Victim Gender Research Articles

Perceptions of Common Rape: How Rape Myth Acceptance, Victim Gender, and Victim Resistance Affect Victim and Perpetrator Blame Attributions in Party Rape and Date Rape.

Among rape perception studies, common types of male rape remain understudied. Using a randomized vignette design, I sampled 622 college students from a large Southwestern university to examine how victim gender and victim resistance influence blame attributions in party rape and date rape. Results revealed important interactions between victim gender, victim resistance, and rape type. Among other effects, resistance only affected victim blame in date rapes involving male victims. Results indicated that how respondents perceive victim and perpetrator responsibility, and which factors influence these perceptions, vary across rape type and victim gender. Implications for the rape perception literature are discussed.

Criminal justice responses to domestic violence and abuse in England: an analysis of case attrition and inequalities using police data

ABSTRACT Responding to domestic violence and abuse (DVA) poses significant challenges for the criminal justice system, with recent studies highlighting a number of significant gaps and failings in the nature of the police response in particular. This paper reports on findings from a component of the multi-stage ESRC funded project ‘Justice, Inequality and Gender-Based Violence’ (ESRC grant ES/M010090/1) that relates to 400 reported incidents of DVA involving intimate partners recorded by two police force areas in England in 2014. Drawing on this large data set concerning a wide range of incidents, this paper employs quantitative methods to analyse the trajectories of reports made to the police, and the factors that may influence their progress through, or attrition from the criminal justice system. In doing so, this paper finds that certain ‘inequality’ factors such as victim gender, vulnerability (including mental health) and incident type are found to impact the progression of cases through the criminal justice system. This work seeks to build on our understanding of what happens to incidents of DVA that are brought to the attention of the police by victims and survivors, and reflects upon how the outcomes of such incidents impact the broader debate concerning the pursuit of a formal, or criminal ‘justice’ in cases of DVA.

Child abuse and psychopathy: Interplay, gender differences and biological correlates.

Child abuse is an important source of mental and physical adverse consequences for victims, their family, and their community. The impact of violence during childhood on the development of the victim is a very sensitive theme. Other than internalizing symptoms, it is interesting to analyze the possibility that a victim may assume the role of persecutor. With this aim, we evaluate Literature and examine the interplay among different types of child abuse (emotional neglect, emotional abuse, physical neglect, physical abuse and sexual abuse) and the development of psychopathy. We consider the role of post-traumatic stress disorder and that of personal environment as potential mediators between abuse and psychopathy. Furthermore, an in-depth analysis on possible differences due to the victim's gender is performed. Finally, analysis focused on genetic variants, such as the polymorphism of 5HTT and MAO-A, or a biological alteration, like the difference in daily cortisol levels that could be related to the development of psychopathy after a trauma.

Predictors of Skeptical Responses to Disclosures of Childhood Sexual Abuse.

Victims of Childhood Sexual Abuse (CSA) may be met with skeptical responses when they disclose their experience. The fear of such a response means that most victims delay telling anyone about the abuse. The aim of this study was to explore how contextual factors of abuse such as victim gender and age, perpetrator gender, and victim-perpetrator relationship affect a response to CSA. Further, we explored what personality traits may predict a skeptical response. An online questionnaire with 357 undergraduate students asked participants to read a vignette describing CSA, and to indicate the extent to which they believed the vignette, whether they blamed the victim or perpetrator, and what punishment they would recommend for the perpetrator. Results indicated that older victims were less likely to be believed and more likely to be blamed than younger victims. Further, we found more blame was placed on a perpetrator of intrafamilial abuse compared with extrafamilial abuse, but only if the perpetrator was male. Female perpetrators were punished less harshly than male perpetrators, but female intrafamilal perpetrators received harsher punishment than female extrafamilial perpetrators. No such effect was found for male perpetrators. Openness to Experience was associated with a more supportive response to CSA, as was Agreeableness. Implications and future directions are discussed.

