News

Copyright © 2020 Australian Institute of Criminology

Youth justice in Australia: Themes from recent inquiries (Oct 2020)
The price elasticity of demand for illicit drugs: A systematic review (Oct 2020)
Enhancing evidence-based treatment of child sexual abuse material offenders: The development of the CEM-COPE Program (Oct 2020)
How and why vendors sell on cryptomarkets (Oct 2020)
Social isolation, time spent at home, financial stress and domestic violence during the COVID-19 pandemic (Oct 2020)
Bail practices and policy alternatives in Australia (Oct 2020)
 

Tuesday, 17th November, 4pm GMT

(11am EST, 8am PST, 3am (18th) AEDT)

Understanding and the ability to utilise the difference between crime count and crime harm is essential.

Who is more threatening to a community: an offender who has committed 12 shoplifting offences, or an offender who has committed 2 rapes?

According to crime counts, the shoplifter is 6 times more prolific, and crime statistics are severely skewed by this faulty system of quantification. More and more police agencies are starting to understand that we need to determine and reduce crime harm, rather than just crime count.

Professor Sherman has been a pioneer of this work and together with colleagues developed the Cambridge Crime Harm Index.

In this free webinar, you will learn what the CHI is, how it differs from a traditional crime count, and how it is used. Use the form on this page to book your place.

Ryan T. Motz, J.C. Barnes, Avshalom Caspi, Louise Arseneault, Francis T. Cullen, Renate Houts, Jasmin Wertz,  

Terrie E. Moffit

Abstract

What impact does formal punishment have on antisocial conduct—does it deter or promote it? The findings from a long line of research on the labeling tradition indicate formal punishments have the opposite‐of‐intended consequence of promoting future misbehavior. In another body of work, the results show support for deterrence‐based hypotheses that punishment deters future misbehavior. So, which is it? We draw on a nationally representative sample of British adolescent twins from the Environmental Risk (E‐Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study to perform a robust test of the deterrence versus labeling question. We leverage a powerful research design in which twins can serve as the counterfactual for their co‐twin, thereby ruling out many sources of confounding that have likely impacted prior studies. The pattern of findings provides support for labeling theory, showing that contact with the justice system—through spending a night in jail/prison, being issued an anti‐social behaviour order (ASBO), or having an official record—promotes delinquency. We conclude by discussing the impact these findings may have on criminologists’ and practitioners’ perspective on the role of the juvenile justice system in society.

7.Jan.2021 04:00 PM in Jerusalem

Invite you to an international online symposium on

Proactive Policing: Effects on Crime and Communities

Prof. David Weisburd and Dr. Malay K. Majmundar

Institute of Criminology

Faculty of Law

Jerusalem Review of Legal Studies

Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Department of Sociology, University of Alberta

November 17-19, 2020

All panels will be live-streamed at: youtube.com/c/centreforcriminologicalresearch

Detailed Schedule

Tuesday, November 17:

8:00 - 8:10 Sandra Bucerius and Sara Dorow: Opening remarks Crim Centre

8:10 - 9:20 David Garland (New York University)

Keynote: "Roots of Injustice: The Structural Sources of America’s Penal State"

9:30 - 10:50 Categories and Identities in Prison Chair: Kevin Haggerty

• • Ben Crewe and Alice Ievins (Cambridge): "‘Tightness’, recognition, and penal power"
• • Justin Tetrault (Kings University / Canada): The "skinner": how prisoners create and reclaim power through stigma and stereotyping of sex offenders"
• • Reuben Miller (University of Chicago): "Black Guilt"

11:00 - 12:20 Power, pedagogy, and prosecution in penal practise Chair: Jana Grekul

• • Mona Lynch (UC Irvine): "Turning back the clock: Punitive prosecutorial practices in the Trump Era"
• • Richard Sparks (University of Edinburgh): "Thinking again about the Society of Captives - then, then and now"
• • Justin Piche (University of Ottawa) and Kevin Walby (University of Manitoba): "So what about what is ‘good’ for our students? Carceral tours as pedagogy and the absent norm in criminology"

12:30 - 13:50 *Lived Experience Panel* Chair: Sandra Bucerius

• • Justine: "My journey through jail"
• • Joanne Kehayas: "My husband’s mental health journey within the Correctional Service of Canada"

