By Thomas Hogan  

History drives prosecutors and police. It may be time for prosecutors and police to drive history. There are four pillars of violent crime prevention that criminal justice actors can rely on to halt the current spike in homicides in America.Prosecutors and police are shaped by their times. After the discipline imposed by fighting in World War II and the orderliness of the 1950s, the American criminal justice system became less punitive in the 1960s, fueled by notions of flower power and the opinions of the Warren Supreme Court.[1] A great American crime wave followed, cresting with the extreme violence of the crack epidemic in the 1980s and early 1990s. American prosecutors, police, and politicians responded by pulling every lever available to them, desperate to restore order to increasingly dangerous cities. Prosecutors sought strict sentences. More police officers were deployed to the streets. Sophisticated computer programs were used to track crime. Mandatory minimum sentences and sentencing guidelines were imposed to constrain the discretion of judges. The strategies eventually worked—although nobody is sure exactly which responses worked and to what extent—leading to what became known as the great American crime decline. Crime rates fell for decades and even once-violent cities like New York became relatively safe, accompanied by persistent arguments that the U.S. incarcerated too many people to ensure this safety.In reaction to the illusion of a permanent victory over violent crime and the perception of over-incarceration, a new breed of prosecutors arrived on the American political scene in the 2010s, elected in liberal-leaning big cities. Called “progressive prosecutors,” these law-enforcement officials began to pull every lever in the opposite direction from that of their 1990s colleagues. They refused to prosecute entire categories of crimes, sought lesser sentences even for violent offenders, and viewed the police with open suspicion. ….Not surprisingly, violent crime began to rise again. The U.S. saw almost a 30% rise in homicides across the nation in 2020, a record for a one-year increase.[3] In 2021, homicides continued to climb, and many cities experienced the largest number of homicides in their history.[4] And even after courts reopened following the Covid era, cities as different as Portland, Milwaukee, and Albuquerque set new homicide records in 2022.There are vigorous debates about what caused this spike in homicides. Progressive prosecutors, de-policing, the Covid-19 pandemic, increased gun sales, violent protests, weakened pretrial detention and sentencing, and numerous other theories have been proposed by academics and law-enforcement professionals.

New York: The Manhattan Institute, 2023. 20p.

By Joel Wallman, Richard Rosenfeld, Randolph Roth

The twenty-five-year epidemic of opioid misuse in the United States has taken at least 750,000 lives through overdose. We undertook to learn whether this toll might have been accompanied by an increase in violence resulting from growth in the illicit opioid market, which, like most illicit drug markets, includes a risk of violence due to conflicts among sellers and between sellers and buyers. We found that increases in activity in this market were associated with—and arguably caused—increased levels of homicide. Using county opioid overdose rates as a measure of levels of transactions in the illicit market, we looked for an association between those rates and county homicide rates between 1999 and 2015. …Despite this growth in overdose rates during the period, homicide rates declined for both groups and in both Appalachian and non-Appalachian counties. … The finding of another harm wrought by the opioid epidemic provides another reason to pursue vigorous public-health efforts, with a strong emphasis on treatment, to stem the epidemic.   

New York:  The Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, 2023. 20p.

By Brian Braganza and Nick Cardone

One of the first questions that emerged after the murders that took place in Nova Scotia on April 18 and 19, 2020, was: What was the role played by harmful expressions of masculinity generally, and male violence against women specifically. Even before much was known about the perpetrator, there were calls for an inquiry that would look at the murders through a feminist lens, and for a full exploration of his history of violence against women (Henderson, 2020). This report does not seek to draw conclusions on the motivations for the murders or how past behaviour may or may not have served as a warning. Instead, it was commissioned to explore the relationship between traditional concepts of masculinity and violence. Doing this requires us to look critically at a broad range of issues so omnipresent that we are often unaware of them  

Halifax, NS: The Joint Federal/Provincial Commission into the April 2020 Nova Scotia Mass Casualty, 2022. 87p.

Edited by Sundari Anitha and Ruth Lewis  

Until recently, higher education in the UK has largely failed to recognise gender-based violence (GBV) on campus, but following the UK government task force set up in 2015, universities are becoming more aware of the issue. And recent cases in the media about the sexualised abuse of power in institutions such as universities, Parliament and Hollywood highlight the prevalence and damaging impact of GBV. In this book, academics and practitioners provide the first in-depth overview of research and practice in GBV in universities. They set out the international context of ideologies, politics and institutional structures that underlie responses to GBV in elsewhere in Europe, in the US, and in Australia, and consider the implications of implementing related policy and practice. Presenting examples of innovative British approaches to engagement with the issue, the book also considers UK, EU and UN legislation to give an international perspective, making it of direct use to discussions of ‘what works’ in preventing GBV.

