This article argues that although victim advocacy in domestic violence has brought significant improvement in victim services, there are instances in which advocacy backfires: The very interventions designed to help and empower victims contain the seeds of disempowerment. After discussing types and sources of victim disempowerment from their own research and that of others, the authors draw attention to some macro issues related to domestic violence victim advocacy.Our starting point is the fundamental premise that as human projects we are all engaged in a continual process of becoming, growing, learning, and experiencing our influence in the world. Still, our life chances, or opportunities to grow and develop to our fullest, are delimited by a host of intrapersonal, interpersonal, institutional, and social factors. We think it is essential to question interventions for our own good that limit life chances and individual freedom to grow. For the purpose of this article, we define an intervention as some action taken by an outside agent that is meant to change the life situation of an individual in some way.

PurposeRecent research suggests that there is not widespread support for the police among juveniles. Unfortunately, this research typically involves either examining the attitudes of boys toward the criminal justice system, or includes gender as one of many factors that explains attitudes. The present study, using survey responses from 431 females, examines the differences in the attitudes and experiences of girls as related to the police.Design/methodology/approachData for this study were collected using self‐administered surveys distributed to 9th through 12th grade public high school students in the greater Cincinnati (Ohio) area.FindingsThe findings suggest that overall attitudes of black and white girls toward the police are significantly different from one another. Moreover, when a regression equation was estimated, race continued to be a significant predictor of less positive attitudes. However, seeing and hearing about police misconduct aimed at a third party (vicarious experiences of misconduct) was a stronger predictor of girls' attitudes toward the police.Research limitations/implicationsThis study was limited to juveniles residing in and around a metropolitan area. Future research should explore the experiences of teenagers in rural areas with the police, and how these experiences may impact on their attitudes toward law enforcement.Originality/valueHighlights the different attitudes of black and white girls towards the police.

This research focuses on a relatively unexplored phenomenon-black female juvenile offenders. Both theoretical and research work are weak or nonexistent regarding these offenders. This paper seeks to 321 some of these gaps. In addition, this research effort draws on a source of data that has in frequently been adapted to study offenders, National Crime Survey (NCS) victimization data. Utilizing NCS data from I973 through 1981, a comparative analysis of NCS rates of juvenile offenses by black females, black males, white females, and white males is presented and discussed. A number of propositions which are found in the literature regarding black female offenders are examined. Trends in offending by black females compared with trends for other age-race-sex subgroups are also presented and analyzed. Final&, some implications for future theoretical and research efforts are presented.

The largest single incident of the Northern Ireland conflict took place in Omagh on 15August 1998 when a car bomb exploded in the town centre killing 29 people in addition to two children (unborn twins). Four hundred were injured, 135 were hospitalised and 26 families were bereaved. The Community Trauma and Recovery Team was established following the bombing and was operational for almost three years from August 1998 to May 2001. During this period, there were 130 (83 female, 47 male) referrals of children and young people under the age of 18 years. Most were referred within the first year of the atrocity, with only 18% referred thereafter. Adolescents accounted for over 60% of those referred. Almost 68% were in town at the time of the explosion, 26% were injured and 18% bereaved. The major diagnostic category (47%) was that of post-traumatic stress disorder, followed by depression (13%) and anxiety (3%). Fifteen per cent had more than one diagnosis. The most common form of intervention available was psychodynamically informed psychotherapy followed by cognitive behavioural therapy. Parents were also seen to provide support and information about the impact of trauma on children and young people and given advice regarding management.

BackgroundThe main objective of this study was to assess psychiatric morbidity among adolescents following the Omagh car bombing in Northern Ireland in 1998.MethodsData was collected within schools from adolescents aged between 14 and 18 years via a self-completion booklet comprised of established predictors of PTSD; type of exposure, initial emotional response, long-term adverse physical problems, predictors derived from Ehlers and Clark’s (2000) cognitive model, a PTSD symptoms measure (PDS) and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ).ResultsThose with more direct physical exposure were significantly more likely to meet caseness on the GHQ and the PDS. The combined pre and peri trauma risk factors highlighted in previous meta-analyses accounted for 20% of the variance in PDS scores but the amount of variance accounted for increased to 56% when the variables highlighted in Ehlers and Clark’s cognitive model for PTSD were added.ConclusionsHigh rates of chronic PTSD were observed in adolescents exposed to the bombing. Whilst increased exposure was associated with increased psychiatric morbidity, the best predictors of PTSD were specific aspects of the trauma (‘seeing someone you think is dying’), what you are thinking during the event (‘think you are going to die’) and the cognitive mechanisms employed after the trauma. As these variables are in principle amenable to treatment the results have implications for teams planning treatment interventions after future traumas.