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This paper exploits the sharp escalation of violence in Colombia in the 1980s associated with the emergence of drug cartels to provide novel evidence on the long-run effects of violence exposure throughout the life-course, on children's educational attainment and academic achievement using administrative data. I find that, a higher homicide rate in early-childhood is associated with a higher probability of school dropout and conditional on completing high school, lower scores on a national end-of-high school exam. Results are robust to several falsification tests, and analyses of potential sources of selection bias. I provide supportive evidence that changes in fetal, child, and adolescent health outcomes are important potential mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Worldwide, it is widely recognized that violent conflicts constrain economic growth and development. Thus, it is necessary to research and analyse the main causes of violence and their relationship with development. This paper analyses how violence has affected economic development in the Mexican context during the 2000–2015 period. It takes into account that in the last decade, this country has had increased levels of violence, especially since the 'war on drugs' against drug trafficking was promulgated in 2006. This study uses different econometric models that apply the assessments of the panel unit root and cointegration tests and panel cointegration estimation. The results indicate that the tests used to validate the data allow the panel data cointegration relationships to be calculated. They demonstrate the existence of a long-run relationship between violence and economic development. Specifically, the results take into account that gross domestic product per capita and public investments have inverse relationships with the homicide rate, whereas poverty, unemployment, illiteracy and the Gini index have direct relationships with the homicide rate. Moreover, violence is strongly related to the deterrence variables. The findings of this study demonstrate that drug trafficking explains the increased violence in Mexico. Thus, it is important to develop and formulate adequate policies to control this situation, take measures to control violence starting with its root causes and promote social and economic development with a strategy to strengthen legal activities in society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inequality in economic and social outcomes across U.S. regions has grown in recent decades. The economic theory of crime predicts that this increased variability would raise geographic disparities in violent crime. Instead, I find that geographic disparities in homicide rates decreased. Moreover, these same decades saw decreases in the geographic disparities in policing, incarceration, and the share of the population that is African American. Thus, changes in policing, incarcerations, and racial composition could have led to a decrease in inequality in homicide rates. Moreover, the joint provision of law enforcement by local, state, and federal authorities may have reduced the impact of economic distress on violent crime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research suggests that the social effects of internal migration may be substantially different from those associated with international immigration. In this paper, I provide the first evidence of the effect of internal migration on crime with panel data from Brazilian microregiões (microregions). Using local labor demand shocks as an instrumental variable, I find that a 10% increase in the in-migration rate translates to a 9.4% increase in the homicide rate in destination areas. I propose that the effect is driven by intermediating labor market effects and not by the migrants themselves. Exploring these possible channels, I do not find that crime-prone migrants drive the results. The effect is only significant in locations with high past crime rates, indicating crime inertia, and in places with a small informal sector, suggesting that the impact of internal migration is conditioned by the ability of local labor markets to accommodate migrants. This finding is supported by a negative effect of in-migration on formal employment in rigid markets and a positive effect on unemployment among young men, with the latter explaining most of the total effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How does organized crime affect foreign direct investment (FDI) in developing countries? Some research examines the effects of crime, such as homicide rates, on FDI. However, we know little about how organized crime in particular might affect such investment. This paper examines organized crime and FDI in Mexican states between 2000 and 2018. This case is important because Mexico is one of the top global recipients of FDI. At the same time, criminal violence has killed hundreds of thousands of people in Mexico in recent years, and scholars seek to understand the violence's wider effects. We explain how organized crime competition, as opposed to crime generally, should shape investors' decisions. Analyses using original data on criminal organization territory find that higher numbers of criminal groups are associated with lower levels of new FDI. Other measures of crime, such as homicide rates or crime rates, are not associated with foreign investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Acta Histriae is the property of