International Criminal Justice Review

Publisher:: Sage Publications, Inc.
Publication date:: 2021-09-06

ISBN:: 1057-5677

Issue Number

No. 35-1, March 2025

Latest documents

Patterns of Repetition, Intermittency, and Harm Escalation in Same-Sex and Mixed-Sex Intimate Partner Violence: An Analysis of 1,000 Days of National Police Records in Sweden
In recent years more attention has been given to the ways in which mixed-sex and same-sex intimate partner violence (IPV) couples report crimes to the police. Specifically, what patterns of repetition, intermittency between contacts with the police, and harm trajectories over time exist, and are there variations between same-sex and mixed-sex dyads? We explore all eligible IPV reported in Sweden over 1,000 days (n = 14,939) and use descriptive statistics to examine differences between different victims and offenders. We code IPV offences within three levels of harm recognized by law and develop a tiered approach to harm quantification that supports the growing evidence that not all IPV harm is the same. Based on official records, IPV usually ends following the first contact with the police, as nine out of ten dyads never call again. Variations across cisgender and sexual identity groups exist: Repeat same-sex IPV is not as common as mixed-sex IPV but is reported more quickly to the police after it had occurred once. In the 1,000-day follow-up period, same-sex dyads do not call the police more than four times and the repeated incidents trends seem to be driven primarily by outliers. Moreover, we find an overall pattern of decreasing time intervals between each additional contact, but no overall pattern of escalating severity over time. However, the overall severity trend it driven by female-victim-male-offender dyads: male offenders are more likely to cause escalation of harm, while two out of five male–male repeat IPV experience escalation in harm. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings, which overall illustrate the importance of observing IPV in typological terms, rather than as a continuum.
Is Cross-Group Friendship Related to Less Perceived Criminal Threat of Immigrants and Less Negative Attitudes Toward Immigrants to the United States?
In recent years, the U.S. public has become increasingly concerned about the immigration issue. Criminological research and group threat theory suggest that harsh immigration policy preferences may be driven by perceived criminal threat of immigrants. More research is needed to understand how to reduce perceived immigrant criminality and negative attitudes toward immigrants. Using intergroup contact theory and an American adult sample (N = 1,037), the current study tests if cross-group friendship with foreign-born immigrants may reduce negative immigration attitudes both directly, and indirectly by lowering perceived criminal threat of immigrants. Results from regression analyses showed that perceived criminal threat was positively related to negative immigration attitudes. Cross-group friendship was directly related to less perceived criminal threat and less negative immigration attitudes. However, results from mediation analyses showed that cross-group friendship did not further reduce negative immigration attitudes indirectly via lowered perceived criminal threat. The results highlight the importance of meaningful cross-group friendship in mitigating negative immigrant perceptions and call for future research to further investigate ways to correct criminal typification of immigrants.
Reforms and Media Depictions of the Death Penalty in Malaysia
Malaysia has retained the death penalty for violent crimes and some nonviolent drug offenses. Major news dailies, controlled by political parties in the ruling coalition, have helped justify this stance in the past. This situation changed over 22 months when a new coalition, which campaigned on abolishing capital punishment, took office and sparked renewed public discussion on this issue. Depictions of the death penalty debate were analyzed by conducting a content analysis of two major English-language newspapers, The Star and New Straits Times. Our findings suggest that The Star provided more international coverage and the New Straits Times prioritized domestic coverage. While both outlets provided comprehensive, and sometimes, critical coverage of executions elsewhere, they downplayed the fact that Malaysia engages in the same practice. There was no evidence to indicate that they were pushing an agenda as neither took a formal position on the issue. Content to transmit the differing views on the subject, neither functioned as forums to air nor shaped policy positions. This posture was possibly shaped by preconceived notions of what their readership wants and/or self-censorship—a legacy of past subjugation that will hopefully change when press freedom is perceived as a right, not a privilege.
Exploring Perpetrator Trauma Among a Cohort of Violent Juvenile Offenders
Globally, extensive research has been conducted on psychological trauma. The main intention of this scientific enquiry was to provide insights into the explanatory and etiological factors of such trauma, as well as provide measures of how to manage and treat it effectively. However, much of these research studies on psychological trauma have focused primarily on victims and witnesses of trauma, completely overlooking and neglecting offenders (perpetrators) and their trauma. This study set out to explore perpetrator trauma among juvenile offenders incarcerated for violent offenses. The study was qualitative in nature, using descriptive phenomenology to provide descriptive accounts of perpetrator trauma as experienced by the participants. A single case study design was utilized as a research design. The data were collected using semistructured audio-recorded individual interviews with 10 participants. The findings supported the existence of perpetrator trauma as the offenders experienced multidimensional consequences from their actions. They experienced various symptoms related to or associated with their offenses and victims, including reliving symptoms, psychotic symptoms, psychogenic amnesia of the offense and the victims, and experienced a persistent negative emotional state. They also engaged in reckless and self-destructive behaviors, avoidant behaviors, and significant behavioral changes could be noted in their behavior.
Book Review: The Rohingya Crisis and the International Criminal Court by H. Takemura
ICJR Publications Received May-July 2024
Book Review: Disassembling Police Culture by Mike Rowe
Book Review: Genetics and the politics of security: A social science perspective by J. Vailly
Unraveling the Patterns of Complexity in Transnational Corporate Bribery
Scholarship on white-collar and corporate crime often notes that these crimes are complex due to their scale, longevity, and hidden, layered, and global nature. Embedded in these discursive descriptions is the assumption that complexity is unidimensional and operates solely in a linear fashion. Yet, corruption and transnational bribery are the results of a complex system that involves diverse actors interacting in dynamic environments, which can produce multiple classes of outcomes that may include different patterns of complexity in crime. In this paper, we empirically explore potential variability in patterns of complexity in transnational corporate bribery using official data from cases prosecuted under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in the United States. Our findings indicate that crime “complexity” can take different forms, suggesting that the relationship between variables can unfold in dynamic ways. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.
Book Review: Doing Indefinite Time: An Ethnography of Long-Term Imprisonment in Switzerland by I. Marti