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Posts in social sciences
Violence against women: A public health crisis

By Victoria Pedjasaar

In the EU, a third of women over the age of 15 have experienced physical or sexual violence and over half have been sexually harassed. According to a study by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), just 13% of women reported their most serious incident of non-partner violence to the authorities. Gender-based violence can occur in various situations and circumstances. According to an EU-wide survey report, 32% of perpetrators of sexual harassment in the EU come from the employment context. Although often overlooked, the majority of (workplace) violence takes place in the healthcare sector as healthcare professionals are 16 times more at risk of violence in comparison to other occupations. Violence does not only manifest in abusive behaviour toward workers on duty but can also be perpetrated on women as receivers of healthcare. High rates of violence in healthcare, brought on and exacerbated by gender stereotypes and inequality, point to dysfunctional health systems. This Paper is divided into the following chapters and provides policy recommendations on the way forward for the EU member states: 1. Gender-based violence against healthcare workers. 2. Obstetric and gynaecological violence against women. 3. Gender-based violence is a story of gender inequality. 4. Legislation and policies that protect women.

Brussels, Belgium: European Policy Centre, 2023. 12p.

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Women and the Law

By Atkins, Susan and Brenda Hale, Baroness

Women And The Law is a pioneering study of the way in which the law has treated women – at work, in the family, in matters of sexuality and fertility, and in public life. Originally published in 1984, this seminal text is one that truly deserves its 'groundbreaking' moniker. Predating many key moments in contemporary feminist history, it was written before Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble; before Naomi Klein’s The Beauty Myth, with the term ‘feminist jurisprudence’ having only been coined three years earlier. It went on to inspire a legion of women lawyers and feminist legal rulings, from the Family Law Act 1996 to the legal definition of ‘violence’ (Yemshaw v. LB Hounslow 2011). This 2018 edition comes with a new foreword by Susan Atkins and provides a timely analysis of women in law forty years on, how much has changed and the work still left to do

London: University of London Press, 2018. 284p.

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Shoplifting Trends: What You Need to Know

By Ernesto Lopez, Robert Boxerman and Keley CundiffEErnes

Since shortly after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Council on Criminal Justice has tracked changing rates of violent and property crime in large cities across the United States. The pandemic, as well as the social justice protests during the summer of 2020 and other factors, have altered the motives, means, and opportunities to commit crimes.

Prepared for the Council on Criminal Justice’s Crime Trends Working Group, this report focuses on trends in shoplifting, a subset of retail theft which, in turn, is a subset of overall larceny-theft. The FBI defines larceny-theft as the unlawful taking of property without force, violence, or fraud.

The report looks at shoplifting patterns from before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic through mid-year 2023. To date, attempts to measure changes in retail theft, including organized retail theft, have relied on retail industry data5 or have been limited to one state.

The city-specific data included in this report are drawn from open-data sources from 24 cities that, over the past five years, have consistently reported specific shoplifting data. Additional data come from the U.S. Justice Department’s National Incident-Based Reporting Program (NIBRS).7 The NIBRS data include a sample of 3,812 local law enforcement agencies. The analyses examine the changing frequency of reported shoplifting, trends in other property offenses, changes in the value of stolen goods, offenses that co-occur with shoplifting, and the number of people involved in each incident.

This report does not discuss in detail shoplifting data from the National Retail Federation’s Retail Security Survey.8 The 2021 survey (data ending in 2020) was the last year the survey reported figures on the number of incidents and the value of stolen goods. Because of this change, data from the survey could not be included.

Due to a lack of available data, this report does not examine factors that could be influencing the trends. Potential factors include changes in retailers’ anti-theft measures and changes in how retailers report shoplifting to law enforcement, which could be based on their perceptions of the extent to which local police or prosecutors will apprehend suspects and pursue criminal charges. Because these data rely on reported incidents, they almost certainly undercount total shoplifting. The findings presented here should be viewed with these considerations in mind.

Washington, DC: Council on Criminal Justice, 2023. 8p.

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Prevalence and predictors of requests for facilitated child sexual exploitation on online platforms

By Savannah Minihan, Melanie Burton, Mariesa Nicholas, Kylie Trengove, Sarah Napier and Rick Brown

This study examines the prevalence of requests for facilitated child sexual exploitation (CSE) online. Of 4,011 Australians surveyed, 2.8 percent had received a request for facilitated CSE in the past year. Requests for facilitated CSE were significantly higher among those who had shared a photo of or information about children publicly online. Among respondents who had shared publicly, requests for facilitated CSE were significantly higher among men, younger individuals, linguistically diverse individuals, individuals with disability, and those who had experienced other sexual or violent harms online. The results highlight the need for increased awareness of the potential harms of posting photos of and information about children publicly online, and place onus on platforms to warn users of these potential harms.

