The Legal Needs of Local Media Reform Organizations: Report of a National Survey

This report summarizes a nationwide survey of media reform groups to gauge their needs for pro bono legal assistance. Conclusions are that local media democracy groups need legal help on multiple issues, ranging from municipal broadband to cable franchising to low-power radio

The roles of empathy, shame, and guilt in violence decision-making

The roles of shame and guilt, and their relationships to empathy, have not been modelled adequately as key factors in moral decision-making in the study of violence. This research will test the different roles of empathy, shame, and guilt in violence decision-making using a Situational Action Theory perspective. Qualitative in-depth interviews were carried out with a violent offender subsample taken from the longitudinal Peterborough Adolescent and Young Adult Development Study (PADS+) in order to explore the role of moral emotion in specific real-life violent events. In addition, quantitative questionnaire indices enable comparison of the violent offender subsample with the remaining PADS+ study sample. Persistent offenders report significantly lower levels of empathy, shame and guilt on the quantitative indices, and weak empathy, shame, and guilt in their detailed recollections of specific acts of violence, e.g., “there’s not much guilt involved in the whole situation to be honest” (Sam, interview 39). The primary conclusion is that individuals with weak empathy, shame, and guilt are more likely to commit acts of violence. These study findings give insight into the real world, situational application of empathy, shame, and guilt, and provide strong support for the role of weak morality in violence decision-making.PhD funded by ESR

The optimal application of empathy interventions to reduce antisocial behaviour and crime: a review of the literature

In recent decades, the relationship between weak empathy and the development of antisocial and offending behaviours has been well established. In the first review of its kind, this paper outlines the current implementation of empathy intervention programmes in a variety of disciplines. This paper will identify some key agents that are instrumental in empathy development and build a case to suggest that where such traditional sources of empathy development are inadequate, interventions are crucial to bridge the gap. To date, the few offender empathy interventions that have been implemented and assessed heed mixed results by crime type, sample type, gender, and empathy type. Novel, evidence-led recommendations will be made in relation to the timing, content, format, length, and location of future interventions, and the importance of the consideration of baseline empathy and individual differences will be outlined. Deficient empathy must be of central concern to criminal justice agencies and identified and addressed from infancy and throughout the life course. By using a combination of universal programmes with general populations and specific offender-targeted programmes, a holistic approach can be achieved

Does Empathy Attenuate the Criminogenic Effect of Low Self-Control in Late Life?

The present study investigates whether empathy shapes the criminogenic effect of low self-control in late adulthood. Based on the assumption that the capacity to understand and share the thoughts and emotions of other people moderates the significance of the capability to consider the distant consequences of behaviour on oneself, we posit that poor self-control is less consequential among senior citizens of high empathy. The results of a postal survey of 3,000 randomly selected older adults from Germany indicate that both low trait self-control and weak trait empathy increase offending in advanced age. Furthermore, the findings provide evidence of an interaction according to which the relationship between the risk-taking component of the self-control trait and criminal activity is stronger for older adults characterised by low empathy. Impulsivity, on the other hand, seems to mediate the association of empathy and offending in late life

The Combined Roles of Moral Emotion and Moral Rules in Explaining Acts of Violence Using a Situational Action Theory Perspective

The roles of shame and guilt, and their relationships to empathy, have not been modeled adequately as key factors in moral decision-making in the study of violence. The role of moral emotion has been neglected in existing criminological research and this study seeks to develop current explanations of the comprehensive myriad of factors that play a role in moral crime decision-making. This research will test the different roles of empathy, shame, and guilt in violence decision-making using a situational action theory (SAT) perspective. Data taken from the Peterborough Adolescent and Young Adult Development Study (PADS+), a longitudinal study with a large representative sample, provide quantitative questionnaire indices to enable comparison of a persistent and frequent violent offender subsample (N = 48) with the remaining PADS+ study sample (N = 607). A striking majority of violent offenders report that they do not think it is wrong to commit violence, and do not care about it, that is, they lack shame and guilt, and report that violence comes as a morally acceptable and natural action alternative. Furthermore, violent offenders do not register the predicament of their victims; there is a distinct lack of empathy. This article demonstrates a key finding which has rarely been explored to date; regression analyses reveal an interaction effect whereby individuals with weak shame and guilt, combined specifically with weak moral rules, are more likely to commit acts of violence. The study findings provide strong support for the SAT of the role of weak morality in violence decision-making. To reduce the possibility of crime being seen as an action alternative, moral development programs should be developed and administered in childhood

The combined roles of moral emotion and moral rules in explaining acts of violence using a situational action theory perspective

