Offender Characteristics Research Articles

Characteristics of Victims and Offenders in the Phenomenon of Group Sexual Assaults

Characteristics of Victims and Offenders in the Phenomenon of Group Sexual Assaults

Homicide-Suicides in Pakistan: An analysis of Newspaper reports of two years

Background and Objective: Our understanding of homicide-suicide (H-S), a rare yet tragic event, is sparse. While the phenomenon has been studied in the West for many years, only limited literature is available from Asia and none to our knowledge from Pakistan. There is evidence of complexity of the interaction between cultural, societal, and psychological mechanisms underlying this phenomenon; therefore, research findings from the Western countries cannot be directly applied in non-Western societies. Our objective was to study homicide-suicides in Pakistan, describe the characteristics of offenders and victims, determine the types of H-S, and examine possible motives and any events prior to the offense. Methods: In the absence of any official data on homicide-suicides, we used newspaper surveillance approach of four most widely circulated Pakistani newspapers (one Urdu and three English Daily) for two years (1st January 2019 to 31st December 2020). Each case was categorized using the modified Marzuk et al., Tardiff, and Hirsch’s classification of homicide-suicides. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data that was then compared with published literature. Results: There were 114 H-S incidents with 198 victims of homicide during the study period, reported in the newspapers. Familial H-S particularly filicide-suicide were predominant, followed by spousal/ consortial H-S. Forty-one (36%) H-S involved multiple victims. The perpetrators across all categories of H-S were predominantly male (67%); the victims were predominantly women and children. Firearms were used in most incidents. The primary motive for the majority of H-S cases was familial, financial, and social stressors. Conclusions: The study highlights several unique patterns (predominance of familicide, multiple victims including high proportion of children) and a series of vulnerabilities (incidents related mostly to familial/ financial and social stressors) that overlap each other and ultimately lead to this tragic end. There is need to increase our understanding and develop effective evidence-based prevention strategies for H-S in Pakistan. It is also very important to have a national surveillance network and national violent death reporting system in the country for studying H-S cases, and for evaluating the impact of prevention programs. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.40.10.9812 How to cite this: Imran N, Ayub M, Haider II, Rafiq B, Tahir SM, Naveed S, et al. Homicide-Suicides in Pakistan: An analysis of Newspaper reports of two years. Pak J Med Sci. 2024;40(10):2196-2201. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.40.10.9812 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Breaking Down the Stigma: A Review of the Literature on the Relationships between Autism Spectrum Disorder and Criminal Behavior.

Background: In recent years, there has been growing interest in the evaluation of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and autistic traits in prison populations and offenders. Due to misleading headlines and highly publicized criminal cases, the belief that autistic individuals are more prone to commit crimes has spread among the general population, also leading to increasing research on this matter. Aims: In this context, this narrative review aimed to analyze the available scientific literature on the bi-directional link between ASD and criminal behaviors and to assess the key characteristics of eventual ASD offenders, including sociodemographic data, comorbidities, crime-related features, and interactions with the criminal justice system. Results: Our review highlighted that the available studies lack methodological rigor and present controversial results. Overall, the current state of research does not support any definitive correlation between ASD or autistic traits and the predisposition to engage in criminal conduct. Further studies are needed to confirm or reject this hypothesis.

The hidden impact of alcohol on young victims: an analysis of police-related alcohol offences resulting in hospitalisation

BackgroundAlcohol-related harm (ARH) remains a significant public health concern, particularly affecting young individuals who are disproportionately impacted. This study focuses on the often-overlooked impact of alcohol on young victims involved in alcohol-related police incidents resulting in hospitalisation. While existing research often centres on the drinker, this study explores the characteristics of both offenders and victims, analysing offence types and investigating the under-ascertainment of ARH in hospital records. MethodsOur research, conducted as a retrospective longitudinal study in Western Australia, utilises linked data from hospital admissions, emergency department (ED) presentations, and police incident records. The study includes 22,747 individuals aged 12–24 involved in alcohol-related police incidents between 2004 and 2015. ResultsFemale victims were 10 times more likely than males to be involved in alcohol-related police incidents, while women had a 2 times higher likelihood of undiagnosed alcohol-related hospital admissions than men. Aboriginal people were overrepresented as both offenders and victims. ED presentations and hospital admissions were prevalent, with head injuries being the most common outcome. Notably, 71% of victims hospitalised did not receive an ARH diagnosis. Conclusions A noticeable gap exists between hospital admissions associated with alcohol-related incidents and cases officially classified as ARH in the hospital system. This difference points to a more significant issue of substantial under-ascertainment or insufficient identification of ARH than previously acknowledged. Our study emphasises the need for targeted interventions, collaborative efforts between health and justice agencies, and ongoing research to address the hidden impact of alcohol on young victims.

