Standard epidemiological models for COVID-19 employ variants of compartment (SIR or susceptible–infectious–recovered) models at local scales, implicitly assuming spatially uniform local mixing. Here, we examine the effect of employing more geographically detailed diffusion models based on known spatial features of interpersonal networks, most particularly the presence of a long-tailed but monotone decline in the probability of interaction with distance, on disease diffusion. Based on simulations of unrestricted COVID-19 diffusion in 19 US cities, we conclude that heterogeneity in population distribution can have large impacts on local pandemic timing and severity, even when aggregate behavior at larger scales mirrors a classic SIR-like pattern. Impacts observed include severe local outbreaks with long lag time relative to the aggregate infection curve, and the presence of numerous areas whose disease trajectories correlate poorly with those of neighboring areas. A simple catchment model for hospital demand illustrates potential implications for health care utilization, with substantial disparities in the timing and extremity of impacts even without distancing interventions. Likewise, analysis of social exposure to others who are morbid or deceased shows considerable variation in how the epidemic can appear to individuals on the ground, potentially affecting risk assessment and compliance with mitigation measures. These results demonstrate the potential for spatial network structure to generate highly nonuniform diffusion behavior even at the scale of cities, and suggest the importance of incorporating such structure when designing models to inform health care planning, predict community outcomes, or identify potential disparities.

Research has found a meaningful income gap between males and females across several occupational settings, and this is also true within law enforcement. As more female workers enter the criminal justice system, it is important to revisit and update these patterns of gender inequality to account for the changing gender dynamics within this occupation. Using Current Population Survey data, we document the gender differences in pay among police over the past 28 years. Police officers experience income advantage compared with the general working population, but they also show a stable gender gap in pay. While this stable inequality is better than other public-sector jobs-which have experienced a growth in the gender pay gap-it represents a continued disadvantage for police women, despite the growing number of women working in law enforcement and the rules governing public-sector employment. We further decompose the gendered pattern in police pay by whether these individuals work for federal, state, or local agencies, and find that those working for state government show stark declines in the gender gap in pay while those working for local or federal agencies experience little to no change in this gender income inequality over time. We conclude with a discussion of the policy implications of our findings and directions for future research on gender inequality within law enforcement occupations.

Previous research has shown that violence in romantic relationships is a serious social and public health problem throughout the world among young adults. College students, as a vulnerable group, experience high rates of dating violence, irrespective of gender and nation. Yet, we still know relatively little about whether dating violence shows gender similarities or differences in different cultural settings. United States and China are both patriarchal societies but have diverse cultural background. There may be different gendered patterns of dating violence across these two countries. This study examined the gender differences in physical assault victimization and perpetration among college students in the United States and China, while controlling for dominance, jealousy, violence approval, and a number of demographic factors. Logistic regression analyses were conducted for a total of 5,631 individuals from the United States and China who participated in the International Dating Violence Study from 2001 to 2006. Results demonstrated that male and female college students in China were significantly less likely to be victims of minor physical assault compared with students in the United States. In addition, female students, both in the United States and China, were more likely to perpetrate minor and severe physical assault against their partners than male students in this sample. But Chinese females had a higher percentage of assault against their dating partners than females in the United States. This study contributes to the research on dating violence by exploring cross-cultural gender differences in both victimization and perpetration of physical violence among college students. The implications of findings and future research direction were discussed.

At present, there exist several difficulties in the criminal regulation of illegal fundraising activities on China’s P2P platforms, such as discovering, identifying, tracking, and preventing. To solve these difficulties in the criminal regulations, this study applies the problem-oriented approach to evaluate the meaning constructions of illegal fundraising behavior on online P2P lending platforms in the corresponding judicial identifications, that is, judicial regulations and interpretations. After analyzing the judicial documents of 192 criminal cases in China, this study finds that it is necessary to actively draw on successful extra-territorial experience, and further establish a reasonable balance between maintaining financial security and promoting financial innovation. Specifically, the judiciary could adjust the current single loose criminal policy into one that combines leniency with rigidity, perfect the criminal law and its interpretation system of illegal fundraising behavior on P2P platforms, strengthen the connection mechanism of punishment and execution, explore the specialized case-handling mechanism, and implement a case guidance system.

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