Perpetrator Perspective Research Articles

Looking for a preventive approach to sexual harassment in academia. A systematic review

AbstractThe systematic review (PRISMA) on sexual harassment (SH) in academia looks at studies conducted since 2018 with the aim to direct updated research findings toward an effective prevention perspective. The findings confirm that academia is a breeding ground for SH due to power imbalances and that vulnerabilities related to the macro-dynamics of power, social and cultural inequalities are risk factors for SH. It is recommended that SH prevention interventions in academia 1. adopt a socio-ecological perspective; 2. include evidence-based programs such as those dedicated to bystanders; 3. are integrated with each other through valuable networking and multistakeholder involvement and 4. pay attention to support complaints, victim listening and intake activities. Future SH studies should promote: SH standardized definitions, intersectional perspectives, “all targets” surveys, research on protective factors, research on perpetrator perspective. Future interventions should act at the cultural level fighting structural inequality and a greater enhancement of evidence-based programs is required.

‘It was a challenge to look at things from a perpetrator perspective’. The problem of holding domestically abusive men to account in multi-agency partnership work

One of the most challenging aspects of multi-agency partnership work aimed at reducing domestic abuse is the problem of holding perpetrators to account. Drawing on findings from our recent mixed methods evaluation of a revised approach to multi-agency policing of domestic abuse, this article explores this problem from the perspective of the multi-agency practitioner stakeholders. We present evidence attesting to the challenge these stakeholders are experiencing as they strive to ensure they play their part in ensuring the perpetrator is accountable for their behaviour. We review what is known about male perpetrators and perpetrator programmes and examine our findings in the context of the wider challenges of engaging perpetrators in behavioural change. We argue that the perpetrator is the elusive stakeholder in multi-agency partnership work to reduce domestic abuse and that the web of accountability requires strengthening if domestically abusive men are to be held to account.

Perpetrators', Victims', and Witnesses' Folk Explanations of Aggressive Behaviors.

Unsurprisingly, victims and perpetrators often view aggressive behaviors differently. The current study examined whether victims, perpetrators, and witnesses also explained aggressive behaviors differently. The current study included 408 participants who recalled a time when they harmed another person (i.e., perpetrator memory), when another person harmed them (i.e., victim memory), and when they witnessed an aggressive behavior (i.e., witness memory). Replicating past research, participants rated their recalled aggressive behaviors from the victim perspective as being more harmful and less justified than they did for their recalled behaviors from the perpetrator perspective. When examining their explanations for the behaviors, participants most often explained their own aggressive behaviors by referring to their mental deliberations that led to their behavior (i.e., reason explanations). In comparison, they referred to background causal factors (i.e., causal history of reasons explanations)-such as personality traits, demographic factors, cultural norms, etc.-more when explaining others' aggressive behaviors, especially when the explanation was from the victim perspective. These findings show the subtleties in how people communicate about their aggressive interactions: When communicating about their own aggressive behaviors, people use modes of explanations that portray their behaviors as sensible, and when communicating about a time when another person behaved aggressively towards them, people use modes of explanations that omit the thought processes that led to those behaviors.

Gender, Myths, and Assumptions: Correlates of Risk Perception in Sexual Assault Scenarios

Sexual violence continues to plague college campuses even with the implementation of bystander intervention programs. Previous research has demonstrated that diminished situational risk recognition increases the risk for sexual assault victimization. However, there is a paucity of research comparing men's and women's risk perception in sexual assault scenarios, risk perception from a victim or perpetrator perspective, or the role of previous sexual violence history, rape myth acceptance, and world assumptions on sexual risk perception. The current study examined male and female college students' risk perception while reading a sexual assault scenario. Participants also completed measures of victim and perpetrator blame, rape myth acceptance, and beliefs in a just world. The results suggested that men's and women's risk perception is influenced by different rape myths and world assumptions. Specifically, women's risk perception and victim blame are associated with sexual communication myths and beliefs in the randomness of the world, while men's risk perception and victim blame are related to the acceptance of myths that women ask for sexual assault and that the world is a just, cruel place. The results call for the incorporation of additional training on how rape myths and world assumptions may impact risk recognition and intervention in sexual assault education. It will also be important to target different barriers to intervention for men and women.

Crimes of passion: When romantic obsession leads to abusive relationships.

