Victim-offender Relationship Research Articles

Turning 75: Why Age Matters for Victims of Assaultive Violence Reported to Police

Americans are able to age in more active and engaged ways than previous generations. These changes bring many positive opportunities, but also might affect the risk of criminal victimization for older adults. In considering these risks, an initial question is how best to identify older adults. One common default is to use age 65 and older, which suggests older individuals are part of a homogenous group. The Census Bureau’s multiple category approach illustrates another option, which captures variations as Americans age. This study explores the risk and characteristics of non-fatal assaultive violence using a multiple-category age definition and uses police data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s 2016 National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). These data were collected from 34 states and cover a range of crimes including aggravated and simple assaults. NIBRS data are well suited for this study as they collect details about the crime including victim and offender demographics and incident details such as victim-offender relationship, weapons, location and arrest. Preliminary results indicate that 34,689 assault victims were adults over the age of 65. Using a generic measure of older adult (age 65 and above) masks important variations in these assaults. Distinct patterns are observed between those aged 65 to 74, 75 to 84 and 85 and above. Within these age categories, differences also occur across racial and sex groups. The patterns observed can provide more nuanced guidance to challenge traditional assumptions about older adult crime victims and inform policies tailored to support these victims.

Inter-gender murder in NSW, 1901–1955: Reconsidering the laws of the fraternity

Contemporary studies that focus on intimate homicide assume that patterns of policing, prosecution and punishment were uniformly disadvantageous to women before feminist activists intervened in the 1970s. This article tests that assumption by drawing on the Prosecution Project’s digitisation of Australian criminal trial records. Using this resource, we selected all prosecutions ( n = 314) of men for murders of women and of women for murders of men in New South Wales, from Federation (1901) to 1955, the year the state abolished the death penalty. By coding victim–offender relationships and analysing them in relation to case outcomes, we found that men were far more likely than women to be convicted of murder, including seven men executed for intimate femicides. By contrast, women were more likely than men to be acquitted outright, rather than plead guilty to manslaughter of male intimates, a trend that feminist research has identified recently. This research provides new findings of use to critical appraisals of the charging and sentencing reforms that were meant to remedy ‘the laws of the fraternity’.

Child and Adult Attachment Styles among Individuals Who Have Committed Filicide: The Case for Examining Attachment by Gender

Gender differences in self-reported attachment styles of 18 individuals who had committed filicide were examined. Insecure attachment styles (avoidant and/or anxious-ambivalent) to primary caregivers were particularly common among males. Almost all experienced insecure romantic attachment. Partial support for insecure attachment continuity (childhood to adulthood), particularly among men, was found. Comparisons with 283 men and women who had committed other homicide types revealed that filicide males were the most common (across offender gender and victim-offender relationship) to hold insecure attachment to maternal caregivers. The role and nature of attachment patterns should be extended beyond the existing research focus on maternal filicide.

Population study of orofacial injuries in adult family violence homicides in Victoria, Australia

BackgroundThis study describes the prevalence and orofacial injury patterns associated with adult family violence (FV) homicides in Victoria, Australia. It follows a methods study for case selection of all FV homicides and injury measurement. Comprehensive analysis of orofacial injuries in FV homicides and their clinico-demographic context will inform future research on clinical FV indicators and sentinel injuries, and potentially lead to premorbid intervention in health services. MethodsAll closed cases of FV homicides aged ≥18 years, January 2006 to December 2018, were identified by screening Victorian fatal assaults, based on victim-offender relationship. Primary data such as post-mortem computed tomography scans and photographs were assessed. Socio-demographic, clinical, interpersonal and incident parameters were descriptively analysed and statistically compared across FV homicides with and without facial injuries using cluster analysis and nonparametric tests. ResultsOf 170 adult homicides screened for eligibility, 151 were included for final analysis. Over the 12-year period, 78.1% of all Victorian adult FV homicides had orofacial injuries. Significant cluster patterns of injury mechanism, victim-offender relationship and drug/alcohol impairment were identified in all homicides. Non-facial injuries were significantly higher in facial vs. non-facial injury homicides. Facial abrasion and incised wounds were the most common injury types. ConclusionsThis is the first forensic-epidemiologic study evaluating the empirical evidence concerning orofacial injuries associated with population-wide adult Victorian FV homicides. The high level of orofacial injuries in this population during the study period may inform clinical practice and policy in FV intervention in Victoria and globally.

