By Alessandra Gribaldo

Unexpected Subjects is an ethnography of the encounter between women’s words and the demands of the law in the context of adjudications on intimate partner violence. A study of institutional devices, it focuses on women’s practices of resistance and the elicitation of intelligible subjectivities. Using Italy as an illustrative case, Alessandra Gribaldo explores the problematic encounter between the need to speak, the entanglement of violence and intimacy, and the way the law approaches domestic violence. On this basis, she advances theoretical reflections on questions of evidence, persuasion, and testimony, and their implications for ethnographic theory. Gribaldo analyzes dynamics that create the victim-subject, shedding light on how the Italian legal system reproduces broader conditions of violence against women. This book will be of great interest to all social scientists concerned with gender and the law.

Chicago: HAU Books (Distributed by the University of Chicago Press, 2021. 157p.

By The United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

1. In early July 2022, Rose1 , 25 years old, was one of at least 52 women and girls who were collectively raped by armed elements during a week of intense violence opposing two rival gang coalitions in Cité Soleil. In the afternoon of 7 July 2022, Rose, a mother of four and five-months pregnant, was severely beaten and raped, in the presence of her children, by three heavily armed masked men. The latter had forced their way into her home during an attack launched against the residents of Brooklyn, in Cité Soleil. Earlier that day, Rose’s husband had been shot dead by members of the same gang. Before leaving, the armed individuals set her house ablaze, forcing Rose and her children to sleep out in the open in a public space for many nights. The story of Rose, like that of many other women, illustrates the ordeal of victims of sexual violence who are targeted by armed gangs. This report, jointly published by the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), shows how armed gangs have used rape, including collective rapes, and other forms of sexual violence to instill fear, punish, subjugate, and inflict pain on local populations with the ultimate goal of expanding their areas of influence, throughout the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince. As of August 2022, large swathes of the capital, accounting for at least 1.5 million people, were reportedly under the control or the influence of gang elements.

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  Gangs are able to commit acts of sexual violence and other human rights abuses mainly because of widespread impunity and ease of access to high caliber weapons and ammunitions trafficked from abroad. Women, girls and boys of all ages, as well as to a lesser extent men, have been victims of ruthless sexual crimes. Children as young as 10 and elderly women were subjected to collective rapes for hours in front of their parents or children by more than half a dozen armed elements during attacks against their neighborhoods. Viewed as enemies for their real or perceived support to rival gangs, or for the simple fact of living in the same areas as those rival gangs, some of these victims were mutilated and executed after being raped. Gangs have also resorted to sexual violence as a weapon to disrupt the social fabric by targeting women and girls crossing “frontlines” or moving across neighborhoods on foot or in public transport to carry out their daily livelihood activities, such as going to work, to marketplaces or to schools.

United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, 2022. 25p.

Edited by Elena Martellozzo and Emma A Jane

The last twenty years have seen an explosion in the development of information technology, to the point that people spend a major portion of waking life in online spaces. While there are enormous benefits associated with this technology, there are also risks that can affect the most vulnerable in our society but also the most confident. Cybercrime and its victims explores the social construction of violence and victimisation in online spaces and brings together scholars from many areas of inquiry, including criminology, sociology, and cultural, media, and gender studies.

The book is organised thematically into five parts. Part one addresses some broad conceptual and theoretical issues. Part two is concerned with issues relating to sexual violence, abuse, and exploitation, as well as to sexual expression online. Part three addresses issues related to race and culture. Part four addresses concerns around cyberbullying and online suicide, grouped together as ‘social violence’. The final part argues that victims of cybercrime are, in general, neglected and not receiving the recognition and support they need and deserve. It concludes that in the volatile and complex world of cyberspace continued awareness-raising is essential for bringing attention to the plight of victims. It also argues that there needs to be more support of all kinds for victims, as well as an increase in the exposure and punishment of perpetrators.

Drawing on a range of pressing contemporary issues such as online grooming, sexting, cyber-hate, cyberbullying and online radicalization, this book examines how cyberspace makes us more vulnerable to crime and violence, how it gives rise to new forms of surveillance and social control and how cybercrime can be prevented.

London: Routledge, 2017. 251p.

By Adam Cotter

Criminal victimization in Canada, 2019: Highlights

 According to the General Social Survey (GSS) on Victimization, more than three-quarters (78%) of Canadians were very or somewhat satisfied with their personal safety from crime in 2019.

 One in five (19%) Canadians or their households were impacted by one of the eight crimes measured by the GSS in 2019. There were 8.3 million incidents of sexual assault, robbery, physical assault, break and enter, theft of motor vehicles (or parts), theft of household or personal property, or vandalism.

