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1 – 10 of over 3000This article presents the findings of a study of the victimisation of three cohorts of young people living in a county town in the East Midlands. Following a brief review…
Abstract
This article presents the findings of a study of the victimisation of three cohorts of young people living in a county town in the East Midlands. Following a brief review of research into contemporary youth victimisation in the UK, it reports the findings of the study and discusses the reasons for variations in rates of victimisation between the three cohorts. It concludes with a discussion of the implications for professionals.
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Aldrin Abdullah, Mina Safizadeh, Massoomeh Hedayati Marzbali and Mohammad Javad Maghsoodi Tilaki
The current direction of urban planning and development is plagued with a number of issues related to crime and safety in neighbourhood areas. Undoubtedly, the physical…
Abstract
Purpose
The current direction of urban planning and development is plagued with a number of issues related to crime and safety in neighbourhood areas. Undoubtedly, the physical characteristics of the surrounding environment play a vital role in residents’ social interactions and crime rate. This study aims to examine the role of the environmental features of the built environment, in particular house maintenance, on residents’ sense of belonging and victimisation. Although past research has relied on police victimisation rates, the current research has measured the actual victimisation rate through a questionnaire survey.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is quantitative in nature and consists of 255 residents from an urban neighbourhood in Penang, Malaysia.
Findings
The results of structural equation modelling indicate that house maintenance has a significant and positive impact on the sense of belonging, while there is a negative impact on victimisation rate. However, the study findings do not support the mediation role of the sense of belonging in the relationship between house maintenance and victimisation rate.
Originality/value
The study suggests that physical characteristics of the environment play a significant role in reducing opportunities for property victimisation and a building sense of belongings amongst neighbours. This study can also be considered as a further step for obtaining insight into the understanding of the impact of physical characteristics of the neighbourhood environment on victimisation.
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To review the literature on delinquency and victimization among Caribbean youth, utilizing an ecological perspective.
Abstract
Purpose
To review the literature on delinquency and victimization among Caribbean youth, utilizing an ecological perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
The review was initiated by a search of peer-reviewed journal articles published between 1993 and 2013, which investigated any or all aspects of juvenile delinquency and/or youth victimization in the Caribbean. Studies were critically reviewed to determine whether they addressed relationships between victimization and delinquency, and the role of the social environment on youth.
Findings
The search yielded 23 relevant studies: 64 percent of the studies were conducted exclusively in Jamaica, and more than 75 percent were school based. Half of the articles addressed the links between victimization and delinquency among Caribbean youth but the majority was primarily descriptive.
Research limitations/implications
Only peer-reviewed journals were included, so unpublished country and organizational reports were not covered in the review.
Practical implications
More current and longitudinal studies are needed, which examine the connections between delinquency and victimization, and the experiences in the smaller or less developed Caribbean countries.
Social implications
The review provides directions for the enhancement of positive youth development policy and practice.
Originality/value
This paper fills the gap in the understanding of the research on delinquency and victimization among Caribbean youth. The ecological framework also adds value to the understanding of the topic by highlighting the importance of various social contexts, such as the family, school, and neighborhood, on youth development in the Caribbean.
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Jody Clay-Warner and Timothy G. Edgemon
Understanding the plight of victims has long been a focus of feminists in the field of criminology. Feminists have made a number of contributions to the study of victims…
Abstract
Understanding the plight of victims has long been a focus of feminists in the field of criminology. Feminists have made a number of contributions to the study of victims, and here we highlight the contributions that coalesce around three central themes: (1) the gendered nature of criminal victimisation, (2) the relationship between women’s victimisation and offending and (3) violent victimisation of women (and threat of victimisation) as a means of informal social control. In this chapter, the authors trace the development of these themes, highlighting both early feminist work and modern instantiations, paying particular attention to how theoretical developments in the field of feminist victimology have contributed to the understanding of these themes. The authors conclude by discussing the contested nature of ‘feminist victimology’, examining whether such a thing can exist given the androcentric foundations on which the broader field of victimology is based.
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Jennifer Adams and Emily Hannum
Physical victimization at school is little studied in impoverished developing country contexts. Moreover, the role of school and classroom contexts as risk factors remains…
Abstract
Physical victimization at school is little studied in impoverished developing country contexts. Moreover, the role of school and classroom contexts as risk factors remains poorly understood.
The aim of the study is to investigate the prevalence of physical victimization in rural Chinese middle schools as well as the individual, teacher/classroom, and school-level risk factors associated with experiencing physical victimization.