This research examines the relationship between passion for a romantic partner and obsessive relational intrusion (ORI) which is defined as repeated and unwanted behaviors toward a partner that invade his/her personal privacy and cause fear for his/her safety. Based on the dualistic model of passion, we predicted that obsessive passion (OP) would be associated with fear of abandonment, which in turn would be associated with ORI. In contrast, harmonious passion (HP) should not be associated with ORI. Four studies (N=1257) supported these predictions. Study 1 found cross-sectional support for these hypotheses from the victim's perspective. Study 2 replicated Study 1 and extended it to the perpetrator's perspective by demonstrating that the relationship between passion and ORI is mediated by fear of abandonment. Study 3 replicated these findings using an experimental manipulation of passion. Study 4 found similar results by experimentally manipulating fear of abandonment, the mediator, to demonstrate its causal influence on ORI. Taken together, the present results demonstrate that passion and fear of abandonment play an important role in the type of behavior people are willing to pursue to maintain their romantic relationship.

Applying Medicine’s “Never Events” Model to Law Enforcement’s Disparate Killings of Black Male Civilians

Background: George Floyd’s murder sparked nationwide and international shock, grief, and support, shedding long, overdue light on the need for dialogue and policy reform regarding how American black people are handled by police officers. Much of the outrage stems from the fact that officers have historically escaped any penalty for unjustly taking the lives of American black citizens. Purpose: Utilizing George Floyd’s 2020 murder as a case study, this paper nests the perpetrator perspective within CRT’s victim perspective to propose a model whose long-term goal is that continued practice of harshly penalizing reckless and murderous officers would aid in repairing some consequences associated with systemic racism within the criminal justice system. Research Method: The method described in this position paper is a model based on the medical system’s “never events” policies called “Just N.O.”. The proposed model is composed of four constructs and is tailored to law enforcement officers whose lives are not in danger when they kill civilians in their care.

Hope Dies Last: The Progressive Potential and Regressive Reality of the Antibalkanization Approach to Racial Equality

This Article relies on Critical Race Theory concepts and social science research to make an important and timely contribution to a debate in law and public policy that is both longstanding and of immense current importance: What is the relationship between social cohesion on the one hand, and racial equality progress on the other. Events over the last year have put this question into sharp relief. On the one hand, portions of the general public and at least some policymakers have signaled support for the demands of racial justice activists to reduce and eliminate systemic racism after too many tragedies of police brutality against the black community have made painfully obvious that such systemic racism continues. At the same time, the country is perhaps more politically divided than ever before, the racial dimensions of this division are evident, and events since the 2020 election have shown that appetite for racial reform is by no means universal. In this environment, calls to “unify” and take time to “heal” as well as to “root out systemic racism” are made at the same time. Can these calls be realistically pursued at the same time or is there a need to prioritize one over the other? This is not just a question of policy but also of constitutional law. Over the last four decades, the Supreme Court’s equal protection jurisprudence on governmental race-consciousness has answered with an “antibalkanization approach” which prioritizes social cohesion. Indeed, this approach views social cohesion as a prerequisite for racial equality progress. It considers racial hostility and resentment among white Americans as the most important racial equality obstacle and polices governmental race-consciousness in an attempt to minimize such hostility and resentment. It believes that this is the only way to reach the constitutional ideal of racial equality. Many policymakers in the past have agreed. This Article posits that while this approach appears to be well-meaning and cares about some of the right kinds of considerations, it is ultimately flawed because it misunderstands the dynamics of racial inequality and racial hierarchy. The antibalkanization approach attempts to solve a structural problem with a “bad apple” approach—what Critical Race Theory scholars have called a perpetrator perspective. This Article goes in depth to illustrate both the inner workings of the antibalkanization approach and how social science research on the sociological and social psychological dimensions of racial hierarchy shows it to be flawed. The approach ought to be replaced by a more accurate model of racial equality progress that would view white racial hostility and resentment not as an obstacle but as a likely inevitable side-effect of the path of structural change that is necessary for achieving both racial equality and social cohesion over the long-term. Adopting such a structural understanding of racial hostility and resentment would have important implications for both policymakers and for the Court.

What is Holocaust perpetrator fiction?

In this article, I argue that fiction that centralizes the perpetrator perspective should be understood as a central part of the canon of Holocaust fiction. However, as I aim to show, greater distinction needs to be made between different kinds of perpetrator writing. Comparing fiction about generic Nazis with stories that centralize the figure of Adolf Hitler, I attempt to outline some of the key similarities and differences. Ultimately, perpetrator fiction works by drawing connections with the reader: the implication is that readers also have the capacity for wrongdoing and could, under the necessary conditions, act in atrocious ways. This has implications for reader responses, especially those concerning empathy and judgement. On the other hand, Hitler fiction relies on the ‘otherness’ of the Nazi leader, whose character resists easy normalization. This raises important questions about Hitler’s place in the Western cultural imagination.