Trends & issues in crime and criminal justice no. 692. . Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology. 2024.

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Patterns in alcohol related violence: exploring recent declines in alcohol related violence in England and Wales

By Lucy Bryant

Figures from the UK Office for National Statistics (2021a) suggest that alcohol-related violence in England and Wales has been declining – both as a total figure (1,001,000 in 2009/10 to 525,000 in 2019/20) and as a proportion of all violent incidents (54% in 2009/10 to 42% in 2019/20). ■ This decline remains unexplained and generally unexamined – however, there are existing bodies of research that might offer insight into this trend. ■ This report examines possible explanations for the decline seen in alcohol-related violence – drawing on existing literature exploring: changing patterns in violence (e.g., Farrell et al. 2014), alcohol’s relationship with violence (e.g., Graham & Livingston 2011), and the measurement of violence (e.g., Reiner 2016). ■ Changing patterns in youth drinking might contribute to this violence decline. It is younger, rather than older age groups, who predominantly engage in violence in night-time economy settings (Finney 2004). Youth drinking in England has seen a recent downturn (e.g., Oldham et al. 2018), corresponding to some degree with declines in alcohol-related violence.

■ A steeper decline in alcohol-related violence relative to violence overall appears to be accounted for by shi s in alcohol-related stranger and acquaintance violence. Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) data show that the proportion of stranger and acquaintance violence incidents that were alcohol related fell between 2009/10 and 2019/20, whilst the proportion of domestic violence incidents which were alcohol-related generally remained stable. ■ It is possible data artefacts such as counting errors contained in national statistics form some part of the trend investigated here. While the CSEW is a widely respected data source (Tilley & Tseloni 2016), limitations in its capturing of violent incidents have been previously identified (e.g., Walby et al. 2016). It is important to consider the impact any such data artefact might have on alcohol related violence trends – investigation of the production of these National Statistics should be undertaken to assess this.   

London: Institute of Alcohol Studies, 2023. 21p.

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New Versions of Victims: Feminists Struggle with the Concept

Edited by  Sharon Lamb 

It is increasingly difficult to use the word "victim" these days without facing either ridicule for "crying victim" or criticism for supposed harshness toward those traumatized. Some deny the possibility of "recovering" repressed memories of abuse, or consider date rape an invention of whining college students. At the opposite extreme, others contend that women who experience abuse are "survivors" likely destined to be psychically wounded for life.
While the debates rage between victims' rights advocates and "backlash" authors, the contributors to New Versions of Victims collectively argue that we must move beyond these polarizations to examine the "victim" as a socially constructed term and to explore, in nuanced terms, why we see victims the way we do.
Must one have been subject to extreme or prolonged suffering to merit designation as a victim? How are we to explain rape victims who seemingly "get over" their experience with no lingering emotional scars? Resisting the reductive oversimplifications of the polemicists, the contributors to New Versions of Victims critique exaggerated claims by victim advocates about the harm of victimization while simultaneously taking on the reactionary boilerplate of writers such as Katie Roiphe and Camille Paglia and offering further strategies for countering the backlash.
Written in clear, accessible language, New Versions of Victims offers a critical analysis of popular debates about victimization that will be applicable to both practice and theory.

New York; London: NYU Press, 1999. 192p.

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net.wars

By Wendy Grossman 

Who will rule cyberspace? And why should people care? Recently stories have appeared in a variety of news media, from the sensational to the staid, that portray the Internet as full of pornography, pedophilia, recipes for making bombs, lewd and lawless behavior, and copyright violators. And, for politicians eager for votes, or to people who have never strolled the electronic byways, regulating the Net seems as logical and sensible as making your kids wear seat belts. Forget freedom of speech: children can read this stuff.

From the point of view of those on the Net, mass-media's representation of pornography on the Internet grossly overestimates the amount that is actually available, and these stories are based on studies that are at best flawed and at worst fraudulent. To netizens, the panic over the electronic availability of bomb-making recipes and other potentially dangerous material is groundless: the same material is readily available in public libraries. Out on the Net, it seems outrageous that people who have never really experienced it are in a position to regulate it.