14:00 - 15:20 The other insiders: correctional officers in prison Chair: Holly Campeau

• • TaLisa Carter (American University): "Color on the front line: Exploring race, skin tone, and perceptions of working in corrections"
• • Rosemary Ricciardelli (Memorial University of Newfoundland): "An ethnographic experience of the Correctional Officer Training Program at the National Training Academy"
• • William Schultz (University of Alberta): "‘I feel vulnerable’: Re-assessing the causes of
• perceived vulnerability among correctional officers"

Wednesday, November 18:

8:00 - 9:20 Lessons on control Chair: Marta Urbanik

• • Shadd Maruna (University of Belfast): "Transcending the tokenistic in ‘participatory research’ with people in prison"
• • Michael Walker (University of Minnesota): "‘Who’s your rep?’: A social exchange perspective on control"
• • Kate Gooch (University of Bath): "The Prison Firm: Organised crime, austerity and the transformation of English and Welsh Prisons"

9:30 - 10:50 Trust, hope, and risk: what matters? Chair: Holly Campeau

• • Alison Liebling (Cambridge): "Does trust matter in prisons?"
• • Yvonne Jewkes (University of Bath): "‘Light at the end of the tunnel’: the meaning of hope in prison"
• • Thomas Uglevik (University of Oslo): "Uncertainty, risk and trustworthiness in reinventive prisons: The transformative power of trust"

11:00 - 12:20 Belief and radicalism in prison and beyond Chair: Kevin Haggerty

• • Massimo Sozzo (Universidad Nacional del Litoral): "Evangelical wings and prison governance".
• • David Skarbek (Brown University): "Continuity and change in activism and radicalism intentions in a longitudinal study"
• • Scott Decker and David Pyrooz (University of Arizona): "The imprisonment-extremism nexus: Continuity and change in activism and radicalism intentions in a longitudinal study of prisoner reentry"

12:30 - 13:50 *Lived Experience Panel* Chair: Dan Jones

• • Sean: "The impact of prison on my life"
• • Teresa: "Prison re-entry: This time as staff"
• • Cynthia: "Prison as my safe place for change"

14:00 - 15:20 On the outside: challenges to re-entry Chair: Marta Urbanik

• • Jamie Fader (Temple University): "’I don’t have time for drama’: Managing risk and uncertainty through network avoidance"
• • Katharina Maier (University of Manitoba): "Halfway houses, supervision, and the organizational dimensions of reentry in Canada"
• • David Pyrooz (University of Colorado): "The ‘gang’ came home with me: Continuity and change in gang embeddedness and status with prisoner reentry"

Thursday, November 19:

8:00 - 9:20 The liminal spaces of punishment Chair: Temitope Oriola

• • Carla Shedd (CUNY): "When protection and punishment collide: New York City’s juvenile court system and the carceral continuum"
• • Phil Goodman and Katie Quinn (University of Toronto): "Becoming ideal: Organizational variation and the penal subject"
• • Megan Comfort and Keeonna Harris (RTI International): "Exacerbating inequity: Implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for families with incarcerated loved ones in the United States"

9:30 - 10:50 Variations of punishment Chair: Bryan Hogeveen

• • Mary Bosworth and Alice Gerlach (Oxford): "Coping with immigration detention: Evidence from the UK"
• • Kelly Hannah Moffat (University of Toronto): "Enduring isolation: Alternatives to solitary confinement and the limits of policy reform"
• • Joshua Page (University of Minnesota): "Seeing like a bail agent: The intersectional logic of criminal justice predation"

11:00 - 12:20 Gender, programming, and policy Chair: Jana Grekul

• • Lorielle Giffin (University of Alberta) and Luca Berardi (McMaster University): "Sticking Points: Women's perceptions of a prison-based needle exchange program"
• • Sveinung Sandberg (University of Oslo): "Women providing and men free riding: Work, visits, and gender roles in Mexican prisons"
• • Jill McCorkel (Villanova): "It's not justice if we leave women and girls behind: Gender, power and the limitations of criminal legal reform"

