Sarah Fitzgerald

Assessing the Risk Factors of Cyber and Mobile Phone Bullying Victimization in a Nationally Representative Sample of Singapore Youth

This study utilized routine activity theory to examine the relationships between online behaviors, target suitability, and cyber and mobile phone–based bullying victimization in a nationally representative sample of youth from nine schools across Singapore. Key measures in all three categories—access to technology, online routine behaviors, and target suitability—were significant predictors of both forms of bullying victimization. In particular, females and victims of physical bullying were more likely to experience both forms of victimization. Access to technology and online routine behaviors predicted cyber and mobile phone–based bullying victimization differently. These findings demonstrate that routine activity theory is a viable framework to understand online bullying in non-Western nations, consistent with the existing literature on Western nations.

Organizational-Level Characteristics in Right-Wing Extremist Groups in the United States Over Time

This study compares the organizational-level variables of violent and nonviolent far-right extremist groups. This study makes an important contribution by coding for attributes for each specific year that an organization existed. Prior research has only examined organizational characteristics at a single point of time. Our strategy here better specifies differences between violent and nonviolent extremist groups. We used a pooled cross-sectional time series analysis using logistic regression because our dependent variable is dichotomous (the organization used violence this year vs. it did not). We clustered on the organization and we included dummy years to control for time series effects. We also included a lagged variable if the organization used violence in the year before. We found that organizations were more likely to use violence if they were previously involved in violence, had multiple alliances with other extremist groups, had a large membership, had weak or decentralized leadership or a strong ruling council, and advocated for inherent racial or ethnic superiority. These results have important implications for law enforcement and future research on extremism and violence.

Rape Protests in India and the Birth of a New Repertoire

The gang rape of a young physiotherapy student on a moving bus in December of 2012, in Delhi, India, brought forward a series of countrywide protests. These protests were unique compared with prior protests in India, leading to a need to re-examine the political importance of social movements in the subcontinent. Using data from 748 newspaper reports on the demonstrations that took place from December 2012 to April 2013, this paper examines the unique characteristics of the rape protests and their implications on the birth of a new repertoire in social movements. For the first time in Indian history, womens rights and violence against women occupied the forefront of national politics, and was no longer limited to agendas of feminists and womens groups. The protests were not led by a specific interest group, but were spontaneous and horizontal in nature, with participants from various social and political backgrounds. This paper argues that with the help of technology and new social media that a new repertoire of protests emerged: a horizontal, spontaneous, mass movement across interest groups.

Book Review: Explaining Criminal Careers: Implications for Justice PolicyMacLeodJ. F.GroveP. G.FarringtonD. P.Explaining Criminal Careers: Implications for Justice PolicyOxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University press. 2012. 296 pp.

more ‘‘color blind,’’ disparities among race and ethnicity still exist. Throughout his book, he addresses eight hypotheses regarding the relationship between death sentence outcomes–based offender race, ethnicity, and the state of conviction. He presents his quantitative study in Chapter 5. His work is unique because instead of using the traditional dichotomous measure (execution vs. commutation) to operationalize death sentence outcomes, he provides five categories (i.e., execution, commutation, death sentence ruled unconstitutional, conviction overturned, or sentence overturned). The primary independent variables consist of race/ethnicity (Caucasian, African American, and Hispanic) and state of conviction (California, Florida, and Texas). Urbina (2012) also identifies additional theoretically relevant predictor variables. He found that age, education, criminal history, marital status, and sex affect death sentence outcome. However, due to the small number of female offenders sentenced to the death penalty in the United States, he opted to omit sex from his final models. To test his hypotheses, Urbina (2012) employed chi-square analysis and logistic regression. He found mix results regarding disparities in death sentence outcomes. Surprisingly however, he did not find a significant difference in death sentences outcomes, based on race or ethnicity, across states. In Chapter 6, Urbina (2012) discusses the results of a content analysis of numerous documents compiled from various newspapers, court records, and correctional officials (p. 191) to gain a better qualitative understanding of the backgrounds and life experiences of Latinos sentenced to death row. He also divides the Latinos on death row into ethnic categories (e.g., Mexican, Cuban, and Puerto Rican). It appears the majority of Latinos executed in the United States from 1975 to 2010 were of Mexican heritage (p. 195). In Chapter 7 and his Afterword, Urbina’s (2012) urges researchers to further examine capital punishment outcomes in terms of race, ethnicity (specifically, disaggregating the Latino population), socioeconomic class, and female offenders on death row. He also advocates for change in public perception regarding race, ethnicity, and the criminal justice system. Finally, the reader is provided with an Appendix detailing offender and victim characteristics, as well as date and method of execution for every person executed from 1976 to 2010 (Urbina, 2012, pp. 261-329). Urbina’s (2012) Capital Punishment in America: Race and the Death Penalty Over Time tackles very emotionally charged issues that have polarized our nation for centuries. The United States is considered ‘‘the melting pot’’ but as he suggests, we may not have melted together as well as we believe. Due to the extremely in-depth historical review as well as the technical material regarding his statistical analyses, the book is not quite suited for the lay person. Though the author does a commendable job in explaining the analytical processes, without at least a basic knowledge of statistics, the reader may have a hard time following the quantitative analysis in Chapter 4. However, for academics, scholars, and researchers, Urbina (2012) passionately and persuasively brings to the foreground issues of race, ethnicity, and capital punishment that are, to this day, often overlooked in the behavioral sciences as well as in criminal justice.