Online exploitation of children and the role of intermediaries: an Indian legislative and policy perspective

ABSTRACT The Intermediary landscape in India is extensive and regulating; it is often laborious considering the expanding market and ensuing policy changes. The advent of globalization heralds the inrush of entities that operate transnationally, which often beget legal uncertainties in outlining the intermediary liabilities conundrum. Many jurisdictions oscillated from the notions of liability to safe harbor in fixing the intermediary liabilities. Children are often an easy target of online abuse and Child Sexual Abuse Materials (CSAM) is the most circulated object in the cyberspace. This paper has adopted both empirical and doctrinal research methods. The paper primarily addresses the accountability and response on the part of intermediaries for abusive content against children transmitted in their platform and is an attempt to provide an insight into the reasons behind the online exploitation of children in India. The study analyses the public opinion on the online exploitation of children based on a survey conducted among 270 respondents aged from 14 to 50 years. The findings gave support to the suggestions that the exploitation and abuse of children frequently transpire online, and the public perception regarding the gender of child victims varies between girls and boys.

Transgressing Criminology and Victimology

Transgressing Criminology and Victimology

Prevalence of polymorphism (“crossover”) among sexual offenders

Polymorphic or crossover sexual offenders have victims in different categories (e.g., adult and child victims; male and female victims; related and non-related victims). The present study systematically reviewed and synthesized the existing literature in an effort to ascertain the prevalence of crossover among sexual offenders that takes into account potentially relevant methodological features that might affect the estimates. Our search yielded 47 studies involving 35,572 contact sexual offenders. Key findings include: The mean prevalence of offenders who had both adult and child victims was 19.1% (based on 43 studies); the mean prevalence of offenders who had both male and female victims was 15.2% (based on 20 studies); the prevalence of offenders who had both related and non-related victims was 19.9% (based on 21 studies). Prevalence estimates more than doubled when the outcome measure is unofficially detected offending (ascertained via self-report or polygraph) versus officially detected offending (e.g., criminal justice statistics). The prevalence of victim age crossover was higher when the sample preselected offenders with multiple known victims, though sample preselection did not affect the prevalence of victim gender or relationship crossover. The nation in which the study was conducted does not appear to influence the prevalence of crossover offending.

Gender and Childhood Victimization: A Longitudinal Study of Heavy Drinking in Young Adulthood.

The present longitudinal study, for 12 years, followed a group of young adults, examining (1) whether/how victimization in childhood increased the likelihood of heavy drinking; (2) whether depression mediated the strain–heavy drinking relationship; and (3) whether/how relationships among strain, depression, and heavy drinking differed across two gender groups. Data came from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 cohort, dating 2004–2015 (5 interview waves and 22,549 person-wave measurements total). We linked consumption of 5+ drinks (during the month prior) to four discrete measures of violent victimization, to one measure of stressful events, and to depression. We needed to consider repeat measures of the same variables over time, so we used generalized estimating equations (GEE) to analyze data. Depression was found to increase heavy drinking uniformly. Empirical evidence confirmed that in the strain–heavy drinking relationship, depression plays a minor mediating role. Gender moderated heavy drinking’s associations. Specifically, bullying in childhood raised risk for female respondents. The current strain was associated with a higher risk of heavy drinking among male respondents. Childhood victimization, as well as current life stress, play an important role in depression and heavy drinking. Future research should focus on the development of specific, targeted care to reduce heavy drinking’s harm and promote equity among Americans.

Family violence in the news: an analysis of media reporting of family violence in Aotearoa New Zealand

ABSTRACT This study investigates whether coverage of family violence that resulted in a death event in New Zealand mainstream media is biased across a range of key factors – namely the gender, ethnicity and age of victims, as well as the victim’s relationship to the primary aggressor. Our results are derived from a cohort of 946 articles published online by New Zealand media outlets. Analysing the number of media articles relating to victims from each group (exposure), the polarity of language used within the articles (sentiment) and their online presence (prominence), we find that although media coverage is generally quite equitable, certain groups of victims are severely under-represented in terms of the media coverage afforded to them. In addition, there are significant differences in the sentiment of articles written about victims from different groups. This study, therefore, identifies an opportunity for raising accurate community understanding of family violence in New Zealand and for supporting victims through objective media coverage.