How then, should the lines be drawn in the grey area between cyberspace and the physical world? In net.wars, Wendy Grossman, a journalist who has covered the Net since 1992 for major publications such as Wired, The Guardian, and The Telegraph, assesses the battles that will define the future of this new venue. From the Church of Scientology's raids on Net users to netizens attempts to overthrow both the Communications Decency Act and the restrictions on the export of strong encryption, net.wars explains the issues and the background behind the headlines. Among the issues covered are net scams, class divisions on the net, privacy issues, the Communications Decency Act, women online, pornography, hackers and the computer underground, net criminals and sociopaths, and more.

New York; London: NYU Press, 1998. 256p.

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Girlfighting: Betrayal and Rejection among Girls

BY Lyn Mikel Brown

For some time, reality TV, talk shows, soap-operas, and sitcoms have turned their spotlights on women and girls who thrive on competition and nastiness. Few fairytales lack the evil stepmother, wicked witch, or jealous sister. Even cartoons feature mean and sassy girls who only become sweet and innocent when adults appear. And recently, popular books and magazines have turned their gaze away from ways of positively influencing girls' independence and self-esteem and towards the topic of girls' meanness to other girls. What does this say about the way our culture views girlhood? How much do these portrayals affect the way girls view themselves?

In Girlfighting, psychologist and educator Lyn Mikel Brown scrutinizes the way our culture nurtures and reinforces this sort of meanness in girls. She argues that the old adage “girls will be girls”—gossipy, competitive, cliquish, backstabbing— and the idea that fighting is part of a developmental stage or a rite-of-passage, are not acceptable explanations. Instead, she asserts, girls are discouraged from expressing strong feelings and are pressured to fulfill unrealistic expectations, to be popular, and struggle to find their way in a society that still reinforces gender stereotypes and places greater value on boys. Under such pressure, in their frustration and anger, girls (often unconsciously) find it less risky to take out their fears and anxieties on other girls instead of challenging the ways boys treat them, the way the media represents them, or the way the culture at large supports sexist practices.

Girlfighting traces the changes in girls' thoughts, actions and feelings from childhood into young adulthood, providing the developmental understanding and theoretical explanation often lacking in other conversations. Through interviews with over 400 girls of diverse racial, economic, and geographic backgrounds, Brown chronicles the labyrinthine journey girls take from direct and outspoken children who like and trust other girls, to distrusting and competitive young women. She argues that this familiar pathway can and should be interrupted and provides ways to move beyond girlfighting to build girl allies and to support coalitions among girls.

By allowing the voices of girls to be heard, Brown demonstrates the complex and often contradictory realities girls face, helping us to better understand and critique the socializing forces in their lives and challenging us to rethink the messages we send them.

New York; London: NYU Press, 2003. 259p.

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Why Girls Fight: Female Youth Violence in the Inner City

By Cindy D. Ness

In low-income U.S. cities, street fights between teenage girls are common. These fights take place at school, on street corners, or in parks, when one girl provokes another to the point that she must either “step up” or be labeled a “punk.” Typically, when girls engage in violence that is not strictly self-defense, they are labeled “delinquent,” their actions taken as a sign of emotional pathology. However, in Why Girls Fight, Cindy D. Ness demonstrates that in poor urban areas this kind of street fighting is seen as a normal part of girlhood and a necessary way to earn respect among peers, as well as a way for girls to attain a sense of mastery and self-esteem in a social setting where legal opportunities for achievement are not otherwise easily available.
Ness spent almost two years in west and northeast Philadelphia to get a sense of how teenage girls experience inflicting physical harm and the meanings they assign to it. While most existing work on girls’ violence deals exclusively with gangs, Ness sheds new light on the everyday street fighting of urban girls, arguing that different cultural standards associated with race and class influence the relationship that girls have to physical aggression.

New York; London: NYU Press, 2010. 198p.