Typologies of sexually motivated abductions: a latent class analysis

ABSTRACT To date, sexually motivated abductions have not received as much attention from researchers in comparison to the acts of abduction and sexual assault alone. Further, the majority of research that is conducted on abductions focuses solely on child victims, creating a gap in the literature. The current study was set forth to identify qualitatively different subgroups of offenders who commit sexually motivated abductions. Using victim, crime, and offender characteristics taken from sexual abduction cases (n = 1288), a latent class analysis was conducted. Results from the latent class analysis revealed that four subgroups of sexually motivated abductors exist: Convenience Opportunist, Strategic Opportunist, Child Opportunist, and Familiar Opportunist. In addition, bivariate analyses were run to test the latent class solution with different characteristics; results suggest that these subgroups of sexually motivated offenders may not be dependent on some victim lifestyle characteristics. These results provide evidence that there are qualitatively different subgroups of offenders who commit sexually motivated abductions, which may be useful for law enforcement when conducting investigations.

Improving compliance around protected areas through fair administration of rules.

Protected area management often depends heavily on law enforcement to secure compliance with rules. However, this can contribute to conflict between protected area authorities and local people, negatively affecting both human well-being and conservation outcomes. Compliance is affected by many factors, including whether those who enforce rules are perceived to do so fairly, as well as the perceived rule-related behavior of others. We used factorial survey experiments to explore how fair respondents living around protected areas in Indonesia and Tanzania perceive sanctions distributed by law enforcers to be. We presented scenarios to respondents to assess how crime type, offender characteristics, and corruption influenced their judgments regarding the fairness of administered sanctions. We also assessed how descriptive norms and corruption influenced individuals' willingness to obey protected area rules. Data were collected from 229 people in Indonesia and 217 in Tanzania. Results showed that in both locations, lawful sanctions, such as arrests or warnings, were perceived as fairer, and sanctions that involved corruption were perceived as least fair. Attitudes toward protected area rules, corruption, and descriptive norms all influenced people's willingness to comply, whereas multidimensional poverty did not. Our results highlight the need for conservation policy and practice to move beyond narratives that focus on the need for more law enforcement. To improve protected area compliance and secure better outcomes for people and nature, conservation must focus on ensuring the fair administration of rules and enhancing the legitimacy of rules themselves.

A Video Data Analysis of Pet Theft Incidents: An Examination of Offense Form, Situational Dynamics, & Offender Characteristics

ABSTRACT Pet theft is a type of property crime, but pet-owner relationships include emotional dimensions and life experiences that can compound their loss far beyond property value. Their bondedness with humans includes companionship as well as healthy lifestyle and mental wellness benefits, which are abruptly halted at junctures of pet loss. Though pets are stolen for various motives (e.g. ransom, reward, resale, or breeding), this crime form has received little research attention from academic criminology and criminal justice. Toward building a line of inquiry, this paper empirically explores the phenomena of “dognapping” as dogs are the most frequently stolen pet and the only pet for which there is a database large enough for meaningful exploration. Content analysis of online posts and web-based video data (Twitter/X1 posts, YouTube videos, and social media websites dedicated to missing and stolen pets) enabled a delineation of dog theft forms, offense dynamics, and offender characteristics. Findings regarding residential and commercial dog theft center discussion on situational crime prevention implications and additional research opportunities to further evidence and explore this relatively disregarded crime.