Laypeople perception and interpretation of simulated life-threatening bleeding: a controlled experimental study

IntroductionFirst aid performed by immediate responders can be the difference between life and death in the case of trauma with massive bleeding. To develop effective training programs to teach bleeding control to laypersons, it is important to be aware of beliefs and misconceptions people hold on bleeding and severity of bleeding situations.MethodA controlled study was conducted in which 175 American college students viewed 78 video clips of simulated bleeding injuries. The volume of blood present (between 0 and 1900 ml), rate of blood flow, and victim gender were systematically varied within participants. Participants were asked to rate injury severity, indicate the appropriate first aid action, and estimate the amount of time until death for the victim.ResultsThough the Stop the Bleed® campaign recommends training laypeople to treat 165 ml of blood loss as life threatening, participants largely rated this volume of blood loss as minimal, mild, or moderate and estimated that the victim had just under one hour to live. Increased blood loss was associated with increased recommendations to use a tourniquet. However, in the 1900 ml conditions, participants still estimated that victims had around 22 minutes to live and approximately 15% recommended direct pressure as the intervention. Severity ratings and recommendations to use a tourniquet were also higher for the male victim than the female victim.ConclusionsInjury classification, intervention selection, and time to death-estimations revealed that training interventions should connect classifications of blood loss to appropriate action and focus on perceptions of how much time one has to respond to a bleeding. The study also revealed a gender related bias in terms of injury classification and first aid recommendations. Bleeding control training programs can be designed to address identified biases and misconceptions while building on existing knowledge and commonly used terminology.

Racialized Victim Gender Differences in Capital Decision Making in Pennsylvania

The death penalty has historically been used to communicate moral outrage and fear about the murders of some kinds of victims more than others. A large body of research has inquired into the effects of defendant race, and to a lesser extent victim race in capital punishment. However, there is much less research on how victim gender influences capital punishment decisions, and even less research on how victim gender and race might intersect to influence such decisions. This study examines the role of victim gender and race in: prosecutors’ decisions to seek the death penalty, prosecutors’ decisions to retract death filings, and jury or judge decisions to sentence defendants to the death penalty. We utilize detailed data on first degree murder convictions in 18 Pennsylvania counties, 2000–2010. The intersecting gender and race of victims conditioned each of the death penalty outcomes. In addition, whether the victim had children conditioned the effects of victim gender/race.

The Influence of Authority Role and Victim Gender on Perceptions of Female-Perpetrated Child Sexual Abuse.

Child sexual abuse is often perceived differently based on characteristics of the victim and the perpetrator. However, unknown is whether variations in perceptions occur when the relationship to and gender of the victim are manipulated-particularly when the offender is a woman. The current study sought to explore whether authority role (neighbor, teacher, family, or clergy) and victim gender affect perceived outcomes for the victim. A factorial vignette design was used to randomly assign participants to one of eight conditions, and a series of analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were conducted to assess differences in perceived victim outcomes for the vignettes. Results showed significant differences for authority role, victim gender, and the interactions between authority and victim gender for nearly all dependent variables. Respondents recognized that the scenarios presented were damaging and harmful; however, certain authority positions (i.e., teachers) were sexualized leading to diminished perceptions of negative outcomes, particularly for male victims.

Unravelling the Homicide Drop: Disaggregating a 25-Year Homicide Trend in the Netherlands

The Western homicide drop is a known fact, but the reasons behind the drop have so far mainly focused on macro explanations. In this study, we argue that to understand the homicide drop, it is necessary to first explore whether the drop is general or specific. We do this by examining the subtypes of homicide together with perpetrator and victim demographic characteristics. This study seeks to describe the nature and scope of homicidal violence in the period 1992–2016 in the Netherlands, disaggregating by subtype of homicide, and perpetrator and victim gender constellation and age. In doing so, we make use of the Dutch Homicide Monitor. Findings show that the Dutch homicide drop is significantly related to homicides resulting from disputes and robberies and intimate partner homicides. The gender constellation and age distribution in all homicide types are further explored. This study highlights the importance of disaggregating data by subtype in unravelling the homicide drop.

