group of 38 adolescents without ASD, aged 12-16 years old, participated together with their mother. We compared parenting behaviors between the two groups, based on observations of mother-child interactions and a questionnaire that was filled out by the mother. During the observation, mothers of adolescents with ASD showed more sensitivity and creativity, compared to the control group. In addition, the questionnaire responses indicated that mothers in the ASD group adapted the environment more by for example, establishing routines. Furthermore, this study investigated the role of parenting stress and ASD characteristics of the mother on parenting behavior. Parenting stress was associated with less self-reported positive parenting. Higher levels of ASD characteristics of the mother were related to more negativity and less sensitivity during the observation in both groups, and more self-reported harsh punishment and adapting the environment in the control group only.

Repression and Long-term Political Leadership

This paper develops a model where an incumbent may try to bribe the security forces to repress the political opposition in order to improve his/her chances of winning the elections. Such situations can be demonstrated by the cases of Cambodia, Uganda and Zimbabwe where the political leadership has used repression in and around the election times. In a collusive equilibrium, the security forces produce violence and the leader responds by giving a bribe to the former, this pair of actions taking place in each period. A collusive equilibrium exists when the bribe that a leader is prepared to pay is at least as large as the bribe that the security forces are willing to accept. We find that a harsher expected punishment (e.g. a longer prison sentence) will improve an incumbent’s incentives to collude. In contrast, security forces expecting a harsher punishment will be less likely to repress. Furthermore, we discuss the circumstances under which windfall revenue (e.g. foreign aid, resource rents) may contribute to violence and when it may prevent it.