Sociodemographic, Clinical and Criminal Characteristics of Offenders Disqualified from Conscription with Antisocial Personality Disorder: A Sample from Türkiye

ABSTRACT The study examines the complex assessment of criminal culpability in individuals with ASPD, specifically regarding their ineligibility for conscription due to challenges obeying military regulations and endangering fellow soldiers. The research centers on 135 cases diagnosed with ASPD who sought exemption from conscription in Türkiye between 2018 and 2022, comparing their socio-demographic, clinical, and criminal characteristics. Significantly, individuals with severe ASPD demonstrate a correlation with increased rates of employment (p = .006), a greater frequency of planned offenses (p = .033), and a heightened frequency of criminal records (p < .001). Both groups with ASPD display self-harming tendencies, yet sASPD cases are more often subjected to exemption decisions prior to conscription (84.1%), in contrast to ASPD cases where disqualification arises primarily during conscription (59.1%) (p < .001). The rate of disqualification from conscription is greater among individuals with ASPD during service, particularly for severe cases earlier on. In both groups, younger individuals who live with their parents (p = .046) seek addiction treatment more frequently. sASPD individuals tend to have more criminal records, and exemption decisions often precede conscription. The study highlights differences between ASPD and sASPD, planned offenses, impulsivity, addiction treatment-seeking behavior, and frequency of criminal records as critical elements to consider when evaluating disqualifications for conscription in these groups.

Sensitivity for thee, but not for me: The role of social status as a conduit for white-collar prison adjustment

The special sensitivity hypothesis asserts that the atypical background and personal characteristics of white-collar offenders may make them particularly susceptible to the “pains of imprisonment” while incarcerated. Using a national data set of U.S. prisoners, we evaluated symptoms of negative affect, misconduct, and various institutional outcomes among two distinct groups of white-collar offenders: those defined by their crime of exploiting specialized access for profit and those further defined by their status (i.e., employment, finances, and education). Findings indicated that the status-based offenders reported feeling significantly less worthless and that they were significantly more likely to have held a work assignment. However, the offense-based group was significantly less likely to have participated in educational programming and exhibited significantly worse negative affect—specifically nervousness, restlessness, and depression—suggesting they had greater difficulty adapting to prison life compared to others. We conclude by examining the implications for criminological theory and criminal justice policy.

РОБОТА З КРИВДНИКАМИ В МЕЖАХ НАГЛЯДОВОЇ ПРОБАЦІЇ

The author of the article analyzes the powers of probation authorities to work with offenders within the framework of supervised probation, and considers the available tools for influencing the behavior of such persons and their correlation with other forms of social and educational influence. The article emphasizes that the activities of probation authorities are not only about ensuring control over the behavior of such persons and implementing probation programs when they are appointed by a court sentence, but also about forming the necessary cooperation and creating conditions which allow for effective influence on criminogenic factors to overcome or reduce them. To this end, supervised probation should include the study of individual and group characteristics of offenders, and the capabilities of other agencies and institutions involved in overcoming the problem of domestic violence. Supervised probation is a way of state influence on the process of punishing offenders, determining the need to extend the measure of criminal coercion, as well as a way to determine the effectiveness of the criminal liability measure and provides for the existence of a system of measures for regular or random monitoring of the behavior of convicts. The Recommendation Rec(2010)1 of the Committee of Ministers to Member States on the Council of Europe Probation Rules states that probation, based on actions and measures of educational influence, is designed to ensure the enforcement of statutory sentences through supervision in order to involve convicts in public life and ensure the safety of society. At the same time, supervision should be viewed not only as a control function, but also as a means of counseling, assisting or motivating prisoners. The same document emphasizes that the probation service should work in cooperation with other public or private organizations and local governments to facilitate the reintegration of prisoners into society. Coordinated and complementary activities of different agencies based on the application of different branches of science are necessary to solve the sometimes complex problems of convicts and ensure the safety of society. The probation service should interact with other bodies and institutions of the justice system, with agencies that support its activities, and with the public to effectively perform its duties and functions. 38. The probation service should encourage the agencies supporting its activities so that they take responsibility for solving the problems of convicts as members of society. The article reveals the role of supervised probation in national realities and highlights its problematic aspects in the context of working with offenders. Key words: convicts, probation, supervised probation, subject of supervised probation, criminal law measures not related to the isolation of offenders, interaction of probation authorities, organizational and legal mechanism of probation interaction.