We use two waves of longitudinal, representative survey data to perform a multilevel logistic regression analysis (MLRA) of physical victimization among middle school students from 100 villages in one of China’s poorest provinces. We focus on a subset of questionnaire items that were gathered from students when the sampled children were 13–16 years old. We also utilize student data from the first wave of the survey to control for prior internalizing problems and academic achievement. Finally, we link matched data collected from principal and teacher questionnaires to examine the risk factors for physical victimization associated with students’ microclimates and the wider school environment.
A substantial proportion of middle school students (40%) reported having been beaten by classmates. Elevated risk was found among males; students with prior poor performance in language; students with past internalizing problems; students of female teachers and teachers evaluated as low performing; students in disruptive classrooms; and students in classrooms undergoing mandated reforms.
These findings suggest that efforts to reduce school violence should not only focus on the deficits of individual students, but rather should target practices to alter the within school risk factors associated with microclimates.
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Henriikka Weir and Catherine Kaukinen
The present study uses data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Ad Health) to evaluate the effects of exposure to violent victimization in childhood…
Abstract
Purpose
The present study uses data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Ad Health) to evaluate the effects of exposure to violent victimization in childhood on adolescent delinquency and subsequent adult criminality.
Methodology/approach
Using Longitudinal Latent Class Analysis (LLCA), the present study investigates whether there are distinct and diverse longitudinal delinquency trajectories among those exposed to violence in childhood.
Findings
Findings from the current study indicate that there are three distinct trajectories of delinquency and offending from age 14 to 27 for both males and females exposed to violence in childhood. Further, it appears that violent victimization in childhood bridges the gender gap in delinquency between males and females. Thus, childhood violent victimization, and the fact that females are victimized by parents/caregivers and romantic partners at higher rates than males, might be partially responsible in explaining the narrowing of the gender gap between male and female offending in the recent decades. At the same time, childhood violent victimization also seems to impact males and females in somewhat different ways. Practically, all female victims stop offending by their late 20s, whereas a fairly large proportion of males exposed to violent victimization in childhood steadily continue offending.
Research limitations/implications
Although this study was able to identify the diverse impacts of violence exposure on engagement in subsequent delinquency, it did not examine the unique contributions of each type of violence on adolescent outcomes or the chronicity of exposure to each of these types of violent victimization. We were also not able to measure all types of violence experiences in childhood, such as exposure to parents’ or caregivers’ intimate partner violence.
Social implications
While early prevention would be the most desirable option for both genders for the most optimal outcome, the retrospective intervention and treatment programs should be gender-specific. For males, they should heavily focus on providing alternative ways to cope with anger, impulse control and frustration, as well as teach empathy, cognitive problem solving skills, verbal communication skills, and tangible life and job skills. For females, most successful intervention and treatment programs may focus on helping the girls through a transition from adolescence to adulthood while providing mental health, medical, and family support services.
Originality/value
The paper uses a unique methodological approach to identify distinct and diverse longitudinal delinquency trajectories. The findings demonstrate how more resilient individuals (in terms of externalizing behaviors) can bring down the mean scores of delinquency even though many other individuals can be severely affected by violence exposure in childhood.
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As a growing population of students in the U.S. education system, it is important to study the extent to which Latino students experience bullying victimization. In this…
Abstract
Purpose
As a growing population of students in the U.S. education system, it is important to study the extent to which Latino students experience bullying victimization. In this study, a nationally representative sample of Latino high school students is analyzed for this purpose.
Design/methodology/approach
Data from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 including students’ family immigration, participation in extracurricular activities, and reports of bullying victimization are analyzed. In order to make comparisons within the sample of Latino students, the sample is disaggregated between students attending school in new Latino immigrant destinations and traditional Latino immigrant destinations. Poisson regression is used in all multivariate analyses.
Findings
In new Latino destinations, Latino students are just as likely to report being bullied as white students. In addition, in new destinations Latino students are bullied in connection with participating inhumanities-related extracurricular activities. Further, they are more likely to be bullied for this participation in comparison to students of other races/ethnicities. Finally, these relationships are significant even after accounting for the fact that third generation, more established students are more likely to report being bullied.
Social implications
Teachers, school administrators, parents, and researchers should be aware that Latino students can be bullied based on status-conferring activities such as extracurricular activities. This appears to be most pronounced in new Latino immigrant destinations where there is recent influx of Latinos. Efforts to prevent bullying in these areas can be combined with programs that seek to promote cross-ethnic understanding and academic/extracurricular enrichment.
Originality/value
This study provides valuable information on the experience of Latino students and bullying victimization.
