The Dangers of Short-Term Confinement: Indicators of Safety Risks Among Individuals in Jail.

Guided by the premise that an individual's safety may be more at risk when their routines, personal attributes, or lack of guardianship influence their opportunity for exposure to violence, we examined the factors that influenced victimization risks and safety perceptions among a representative sample of respondents incarcerated at a large Midwestern jail. Results showed that vulnerable individuals such as those who were victimized prior to their incarceration, and those who antagonized others such as those who perpetrated assault, were threatened more often, were more at risk of assault victimization, and perceived more dangerous conditions. Conversely, females and individuals with greater self-control were less likely to have experienced victimization and generally felt safer in jail. Our results illustrate the importance of identifying and protecting individuals who might experience greater safety risks during jail incarceration and should be interpreted alongside research and policy aimed at improving safety and welfare within correctional institutions.

The Impact of Inmate and Prison Characteristics on Prisoner Victimization.

A considerable amount of research has been directed at understanding the sources of inmate misconduct (offending within prison), whereas few studies have focused on identifying the causes and correlates of prisoner victimization. The sources of inmate victimization should be distinguished from those of offending, however, because the policy implications of each focus differ to some extent. In order to determine the predictors of inmate victimization and stimulate further research on the topic, we systematically reviewed studies of the causes/correlates of prisoner victimization published between 1980 and 2014. Our findings revealed that predictor variables reflecting inmates' background characteristics (e.g., history of victimization), their institutional routines and experiences (e.g., history of misconduct), and prison characteristics (e.g., population size) all influence victimization.

Female Sex Offenders: Public Awareness and Attributions.

Traditional gender roles, sex scripts, and the way female sex offenders are portrayed in the media may lead to misconceptions about who can commit sexual offenses. Sexual crimes by women may go unnoticed or unreported if there is a general lack of awareness that females commit these crimes. Data from the 2012 Nebraska Annual Social Indicators Survey were used to determine whether the public perceives women as capable sex offenders and the perceived causes of female sex offending. The traditional focus on male sex offenders by researchers, media, and politicians, in addition to gender stereotypes, introduces the possibility of group differences (e.g., between men and women) in perceptions of female sex offenders. Consequently, two secondary analyses were conducted that tested for group differences in both the public's perception of whether females can commit sex offenses and the explanations selected for why females sexually offend. The findings suggest that the public does perceive women as capable sex offenders, although there were group differences in the causal attributions for female sex offending.