Why Do Bystanders Report Intimate Partner Violence?:Insights into Real-Life Reasoning from Those Who Actually Intervened

As intimate partner violence (IPV) often remains unknown to police, bystanders can play a crucial role in prevention and further escalation of IPV. However, little is known about what brings them into action by reporting incidents of IPV to authorities. As such, we use statements of bystanders who filed reports about IPV incidents to an official domestic violence agency in the Netherlands (N = 78), to investigate the reasoning and motivations for reporting their suspicions. Results show that the reasons for bystanders to report IPV differ depending on the relational dynamics between partners. In situations perceived as intimate terrorism, involving a hierarchical abusive relationship between a man offender and a woman victim, bystanders primarily reported when previous helping initiatives proved inefficient, and they did so to prevent further harm, often particularly in relation to the woman victim. In situations perceived as situational couple violence, involving a symmetrical abusive relationship, bystanders primarily reported when escalation appeared, and they did so to prevent further harm to involved children. We conclude that bystanders report IPV incidents when the need for help is clear, and their motivation for acting concerns the well-being of victims. Our findings add to the growing body of evidence about real-life bystander intervention in emergencies and highlight the need for understanding intervention as context-specific in order to design effective intervention initiatives.</p

Stay home, stay safe?: the impact of the COVID-19 restrictions on the prevalence, nature, and type of reporter of domestic violence in the Netherlands

Criminal Justice: Legitimacy, accountability, and effectivit

The Relationship Between Parenting and Delinquency: A Meta-analysis

This meta-analysis of 161 published and unpublished manuscripts was conducted to determine whether the association between parenting and delinquency exists and what the magnitude of this linkage is. The strongest links were found for parental monitoring, psychological control, and negative aspects of support such as rejection and hostility, accounting for up to 11% of the variance in delinquency. Several effect sizes were moderated by parent and child gender, child age, informant on parenting, and delinquency type, indicating that some parenting behaviors are more important for particular contexts or subsamples. Although both dimensions of warmth and support seem to be important, surprisingly very few studies focused on parenting styles. Furthermore, fewer than 20% of the studies focused on parenting behavior of fathers, despite the fact that the effect of poor support by fathers was larger than poor maternal support, particularly for sons. Implications for theory and parenting are discussed

COVID-19 en criminaliteit

Criminal Justice: Legitimacy, accountability, and effectivit

Decision-making by and for adults with impaired capacity: The potential of the Dutch levenstestament

Anticipatory decision-making instruments – continuing powers of attorney and advance directives – are increasingly seen as a promising way forward to enhance the autonomy of adults with impaired capacity by making the adult's voice an influential component of future decisions. However, little is known about the experiences with these instruments in practice. This article presents the findings of an interview study looking at the expectations and experiences of both adults and attorneys with a Dutch anticipatory decision-making instrument, the so-called levenstestament. In order to realise its full potential, anticipatory decision-making instruments, such as the levenstestament, should be embedded in robust, timely and ongoing conversations between adults and attorneys about the adult's (changing) wishes and preferences and the role of the attorney