Falling into the existential abyss: Ivan Franko’s realist prose in experiments with Gothic and crime fiction modes

This article examines three novels by Ukrainian realist Ivan Franko (1856–1916): Dlia domashn'oho ohnyshcha (For the Home Hearth, 1892), Osnovy suspil'nosti (Pillars of Society, 1894), and Perekhresni stezhky (Fateful Crossroads, 1900). Previous scholars saw elements of crime fiction in these works, but the actual relationship between the two genres of crime fiction and realism has not been fully developed. By studying the conventions of crime fiction, along with its antecedent, the Gothic, and their influence on Franko, the author shows the make-up of the early Ukrainian crime fiction genre and points to its importance in understanding Franko’s vacillation between realist and modernist tendencies. As she argues, the scales of his vacillation are tipped toward modernism in its decadent form, an existential void that characterized fin de siècle Europe. Hence, Franko’s “ideal” or programmatic realism (defined by Franko as a literary style with a didactic tendency aimed at educating society), which he introduced under the appealing cover of crime and Gothic motifs, ultimately failed him. The author proposes that it is the creative modes (Gothic and crime fiction) that Franko chose for voicing his ideas about social reforms that led him, unsuspectingly, away from his programmatic goal and toward the decadent aspects of modernism.     

The victim–offender overlap in late adulthood

This study contributes to the general knowledge of the victim–offender overlap by determining whether the phenomenon exists among older adults and whether known correlates of crime and victimization explain the relationship. Cross-sectional survey data from telephone interviews conducted with individuals 60 years and older (N = 2,000) residing in Arizona and Florida are used to estimate confirmatory factor models for both victimization and criminal offending. The results from a series of multivariate regression models show that victimization is associated with criminal offending. While factors such as low self-control, depression, and spending time in commercial drinking establishments partially attenuate the victimization–crime link, the statistically significant relationship persists in a multivariate context. Further testing indicates that the observed findings are robust across measurement and modeling strategies. Coupled with prior research, the results support the argument that the victim–offender overlap exists (and is difficult to explain) over the life course.     

犯罪圈的扩张及其合理限制——以我国刑事立法的变迁为视角

犯罪圈的扩张是我国刑事立法的主导方向,现代化的发展、权利的保护是犯罪圈在特定时期不断扩大的主要原因。立法上的犯罪化的内在根据,在于行为具有应受刑罚处罚程度的社会危害性。犯罪圈的扩张应当受到合理限制：遵循刑法的谦抑性原则,考虑新增罪名与其他罪名的关系,考虑国民的感受与认同并理性对待民意,在注重入罪的同时,也应做到及时地出罪。     

Mentoring Siblings of Gang Members: A Template for Reaching Families of Gang Members?

Mentoring has become a popular model of intervention to reduce the risk of offending, and has been proposed as an effective tool to tackle the risk of gang membership. This paper reviews the existing literature on mentoring and reports on a qualitative evaluation of a mentoring programme targeted at young people ‘at risk’ of gang membership in an English city. The study highlights important issues around these interventions. Although we found it a useful way to engage otherwise hard‐to‐reach families, important limitations remain: their potential labelling impact and their limited impact in isolation from other more ambitious measures.     

‘Refugees welcome?’ The interplay between perceived threats and general concerns on the acceptance of refugees – a factorial survey approach in Germany

The on-going migration of refugees to Europe has fuelled debates about the indigence of refugees and the perceived legitimacy of individual claims for asylum in different receptive countries. With a substantial body of research that has investigated the antecedents of attitudes towards immigrants, evidence on whether those underlying assumptions hold true for refugees as well remains scarce. The paper applies the framework of Intergroup Threat Theory to arrive at competing hypotheses with regard to the acceptance levels of refugees. We use pooled data from two probabilistic samples drawn in the German city of Dresden and apply a confounded factorial survey design to extend previous research on attitudes towards refugees. We find that natives perceive political persecution and war as justified reasons for seeking asylum in Germany, while socio-demographic characteristics of respondents and refugees are of minor importance. Foremost, the individual level of respondent’s fear of crime represents a crucial moderator of the perception of refugees as threatening.     