Contact sex offenders with adult and minor victims: Psychopathological and criminological differences

BackgroundEffective classification of individuals who commit sexual offences is important for their assessment, treatment, and risk management. Victim age has often been used as a distinguishing factor between perpetrators. ObjectiveThis study aimed to analyse the distinctive psychopathological and criminological characteristics of contact sexual offenders with adult and minor victims. Participants and settingThe study involved 97 adult males who were serving a prison sentence in Spain for at least one contact sexual offence against an adult or a minor. MethodsResearchers gathered data on criminological variables concerning the offender, victim, and modus operandi from prison records and interviews. Participants completed the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-III (MCMI-III) in a second session, and between-group differences were analysed. ResultsSex offenders with minor victims (SOMV) had significantly lower scores than sex offenders with adult victims (SOAV) on the Antisocial (r = −0.283, p = .005) and Sadistic (r = −0.209, p = .04) personality subscales, and on the Alcohol (r = −0.426, p < .001) and Drug dependence (r = −0.332, p = .001) syndrome subscales. SOAV were also more likely to use violence and/or intimidation, use a weapon, offend against female victims, offend against an intimate partner, commit their offences in public places, serve other ongoing prison sentences, and report a history of alcohol and substance abuse. SOMV were older and more likely to offend against family members. ConclusionsThese results suggest that there are key differences between SOAV and SOMV that should be considered in tailored prevention programmes for each subgroup of offenders.

Crime-scene and offender characteristics in conventional and nonconventional stranger homicides committed by male offenders in Sweden.

In Sweden, from 1990 to 2013, most homicides occurred between family members, friends or acquaintances: the annual rate of incidents between unacquainted offenders and victims ranged between 8% and 13%. In the majority of these "stranger homicides," three common motives, as defined by the precipitating event, could be identified: homicides resulting from a spontaneous altercation; homicides committed in the context of a robbery or burglary; and homicides committed in the context of a gangland conflict. The remaining minority-with uncommon or indiscernible motives-could, nonetheless, be categorized according to their nonconventional distinguishing feature: homicides characterized by the offender's ostensibly mentally aberrant behavior; homicides committed in the context of a hate offense or politically motivated offense; homicides committed in the context of a sexual offense; and homicides committed in the context of a mass killing or series of homicides. In this registry-based study of 224 incidents, "conventional" stranger homicides, defined by their commonplace motive, were compared with "nonconventional" stranger homicides, defined by their lack of such motive. The former were more often committed with an accomplice, against a male victim, whereas the latter were more often committed in a public place, after contact initiated by the offender. In the latter, offenders were less often intoxicated at the time of the offense and more often adjudged to suffer from a severe mental disorder. The subcategory of nonconventional stranger homicides characterized by the offender's ostensibly mentally aberrant behavior corresponded largely to both the archetypal stranger-homicide construct and the popular notion "act of madness."

Deconstructing a form of hybrid investment fraud: Examining ‘pig butchering’ in the United States

Cyber-enabled fraud has transformed, becoming more complex and making it harder for targets and law enforcement to detect its occurrence. This study aims to recontextualize a major manifestation of this transformation, a crime called hybrid investment fraud, colloquially known as pig butchering. Hybrid investment fraud describes a cyber-enabled fraud whereby criminals gain the trust of victims by forming connections and relationships, and then exploit this trust by using a series of confidence building and coercive measures designed to encourage victims to continuously invest in securities or commodities until they become unable or unwilling to continue to make payments or the offenders become unreachable. This study further aims to address the existing knowledge gap by focusing on understudied elements of this fraud, such victim and offender characteristics and the ways hybrid investment fraud is perpetrated. To achieve this, we conducted an in-depth analysis of more than 1,300 news articles and court documents between January 1, 2018, and November 1, 2023, to identify 59 cases of hybrid investment fraud targeting victims in the United States. This article both situates hybrid investment fraud within the broader fraud literature and conducts a comprehensive of analysis of hybrid investment fraud cases to identify the types of hybrid investment fraud committed, their impact, victim and offender demographics, and offenders’ tactics, tools, and methods of operation. The findings from this study can inform criminal justice practices and future research of this fraud.