 Almost seven in ten (69%) self-reported incidents were non-violent in nature. Theft of personal property, the most common crime type, accounted for more than one-third (37%) of all criminal incidents.

 Women (106 incidents per 1,000 women) were violently victimized at a rate nearly double that of men (59 incidents per 1,000 men) in 2019. This gender difference is a result of the fact that women were five times more likely than men to be a victim of sexual assault (50 versus 9 per 1,000).

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Criminal Victimization in Canada, 2019.

By William F. McDonald

This book offers a comprehensive examination of the many forms of victimization of immigrants, including trafficking in persons for sexual exploitation and forced labor; assaulting, robbing and raping; refusing to pay wages; renting illegal living space that violates health codes; and domestic abuse both in general, and in particular, of mail-order brides.

McDonald examines a broad range of quantitative and qualitative data from historical and international sources including the USA, Canada, Mexico, Britain, Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Poland, and Spain. He writes with a view to correcting myths about the relationship between immigrants and crime, noting that immigrants are more likely to become victims than offenders.

The book outlines the multiple forms and contexts in which immigrants are victimized, exploited, and harmed. Reviewing micro- and macro-level victimological and sociological theories as they apply to patterns and forms of immigrants’ victimization, this study ultimately seeks to understand reasons for which immigrants are victimized by their own kind, and by persons outside their community.

Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018. 135p.

By Christopher T. Dietzel

This dissertation highlighted and addressed the nature and extent of sexual violence against men who have sex with men (MSM) that is facilitated through their use of dating apps. The dissertation includes three manuscripts, each of which details a unique study. The first study investigated MSM dating app users’ conceptualizations and negotiations of sexual consent. Findings revealed that MSM identify consent frameworks but do not always apply those frameworks, or apply their interpretations of those frameworks, to their online and in-person sexual interactions with other MSM dating users. The second study examined MSM dating app users’ experiences of sending and receiving unsolicited dick pics. Findings uncovered a diversity in MSM’s experiences that are reflected along three “dimensions”: wanted/unwanted, consensual/non-consensual, and typical/atypical. Findings also revealed seven factors that impact MSM’s experiences of sending and receiving unsolicited dick pics. The third study investigated manifestation of rape culture that are facilitated through MSM’s use of dating apps. Findings showed that unwanted sexual messages and images are common manifestations of rape culture on dating apps. Findings also demonstrated that rape culture extends from online interactions to in-person interactions. Several MSM disclosed sexual violence they experienced through their use of dating apps, and one admitted to perpetrating sexual violence. This dissertation reveals the ways in which MSM experience and perpetrate sexual violence through their use of dating apps, as well as the ways in which dating apps facilitate sexual violence. Recommendations for education, community work, law and policy, and dating app software development are offered, along with limitations and suggestions for future research

Montreal: McGill University, 2021. 264p.

By Coen Teunissen, Hayley Boxall, Sarah Napier and Rick Brown

This study presents the findings from a large survey of people living in Australia (n=9,987) who had used mobile dating apps and/or dating websites in the previous five years. Across the entire sample, 12.4 percent of respondents reported receiving requests to facilitate the sexual exploitation of their own children or children they had access to. Requests included asking for sexual information about children or for sexual images or videos of children, asking to meet children in person or asking for children to perform sex acts over webcam.

The paper highlights the need for additional safety features to be embedded in mobile dating apps and dating websites to protect vulnerable users and to prevent the sexual exploitation of children.

Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology, 2022. 14p.

By Kamarah Pooley and Hayley Boxall

In the last few years, a number of high-profile cases of sexual and violent offending have been committed after the offender and victim met through a mobile dating application (dating app). Subsequent media and popular rhetoric have positioned dating app sexual and violent offending as a major safety concern.

A literature review was conducted to determine the prevalence of dating app violence, the design features of dating apps that create and prevent opportunities for violence to occur, and the prevention strategies used by individual users and app designers. Results suggest that dating app users are at greater risk of sexual and violent victimisation than non-users. Dating app features designed to promote safety and connectedness paradoxically place users at risk of victimisation. Although some dating apps feature innovative safety mechanisms, most place the onus on users to protect themselves against victimisation.

Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology, 2020. 16p.

By Clare McGlynn, et al.