Historical Society of Southern Primorska of Koper and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Gun homicide rates have risen 35% across the USA since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. One promising intervention to prevent violent crime is summer youth employment programs (SYEPs), which provide youth with meaningful workplace experiences, prosocial engagements, and developmental opportunities during the summer months, when many otherwise lack structure. This paper presents a cost analysis of violence prevention-focused SYEPs to help implementers understand the costs generally and in their own community contexts—to advocate for adoption and secure funding of, effectively budget for, and successfully implement SYEPs. Researchers use an ingredient-based costing approach and provide a template for implementers to use and adapt for their context. SYEPs with the goal of reaching youth who are justice-involved or at risk of being victims or perpetrators of violence can cost $3331 per youth assisted, with 54% of this cost directly paid to youth through stipends. Cost per youth is driven by the intensity of the mentoring and support that community organizations provide to the program participants. Knowing the cost per youth assisted can inform further analysis, implementation, and expansion of SYEPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A substantial number of qualitative studies examined how adult victims of potentially traumatic events (PTEs) experienced support provided by family members, friends, colleagues, and other significant others in the informal network. Importantly, the large majority of qualitative studies focused on the perceived support of victims of specific events such as sexual offences, partner violence, homicide, accidents and disasters. Although it is likely that across specific PTEs there are similarities as well as differences in experienced support from the informal network, to date no systematic review synthesized the results of qualitative studies on support from the informal network following various types of PTEs. The aim of the present systematic review is to fill this gap in the scientific knowledge, which is also highly relevant for victim services, policymakers, and the informal network. Methods: A literature search of qualitative studies was conducted using the electronic databases of PubMed, Web of Science, CINAHL, Psych INFO, Scopus, Criminal Justice Abstracts and Picarta. The quality of the identified studies was assessed with the Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative research (COREQ) checklist, followed by analysis of the results of the identified studies using Qualitative Evidence Synthesis. Findings: Seventy-five papers were included in the synthesis, involving 2799 victims of PTEs such as accidents, disasters, homicide, intimate partner violence (IPV), and sexual offences. Saturation was only achieved for IPV. Overall, four major categories of perceived social support were identified, namely, support perceived as supportive, supportive but insufficient, unsupportive, and absent from informal support providers, which included friends, family, neighbors, (if applicable) offender's family, religious group members, work/school colleagues, fellow victims, the local community, and the social network in general. Across the PTE groups, there were similarities in experiencing positive forms of support (particularly empathy and sharing experiences) as well as negative forms of support (abandonment, avoidance, lack of empathy, and not experiencing support despite victim's request for help). There were also differences across PTE groups, in particular, victims of sexual and intimate partner violence mentioned a number of other supportive (mobilizing support, no unsupportive responses) and non-supportive (e.g., justification or normalization of violence and minimizing responses) responses. Conclusions: The review showed that different actors within the social informal network can play an important role in providing support after victims experience violence, homicide, accidents, and disasters. However, the review revealed that the large majority of qualitative studies were aimed at victims of IPV, and only for this type of PTE was saturation achieved. This indicates that, although this synthesis identified several similarities and differences, it is still too early to draw more definitive conclusions on similarities and differences in experienced social support after various PTEs and that future qualitative studies focusing on other PTEs are much needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Colombiana de Sociologia is the property of Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Facultad de Ciencias Humanas, Departamento de Sociologia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper contributes to the investigation of machinability factors in turning the nickelbased Inconel 625 superalloy with PVD coated TiAlN tungsten carbide cutting insert. The machinability parameters - cutting force (Fc), tool wear rate (dw/dt), and tool temperature (T) are visualized graphically using the FE model based Deform 3D software interface. The paper discusses the application of boundary conditions, and meshing used for simulating results. The results of the dry turning simulation showed a maximum level of cutting force, tool-tip temperature, and tool wear rate in comparison with conventional MQL and NMQL conditions. The NMQL conditions showed a reduction in