12:30 - 13:50 Grasping the big picture Chair: Temitope Oriola

• • John Eason (University of Wisconsin: Madison): "In Our Backyard: How the Prison boom transformed America"
• • Ashley Rubin (University of Hawaii): "Locked out of prisons or displaced by other topics? Understanding

trends in U.S. research on carceral facilities"

• • Jonathan Simon (UC Berkley): "Two genealogies of abolition: California and Norway 1970 to 2020"

14:00 - 14:30 Wrap up

Online workshop on Juveniles and Young Adult offenders in prison and probation

When talking about criminal behaviour and types of sanctions and measures imposed on people who have committed crimes, the vast majority of times our focus is on adults and on treatment programs mainly designed for the male-adult population. The reality is that there are also juveniles and young adults who are exposed to a series of risk factors, such as poor parental skills, criminal behaviour accepted by family and peer group, low interest/commitment in school or work, peer rejection, differences in temperament, impulsivity, low level of empathy or remorse, drug use, the impact of school policies toward delinquency and the broader influences of the neighbourhood/community – all aspects being able to lead to antisocial behaviour and committing crimes.

Their status of juveniles or young adults as well as their neuropsychological development mean that more attention should be paid to what type of sanctions and measures are imposed. As several authors indicate, those measures should have a restorative approach and therefore become a meaningful activity for the juveniles and young adults’ lives. It is also essential to reflect on what type of treatment programs are more appropriate and effective to reduce juvenile delinquency and criminal behaviours and to promote protective factors.

This webinar will address the perspective of different European experts in the field of juveniles and young adults who have committed crimes, both from interventions in the community and closed regime institutions.

Programme

The workshop programme can be downloaded here.

Registration

Registration for the workshop is open to public sector participants only. Please click here to sign up.

Friday, 6 Nov. 2020 from 09:00 to 17:00

All over the world, 137 women are killed every day by a member of their own family or their ex-partner, simply for being women. However, the number of unreported killings of women and girls is much higher. Femicides can occur in different forms: As a result of torture by (ex-)partners, as the killing of women and girls in the name of "honor", as killings because of their sexual orientation and gender identity or as deaths in connection to sex work, female genital mutilation, organized crime, drug and human trafficking. On the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on November 25th and the meeting of EU Gender Equality Ministers, DaMigra is organizing an international round table of experts on femicides, on November 6th 2020. In the framework of the event, a common European strategy for the protection against violence and the implementation of the Istanbul Convention will be discussed.

An event as part of the project #self-determined! von DaMigra e.V. funded by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth. An event in cooperation with the Representation of the European Commission in Germany. 

The summit is organized by the working group of the UN, which includes many criminologists and victimologists.

Online, 8 December 2020

The programme for the Crime Surveys User Conference 2020 is now available.

This free annual conference, organised by the UK Data Service, will be held online due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The conference brings data producers and data users together to share updates on the development of the surveys and to showcase research that is being carried out using the data.

The programme will contain a mixture of presentations from the

Office for National Statistics (ONS),

Scottish Government and the

Home Office, and from

Researchers who have used data from the UK crime surveys.

View the programme and abstracts and book a place

https://www.ukdataservice.ac.uk/news-and-events/eventsitem/?id=5681

Nicole Minckas ,Geordan Shannon &Jenevieve Mannell

ABSTRACT

Background

Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a public health problem and one of the most prevalent human rights violations in the world. Recently practitioners and researchers have taken an interest in community participation as a strategy for preventing VAWG. Despite the recent enthusiasm however, there has been little articulation of how participation in VAWG prevention programmes mobilises communities to challenge social norms and prevent VAWG.

Objectives

In an attempt to help address this gap, this article seeks to answer two research questions: (1) How does participation theoretically mobilise communities to prevent VAWG, and (2) how do nominally participatory programmes make use of these theoretical concepts in their (explicit or implicit) theories of change?

Methods

To answer the first question, we draw on two well-recognised theories of participation and community mobilisation – Rifkin and Pridmore’s continuum of participation and Freire’s steps towards achieving critical consciousness – to clarify theoretical assumptions about how participation can mobilise community to reduce VAWG. To answer our second research question, we present the results from a review of primary prevention programmes that seek to reduce VAWG through community participation. Our analysis examines the explicit and implicit theories of change for these prevention programmes against the assumptions outlined from the theoretical literature.

