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"Private" crime in public housing: violent victimization, fear of crime and social isolation among women public housing residents
... Qualitative researchers have always felt that the NVAWS finding was very low, and that even the Smith findings were low. For example, Renzetti and Maier (2001) studied 36 female residents of public or Section 8 housing in Camden, New Jersey, and found that 50 percent had been victimized by physical assaults from intimates. ...
... Another issue to consider is that many poor neighborhood residents, like a sizeable portion of middle and upper class people, are reluctant to deal with crime and disorder problems themselves (Renzetti and Maier, 2001). This does not mean, however, that they are unwilling to act on 'behalf of the common good' or that they are unwilling to contribute to the maintenance or development of 'safe and orderly environments that are free from predatory crime . . ...
... Rather, many prefer formal intervention by the police or other authorities (e.g. public housing officials) (Carr, 2000;Renzetti and Maier, 2001), and they will call agents of social control such as the police if they directly observe or suspect wrongdoing in their community. Thus, future empirical work on the topics addressed here should ask respondents questions about the likelihood of their neighbors seeking the assistance of the police and/or other authorities (e.g. ...
Although it has not yet been applied to domestic violence and other types of crime in Canadian public housing, the social disorganization/collective efficacy model described in this article may help explain why people who live in such areas characterized by poverty and joblessness report higher rates of intimate partner violence and several other offenses than those living in more affluent communities. Using data generated by the Quality of Neighborhood Life Survey, a main objective of the Canadian study described here was to test this model. One of the most important findings is that community concerns about street crimes and informal means of social control designed to prevent such harms are not effective forms of alleviating intimate partner violence in public housing.
... This incidence rate (events that occurred in a one-year time period) is much higher than that generated by major national surveys of the general population that used a similar measure, including Tjaden and Thoennes' (1998) National Violence Against Women Survey (1.9%). Renzetti and Maier's (2002) qualitative study of 36 female residents of public or section 8 housing in Camden, New Jersey also uncovered an incidence rate higher than those obtained by large-scale victimization surveys. Thirtythree percent of their female respondents were violently victimized during the year before being interviewed, and 50 percent of these assaults were committed by a husband/exhusband, boyfriend/ex-boyfriend, or an acquaintance (e.g., a friend or neighbor). ...
... Still, the most important point to consider here is that on top of struggling to deal with the day-to-day stress of living in poverty, many female public housing residents endure a substantial amount of intimate violence. Clearly, it is now time to develop solutions, including those guided by Second Generation CPTED, that refocus attention on what happens inside public housing units (Renzetti & Maier, 2002). ...
... Second, creating a tight-knit community is an important goal, but the extant literature on Second Generation CPTED overlooks the fact that this approach can also contribute to the protection of batterers by their neighbors (Ames & Dunham, 2002;Websdale, 1998). For example, some of Renzetti and Maier's (2002) interviewees mentioned incidents in which neighbors and even security guards got offenders out of a Camden housing development before the police showed up. Moreover, many men who reside in public housing estates belong to tight-knit, all-male, patriarchal peer groups that include offenders, as well as those who encourage physical and sexual assaults on women who challenge male authority (DeKeseredy & Schwartz, 2002;Websdale, 2001). ...
... 22,23 Urban subsidized housing neighborhoods historically have experienced high occurrences of crime and violence. 24 Women in subsidized housing have higher victimization rates and higher fear of crime than women in higher social classes. 24 Self-reported neighborhood violence among African-American pregnant women has been linked with early pregnancy cigarette use. ...
... 24 Women in subsidized housing have higher victimization rates and higher fear of crime than women in higher social classes. 24 Self-reported neighborhood violence among African-American pregnant women has been linked with early pregnancy cigarette use. 25 There are no studies that report the association with stressors of perceived neighborhood disorder and violence, and neighborhood crime data with smoking among African-American women in subsidized housing. ...
... Younger women are also at higher risk for sexual assault and violence in public housing neighborhoods. 43 Intimate partner violence is reported to be a significant problem in subsidized housing in qualitative studies, 24,44 yet few studies have systematically examined women's concerns in public housing about their experiences with crime victimization. 24 This study was unique in that crime data were collected from the local police departments for the actual neighborhood, versus larger area census track data. ...
The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between individual and neighborhood social contextual factors and smoking prevalence among African-American women in subsidized neighborhoods. We randomly sampled 663 adult women in 17 subsidized neighborhoods in two Southeastern US states. The smoking prevalence among participants was 37.6 %, with an estimated neighborhood household prevalence ranging from 30 to 68 %. Smokers were more likely to be older, have lower incomes, have lower BMI, and live with other smokers. Women with high social cohesion were less likely to smoke, although living in neighborhoods with higher social cohesion was not associated with smoking prevalence. Women with higher social cohesion were more likely to be older and had lived in the neighborhood longer. Women with high stress (related to violence and disorder) and who lived in neighborhoods with higher stress were more likely to smoke. Younger women were more likely to have higher stress than older women. There were no statistically significant associations with objective neighborhood crime data in any model. This is the first study to examine both individual and neighborhood social contextual correlates among African-American women in subsidized neighborhoods. This study extends findings about smoking behaviors and neighborhood social contexts in this high-risk, urban population. Future research is needed to explore age and residential stability differences and perceptions of social cohesion, neighborhood disorder, and perceived violence in subsidized housing. Further research is also warranted on African-American women, subsidized housing, smoking, social context, health disparities' effective strategies to address these individual and contextual factors to better inform future ecological-based multilevel prevention, and cessation intervention strategies.
