Although much has changed in social and criminal justice system responses to intimate partner violence (IPV) since public awareness campaigns began in the 1970s, stigmatization around IPV offense and victimization remains a barrier to victims obtaining available assistance, including those offered by police forces. Unfortunately, stigma is often perpetuated by mythology about the crime, its offenders, its victims, and overarching gender norms. Since IPV cases are managed under the auspices of the criminal justice system, the manner in which the system itself perpetuates IPV myths is worthy of attention. Prior literature suggests that police officers may be vulnerable to this mythology in their decision-making and reporting of IPV calls. This is troubling for IPV victims and offenders alike, since police reports follow them through the criminal justice system and associated IPV intervention programs. A report heavily influenced by IPV mythology is unlikely to serve IPV offenders or victims particularly well. Guided by four popular IPV myths identified in Eigenberg et al.'s (2012) study, the purpose of the present qualitative study of IPV in police reports (N = 58) is to explore the influence of IPV mythology on police officers' decision-making and intervention. One overarching theme emerged after the analysis: undetected coercive control evident in the cases. Implications on improvement in police training are suggested.
Domestic minor sex trafficking (DMST) is the commercial sexual exploitation of a minor citizen or legal resident within the United States. Previous research suggests that although DMST is often discussed as though it is a uniform phenomenon, traffickers may use different tactics and exploit different victim vulnerabilities depending upon their established relationships with those who are at-risk for trafficking. The purpose of this qualitative study, therefore, is to explore the relationship patterns and dynamics that emerge between DMST victims and their romantic partner traffickers. This study utilizes the secondary case files of 38 domestic minors who were trafficked for sex by their romantic partners in one state in the United States between 2012 and 2017. The study is conceptualized according to the principles of directed content analysis and multiple case study design and relies heavily on previous research findings related to victim-trafficker relationship typology. The authors conducted two rounds of coding before applying themes to the case files. The analysis revealed that DMST victims trafficked by romantic partners are often influenced by environmental circumstances, such as gang involvement and family systems involvement. Romantic partner traffickers use specific recruitment tactics to entrap their victims, and exercise methods such as caregiving, sexual violence, and psychological violence to maintain control over their victims. Study results provide a significant extension to the anti-trafficking field’s understanding of DMST and the romantic partner relationships that underpin it. The results suggest that anti-trafficking advocates should screen at-risk adolescents for gang involvement, family involvement in the sex industry. They should also educate at-risk adolescents about DMST as a potential component of teen dating violence.
Engaging with external stakeholders is one of the most important elements of sustainable nonprofit existence, and nonprofits can enhance external stakeholder engagement through the astute use of their websites. Although industry norms for optimal website design provide insight into how specific website elements may be associated with website engagement, research on how these industry norms translate into users' behavioral engagement with nonprofits is scarce. Furthermore, research on how website design elements are associated with the depth of user engagement is lacking. The purpose of this research note is to explore the concept of nonprofit website engagement and to explain conceptually and practically what nonprofits can do to improve their websites' abilities to enhance deep and long‐term engagement among external stakeholders.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.