Context Of Violence Research Articles

The ‘Domino Effect’ of Ongoing Violence on Transitional Justice: The Case of Colombia’s Special Jurisdiction for Peace

ABSTRACT∞ This article examines the tangible consequences of ongoing armed violence for the implementation of Colombia’s innovative transitional court, the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (Jurisdicción Especial para la Paz, JEP). Establishing transitional justice mechanisms in contexts of persistent armed violence poses significant challenges and the implementation process is likely to seem flawed or lacking to those actors involved. These complex scenarios raise critical questions for the field of transitional justice, notably regarding the expectations of victims and the feasibility of providing truth, justice and reparation in hostile settings. Based on the case of the Colombia’s northwestern Urabá region, this article argues that contexts of ongoing violence have a direct adverse effect on the possibility of the meaningful and effective participation of victims, perpetrators and other key actors in transitional justice processes. Consequently, this restricted participation initiates a ‘domino effect,’ which negatively impacts other transitional goals, including, in the specific case of the JEP, its restorative aims.

A Reflective Spectroscopy and Mineralogical Investigation of Cosmetic Blush (Wet‘N’Wild) Potentially for Forensic Investigations Related to Interpersonal Violence—An Experimental Feasibility Study

Interpersonal violence is a rising issue in global society and new approaches are being sought to combat the problem. Within this context, expanding forensic techniques to better document violent crime scenes is critical for improving and acquiring legal evidence, such as proving or tracing contact between victims and suspects. This project aims to demonstrate the potential for forensic investigations in the context of interpersonal violence using a field-based reflective spectroscopy approach. For this, a common cosmetic, Wet‘N’Wild “Color Icon” blush in the shade “Pearlescent Pink”, was mineralogically characterized using transmission electron microscopy and powder X-ray diffraction and subsequently investigated via reflective spectroscopy on a variety of common substrates. Differing amounts of the cosmetic product, ranging from 0.001 g to 0.075 g, were applied to a variety of substrates using a simple push method to simulate forcible contact and material transfer. Substrates included a pine wood block; (calcareous) sand from Tulum, Mexico; Ottawa sand; tile; Pergo wood; linoleum; closet material; carpets; and fabrics. The reflective spectra of cosmetic–substrate combinations were measured via an ASD FieldSpec 4 Hi-Res spectroradiometer. The Wet‘N’Wild cosmetic was reliably detected on various substrates relevant to crime scenes. Minor amounts (as low as 0.02 mg/mm2) could be detected, and average limits of detection of 0.03 mg/mm2) were achieved; however, a calcareous sand (Tulum) had a high level of detection (>0.38 mg/mm2), suggesting that further investigation is needed for more complex sand substrates. The use of the ASD spectroradiometer as a forensic tool within the context of crime scene documentation shows promise. Future work should expand the characterization of cosmetic materials across a broad range of substrates and consider systematic studies of specific population groups. Furthermore, combining this approach with hyperspectral imaging at crime scenes is a promising future direction for crime scene documentation. This work therefore demonstrates a novel method for investigating cosmetics within the context of interpersonal violence and provides a foundation for future laboratory and field work using the ASD FieldSpec 4 and hyperspectral imaging systems.

Latent sibling violence

This article analyses latent violence to highlight important aspects of our empirical data: qualitative interviews with women who have been subjected to violence by their siblings. The concept points to the fear experienced by victims in close relationships, and the adaptations they make to avoid violence. Although the concept has been applied to family and intimate partner violence, it is also useful to describe sibling violence. Latent violence occurs when violence is not openly acknowledged; indeed, sibling violence often goes unnoticed. This invisibility can be associated with experiences of powerlessness and unpredictability for victims, who may have difficulty defining their experiences. While we emphasize the vulnerability described in the interviews, we also highlight and explore the interviewees’ strategies of resistance. Our interviewees describe how they created alternative safe spaces in spite of the violent context in which they lived, including the use of hideouts and secret refuges, outdoor places as well as fantasy spaces or escape plans. Their strategies show that children subject to latent sibling violence should be understood not as passive victims, but as actively strategizing to cope with situations that many cannot escape due to their age and lack of parental understanding.

