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Policing domestic violence (DV) poses significant challenges in China due to cultural, legal, and organizational complexities. Policing DV in China favors mediation over assertive interventions, complicating law enforcement's role. While previous research has focused on coercive interventions by Chinese police, there is limited information on non-coercive, supportive approaches. This study investigates the relationship between police officers' knowledge and training regarding the Anti-DV law and their willingness to provide supportive services to DV victims in China. It also considers various individual and organizational factors. The data used in this study are derived from the Policing DV in China project, with a sample of 1,353 respondents who had experience dealing with DV cases within the past 3 years. The study focuses on three dependent variables representing supportive approaches to DV cases: Referral, Counseling, and Protection orders. Independent variables include officers' knowledge of the Anti-DV law and agency training. Control variables include the use of body-worn cameras (BWC) and attitudes toward Violence Tolerance, Male Dominance, and Gender Equality. Additionally, demographic variables, working environment, length of service, and police rank are considered. The analytical approach involves a three-step strategy, incorporating descriptive, bivariate analyses, and regression analyses. The results are interpreted using odds ratios and average marginal effects, and statistical software such as SPSS by IBM and R by Open-Source Model is utilized for data analysis. Key findings indicate that more than half of the officers referred intimate partner violence survivors to shelters and assisted victims in filing protection orders. Counseling practices varied across provinces and between male and female officers. Agency training and the use of BWC were positively associated with non-coercive and supportive approaches, while knowledge of the DV Act, male dominance score, and gender equality score did not predict the use of such approaches. Demographic characteristics, including police rank, length of service, and province of employment, influenced the utilization of non-coercive and supportive approaches. This study examines the challenges faced by Chinese police officers when responding to DV cases and their willingness to provide supportive interventions. The study highlights the complexities surrounding the initiation of protection orders due to officers' legal knowledge and discretion. The study emphasizes the importance of police support in addressing DV in China and the role of agency training in promoting non-coercive responses. It highlights regional variations in police support and underscores the need for addressing disparities in service provision across different provinces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study assessed the prevalence of maltreatment experienced by Canadian National Team athletes. In total, 995 athletes participated in this study, including current athletes and athletes who had retired in the past 10 years. An anonymous online survey was administered, consisting of questions about experiences of psychological, physical, and sexual harm, and neglect, as well as questions about identity characteristics, when the harm was experienced, and who perpetrated the harm. Neglect and psychological harm were most frequently reported, followed by sexual harm and physical harm. Female athletes reported significantly more experiences of all forms of harm. Retired athletes reported significantly more neglect and physical harm. Athletes reportedly experienced more harmful behaviors during their time on the national team than before joining a national team. Coaches were the most common perpetrators of all harms except for sexual harm, which was most frequently perpetrated by peers. This study highlighted the prevalence with which Canadian National Team athletes reportedly experience harmful behaviors in sport, suggesting the need for preventative and intervention initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intimate partner violence (IPV) remains an important and alarming global issue. Studies have put forth different profiles of perpetrators of IPV according to the severity of the violence and the presence of psychopathology. The objective of this study was to develop a typology of perpetrators of IPV and intimate partner homicide (IPH) according to their criminological, situational, and psychological characteristics, such as alexithymia. Alexithymia is when a person has difficulty identifying and describing emotions and in distinguishing feelings from bodily sensations of emotional arousal. Data were collected from 67 male perpetrators of IPV and/or homicide. Cluster analyses suggest four profiles: the homicial abandoned partner (19.4%), the generally angry/aggressive partner (23.9%), the controlling violent partner (34.3%), and the unstable dependent partner (22.4%). Comparative analyses show that the majority of the homicidal abandoned partners had committed IPH, had experienced the breakup of a relationship, and had a history of self-destructive behaviors; the generally angry/aggressive partners were perpetrators of IPV without homicide with a criminal history and who were alexithymic; the controlling violent partners had a criminal lifestyle and committed IPH; and the unstable dependent partners had committed IPV without homicide, were alexithymic, but had no criminal history. Establish a better understanding of the psychological issues within each profile of perpetrators of violence within the couple can help promote the prevention of IPV and can help devise interventions for these individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Being fearful of crime is, unfortunately, a common experience. Research shows that many factors influence a person's fear of crime, demonstrating that certain groups are generally more fearful than others. Even though they are typically young, college students express being fearful of crime on and off campus. What has yet to be investigated is whether college students who attend school in the United States are fearful at similar levels to their Canadian counterparts. Further, the correlates of fear of crime may also be different. To explore these issues, data from the American College Health Association's National College Health Assessment II survey of U.S. and Canadian college students are used. Results show that Canadian college students generally perceive their safety as being higher than U.S. college students, even though they face elevated victimization risks. Further, some correlates of fear of crime differ for U.S. and Canadian college students. These findings suggest the need for additional cross-national comparative work to see if patterns generalize across contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article empirically examines the extent to which the co-occurrence of the maltreatment of companion animals and intimate partner violence (IPV) previously documented in samples of women accessing services from domestic violence shelters extends to a nationally representative sample of the general Canadian population, with a specific focus on emotional and financial abuse. Using data from the intimate partner victimization module of the 2014 Canadian General Social Survey (n = 17,950), the authors find that reporting one's intimate partner threatened or abused companion animals in the home increased the probability that one had experienced at least one form of emotional abuse or financial abuse by 38.6% (p ≤.001) and 7.5% (p ≤.001), respectively, net of several key control variables. Moreover, the findings indicate that those who identify as women are significantly more likely to report their partner emotionally or financially abused them and threatened or mistreated their pet(s); the connection between animal maltreatment and IPV is particularly pronounced for emotional IPV when compared with other forms of IPV; challenge the commonplace conceptualization of animal abuse as a form of property abuse; and suggest a need for a more nuanced understanding of IPV perpetrators vis-à-vis animal maltreatment. This is the first study to use nationally representative data to assess the co-occurrence of animal abuse and IPV, and as such, it makes significant contributions to the interdisciplinary literature on animal abuse and IPV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most of the research on caregiver vulnerabilities associated with the perpetration of child maltreatment (CM) focuses on perpetrators of child physical or sexual abuse. Less is known about the association of specific caregiver vulnerabilities and the risk of other CM types or how these vulnerabilities are related to child harm. The aim of the study was to examine the association of caregiver's vulnerabilities with types of substantiated CM and child physical and mental/emotional harm as a result of maltreatment. Data were from the Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect collected in 2008 (CIS-2008). The CIS-2008 consisted of investigations of children aged 15 years and younger from 112 child welfare sites across Canada (N = 15,980). Descriptive statistics and logistic regression were used to examine relationships between caregiver vulnerabilities and outcomes of interest. Caregiver vulnerabilities were prevalent among cases of CM substantiated by child welfare agencies across Canada. Low social support, domestic violence, mental health issues, and substance abuse problems were noted among a substantial proportion of abusive caregivers. Caregiver cognitive impairments and domestic violence perpetration were associated with increased odds of child physical harm, but only among children aged 0 to 4 years. Most individual types of caregiver vulnerabilities were associated with increased odds of child mental or emotional harm across all child age groups. Insight into caregiver vulnerabilities associated with the perpetration of CM may help inform intervention targets prior to a family's involvement in the child welfare system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Physical dating violence (PDV) victimization among adolescents is a serious global problem. Although knowledge of trends in PDV victimization can help guide programming and health policies, little research has examined whether the prevalence of PDV victimization has increased, decreased, or remained stable over time among non-U.S.-based samples of youth. In addition, few studies have directly tested whether disparities in PDV victimization between boys and girls have narrowed, widened, or remained unchanged in recent years. To address these gaps, we used school-based data from the British Columbia Adolescent Health Survey (BC AHS) of 2003, 2008, and 2013 (n boys = 18,441 and n girls = 17,459) to examine 10-year trends in PDV victimization. We also tested whether trends differed across self-reported sex. Data from the 2003 to 2013 BC AHS revealed that recent PDV victimization rates had significantly decreased among youth overall (5.9%-5.0%) and boys (8.0%-5.8%), but not girls (5.3%-4.2%). Although boys had steeper declines than girls in PDV victimization rates, year-by-sex interactions indicate that the sex gap in PDV victimization had not significantly narrowed. Moreover, rates of PDV victimization over the 10-year period indicated significantly higher rates of PDV victimization among boys compared with girls. Despite positive declines in recent rates of PDV victimization among youth, important differences in rates of PDV victimization between boys and girls remain. These findings underscore the need for greater attention to sex differences in research and programming and health policies to reduce PDV victimization and the sex disparities therein. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exposure to violence is recognized as a major health concern among adolescent populations. The evidence base that links religious involvement with risks for child violence is inconsistent. In a national analysis involving a weighted sample of 24,307 young people, we studied the perpetration of violence (fighting and bullying), as well as victimization by violence (bullying only), among young people who were affiliated with religious groups. One in four young Canadians reported involvement in such groups. Study findings confirmed some unique patterns among this group. First, these religiously involved children reported the same or greater levels of perpetration of violence than other children. Second, religiously involved children reported the same or greater levels of experiencing victimization from violence. Third, religious involvement appeared to protect against engagement in certain overt risk-taking behaviors, but not violence. These patterns were consistent even after adjustment for family, community, socioeconomic, and school-related determinants. If religious communities are to fulfill mandates that foster the protection and nurturing of children into healthy relationships, violence is best addressed using evidence-based strategies. Development of such effective preventive strategies requires the incorporation of contemporary evidence about the distribution, determinants, and possible effects of violence in such groups. Findings from our study suggest that a silence around the issue of violence may in fact be true in the context of some Canadian religious communities. Yet, if these communities make an intentional commitment to protecting children from violence and promoting healthy relationships, and are willing to learn from evidence-based practices that have shown to protect children