The roles of shame and guilt, and their relationships to empathy, have not been modeled adequately as key factors in moral decision-making in the study of violence. The role of moral emotion has been neglected in existing criminological research and this study seeks to develop current explanations of the comprehensive myriad of factors that play a role in moral crime decision-making. This research will test the different roles of empathy, shame, and guilt in violence decision-making using a situational action theory (SAT) perspective. Data taken from the Peterborough Adolescent and Young Adult Development Study (PADS+), a longitudinal study with a large representative sample, provide quantitative questionnaire indices to enable comparison of a persistent and frequent violent offender subsample ( N = 48) with the remaining PADS+ study sample ( N = 607). A striking majority of violent offenders report that they do not think it is wrong to commit violence, and do not care about it, that is, they lack shame and guilt, and report that violence comes as a morally acceptable and natural action alternative. Furthermore, violent offenders do not register the predicament of their victims; there is a distinct lack of empathy. This article demonstrates a key finding which has rarely been explored to date; regression analyses reveal an interaction effect whereby individuals with weak shame and guilt, combined specifically with weak moral rules, are more likely to commit acts of violence. The study findings provide strong support for the SAT of the role of weak morality in violence decision-making. To reduce the possibility of crime being seen as an action alternative, moral development programs should be developed and administered in childhood

<b>Access Information for The Compass Project Programme Handbook</b>

The Compass Project (TCP) is a research study, of which Dr Neema Trivedi-Bateman is the creator and Principal Investigator.TCP has developed an innovative morality and emotion programme for use with adolescents in any organisations that work with young people. The study was formerly based at Anglia Ruskin University, is based at Loughborough University, and is inspired by previous work carried out at the Institute of Criminology at the University of Cambridge.The study has been specifically designed to test key research questions and explore testable implications of theoretical explanations of how we feel, think, and behave. One such example is Situational Action Theory (SAT). SAT is a detailed theory of action which specifies (i) key causes of crime and the situational processes that link them directly to action, as well as (ii) key causes of the causes of crime and the developmental and selective processes that link them indirectly to action. TCP uses both established and innovative methods to track participants’ personal and social development and their psychological, social and behavioural outcomes.A full description of the programme content and all programme materials, facilitator instructions, and a facilitator script can be found in a detailed fieldwork handbook and can be utilised with adherence to copyright guidelines. The Compass Project (TCP) Programme Handbook is available upon application to the Principal Investigator, Dr Neema Trivedi-Bateman, contacted via [email protected] (ORCID identifier 1-7374-4893). Researchers interested in replicating TCP methods and research instruments are welcomed to get in touch. Applications for access to the TCP Programme Handbook must be submitted by bona fide researchers for a research purpose that is in line with the original aims of the study, must not be deemed to be used with inappropriate or underdeveloped research designs, and involve a process and impact evaluation. There may be opportunity to collaborate with the highly trained and experienced Compass research team who have carried out multiple programme implementations and evaluations in different youth settings.Further information about the TCP study can be found on the project website here: https://lboro.ac.uk/research/compass-project/.</p

Addressing challenges to carrying out intervention programs with youth populations: Successes and strategies

We identify five challenges notoriously faced by researchers conducting youth intervention studies: access to the target population, successful recruitment, ensuring continued attendance, promoting engaged, enthused, and task‐focused participation, and efficient data collection. To ensure research quality, we have devised strategies to address these obstacles. Successes and lessons are included from The Compass Project (TCP), a 9‐week morality strengthening program designed to facilitate positive attitudinal and behavioral outcomes in young people. Despite four of the five identified challenges being overcome in TCP, the fifth challenge of data collection was insurmountable as many participants failed to complete questionnaire scales. We propose that researchers build on our success by building rapport and trust with participants and youth organizations and building a participant sense of community, and improve upon our design by scrutinizing the format, accessibility, and length of data measures. Ultimately, tests of whether intervention programs can result in positive outcomes in the lives of young people hinge on adequately overcoming the identified challenges. Implementation of the proposed strategies will be instrumental to allow for meaningful and powerful statistical analyses to more accurately gauge the positive impact of intervention programs on young people's lives.</p

The optimal application of empathy interventions to reduce antisocial behaviour and crime: a review of the literature

In recent decades, the relationship between weak empathy and the development of antisocial and offending behaviours has been well established. In the first review of its kind, this paper outlines the current implementation of empathy intervention programmes in a variety of disciplines. This paper will identify some key agents that are instrumental in empathy development and build a case to suggest that where such traditional sources of empathy development are inadequate, interventions are crucial to bridge the gap. To date, the few offender empathy interventions that have been implemented and assessed heed mixed results by crime type, sample type, gender, and empathy type. Novel, evidence-led recommendations will be made in relation to the timing, content, format, length, and location of future interventions, and the importance of the consideration of baseline empathy and individual differences will be outlined. Deficient empathy must be of central concern to criminal justice agencies and identified and addressed from infancy and throughout the life course. By using a combination of universal programmes with general populations and specific offender-targeted programmes, a holistic approach can be achieved.</p