Testing the Generalizability of the Event Process Model of Family Violence With an Incarcerated Sample.

The event process model of family violence (FVEPM) presents a descriptive theory of a family violence (FV) event from the perpetrator's perspective. Developed in a community setting, the FVEPM is comprised of four interrelated sections and describes three pathways to FV perpetration (Pathway 1: Conflict escalation, Pathway 2: Automated violence, and Pathway 3: Compliance). This study further developed the FVEPM by testing the generalizability of the model and its pathways with an incarcerated sample of eight men with extensive histories of violent and other offending. Event narratives were gathered during individual semi-structured interviews, and were systematically analyzed using grounded theory methods. Overall, findings suggest that the FVEPM and its pathways can accommodate an incarcerated sample. However, several inconsistencies were found: Event narratives were better represented by splitting Pathway 1 into two sub-types, and no event narratives were assigned to Pathway 3. Implications for FV theories and treatment are discussed.

A Qualitative Study of Mentally Ill Women Who Commit Filicide in Gauteng, South Africa.

Introduction: Filicide is the deliberate act of a parent killing his/her own child and a major contributor to child homicide rates. In order to prevent future homicides of this nature and aid in the rehabilitation of those mentally ill women who perpetrate these crimes, it is important to gain a better understanding of the dynamics that may result in filicide and the association of the mental illness with filicide. It is also important to explore how the rehabilitation processes are experienced and the impact they have had. The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of women regarding their offenses and their perceptions about their treatment and rehabilitation in a South African context.Method: This was a qualitative study which followed a naturalistic paradigm. The data from the semistructured interviews conducted were analyzed using thematic analysis. The use of subjective experiences and descriptions by the participants aimed to give a representation of the participants’ lived experience. This allowed the authors to explore the emerging themes, subthemes, and concepts and organize the most replicated information into a hierarchical assessment. The semistructured interviews were conducted with seven filicidal women with mental illness between July 2016 and April 2017 at Sterkfontein Hospital, Gauteng, South Africa.Results: Most filicidal mothers were psychotic at the time of the offense and perceived trauma and remorse for their offenses. Support from the community and empathy and unconditional positive regard from the staff, notably psychologists, and occupational therapists were overwhelmingly present.Conclusion: Filicide is tragic and largely understudied, particularly from the perpetrator’s perspective. When perpetrators are mentally ill, rehabilitation within a nonjudgmental and empathetic environment is necessary.

Perpetrators' Perspectives on Family Violence: An Event Process Model.

Offense process models are descriptive theories that provide a temporal outline of an offense-including its cognitive, behavioral, contextual, and motivational components-from a perpetrator's perspective. Offense process models have been developed for a wide range of criminal offending (e.g., alcohol-impaired driving, child sexual offending, rape, aggravated robbery, homicide), but remain underdeveloped for family violence. The purpose of this study was to develop an offense process model of family violence. We conducted individual semistructured interviews with 27 participants-14 men and 13 women-completing community-based family violence perpetrator treatment programs, and systematically analyzed participants' narratives of family violence events using grounded theory methods. The resulting event process model of family violence (FVEPM) contains four sections, arranged temporally from the most distal to the most proximal factors in relation to the family violence event: (1) background factors, (2) event build-up, (3) event, and (4) post-event. Each section outlines the cognitive, behavioral, contextual, and motivational factors that contribute to family violence perpetration. The FVEPM is the first attempt to consider whether a single offense process model can account for a broader range of family violence than that used solely by men toward their female intimate partners. Furthermore, the FVEPM highlights the dynamic nature of family violence events (FVEs), and the salient role of situational and interpersonal factors in contributing to family violence perpetration. We argue that the FVEPM has the potential to accommodate a range of types of family violence perpetration, and makes a useful contribution to theory and research on event-based models from a perpetrator perspective.

The relationship between organisational change and being a perpetrator of workplace bullying: A three-wave longitudinal study

ABSTRACTWhile research has unravelled the association between organisational change and being a target of workplace bullying, scholars have still to shed light on the perpetrator perspective of this association. In the current study, we further the literature by investigating the relationship between exposure to organisational change and being a perpetrator of workplace bullying. We introduced perceptions of psychological contract breach as a mechanism that accounts for the process in which exposure to organisational change leads employees to direct bullying behaviours to other members of the organisation. Using three-wave longitudinal data from 1994 employees we estimated a between-subjects mediation model controlling for autoregressive effects. Results confirmed our hypothesis that exposure to organisational change at Time 1 was positively related to being a perpetrator of workplace bullying at Time 3 through perceptions of psychological contract breach at Time 2. These findings suggest that organisations should invest in factors that lower employees’ likelihood to perceive psychological contract breach in the aftermath of organisational change because these perceptions may indeed result in the enactment of workplace bullying towards other members of the organisation.