cutting force with the use of h-BN NMQL environment compared with dry and conventional MQL machining by 41% and 27%, respectively. Further, the comparison of cutting tool temperature for three simulated conditions showed a clear-cut reduction of temperature in NMQL conditions in comparison with dry and conventional MQL, by 44% and 30%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista de Economía Institucional is the property of Universidad Externado de Colombia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Disparity in suicide rates across various metropolitan areas in the US is growing. Besides personal genomics and pre-existing mental health conditions affecting individual-level suicidal behaviors, contextual factors are also instrumental in determining region-/community-level suicide risk. However, there is a lack of quantitative approach to model the complex associations and interplays of the socio-environmental factors with the regional suicide rates. In this paper, we propose a holistic data-driven framework to model the associations of socio-environmental factors (demographic, socio-economic, and climate) with the suicide rates, and compare the key socio-environmental determinants of suicides across the large and medium/small metros of the vulnerable US states, leveraging a suite of advanced statistical learning algorithms. We found that random forest outperforms all the other models in terms of both in-sample goodness-of-fit and out-of-sample predictive accuracy, which is then used for statistical inferencing. Overall, our findings show that there is a significant difference in the relationships of socio-environmental factors with the suicide rates across the large and medium/small metropolitan areas of the vulnerable US states. Particularly, suicides in medium/small metros are more sensitive to socio-economic and demographic factors, while that in large metros are more sensitive to climatic factors. Our results also indicate that non-Hispanics, native Hawaiian or Pacific islanders, and adolescents aged 15-29 years, residing in the large metropolitan areas, are more vulnerable to suicides compared to those living in the medium/small metropolitan areas. We also observe that higher temperatures are positively associated with higher suicide rates, with large metros being more sensitive to such association compared to that of the medium/small metros. Our proposed data-driven framework underscores the future opportunities of using big data analytics in analyzing the complex associations of socio-environmental factors and inform policy actions accordingly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the main entertainment place for human beings, the hidden problems of the Internet are becoming more and more obvious, of which cyber-violence is one of the most typical problems at present. When studying the factors that influence cyber violence, various technologies and methods are used to explain the relationships between specific variables. Unexpectedly, the structural equation model (SEM) has acquired very little concern in factors affecting cyber-violence incidents. In order to solve the limitations of this knowledge body, this study is to establish a model by using structural equation modeling to determine the key factors affecting college students' cyber-violence. In this paper, by designing a questionnaire to obtain relevant data, five potential influencing factors of cyber violence are quantified, including netizens' behavior factors, moral sentiment factors, netizens' psychological factors, social environment factors and behavior analysis factors. On the basis of excavating the multi-layer complex interactive relationship between the influencing factors of cyber violence, ten hypothetical relationships are established and compared by using a structural equation model. Through the analysis of the influencing factors of cyber-violence, it is recognized that reasonably guiding cyber groups is one of the important way to solve extreme mass incidents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Violence is a key mechanism in the reproduction of community disadvantage. The existing evidence indicates that violence in a community impacts the intergenerational mobility of its residents. The current study explores the possibility of a reverse relationship. This study provisionally tests the hypothesis that depressed intergenerational mobility in a community may also spark subsequent community violence. We deploy a county measure of intergenerational mobility captured during early adulthood for a cohort of youth born between 1980 and 1986 and raised in low-income families [R. Chetty, N. Hendren, Quart. J. Econom. 