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Pen-pal programmes have long been recognised as an effective tool for developing new synergistic friendships. Many organisations and charities around the world utilise similar programmes involving volunteers writing to prisoners. Such a volunteering experience could be regarded as peculiar when taking into consideration the derogatory views that society holds on these individuals. The present study seeks to explore these volunteers’ experience in becoming a pen-pal to a DRI and maintaining the correspondence. A survey was sent to 98 participants from the Sant’Egidio Community, of which 50 participations were included after applying the exclusion criteria. A Thematic Analysis, following a theoretical and semantic approach, generated six main themes from the data: an Emotional Journey, Evolving Friendship Faith, Criticising the Death Penalty, Difficulties, and a Mutually Beneficial Experience. Participants were overall grateful due to having gained a new perspective in life from this experience. To our knowledge, this area is extremely under-researched, and this study adds to knowledge and empirical findings related to this subject. Limitations and implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social media platforms have become a prominent feature in modern-day communication, allowing users to express opinion and communicate with friends and likeminded individuals. However, with this revolutionary form of communication comes risks of exploitation and utilisation of these platforms for potentially illegal and harmful means. This article aims to explore the community guidelines and policies of prominent social media sites regarding extremist material, comparing the platform's policies with the user experiences. To measure social media user experience and user exposure to extremist material, this article pilots the use of a new scale: The Online Extremism Exposure Scale (OECE), which measures both the user's exposure to extremist communication and hate speech online. Users reported varied levels of exposure to both hate speech and extremist communication, with. the results indicating that users in the sample are being exposed to extremist material approximately 48.44% of the time they spend on social media daily. The results of this pilot study highlight potential failings by prominent social media platforms in their efforts to reduce users being exposed to extremist material. Limitations, future research, and implications are discussed in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perpetrators often have easy access to victims via widely used social media networks, such as Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook. Nowadays, dating applications have provided one more platform where sextortionists identify potential victims and lure them into extortion and victimization. Limited research and media coverage has revealed that sextortion can cause significant harm, with victims reporting negative psychological consequences, such as depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation. Many empirical findings arise from explorations of webcam sextortion, with limited literature examining sextortion in social media platforms, and particularly online dating sites. In the current, exploratory study, we examine these modern trends directly via an online survey of 102 participants. Overall, 62.7% had been sextorted by another dating application user, and 25.5% experienced failed attempts of sextortion by another dating application user. Results uniquely showed that Tinder, as well as Snapchat, are often used as fishing platforms for identifying sextortion victims. Furthermore, sextortion could be successfully predicted if individuals perceived that the perpetrator "seemed genuinely interested," demonstrating how online dating platforms which specifically target those seeking romantic connections provide an ideal mechanism for perpetrators to fish for victims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThere has been a noticeable rise in the number of mass shootings occurring in the US over the last decade with these attacks often being committed by a lone actor. This article aims to explore this, focusing on the time suspension between when the lone actor acquires their firearm and when they commit their attack. The cases involved all occurred in the US and all perpetrators obtained their firearms legally. The results found that, on average, lone actors obtained their firearms 54 days before they committed their mass shooting. Implications, limitations and future research are discussed in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary research has highlighted the steady rise of individuals becoming radicalised via exposure to extremist discussion on the internet, with the ease of communication with other users that the internet provides playing a major role in the radicalisation process of these individuals. The aim of the present systematic review was to explore recent research into the utilisation of language in extremist cyberspaces and how it may influence the radicalisation process. The findings suggest that there are five prominent linguistical behaviours adopted by extremists online: Algorithmic, Conflict, Hate, Positive, and Recruitment. The results demonstrate that the main purpose of extremist language online is to shape the perceptions of users to see their associated group in positive regard, while simultaneously negatively framing outgroup opposition. This is then followed by encouraging conflict against the promoted ideologies' perceived enemies. Limitations, future research, and implications are discussed in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key digested message Sextortion is currently the highest reported form of image-based sexual abuse, a form of online blackmail which has been growing in prevalence since 2021. Research highlights sextortion to have severe psychological consequences, with over a dozen cases of suicide among victims. This paper used two transcripts from the media of victims' experiences, as well as qualitative survey responses from an additional 99 victims, to explore in detail how sextortion affects victims psychologically. A main theme was low self-esteem leading to depression, within which feelings of hopelessness and negative thinking of oneself were prominent. Another main theme was paranoia causing anxiety, which was characterised by a loss of trust and feeling of not being able to escape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spiking has become increasingly more prevalent since the 1990s, with drugs such as Rohypnol, Ketamine and GHB commonly being put unknowingly into people's drinks in nightclubs. More recently, spiking through the use of a needle has become more prevalent in the nighttime economy, with this and the other more commonly known methods of spiking (drink, food) all being limited in research. The current mixed-design study aims to explore victims' spiking experiences