The Cognition of Severe Moral Failure: A Novel Approach to the Perception of Evil.

I describe the perception of evil as a categorization judgment, based on a prototype, with extensive feedback loops and top-down influences. Based on the attachment approach to moral judgment (Govrin, 2014, 2018), I suggest that the perception of evil consists of four salient features: Extreme asymmetry between victim and perpetrator; a specific perceived attitude of the perpetrator toward the victim's vulnerability; the observer's inability to understand the perpetrator's perspective; and insuperable differences between the observer and perpetrator's judgment following the incident which shake the observer no less than the event itself. I then show that the perception of evil involves a cognitive bias: The observer is almost always mistaken in his attributions of a certain state of mind to the perpetrator. The philosophical and evolutionary significance of this bias is discussed as well as suggestions for future testing of the prototype model of evil.

Toxic Cities: Neoliberalism and Environmental Racism in Flint and Detroit Michigan

The consequences of neoliberal colorblind policies concerning environmental justice in Michigan are explored using critical race theorist Alan Freeman’s victim and perpetrator perspectives on legal decision-making. The victim perspective allows evidence of disparate impact to be proof of unequal protection under the law. The dominant perpetrator perspective requires proof of the intent to discriminate for a racial discrimination claim to be valid. Michigan’s environmental legal history is examined through the lens of these two perspectives, tracing how Michigan as a state, with the aid of the federal government, has institutionalized a racialized caste system of ‘worthiness’ for environmental protection through strict adherence to the perpetrator perspective. Specific attention is paid to the water crisis in Flint and a Marathon Oil refinery in Detroit. The injustices occurring at these locations are less the result of racist individuals than the product of decades of neoliberal colorblind policymaking supported and upheld in our court rooms.

Adult-Perpetrated Animal Abuse: A Systematic Literature Review

Adults perpetrate the majority of animal abuse incidents yet clinicians are left with very little evidence base to advance/enhance their practice. The purpose of this systematic review is to synthesize and evaluate the current literature on adult-perpetrated animal abuse and to identify the etiological factors related to this type of offending. Twenty-three studies met the specific inclusion criteria but most importantly, they examined the characteristics of adult perpetrators of animal abuse. The findings from this review were demarcated by sample type: (1) Participants were the perpetrators of the animal abuse or held offense-supportive attitudes and (2) participants were victims of intimate partner violence reporting incidents of animal abuse perpetrated by their partner. From the perpetrator perspective, there were key developmental (i.e., maladaptive parenting strategies), behavioral (such as varied offending behaviors), and psychological (e.g., callousness, empathy deficits) factors highlighted in the literature. Finally, in the context of intimate partner violence, findings indicated that perpetrators abuse animals to control, coerce, intimidate, and/or manipulate their victims (this effect is moderated by the victims’ emotional attachment to their pet). This review inherently underlines treatment targets that could achieve greater clinical gains, but we also conclude that more empirical and theoretical work is needed in order to set an agenda that prioritizes future research and effective practice.

Frankenstein w warszawskim getcie. Historia i legenda

The article deals with one exceptionally violent German perpetrator who was part of the occupation force in Warsaw during the Second World War. Inside the Ghetto he maltreated and killed a large number of women, children and men for his own personal pleasure. He did this to such an extensive degree that the population perceived him as monstrous being that was given the nickname „Frankenstein”. The article is mainly based on statements in juridical investigations, from the victim as well as from the perpetrator perspective, supplemented with some selected additional sources. Firstly the source corpus will be evaluated, to work out how these historical sources can be used to shed light on „Frankenstein”. This will be followed by an analysis of the actual identity of this perpetrator. It will be shown that he was, contrary to common belief, not necessarily the SS-Rottenführer Josef Blösche but more likely a member of the German Police Battalion 61. In the end the question will be also raised of how it was possible – despite all rules and regulations – that ghetto guards like him behaved like a marauding soldiery.