from participating in and experiencing violent and victim behaviors, perhaps these disturbing trends could be reversed. This message is germane for all levels of leadership in Canadian religious communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Offender specialization—the tendency to repeat specific offenses—is the basis of practical orientations toward managing offending by the criminal justice system. Alternatively, dominant criminological paradigms postulate that offending versatility is the norm. We consider this incongruity by, first, considering "practice" in action, through the examination of the designations used by the Canadian criminal justice system to categorize offenders based on the assumption of specialization, and whether these determinations accurately reflect the offending behavior of offenders who have committed violent interpersonal crimes. Second, we compare several other measures of specialization among our population to investigate whether different measures produce similar findings regarding the repeat of specific offense types. Official criminal record data, from first offense to the end of the study date (2014), for a population of offenders in a western Canadian city who were convicted of violent interpersonal sexual and nonsexual offenses (N = 110), were used to examine the tendency toward specialization. We employ three measures of specialization: the specialization threshold, mean percent specialization, and the diversity index—across this group of career criminals. Results indicate that evidence of specialization depends on the way in which it is measured. Although there is some support for the treatment of individuals who sexually offend against children as a distinct group compared with those who are violent (sexually or nonsexually) toward adults, there is greater evidence of versatility among all offenders than there is of specialization. Our findings suggest that establishing the risk of future offending using models other than those geared toward offense specialization may be more effective for addressing offending patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has shown that female survivors of childhood abuse (CA) are more likely than nonabused women to experience long-term physical health concerns. Adult attachment may influence this relationship given that attachment insecurity has been linked to poorer physical health and postulated mechanisms of action are similar. This study used structural equation modeling to investigate whether adult attachment insecurity mediates the relationship between four types of CA and self-reported physical health in 538 undergraduate women. CA prevalence rates ranged from 11.7% (sexual abuse) to 34.9% (psychological abuse). In separate structural equation models, direct pathways were significant between CA and adult attachment insecurity, CA and adult physical health, and adult attachment insecurity and adult physical health. Adult attachment insecurity was found to partially mediate health outcomes in CA survivors, S–B χ2 = 116.60 (58), p <.001; comparative fit index =.95; Tucker–Lewis index =.94; root mean square error of approximation =.05; and confidence interval = [.03,.06]. Physical health is a significant concern for survivors of CA, and these results suggest improving attachment security may represent an important avenue of intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Past research on the spatial mobility of serial offenders has generally found that these individuals make calculated decisions about the ways in which they come into contact with suitable victims. Within the geographic profiling literature, four victim-search methods have been theorized that describe how serial predatory offenders hunt for their victims: hunter, poacher, troller, and trapper. Using latent class analysis, the aim of this study is to test whether this theoretical typology can be empirically derived using data that were collected from both police files and semi-structured interviews with 72 serial sex offenders who committed 361 stranger sexual assaults. Empirical support is found for each of the aforementioned victim-search methods, in addition to two others: indiscriminate opportunist and walking prowler. Chi-square analyses are also conducted to test for associations between this typology and characteristics of the offense such as victim information, environmental factors, and the offender's modus operandi strategies. Findings from these analyses suggest that the types of victims and environments targeted by the offender, as well as the behaviors that take place both before and during the offense, are dependent upon the offender's victim-search strategy. Although the theoretical hunter, poacher, troller, and trapper were intended to describe the victim-search methods of serial violent predators more generally, the finding that these strategies exist along with two others in this sample of sexual offenders may indicate that search behavior is specific to certain crime types. Furthermore, these findings may be of assistance in the investigation of stranger sexual assaults by providing law-enforcement officials with possible clues as to the characteristics of the unknown suspect, the times and places likely targeted in any past or future events, and possibly even his base of operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), defined as exposure to abuse and adverse household events, are prevalent among certain offenders including those who commit intimate partner violence (IPV). However, it is not clear how ACEs relate to criminal propensity among IPV offenders, who have been shown to exhibit less antisociality and institutional violence than other offenders. We compared 99 male offenders with a current or previous offense of IPV with 233 non-IPV violent offenders and 103 nonviolent offenders undergoing institutional forensic assessment. This convenience sample allowed for use of extensive psychosocial records as well as study of institutional violence. IPV offenders had the highest mean ACE score and more extensive criminal propensity on some measures (violent and nonviolent criminal history and psychopathy) than both other groups. ACEs were associated with most measures of criminal propensity in the whole sample but with only one (actuarial risk of violent recidivism) in the subsample of IPV offenders. Finding that ACEs are prevalent among IPV offenders even in this sample with extensive mental illness demonstrates the robustness of this phenomenon. IPV offenders, though, are similar to other violent offenders in this respect, and there is insufficient evidence that ACEs represent a criminogenic need among IPV offenders specifically. Further research could draw from the batterer typology literature and attend to IPV offenders' broader criminal careers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]