Digital coercive control: barriers to victim/survivors’ help-seeking and risk management in Victoria

Digital technologies are increasingly being used within the context of domestic and family violence (DFV) to facilitate coercive and controlling behaviours – also known as digital coercive control (DCC). Drawing on the perspectives of a small sample of nine DFV practitioners and scholarly experts, this article examines the barriers victim/survivors of DCC encounter as they seek help in Victoria, Australia. We find that DCC has distinct impacts on victim/survivors who are socially and geographically isolated. DFV support services also experience a range of challenges in detecting and responding to DCC, including in risk assessment and management, highlighting a requirement for further training of frontline workers to better respond to DCC.

Electoral Integrity and Turnout in a Context of Violence at the Sub‐National Level in Mexico, 2015–2018

In this article, we analyse the effect of electoral integrity on electoral participation in violent contexts. Using data from Local Electoral Authorities on electoral results, Electoral Integrity rates, and the Peace Index, we develop an exploratory analysis for sub‐national elections in Mexico, in the 2015–2018 period. We conclude that, when elections are characterised by a high level of integrity, the negative impact of violence on turnout lessens, or almost disappears. By doing this, we contribute to the existing literature about the effects of violence on turnout at the sub‐national level and to the studies on electoral integrity.

“The pandemic only gave visibility to what is invisible”: a qualitative analysis of structural violence during COVID-19 and impacts on gender-based violence in Brazil

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic produced alarming rates of disease and mortality globally, yet few nations were as severely impacted as Brazil. The pandemic also exposed and exacerbated persistent forms of structural violence across Brazil, which complicated gender-based violence (GBV) prevention and response efforts. While structural violence is not new, the systemic pressure and uncertainty introduced by COVID-19 intensified the detrimental impact of structural violence on the lives of Brazilians impacted by GBV. This work qualitatively investigated how the COVID-19 pandemic amplified structural violence and GBV in Brazil.MethodsWe analyzed key informant interviews (KII) conducted with 12 service providers working in sectors related GBV prevention and response in Roraima, Boa Vista, and Rio de Janeiro. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and translated from Portuguese or Spanish into English, before applying deductive and inductive coding approaches through a collaborative data reduction process. The theoretical lens of structural violence outlined by Farmer and Rylko-Bauer guided the thematic development.ResultsAnalyses identified three themes. First, structural violence manifests as policies of inaction and erasure, which reduce the opportunity for upward social mobility among GBV survivors including Black women, trans persons, and people who live in the favelas. Policies of inaction and erasure fail to acknowledge/adequately respond to the significant health and safety needs of these communities. Second, structural violence is a fundamental cause of violence against women and children. Finally, service providers described community driven responses that address the dire survival needs (i.e., food insecurity) imposed by COVID-19, within a context of structural violence. These community driven responses were innovative, agile, and based on dire needs expressed to, and observed by, the service providers interviewed.ConclusionThis analysis highlights how the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated existing forms of structural violence prevalent throughout Brazil. Findings stress the urgency with which the Brazilian government and international organization must act to support community driven programs that strive to address the most basic human needs.

The role of climate change awareness for trust in institutions in sub-Saharan Africa

Within the context of climate change in sub-Saharan Africa, trust in institutions is an important prerequisite to implement climate change adaptation and mitigation policies. There is a lack of systematic investigation of the relationship between climate change awareness, conflicts, and trust in institutions. We address this pressing research gap based on a regression analysis with trust in institutions as dependent variables, and climate change awareness and violence as independent variables drawing on Afrobarometer individual data and aggregated data on armed conflicts. Our main findings indicate that trust in institutions in sub-Saharan Africa is influenced by both the individual climate change awareness and the violence context. First, we find a negative relationship between those who are aware of climate change and trust in institutions. Second, we observe a socio-economic divide: young, urban and educated parts of the population as well as those who feel their ethnic group is treated unfairly do not trust institutions. Third, we see a regional divide: those far from political centres are not aware of climate change, and those close to the political centres do not trust institutions.