133, 1163-1228 (2018)]. We model the relationship between county mobility scores and two county-level outcomes: violent crime and homicide. We find that a county's level of intergenerational mobility as measured by the Chetty-Hendren data is a major predictor of its rate of violent crime and homicide in 2008, when the youth in Chetty's mobility cohort were young adults (the same age the mobility measure was captured). In fact, mobility is a significantly stronger and more consistent predictor of community violent crime and homicide rates than more commonly used factors like poverty, inequality, unemployment, and law enforcement presence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Annual global data on mental disorders prevalence and firearm death rates for 2000–2019, enables the U.S. to be compared with comparable counties for these metrics. Methods: The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) Global Health Burden data were used to compare the prevalence of mental disorders with overall, homicide and suicide firearm death rates including homicides and suicides, in high sociodemographic (SDI) countries. Results: Overall and in none of the nine major categories of mental disorders did the U.S. have a statistically-significant higher rate than any of 40 other high SDI countries during 2019, the last year of available data. During the same year, the U.S. had a statistically-significant higher rate of all deaths, homicides, and suicides by firearm (all p<<0.001) than all other 40 high SDI countries. Suicides accounted for most of the firearm death rate differences between the U.S. and other high SDI countries, and yet the prevalence of mental health disorders associated with suicide were not significantly difference between the U.S. and other high SDI countries. Conclusion: Mental disorder prevalence in the U.S. is similar in all major categories to its 40 comparable sociodemographic countries, including mental health disorders primarily associated with suicide. It cannot therefore explain the country's strikingly higher firearm death rate, including suicide. Reducing firearm prevalence, which is correlated with the country's firearm death rate, is a logical solution that has been applied by other countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shows how deportation policies can backfire by disseminating not only ideas between countries but also criminal networks, spreading gangs, in this case, across El Salvador, and spurring migration back to the United States. In 1996, the US Illegal Immigration Responsibility Act increased the number of criminal deportations. In particular, the members of large Salvadoran gangs developed in Los Angeles were sent back to El Salvador. Using variation in criminal deportations over time and across cohorts, combined with geographical variation in US gangs' location, I find that these deportations led to an increase in homicide rates and gang activity, as well as an increase in gang recruitment and migration of children. (JEL J15, J18, K37, K42, O17) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of EURE is the property of Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

We explore the feasibility of using machine learning on a police dataset to forecast domestic homicides. Existing forecasting instruments based on ordinary statistical instruments focus on non-fatal revictimization, produce outputs with limited predictive validity, or both. We implement a "super learner," a machine learning paradigm that incorporates roughly a dozen machine learning models to increase the recall and AUC of forecasting using any one model. We purposely incorporate police records only, rather than multiple data sources, to illustrate the practice utility of the super learner, as additional datasets are often unavailable due to confidentiality considerations. Using London Metropolitan Police Service data, our model outperforms all extant domestic homicide forecasting tools: the super learner detects 77.64% of homicides, with a precision score of 18.61% and a 71.04% Area Under the Curve (AUC), which, collectively and severely, are assessed as "excellent." Implications for theory, research, and practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study takes advantage of newly released journal metrics to investigate whether local journals with more qualified boards have lower acceptance rates, based on data from 219 Turkish national journals and 2,367 editorial board members. This study argues that journal editors can signal their scholarly quality by publishing in reputable journals. Conversely, editors publishing inside articles in affiliated national journals would send negative signals. The research predicts that high (low) quality editorial boards will conduct more (less) selective evaluation and their journals will have lower (higher) acceptance rates. Based on the publication strategy of editors, four measures of board quality are defined: Number of board inside publications per editor (INSIDER), number of board Social Sciences Citation Index publications per editor (SSCI), inside-to-SSCI article ratio (ISRA), and board citation per editor (CITATION). Predictions are tested by correlation and regression analysis. Low-quality board proxies (INSIDER, ISRA) are positively, and high-quality board proxies (SSCI, CITATION) are negatively associated with acceptance rates. Further, we find that receiving a larger number of submissions, greater women representation on boards, and Web of Science and Scopus (WOSS) coverage are associated with lower acceptance rates. Acceptance rates for journals range from 12% to 91%, with an average of 54% and a median of 53%. Law journals have significantly higher average acceptance rate (68%) than other journals, while WOSS journals have the lowest (43%). Findings indicate some of the highest acceptance rates in Social Sciences literature, including competitive Business and Economics journals that traditionally have low acceptance rates. Research relies on local context to define publication strategy of editors. Findings may not be generalizable to mainstream journals and core science countries where emphasis on research quality is stronger and editorial selection is based on scientific merit. Results offer useful insights into editorial management of national