Editorial
| Date | 06 July 2010 |
| Pages | 2-3 |
| Published date | 06 July 2010 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.5042/jacpr.2010.0331 |
| Author | Nicola Graham‐Kevan,Jane Ireland,Michelle Davies,Douglas Fry |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Sociology |
Journal of Aggression, Conflict and Peace Research • Volume 2 Issue 3 • July 2010 © Pier Professional Ltd2
10.5042/jacpr.2010.0331
tools; however, their applicability to online
offenders is unknown. Osborn et al’s paper
is therefore both timely and important in its
investigation of the appropriateness of standard
tools for this population. Additionally, it
provides a timely reminder to those using, or
assessing the use of, such tools of the need to
be mindful of limits or difficulties in applying
tools to populations that differ from those for
whom it was developed.
Keeping with the topic of child sexual
abuse, Paul Rogers, Michelle Davies and Lisa
Cottam present their findings on perpetrator
and victim blame in hypothetical cases of
child sexual abuse. Such research is important
for understanding not only how factors such
as the type of victim resistance can impact
on attributions of perpetrator and victim
culpability, but also how such attributions may
extend to other family members. Secondary
victimisation can contribute to extended victim
trauma and delayed victim recovery and it
is therefore of the utmost importance that
professionals working within this area are aware
of the potential for unhelpful attributions that
individuals may make. Papers such as this add
to a growing literature on blame attributions
and can provide important information for
those working with victims or perpetrators, or
within the court system, enabling them to better
anticipate, and hence address, biases.
The final two papers address domestic
violence, one from the perspective of a victim
and one from a legal perspective. Denise Hines
and Emily Douglas present analysis from two
large samples of male victims: a helpseeking
sample and a community sample. With the
exception of national surveys, these probably
represent the largest samples of male victims
of women’s partner violence in the literature
at present. Using Michael Johnson’s typology
of ‘intimate terrorism’ and ‘situational couple
violence’, Hines et al explore the utility of
this typology for understanding male intimate
partner violence victimisation. Such analysis
This edition of the Journal of Aggression,
Conflict a nd Peace Research (JACPR) i ncludes
a broad array of topics that wil l be of interest
to a wi de range of acad emics and practitio ners.
Once again , JACPR brings t ogether d iverse,
engaging a nd though t-provoking papers.
The topics covered in this edition include
papers of victim behaviour in peril ous confli ct
environments, risk assessment instruments
for online offender s, victim blame, domestic
violence e xperiences and legi slation. C onsistent
with JACPR ’s aims, each pa per prese nts
findings o f interes t to bo th academ ics and
practitioners and i ncludes bo th theoret ical and
practical elements.
We open this edition with a thought
provoking paper by Serbulent Turan and
Donald Dutton on ‘psychic freezing’ in the
face of lethal malevolent authority. In this
paper, the authors explore historical accounts
of war captives’ apparently passive behaviour
either while imprisoned or during massacres,
in which death is an extremely likely outcome
and escape possible. Applying findings from
studies on learned helplessness in prisoners,
trauma reactions of dissociation and numbing,
and affective neuroscience, the authors discuss
current understandings of ‘psychic freezing’.
Not only is this paper very interesting, but
the exploration of ‘psychic freezing’ also
has potentially wide ranging application for
academics and professionals working with
diverse victim groups.
The second paper, by Jody Osborn, Ian
Elliott, David Middleton and Anthony Beech,
explores the utility of using actuarial risk
assessment measures with internet child
pornography offenders. With the rapid growth
of the internet and related technology, there
has been increasing concern about child
pornography; such offenders represent a
significant proportion of child sex offenders.
In order to understand the risk such people
pose to children, academics and practitioners
traditionally draw on clinical risk assessment
Editorial
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