... Poor women are significantly more likely to experience violence at the hands of a male partner than are women who experience economic stability or wealth (see Frye, et al., 2006;Malley-Morrison and Hines, 2004). The high correlation between socioeconomic status and race in the United States also shows that women of color are much more likely to be victims of domestic violence than are white women (see Mallery-Morrison and Hines, 2004;Rapheal, 2000;Renzetti and Maier, 2002). ...
... For instance, societal expectations are that men possess the power and ability to provide economic support for their family. Acts of domestic violence often increase in number and severity when men's economic status is threatened by women's attempt to find employment or their income exceeds that of their husbands (DeKeseredy and Schwartz 2002;Rapheal, 2000;Renzetti and Maier, 2002). Also, men's emotional need to be in close relationships with women is in direct opposition to masculine expectations to be strong, independent and fully in control of one's emotions. ...
... Recent studies of women who are living in low income, urban settings also show very high rates of witnessing and/or experiencing victimization (see Kennedy and Bennett, 2006;Rapheal, 2000;Renzetti and Maier, 2002;Wenzel, Tucker, Hambarsoomian, and Elliott, 2006;Wolfer, 1999). Much of the violence that these women experience is intertwined with violence within the family. ...
... Neighborhood disadvantage encompasses characteristics, such as high rates of poverty, joblessness, and residential mobility. Such characteristics are associated with a host of social and physical ills, including higher rates of violent crime (e.g., Krivo & Peterson, 1996), mental disorder (e.g., Silver, Mulvey, & Swanson, 2002), and mistrust and fear of crime (Renzetti & Maier, 2002;Ross & Jang, 2000). In addition, although the importance of individual and interpersonal risk factors cannot be denied, a steadily growing body of literature indicates that residents of poor neighborhoods are at high risk for IPV (Benson, Fox, DeMaris, & Van Wyk, 2003;DeKeseredy, Alvi, Schwartz, & Perry, 1999;Miles-Doan, 1998;Renzetti & Maier, 2002). ...
... Such characteristics are associated with a host of social and physical ills, including higher rates of violent crime (e.g., Krivo & Peterson, 1996), mental disorder (e.g., Silver, Mulvey, & Swanson, 2002), and mistrust and fear of crime (Renzetti & Maier, 2002;Ross & Jang, 2000). In addition, although the importance of individual and interpersonal risk factors cannot be denied, a steadily growing body of literature indicates that residents of poor neighborhoods are at high risk for IPV (Benson, Fox, DeMaris, & Van Wyk, 2003;DeKeseredy, Alvi, Schwartz, & Perry, 1999;Miles-Doan, 1998;Renzetti & Maier, 2002). Benson et al. (2003) reported that the relationship between intimate violence and neighborhood disadvantage was not linear; there was a strong relationship between IPV and disadvantage only in the fourth quartile, representing the most disadvantaged neighborhoods. ...
... For example, recently reported annual incidence rates from women living in public housing have been as high as 19.0% and 35.0% (DeKeseredy et al., 1999;Renzetti & Maier, 2002) compared to a reported lifetime incidence among the general population ranging from 1.5% to 16.0% (Rennison & Welchans, 2000;Straus & Gelles, 1990;Tjaden & Thoennes, 1998). However, despite this knowledge, relatively little is known about neighborhood disadvantage and its effect on domestic or IPV. ...
The authors examined how witnessing community violence influenced social support networks and how these networks were associated with male-to-female intimate partner violence (IPV) in ethnically diverse male college students. The authors assessed whether male social support members themselves had perpetrated IPV (male network violence) and whether female social support members had been victimized by intimates (female network victimization). The results indicated an association between community violence and male network violence; both factors were significantly associated with higher levels of IPV. Furthermore, the relationship between community violence and IPV was partially mediated by male network violence. Additionally, the results indicated a moderated relationship such that male participants who reported the highest levels of exposure to community violence and male network violence were at highest risk for IPV. However, this relationship did not hold across all ethnicities and races. The findings suggest that the mechanisms associating community violence, networks, and IPV are multifaceted and differ across ethnicity and race.