and explore the prevalence of the varying forms of this spiking phenomenon. In the study, 131 participants took part and all had experienced spiking. Data were analyzed using statistical testing and content analysis. Findings showed that females were more likely to experience spiking than males, and the experience of each sex was entirely different. Drink spiking was shown to be the most common method of spiking in this sample. Many participants highlighted the lack of support received after victimization, from the establishment and medical professionals. There was also a strong theme of fear from participants regarding potential reactions if they were to report it. Participants also recalled feeling responsible for their victimization due to voluntary alcohol consumption prior to the incident. Implications and limitations are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research has shown that the utilization of electronic devices with internet access has increased rapidly over the past years. With that increase, comes the increased victimization of internet users from cyberbullies. However, we do not know to what level that increase affected the cyberbullying rates in the UK. The current study assessed whether cyber-bullying incidents had increased in the UK during the lockdown period, mainly because of the skyrocketing of the social media use and other online platforms. Overall, the results of this study indicated that the prevalence of cyber-victimization and perpetration declined during the lockdowns when compared to pre-March 2020 rates, and cyber-bullying bystander behaviors increased during the pandemic. Further research is in need to examine the latter assumption. Implications and limitations are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women who commit intimate partner homicide (IPH) are often described in stereotypical ways, such as unfeminine and therefore beyond explanation. Previous research suggests that stereotypical viewpoints have an impact in trial situations. To investigate the extent to which stereotypical beliefs play a part in sentencing, a scale was developed, to measure attitudes towards female perpetrators of IPH. The current project tests the developed scale, which measures attitudes towards female perpetrators of intimate partner homicide in the United Kingdom. Following an extensive review of the literature, a total of 107 items were generated overall, reflecting the stereotypical categories. An expert pool analysed how well each item reflected the category to which it was assigned. This research identified four factors associated with stereotyping of female intimate partner homicide perpetrators, suggesting that specific concepts exist in relation to attitudes towards female homicide perpetrators. The scale could assist in jury verdicts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Attempts to profile behavioural factors of lone actor terrorists have resulted in inconclusive data arguing that the wide range of individual characteristics makes it difficult to categorise lone actor terrorists. Instead, research should investigate the methods used by lone actor terrorists such as the release of a manifesto. The present study used a mixed methods approach to analyse manifestos created by lone actor terrorists (n = 19). Smallest Space Analysis of the language variables within lone actor terrorist manifestos was used to identify three language typologies: Instigator, Planner, and Conspiracy typologies. Findings indicate that 89% of the case studies reviewed were able to be categorised into a typology based on the language used. Further analysis identified key language variables that can be found within the manifestos in each typology combined with behavioural factors to develop a language profile of each typology. Applications of the research are also discussed as well as limitations and future areas of research development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both the HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) have issued public warnings regarding the increasing rates of scams targeting taxpayers and the high financial loss to governmental bodies and individuals around the globe these scams impact (HMRC 2020a; IRS 2021). However, despite this large impact on the economy, there is limited research on the working practices of the individuals behind these acts of fraud (Tzani-Pepelasi et al. in Journal of Forensic and Investigative Accounting, 2020). The present study utilised videos where Internet trolls engage with HMRC/IRS scammers, who attempted to delay scammers and protect victims, to investigate the stages involved with this scam using crime script analysis. The findings of this study potentially highlight that such fraudulent operations utilise scam scripts with amendable steps, according to the scammers' experience and the victims' gullibility. The limitations and implications of the study are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the article, the author discusses the sustained threats of lone wolf terrorism and how to prevent them. Other topics include the potential role of the internet in the increase in lone wolf terrorist activities, how said terrorists are using the internet to share their personal manifestos, and the study on the time differences between the posting of manifestos online and committing lone wolf terrorist acts.

The article focuses on findings of a survey which analyzes increase in domestic abuses (DA) during the Covid-19 pandemic isolation in the United Kingdom. Topics discussed include severity of consequences for the victims of DA, survey participant's attitudes towards and beliefs about DA and domestic abuse prior to the isolation period.

The article offers information related to the "See It, Say It, Sorted," a campaign launched by British Transport Police (BTP) in 2016 to encourage passengers and station users to report critical issue of security in public transportation. Topics discussed include specific suspicious, signs such as avoiding eye contact, police culture and public perceptions and criminal racial stereotype.

Sexting is the sharing of sexually suggestive or provocative content via new technologies. Due to the lack of studies on sexting in Greece, this study aimed to investigate the Greek sexting landscape and its impact on individuals and human relationships. Thus, 485 participants (354 women, 124 men, 4 “other”, 3 undefined) were recruited through an online questionnaire. All participants were Greeks or residents of Greece, and the age range was 16–64. Analysis showed that teens and young adults aged 16–30 tend to sext more than the ones over 30 years old; also, men are more likely to sext (both receive and send) than women. Despite the potential benefits of sexting between partners, it poses several dangers, too, especially when it is not consensual. Apart from its limitations, the study opens the way for further investigation into sexting in Greece. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]