Results

Our results help to better articulate realistic goals for community mobilisation and outline a theoretical basis for how participation as part of programming can effectively mobilise communities to reduce violence.

Conclusion

We argue that, in order to be both effective and sustainable, the role of external agents in introducing programmes needs to be secondary to the ownership and empowerment of communities in designing and delivering their own strategies for VAWG prevention.

This EUCPN monitor on radicalisation presents an overview of the current state of affairs in the prevention of radicalisation. After discussing the concept of radicalisation and the problems connected to it, it presents the most important European data on the phenomenon as well as recent trends in jihadist, right-wing, left-wing, and nationalist extremism and terrorism. Chapter three briefly introduces various strategies for the prevention of radicalisation and violent extremism and goes on to list the most important European and international agencies and organisations in the field of radicalisation prevention. Chapter four canvasses the state of the art in radicalisation research and its consequences for policy and practice. Finally, the challenge posed by risk assessments, essential to many preventive efforts, is discussed. The monitor concludes that it is necessary to continue to invest in an evidence-based approach to the prevention of radicalisation and a cross-fertilisation between practice and research.

Download Documents

Monitor radicalisation and violent extremism791.81 KB

• The Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) has just released a paper discussing misconceptions about sexual crimes perpetrated against adults.
• Societal beliefs regarding sexual violence have significant implications for victims of sexual violence, and may create barriers to reporting as well as poor criminal justice outcomes.
• Based on a synthesis of over 40 years of research, this research highlights the most common and enduring misconceptions regarding sexual crimes perpetrated against adults. In particular, the review focuses on misconceptions relating to victim behaviour, sexual crime dynamics and the prevalence and nature of sexual offending.
• Common and harmful misconceptions associated with victim/or complainant behaviour include: reporting (eg the belief that victims should report immediately after the assault), the prevalence of false allegations, resistance during sexual assault (ie that victims should fight back during an assault) and emotion during reporting (ie the requirement that a victim be emotionally distressed).
• Misconceptions associated with sexual crime dynamics include: the relationship with the offender (eg the belief that most sexual assaults are perpetrated by strangers), location (ie that sexual assaults are more likely to occur in public places) and can be corroborated through witness testimony or physical evidence.
• Misconceptions of the prevalence and nature of sexual offending include: the gender of victims (eg belief that men are not victims of sexual assault), and age of victims (that only young women experience sexual assault).

The report is available for free download on the AIC website: https://www.aic.gov.au/publications/tandi/tandi611

2.Dez.2020 03:45 PM in Amsterdam, Berlin, Rom, Stockholm, Wien

Topic: WHO SDH Department webinar: COVID-19, social determinants and violence

Register in advance for this webinar:
https://who.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_jiiwHbULQZejGLs9zIt9wg

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

Proceedings will start punctually at 16h00 and the Zoom link will be open as of 15h45 to enable everyone to get online in time.

The webinar will be hosted by Dr Naoko Yamamoto, WHO Assistant Director General for Healthier Populations.

Speakers include Faith Mwangi Powell (Girls Not Brides); Mark Bellis (Bangor University) and Manuel Eisner (Cambridge University).

Dr Etienne Krug, Director, WHO Social Determinants of Health Department will moderate the webinar.

Please see the attached abstract for more information

On the occasion of the European day on the protection of children against sexual exploitation and sexual abuse, the Commission reaffirms its determination to fight child sexual abuse with all the tools at its disposal. Margaritis Schinas, Vice-President for Promoting our European Way of Life, said: “Under the Security Union Strategy, we are working to protect all those living in Europe, both online and offline. Children are particularly vulnerable, especially as the coronavirus pandemic correlates with increased sharing of child sexual abuse images online, and we have an obligation to protect them.” Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, said: “Imagine as a child victim knowing the worst moment in your life is still circulating on the internet. Even worse, imagine that an opportunity to be saved from ongoing abuse was missed because tools had become illegal. Companies need to be able to report so that police can stop images circulating and even save children.” Over the last years, there has been a significant increase in child sexual abuse and exploitation cases and recently the coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated the situation. Europol found that as Member States introduced lockdown and quarantine measures, the number of self-produced materials increased, while travel restrictions and other restrictive measures means that offenders  increasingly exchange  materials online. In July, the Commission adopted a comprehensive EU strategy for a more effective fight against child sexual abuse. Under the Strategy, we proposed legislation to ensure that providers of online communications services can continue voluntary measures to detect child sexual abuse online. In addition, Europol provides support to operations such as the recent action targeting child trafficking. The agency also monitors criminal trends in the Internet Organised Crime Threat Assessment (IOCTA) and dedicated reports on the evolution of threats, including child sexual abuse, in the times of COVID-19. (For more information: Adalbert Jahnz - Tel.: + 32 229 53156; Ciara Bottomley - Tel.: +32 229 69971; Laura Bérard - Tel.: +32 229 55721)