Perception of Risk in Intimate Partner Violence Is Influenced by Risk Scales, Perpetrator and Victim Gender, and Mental Illness Diagnosis: A Risk Communication Study With Laypeople

Despite considerable research on the predictive accuracy of risk scales, there is limited research exploring other factors that influence perceptions of risk. We recruited participants (N = 1,955) from Amazon's Mechanical Turk to read a vignette about a fictional intimate partner violence offender, varying risk level on a fictional scale (low or high), perpetrator gender (cis male, cis female, or transgender female), victim gender (cis male or cis female), and mental health diagnosis (none, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or anxiety disorder). The strongest effect was for the risk scale, with offenders perceived as highest risk when the scale reported “high risk” as opposed to “low risk.” The other main effects were also statistically significant. Cases were perceived as riskier when the perpetrator was cis male or the victim was cis female. Regarding mental health diagnosis, the highest risk ratings were provided in the schizophrenia condition. There was also a significant interaction among risk level, perpetrator gender, and diagnosis. The extent to which participants relied on gendered stereotypes about the relationship between mental illness and violence when providing risk judgments should be examined in future research. Overall, these findings enhance our understanding of characteristics that are secondary to risk level but are likely to influence case management decisions in cases of intimate partner violence.

The study of clinical profile and outcome of patients with snakebite in a rural community.

Context:Snakebite remains an underrated cause of accidental death in modern India, primarily in rural India, where people fail to reach out to modern medicine and fall victim to the handful of quacks using traditional healing methods. If promptly diagnosed and treated based on various clinical determinants like mode of presentation, time of medical intervention, recognition of the species, and analysis of a series of reliably identified bites, the treatment outcome would be more promising. We aimed to study snakebite patients' clinical profile and treatment outcome in a rural tertiary care setup.Materials and Method:This is a retrospective study in which the data evaluated from an epidemiological viewpoint; gender and age of the snake bite victim, time when bitten, interval between the bite and medical consultation, pattern of toxicity, and response to anti-snake venom (ASV).Results:Of a total of 200 patients bitten by a snake, 121 were males, with 77% adults. In nearly all cases, the type of snake was unknown; however, most of the bites were poisonous, showing one or the other type of toxicity. One hundred seventy-one patients survived the snake bite, and 29 succumbed. When Logistic regression was done with Death/discharge as the dependent variable and “Time to bite and reaching hospital, Age, Sex, number of ASV given, Ventilation needed or not, pack cell volume (PCV) numbers, Fresh Frozen Plasma (FFP) numbers, Dialysis and presence or absence of toxicity” as the independent variables, the model developed did not account for any respectable amount of variation in the outcome. The only variable found to be predicting the outcome significantly was FFP.Conclusion:It is often difficult to identify the type of snake, and thus polyvalent antisnake venom remains the only available treatment resource. Readily available treatment resources, timely intervention, appropriate referral, and close ICU will alleviate mortality.

A Blueprint of Leadership Development for Female Marriage Migrants: A Pilot Exploration in Taiwan

In 2020, more than 560,617 female marriage migrants (FMMs) live in Taiwan. For over three decades, they have been victims of social, gender, and cultural discrimination and have been considered as an inferior group of “desirable others” from “undeveloped countries.” Until today, literature about FMMs has focused on the problems and challenges they encountered, whereas there is no literature on their leadership development (LD) in Taiwan. By exploring 10 FMM leaders and their LD, this study charts their journey to success. The research has the following aims: (a) to explore life experiences as a pathway to LD, (b) to find an LD blueprint for FMMs, and (c) to bridge the literature gap for FMMs’ LD and provide implications to adult learning (AL) and human resources development (HRD) practitioners in planning and conducting training programs for FMMs’ LD. The theory of transformative learning (TTL) was applied as a theoretical framework whereas the qualitative research design was utilized as the methodology to explore 10 FMM leaders in Taiwan. The LD blueprint was built with seven themes derived from individual interviews and three themes from the focus group discussion. Resilience was found as the salient marker of building a successful mental model in FMMs’ LD. Implications are provided.

Medications at the Emergency Department After Recent Rape.