... Neighborhood disadvantage encompasses characteristics, such as high rates of poverty, joblessness, and residential mobility. Such characteristics are associated with a host of social and physical ills, including higher rates of violent crime (e.g., Krivo & Peterson, 1996), mental disorder (e.g., Silver, Mulvey, & Swanson, 2002), and mistrust and fear of crime (Renzetti & Maier, 2002;Ross & Jang, 2000). In addition, although the importance of individual and interpersonal risk factors cannot be denied, a steadily growing body of literature indicates that residents of poor neighborhoods are at high risk for IPV (Benson, Fox, DeMaris, & Van Wyk, 2003;DeKeseredy, Alvi, Schwartz, & Perry, 1999;Miles-Doan, 1998;Renzetti & Maier, 2002). ...
... Such characteristics are associated with a host of social and physical ills, including higher rates of violent crime (e.g., Krivo & Peterson, 1996), mental disorder (e.g., Silver, Mulvey, & Swanson, 2002), and mistrust and fear of crime (Renzetti & Maier, 2002;Ross & Jang, 2000). In addition, although the importance of individual and interpersonal risk factors cannot be denied, a steadily growing body of literature indicates that residents of poor neighborhoods are at high risk for IPV (Benson, Fox, DeMaris, & Van Wyk, 2003;DeKeseredy, Alvi, Schwartz, & Perry, 1999;Miles-Doan, 1998;Renzetti & Maier, 2002). Benson et al. (2003) reported that the relationship between intimate violence and neighborhood disadvantage was not linear; there was a strong relationship between IPV and disadvantage only in the fourth quartile, representing the most disadvantaged neighborhoods. ...
... For example, recently reported annual incidence rates from women living in public housing have been as high as 19.0% and 35.0% (DeKeseredy et al., 1999;Renzetti & Maier, 2002) compared to a reported lifetime incidence among the general population ranging from 1.5% to 16.0% (Rennison & Welchans, 2000;Straus & Gelles, 1990;Tjaden & Thoennes, 1998). However, despite this knowledge, relatively little is known about neighborhood disadvantage and its effect on domestic or IPV. ...
The links among social disorder, violence in the social support network (NIPV), community violence, and women's substance use were examined in a sample of 50 low-income, nonshelter women to predict intimate partner violence (IPV). The authors found that living in a neighborhood with higher levels of social disorder and using substances increased women's exposure to community violence that, in turn, was associated with increased rates of IPV. In addition, although not associated with community violence, NIPV was associated with increased IPV. The results suggest that examining neighborhood-level factors is important in domestic violence policy, practice, and research.
... While many variables that increase risk of partner violence have been proposed, indicators of risky lifestyles, including illicit substance use and HIV-positive status, have been consistently associated with higher risk of intimate partner violence in both heterosexual (e.g., Gilbert, El-Bassel, Chang, Wu, & Roy, 2012;Raghavan, Mennerich, Sexton, & James, 2006) and same-sex couples (Klitzman, Greenberg, Pollack, & Dolezal, 2001;Reif, 2001). Substance use and associated risky behaviors, while present across all socioeconomic statuses, may present a particularly high risk for marginalized and/or low income populations (Benson, Fox, DeMaris, & Van Wyk, 2003;Renzetti & Maier, 2002). Kelly, Izienicki, Bimbi, and Parsons (2011) found a significant relationship between substance use and intimate partner violence among a sample of gay, lesbian, and bisexual individuals. ...
... These participants were identified as high-risk because of a likelihood of illicit substance use, low socioeconomic status, and high rates of HIV-positive status. Accordingly, the harm reduction center functioned as an informal partner violence shelter for these populations who were not eligible for services elsewhere, further allowing access to invisible and marginalized or low-income populations that are likely to be at the highest risk for severe violence from intimate partners (Benson et al., 2003;McKenry, Serovich, Mason, & Mosach, 2006;Renzetti & Maier, 2002). ...
Reported rates of lethal and near-lethal violence by male same-sex intimate partners appear to be quite low. While these rates are undoubtedly lower than that of male to female intimate murders, the actual numbers are likely underestimated because of underreporting and misclassification. The goal of this study was to examine incidents of near-lethal intimate partner violence among a sample of 136 high-risk men in same-sex relationships recruited from a harm reduction center. Relatedly, the study also examined if the victim reported the violence, if violence occurred during a break-up, and if the victim remained with his partner following the violence. Results indicated that almost half of this sample experienced high levels of near-lethal violence, less than a quarter reported it, about a third reported that the violence occurred in the context of a break-up, and a little less than half of victims remained with their partners. However, different from heterosexual women, men who were trying to leave their partners were more likely to complete the break-up despite life-threatening violence, suggesting different rules of gender and power. Contradictory to prediction, variables typically related to heterosexual violence, namely, race, education, and violence severity, did not influence the likelihood of staying with or leaving a violent partner. Conversely, victims’ sexual orientation, specifically individuals who identified as gay, was related to continued relationship status with a violent partner. Implications for violence assessment and prevention strategies, as well as for treatment programs serving same-sex intimate partner victims, are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved)
... This is why we consider our approach to fit within the variant of critical criminology known as left realism (DeKeseredy, 2022). Others would agree with this position, especially those who studied the relationship between urban deindustrialization and woman abuse in the late 1990s and during the beginning of this millennium (e.g., DeKeseredy et al., 2003;Renzetti, 2011;Renzetti and Maier, 2002). Therefore, the model presented in Fig. 2 also includes globalization, which in the case of extractive industries, is a form of capitalist exploitation of resources nearby rural communities in many countries which become victims of the natural resource curse (Stretesky and Grimmer 2020). ...