journals and allow us to make sense of local editorial practices. The importance of scientific merit for selection to national journal editorial boards is particularly highlighted for sound editorial evaluation of submitted manuscripts. This is the first attempt to document a significant relation between acceptance rates and editorial board publication behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There is a need for both descriptive and analytical evidence on the factors associated with older adult homicide. The current landscape is insufficient because most published research is confined to the United States, and contains insufficient data about the homicide context. This study protocol describes the proposed method for examining the characteristics and factors associated with older adult homicide in the Australian state of Victoria, using data generated for the criminal and coronial investigation into these deaths stored in the Victorian Homicide Register (VHR). Outcomes will support practitioners, policy makers and other key stakeholders to strengthen prevention strategies to reduce the risk of future homicides among older Victorians. Methods: This study will comprise a single-jurisdiction population-based cross-sectional design to analyse consecutive cases of homicide among community-dwelling older adults in Victoria, Australia for the period 2001 to 2015. All homicides of adults aged 18 years and older, and where the Coroner's investigation is completed at data extraction will be included. Variables will be selected in accordance with elements of the social-ecological model (i.e., individual, interpersonal, incident, and community). This will include: socio-demographic characteristics; presence of mental or physical illness; deceased-offender relationship; nature of any abuse between the deceased and offender; incident location and weapon used; the presence of alcohol or drugs; and criminal justice outcomes. Homicide rates per 100,000 population will be calculated for older adults (aged 65 years and older) and younger adults (aged 18–64 years), and compared as rate ratios using Poisson regression. Descriptive statistics and cross-tabulation will be generated for factors associated with homicide for older compared to younger adults. Homicide typologies based on deceased-offender relationship and motive will be explored within group and family homicides will be compared between older and younger adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In maternity care, disclosure of a past sexual violence (SV) experience can be helpful to clients to discuss specific intimate care needs. Little evidence is available about the disclosure rates of SV within maternity care and reasons for non-disclosure. Aim: The aim of this study was to examine (1) the disclosure rate of SV in maternity care, (2) characteristics associated with disclosure of SV and (3) reasons for non-disclosure. Methods: We conducted a descriptive mixed method study in the Netherlands. Data was collected through a cross-sectional online questionnaire with both multiple choice and open-ended items. We performed binary logistic regression analysis for quantitative data and a reflexive thematic analysis for qualitative data. Results: In our sample of 1,120 respondents who reported SV, 51.9% had disclosed this to a maternity care provider. Respondents were less likely to disclose when they received obstetrician-led care for high-risk pregnancy (vs midwife-led care for low-risk pregnancy) and when they had a Surinamese or Antillean ethnic background (vs ethnic Dutch background). Reasons for non-disclosure of SV were captured in three themes: 'My SV narrative has its place outside of my pregnancy', 'I will keep my SV narrative safe inside myself', and 'my caregiver needs to create the right environment for my SV narrative to be told'. Conclusions: The high level of SV disclosure is likely due to the Dutch universal screening policy. However, some respondents did not disclose because of unsafe care conditions such as the presence of a third person and concerns about confidentiality. We also found that many respondents made a positive autonomous choice for non-disclosure of SV. Disclosure should therefore not be a goal in itself, but caregivers should facilitate an inviting environment where clients feel safe to disclose an SV experience if they feel it is relevant for them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of SMAD Revista Electronica Salud Mental, Alcohol y Drogas is the property of Universidade de Sao Paulo, Escola de Enfermagem de Ribeirao Preto and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Objective: To investigate the medium-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on violence-related offences in Australia, and whether there was evidence of a 'dual pandemic' of family violence in addition to COVID-19. Methods: Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average time series were conducted to analyse publicly available violent crime statistics data from January 2017 to November 2021. Population rates of homicide, sexual, domestic and non-domestic assault were assessed across each Australian state and territory, with the effects of COVID-19 being modelled using the average monthly World Health Organization COVID-19 stringency rating for each jurisdiction. Findings: All jurisdictions in Australia showed increasing or stable domestic assault trends over the past decade, which were not significantly impacted by COVID-19, nor