Editorial
| Published date | 31 January 2011 |
| Date | 31 January 2011 |
| Pages | 2-3 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.5042/jacpr.2011.0016 |
| Author | Nicola Graham‐Kevan,Jane Ireland,Michelle Davies,Douglas Fry |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Sociology |
Journal of Aggression, Conflict and Peace Research • Volume 3 Issue 1 • January 2011 © Pier Professional Ltd2
10.5042/jacpr.2011.0016
Terence Laing and Michelle Davies present
their findings from a fear of crime survey of
gay and heterosexual men. Fear of crime can
have extremely detrimental effects upon people
and it is therefore important that this area is
explored, particularly for potentially vulnerable
groups. Laing and Davies found that, among
their participants, gay men were more afraid of
criminal victimisation and generally perceived
themselves to be more at risk of crime than
straight men. This fear appeared to be borne
out of personal experience and was related
to behavioural change in an attempt to avoid
crime. Interestingly, it was not only criminal
victimisation experiences that were related to
fear and avoidance but also what the authors
termed as ‘incivilities’.
Bob McDonald and Yaser Mir report on
a community-based study commissioned by
the Metropolitan Police Service to explore
the impact of government terrorist prevention
measures on the British Muslim population
in the UK following the 7 July bombings in
London in 2005. Their findings suggest that the
UK government’s counter-terrorism measures
have proved largely counter-productive.
McDonald and Mir advise that governments
need to engage with communities in ways that
are meaningful to each community. Meaningful
engagement with Muslim communities should
begin by addressing the problems experienced
by members of the community. To counter
messages of violent extremism, interventions
should explore how citizenship, toleration,
rule of law and justice are shared across
communities, and how these values are
consistent with the Muslim faith.
The last article is a paper by Steve Moxon
that explores changes and continuity in gender-
based conceptualisations of intimate partner
violence. Moxon presents argument and reviews
evidence against what he terms the ‘gender
paradigm’. The gender paradigm is described
as a Marxist-informed ideological position
that conceptualises intimate (or more usually
Welcome to the first edition for 2011 of the
Journal of Aggression, Conflict and Peace
Research (JACPR). In keeping with our remit, this
edition continues to include papers of interest
to a wide range of academics and practitioners.
This edition brings together papers on topics
ranging from fear of crime to family violence. We
also include an invited paper on prison gangs.
As always, the articles in the current edition of
JACPR all contribute to a fuller understanding of
aggression, conflict and peace.
The issue beings with a paper by Odireleng
Jankey and colleagu es who present t he
findings o f a st udy of Botswanan men’s and
women’s ex periences of intima te partner
violence a nd mental health symptoms.
Consistent with a growing body of research
they found a sig nificant d egree of mutuality
of physica l violenc e, sexual violence, violent
attitudes and contr olling beh aviours. T his
suggests t hat where intimate partner violence
is bi-dire ctional b oth partne rs may benefit
from inter ventions. They also found that bein g
subject to controll ing behavi ours and sexual
violence w ere relat ed to p oor menta l health.
Additionally, gender and age were a lso found
to be r elated to mental health.
Next, in our invited paper, David Pyrooz
and colleagues discuss gangs in prison settings,
contrasting street and prison gang members
with other types of criminal. Although in many
ways they are similar, gang members have a
greater stability of offending behaviour than
other types of offenders. Coupled with the
finding that gang members have homicide rates
that are double that of other offenders, and it
becomes apparent that gangs are an important
sub-group of offenders that merit study. Pyrooz
and colleagues also contrast prison and street
gangs. Prison gangs display several specific
behaviours that are much less likely to be found
in street gangs. This suggests that it is important
to study prison gangs in order to understand
the beliefs, cost and benefits of prison gang
membership, and to effectively intervene.
Editorial
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