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When Mothers Kill: Interviews from Prison

By Michelle Oberman and Cheryl L. Meyer

Michelle Oberman and Cheryl L. Meyer don’t write for news magazines or prime-time investigative television shows, but the stories they tell hold the same fascination. When Mothers Kill is compelling. In a clear, direct fashion the authors recount what they have learned from interviewing women imprisoned for killing their children. Readers will be shocked and outraged—as much by the violence the women have endured in their own lives as by the violence they engaged in—but they will also be informed and even enlightened.
Oberman and Meyer are leading authorities on their subject. Their 2001 book, Mothers Who Kill Their Children, drew from hundreds of newspaper articles as well as from medical and social science journals to propose a comprehensive typology of maternal filicide. In that same year, driven by a desire to test their typology—and to better understand child-killing women not just as types but as individuals—Oberman and Meyer began interviewing women who had been incarcerated for the crime. After conducting lengthy, face-to-face interviews with forty prison inmates, they returned and selected eight women to speak with at even greater length. This new book begins with these stories, recounted in the matter-of-fact words of the inmates themselves.
There are collective themes that emerge from these individual accounts, including histories of relentless interpersonal violence, troubled relationships with parents (particularly with mothers), twisted notions of romantic love, and deep conflicts about motherhood. These themes structure the books overall narrative, which also includes an insightful examination of the social and institutional systems that have failed these women. Neither the mothers nor the authors offer these stories as excuses for these crimes.

New York; London: NYU Press, 2008. 208p.

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After the War on Crime: Race, Democracy, and a New Reconstruction

By Mary Louise Frampton, Ian Haney Lopez, and Jonathan Simon

Since the 1970s, Americans have witnessed a pyrrhic war on crime, with sobering numbers at once chilling and cautionary. Our imprisoned population has increased five-fold, with a commensurate spike in fiscal costs that many now see as unsupportable into the future. As American society confronts a multitude of new challenges ranging from terrorism to the disappearance of middle-class jobs to global warming, the war on crime may be up for reconsideration for the first time in a generation or more. Relatively low crime rates indicate that the public mood may be swinging toward declaring victory and moving on.
However, to declare that the war is over is dangerous and inaccurate, and After the War on Crime reveals that the impact of this war reaches far beyond statistics; simply moving on is impossible. The war has been most devastating to those affected by increased rates and longer terms of incarceration, but its reach has also reshaped a sweeping range of social institutions, including law enforcement, politics, schooling, healthcare, and social welfare. The war has also profoundly altered conceptions of race and community.
It is time to consider the tasks reconstruction must tackle. To do so requires first a critical assessment of how this war has remade our society, and then creative thinking about how government, foundations, communities, and activists should respond. After the War on Crime accelerates this reassessment with original essays by a diverse, interdisciplinary group of scholars as well as policy professionals and community activists. The volume's immediate goal is to spark a fresh conversation about the war on crime and its consequences; its long-term aspiration is to develop a clear understanding of how we got here and of where we should go.

New York; London: NYU Press, 2008.256p

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Ending Violence Against Women and Girls in Digital Contexts: A Blueprint to Translate Multilateral Commitments into Domestic Action

By Lisa Sharland and Ilhan Dahir  

   Women are impacted by violence in digital contexts in a variety of ways. While technology and the internet have catalyzed opportunities for men and women to engage, communicate, and further their human rights, digital space also poses a gendered risk, as abuses offline are mirrored and replicated online. Technology facilitated violence disproportionately affects women and can be used to perpetuate different types of inequality. Member states have reached agreement through multiple UN processes on the importance of enacting legislation, developing policies, creating monitoring and accountability mechanisms, and providing effective remedies for victims and survivors of violence in digital contexts. However, efforts to advance domestic implementation have been slow. Building on previous research by the Stimson Center, this paper provides a blueprint that offers ten overarching strategies for governments to consider in the development of more effective and coherent domestic policy on ending violence against women and girls (VAWG) in digital contexts. The blueprint also offers a framework for civil society to hold governments to account for the commitments they have made to end VAWG in digital contexts  

Washington, DC: Stimson Center. 2023, 44pg

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Research Report - Rapid Evidence Review: Violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation of people with disability

By Joel Koh, Vanessa Rose, Gayatri Kembhavi-Tam, Rebecca FeatherstonAron Shlonsky

The Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability was established in April 2019 in response to community concern about widespread reports of violence against, and neglect, abuse and exploitation1 of, people with disability. This rapid review – undertaken by the Centre for Evidence and Implementation in partnership with Monash University – reviews evidence that describes experiences of violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation, with the aim of preventing this from occurring, and better supporting people with disability. We had two key review questions: • What are the risk and protective factors associated with violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation of people with disabilities from birth to 65 years? • What is the nature of violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation experienced by people with disabilities from birth to 65 years? The scope of the review was limited to avoid overlap with the Aged Care Royal Commission and to reflect contemporary disability policy and legislation within four Commonwealth Western Industrialised countries with similar economic, political and legal systems. We used a rigorous and systematic process to identify 168 papers in the peer reviewed literature: 60 publications focused on risk and protective factors and 109 publications focused on the nature and experience of violence against, abuse, neglect and exploitation of people with disability (and one publication focused on both of these topics). Evidence from studies focused on risk and protect factors related to violence against, abuse, neglect and exploitation of people with disability suggest: • Having a disability increases the risk of experiencing violence, abuse, and neglect. The overarching finding across almost all studies was that people with disabilities were more likely to have experienced all types of violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation when compared to people without disabilities. • Being a female with a disability increases the risk of experiencing violence and abuse. This includes studies focused on violence, violent crime or victimisation, intimate partner or gender-based violence, sexual abuse and physical abuse. • The reported risk factors are limited, primarily focussed at the individual level, and static. There was a focus more on individual and static (usually unchanging) risk factors, such as disability status or gender and little attention to different types disability, groups or intersectionality.

Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with a Disability. 2021, 81pg

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A life course approach to determining the prevalence and impact of sexual violence in Australia

By Natalie Townsend

The Australian Government Department of Social Services (2019, p. 60) defines sexual violence as sexual actions without consent, which may include coercion, physical force, rape, sexual assault with implements, being forced to watch or engage in pornography, enforced prostitution or being made to have sex with other people. While there is a growing body of international evidence on sexual violence, its prevalence and impact has not been extensively examined in the Australian context. The existing evidence base is largely limited to data sources that are likely to underestimate the prevalence of sexual violence or to apply only to discrete groups of women (e.g. clinical samples). Further, while international and national estimates of sexual violence prevalence are available, these rarely capture experiences and outcomes across the life span. The Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health (ALSWH) has collected sexual violence data since its inception in 1996 and offers an ideal opportunity to examine sexual violence over the life span. The ALSWH has captured a broad range of data on women’s health, which are crucial for understanding the economic, social, physical and mental health trajectories of women who have experienced sexual violence. This report was developed in consultation with ANROWS to address the limitations of the existing evidence by utilising ALSWH data. Aims The purpose of this report was to assess the prevalence of sexual violence over the life course and the impacts of experiencing sexual violence on health and wellbeing among Australian women using national, longitudinal data. The research had the following specific aims: 1. Determine the prevalence of sexual violence across the life course, including sexual violence experienced in childhood and adulthood, perpetrated both within an intimate relationship and outside of such a relationship. 2. Determine the role of sexual violence during childhood as a risk factor for experiences of multiple forms of violence later in life. 3. Identify the impact of sexual violence on socio-economic factors over time, such as education, paid employment and financial stress. 4. Determine the nature of associations between sexual violence experienced by women at different life stages and subsequent health behaviours. 5. Assess the impact of sexual violence on women’s physical and mental health. 6. Measure health service use in relation to sexual violence, including costs of selected health services and satisfaction with general practitioner services. 7. Identify factors associated with the general health and wellbeing of women who have experienced sexual violence.  

Sydney: Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety Limited (ANROWS). 2022, 95pg

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The Sex Offender Housing Dilemma: Community Activism, Safety, and Social Justice

By Monica Williams

The controversy surrounding community responses to housing for sexually violent predators When a South Carolina couple killed a registered sex offender and his wife after they moved into their neighborhood in 2013, the story exposed an extreme and relatively rare instance of violence against sex offenders. While media accounts would have us believe that vigilantes across the country lie in wait for predators who move into their neighborhoods, responses to sex offenders more often involve collective campaigns that direct outrage toward political and criminal justice systems. No community wants a sex offender in its midst, but instead of vigilantism, Monica Williams argues, citizens often leverage moral, political, and/or legal authority to keep these offenders out of local neighborhoods. Her book, the culmination of four years of research, 70 in-depth interviews, participant observations, and studies of numerous media sources, reveals the origins and characteristics of community responses to sexually violent predators (SVP) in the U.S. Specifically, The Sex Offender Housing Dilemma examines the placement process for released SVPs in California and the communities’ responses to those placements. Taking the reader into the center of these related issues, Monica Williams provokes debate on the role of communities in the execution of criminal justice policies, while also addressing the responsibility of government institutions to both groups of citizens. The Sex Offender Housing Dilemma is sure to promote increased civic engagement to help strengthen communities, increase public safety, and ensure government accountability.

New York; London: New York University Press, 2018. 288p.