by the subsequent lockdowns. Non-domestic assaults demonstrated a significant, negative relationship with the stringency index for each jurisdiction, except Western Australia. There was no significant change in the rates of homicide or sexual assault across Australia in relation to COVID-19. Conclusion: Overall, there was no evidence of a 'dual pandemic' in Australia, and whilst domestic assaults continue to increase across the country, non-domestic assaults showed a notable but brief decline. However, these have returned to levels at least as high as pre-COVID-19 and some states show a continuing upward trend. The findings also suggest that alcohol availability may have played a role in continuing high violence numbers. Given the ongoing increasing and high levels of family violence in Australia, revised conceptual frameworks and interventions are indicated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United States combine high rates of firearm homicides with high gun prevalence. In the past, a significant positive association was found between the two. This study revisits the gun prevalence-gun homicide debate using more elaborate estimates of gun ownership for the 50 States. Longitudinal data (1999–2016) were analysed with Bayesian multilevel Gamma-Poisson models. The results demonstrated a very small positive association that diminished after adjusting for crime rates. Findings suggest that the association either attenuated in more recent years, or previous studies had overestimated this association. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Around the world, non-state armed actors have been linked to the illegal extraction of energy resources. This research note explores the case of Mexico. Anecdotal evidence suggests that criminal groups have been gaining control of energy infrastructure across the country. At the same time, oil tapping has been directly associated with criminal violence. Yet, there has not been a systematic effort to causally identify the relationship between illegal extraction and criminal violence. In this research note, we use the exogenous variation in international oil prices—as a measure of potential profits—to assess the effect of access to energy infrastructure on criminal-related violence. Our results show that increases in oil prices are associated with higher levels of homicide rates in municipalities with pipelines and in neighboring municipalities. Specifically, a standard price increase during this period is associated with approximately 20% more homicides per year in municipalities with gasoline pipelines. A locality-level analysis suggests a non-linear distance effect. Finally, we also explore criminal fragmentation as the mechanism connecting access to resources and violence. We find that access to pipelines is associated with higher presence of organized crime groups, but not necessarily with more fragmentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The drug/violence relationship has been a recurrent topic of interest in criminology and sociology. This interest began with the crack epidemic in the 1980s and continues due to the consolidation and functioning of the cocaine markets of Latin American drug trafficking organizations. We approach the drug/violence relationship in Pereira (Colombia) which is strategic for the global cocaine market and for the Colombian domestic market. This city has an average homicide rate of 38.5 per 100,000 inhabitants (2010–2019). To test the drug/violence relationship, we used Goldstein's systemic violence theory and Zimring and Hawkins' contingent causality theory. We analyze the influence of socioeconomic and drug trafficking variables on homicides between the years 2010 and 2019. Our dataset comes from official Colombian government sources. We performed multivariate regression modeling through structural equation modeling with partial least squares (PLS-SEM). Our model was consistent and obtained statistical significance for all years, resulting in a good approximation to the study of the phenomenon. Based on the evidence, we can affirm that there is a relationship among violence/drug trafficking/socioeconomic disadvantages, thus confirming the contingent causation theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intimate partner violence (IPV) includes assaults that risk a woman's bodily integrity. Intimate partners commit IPV, people with whom the victim shares (or shared) a close personal or sexual relationship. This phenomenon has a great global and national impact. Thus, it is necessary to establish trends of the risk of physical violence to women by their current or former partner in each department of Colombia and its relationship with sociodemographic and health characteristics. This study uses an ecological approach at the departmental level, with victims of intimate partner violence treated at the National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences (INMLyCF). Potential factors were identified through Bayesian factor analysis and were included in the model to estimate risk. The findings show that the Casanare department had the highest risk of producing victims (SMR: 2.545). In departments where the educational level of women is at or below primary school, there is a high-risk β = 0.343 (0.285, 0.397) of them being assaulted. For the departments in which the employment of women is in sales and services or office workers, the associated factor presents a higher risk β = 0.361 (0.201, 0.485), as in the risk