BACKGROUND Violence is a major public health issue, globally as well as in the African continent. This paper looks at Nigeria and begins the process of identifying the factors that predict interpersonal violence in that country. The purpose is to interpret the implications of the results presented here for violence prevention programmes in Nigeria. MATERIALS AND METHODS The study is based on ...

Previous studies have described juveniles who sexually offended (JSO) as a rather heterogeneous population. In consequence, different typologies of JSO have been proposed for a better understanding of the causes and interventional needs of JSO. Three previously described types have received support in previous studies, namely, the victim age type (JSO offending against children vs. adolescents ...

Three categories of crime-scene behaviors (violence, interpersonal involvement, and criminal sophistication) among a group of 22 serial and 22 single-victim rapists were studied. Findings indicate that serial rapists were more likely to display a higher level of criminally sophisticated behaviors to avoid detection, whereas single-victim rapists were more likely to behave violently and engage i...

The social identity approach makes a distinction between behavior motivated by intergroup versus interpersonal identities, which may be relevant to victim blaming in the case of rape. Using a mock jury paradigm, we examined the impact of defining rape as an act of interpersonal violence (personal assault) versus intergroup violence (a "hate crime"), crossed with a manipulation describing the at...

Disposal of the body by setting in concrete or sealing with bricks represents relatively rare form of corpse hiding after crime. We report a unique case of juvenile offender who killed his father and subsequently concealed the body. The victim had been reported missing by members of his family but the body was not found until 12 months later. Hidden in concrete body was well preserved allowing ...

The article assesses three approaches to domestic violence: two that use the concept of ‘coercive control’ and one that uses ‘domestic violent crime’. These are: Stark’s concept of coercive control; Johnson’s distinction between situational couple violence and intimate terrorism, in which coercive control is confined to the latter; and that of domestic violent crime, in which all physical viole...

In recent years the European Union has witnessed rising levels of hate crime. However, while there have been a number of legislative and other policy initiatives introduced across the EU to combat such offences, these have developed in a piecemeal and sometimes half-hearted fashion. This article outlines the difficulties evident in theorising hate crime and how these problems have been reflecte...

The Online Romance Scam is a relatively new form of fraud that became apparent in about 2008. In this crime, criminals pretend to initiate a relationship through online dating sites then defraud their victims of large sums of money. This paper presents some descriptive statistics about knowledge and victimization of the online dating romance scam in Great Britain. Our study found that despite i...

A Victim Impact Panel (VIP) is one of many intervention methods implemented to reduce DWI recidivism. While other sentences focus on tangible punishments and rewards, a VIP provides emotional motivation to change one’s behavior and attitudes towards drinking and driving. In study one, I assessed the relationship between VIPs and empathy. Sixty-one participants attending a Victim Impact Panel co...