Family violence homicide in Australia: the effect of victim/offender gender on social media commentary

ABSTRACT The rapid expansion, accessibility and connectivity of social media enables real-time reader engagement and interaction with news regarding crime and criminal behaviour. However, the generally unrestricted nature of social media can lead to problematic discussions which may perpetuate damaging stereotypes and affect responses to victims and perpetrators of certain crimes. This study analysed social media reader commentary in response to news articles reporting 30 incidents of family violence (FV) homicide, published via the Facebook pages of four Australian media organizations. The study examined the nature of the media coverage and the reader comments for each homicide, according to the victim–offender relationship and the underlying tone of the initial article. Notable differences were evident in both the nature of the media coverage and the reader comments for homicides perpetrated by male and female offenders. Differences were also evident according to the type of victim (male, female or child). Male victims received less sympathy than females, whereas male offenders elicited notably more criticism. The findings point to embedded perceptions and expectations mapped to different victim–offender relationships. While the results reflect predominant patterns of FV victim–offender relationships, they also highlight the particular challenges faced by male victims of family violence.

The effects of devaluation and solvability on crime clearance

PurposeScholars suggest that clearance rates reflect (a) the solvability of cases (Gottfredson & Hindelang, 1979; Roberts, 2007), and/or (b) the populations that the police choose to prioritize (Black, 1976). But few studies consider the totality of contextual and situational characteristics that may explain clearance rates and contribute to important disparities among them. The current study presents a framework that considers the effect of various types of devaluation and solvability on clearance. MethodsLinear probability modeling is used to test the framework's utility and whether complaint, neighborhood, and police district characteristics affect the clearance of violent crimes in St. Louis, MO. ResultsThe findings suggest that while minority victims and neighborhoods may be devalued, specific crime features physically hinder crime-solving. Important interactions emerge between devaluation and solvability indicators, and crime types are found to have distinctive clearance predictors. The results suggest that witness and victim-offender relationship information might be particularly important in clearing crimes involving Black victims. ConclusionsOverall, the results highlight the importance of comprehensively studying crime-solving. Future research should continue to work toward developing a comprehensive conceptualization to explain police case clearance.

Sources of Conflict: A Comparative Synthesis of American and Korean Parricides

Despite the nominative classification of parricides based on the victim–offender relationship, parricide bears the offense characteristics of many crimes. In prior works, the killing of parents has been framed as a violent reaction of severely abused children against their tormentors, or as the identity demarcating actions of adult sons suffering from mental illness. Aside from these two primary discourses, the reasons parents and their offspring become mired in conflicts across various life stages of both participants have been neglected from the literature. A more recent theoretical framework examines parricides and their sources of conflict across the life course of the victims and offenders. This paper synthesizes the sources of conflict in parricides in nineteen-century America and twentiethcentury South Korea by comparing the similarities and differences in offense characteristics. I argue that parricides in the two countries can be differentiated based on the differences in history and culture.

Child Sexual Abuse: the Detrimental Impact of its Specific Features

Child sexual abuse (CSA) has been linked to several negative psychosocial outcomes in its victims throughout life. However, the specific impact of different features of CSA has not been sufficiently studied. This research addressed: 1) the impact of CSA on psychosocial outcomes in young adulthood; and 2) the differential effect of a wide range of CSA features (such as, victim’s gender, age of onset, penetration occurrence, victim-offender relationship, number of offenders and use of force) in deviant behavior and psychopathological symptoms, in male and female victims. Our sample comprised 617 young adults and data was collected using the ACE Study Questionnaire, the Deviant Behavior Variety Scale and the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale. Pearson correlations, point-biserial correlations were used to test the associations between CSA and indicators of psychopathological symptoms and deviant behavior. We then analyzed CSA’s capacity to predict these outcomes using multiple linear regressions. Afterwards, participants who were identified as victims of CSA (n = 76) were selected and we carried out separate analyses for males and females using point-biserial correlations and calculating Cohen’s d effect size. Our findings not only support the hypothesis that CSA is associated with negative psychosocial outcomes in young adulthood, but also suggest that some specific features of CSA are positively associated with psychopathological symptoms and/or deviant behavior (e.g., age of onset, victim-perpetrator relationship). Furthermore, gender differences were found in the pattern of these associations. This research strengthens the scientific evidence concerning the potential clinical benefits of exploring the effect of specific characteristics of CSA.

Comparing Prevalence and Correlates of Intimate Partner Sexual Victimization Relative to Other Victim-Offender Relationships in College Students.