Rape is associated with myriad negative physical and mental health effects, yet little is known about medical prescribing following rape-related emergency room visits. The goal of this study was to examine factors associated with medications prescribed the same day as a sexual assault medical forensic examination (SAMFE). A total of 939 medical records (93.9% female) of a medical university in the Southeastern United States between July 1, 2014, and May 15, 2019, were paired with Sexual Assault Nurse Exam records. Demographic and assault characteristics were examined as correlates of medications prescribed at the emergency department within the same day of a SAMFE. All individuals were offered medications within the national guidelines. Intimate partner violence (IPV) was negatively associated with antibiotic prescriptions and with emergency contraception prescriptions. Genital injury and male gender of victim were positively associated with antiviral prescriptions. Non-genital injury was positively associated with both over-the-counter and prescription pain medication prescriptions. Report of strangulation was positively associated with accepting over-the-counter but not prescription pain medication. IPV and strangulation were positively associated with psychotropic prescriptions. Although specific medications were offered to individuals during the SAMFE, demographic and assault characteristics were associated with medication acceptability.

“BARBARIC” CULTURAL PRACTICES: CULTURALIZING VIOLENCE AND THE FAILURE TO PROTECT WOMEN IN CANADA

The introduction of Bill S-7, the Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices Act, in 2015 garnered major critical attention across Canada. Amid an already tense climate of anti-immigrant sentiment in the post-9/11 era, the title chosen for the bill by the Conservative-led government catalyzed xenophobia, perpetuated the “us versus them” rhetoric, and culturalized violence. While originally touted as an opportunity to enhance protection for girls and women against the “foreign” horrors of polygamy, early and forced marriage, and “honour”-based killings, Bill S-7 instead fanned the flames of xenophobia on a mass level, failed to protect women, and, in fact, created higher risk of harms for women who are victims of gender- or family-based violence. In this commentary, we provide an overview of Bill S-7, the amendments to legislation made as a result of its passing, and some of its many problematic elements. We address the barriers to disclosing violence in racialized communities and subsequently provide suggestions on how to effectively address gender- and family-based violence in Canada in an effort to support survivors and prevent further harm.

Patterns and Outcomes of dog bite injuries presenting to emergency department in a tertiary care hospital at Karachi.

Objectives:To assess patterns & outcomes of dog bite injuries coming to a public sector tertiary care hospital in Karachi, Pakistan.Methods:This was a one-year descriptive cross sectional study from 1st June 2018- 31st May 2019 using consecutive sampling technique. Data of 7512 patients was collected from animal-bite clinic of a tertiary care hospital. Inclusion criteria was animal bite cases that were reported during the dates 1st June 2018 to 31st May 2019, Incomplete records were excluded. Data comprising of time of bite, the location of the victim at the time of bite within the city, animal responsible for the bite, gender and age of victim, date of presentation, site and category of bite (as per WHO criteria) was recorded by the primary investigator. The study was conducted at Jinnah Post-Graduate Medical Centre.Results:Among 7512 participants 85.8% were males, 32.2% victims reported time of bite between morning and noon, 78.8% of bites involved lower limbs. 51.6% of the bites belonged to category 2. Stray dog bites were observed in 90.3% of cases. Outcome showed 54.9% completed their vaccination, while 44.3% did not show for complete follow up, 3.99% bites were grievous & 0.03% reported with developed rabies.Conclusion:Research reveals Males belonging to adult age group were most vulnerable, most bites were inflicted in early hours, most common animal inflicting the bites were stray dogs. Many victims did not complete their vaccination from the same centre. Peak of the summer was associated with a decline in number of incidents.

Black Spot Analysis on National Highway in Palembang

In the last five years, the number of accidents that have been occurred in Palembang, South Sumatra Province reached 7.016 incidents. This research aims to discover the characteristics of traffic accidents and accident-prone (black spot) locations. The characteristic of a traffic accidents will be analyzed by questionnaire, while the black spot analysis will be investigated based on the frequency (death, seriously injured), INDII Aus-Aid and AEK. The result of the components of accidents presented that the road users was the main factor of traffic accidents with around 83 %, 87% of incidents happened less than 3 (three) every month, and 47 % of the sacrifice of seriously injured, in which the highest gender victims was male (83%). The Black Spot analysis outcome at Soekarno Hatta Street located at STA 23 + 500, in which Soekarno Hatta Street experienced the most common traffic disaster with 110 of the circumstances were 31 casualty who passed away, 39 heavily wounded, and the material loss gained Rp. 10.439.901.000.