Televisual pregnancy beauty

Theorizing the contours of televisual pregnancy beauty, this essay demonstrates how televisual stylistics construct and communicate a political ideology of pregnancy. When the crime dramas Bones and In Plain Sight incorporated their star actors’ pregnancies, they produced different televisually styled portrayals of pregnancy; these medium-specific portrayals play an important role in how pregnancy itself is culturally conceptualized. Although pregnancy beauty, the commodification and sexual objectification of the pregnant and postpartum body, has been analyzed in ways that link it to post-industrial, neoliberal, capitalist, and patriarchal forces, this analysis demonstrates how televisual style sets the scene for this broader discourse. Specifically, I contend that the costuming, blocking and staging, cinematography, and editing determine how the pregnant body appears, and this then communicates a clear ideology to viewing audiences. Through these two case studies, I analyze contrasting televisual styles and argue that while Bones’ style disciplines the pregnant body and In Plain Sight’s style welcomes the pregnant body, both styles enact a televisual pregnancy beauty that commodifies pregnancy.     

基于博弈模型的“罪刑均衡”思想分析

罪刑均衡思想由来已久,作为刑法理论中最基本的刑罚原则,在对犯人进行科处刑罚方面具有的重要意义早已得到承认,而在预防犯罪方面具有的作用却长期被忽视。犯罪行为实质上是犯人和政府之间的博弈。政府先制订刑法,犯人在观察到刑罚后才选择是否犯罪以及犯何种性质的罪。经济分析表明,改变刑罚的确定性和严厉性就能影响博弈的均衡,从而影响犯罪,刑罚之外的其它措施如果能改变犯罪的成本和收益,也能实现同样的目的,这为预防犯罪提供了一种新的思路。     

Both Whistleblowers and the Scientists They Accuse Are Vulnerable and Deserve Protection

Whistleblowers play an important role diagnosing research misconduct, but often experience severe negative consequences. That is also true for incorrectly accused scientists. Both categories are vulnerable and deserve protection. Whistleblowers must proceed carefully and cautiously. Anonymous whistleblowing should be discouraged but cannot be ignored when the allegations are specific, serious, and plausible. When accused of a breach of research integrity it is important to be as transparent as possible. Sometimes accusations are false in the sense that the accuser knows or should know that the allegations are untrue. A mala fide whistleblower typically does not act carefully and we postulate a typology that may help in detecting them. Striking the right balance between whistleblower protection and timely unmasking false and identifying incorrect accusations is a tough dilemma leaders of research institutions have to face.     

Gendered Movement: Negotiating Youth,Sex and Harm in the US Carceral State

Exempt from the current bipartisan reassessment of the US carceral state are people with convictions for sex offenses. While movements against public registries for sex offenders are scant, a grassroots movement is underway. This article offers a preliminary analysis of the complex consequence of women's political work to extract their sons from the US carceral state. This gendered advocacy is mapped against shifts in the racialised US criminal justice system, where the fluid category of child/juvenile is often unavailable to youth of colour and/or queer youth, and criminalisation is offered to regulate sexuality, consent, age and potential harm.     

Self‐Esteem,the Fear of Crime,and the Decision to Protect Oneself From Victimization

This research extends prior work that examines self‐esteem as an outcome of protective behaviors against crime victimization by focusing instead on the moderating influence of self‐esteem on the relationship between the fear of crime and the decision to protect oneself from victimization. The fear of crime is conceptualized as two separate components (fear of victimization and perceived risk) in accordance with prior work. Self‐esteem is conceptualized as three separate components (worth, efficacy, and authenticity), and measured with a recently designed instrument for capturing each aspect of self‐esteem separately. Data are collected through surveys of a population at high risk for victimization (undergraduate college students). Logistic regression analyses demonstrate that self‐esteem does play a role for deciding whether to engage in protective behaviors, and that the specific components of self‐esteem moderate defensive behavioral outcomes differently. Specifically, the self‐worth, self‐efficacy, and authenticity components of self‐esteem influence the decision to carry protection, but not the decision to take a self‐defense class. Implications for both the fear of crime and self‐esteem literatures are addressed.