Research on sexual victimization (SV) in college women often focuses on perpetration by nonpartners thus, little is known about SV by intimate partners on college campuses. To address this gap in the literature, the current study compared prevalence and revictimization rates and negative correlates of SV based on victim-offender relationship. Findings suggest higher prevalence rates of SV perpetrated by a nonpartner compared to an intimate partner although similar and alarming rates of revictimization. Regarding negative correlates of SV, no differences were identified based on victim-offender relationship; however, victims of SV by both an intimate partner and a nonpartner demonstrated the highest negative correlates. These findings demonstrate the importance of addressing SV by nonpartners and intimate partners and the necessity for tertiary prevention efforts to decrease revictimization.

Health consequences and help-seeking among victims of crime: An examination of sex differences

This study examines whether sex differences in level of distress and help-seeking for physical and emotional problems as a result of criminal victimization can be explained by injury, type of crime, and the victim–offender relationship. The study uses data from the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) from 2008–2014. Analyses utilize multivariate logistic regression and interaction terms to address possible differences between males and females. Consistent with the existing literature, females reported elevated distress and were more likely to seek help for emotional and physical problems. However, being a victim of intimate and family violence contributed to heightened distress and increased help-seeking for both males and females. Male distress was elevated when the offender was a friend or acquaintance and when the attack was a robbery. Victims services should address crimes males are more likely to experience, including robbery and victimizations by known, but not necessarily intimate, relationships.

The significance of context and victim–offender relationship for Swedish social workers’ understandings of young men’s violent victimization

This article investigates how social workers’ interpretations of contextual factors and the relationship between victim and offender affect their understanding and assessment of male violent victimization. The study was designed as a multiple case study with a qualitative comparative approach. Focus group interviews supported by vignettes were used to collect data. Interviews were carried out with professional Swedish social workers working with victimized men and women at support units for young crime victims in Sweden. The results show that the social workers consider the violence that the young men are subjected to in cases of street violence and interpersonal violence to be unavoidable or even ‘natural’. The violence was in some cases considered to be dependent on the men’s own agency and in others on their lack of agency, when displaying traits of both more traditional and less traditional forms of masculinity respectively. The social workers’ talk about young male crime victims is interpreted as contributing to making the men appear as less legitimate victims. Even though the social workers argued that the victims’ own behaviour should not lead to any special considerations concerning help efforts, the possibility of upholding such a demarcation between explanations ascribed to the violent incident and help measures offered is problematized in the article.

Who Are the Stalking Victims? Exploring the Victimization Experiences and Psychosocial Characteristics of Young Male and Female Adults in Hong Kong.

Most stalking studies are conducted in the West. Limited information is available on victims of stalking from the Asian continent. This study specifically explored the victimization experiences of young male and female adults in Hong Kong. Using a large sample of university students (N = 2,496) aged between 18 and 40 years, the gender distribution of stalking incident characteristics was examined, along with prevalence of various stalking behaviors, and victim-offender relationships by types of stalking behaviors. The differential role of demographic and psychosocial characteristics in stalking victimization experience was also explored. The lifetime prevalence rate of stalking victimization was 8.2%, with a higher estimate in females than males (11.6% vs. 3.8%). The sample analyzed in this study was 196 stalking victims. Although surveillance-oriented behaviors were most frequently reported by both males and females, significant gender differences in types of stalking behaviors were noted. Multivariate analyses indicated that increases in age and levels of self-esteem were correlated with an increased probability of experiencing stalking victimization, while being a male and higher levels of life satisfaction were related to a lower likelihood of falling prey to stalking victimization. This study concludes with a call for anti-stalking legislation in Hong Kong given the devastating nature and consequences of stalking victimization.