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Beatriz Víllora, Santiago Yubero and Raul Navarro
Previous research has documented a negative association between subjective well-being and different forms of victimization. The present study aims to examine differences…
Abstract
Purpose
Previous research has documented a negative association between subjective well-being and different forms of victimization. The present study aims to examine differences in well-being among university student victims of cyber dating abuse and bullying after controlling for acceptance of dating violence.
Design/methodology
This a cross-sectional study involving 1,657 Spanish university students (62.1% females, 37.1% males) using a quantitative approach.
Findings
The multiple regression analysis results showed that the university students who reported low bullying victimization and low acceptance of dating violence also reported higher emotional, social and psychological well-being, although the association between bullying and well-being was weak. No relationship was found between cyber dating abuse victimization and the well-being dimensions examined (emotional, social and psychological). Indeed, the participants not involved in any form of abuse and the cyber dating abuse victims presented the highest level of emotional, social and psychological well-being compared to the bullying victims and the combined victims.
Practical implications
Prevention and intervention programs need to specifically address bullying and cyber dating abusive in university, with a special focus on normative beliefs about both types of victimization and offering different sources of support to overcome negative consequences on mental health.
Originality/value
This paper analyzes the subjective well-being correlates simultaneously in victims of cyber dating abuse and bullying among university students without assuming that every form of victimization has the same mental health outcomes.
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Naci Akdemir and Christopher James Lawless
The purpose of this study was to explore human factors as the possible facilitator of cyber-dependent (hacking and malware infection) and cyber-enabled (phishing) crimes…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to explore human factors as the possible facilitator of cyber-dependent (hacking and malware infection) and cyber-enabled (phishing) crimes victimisation and to test the applicability of lifestyle routine activities theory (LRAT) to cybercrime victimisation.
Design/methodology/approach
A mixed methods research paradigm was applied to address the research questions and aims. The data set of Crime Survey of England and Wales (CSEW) 2014/2015 and 42 semi-structured interviews conducted with victims of cybercrime and non-victim control group participants were analysed via binary logistic regression and content analyses methods.
Findings
This research illustrated that Internet users facilitated their victimisation through their online activities. Additionally, using insecure Internet connections and public access computers emerged as risk factors for both cyber-enabled and cyber-dependent crime victimisation. Voluntary and involuntary personal information disclosure through social networking sites and online advertisement websites increased the likelihood of being a target of phishing. Deviant online activities such as free streaming or peer-to-peer sharing emerged to increase the risk of cyber-dependent crime victimisation.
Research limitations/implications
The binary logistic regression analysis results suggested LRAT as a more suitable theoretical framework for cyber-dependent crime victimisation. Future research may test this result with models including more macro variables.
Practical implications
Policymakers may consider implementing regulations regarding limiting the type of information required to login to free Wi-Fi connections. Checking trust signs and green padlocks may be effective safeguarding measures to lessen the adverse impacts of impulsive buying.
Originality/value
This study empirically illustrated that, besides individual-level factors, macro-level factors such as electronic devices being utilised to access the Internet and data breaches of large companies also increased the likelihood of becoming the victim of cyber-enabled and cyber-dependent crime.
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Sherzodbek Dadaboyev, Jisung Park and Seong Ik Ahn
The purpose of this paper is to develop and test theoretical propositions explaining why and under what circumstances highly self-efficacious employees experience…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop and test theoretical propositions explaining why and under what circumstances highly self-efficacious employees experience victimization at work and how task interdependence leads to the situation that employee victimization emerges.
Design/methodology/approach
To test hypotheses, the authors collected the data from four organizations, which are private company, public enterprise, medical institution and government office in Gyungbuk province, South Korea. The final sample for analyses was 209 employees.
Findings
Contrary to the prediction, high self-efficacy did not show a statistically significant relationship with victimization. However, task interdependence is related to victimization and functions as an important situational contributor to exacerbate highly self-efficacious employees’ victimization.
Research limitations/implications
The findings have research implications by exploring victimization of the employees with high self-efficacy, which is an underdeveloped area in the victimization literature and showing that task interdependence is the critical factor to trigger and aggravate employee victimization. Despite these implications, this study should be evaluated in light of several limitations such as the data from single source for all variables and the use of cross-sectional data.
Practical implications
Managers need to be aware that highly self-efficacious employees can be vulnerable to victimization at work, where there is high task interdependence. The evidence suggests that managers may take safeguards to deter employee victimization, when tasks are closely related among members.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to expand the understanding of employee victimization by examining the roles of self-efficacy and task interdependence to crystalize antecedents and boundary conditions of victimization at workplace.
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