A small, but growing, body of criminological knowledge shows that natural resource extraction activities contribute to violence against women in rural and remote areas, but the extant literature is undertheorized. This is not to say, however, that this research is not theoretically driven. While not always made explicit, almost all of it is guided, either explicitly or implicitly, by social disorganization theory and Durkheim’s anomie theory, both of which ignore the influence of patriarchal social forces embedded in many rural localities where natural resource extraction activities occur. The main objective of this paper, then, is to offer an empirically informed new critical criminological theory that has the potential to more effectively explain the linkage between natural resource extraction and violence against women in rural and remote communities around the world.
... While research has demonstrated the importance of perceived neighborhood safety for health, there is less evidence of the factors that influence perceptions of safety. Previous studies suggest that perceptions of safety are affected not only by the built environment [20][21][22] and actual crime levels [23][24][25] but also by many indirect, multidimensional factors particularly in urban neighborhoods [26,27]. One factor that may affect perceptions of neighborhood safety is the length of time someone has lived in their neighborhood. ...
Perceptions of neighborhood safety shape the well-being of individuals and communities, affecting neighborhood walkability, associated physical activity behaviors, and health conditions. However, less is known about the factors that determine perceptions of safety. One factor that may affect perceptions of neighborhood safety is the length of time someone has lived in their neighborhood. We use a representative, adult sample of urban low-income residents from the 2015 New Haven Health Survey (n = 1189) to investigate the associations between length of residence (new residents of < 1 year in neighborhood versus longer-term residents of 1 or more years in neighborhood) and perceptions of neighborhood safety (whether feeling unsafe to walk at night). We then examine the potential moderating effect of exposure to neighborhood violence on these associations. We find that the association between length of residence and perceived safety differs by exposure to neighborhood violence. Among those unexposed to neighborhood violence, longer-term neighborhood residents were more likely to feel unsafe compared to new residents (OR = 2.03, 95% CI 1.19, 3.45). Additionally, the effect of exposure to violence on feelings of safety was larger for new residents (OR = 9.10, 95% CI 2.72, 30.44) compared to longer-term residents (OR = 1.88, 95% CI 1.28, 2.77). Our findings suggest that length of residence may have implications for feelings of safety, and that experiences of violence may uniquely contribute to feelings of unsafety among new residents. These findings hold implications for interventions and policy efforts aimed at neighborhood safety improvements through community development, housing, or city urban planning initiatives, particularly for new neighborhood residents or those who experience neighborhood violence.
... Researchers have found evidence that social isolation is associated with a wide variety of outcomes including employment experiences (Elliott, 1999), access to social resources (Tigges et al., 1997), educational achievement and child development (Brooks-Gunn, Duncan, Klebanov, & Sealand, 1992;Vartanian & Gleason, 1999), physical health (Collins & Williams, 1999;Thompson & Krause, 2000;Tomaka, Thompson, & Palacios, 2006), and crime and violence (Renzetti & Maier, 2002). However, even with the recent upsurge in neighborhood effects research, little has been done to examine the impact of neighborhood characteristics on the use of social services such as the FSP, public housing, health care, welfare, and participation in neighborhood organizations. ...
Despite the recent upsurge in neighborhood effects research, few studies have examined the impact of neighborhood characteristics on the use of nutrition, health, and welfare programs. To explore these issues, this study used data from Welfare, Children, and Families: A Three-City Study, a longitudinal dataset comprised of low-income neighborhoods in Boston, San Antonio, and Chicago (n=1,712). Using hierarchical linear models, the results indicated that both individual (education, employment, and marriage) and perceived neighborhood disorder factors were related to social service use.
... These concerns do not appear specific to future concerns about acquaintance victimizations: victims were more likely to report concerns about burglaries and even attacks by strangers within the neighborhood. This supports prior work suggesting that women's experiences with victimization by acquaintances may inform larger fears or perceptions of crime (e.g., Pain 1991Pain , 1997Renzetti and Maier 2002;Valentine 1992). Thus the focus on external cues to danger, such as signs of disorder or the racial context of the neighborhood, may be missing an additional important source of concern for women found closer to home. ...
Women report greater concerns about the danger posed by strangers despite greater victimization by acquaintances. Using a survey of Seattle residents, this article investigates one understudied dimension of this seeming incongruity: the actual effect of victimization by a stranger or acquaintance on concerns about crime. The results suggest different patterns for different crimes: relationship to the offender does not matter for burglaries while acquaintance sexual assaults and stranger nonsexual assaults, respectively, hold the largest associations with concerns. Implications are discussed for research on fear of crime, acquaintance victimizations, and perceptions of neighborhoods.