‘On historical sincerity’ and storytelling: The works of Luisa Etxenike

This article is divided into three interconnected parts. The first part, written by Cristina Ortiz Ceberio, provides a brief overview of some key elements of the long-standing philosophical discussion on language and violence. The interpretative framework that language can provide to capture reality falls short when confronted with inexpressible experiences of horror and violence, and yet in the case of individual and historical injustices, the need to recount what happened in order to remember remains imperative. This quandary has implications for fiction-writing and it permeates contemporary Basque literature challenged with narrating the context of terrorist violence. The essay ‘On historical sincerity’ by Basque writer Luisa Etxenike included in the second section elaborates on the challenges faced by the author. In her essay, Etxenike stresses the need to engage political reality from an angle of historical sincerity. For Etxenike, historical sincerity in fiction-writing is the key for transmitting the complexity of what happened to younger generations. The third part of this article includes an interview with Etxenike about literature in the face of twenty-first-century challenges.

Moral reasoning about gang violence in context: A comparative study with children and adolescents exposed to maras in Honduras and not exposed in Nicaragua.

This study examined how youth morally deliberate about conditions of gang violence shaping their communities. Participants (N = 80; 10-11 and 14-15 years; 50% female) exposed to gangs (maras) in Honduras and not exposed to maras in Nicaragua evaluated hypothetical situations of physical harm in contexts of chronic gang violence. Results indicated that mara-exposed youth were more likely to endorse harming a rival gang member in some contexts, but not others. Moreover, in some contexts, males were more likely to endorse harming others as necessary. Few age differences emerged, suggesting comparability among children and adolescents. Discussion focuses on how children and adolescents coordinate different moral and social concepts and concerns pertaining to acts of physical harm in situations involving gangs.

Submerged Economies in Colombia and their Link to Social Representations of Work. A Study from the Perspective of Social Psychology

This reflection article aims at exploring the bases of the historical construction of work in Colombia, its social representations, and its incidence on the constitution of submerged economies such as illegal drug trafficking. The historical method of consulting secondary sources that testify to the behavior of Colombian society at the end of the Colony and in the Republican period is used in order to connect the historical scenarios with the present. Reference is made to the path of dependence, the critical theory of colonialism and social representations of work. The results show that social psychology and social representations of work have consequences in the creation and maturation of informal economies and in the tendency to get rich quickly and easily in some sectors of the Colombian society. In conclusion, these contexts end up being consolidated as the basis of an illegal ‘industry’ that constantly reinvents itself and gives rise to the development of certain skills useful to survive in an unequal and violent context materialized in the so-called drug trafficking era, which began in the 1970s.

The association between violence victimization and subsequent unplanned pregnancy among adolescent girls in Uganda: Do primary schools make a difference?

Violence victimization is a risk factor for adolescent pregnancy in high-income, low violence prevalence countries, but longitudinal data are lacking from settings where violence and adolescent pregnancy are common, including sub-Saharan Africa. We also know little about contextual factors which modify this association. We analyzed data from the Contexts of Violence in Adolescence Cohort (CoVAC) study in Luwero District, Uganda. Primary students in 42 schools completed surveys in 2014 (Wave 1) and 2018 (Wave 2). Our outcome was unplanned pregnancy. Our exposure was violence victimization, including any violence, type of violence (physical, emotional, sexual), perpetrator group (teacher, peer, family member), and polyvictimization. We fit mixed-effects logistic regression models and examined school factors (e.g., connectedness, absenteeism) as effect modifiers, using data from students (n = 3,431) and staff (n = 591) at the 42 schools. 1,449 girls were included in analyses (78% follow-up). At Wave 1, 88% (n = 1,281/1,449) reported any violence (mean age = 12.73, SD = 1.44 years). At Wave 2, 13.9% (n = 201/1,449) reported an unplanned pregnancy. In adjusted models, compared to no violence, significant associations (p<0.05) were observed for any violence (OR = 1.99, 95%CI = 1.03-3.85), physical violence (OR = 1.96, 95%CI = 1.02-3.79), teacher violence (OR = 1.96, 95%CI = 1.01-3.79), peer violence (OR = 2.00, 95%CI = 1.00-4.03), family violence (OR = 2.23, 95%CI = 1.07-4.65), violence from one perpetrator group (OR = 2.04, 95%CI = 1.01-4.15), and violence from three perpetrator groups (OR = 2.21, 95%CI = 0.99-4.95). Sexual and emotional violence were associated in crude but not adjusted analyses. School and peer connectedness modified the association (p<0.05); girls who experienced violence had higher odds of unplanned pregnancy in schools with lower versus higher connectedness. Violence victimization in early adolescence is strongly associated with subsequent unplanned pregnancy among adolescent girls in Uganda but attending schools with more school or peer connectedness attenuated this link. Interventions should seek to reduce violence against girls to prevent unplanned pregnancy. Interventions promoting positive connections to school may be especially important for violence victims.