On the occasion of Universal Children's Day on 20 November, the European Commission and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy stated the following:

“This year has shown more than ever how crises disrupt children's lives, no matter which country they live in. The coronavirus pandemic and its socio-economic consequences are having a serious and potentially long-term impact on children's learning, well-being, development and protection. Children risk falling behind in their education, falling into poverty and becoming victims of violence, abuse and neglect. Many children are struggling with limited or unequal access to services and care. The pandemic has shone a light on the deep inequalities that persist and exposed serious gaps in child protection systems all over the world.

Over 1.5 billion students across the world have been affected by school closures and at least 1 in 3 – more than 460 million – cannot access remote learning. For many children, particularly those already living in conflict zones or extreme hardship , going to school means much more than access to education; it also means access to water and sanitation, nutrition, care and safety which they would not otherwise have. Not having this access means that many of them have fallen into extreme poverty or are obliged to abandon education and find work. To tackle these issues, in September the EU together with UNICEF sent out an S.O.S message to the world to promote actions to maintain access to education for every child.

The pandemic has also increased the reports of child sexual abuses online. In July the EU adopted the EU Strategy for a more effective fight against child sexual abuse and in September a legislative proposal to ensure that companies can continue detecting, reporting and removing child sexual abuse online. The EU also continues to implement the CLEAR Cotton project, that monitors children's situation to ensure they do not fall back into child labour and drop out of school completely.

The newly adopted EU Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy 2020-2024 sets out actions to promote, protect and fulfil all rights of all children. Its implementation will be supported by the Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027, which reaffirms the importance of the rights of the child through geographic programmes and thematic initiatives.

Our next step is to adopt the EU Strategy on the rights of the child in 2021, to address the challenges that have emerged from the pandemic, propose actions to strengthen child participation, protection and promotion of the rights of the child at all levels, in the EU and globally. This goes hand in hand with a Recommendation for a European Child Guarantee that we will put forward next year. The European Child Guarantee will help Member States to work towards the goal of ensuring children at risk of poverty or social exclusion have access to essential services like education, healthcare, food and quality housing.

Children have the unmatched opportunity to be the greatest agents of change. It is our collective responsibility to give them the means to reach their full potential; this is how we build free, inclusive, prosperous, peaceful and democratic societies.”

Background

The EU strives to mitigate the harmful impact of the coronavirus pandemic, adapting its projects all over the world to focus on the impact of the pandemic and taking the best interests of the child into account. In Africa, the EU invested €10 million to address child protection issues arising from and exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic through a programme of the Joining Forces Initiative. The EU also swiftly refocussed the EU-UN Spotlight Initiative to counter the increase of violence against women and girls. More than €21 million have been frontloaded to prioritise helplines and shelters for survivors in South East Asia, Africa and Latin America Pacific and Caribbean.

Since the 2018 Communication on education in emergencies and protracted crises, the EU continued to focus its actions to bring out-of-school children back into safe and quality education. The EU's commitment to education in emergencies is maintained at the level of 10% of its humanitarian aid budget. The EU leads by example to overcome inequalities and turn the coronavirus education crisis into an opportunity to build better, more inclusive and more equitable education, going hand-in-hand with protection of the most vulnerable. The EU also supports humanitarian child protection projects, including on prevention and response to violence, prevention of the recruitment and use of children, family tracing and reunification, psychosocial support and support to unaccompanied and separated children.