Victims' Rights from a Restorative Perspective

The criminal adjudicatory process is meant in part to help crime victims heal. But for some crime victims, the process is re-victimizing. For decades, efforts have been made to make the criminal process fairer and more humane for victims. For example, state and federal laws are now designed to keep victims informed, allow them to be heard at sentencing, and afford them monetary restitution. But these efforts, while important, have not persuaded crime victims to trust criminal process. For example, sexual assaults remain grossly under-reported and under-prosecuted. Less than 1 percent of sexual assault crimes result in a felony conviction. Even the few victims who do receive their promised retributive outcome are not necessarily healed by the process. Reform efforts seem to presuppose that victims of crime – or victims of particular crimes such as sexual assault – are essentially the same and have essentially the same need, namely, a need for the offender to be criminally prosecuted and sent to prison to serve the longest sentence the law allows. However, sexual assault victims are a diverse group – racially, ethnically, socio-economically, and with respect to sexual identity – and they suffer varied harms because sexual assault encompasses a wide realm of misconduct and victim-offender relationships or lack thereof. Even when victims suffer similar harms and come from similar backgrounds, they often have distinct, though sometimes overlapping, needs and objectives. Some have no desire to participate in the criminal adjudication process at all. Some will be re-traumatized by a successful criminal prosecution, even with the implementation of procedural reforms promoted by the victims’ rights movement and others. Proceeding from the premise that victims are a diverse group with differing needs, we focus on victims who might prefer, and be better served by, a non-adversarial process that is centered on their needs, namely, restorative justice. However much improved, adversarial adjudication directed at convicting and incarcerating offenders risks re-traumatizing victims rather than promoting healing. It denies victims any significant control over the process, including control over their own narratives. We explore the value of restorative justice processes as an alternative that, in many criminal cases, may be preferable from victims’ perspective. We acknowledge that restorative justice processes are rarely employed in sexual assault cases in the United States and that prosecutors may have reasons, independent of victims’ perceived interests, for preferring the adversary process, a criminal conviction and imprisonment. Further, some victims’ advocates regard restorative justice as particularly inappropriate in the context of sexual assaults. Nonetheless, we suggest that when victims voluntarily choose to engage in a restorative justice process, it may be healing, because it gives victims agency in seeking a reckoning that fits with their particular needs and offers possibilities for addressing and repairing the harm that a criminal prosecution cannot.

Sentencing Domestic Violence Offenders: A Vignette Study of Public Perceptions.

This study examined public perceptions of sentencing severity for males convicted of domestic violence assault compared with non-domestic violence assault. Over the years, surveys have reported changes in community attitudes toward seeing domestic violence as a more serious issue and an increased understanding of what acts constitute a domestic violence offense (Carlson & Worden, 2005). This study aimed to (a) examine whether public perceptions of sentencing severity differ between domestic and non-domestic violence assault offenses committed under similar circumstances; and (b) whether these perceptions remain after adjusting for personal attitudes, victimization experiences, and sociodemographic factors. After reading vignette scenarios depicting domestic and non-domestic assault, 284 undergraduate students responded to a survey about their perceptions of appropriate sentence outcomes and length. Results found that regardless of participants' punitiveness (and other factors), the manipulation of the victim-offender relationship was a significant predictor for judgments of sentencing severity. Notably, the results highlighted a leniency effect in the perceptions of participants toward perpetrators of domestic violence when compared with those who received the non-domestic violence scenario. These findings imply that undergraduate students judge domestic violence as less serious and hence not warranting as severe sentencing as non-domestic violence assault perpetrators. The study indicates that public perceptions of sentencing severity for domestic violence perpetrators are not consistent with the reported shift in public perceptions toward seeing domestic violence as a serious public issue. These findings highlight the importance of continued community education about domestic violence as well as the need to take care when considering engaging public opinion in sentencing practices for domestic violence perpetrators.

The “Capone Discovery”: Extortion as a Method of Terrorism Financing

This article analyzes extortion by terrorist groups. A three-factor theoretical framework borrowed from the literature on organized crime informs the qualitative analysis of several terrorist organizations—active and quiescent—which have committed casual and systematic extortion of businesses and local communities in exchange for protection. It is argued that similarly to organized crime, extortion is a common means of terrorism financing. Terrorist groups, especially those aspiring for statehood, rely on extortion of local communities and businesses under the disguise of “taxation.” Partly by coercion and partly by manipulation, governance-capable terrorist organizations, like the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)/Da’esh, have demonstrated unprecedented ability to reshape the victim-offender relationship in the way that transforms victims of extortion into involuntary terrorist supporters. Viewing terrorist activity through the governance perspective sheds new light on the evolution of extortion and its place in terrorism studies.

Adopted children who kill their adoptive parents.

The killing of parents, frequently referred to as parricide, is a disturbing phenomenon that often generates widespread media coverage. Most of the scholarly literature on this topic has focused on biological offspring who kill mothers and fathers. Some analyses have examined juveniles and adults who kill their stepparents. To date, virtually no research exists on children who kill their adoptive parents because this type of victim-offender relationship has been absent from available homicide databases, thereby preventing such analyses. The present study is a content analysis of news reports of 46 cases of adopted children who killed their adoptive parents in several different countries. Data pertaining to offender and victim demographics, incident characteristics, and the processing of offenders from the initial charge through conviction and sentencing are examined. To the extent possible, media accounts are used to classify cases according to motives or circumstances leading to the killings. The article concludes with a comparison of profiles of children who kill adoptive parents in relation to those who kill biological parents, important observations that emerged from these news accounts, and discussion of possible explanations of parricide by adopted children, including adopted children syndrome, reactive attachment disorder, and biological risk factors. Limitations of this study and directions for future research are addressed.