"We'd really love to but we're really busy": Silence, precarity and resistance as structural barriers to anti-racism in nursing education.

To identify structural barriers to the uptake and practice of anti-racism in nursing education, specifically in the Canadian context. A deconstructive, critical, qualitative inquiry informed by critical race theory, critical whiteness, feminism and post-colonialism. This study employed an anonymous online open-ended questionnaire and online focus groups with Canadian nurse educators from April to June 2021. The data were analysed through a contextualist thematic analysis that accounts for data as essential experience and also a product of discourse. Structural barriers identified are organized into themes of: the academic environment; position and power; racism; program delivery; and Whiteness. Pervasive silence, especially white silence, can be interpreted in related contexts of precarity, self-interest and institutional violence. Overarching processes of precarity and resistance exert power over the environment of nursing education which act to destabilize, disrupt and discourage anti-racist efforts and education. The sustainability of anti-racism should be a primary focus. This entails attending to structures in nursing and higher education that make nursing education precarious work, especially for educators racialized as Other in the white supremacist racial binary of White: non-White. Explicit and ongoing attention to conditions that silence is necessary for any progress to be made. Strategies of applying anti-racism need to be as complex as the barriers. Many schools of nursing are engaged in attempts to include anti-racism as learning and environment. The structural barriers that interfere with effective integration of anti-racism as a lens for nursing education must be named and addressed so educators and schools can be successful. The implication of trying to incorporate anti-racism without addressing the barriers is a very superficial or pocketed application of anti-racism, and a continuation of the status quo that reproduces Whiteness and excludes and harms people racialized otherwise. The study addressed both strategies and barriers to anti-racism in nursing education. This article addressed structural barriers in anti-racism in Canadian nursing education. The main findings are that processes of precarity specific to nursing education in institutions of higher learning, and resistance through Whiteness, decision-making hierarchy and regulatory structures interfere with the application of anti-racism. This research impacts nurse educators in all nursing schools and leaders in higher education. It also impacts all current and future nursing students as the recipients of the education we provide. The paper adheres to COREQ checklist. No patient or public contribution.

“You think that, again, that’s the medication”: reflecting on qualitative methods for interviewing family members of violent and impulsive men in an intervention trial

ABSTRACT Qualitative research in psychology can often maintain standards and assumptions from positivistic and experimental methodologies. Sometimes these issues are well argued against or around logically in literature, often abstractly, but cases of methodological consideration with real cases are rarer. This discussion aims to help methodological reflection and learning by presenting a case of multiple intersecting methodological considerations. The methods included a content analysis completed on interviews with women related to men participating in a violence and intervention trial. This paper presents the limitations and methodological considerations during analysis as a detailed discussion. Considerations arose from assumptions in the research design, interpreter use and leading questions. The discussion describes considerations and solutions depending on the scope required – here working with women in or near contexts of violence. Hopefully, a demonstration of full considerations within such a project encourages similar case-based examinations of research.

Ethno-Federalism and Subnational Conflicts in Ethiopia

ABSTRACT Ethiopia is unique in its extreme version of ethno-federalism as it constitutionally grants unconditional rights of self-determination and secession to all ethnic communities. The defacto practices of power in governing multiple contesting groups, however, creates regime priorities. The post-2018 politics generated violent opportunities to make viable claims on control, representation, and authority. Further, conflicts at the local, regional and national level increased because of the new regime’s need to co-opt and placate subnational elites. This suggests that ethno-federal systems incentivize distinct, co-occurring forms of political violence. Such a system provides the context for violence, but regime politics provides the spark.

