Different Scripts, Different Casts: A Crime Script Analysis Indicating Intimate Partner Violence Is Not All the Same.

Crime script analysis was used to analyze intimate partner violence diversity by identifying variables significantly associated with different script tracks. Qualitative thematic analysis using official police administrative data from Queensland, Australia, was used to develop an intimate partner violence protoscript (n = 40), followed by quantitative hierarchical cluster analysis and cross-tabulations to examine diversity within scripts. Four diverse script tracks were identified: "escalating jealousy," "persistently possessive," "controlling victim agency," and "enduring argument." Intimate partner diversity exists with divisions based on statistically significant variables. Implications for situational crime prevention and the use of mixed methods for strengthening crime script analysis are discussed.

Childhood maltreatment and decision-making autonomy in adulthood: The mediating roles of self-esteem and social support.

BACKGROUND: Childhood maltreatment (CM) is connected with a large number of maladaptive long-term outcomes. Effective prevention and intervention hinges partly on our understanding of the key mediating mechanisms that help account for the relationship between child maltreatment and its long-term consequences. We know the consequences of CM can extend into adulthood, including the intergenerational transmission of violence, re-victimization, high-risk behavior, and persisting mental health problems. We argue that CM also likely affects decision-making autonomy in adulthood, limiting their independence and exaggerating their risk for other poor outcomes. We suggest that the effects of CM on self-esteem and access to social support mediate this relationship, helping to explain how and why CM impacts autonomy in the long term. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to examine these relationships using a cross-sectional sample of currently married women of Bangladesh aged 15-49 years (N = 426). METHOD: A multi-stage random sampling technique was employed for data collection and a multivariate logistic regression technique was applied for data analysis. RESULTS: Results from the multivariate logistic regression model revealed a direct effect of a history of CM on limited decision-making autonomy in adulthood and a full mediating effect of self-esteem and social support on the associations between CM and decision-making autonomy in women, even after adjusting for theoretically and empirically relevant covariates. CONCLUSIONS: The study findings provide insight into the mechanisms by which early childhood experiences impact autonomous decision-making. However, causality cannot be determined because of the cross-sectional design. Finally, our findings suggest that the influence of CM on autonomy could be augmented by self-esteem recovery through social support from family, friends, and peers.

Psychological Autopsy: A Method to Assist in the Identification of Risk and Protective Factors for Intimate Partner Femicide.

The most common form of violence experienced by women is that perpetrated by intimate partners, and the gendered nature of intimate partner femicide (IPF) has received particular attention. Few studies to date have delved into the limitations associated with methods used in IPF research, and particularly the methods used to study homicide victims (rather than homicide perpetrators). This article outlines dominant methodologies used to study IPF, and considers a novel method of investigation-the "psychological autopsy"-that may help to improve existing knowledge about IPF.

Alcohol and drug problems among Australian homicide offenders.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Most homicide studies focus upon 'acute' situational intoxication as opposed to 'chronic' substance misuse. The aims of the study were to: (1) determine the extent of homicide offenders' alcohol and drug use in the year preceding the homicide; (2) compare the individual characteristics of homicide offenders across levels of problematic substance use; and (3) compare homicide incident characteristics across levels of problematic substance use. DESIGN AND SETTING: Observational study using data collected through face-to-face interviews in custodial and community correctional settings across Australia. Participants were recruited through an opt-in process. PARTICIPANTS: The data consist of 302 individuals convicted of murder or manslaughter. MEASUREMENTS: We used the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test and Drug Abuse Screening Test to determine problematic alcohol or drug use. We also used a range of self-report measures to ascertain offender characteristics [socio-demographics, developmental experiences, criminal history, personality] and incident characteristics (who was killed, and situational intoxication). FINDINGS: Of the sample, 38.8% displayed high levels of alcohol problems and 30.8% displayed high levels of drug problems. Those displaying high levels of alcohol and/or drug problems were more likely than those without high levels of alcohol and/or drug problems to report adverse developmental experiences, low education, financial difficulties, extensive criminal histories and high levels of trait anger, impulsivity and risk-seeking. In addition, offenders with problematic substance use were more likely to have killed non-family and to have used substances at the time of the homicide. CONCLUSIONS: High proportions of homicide offenders in Australia appear to have problematic substance use in the year preceding the homicide offence, and such use appears to be associated with a range of other challenging factors, including adverse childhoods, criminal involvement, low socio-economic factors and low self-regulation.

Criminal Careers Among Female Perpetrators of Family and Nonfamily Homicide in Australia.

Knowledge of women's pathways to serious offending, including homicide, is limited. This study contributes to a small but growing body of literature examining the criminal careers of serious female offenders by using interview data with females convicted of murder or manslaughter in Australia to examine various dimensions of their criminal careers, specifically, prevalence, frequency, age of onset, duration, and offending variety. In particular, in this study we compared criminal career dimensions across women who had killed a family member (e.g., intimate partner, children) and those whose victims were not part of the family unit (i.e., acquaintances or strangers). Our findings reveal differences between female homicide offenders who kill within and outside of the family unit. Although both groups had comparable overall lifetime prevalence of self-reported participation in criminal offending, findings indicate that participation among the family group was typically at low levels of frequency, of limited duration, and with relatively little variety in categories of offending. The family group also reported lower contact with the criminal justice system compared with the nonfamily group, and were less likely to have experienced some form of criminal/legal sanction in the 12 months prior to the homicide incident. This suggests that women who kill family members are more "conventional" than their nonfamily counterparts, in terms of having low and time-limited (i.e., short duration) lifetime participation in criminal offending.