... In response to the difficulties with traditional DV theory and the subsequent inequities in service provision, there is a new body of literature examining differences among women. This research suggests that an understanding of both cultural difference and social context are crucial to providing relevant services and reaching underserved women in all areas of social service delivery (Barnoff & Moffat, 2007; Jiwani, 2005; Moore, 2011; Potter, 2007; Renzetti & Maier, 2002; Swan & Snow, 2006). This research reveals that women claim multiple identities and also experience multiple types of oppression, sexism being only one of many factors that influence women's stories of IPV. ...
This narrative study identified service barriers from the perspectives of 16 Black lesbian survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV). Qualitative analysis revealed diverse interrelated barriers similar to those identified by service providers in a previous study by the authors, including societal barriers such as heterosexism, and in-stitutional barriers such as ambiguous policy. Results indicate that the theory of intersectionality is best poised to frame an investiga-tion of the complex barriers encountered by these survivors. Results also demonstrate that although these women desire to receive ser-vices, current inequities prevent them from accessing support and further endanger, victimize, and isolate them. Strategies for im-proving services and reaching culturally diverse survivors are also discussed.
... Although research into the impact of non-profit and other forms of social housing has been limited, existing evidence appears to suggest positive social outcomes for households who are able to access affordable housing through such programs (for a complete discussion, see Buzzelli, 2009). Extant research that demonstrates a high incidence of violence for women living in public housing (e.g., Renzetti & Maier, 2002;Brownridge, 2005;DeKeseredy, Schwartz & Alvi, 2008) highlight the need for mechanisms to help ensure women's safety in all forms of housing, particularly for women who have previously left violent relationships. ...
Housing and violence are key determinants of women's health. Violence is a major cause of women's housing instability and homelessness. Recent research has identified the need to further explore the connections among intimate partner violence, housing, and health. It has been suggested that housing may represent a point of intervention to mitigate the negative health consequences of violence. This article explores the interrelationships among women's health, experiences of violence, and access to housing. We draw on findings from a feminist participatory action and Photovoice research project that identified barriers to housing for women leaving violent relationships. We found that the health effects of violence were themselves a barrier to accessing housing and that the unsafe and unacceptable housing options from which participants were forced to choose had a further negative impact on their health. We suggest policy responses that address the unsafe and unacceptable housing for women leaving violent relationships. Background Housing affects health in a multitude of ways, in total forming one of the key social determinants of health (Shaw, 2004; Shapcott, 2008).
... For example, social differentiation (e.g., economic segregation) at the neighborhood level has been associated with community violence (e.g., Sampson & Lauritsen, 1994;Sampson, Raudenbush, & Earls, 1997;Wilson, 1987). Disadvantaged community contexts can also provide settings that foster PVAW, and some research has linked economically disadvantaged communities to risk of PVAW (e.g., Benson, Fox, DeMaris, & Van Wyk, 2003;Cunradi, Caetano, Clark, & Schafer, 2000;Raphael, 2001;Renzetti & Maier, 2002). According to Sampson and Lauritsen (1994), these community contexts "seem to shape what can be termed cognitive landscapes or ecologically structured norms (normative ecologies) regarding appropriate standards and expectations of conduct" (p. ...
This article analyzes correlates of victim-blaming attitudes regarding partner violence against women (PVAW) among the Spanish general population (N = 1,006). Results showed that victim-blaming attitudes were more common among respondents who were older, less educated, and who placed themselves at the bottom of the social scale. Furthermore, the odds of expressing victim-blaming attitudes were higher among respondents who thought that PVAW was common in society, considered it more acceptable, and knew women victims of partner violence in their circle of friends and family. Implications for public education are discussed.
... For example, Kennedy and Dutton's (1989) Alberta survey found 11.2% victimization, while Straus and Gelles' (1986) second national family violence survey elicited an estimate of 11.3%. Even here, the possibility exists that the much higher victimization found in public housing is still too low, as Renzetti and Maier (2002) discovered in a more in-depth qualitative study of 36 Camden, New Jersey women, where 50% reported victimization. Our conclusion is that North American urban female public housing residents suffer from higher rates of physical abuse than women in the general population. ...
The physical, sexual and psychological abuse of women in intimate relationships cuts across all sociodemographic groups. However, women who are socially and economically disenfranchised, such as those who live in urban public housing estates, report much higher rates of such victimization than do their more affluent counterparts. Still, a review of the literature on violence against women reveals a conspicuous absence of in-depth theoretical work on key areas related to class. The main objective of this paper, then, is to provide an economic exclusion/male peer support model of woman abuse in North American public housing, one that takes social and economic marginalization seriously. (F)eminists have dealt inadequately with the question of whether some women are more vulnerable than others. Eager to repudiate class and race-biased analyses of abuse, we have promoted universal risk arguments, criticizing methodologies that define some women as more vulnerable than others. But this refutation of classism and racism obscures our ability to wrestle with this question of vulnerability and therefore eligibility criteria (Fine, 1985, p. 397, emphasis in original).