Through its continuous efforts toward the elimination of child labour and its cooperation with the ILO, the EU contributed to the universal ratification in 2020 of the ILO worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999, n°182. The EU Sustainable Cocoa Initiative launched in September will help to reduce child labour highly prevalent in the main cocoa producer countries.

When it comes to children in migration, the New Pact on Migration and Asylum presented on 23 September 2020 puts the best interest of the child at the forefront and includes strengthened safeguards for migrant children. In October 2020, the EU, in partnership with UNICEF and UNHCR, launched the programme EU Global promotion of best practices for children in migration to increase the use of alternative care options to replace immigration detention. The programme Protecting Children affected by migration in Southeast, South, and Central Asia, launched in January 2018, continues to support access to national protection systems for all children. Since 2011, the EU provides support to strengthen regional and cross-border cooperation on child protection through the West Africa Network for the protection of children on the move.

The EU continues to support two UNICEF-UNFPA global programmes addressing child, early and forced child marriage and eliminating female genital mutilation through its Spotlight Africa Regional Programme (Stream II).

The EU commitment to children's wellbeing offline and online remains a key priority. In 2020, the Safer Internet Centres funded by the EU run a specific awareness raising campaign and continued to provide helplines for supporting young users increasingly facing online risks, and hotline services for reporting child sexual abuse material.

The EU Strategy for a more effective fight against child sexual abuse presented in July aims to tackle child sexual abuse by putting in place a strong legal framework, improving coordination, and addressing child sexual abuse from all angles, including prevention, investigation and assistance to victims. In September, the Commission proposed an interim Regulation to ensure that providers of online communications services can continue detecting, reporting and removing child sexual abuse online beyond 21 December 2020. In 2021, the Commission will propose long-term legislation to tackle child sexual abuse and to replace the interim Regulation. The EU continues to support the WeProtect Global Alliance to end child sexual abuse online (WPGA), including by participating in its policy board.

The EU has developed a €13 million programme for quality alternative care for children and deinstitutionalisation in which five projects are being implemented in Armenia, Burundi, Cambodia, Georgia and Myanmar. EU initiatives in as many as 17 enlargement and neighbourhood partners contribute to preventing the separation of families and strengthening quality alternative care for children without sufficient parental care. The EU has approved a Decision to facilitate the access to justice for children on the move in West Africa (€7.9 million), that will be implemented by UNICEF in Burkina Faso, Guinea Conakry, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Nigeria.

Related to the EU's work on the Syria crisis, the EU and UNICEF have together published ‘The Book of Dreams', telling the stories, hopes and dreams of children affected by the Syrian war. This book is a tribute to the children of Syria and the region, highlighting the EU-UNICEF partnership supporting them.

Article, Published: 05 November 2020

Shannon Self-Brown, Katherine Reuben, Elizabeth W. Perry, Lindsey R. Bullinger, Melissa C. Osborne, JoAnne Bielecki & Daniel Whitaker 

Journal of Family Violence (2020)

Abstract

Child maltreatment (CM) is a global public health problem. Evidence-based home visiting programs, such as SafeCare®, reduce CM risk, and enhance parent-child relationships and other protective factors. As the result of the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting restrictions, SafeCare Providers transitioned from home to virtual delivery for the SafeCare curriculum. The purpose of this study is to 1) examine active SafeCare Providers’ opinions on the feasibility and effectiveness of SafeCare via remote delivery, and 2) better understand workforce concerns for human service professionals within the context of COVID-19 mitigation efforts. Data are from a cross-sectional survey of SafeCare Providers (N = 303) in the United States, Canada, and Australia. The majority of Providers reported they were actively delivering SafeCare virtually and were comfortable with the delivery format. Providers indicated that the majority of SafeCare families are making progress on target skills, and that engagement is high among many families. Some service delivery challenges were reported, ranging from family data plan limitations to difficulty with delivery of specific components of the SafeCare curriculum related to modeling and assessment. The impact of COVID-19 on Providers’ daily routines, stress level, and work-life balance has been significant. Remote, virtual delivery of CM prevention programming offers the opportunity to continue serving vulnerable families in the midst of a pandemic. Barriers related to family technology and data access must be addressed to ensure reach and the effective delivery of prevention programming during the pandemic and beyond.