related to affiliation with the social security system β = 0.338 (0.246, 0.498), as well as sexual and reproductive life β = 0.143 (0.003, 0.322). The following categories were associated with physical gender violence: no education and low participation in making purchases at home β = 0.106 (0.049, 0.199), low participation in decisions about their health, and visits to family and friends β = 0.240 (0.170, 0.299). Therefore, public health programs should strengthen women's empowerment in household decisions and increase their educational level to reduce this incidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The systematic technique used to detect and analyze crime patterns and trends is called crime analysis and prevention. The proposed model will be able to predict regions that have a high chance of crime occurrence. Crime data specialists can assist police officers in stopping crime more quickly. Our goal is to develop methods that can forecast homicide activities based on demographic and economic data from a specific area. In this project, we use a classification and clustering algorithm to build an effective crime prediction model. Support vector networks, multivariate time-series data, and artificial neural networks are some of the prediction approaches that can be used to test the efficiency of prediction models. We use multiple algorithms for classification and clustering and then we compare with accuracy. To measure the out-oftraining effectiveness of classifiers, we use a ten-fold cross-validation approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work discusses the issue on how to include data about property and violent crimes in the production technology for the assessment of police technical efficiency. It applies recent advances in Directional Distances and Nonparametric Estimators. We claim that crime is an external variable not under the control of the decision units in view of the fact that it is exogenously determined. The results from the Conditional Directional Distance Analysis can be relevant to cities with high property misdemeanors and homicide rates. Our analysis may be helpful to obtain a more robust and fair classification of police and justice units under similar circumstances, determine the empirical effect of crime on police productivity, their optimal input–output relationship, explore potential associations and compensation effects, and rewarding efficient policy makers in the prevention of crime based on measures of police efficiency and effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 1911 New York State Sullivan Act outlawed carrying concealable firearms without a licence, established strict licencing rules and regulated the sale and possession of handguns. We analyse the effects of the Sullivan Act using historical data on mortality rates, pistol permits and citations for illegal carrying. Our analysis of pistol permits and citations reveal clear initial effects of the Sullivan Act on gun-related behaviours. Using synthetic control and difference-in-differences methodologies, our main analyses show no effects on overall homicide rates, evidence of a reduction in overall suicide rates and strong evidence of a large and sustained decrease in gun-related suicide rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Cuadernos de Geografia: Revista Colombiana de Geografía is the property of Universidad Nacional de Colombia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of América Latina Hoy is the property of Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Residents in US cities are exposed to high levels of stress and violent crime. At the same time, a number of cities have put forward "greening" efforts which may promote nature's calming effects and reduce stressful stimuli. Previous research has shown that greening may lower aggressive behaviors and violent crime. In this study we examined, for the first time, the longitudinal effects over a 30-year period of average city greenness on homicide rates across 290 major cities in the US, using multilevel linear growth curve modeling. Overall, homicide rates in US cities decreased over this time-period (52.1–33.5 per 100,000 population) while the average greenness increased slightly (0.41–0.43 NDVI). Change in average city greenness was negatively associated with homicide, controlling for a range of variables (β = −.30, p -value =.02). The results of this study suggest that efforts to increase urban greenness may have small but significant violence-reduction benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Científica General José María Córdova is the property of Escuela Militar de Cadetes General Jose Maria Cordova and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