... As a result, rural women are at a disadvantage (and at higher risk) if and when they experience domestic violence. We are just beginning to understand poor women's vulnerability to violence in public housing (DeKeseredy & Schwartz, 2003: Renzetti & Maier, 2003. ...
... This seems to be particularly true for ethnic minorities, who might experience the loss of the social networks they had in their home countries (Kim, Lau, & Chang, 2006). The risk for IPV increases in neighborhoods characterized by poverty and associated with community violence and crime (Benson, Fox, DeMaris, & Van Wyk, 2003; Renzetti & Maier, 2002). Understanding gender roles in Puerto Rican families and support networks, such as the machismo and marianismo roles, might cause relationships to interact in different ways across different cultural contexts (Sarkisian & Gerstel, 2004). ...
This study investigated Puerto Rican families (n = 157) that contained
at least one parent with a substance use disorder to describe
the impact of acculturation, parenting, and intimate partner violence
on child behavioral issues. Findings indicated that parental
distress, parent–child dysfunctional interactions, and parental
reinforcement had direct influences on child behavior problems for
Puerto Ricans. Implications for social work practice are explored,
such as an increased focus on the parenting experience, decreasing
the stress of the parent, and increasing reinforcement of positive
child behavior.
... Although we have no comparison group in this study of women who were not living in poverty, the data seem to support the contention that women in public housing suffer more interpersonal violence than women in the general population. For example, 19.3 percent of Canadian women in one study reported being victimized by physical violence in the past 12 months (DeKeseredy, Alvi, Schwartz and Perry 1999), and Renzetti and Maier's (2002) study of public housing residents in Camden, New Jersey found an incidence rate of violent victimization of 33 percent (and also see Websdale 2001, Raphael andTolman 1997;Browne and Bassuk 1997;Bassuk, Melnick and Browne 1998). Psychological and economic abuse was not measured in the NVAW, but here nearly two-thirds of the women reported being so victimized in the past 12 months. ...
There has been virtually no research on the linkages between poor minority women's attitudes toward woman abuse and their experiences of mistreatment. In this article, this relationship is explored for 144 women from three racial groups living in public housing in a Minnesota city. One unique aspect of the study is the inclusion of Hmong women, members of a group originally from several areas of Southeast Asia, and about whom little is known. Generally, while there were no differences between groups, and a few within the Black or White groups, Hmong women who agreed with male privilege were five times more likely to be abused than other Hmong women, while Hmong women who disagreed with statements approving of male aggression in certain specific situations were only one third as likely to be abused. The results suggest that while rates of abuse among minority poor women are profound, agreement with certain patriarchal norms that may validate abuse varies considerably, and may have different consequences for different ethnic groups. Further research examining potential reasons for these variations is needed if policy makers and practitioners are to adequately address these women's experiences of abuse.
... 4 See Websdale and Johnson (2005) for more information on these programs. 5 See Alvi et al (2001) and Renzetti and Maier (2002) for data on women ' s fear of crime in North American public housing. ...
Informed by several studies of woman abuse in rural settings, the main objective of this paper is to discuss how key principles of Second Generation Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) can be applied to help design appropriate community-based prevention strategies for improving the security of women living in rural places from abuse by spouses and partners in both ongoing and terminated relationships. The gender-sensitive version of CPTED recognizes that communities are contested places where differing strands of values, norms, beliefs and tolerance for crime influence the security of rural women. Hence, some forms of social organization or collective efficacy (not social disorganization) may promote and condone rural woman abuse, and other forms serve to prevent and deter it. We propose a Second Generation CPTED framework that considers the utilization of four main strategies, each tailored to directly address feminist concerns and enhance a locality's collective efficacy to increase women's security: community culture; connectivity and pro-feminist masculinity; community threshold and social cohesion.
... Meeting-or giving the appearance of meeting-the expectations touted in discourses regarding family relationships appeared to be particularly important to study participants. Even non-drug-using family members who were extremely critical of study participants' lifestyles tended to provide some level of financial and social support, mitigating some of the adverse social conditions that characterize study participants' daily lives (Renzetti and Maier 2002;Dunlap et al. 2000). But it was also clear that the women in this study recognized and valued the purely symbolic rewards that family members could offer or withhold. ...
This ethnographic interview study of poor, minority, drug-involved women seeks to fill a gap in the existing research on partner
violence by examining the meaning women attach to their own use of violence in their intimate relationships. This paper uses
theory and research on symbolic boundaries and resistance to examine what symbolic boundaries study participants draw around
violence, and how their desire for respect and respectability influence the boundaries that they draw. This paper highlights
the interpretive flexibility of violence as a social phenomenon—a flexibility that allows the women in this study to maintain
respectability. Yet, these various interpretations, it is argued, are constrained by the matrix of domination (Collins 2000a) within which women live out their lives.