EDUCATIONAL ISSUES IN THE RESOCIALIZATION PROCESS OF CRIMINAL OFFENDERS

The primary focus of the research is to investigate educational challenges in the process of resocializing individuals with criminal tendencies. The research aims to analyze educational issues in the resocialization process of offender to facilitate a more effective resocialization of criminally inclined individuals into society. The research tasks encompass various key objectives, including the analysis of offender characteristics, exploration of the formation process of offender personalities, formulation of proposals to mitigate the negative impact of macro-environmental factors, and development of resocialization recommendations. The novelty of the research is linked to changes in cultural values and social norms influencing the behavior, motivation, and transformation of social values among criminally inclined individuals. The outcomes of the research will contribute to the development of more effective strategies for crime prevention and the resocialization of offender personalities within society. The chosen research methods will provide a comprehensive insight into the formation of offender personalities and the factors influencing them. The monographic method will be utilized to describe existing research findings and provide conceptual explanations regarding offender personality and its formation mechanisms. The comparative method will be applied to assess issues related to the prevention of criminal activities among criminally inclined individuals in Latvia and other countries.

Counting the days: Exploring the post-mortem interval factors in sexual homicides.

This study explores the offender, victim, and environmental characteristics that significantly influence the number of days a sexual homicide victim remains undiscovered. Utilizing a sample of 269 cases from the Homicide Investigation Tracking System database an in-depth analysis was conducted to unveil the factors contributing to the delay in the discovery of victims' bodies. The methodological approach involves applying a negative binomial regression analysis, which allows for the examination of count data, specifically addressing the over-dispersion and excess zeros in the dependent variable - the number of days until the victim is found. The findings reveal that certain offender characteristics, victim traits, and spatio-temporal factors play a pivotal role in the time lag experienced in locating the bodies of homicide victims. These findings have crucial implications for investigative efforts in homicide cases, offering valuable insights that can inform and enhance the efficacy and efficiency of future investigative procedures and strategies.

The Efficacy of Restorative Justice Programs in Reducing Recidivism Rates

Purpose: This study sought to assess the efficacy of restorative justice programs in reducing recidivism rates. Methodology: The study adopted a desktop research methodology. Desk research refers to secondary data or that which can be collected without fieldwork. Desk research is basically involved in collecting data from existing resources hence it is often considered a low cost technique as compared to field research, as the main cost is involved in executive’s time, telephone charges and directories. Thus, the study relied on already published studies, reports and statistics. This secondary data was easily accessed through the online journals and library. Findings: The findings reveal that there exists a contextual and methodological gap relating to restorative justice programs in reducing recidivism rates. Preliminary empirical review revealed that restorative justice interventions were effective in reducing reoffending and promoting positive outcomes for both offenders and victims. Through processes such as victim-offender mediation and family group conferencing, restorative justice provided opportunities for offenders to take responsibility, repair harm, and engage in rehabilitation. While acknowledging variations in effectiveness based on offender characteristics and program implementation, the study highlighted the importance of continued investment in restorative justice initiatives to create a more just and equitable criminal justice system. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: Labeling theory, Social Learning theory and Routine Activities theory may be used to anchor future studies on restorative justice programs in reducing recidivism rates. The study offered recommendations that contributed to theoretical advancements, practical improvements, and policy developments in the field. It emphasized the importance of exploring underlying mechanisms, standardized training for practitioners, and integration of restorative principles into mainstream criminal justice policies. These recommendations were aimed at enhancing the effectiveness and sustainability of restorative justice interventions in promoting positive outcomes for victims, offenders, and communities.

Characteristics of Crime Convenience: The Case of Corporate Offenders

ABSTRACT This article presents a review of the research addressing the seriousness of corporate crime and the convenience for corporate offenders. Insights from this review are important as detection and prevention of corporate crime is dependent on addressing convenience issues for offenders. The perspective in this article suggests that convenience is a matter of avoiding strain and pain, saving time and efforts, overcoming barriers where the fences are at their lowest to gain from business possibilities and to avoid business threats such as bankruptcy. The opportunity for deviance among corporate offenders is typically based on their high social status and their legitimate access to resources to do both the right things and the wrong things. The opportunity structure to conceal deviance consists of institutional deterioration, lack of oversight and guardianship, and sometimes also criminal market forces. This is a scoping review article to identify convenience characteristics of corporate offenses and corporate offenders. Insights

Study of the sociodemographic, clinical and criminological characteristics of Tunisian female offenders