We estimate changes in the rates of five FBI Part 1 crimes during the 2020 spring COVID-19 pandemic lockdown period and the period after the killing of George Floyd through December 2020. We use weekly crime rate data from 28 of the 70 largest cities in the United States from January 2018 to December 2020. Homicide rates were higher throughout 2020, including during early 2020 prior to March lockdowns. Auto thefts increased significantly during the summer and remainder of 2020. In contrast, robbery and larceny significantly declined during all three post-pandemic periods. Point estimates of burglary rates pointed to a decline for all four periods of 2020, but only the pre-pandemic period was statistically significant. We construct a city-level openness index to examine whether the degree of openness just prior to and during the lockdowns was associated with changing crime rates. Larceny and robbery rates both had a positive and significant association with the openness index implying lockdown restrictions reduced offense rates whereas the other three crime types had no detectable association. While opportunity theory is a tempting post hoc explanation of some of these findings, no single crime theory provides a plausible explanation of all the results. for this article are available online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land and environmental defenders are a major bulwark against environmental destruction and biodiversity loss resulting from unsustainable nature resource extraction. Resultant conflicts can lead to violence against and deaths of these defenders. Along with mounting environmental pressures, homicides of these defenders are increasing globally. Yet, this issue has only recently started to receive scientific attention. While existing studies indicate the importance of socio-economic processes in driving such murders, spatially explicit global analyses considering environmental components are largely missing. Here, we take a broad spatial approach to assess relative contributions of environmental factors to the killing of environmental defenders. We find higher rates of such homicides are typically found in areas where limited or underutilized resources (e.g., freshwater, land and forests) are more available. Our results point towards a prevalent global land scarcity that results in industries targeting the last remaining strongholds for biodiversity and the environmental defenders within. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Background: Trans women face disproportionate burden of adverse health outcomes, including mental health issues. Very little is known about suicidal behavior among trans women in low- and middle-income settings, such as Brazil. We aimed to estimate the prevalence of lifetime suicidal behavior and to identify its associated factors among Brazilian trans women. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted among 345 trans women living in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. We examined the prevalence of suicidal behavior (ideation and suicide attempt) and its associated factors using stepwise backward Poisson regression analysis with robust variance. Results: Suicidal ideation was present among 47.25% of participants, and the prevalence of lifetime suicide attempt was 27.25%. Trans women with prior physical violence perpetrated by a family member had significantly higher prevalence of suicidal ideation (adjusted prevalence ratios [aPR]1.37), whereas those who reported sex work had lower prevalence ratio of suicidal ideation (aPR 0.76). Suicide attempt was significantly associated with living alone (aPR 1.48), physical violence by a casual partner (aPR 1.92), and sexual violence by a family member (aPR 1.69). Depression was significantly associated with both outcomes (aPR 1.90 for suicidal ideation and aPR 2.21 for suicide attempt). Conclusion: Suicidal behavior prevalence rates among Brazilian trans women were alarming and directly linked to violence and poor mental health. Effective mental health and public health policies addressing violence against trans women are urgently needed to prevent suicidal behavior among this highly vulnerable population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decade, large urban counties have implemented ShotSpotter, a gun fire detection technology, across the USA. It uses acoustic listening devices to identify discharged firearms' locations. We examined the effect of ShotSpotter with a pooled, cross-sectional time-series analysis within the 68 large metropolitan counties in the USA from 1999 to 2016. We identified ShotSpotter implementation years through publicly available media. We used a Poisson distribution to model the impact of ShotSpotter on firearm homicides, murder arrests, and weapons arrests. ShotSpotter did not display protective effects for all outcomes. Counties in states with permit-to-purchase firearm laws saw a 15% reduction in firearm homicide incidence rates; counties in states with right-to-carry laws saw a 21% increase in firearm homicide incidence rates. Results suggest that implementing ShotSpotter technology has no significant impact on firearm-related homicides or arrest outcomes. Policy solutions may represent a more cost-effective measure to reduce urban firearm violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although data and research on the topic are lacking, the phenomenon of feigned homicidality in short-term hospitalization appears to have increased in recent years. Inpatient psychiatrists not only assess the seriousness of homicidal threats, but also whether such threats are authentic. However, specific literature and diagnostic manuals provide virtually no clinical guidance for this. The authors present two case examples of homicidality feigned for self-serving purposes that had little to do with hostility against the would-be victim. They recommend an approach to assessment that first takes any threat of homicide seriously, and involves an attempt to assess the seriousness of the threat and risk of harm. Secondly, if feigned homicidality is suspected, clinicians can methodically assess for this using criterion that have been applied to the assessment of malingering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]