Child maltreatment (CM) is a significant global public health problem (Hammond et al. 2006; Tarantola 2018) that increases the risk for long-term impacts on mental and physical health (Brown et al. 2010; Corso et al. 2008; Dong et al. 2003; Dong et al. 2004; Dube et al. 2009). Little research has examined how disaster and community wide trauma in industrialized or developed nations impact child maltreatment risk. The few published studies to date following natural disaster events in the United States suggest a significant link, with documented increases in abusive head trauma and child abuse reports in the aftermath (Curtis et al. 2000; Keenan et al. 2004; Self-Brown et al. 2013). Further, studies have examined the impact of the 2008 Great Recession and war time on CM perpetration risk and found increases in harsh parenting and spanking (Brooks-Gunn et al. 2013) and lower levels of parental warmth (Eltanamly et al. 2019).

With the World Health Organization’s declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic (Perc et al. 2020), there is much to learn about how the resulting circumstances will impact CM risk. Unlike the community togetherness that often emerges in times of community-wide disaster circumstances, the response to COVID-19 across the world has been to mandate physical separation with shelter in place and stay at home orders (Campbell 2020). Resulting consequences have included unemployment, reduced income, limited resources, alcohol abuse, intimate partner violence, and limited social support, which are all factors found in prior research to increase CM risk (Bright et al. 2018; Catalá-Miñana et al. 2017; Lindo et al. 2018; Lowell and Renk 2017; Paxson and Waldfogel 2002; Schenck-Fontaine et al. 2017). Additionally, many parents are now expected to work from home, which can increase the risk for inadequate child supervision and unintentional child injury (e.g., while parents are working; Feely et al. 2020). Due to COVID-19 concerns, parents may also be delaying child medical care, which could result in medical neglect for emerging health issues (Santoli et al. 2020; Wenner Moyer 2020).

When: Dec 11, 2020 15:30 – 17:00 Amsterdam, Berlin, Rome, Stockholm, Vienna

Topic: INSPIRE: Seven strategies for ending violence against children training series introductory webinar

Register in advance for this webinar:

https://who.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Sv2g-w5CQqKa94xL_cQw_g

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

Proceedings will start punctually at 15h30 and the Zoom link will be open as of 15h15 to enable everyone to get online in time.

Speakers include: Susan Hillis (US CDC), Lucie Cluver (Universities of Oxford and Cape Town), Mark Canavera (CPC) and Alexander Butchart (WHO).

The webinar will be moderated by Mark Canavera (CPC)..

Please see the attached abstract for more information.

Press release - 24 November 2020 - Brussels

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, local officials have been exploring opportunities to lower their jail populations—including sending people home while they await trial, known as pretrial reform. The Prison Policy Initiative studied 13 jurisdictions to examine the effects of these reforms, including a notable lack of corresponding crime.
 

Read on >

To celebrate its 20th anniversary, the European Forum for Restorative Justice (EFRJ) organises the online REstART Festival (30 November - 5 December 2020) bringing together arts, research and practice with the aim of offering a forum to discuss justice, solidarity and repair in today’s societies

REstART is a festival that aims at creating a collective reflection on justice, solidarity and repair in today’s Europe in the aftermath of personal and societal trauma, conflict, and harm. The Festival is firmly anchored in the values and methods of restorative justice which aim at connecting people and restoring just relations. Attention will be given to restorative justice responses to societal level conflicts originated and violence escalated during crisis situations, with the aim of giving a voice to the suffering and harm experienced in this period and to “restart” to connect with people.
To encourage reflections and animate the debate, the EFRJ invited artists, activists and restorative justice professionals to propose a performance or exhibition that reflected the concept of the festival and aimed to create a reflection on the themes proposed. Join us between 30 November and 5 December!

• Programme

  • Day 1: Tuesday, 1 December
  • Day 2: Wednesday, 2 December
  • Day 3: Thursday, 3 December
  • Day 4: Friday, 4 December

• Registration

• Partners

The Education for Justice (E4J) Global Dialogue Series taking place from 1 – 4 December 2020.