Violence, life aspirations and displacement trajectories in civil war

AbstractDrawing on qualitative data from the civil wars in Syria and Libya since 2011, this paper seeks to build a better understanding of immobility and of displacement trajectories within conflict countries and towards neighbouring countries. The paper shows that different types of violent experiences—personal threats, generalized violence, an increasing hopelessness relating to the absence of violence in the future—trigger different exit movements across internal and external borders. Second, the analysis demonstrates that migration decisions in civil war contexts are complex processes with people balancing between strategies of how to avoid violence with strategies of how to realize broader life aspirations related to family, love, work and political change. Life aspirations often play a more important role once people move out of a situation of immediate danger and in later phases of trajectories and influence (im)mobility patterns in three different directions: stay, move (on) or return. Life aspirations, especially related to political change, outweigh perceptions of violence in some cases. Financial vulnerability can force people to stay in or return to violent contexts.

Socio-Cultural Contexts for Normative Gender Violence: Pathways of Risk for Intimate Partner Violence

Violent means of social control at both the micro- and macro-levels create norms of violence within societies that spill over into multiple domains as a reaction to a socio-cultural context of normative violence. This adverse effect may stem from normalized violence within both families and communities and contribute to intimate partner violence (IPV). From a contextual-ecological model, this becomes a victimizing effect. This study tests the theoretical premise of Norms of Violence in order to reconceptualize IPV as a victimizing effect within a larger community framework. Using data from the International Dating Violence Study, this study explores the interaction of violent socialization at both the familial and communal level, controlling for other conditions that could contribute to a normative standard of violence. The results indicate the presence of polyvictimization: nations in which youth experience the highest levels of violent socialization from both their families and communities tend to have higher levels of IPV victimization. This relationship is stronger when social structures support normative violence as conflict resolution. For females, this relationship is further exasperated. Societies across the world, including those in which the context of violence is most prominent, can work towards eradicating the negative impacts of gender violence for individuals, their families, and the communities in which they live by addressing the normalization of violence.

Women’s perspectives on disrespect and abuse during facility-based childbirth in Ethiopia: a qualitative study

BackgroundDisrespect and abuse violates women’s basic human rights and autonomy and can traumatize women who are already in a vulnerable position during childbirth and deter them from utilizing skilled care for future childbirth. This study explored women’s perspectives on the acceptability of disrespect and abuse during facility-based childbirth in Ethiopia.MethodsA qualitative descriptive design using five focus group discussions and fifteen in-depth, semi-structured, interviews was conducted with women between October 2019 to January 2020 in north Showa zone of Oromia region, central Ethiopia. Using purposive sampling, women who had given birth at public health facilities of North Showa zone during the twelve months preceding data collection were recruited, regardless of birth outcome. Inductive thematic analysis using Open Code software was used to explore the perspectives of participants.ResultsWhile women reject disrespectful and abusive acts during childbirth generally, they may consider some disrespectful acts as acceptable and or necessary under certain circumstances. Four emerging themes were identified. (1) Disrespect and abuse is not acceptable, (2) Disrespectful and abusive actions are acceptable only if intended to save lives, (3) Disrespectful and abusive actions are an accepted part of everyday practice to prevent complications and adverse outcomes, (4) Disrespectful and abusive actions are necessary to discipline disobedient women.ConclusionWomen’s perceptions of disrespectful and abusive acts of care providers is deeply rooted within the context of violence in Ethiopia and the societal hierarchies that have systematically disempowered women. Given the pervasiveness of disrespect and abusive actions during childbirth, policymakers, clinical managers and care providers must take these essential contextual and societal norms into account and devise comprehensive clinical interventions that addresses the root causes.