Bristol, UK: Bristol University Press, 2018. 262p.

By R. J. B. Bosworth

FROM THE COVER: It was born before the embers of the First World War had cooled, as Italians struggled to come to terms with 600,000 dead and a generation hardened by militarization. Called Fascism, it was a form of political life that dealt in violence and demanded obedience-the model for so many dictatorships to come, includ- ing Hitler's. In this groundbreaking and utterly absorbing work, R. J. B. Bosworth-one of the world's foremost historians of modern Italy-reveals, as never before, how Il Duce's countrymen unleashed and then ultimately escaped the original totalitarianism. Mussolini's Italy is a landmark work and an unforgettable portrait of Italy's darkest hour.

NY. Penguin. 2006. 826p. USED BOOK. CONTAINS MARK-UP.

By Jason Payne, Matthew Manning, Christopher Fleming and Hien-Thuc Pham

Three pillars—harm reduction, demand reduction and supply reduction—underpin the harm minimisation framework of Australia’s drug policy. Much of the activity undertaken by law enforcement is aimed at reducing the availability of illicit drugs and thereby increasing price and reducing demand. This article presents a contemporary, systematic review of research exploring the price elasticity of demand for illicit drugs. Overall, the results indicate that the demand for illicit drugs is, on average, weakly price inelastic—a 10 percent increase in the price of illicit drugs results in a decrease in demand of approximately nine percent. The degree of elasticity varies by drug type, with the greatest elasticity indicated, albeit on a small number of studies, for amphetamine-type substances. The international differences seen point to a need for more Australian research, ideally with robust experimental methodologies and across a range of drug types.

Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology. 2020. . Trends & issues in crime and criminal justice no. 606. 

Edited by Jean-Marc Dreyfus and Élisabeth Anstett

This book outlines for the first time in a single volume the theoretical and methodological tools for a study of human remains resulting from episodes of mass violence and genocide. Despite the highly innovative and contemporary research into both mass violence and the body, the most significant consequence of conflict - the corpse - remains absent from the scope of existing research. Why have human remains hitherto remained absent from our investigation, and how do historians, anthropologists and legal scholars, including specialists in criminology and political science, confront these difficult issues? By drawing on international case studies including genocides in Rwanda, the Khmer Rouge, Argentina, Russia and the context of post-World War II Europe, this ground-breaking edited collection opens new avenues of research. Multidisciplinary in scope, this volume will appeal to readers interested in an understanding of mass violence's aftermath.

Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 2014. 218p.

By Allison B. Dymnicki, Beverly Kingston, Sabrina Arredondo Mattson, Elizabeth Spier, Susanne Argamaso Maher, Jody Witt

Researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder’s Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence (CSPV) partnered with educators in 46 middle schools to implement Safe Communities Safe Schools (SCSS). SCSS seeks to prevent and reduce behavioral incidents, address mental and behavioral health concerns, and increase prosocial behavior in the school setting through three core program components: developing a functioning multidisciplinary school team, building capacity around data use, and selecting and implementing evidence-based programs. The study explored research questions in three areas: readiness (whether schools met baseline criteria and experienced changes in readiness over time), implementation (whether the SCSS model was implemented as intended; whether it is feasible, acceptable, and effective when implemented schoolwide), and associated outcomes (effects on school climate, safety, related behavioral and mental health indicators, and academic outcomes). To explore questions in these three areas, CSPV and external evaluators from American Institutes for Research conducted a mixed-methods randomized control trial with a staggered implementation design using qualitative data (open-ended questions on implementation surveys, focus groups) and quantitative data (staff and student school climate data, attendance/truancy rates, suspension rates, and academic achievement data). The study found that (1) the participating schools met the pre-developed readiness criteria and reported some improvements in readiness constructs over time; (2) some components of the model were implemented as intended and were acceptable and effective (from the educators’ perspective), but increased knowledge, understanding, and skills were limited to school team members; and (3) there were mixed impacts on school climate, safety, behavioral and mental health indicators, and academic outcomes, with outcomes varying (to some extent) by implementation characteristics. This report discusses the study’s findings and their implications for criminal justice policy and practice.

Washington DC: American Institutes for Research. 26p

Edited by Maja Lundqvist, Angelica Simonsson and Kajsa Widegren

This book looks at what a Nordic perspective can teach us about sexual harassment. Bringing researchers, writers and policy makers into dialogue in an ambitious volume, the book moves beyond the juridical definitions of justice, coloniality, exploitation and work and offers knowledge that is implementable into policy making.