Sentencing Domestic Violence Offenders: A Vignette Study of Public Perceptions.

This study examined public perceptions of sentencing severity for males convicted of domestic violence assault compared with non-domestic violence assault. Over the years, surveys have reported changes in community attitudes toward seeing domestic violence as a more serious issue and an increased understanding of what acts constitute a domestic violence offense (Carlson & Worden, 2005). This study aimed to (a) examine whether public perceptions of sentencing severity differ between domestic and non-domestic violence assault offenses committed under similar circumstances; and (b) whether these perceptions remain after adjusting for personal attitudes, victimization experiences, and sociodemographic factors. After reading vignette scenarios depicting domestic and non-domestic assault, 284 undergraduate students responded to a survey about their perceptions of appropriate sentence outcomes and length. Results found that regardless of participants' punitiveness (and other factors), the manipulation of the victim-offender relationship was a significant predictor for judgments of sentencing severity. Notably, the results highlighted a leniency effect in the perceptions of participants toward perpetrators of domestic violence when compared with those who received the non-domestic violence scenario. These findings imply that undergraduate students judge domestic violence as less serious and hence not warranting as severe sentencing as non-domestic violence assault perpetrators. The study indicates that public perceptions of sentencing severity for domestic violence perpetrators are not consistent with the reported shift in public perceptions toward seeing domestic violence as a serious public issue. These findings highlight the importance of continued community education about domestic violence as well as the need to take care when considering engaging public opinion in sentencing practices for domestic violence perpetrators.

Reintroducing Rationalization: A Study of Relational Goal Pursuit Theory of Intimate Partner Obsessive Relational Intrusion.

Obsessive relational intrusions (ORI) are the repeated and unwanted attempts by one person to initiate or maintain an intimate relationship with a specific, targeted, and unwilling other. To date, ORI has been commonly explained by relational goal pursuit (RGP) theory. Centrally, RGP theory posits that five clusters of goal-related cognitions and emotions explain ORI. These are goal-linking, self-efficacy, rumination, affective flooding, and rationalization. However, while the first four factors have been empirically investigated as predictors of ORI, rationalization has not. Thus, the current study aimed to reintroduce rationalization to the evaluation of the RGP model among heterosexual former intimate partners. Participants (N = 379; 45.6% female, Mage = 34.4) were recruited from North America and completed an online survey assessing the RGP factors and engagement in ORI. Overall, we found that, after the other factors from the RGP model were considered, the inclusion of rationalization increased the variance explained in ORI. Furthermore, the rationalization subfactor of distortion (as opposed to permissiveness) uniquely predicted ORI both at a broad level and across specific clusters of ORI behavior. These findings not only support the inclusion of rationalization within the RGP model but also provide initial evidence that this construct might be the most individually critical to the explanation of a wide array of ORI behaviors. In addition to having implications for the prediction and explanation of ORI, these findings can also be used to direct clinical treatment of ORI perpetrators toward addressing defenses of rationalization.

Characteristics of Homicide-Suicide in Australia: A Comparison With Homicide-Only and Suicide-Only Cases.

Homicide-suicide represents one of the rarest forms of lethal violence but often precipitates calls to revise social, health, and justice policies. However, there is little empirical information about this type of violence. The current study uses two unique data sets to examine a wide range of individual and situational characteristics of homicide-suicide, with particular emphasis on establishing whether and how homicide-suicide differs from homicide-only and suicide-only. Findings suggest homicide-suicide may have unique characteristics that set it apart from both homicide-only and suicide-only, as well as sharing certain other characteristics with those two types of events.

A cycle of violence? Examining family-of-origin violence, attitudes, and intimate partner violence perpetration.

Exposure to violence in the family-of-origin has consistently been linked to intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration in adulthood. However, whether the transmission of violence across generations is role- and gender-specific still remains unclear. The current study examined the effects of experiencing child abuse and observing parental violence on IPV perpetration among a sample of male arrestees (N = 303). The differential effects of observing violence perpetrated by same-sex (father to mother), opposite-sex (mother to father), and both parents on subsequent IPV perpetration were examined. Logistic regression analyses showed that while observing father-only violence and bidirectional interparental violence was predictive of IPV perpetration, observing mother-only violence and direct experiences of child abuse was not. These findings suggest that the transmission of violence across generations is both role- and gender-specific and highlight the importance of examining unique dimensions of partner violence to assess influences on children. The study further examined whether attitudes justifying wife beating mediate the effect of exposure to violence and subsequent IPV perpetration. Results showed that although attitudes were predictive of perpetration, these attitudes did not mediate the relationship.