The Efficacy of the Tabby Improved Prevention and Intervention Program in Reducing Cyberbullying and Cybervictimization among Students.

Background. This article presents results from the evaluation of the Tabby Improved Prevention and Intervention Program (TIPIP) for cyberbullying and cybervictimization. TIPIP is theoretically designed to address cyberbullying and cybervictimization. It is the first program in this field developed combining the Ecological System Theory and the Threat Assessment Approach. Method. The Tabby Improved program was evaluated using an experimental design with 759 Italian students (aged 10⁻17 years) randomly allocated via their classes to either the Experimental or Control Group. Results. Repeated measures ANOVAs showed a significant decrease both in cyberbullying and cybervictimization among students who received the intervention with a follow-up period of six months. The program was more effective for boys than for girls. Conclusions. Because cyberbullying is a cruel problem negatively affecting those involved, validated interventions that prove their efficacy in reducing the problem using experimental designs should be widely tested and promoted, paying particular attention to implementing a program fully to increase and guarantee its effectiveness

Prevention of femicide

When referring to ‘prevention of femicide’, we refer to actions at the individual, family, and social and community levels that can reduce the likelihood of women being killed because of their gender. Strategies for prevention of femicide differ depending on the definition of femicide and the cases to which we refer. For example, prevention of femicide in intimate partner relationships is different from prevention of the killing of trafficked women, or girls being subjugated and killed. These distinct femicides are set in different contexts, involve different risk factors and therefore require different prevention strategies. However, what all femicides share is a single motivation: femicide, according to the feminist approach, and the one that enables us to explain its prevalence worldwide, is the killing of women because they are women, regardless of whether it is perpetrated by the victim’s partner, ex-partner or a non-partner. The killing of women constitutes an extreme exercise of power against them; it is perpetrated to establish control (Radford and Russell, 1992).peer-reviewe

L’intervento terapeutico in ambito penitenziario: limiti e opportunità con detenuti sex offender

Il lavoro qui presentato nasce all'interno di progetti atti a promuovere e istituire percorsi di intervento terapeutico per i detenuti condannati per reati sessuali (ex art. 609 bis c.p. e segg.) per il fine ultimo di riduzione del rischio di recidiva. Nel lavoro sono discussi alcuni dei principali elementi da considerare nella implementazione di piani terapeutici grazie a modelli cognitivo-comportamentali attraverso la realizzazione di interventi trattamentali in ambito carcerario, alla luce anche di un'esperienza sul territorio campano presso la casa circondariale di Santa Maria Capua Vetere, sezione 'protetti'

Exploring the data on femicide across Europe

In recent years, the notion of femicide has expanded in social, criminological and epidemiological research to grasp the basic differences underpinning the killing of a female, as opposed to a male, victim. While femicide research in Australia and the US has been a consolidated trend in criminology and feminist studies since the 1990s (Stout, 1992; Mouzos, 1999; Campbell et al, 2003; Frye et al, 2005), its development in Europe has been much more recent and represents the outcome, primarily, of top-down social pressure. The combined effect of the recent proceedings of the ‘Femicide across Europe’ COST network (active in 30 European countries from 2013 to 2017), together with awareness-raising by the media in many countries and the Resolution adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 11 February 2014 (United Nations, 2014), inter alia, have acted as catalysts for change, contributing significantly to fostering femicide research in Europe. An extensive analysis of the definition of femicide is presented in Chapter 2 of this book.peer-reviewe

Donne uccise e donne maltrattate. Stesso passato ma anche stesso destino?

“Femicide” is an overspread phenomenon: in Italy every three days a woman is killed by her partner or ex partner. Trying to understand what underlies such crimes is so of great interest for criminologists. Femicide is very often preceded by domestic violence. In this study we considered a sample of women killed by their partner or ex partner and a sample of women ‘only’ abused and we compared the specific risk factors of femicide and of abuse. The results show that the most common risk factor is the presence of physical violence and threats, which are more severe in femicide. We discussed the possibility of preventive measures and action strategies (to be carried out by the police too) against the so-called “family disputes”.L’uccisione delle donne da parte di partner o ex partner (il c.d. femminicidio) assume dimensioni spropositate. In Italia, una donna viene uccisa ogni tre giorni, ed è interesse sempre maggiore da parte dei criminologi e degli studiosi del comportamento umano comprendere cosa sottende questi reati e come poterli prevenire. La letteratura scientifica e le indagini investigative e gli esiti giudiziari hanno messo in relazione il maltrattamento all’interno della coppia e il successivo omicidio. Con il presente studio condotto con un campione di donne uccise e donne ‘solo’ maltrattate si è voluto confrontare i così detti fattori di rischio del maltrattamento con i fattori di rischio del femminicidio. I risultati hanno dimostrato che le caratteristiche delle vittime, dell’autore sono simili, ma nei casi in cui c’è stato l’omicidio, esiste una quantità maggiore di violenza fisica, di minacce e di escalation della violenza. La prevenzione anche dell’attività da parte delle forze dell’ordine è nella direzione di mettere a punto strategie di intervento più mirate ed efficaci per contrastare le così dette ‘liti in famiglia’

Correction: Expert Opinions on Improving Femicide Data Collection across Europe: A Concept Mapping Study