Image-based sexual abuse is a pervasive and pernicious form of sexual abuse. We use the term ‘image-based sexual abuse’ to refer to a broad range of abusive behaviours including the taking and/or distribution of nude or sexual images without consent, including threats to do so, which includes so-called ‘revenge porn’, ‘upskirting’, fakeporn, sexual extortion and videos of sexual assaults and rapes. This report draws on interviews with 25 victim-survivors of image-based sexual abuse and over 25 stakeholders, including police, policy-makers, lawyers and survivor organisations conducted over a six-month period in 2018.

Durham, UK: Durham University; University of Kent, 2019. 25p.

By Kamarah Pooley and Hayley Boxall

In the last few years, a number of high-profile cases of sexual and violent offending have been committed after the offender and victim met through a mobile dating application (dating app). Subsequent media and popular rhetoric have positioned dating app sexual and violent offending as a major safety concern.

A literature review was conducted to determine the prevalence of dating app violence, the design features of dating apps that create and prevent opportunities for violence to occur, and the prevention strategies used by individual users and app designers. Results suggest that dating app users are at greater risk of sexual and violent victimisation than non-users. Dating app features designed to promote safety and connectedness paradoxically place users at risk of victimisation. Although some dating apps feature innovative safety mechanisms, most place the onus on users to protect themselves against victimisation.

Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology, 2020. 16p.

By Heather Wolbers, Hayley Boxall, Cameron Long, Adam Gunnoo

Use of mobile dating apps and websites has increased exponentially in the past 10 years. While these platforms create opportunities to develop and pursue social, romantic and/ or sexual relationships, both online and in the real world, media reporting and broader commentary has raised concerns about users being subjected to high levels of sexual harassment, aggression and violence.

The current study surveyed 9,987 dating app or website users in Australia to explore the prevalence and nature of dating app facilitated sexual violence (DAFSV) victimisation within the sample. Findings revealed that three-quarters of users were subjected to online DAFSV, and a third were subjected to in-person DAFSV, perpetrated by someone they met on a dating app or website. Users often experienced repeat victimisation. DAFSV victimisation was particularly common among LGB+ communities. This study provides valuable information to aid development of policies and practices to prevent the occurrence and recurrence of DAFSV.

Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology, 2022. 101p.

By Alexandra Thompson and Susannah N. Tapp, Ph.D., BJS Statisticians

From 1993 to 2021, the rate of violent victimization declined from 79.8 to 16.5 victimizations per 1,000 persons age 12 or older.

„ About 46% of violent victimizations were reported to police in 2021, higher than in 2020 (40%).

„ From 2020 to 2021, the violent victimization rate increased from 19.0 to 24.5 victimizations per 1,000 persons in urban areas while remaining unchanged in suburban or rural areas.

U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics. 2022. 31p.

By National Survey of Victimization and Perception of Public Safety (ENVIPE)

The National Survey of Victimization and Perception of Public Safety (ENVIPE) 2021 is the eleventh installment of the statistical series produced by the National Subsystem of Information on Government, Public Safety and Law Enforcement (SNIGSPIJ), coordinated by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI). With this project, continuity is given to the topics addressed in previous editions of this survey, whose results have been declared Information of National Interest by the Governing Board of the INEGI.

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By Peter Adamson, Giorgina Brown, John Micklewright, Sylke Schnepf and Anna Wright.

This report represents the first ever attempt to draw a comparative picture of the physical abuse of children in the 27 richest nations of the world. UNICEF research estimates that almost 3,500 children under the age of 15 die from physical abuse and neglect every year in the industrialized world. The greatest risk is among younger children. A small group of countries - Spain, Greece, Italy, Ireland and Norway - appear to have an exceptionally low incidence of child maltreatment deaths; Belgium, the Czech Republic, New Zealand, Hungary and France have levels that are four to six times higher. The United States, Mexico and Portugal have rates that are between 10 and 15 times higher than those at the top of the league table. The good news is that child deaths from maltreatment appear to be declining in the great majority of industrialized countries.

New York: United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) (Italy), Innocenti Research Centre, 2003. 40p.

By Prachi Pundir,Ashrita Saran,Howard White,Ramya Subrahmanian andJill Adona

AbstractBackground:More than half of the children in the world experience some form of interpersonal violence every year. As compared with high‐income countries, policy responses in low‐and middle‐income countries (LMICs) are limited due to resource constraints and paucity of evidence for effective interventions to reduce violence against children in their own contexts, amongst other factors.Objectives:The aim of this evidence and gap map (EGM) is to provide an overview of the existing evidence available and to identify gaps in the evidence base on the effectiveness of interventions to reduce violence against children in LMICs. This report covers evidence published in English; a follow‐up study is under preparation focusing on evidence in five additional languages—Arabic, Chinese, French, Portu-guese and Spanish.Methods:The intervention‐outcome framework for this EGM is based on INSPIRE—Seven Strategies for Ending Violence against Children, published by WHO and other partners in 2016. The seven strategies include implementation and enforcement of laws; norms and values, safe environment; parent–child and caregiver support; in-come and economic strengthening; response and support services; education and life-skills. The search included both academic and grey literature available online. We included impact evaluations and systematic reviews that assessed the effectiveness of interventions to reduce interpersonal violence against children (0–18 years) inLMICs (World Bank, 2018b). Interventions targeting subpopulation of parents,teachers and caregivers of 0–18 years’age group were also included. A critical appraisal of all included studies was carried out using standardised tools.