Mutual long-term effects of school bullying, victimization, and justice sensitivity in adolescents

In the present study, we investigate long-term relations between experiences of aggression at school and the development of justice sensitivity as a personality disposition in adolescents. We assessed justice sensitivity (from the victim, observer, and perpetrator perspective), bullying, and victimization among 565 German 12- to 18-year-olds in a one-year longitudinal study with two measurement points. Latent path analyses revealed gender differences in long-term effects of bullying and victimization on observer sensitivity and victim sensitivity. Experiences of victimization at T1 predicted an increase in victim sensitivity among girls and a decrease in victim sensitivity among boys. Bullying behavior at T1 predicted an increase in victim sensitivity among boys and a decrease in observer sensitivity among girls. We did not find long-term effects of justice sensitivity on bullying and victimization. Our findings indicate that experiences of bullying and victimization have gender-specific influences on the development of moral personality dispositions in adolescents.

Not-allowed sharing of sexts and dating violence from the perpetrator's perspective: The moderation role of sexism

Several studies have found that coercive sexting increases the probability of being victimized within a dating relationship. Our study focused on the perpetrator's perspective instead. It aimed to investigate the relationship between a specific sexting behavior, the sharing of someone else's sexts without his/her consent and dating violence perpetration. Specifically, we aimed to test the moderation role of benevolent and hostile sexism in this relationship. The study involved 715 Italian participants from 13 to 30 years of age (Mage = 22.01; females: 71.7%), who completed a survey composed of socio-demographic data, the Sexting Behavior Scale, the Conflict in Adolescent Dating Relationships Inventory and the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory. The results highlighted that, in the relationship between not-allowed sharing of sexts and dating violence perpetration, benevolent sexism could be a protective factor while, on the contrary, hostile sexism could be a risk factor, controlling for age, gender and sexual orientation. Our findings suggested the existence of a few factors linked to sexting behaviors: these factors could have implications for prevention programs.

Relationship value promotes costly apology-making: testing the valuable relationships hypothesis from the perpetrator's perspective

The valuable relationships hypothesis posits that people are inclined to reconcile with their valuable-relationship partners. Focusing on a particular type of credible conciliatory signal (i.e., costly apology), the present study tested this hypothesis from the perpetrator's perspective. In studies 1 and 2, after imagining that they had committed an interpersonal transgression against one of their real friends, participants (N=529 and 311 in studies 1 and 2, respectively) rated their willingness to incur a cost in order to apologize to the victim. Apology cost was operationalized as “canceling plans to make an apology as soon as possible” in study 1, and as “offering compensation” in study 2. The results showed that the instrumentality of the partner to achieving the participants' goals would increase their willingness to make a costly apology, after controlling for the participants' sex, version of the transgression scenario, closeness to the victim, and expected forgiveness of the victim. To ensure the external validity of this finding, studies 3 and 4 asked participants to recall one of their interpersonal transgression experiences, and to report whether they had offered compensation for it (N=190 and 224 in studies 3 and 4, respectively). Study 3 confirmed the hypothesis, while study 4 did not directly support it. However, study 4 did show that participants were more willing to reconcile with their valuable partners. Taken together, these results indicate that the valuable relationships hypothesis applies not only to victims, but also to their perpetrators as well.

Links of justice and rejection sensitivity with aggression in childhood and adolescence.

Individual differences in justice sensitivity and rejection sensitivity have been linked to differences in aggressive behavior in adults. However, there is little research studying this association in children and adolescents and considering the two constructs in combination. We assessed justice sensitivity from the victim, observer, and perpetrator perspective as well as anxious and angry rejection sensitivity and linked both constructs to different forms (physical, relational), and functions (proactive, reactive) of self-reported aggression and to teacher- and parent-rated aggression in N = 1,489 9- to 19-year olds in Germany. Victim sensitivity and both angry and anxious rejection sensitivity showed positive correlations with all forms and functions of aggression. Angry rejection sensitivity also correlated positively with teacher-rated aggression. Perpetrator sensitivity was negatively correlated with all aggression measures, and observer sensitivity also correlated negatively with all aggression measures except for a positive correlation with reactive aggression. Path models considering the sensitivity facets in combination and controlling for age and gender showed that higher victim justice sensitivity predicted higher aggression on all measures. Higher perpetrator sensitivity predicted lower physical, relational, proactive, and reactive aggression. Higher observer sensitivity predicted lower teacher-rated aggression. Angry rejection sensitivity predicted higher proactive and reactive aggression, whereas anxious rejection sensitivity did not make an additional contribution to the prediction of aggression. The findings are discussed in terms of social information processing models of aggression in childhood and adolescence.