The eighth author’s name is spelled incorrectly. The correct name is Heidi Stöckl. There is an error in the fourth sentence of the penultimate paragraph in the Discussion section. The correct sentence is: Femicide was, for a long time, only addressed in Europe under the wider umbrella of violence against women. It gained greater research and public attention by European and global projects and institutions only in the last decade, under the COST Action IS1206 on Femicide, the EU Daphne Justice Programmes and addressed through ACUNS (Academic Council on the United Nations System) [44]. This updated sentence cites a new reference, which is: Weil, S. “Femicide in Europe”. In: Dimitrijevic, M., Filip, A and Platzer M (eds) Femicide: a Global Issue that Demands Action. Taking Action against Gender-Related Killing of Women and Girls, Vol. 4. Vienna: ACUNS; 2015. Pp.118-121

The nature of red dwarf galaxies

Using dark matter halos traced by galaxy groups selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 4, we find that about 1/4 of the faint galaxies (\rmag >-17.05, hereafter dwarfs) that are the central galaxies in their own halo are not blue and star forming, as expected in standard models of galaxy formation, but are red. In contrast, this fraction is about 1/2 for dwarf satellite galaxies. Many red dwarf galaxies are physically associated with more massive halos. In total, about $\sim 45$% of red dwarf galaxies reside in massive halos as satellites, while another $\sim 25$% have a spatial distribution that is much more concentrated towards their nearest massive haloes than other dwarf galaxies. We use mock catalogs to show that the reddest population of non-satellite dwarf galaxies are distributed within about 3 times the virial radii of their nearest massive halos. We suggest that this population of dwarf galaxies are hosted by low-mass halos that have passed through their massive neighbors, and that the same environmental effects that cause satellite galaxies to become red are also responsible for the red colors of this population of galaxies. We do not find any significant radial dependence of the population of dwarf galaxies with the highest concentrations, suggesting that the mechanisms operating on these galaxies affect color more than structure. However, over 30% of dwarf galaxies are red and isolated and their origin remains unknown.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, Accepted for publication in Ap

The road to the red sequence: A detailed view of the formation of a massive galaxy at z~2

(Abridged) We present here a detailed analysis of the star formation history (SFH) of FW4871, a massive galaxy at z=1.893+-0.002. We compare rest-frame optical and NUV slitless grism spectra from the Hubble Space Telescope with a large set of composite stellar populations to constrain the underlying star formation history. Even though the morphology features prominent tidal tails, indicative of a recent merger, there is no sign of on-going star formation within an aperture encircling one effective radius, which corresponds to a physical extent of 2.6 kpc. A model assuming truncation of an otherwise constant SFH gives a formation epoch zF~10, with a truncation after 2.7 Gyr, giving a mass-weighted age of 1.5 Gyr and a stellar mass of 0.8-3E11Msun, implying star formation rates of 30-110 Msun/yr. A more complex model including a recent burst of star formation places the age of the youngest component at 145 Myr, with a mass contribution lower than 20%, and a maximum amount of dust reddening of E(B-V)<0.4 mag (95% confidence levels). This low level of dust reddening is consistent with the low emission observed at 24 micron, corresponding to rest-frame 8 micron, where PAH emission should contribute significantly if a strong formation episode were present. The colour profile of FW4871 does not suggest a significant radial trend in the properties of the stellar populations out to 3Re. We suggest that the recent merger that formed FW4871 is responsible for the quenching of its star formation.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures, 4 tables. In press (Astronomical Journal

Issues in measuring and comparing the incidence of intimate partner homicide and femicide - A focus on Europe

Intimate partner homicide is an important contributor to homicide rates worldwide, disproportionally affecting women as victims. Still, major gaps exist in the measurement of intimate partner homicide, with many homicides not being identified as intimate partner homicides. This article provides an overview of the main issues in the collection and reporting on intimate partner homicide, focusing in particular on the data situation in Europe. Sources of homicide data - national and police statistics, court statistics and files, mortuary data and newspaper databases - face similar challenges, namely absence or missing information on the victim-offender relationship, and different categorizations of key parameters, such as definition of intimate partner homicide, and identification of reporting periods. This is concerning, as strong and reliable data on the incidence and contextual information of intimate partner homicide and femicide is important to advice effective prevention strategies

A census of metals and baryons in stars in the local Universe

We combine stellar metallicity and stellar mass estimates for a large sample of galaxies drawn from the SDSS DR2 spanning wide ranges in physical properties, in order to derive an inventory of the total mass of metals and baryons locked up in stars today. Physical parameter estimates are derived from galaxy spectra with high S/N (>20). Coadded spectra of galaxies with similar velocity dispersions, absolute r-band magnitudes and 4000\AA-break values are used for those regions of parameter space where individual spectra have lower S/N. We estimate the total density of metals and of baryons in stars and, from these two quantities, we obtain a mass- and volume-averaged stellar metallicity of =1.04+-0.14 Z_sun, i.e. consistent with solar. We also study how metals are distributed in galaxies according to their mass, morphology and age, and we then compare these distributions with the corresponding distributions of stellar mass. We find that the bulk of metals locked up in stars in the local Universe reside in massive, bulge-dominated galaxies, with red colours and high 4000\AA-break values corresponding to old stellar populations. Bulge-dominated and disc-dominated galaxies contribute similar amounts to the total stellar mass density, but have different fractional contributions to the mass density of metals in stars, in agreement with the mass-metallicity relation. Bulge-dominated galaxies contain roughly 40% of the total amount of metals in stars, while disc-dominated galaxies less than 25%. Finally, at a given galaxy stellar mass, we define two characteristic ages as the median of the distributions of mass and metals as a function of age. These characteristic ages decrease progressively from high-mass to low-mass galaxies, consistent with the high formation epochs of stars in massive galaxies.Comment: replaced with accepted version, minor changes, references adde