Oslo, Norway: Campbell Collaborative, 2020. 37p.

By Mary Catherine Maternowska; Alina Potts and Deborah Fry

Vulnerability to violence evolves in complex socio-economic and cultural contexts. This locally driven research analyses how institutional, community, interpersonal and individual factors interact to affect violence in children’s lives. It also begins to identify pathways to better inform national prevention strategies. The study places age and gender at its center, focusing on girls and boys at different stages of the life course, from the very young to older adolescents. A cornerstone of the study is to link quality research, translating it into evidence, and turning evidence into effective and meaningful interventions. This snapshot provides insights to the complexities that surround violence. Understanding and responding to the political as well as community contexts in which violence occurs builds more meaningful responses. Country teams are now preparing to move to the field and test best approaches to violence prevention based on evidence and using data to drive change.

New York: UNICEF, United Nations Children's Fund, 2017. 10p.

By Jeannie Duckworth

Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist, with Fagin, Sykes, the Artful Dodger, and children trained as pickpockets and sent out as burglar’s accomplices, provides an unforgettable fictional image of the Victorian underworld. Fagin’s Children is an account of the reality of child crime in 19th century Britain and the reaction of the authorities to it. It reveals both the poverty and misery of many children’s lives in the growing industrial cities of Britain and of changing attitudes toward the problem.

London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2003. 276p.

By David A. Green

This title examines the role of political culture and penal populism in the response to the emotive subject of child-on-child homicide. Green explores the reasons underlying the vastly differing responses of the English and Norwegian criminal justice systems to the cases of James Bulger and Silje Redergard respectively. Whereas James Bulger's killers were subject to extreme press and public hostility, and held in secure detention for nine months before being tried in an adversarial court, and served eight years in custody, a Redergard's killers were shielded from public antagonism and carefully reintegrated into the local community. This book argues that English adversarial political culture creates far more incentives to politicize high-profile crimes than Norwegian consensus political culture. Drawing on a wealth of empirical research, Green suggests that the tendency for politicians to justify punitive responses to crime by invoking harsh political attitudes is based upon a flawed understanding of public opinion. In a compelling study, Green proposes a more deliberative response to crime is possible by making English culture less adversarial and by making informed public judgment more accessible.

Oxford University Press. Oxford. 2008. 353p.

By Murray A. Straus, Emily M. Douglas and Rose Anne Medeiros

Why do parents hit those they love? What effect does it have on children? What can be done to end this pattern? These are some of the questions explored in The Primordial Violence. Featuring longitudinal data from over 7,000 U.S. families as well as results from a 32 nation study, the book presents the latest research on the extent to which spanking is used in different cultures and the subsequent effects of its use on children and on society. Evidence that shows the relationship between spanking and the subsequent slowing of cognitive development and increase in antisocial and criminal behavior is shown. Both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies are explored in an accessible fashion. An abundance of high quality research has produced findings that are highly consistent from study to study which show that spanking is a risk factor for aggressive behavior and other social and psychological problems. Because of these findings, the authors argue for policy changes and recommend a drastic reduction in the use of spanking. Policy and practical implications are explored in most chapters.

Routledge, 2013. 432p.

By Katherine Covell and R. Brian Howe

This book examines the risk factors surrounding children at risk of experiencing and perpetrating violence, and looks at the positive role that children's rights can play in their protection.The authors propose that violence in childhood is not spontaneous: that children are raised to become violent in poorly functioning families and child-unfriendly environments. They may be exposed to toxic substances in utero, to maltreatment in infancy, to domestic violence or parental criminality as they grow up. Each of these risk factors is empirically linked with the development of antisocial and aggressive behaviour, and each reflects a violation of children's rights to protection from maltreatment. The authors show how respecting children's rights and safeguarding them from exposure to violence can shift the balance between risk and protective factors and, as a result, reduce the incidence and severity of childhood violence.

Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2008. 288p.