When social responses for violence against women are insufficient to prevent homelessness - A perspective from Quebec (Canada)

This article presents part of the results of a study carried out in eight administrative regions of Quebec (Canada) where 46 women who had experienced IPV and homelessness in the 5 years preceding the research share their experience through life course in-depth interviews. It focuses mainly on the main structural barriers encountered by women when leaving a context of violence, barriers that appear to have contributed to (re)producing or exacerbating situations of homelessness. It mainly shows that: 1. the lack of response to childhood abuse and instability upon leaving the child protective service creates a context for a transition to homelessness and the experience of a first violent relationship. 2. Under-detection of coercive control limits women's ability to leave the abusive relationship and access safe and stable living conditions and 3. The lack of access to stable housing or to assistance and accommodation resources adapted to certain conditions or in underserved regions keeps women in violent contexts or produces situations of homelessness. The findings of this study raising the need to 1) develop homelessness prevention policies that employ an intersectional gender-based analysis and approach 2) implant a trauma-informed approach in the field of homelessness to consider the impact of violence on women's health, well-being, and living conditions and 3) develop innovative strategies to combat all form of violence that contribute to preventing homelessness in women.

Event Characteristics of Sexual Violence Perpetration Against Romantic Partners Versus Non-Romantic Partners.

Tactics used to perpetrate sexual violence may be crucial to understanding when and why sexual violence occurs. Moreover, most sexual violence occurs between people who know each other-including in the context of dating or sexual relationships. Little is known about the context of sexual violence that occurs with non-romantic partners. To address these research gaps, we examined online survey data from 786 young adults (weighted n = 763) aged 19 to 27 years, living across the United States. Findings suggest that 60% of sexual assault, 40% of attempted rape, 42% of rape, and 67% of coercive sex were perpetrated against a romantic partner, defined as a current or ex-boyfriend, girlfriend, spouse, or domestic partner. Contextual differences were noted by relationship type: Those who perpetrated against romantic partners were more likely than those who targeted non-romantic partners to report that it occurred because they were feeling sad or angry. They were also more likely to say that the other person was completely responsible for what happened. Conversely, those who aggressed against non-romantic partners were more likely to say that someone else found out about what happened. Making the other person feel guilty was the most common tactic for both groups. The most frequently endorsed reason for perpetrating sexual violence was "feeling really horny," although feeling "good" or being drunk/high were also common reasons noted by aggressors. Afterward, many said they felt guilty or ashamed and were worried about the other person's feelings. Fear of getting caught was universally absent. Findings support the importance of building emotion regulation and emotional awareness skills in sexual violence prevention programming. Prevention programs should also discuss coercion as a violence tactic, since perpetrators may not always recognize this to be sexual violence. More generally, violence prevention programs should also address healthy relationships, consent, and taking responsibility.

Beyond mass graves: exhuming Francoist concentration camps

As several historical investigations have revealed, between 130,000 and 150,000 Republicans were executed during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) and Franco’s dictatorship (1939–1977). The Francoist repressive strategy – unleashed after the coup d’état of 17 July 1936 – developed complex mechanisms of physical and psychological punishment. The continuing subjugation of those still living was enacted through concentration camps, prisons and forced labour. During the War and Franco’s dictatorship, there were nearly three hundred concentration camps, and between 367,000 and 500,000 prisoners went through those camps. During the transition to democracy, neither the State nor the judiciary investigated mass crimes connected to the repression and execution of left-wing Republicans. After Franco’s death, some family groups recovered some of these bodies buried in unmarked mass graves without scientific involvement. In the year 2000, the first scientific exhumations took place, and since then, more than 400 mass graves have been opened, and up to 9.000 bodies have been recovered. The memory of the victims of Franco’s violence has been mainly centralised on mass graves. The opening of mass graves has positioned the Spanish Civil War case within the international sphere of human rights violations and has also opened a new window of opportunity for the analysis of Francoist concentration camps. In this article, I provide a holistic study of mass graves that combines archaeology and forensic anthropology with historical and ethnographic research in order to examine, in detail, both the burials and the broader landscape of the repression. In this contribution, I focus on the Concentration Camp of Castuera, in southwestern Spain, a forgotten campscape, and show how mass graves, which have become widely known as sites of research and commemoration in Spain, were closely related to the camps’ complex repressive system. My results have allowed me to conduct an integrated analysis of this context of political violence. I conclude that archaeology and forensic anthropology have played a crucial role in elucidating the functioning and social reality of Spanish camps, whilst enabling new narratives about past Francoist repression.