CONTEXT Under current federal law, many persons with prior convictions for misdemeanor offenses pass criminal records background checks and legally purchase handguns. OBJECTIVE To determine whether authorized handgun purchasers with prior misdemeanor convictions are more likely than those with no criminal history to be charged with new crimes, particularly offenses involving firearms and viol...

Aim The present study aimed to study the associations between substance use patterns and types of crimes in prisoners with substance use problems, and specifically whether substance use patterns were different in violent offenders. Methods Interview data of prisoners with substance use problems (N=4,202, mean age 33.5 years, SD 9.8), derived from the Addiction Severity Index, were run against...

BACKGROUND The cumulative exposure to life-threatening events increases the risk for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, over the course of evolutionary adaptation, intra-species killing may have also evolved as an inborn strategy leading to greater reproductive success. Assuming that homicide has evolved as a profitable strategy in humans, a protective mechanism must prevent the per...

Surveys of self-reported behaviors of adolescents and young adults indicate high rates of offending among these age groups (Elliott et al., 1983; Lauritsen, Sampson, and Laub, 1991). Similarly, surveys of victims’ perceptions of offender characteristics indicate that the most common age group for offenders committing rape, robbery, and assault is youth ages 18–20, followed by juveniles ages 15–...

This study intended to investigate risk factors for the development of trauma symptoms as a consequence of violent crime in an urban South African community. The sample included 128 adult victims of violent crime chosen by snowball sampling. The adults were 36 (28.1%) males and 92 females (71.9%) in the age range of 18 to 52 years (M age 36.6 yr., SD = 8.9). Results indicate that the most commo...

The nation of Nigeria recently experienced unprecedented violence occasioned by the activities Special Anti- Robbery Squad, popularly known as SARS. This tactical Police unit charged with onerous responsibility dealing violent crimes such car-jerking, armed robbery, kidnapping, and sundry allegedly became a terror against Nigerians. They were accused brutality, rights abuse, undue criminal prof...

In response to rising rates of firearms violence that peaked in the mid-1990s, a wide range of policy interventions have been developed in an attempt to reduce violent crimes committed with firearms. Although some of these approaches appear to be effective at reducing gun violence, methodological variations make comparing effects across program evaluations difficult. Accordingly, in this articl...

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of potential environmental and psychopathological risk factors, with special focus on symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), in a sample of adolescent offenders in relation to the type of crime committed. METHODS The assessment included data collection and administration of clinical standardized scales such as...