Elder homicide: A systematic literature review

Abstract This paper presents the findings of the first review of the research-based evidence reporting the phenomenon of elder homicide. A systematic review of peer-reviewed literature published across the world (between 1982 and 2018) was undertaken. A total of 33 articles were identified and appraised using PRISMA including quantitative (n = 30) and mixed methods (n = 3) studies. Four themes were identified in the synthesis of findings: victim characteristics; offender characteristics; victim-offender relationship; and offence characteristics. Through a critical discussion, these themes, and the emerging typology, are contextualised to argue that these findings could influence the improvement of policy and practice, and inform future research, for vulnerable elderly people at risk of violence and homicide. A gap identified in the literature was the lack of identification and analysis of risk factors for elder homicide which provides evidence of the need for further research on elder homicide, risk and risk management.

Gender Differences in the Victim-Offender Relationship for On- and Offline Youth Violence.

Youth violence affects millions of young people in the United States every day, and violent victimization has significant consequences for mental and physical health, academic performance, and long-term well-being. Forms of youth violence such bullying and teen dating violence (TDV) are often studied separately from one another with disjointed attention paid to on- and offline aggression. Furthermore, gender differences in the victim/offender overlap for these diverse forms of aggression have been understudied. This is notable given research demonstrating that boys and girls engage in diverse forms of aggression as a result of different gendered socialization processes. This study uses a sample of 5,647 middle and high school students in three states to assess gender differences in the victim-offender relationship across on- and offline modalities of bullying and TDV. Descriptive results show significant gender differences for bullying and dating violence victimization and perpetration experiences. Multivariate regression models indicate that the victim-offender relationship varies by the type of aggression and modality in question. Furthermore, gender significantly interacts with certain forms of dating violence and bullying victimization to influence the risk of perpetration. The results underscore the importance of youth violence prevention strategies that account for gender differences across the spectrum of on- and offline peer relationships.

Firearm Ownership and Domestic Versus Nondomestic Homicide in the U.S.

Gun ownership is associated with firearm mortality, although this association differs across victim-offender relationships. This study examines the relationship between gun ownership and domestic versus nondomestic homicide rates by victim sex. Several sources of state-level panel data from 1990 through 2016 were merged from each of the 50 states to model domestic (i.e., family and intimate partners) and nondomestic firearm homicide as a function of state-level household firearm ownership. Firearm ownership was examined using a validated proxy measure and homicide rates came from the Supplemental Homicide Reports of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Reports. Negative binomial regression with fixed effects was used to model the outcomes and employed generalized estimating equations to account for clustering within states. Statistical analyses were completed in 2018. State-level firearm ownership was uniquely associated with domestic (incidence rate ratio=1.013, 95% CI=1.008, 1.018) but not nondomestic (incidence rate ratio=1.002, 95% CI=0.996, 1.008) firearm homicide rates, and this pattern held for both male and female victims. States in the top quartile of firearm ownership had a 64.6% (p<0.001) higher incidence rate of domestic firearm homicide than states in the lowest quartile; however, states in the top quartile did not differ significantly from states in the lowest quartile of firearm ownership in observed incidence rates of nondomestic firearm homicide. State-level firearm ownership rates are related to rates of domestic but not nondomestic firearm homicide.

Homicide injury severity in association with the victim-offender relationship

There are previous studies that have found associations between specific injury patterns and different victim-offender relationships (VORs) in homicides. We have used quantitative injury severity scores to further investigate this issue. The amount and severity of injuries were assessed in 178 Swedish homicide victims, retrospectively included from the years 2007–2009. We analyzed whether different injury measures could be used to predict the VOR. In addition to a deeper understanding of violent behavior, such associations may be of help to homicide investigators for offender profiling. The victims’ injuries were assessed with eleven different methods. The cases with known VORs were divided into four categories: partner, relative, acquaintance, and stranger. The injury severities were then compared between these categories. No relevant differences were found. Thus, the current study does not support the claim that the VOR can be predicted from the injury severity in a general homicide population. These findings are in contrast to the results of some previous studies but confirm those of others.