IntroductionThe psychopathology of female crime perpetrators is not well understood since female criminality rates have remained distinctly lower than male criminality.This study draws on over 20 years of psychiatric expertises to identify sociodemographic, clinical, and forensic characteristics of female perpetrators.Objectives-To describe the epidemiological and clinical profile of female offenders examined for criminal psychiatric expertise.-Describe the criminological and forensic characteristics of these women. MethodsRetrospective and descriptive study, which focused on 56 criminal psychiatric expertise files of female offenders, examined at the psychiatric department “C” at the CHU Hedi Chaker in Sfax, Tunisia, over a period of 24 years.For each offender, we examined the expert report and the judicial research report. We then transcribed the socio-demographic and clinical information, as well as the criminological and forensic characteristics, onto a pre-established form.ResultsThe accused women in our study had an average age of 35 years and 06 months, and 67.86% of the cases were under 40 years of age, with an educational level no higher than primary school in 62.5% of cases. They were unemployed in 71.4% of cases. Among the accused examined, 76.8% had mental disorders, including 46.6% with personality disorders, 16.3% with intellectual disability, 16.3% with bipolar disorder, 9.3% with depressive disorder, 9.3% with psychotic disorder, and 2.3% with substance use disorder (anxiolytic). We recorded 55.4% offences against persons, including 37.5% homicides and attempted homicides, and 44.6% offences against property, including 23.2% thefts. Dementia in the legal sense was identified in 30.4% of cases. Bipolar disorder accounted for 41.1% of legally demented subjects.Conclusions It emerges that the profile of the female criminal is that of a woman under 40, with a low educational and economic level, and most often with an antisocial personality or intellectual disability. It would therefore be important to step up primary prevention work by better educating these at-risk women and to combat the factors contributing to dangerousness among the mentally ill by optimizing their psychiatric care.Disclosure of InterestNone Declared

Criminological and Psychiatric Profiles of Immigrant and Refugee Offenders: A Retrospective Analysis of Cases in a Forensic Setting.

This study aimed to scrutinize the characteristics of immigrant and refugee offenders within our institution, focusing on factors such as immigrant status, country of birth, duration of residence in Turkey, as well as psychiatric, socio-demographic, and criminal profiles. The data were obtained through a retrospective examination of case records referred to the Observation Department of the Council of Forensic Medicine for the assessment of criminal responsibility between 2017 and 2022. The study categorized the cases into two groups: refugees and immigrants, comprising 35 and 22 offenders, respectively. Significant differences in educational levels were identified between immigrants and refugees within our study group (p < .001). Notably, drug use disorders were more prevalent among refugees, whereas alcohol use disorders were more common among immigrants, with statistical significance (p < .005). During forensic psychiatric assessments, 57.1% of refugees and 54.5% of immigrants required interpretation services. The most prevalent offense in the refugee group was homicide (37.1%), followed by child sexual abuse (28.6%). In contrast, homicide (31.8%) and theft and extortion (22.7%) were the most common offenses for the immigrant group. Six cases (10.5%) were judged to have reduced or no criminal liability. Among the cases, 52.6% had a history of prior outpatient psychiatric referrals, with the most frequent diagnosis being atypical psychosis at 10.5%. The findings underscore the necessity for additional research and targeted interventions to address the mental health and criminological complexities confronted by this vulnerable population.

Unpacking the journey to property crime in Changchun, China

AbstractJourney to crime describes the spatial patterns of offenders from their residential area to the crime location. When compared to other research topics regarding urban crime, there is still a lack of research on journey to crime, especially in China, as a result of which the behavioural motivation of offenders cannot be comprehensively examined. Four typical types of crimes committed against property (pickpocketing, robbery, theft and burglary) were investigated in the Nanguan District of Changchun from 2010 to 2016. The results showed significant effects of the demographic characteristics of offenders and spatiotemporal factors on the journey to crime. In terms of the place of household registration, offenders from the central urban districts of Changchun tend to commit short‐distance local robbery, whereas those from the suburban counties tend to commit long‐distance non‐local crimes. With increasing population density, the proportion of local plunders increases directly. This study aims to encourage urban managers to rethink the governance of floating populations, and assist police in strengthening social security.