This book chronicles key contemporary developments in the social scientific
study of various types of male-to-female abuse in rural places and suggests new directions in research, theory, and policy. The main objective of this book is not to simply provide a dry recitation of the extant literature on the abuse of rural women in private places. To be sure, this material is covered, but rural women’s experiences of crimes of the powerful like genocidal rape and corporate violence against female employees are also examined.
Written by a celebrated expert on the subject, this book considers woman
abuse in a broad context, covering forms of violence such as physical and sexual assault, coercive control, genocidal rape, abortion bans, forced pregnancy, and corporate forms of violence. It offers a broad research agenda that examines the multidimensional nature of violence against rural women. Drawing on decades of work in the shelter movement, with activist organizations and doing academic and government research, DeKeseredy punctuates the book with stories and voices of perpetrators and survivors of abuse. Additionally, what makes this book unique is that it focuses on the plight of rural women around the world and it introduces a modified version of Liz Kelly’s original continuum of sexual violence.
An accessible and compelling read, this book will appeal to students and
scholars of criminology, sociology, women’s studies, cultural studies, policing, geography, and all those interested in learning about the abuse women face in rural areas.
This chapter describes a prototype Web geographic information system (GIS) and spatial model application for mapping person crime rates in Brisbane, Australia. Our application, which integrates GIS functionality, a clustering model, client/server technology and the Internet, can generate useful documents such as maps and tables to examine and present crime patterns in space and time. Our chapter also demonstrates the usefulness and appeal of the Web GIS application as an information dissemination and spatial data analysis tool for promoting public awareness of social conditions. This chapter argues that Web-based data access is a better approach to delivering large volumes of crime data and geographical information to the public. We expect that police, community workers and citizens could utilize the application and associated maps to facilitate and enhance crime prevention activities. We note, however, that further development of Web-based GIS applications need to answer a number of pertinent questions regarding system maintenance, data integrity and neighborhood crime prevention.
Domestic violence has been a longstanding and ubiquitous public health and human rights concern, and an important constituent of women’s inequality. In the last two decades, research in the field of domestic violence has increased dramatically, enhancing public awareness and understanding of this serious social problem. Domestic violence is the most widely present common form of violence against women across the world and the most difficult to deal with, since it is perpetrated within the four walls of the home and family in privacy. Domestic violence is a multi-factorial problem with far-reaching socioeconomic and biomedical consequences, some of which are currently not very well understood. This chapter on domestic violence requires a multidimensional explanation of this problem in different social contexts and vulnerable populations. The focus of this chapter is on violence and abuse by men against women in a domestic sphere. It explores the intersection of domestic violence. The chapter presents a discussion on the concepts, forms, causes and the prevalence of domestic violence within global and national perspectives. The classification of domestic violence is merely a theoretical construct, as different types of violence are not easy to separate from one another. It seeks to explore the contextual framework and the multiplicity of factors that collectively construct domestic violence.
For many people, the phrase “public housing” conjures up images of serious violent crime. However, the neighborhood surrounding public housing may be a greater factor in crime than the housing itself. Because most police departments do not routinely keep statistics on small parcels of land like public housing developments or neighborhoods, measuring the incidence of crime in public housing has proved difficult. Consequently, there is little hard evidence with respect to whether public housing is more or less crime-ridden than the neighborhoods that surround it. This chapter explores the application of geographic information systems (GIS) technology in measuring reported crime levels in and around public housing developments. GIS technology was used to extract crime counts from police data bases of reported incidents for (1) public housing developments and (2) the surrounding neighborhoods. Rates of reported Part I crimes in public housing developments are compared with those in the surrounding neighborhoods and in the respective municipal jurisdictions. Odds ratios are used to compare the risk of victimization in public housing with that in the respective neighborhood and municipal catchment zones. The GIS-based analysis of reported crime in and around public housing communities reveals that risk of falling victim to aggravated assault in public housing communities is much higher than in the surrounding neighborhoods or in the parent jurisdictions as whole. Conversely, risk of property crimes such as burglary, larceny and car theft appears to be much lower. These crime patterns are discussed in the context of routine activity theory. Purchase this chapter to continue reading all 19 pages >
Few scholars have examined the collective experiences of young African American women living in the inner city and their strategies for navigating daily life there. I draw on nearly two years of field research in Central East Oakland, CA, to provide an ethnographic account of the daily experiences of poor young black women in urban public space¹. I uncover a particular and routine type of public encounter, street-based micro-interactional assaults, that follow a pattern and are shaped by an act or a threat of sexual violence. I also examine how poor black women feel about and negotiate these events while trying to maintain their own safety.
Plusieurs recherches montrent l’impact de la violence et de la criminalité sur le sentiment de sécurité. À ce titre, tous les types de délits peuvent faire naître un sentiment d’insécurité, des crimes les plus graves ‒ l’homicide ‒ aux méfaits moins violents ‒ le vandalisme ‒ en particulier chez les personnes âgées. Cet article rapporte les résultats d’une étude du sentiment de sécurité, réalisée par le biais d’une enquête par questionnaire auprès de 380 personnes âgées résidant dans une habitation à loyer modique. Notre étude confirme que les problèmes vécus dans certains arrondissements de centre-ville sont en passe de s’étendre à la banlieue.
