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1 – 10 of over 2000A central focus of Sustainable Development Goal 16 is to ‘Significantly reduce all forms of violence and related death rates everywhere’. This chapter explores the magnitude of…
Abstract
A central focus of Sustainable Development Goal 16 is to ‘Significantly reduce all forms of violence and related death rates everywhere’. This chapter explores the magnitude of this task, focussing on the persistence – and in some cases intensification – of stark differences both within and between societies around the world in the level of suffering and death imposed by ‘ordinary’ violence in the streets and homes. These differences dramatically shape the lived experience of people on different sides of what I call the ‘violence divide’. At the extreme, they produce rates of violent death that are over 200 times higher in the most dangerous countries than in the least. These disparities are both a consequence and a cause of failures of sustainable and equitable development. They are sharpest and most consequential between parts of the global South and most of the advanced industrial societies, but they also appear in stark relief within some advanced societies, most notably the United States, reflecting broader, enduring inequities that are only weakly challenged, if at all, in the current political climate. Reducing these fundamental disparities in life and death will require moving well beyond the relatively minor criminal justice reforms and limited prevention efforts that often dominate national and international dialogue, to grapple seriously with the structural forces that breed them.
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This chapter aims to measure the total impact of conflict and violence to the global economy. By aggregating the most recent research on the costs of specific types of violence…
Abstract
This chapter aims to measure the total impact of conflict and violence to the global economy. By aggregating the most recent research on the costs of specific types of violence such as organized conflict, homicide, battle deaths, military spending, and incarceration, a comprehensive country-specific cost of violence and violence containment methodology is developed. The estimated benefit to the global economy of perfect peacefulness is at least 9.8 trillion dollars over the long run.
This chapter examines the scope and value of activist criminology, and questions whether it should be defined in relation to its means or its ends. It also outlines the nature and…
Abstract
This chapter examines the scope and value of activist criminology, and questions whether it should be defined in relation to its means or its ends. It also outlines the nature and potential value of something that the author describes as Janus-faced criminology – an amalgam of activist and administrative criminology, and one which therefore straddles two very different sets of goals and priorities. To explore these issues, this chapter draws on some recent work that the author conducted in the UK with the cross-party parliamentary Youth Violence Commission. Ultimately, the author contends that Janus-faced criminology has its place in advancing the causes of social and legal justice in the years ahead.
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Mateus Rennó Santos and Alexander Testa
Purpose – This chapter explains what is known about international homicide trends, highlights gaps in existing literature, and proposes avenues for future research that will…
Abstract
Purpose – This chapter explains what is known about international homicide trends, highlights gaps in existing literature, and proposes avenues for future research that will expand understanding about international homicide.
Design/methodology/approach – We review extant literature on international homicide trends, and draw on data from the World Health Organization from 1990 to 2015 to identify patterns in contemporary international homicide trends.
Findings – We demonstrate evidence of an international homicide drop across most regions around the world. Nonetheless, the homicide decline is not a global event as several countries – particularly countries with high homicide rates – did not experience reductions in homicide during this period. The key question remains as to what the causes of changes in international homicide rates are and why many countries experience very similar reductions in homicide while a few experienced increasing violence. We propose potential explanations and suggest areas for future research.
Originality/value – This chapter documents an international homicide decline occurring between 1990 and 2015. We also demonstrate that homicide trends are likely influenced by factors beyond local phenomena and domestic policies since homicide rates largely track together for regions throughout the world. Accordingly, the chapter suggests potential avenues for future research that can help better explain this trend.
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Claire Bellamy, Margaret Struthers and Lorraine Green
Drawing on empirical research which incorporated biographical interviews with two older male perpetrators, this chapter develops theoretical conceptualisations of the histories…
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Drawing on empirical research which incorporated biographical interviews with two older male perpetrators, this chapter develops theoretical conceptualisations of the histories, experiences and motives of these men. Four key areas are highlighted, which will be subject to closer scrutiny in relation to extant literature: (i) gender, particularly notions of masculinity, power and entitlement; (ii) attitudes relating to the use of violence both within intimate relationships and generally (iii) critical junctures in the life course which triggered attempts to desist; and (iv) an exploration of maturation and completion of treatment programmes in relation to their use of violence, future risks and efforts towards desistance.
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Adan Silverio-Murillo, Jose Balmori de la Miyar and Lauren Hoehn-Velasco
Purpose: The evidence regarding the effects of the COVID-19 lockdown on domestic violence is mixed. Studies using hotline call services identify an increase on domestic violence…
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Purpose: The evidence regarding the effects of the COVID-19 lockdown on domestic violence is mixed. Studies using hotline call services identify an increase on domestic violence, while studies using police reports find a decrease. One limitation is that most of these studies came from diverse regions using different types of data sources. The purpose of this study is to use two separate data sources to study this question in the same region, and to contribute to the discussion for potential mechanisms that explain this mixed evidence.
Methodology: This study estimates the effects of the COVID-19 lockdown on domestic violence in Mexico City. The authors use two separate data sources: hotline calls and official police reports. Our empirically strategy is based on a difference-in-differences methodology and an event-study design.
Findings: As a consequence of the COVID-19 lockdown, hotline calls for psychological domestic violence increase by 17%, while police reports of domestic violence decrease by 22%. To reconcile these discrepancies between hotline calls and police reports, the authors consider several potential mechanisms. The authors find suggestive evidence that the increase in psychological domestic violence is related to financial stress. Further, the results of this study indicate that the reduction in police reports is related to women facing more barriers to report their abusive intimate partners during the lockdown.
Value: These results confirm that the variation observed in the existing literature is related to the type of data being used. The mixed evidence suggests that more women suffer from psychological domestic violence as captured by hotline calls, while women encounter more barriers to report their abusive husbands to the police as captured by the official police reports.
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The research aimed to study the effects of participatory gender analysis.
Abstract
Purpose
The research aimed to study the effects of participatory gender analysis.
Design/methodology/approach
This occurred within a community-based education project that was implemented in Ugandan Acholiland after the return from the displacement camps at the end of the civil war. The chapter describes the approach and analyses the impact.
Findings
Such analysis was shown to be very effective but this does not mean the community has been completely transformed.
Practical and social implications
Nevertheless, it shows the importance of participatory gender analysis for sociocultural transformation at community level.
Originality/value
This chapter makes a contribution to the literature on the use of participatory gender analysis in the global south.
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