Bristol, UK: Policy Press, 2023. 259p.

By Jennifer Leigh Syvertsen  

The relationships between female sex workers and their noncommercial male partners are often assumed to be coercive and anchored in risk, dismissed as “pimp-prostitute” arrangements by researchers and the general public alike. Yet, these stereotypes unjustly erase the complexity of lives we imagine to be consumed by social suffering. Dangerous Love centers a framework of love to rethink sex workers’ intimate relationships as commitments to collective solidarity and survival in contexts of oppression. Combining epidemiological research and ethnographic fieldwork in Tijuana, Mexico, Jennifer Leigh Syvertsen examines how individuals try to find love and meaning in lives marked by structural violence, social marginalization, drug addiction, and HIV/AIDS. Linking the political economy of inequalities along the border with emotional lived experience, this book explores how intimate relationships become dangerous safe havens that fundamentally shape both partners’ well-being. Through these stories, we are urged to reimagine the socially transformative power of love to carve new pathways to health equity. “

Oakland, CA: University of California Press, 2022. 190p.

Edited by Daniel Becker, Annalisa Fischer, Yola Schmitz

Forgeries are an omnipresent part of our culture and closely related to traditional ideas of authenticity, legality, authorship, creativity, and innovation. Based on the concept of mimesis, this volume illustrates how forgeries must be understood as autonomous aesthetic practices – creative acts in themselves – rather than as mere rip-offs of an original work of art. The proceedings bring together research from different scholarly fields. They focus on various mimetic practices such as pseudo-translations, imposters, identity theft, and hoaxes in different artistic and historic contexts. By opening up the scope of the aesthetic implications of fakes, this anthology aims to consolidate forging as an autonomous method of creation.

 Bielefeld: transcript Verlag, 2018. 248p.

By Eli Sagan

From the Introduction: “…This tragic tale, however, is only half the story. Throughout history, human beings demonstrate an equally extraordinary capacity to renounce aggression and to widen the definition of human to include more and more of the people in the world. Christianity puts an end to the barbarism of the Roman arena and proclaims that even a slave has a soul, Islam puts an end to female infanticide, slavery practically disappears from the world, the barbarisms of early industrial capitalism are renounced, democracy asserts the individual worth of all in society, the noncannibal head-hunter renounces the great aggressive pleasure of eating human flesh…”

NY. Harper and Row. 1974. 168p.

United States. White House Office

From the document: "In this first-ever U.S. National Plan to End Gender-Based Violence (the National Plan or Plan), the Federal Government advances an unprecedented and comprehensive approach to preventing and addressing sexual violence, intimate partner violence, stalking, and other forms of gender-based violence (referred to collectively as GBV). This initiative builds on the lessons learned and progress made as the result of tireless and courageous leadership by GBV survivors, advocates, researchers, and policymakers, as well as other dedicated professionals and community members who lead prevention and response efforts. Gender-based violence is a public safety and public health crisis, affecting urban, suburban, rural, and Tribal communities in the United States. It is experienced by individuals of all backgrounds and can occur across the life course. GBV happens in all spaces and spheres of human interaction, public and private--in homes, schools, and public venues; through social media and other online spaces; and in workplaces. In today's globalized world, it can transcend national boundaries, including through online exploitation and abuse, human trafficking, and individuals fleeing GBV. The risks of GBV are heightened in conditions of disaster, conflict, or crisis, including public health crises such as a pandemic. [...] The priorities in this National Plan to End GBV, as well as those reflected in the 2022 update to the U.S. Global GBV Strategy, reflect our nation's ongoing commitment to continue advancing and integrating efforts to prevent and address gender-based violence both at home and abroad. Ending gender-based violence is, quite simply, a matter of human rights and justice."

United States. White House Office .2023. 149p.

By Hannah R. Johnson

The ritual murder accusation is one of a series of myths that fall under the label blood libel, and describes the medieval legend that Jews require Christian blood for obscure religious purposes and are capable of committing murder to obtain it. This malicious myth continues to have an explosive afterlife in the public sphere, where Sarah Palin's 2011 gaffe is only the latest reminder of its power to excite controversy. Blood Libel is the first book-length study to analyze the recent historiography of the ritual murder accusation and to consider these debates in the context of intellectual and cultural history as well as methodology. Hannah R. Johnson articulates how ethics shapes methodological decisions in the study of the accusation and how questions about methodology, in turn, pose ethical problems of interpretation and understanding.

Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2012. 250p

By Grace S. Liu, et al.

Problem/Condition: In 2020, approximately 71,000 persons died of violence-related injuries in the United States. This report summarizes data from CDC’s National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) on violent deaths that occurred in 48 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico in 2020. Results are reported by sex, age group, race and ethnicity, method of injury, type of location where the injury occurred, circumstances of injury, and other selected characteristics.

Period Covered: 2020.

Description of System: NVDRS collects data regarding violent deaths obtained from death certificates, coroner and medical examiner records, and law enforcement reports. This report includes data collected for violent deaths that occurred in 2020. Data were collected from 48 states (all states with exception of Florida and Hawaii), the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Forty-six states had statewide data, two additional states had data from counties representing a subset of their population (35 California counties, representing 71% of its population, and four Texas counties, representing 39% of its population), and the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico had jurisdiction-wide data. NVDRS collates information for each violent death and links deaths that are related (e.g., multiple homicides, homicide followed by suicide, or multiple suicides) into a single incident.

• More...

  Results: For 2020, NVDRS collected information on 64,388 fatal incidents involving 66,017 deaths that occurred in 48 states (46 states collecting statewide data, 35 California counties, and four Texas counties), and the District of Columbia. In addition, information was collected for 729 fatal incidents involving 790 deaths in Puerto Rico. Data for Puerto Rico were analyzed separately. Of the 66,017 deaths, the majority (58.4%) were suicides, followed by homicides (31.3%), deaths of undetermined intent (8.2%), legal intervention deaths (1.3%) (i.e., deaths caused by law enforcement and other persons with legal authority to use deadly force acting in the line of duty, excluding legal executions), and unintentional firearm deaths (<1.0%). The term “legal intervention” is a classification incorporated into the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, and does not denote the lawfulness or legality of the circumstances surrounding a death caused by law enforcement.

  Demographic patterns and circumstances varied by manner of death. The suicide rate was higher for males than for females. Across all age groups, the suicide rate was highest among adults aged ≥85 years. In addition, non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native (AI/AN) persons had the highest suicide rates among all racial and ethnic groups. Among both males and females, the most common method of injury for suicide was a firearm. Among all suicide victims, when circumstances were known, suicide was most often preceded by a mental health, intimate partner, or physical health problem or by a recent or impending crisis during the previous or upcoming 2 weeks. The homicide rate was higher for males than for females. Among all homicide victims, the homicide rate was highest among persons aged 20–24 years compared with other age groups. Non-Hispanic Black (Black) males experienced the highest homicide rate of any racial or ethnic group. Among all homicide victims, the most common method of injury was a firearm. Description text goes here

Washington DC. National Violent Death Reporting System, 2020.

By Lauren Rebecca Smith | Steve Sharman | Amanda Roberts

Background: There is evidence that prisoners have the highest rate of problem gambling in any population, but little is known about the nature of in-prison gambling, the motives for it or how it relates to prior gambling behaviour. Aims: To investigate the prevalence and type of gambling prior to prison and the prevalence, type, and reasons for gambling in prison. Methods: Two hundred and eighty-two male volunteers in a Category B male prison in England completed a questionnaire which included the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI). Results: One hundred and twenty-six (45%) reported gambling in prison, with eighty-one (30%) of participants reporting that gambling was a normal part of prison life. Pre-prison behaviour, whether type of index offence or prior gambling, had little relationship to in-prison gambling. Frequency of gambling in prison increased with increasing PGSI risk category. The most common types of gambling in prison were card/dice games, sports and ball games, while the most common motives were entertainment, excitement or sense of challenge and to win prizes, with significant differences in motive between PGSI risk categories. Prison canteen items formed the most common currency gambled. People within the higher PGSI risk category were more likely to have borrowed items from other prisoners. 7 Conclusions: Our research has added to existing literature by identifying high rates of gambling in prison and showing that prisoners' perceptions of gambling are as a normal part of prison life. Findings suggest that screening and support should be available to manage gambling in prison, including support to reduce gambling-related debt, particularly given associations between debt and violence in prison. Relief from boredom and need for excitement were among the most common reasons for gambling in prison, indicating that there is a need to provide a more appropriately stimulating prison environment.

Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health 43(6): 389-403, 2022

By A. Adolphe . L. Khatib , C. van Golde , S. M. Gainsbury , A. Blaszczynski

It is generally believed that there is an instrumental relationship between problem gambling and crime such that some gamblers resort to illegal activity to recoup financial shortfalls resulting from their gambling. However, a clear understanding of the risk factors for the commission of crimes beyond financial stresses is absent in the literature. The aim of this review was to identify the nature of crimes perpetrated by problem gamblers and the factors that contribute to the commission of gambling-related crimes. A systematic review adhering to guidelines outlined in the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses statement searching eight databasesPsycINFO, Westlaw AU, Heinonline, Legal Source via Ebsco, Legaltrac via Gale, PubMed, Scopus, and Medline-was conducted. A total of 21 papers were included after screening and application of exclusion criteria. All studies examined reported crimes committed by problem gamblers, with a validated assessment tool measuring problem gambling. The review provided evidence that gambling-related crime typically consists of non-violent, income-generating offences. However, it also revealed that problem gamblers may commit violent crimes at a higher than expected rate, which may have been concealed by deliberate and unintentional under-reporting of gambling-related crimes. The causal relationship between problem gambling and violent crime, however, remains uncertain. Based on this review, suggestions are offered for the evaluation of perpetrators of gambling-related crime on a case-by-case basis, to better understand the relationship between gambling and crime and facilitate more frequent application of therapeutic jurisprudence in future.

By James Banks https://orci d.org/0000-0002- 1899-905j.banks@shu.ac.uk, Jaime Waters https://orci d.org/0000-0003- 0261-7349, and Victoria Olive

This paper presents the first systematic review of studies on the prevalence of gambling disorder among prisoners across international jurisdictions. Only original studies which were published in English and employed reliable and valid screening tools are included in this analysis. The review finds that rates of problem or pathological gambling in prison populations are highly variable, ranging from 5.9 to 73% of male and female inmates surveyed. Nevertheless, recorded rates of problem and pathological gambling among inmates are consistently and significantly higher than rates of problem and pathological gambling recorded among the general population. The review indicates that the institution of problem gambling treatment programmes in carceral settings is necessary, in order to aid community re-entry and reduce the likelihood of re-offending. Moreover, it is suggested that the screening of inmates should become standard practice across penal institutions and other criminal justice organisations, with a view to better addressing the needs of offenders.

International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 64:12, 2019.

By Jason Tower and Priscilla Clapp

Complex transnational networks of Chinese investors, forced out of Cambodia for illegal gambling activity, are relocating to Karen State to build three megacities as a hub for casinos. They use partnerships with local armed groups, operating under the authority of the national army, to gain access to land, offering in return a share of the profits. • The Myanmar government has yet to license casinos, meaning this sector remains illegal. Investors have ignored government approval processes, however, and moved rapidly during the COVID-19 pandemic to build facilities to house illegal gambling. • To circumvent Chinese laws against gambling, ethnic Chinese with citizenship in other countries spearhead these projects. Of concern to Beijing, they have co-opted Chinese government institutions and agencies to present their activities as central to China’s Belt and Road Initiative. • These megacities flagrantly undermine Myanmar’s efforts to advance reforms serving the national interest, and Naypyidaw is responding with establishment of a commission to investigate them. • This kind of investment threatens to reverse recent gains made by decades of US assistance supporting democratic reform in Myanmar, and merits strong American support for efforts to control it.

Washington DC: United States Institute of Peace, 2020. 28p.

By Cristina Vintró-Alcaraz, Gemma Mestre-Bach, Roser Granero. et al;

Several studies have explored the association between gambling disorder (GD) and gambling-related crimes. However, it is still unclear how the commission of these offenses influences treatment outcomes. In this longitudinal study we sought: (1) to explore sociodemographic and clinical differences (e.g., psychiatric comorbidities) between individuals with GD who had committed gambling-related illegal acts (differentiating into those who had had legal consequences (n = 31) and those who had not (n = 55)), and patients with GD who had not committed crimes (n = 85); and (2) to compare the treatment outcome of these three groups, considering dropouts and relapses. Several sociodemographic and clinical variables were assessed, including the presence of substance use, and comorbid mental disorders. Patients received 16 sessions of cognitive-behavioral therapy. Patients who reported an absence of gambling-related illegal behavior were older, and showed the lowest GD severity, the most functional psychopathological state, the lowest impulsivity levels, and a more adaptive personality profile. Patients who had committed offenses with legal consequences presented the highest risk of dropout and relapses, higher number of psychological symptoms, higher likelihood of any other mental disorders, and greater prevalence of tobacco and illegal drugs use. Our findings uphold that patients who have committed gambling-related offenses show a more complex clinical profile that may interfere with their adherence to treatment