• Following the success of the 2019 E4J International High-Level Conference and inspired by the vast array of innovative approaches from around the world to ensure that #LearningNeverStops, UNESCO and UNODC will host from 1-4 December 2020 the E4J Global Dialogue Series, consisting of online discussions on the topics of education for the rule of law, youth voice and the role of schools and higher education institutions in contributing to the SDGs, in particular SDG16. The discussions will focus on and target primary, secondary and tertiary education levels, with a particular emphasis on how the international education community needs to respond to the growing challenges that education is currently facing.

  More than 30 online interactive discussions will also provide an avenue to discuss the future of education on issues related to justice, the rule of law, SDGs and social cohesion, from the perspective of the numerous international and distinguished partners, educators and academics that cooperate with E4J, as well as youth representatives and other beneficiaries.

  Please visit our webpage to learn more about the E4J Global Dialogue Series and register for the various sessions.

Registration is still open to the upcoming workshop on Juveniles and Young Adult Offenders, taking place online on 1-2 December.

During the two half-day sessions, European experts will be sharing their perspectives on issues like treatment programs for young adult offenders, small scale detention facilities, psychosocial maturity, (digital) education and also include an interview with a young ex-offender.

The workshop is only open for European public sector representatives, academics and NGOs.

For registration, please visit our website

Wednesday, 2 December 2020

16h00 - 17h00 CET

Register: https://who.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_jiiwHbULQZejGLs9zIt9wg

Agenda

16h00-16h05: Welcome & introductions: Dr Naoko Yamamoto, Assistant Director General,

WHO Healthier Populations Division

16h05-16h15: Dr Mark Bellis, Bangor University

16h15-16h25: Dr Faith Mwangi-Powell, Girls Not Brides

16h25-16h35: Dr Manuel Eisner, Cambridge University

16h35-16h55: Q & A

16h55-17h00: Closure & thanks: Dr Etienne Krug, Director, WHO Department of Social

Determinants of Health

Rationale

The COVID-19 pandemic has upended our world and exacerbated inequalities in many countries and communities. One of the consequences of COVID-19 and the societal responses to the virus has been an increase in some types of violence. This includes child maltreatment, youth violence, intimate partner violence, sexual violence, and elder abuse. In addition to the immediate harms, these acts of violence will have pernicious, lifelong health effects on those affected and risk undermining their potential and ultimately impede social and economic development.

It is known that far from being randomly distributed, all forms of violence are strongly patterned by social determinants such as economic, social and gender inequalities; lack of ccupational and educational opportunities; ease of access to alcohol, drugs and firearms; family dysfunction; and norms and values that shape the acceptability of violence. In turn, high levels of violence can themselves amplify these social determinants in a vicious circle.

This webinar will explore how violence is a significant contributor to human suffering and how the societal responses to COVID-19 such as stay-at-home measures, workplace and school closures, and restrictions on sales of alcohol highlight the interrelationships between social determinants and violence. These complex interrelationships will be explored and their implications unpacked to suggest likely future trends in the prevalence of violence and its prevention.

3 December 2020 – 16:30 – 18:00 CET

Transcrime – Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore

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The possible convergence of multiple transnational crimes insisting on the same areas, victims, routes, together with their displacement toward more fragile contexts, may pose severe threats to the lives of migrants and refugees as well as to the security of the European Union. Current and future European policies on migration are key in this respect, as they can reduce criminal opportunities and, in turn, risks for individuals and societies.

Starting from the latest findings of Transcrime’s project on crime convergence, Flows (funded by PMI Impact), the webinar moves to the analysis of the current situation in North Africa and the Mediterranean Sea considering what the present trends of migration to Europe are. This will provide a unique opportunity to discuss the current state of European migration policies and the remedies needed to tackle related issues with renowned participants from European and International institutions. A reflection on these topics is particularly timely, given the constant evolution of migration flows toward Europe and the growing need for a balanced and sustainable policy reform.

SPEAKERS:

Ernesto Savona, Director, Transcrime – Università Cattolica

Laura Ferrara, Member of the European Parliament (LIBE Committee)

Alberto Aziani, Senior Researcher, Transcrime - Università Cattolica

Maysa Ayoub, AD of the Center for Migration and Refugee Studies, American University in Cairo

Giovanni Cioffi, Policy Officer, European Commission (DG Migration and Home Affairs)

Fabrizio Sarrica, Research Expert, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

Luigi Achilli, Marie Curie Fellow, European University Institute

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