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Carjacking: Scope, Structure, Process, and Prevention

By Bruce A. Jacobs, and Michael Cherbonneau

Carjacking is a violent crime with a broad motivational landscape related to the unique opportunities that a motor vehicle, as the item targeted, makes available to offenders once it is stolen. Although carjacking is technically a form of robbery, carjacking is a hybrid offense because it draws from elements of both regular robbery and motor vehicle theft. Nuanced in its etiology and expression, carjacking boasts a structure and process that require offenders to navigate multiple challenges under considerable time pressure and uncertainty. The fact that carjacking is so often opportunistic yet simultaneously requires a fair amount of calculation makes the offense even more subtle in its complexity. The purpose of this review is to examine these nuances through the lens of official data and existing empirical research. Nascent but growing, this research provides insight into the scope of the problem, the method and manner of the crime's commission, and the challenges of curbing a clear urban menace.

Annual Review of Criminology, v. 6. 2023, 24pg

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The Future of Crime in Los Angeles and the Impact of Reducing the Prison Population on Crime Rates

By Richard Rosenfeld, James Austin

In this report, the authors devised statistical models to “predict” past yearly changes in Los Angeles’s rates of violent and property crime from the early 1960s through 2021, employing a very small set of predictive variables known to be associated with levels of crime. The yearly changes projected for those years corresponded quite closely to the actual changes. The authors then used the models to forecast crime trends through 2026. Violent crime is forecast to decline through 2026, while property crime is expected to rise modestly in the same period. The analysis also finds that if California imprisonment rates were reduced by 20%, the effect on crime in Los Angeles would be minimal.

New York: Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation. 2023, 21pg

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Time to Make ‘Peace’ with the Bandits

By Claudia Wiehler and Medinat Malefakis

Nigeria has functioned as an anchor of stability in West Africa, a region that has been shaken by seven coups in three years. Yet, Nigeria is also grappling with several internal security crises including a violent-extremist insurgency and large-scale banditry, putting into question Nige ria’s ability to maintain this role. Reports about collaborations between bandit groups and Boko Haram extremists create fear about an unholy alliance across the country’s Northern region, potentially linking violent extremist groups in Mali and Niger with those in the Lake Chad region. It is against this backdrop of severe civilian suffering and potential transnational ripple effects that we argue for a pragmatic and rapid intervention in the banditry crisis. At this point, it is time to make ‘peace’ with the bandits.  

  Policy Perspectives Vol. 12/1. April 2024, 4pg

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Homicide among Indigenous females in North Carolina: a comparison of publicly generated data and violent death reporting system

By Muhammad Hudhud, Scott Proescholdbell, Tammy Norwood, Crystal Cavalier-Keck, Ronny A Bel

Like other minoritized populations, American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) females experience disparate morbidity and mortality outcomes to that of the general US population. This study identified discrepancies in reporting of AI/AN female decedents between the North Carolina Violent Death Reporting System (NC-VDRS) and an online, user-generated database. Female AI/AN decedent data of all ages were collected from the NC-VDRS and compared against that of the publicly available North Carolina Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW NC) database for the study period, 2004–2019. Twenty-four of the 72 cases matched between data systems (33.3%). Substantive differences between the NC-VDRS and the MMIW NC database were found. Future efforts should be directed towards supporting Indigenous communities with the comprehensive data the NC-VDRS can provide. This paper highlights statewide public health systems like the NC-VDRS supporting community efforts to understand, advocate for, and disseminate information on MMIW.

Forensic Sciences Research, Volume 9, Issue 1. March 2024, 3pg

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Identifying human trafficking indicators in the UK online sex market

By Luca Giommoni, Ruth Ikwu

   This study identifies the presence of human trafficking indicators in a UK-based sample of sex workers who advertise their services online. To this end, we devel oped a crawling and scraping software that enabled the collection of information from 17, 362 advertisements for female sex workers posted on the largest dedicated platform for sex work services in the UK. We then established a set of 10 indicators of human trafficking and a transparent and replicable methodology through which to detect their presence in our sample. Most of the advertisements (58.3%) contained only one indicator, while 3,694 of the advertisements (21.3%) presented 2 indicators of human trafficking. Only 1.7% of the advertisements reported three or more indica tors, while there were no advertisements that featured more than four. 3, 255 adver tisements (19.0%) did not contain any indicators of human trafficking. Based on this analysis, we propose that this approach constitutes an effective screening process for quickly identifying suspicious cases, which can then be examined by more compre hensive and accurate tools to identify if human trafficking is occurring. We conclude by calling for more empirical research into human trafficking indicators

Trends in Organized Crime. 2024, 14pg

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