Based on findings that suggest women are more afraid of crime than men despite their overall lower rates of victimization, some scholars have suggested that personal experience plays, at best, a limited role in our feelings of personal safety. Feminist scholars have countered by arguing that many women are abused by their male intimate partners, yet this type of victimization is rarely considered in studies measuring fear of crime. Women's greater levels of fear, they argue, are therefore justified. This study draws on a nationally representative sample of Canadian women age 15 years or more to examine the relationship between intimate partner violence and fear of crime. The results of regression and cross-tabular analyses lend support to the feminist perspective, finding that physical and emotional abuse and severe physical abuse committed by male intimates generally increases women's fear of crime. The results demonstrate the importance of considering partner violence when studying women's fear of crime so as to not misrepresent women's fear as being "unrealistic".
Many manage risks of urban violence through constructing of no-go areas — not so the residents there. How do they manage risks of violence? This paper approaches this question through the concepts of risk and (dis)trust of Sztompka (1999) and within a framework of disadvantage in a`matrix of oppression'(Collin 2000). Based on ethnography, the paper asks how people experience risks of `street violence' and `personal violence', how they manage them, and how their discourses about it relate to institutional discourses of how to solve problems of violence. I show that violence is being accepted and rejected in their specific relation to identity enhancement and respect within a context of intersecting forms of oppression along lines of race, class and gender.Through a discourse of fate, residents tell that violence concerns the wider context of stigmatization and exclusion — which does not match with the approach of local institutions.
Data collected at Canadian public housing estates in eastern Ontario are used here to analyze two hypotheses. Overall these women report more violence than do otherwise situated women in other general surveys. More specifically, complex theoretical models were designed to generate two hypotheses for further analysis: First, that separated/divorced women are more likely to be abused within public housing than married women. Second, that cohabiting women will report violence victimization at a higher rate than separated, divorced, or married women. Some support for both hypotheses were found, and the theoretical models are used to discuss these findings.
Violence disproportionately affects African American men and their communities. Research is needed to inform programming efforts
to reduce racial/ethnic disparities in violence exposure, involvement, and victimization. The current study examined involvement
in and perceptions of neighborhood violence and relation to perpetration of intimate partner violence (IPV) among a sample
of urban, African American men. Participants of this cross-sectional study were sexually active African American men (n=703) between the ages of 18 and 65years, recruited from urban community health centers. Age-adjusted logistic regression
models were used to assess associations between neighborhood violence variables and perpetration of IPV. In age-adjusted logistic
regression models, involvement with street violence in the previous 6months (Odds Ratio (OR)=3.0; 95% Confidence Interval
(CI): 1.9–4.6), ever being involved with gangs (OR=2.0; 95% CI: 1.3–3.2), and perceptions/beliefs that violence occurs in
one’s neighborhood (ORs=2.0–3.1) were found to be significantly associated with IPV perpetration. Findings demonstrate that
involvement in neighborhood violence as well as perceptions/beliefs that violence occurs in one’s neighborhood are associated
with increased likelihood of IPV perpetration among urban, African American men. While socioeconomics and substance use contribute
to high rates of these forms of violence, the relation between these forms of violence and perpetration of IPV was significant
beyond the influences of these factors. Findings suggest that future violence prevention and treatment efforts will be most
successful by addressing multiple forms of violence.
This exploratory study attempted to deal with the surprisingly small amount of scientific study of crime victimization specifically on public housing estates, particularly in Canada. In this study, 325 public housing residents in six estates in an Eastern Ontario urban center filled out survey questionnaires, while fifty-one were interviewed. Compared to the United States, there were significantly fewer single mothers and significantly more Whites. Predatory crime victimization was reported by these residents at a much higher level than for the general population in other Canadian or U.S. surveys. Still, males and youth were the residents most at risk for predatory crime victimization and substance abuse.
To examine racial discrimination and its relation to violence involvement among a sample of urban African American men.
Participants of this cross-sectional study were African American men (N = 703) between the ages of 18 and 65 years, recruited from four urban community health centers and two hospital-based clinics within an urban center in the Northeast. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to assess the relation of reported racial discrimination to recent perpetration of intimate partner violence (IPV), street violence involvement, and gang involvement. Racial discrimination was measured via 7 items assessing everyday and lifetime experiences of racial discrimination.
In logistic regression models adjusted for age and homelessness, men reporting high levels of discrimination (scores above the sample median) were significantly more likely to report IPV perpetration (Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) = 1.9; 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 1.2-2.9) and street violence involvement (AOR = 1.5; 95% CI: 1.1-2.2) as compared to men reporting lower levels of discrimination. No relation was found between experiencing discrimination and gang involvement.
Findings showcase the potential relevance of racial discrimination to efforts focused on reducing racial disparities related to violence.
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