The aim of this longitudinal study was to examine bidirectional associations of adolescents’ internalizing symptoms with dating violence victimization and perpetration. We conducted secondary analyses of the Québec Longitudinal Study of Child Development data (n = 974). Each adolescent completed items from the Conflict Tactics Scale (at ages 15 and 17 years) to assess psychological, physical, and sexual dating violence victimization and perpetration in the past 12 months. Adolescents’ symptoms of depression and general anxiety in the past 12 months were self-reported (at ages 15 and 17 years) using The Mental Health and Social Inadaptation Assessment for Adolescents. There were concurrent associations of adolescents’ internalizing symptoms with dating violence victimization and perpetration. Internalizing symptoms at age 15 years were positively associated with dating violence victimization and perpetration 2 years later in both males and females, even after adjusting for baseline characteristics. However, neither dating violence victimization nor perpetration at age 15 years was associated with internalizing symptoms 2 years later. For males and females, internalizing symptoms put adolescents at risk for future dating violence victimization and perpetration. Interventions that target internalizing symptoms may have the potential to decrease subsequent dating violence.

Research in postconflict settings indicated that children's exposure to war and natural disaster is a significant predictor of experiencing violence within their families. However, it is unclear if this effect is driven by characteristics of traumatized children or their parents. To disentangle these different factors we conducted a survey in a children's home in Sri Lanka. A total of 146 institutionalized children (aged 8 to 17) were interviewed using standardized questionnaires administered by local senior counselors in order to assess children's exposure to mass trauma, family violence, and violence in the institution as well as their mental health. Linear regression analyses revealed that, controlling for potential confounds, previous exposure to civil war was a significant predictor of violence by guardians in the children's home. In addition, previous exposure to family violence was a significant predictor of violence by peers in the institutions. A mediation analysis showed that children's internalizing and externalizing behavior problems partly mediated the relationship between violence prior to the admission to the children's home and violence in the children's home. The findings of our study provide evidence for the assumption that the transmission of mass trauma into interpersonal violence can occur independently from parents through children's psychopathology.

Little is known about intimate partner abuse (IPA) among couples during pregnancy in Iran. This study aimed to compare the rates of IPA by pregnant women towards their husbands (perpetration), and women’s experience of IPA from their husbands (victimization) and determine the predictors of the two behaviours. The cross-sectional study was conducted on 525 pregnant women at 24–30 weeks of gestation visiting governmental health care centres/posts in Tabriz, Iran, in 2014. The study sample was selected using random cluster sampling. The Revised Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS2) was used to assess IPA perpetration and victimization. The McNemar test was employed to compare the prevalences of IPA perpetration and victimization, and adjusted logistic regression was utilized to determine the socio-demographic predictors of overall IPA perpetration and victimization. The overall rates of women’s reported abuse of their husbands (perpetration) and women’s experience of abuse from their husbands (victimization) were 70% and 67%, respectively, but the difference was not statistically significant (p=0.086). The prevalence of psychological aggression perpetrated by women towards their husbands was significantly higher than that experienced by the women from their husbands (65% vs 58%, p<0.001). The prevalences of sexual coercion (15% vs 30%) and injury (8% vs 16%) perpetrated by women on their husbands were significantly lower those they experienced by the women from their husbands (p<0.001). There was no statistically significant difference between the prevalence of perpetration of physical violence towards husbands by women (19%) and that experienced by women from their husbands (22%) (p=0.072). Women’s and husbands’ satisfaction with their own occupations were predictors of both perpetration and victimization of IPA. The observed high rates of IPA perpetration by, women and victimization of, women during pregnancy, and the significantly higher rate of violence towards women compared with that perpetrated by women, especially for sexual coercion and injury, require health policymakers and care providers to make serious efforts to identify such violence, and take appropriate measures to reduce it, during pregnancy in women in Iran.

Several studies have demonstrated a vicious cycle of violence, in which experiences of childhood maltreatment (CM) transition into later perpetration of aggressive acts. But evidence for the presence of this cycle in adult women is mixed. The aim of this meta-analysis is to investigate the strength of associations and the mechanisms underlying a cycle of violence in women. Databases were searched for terms related to female aggression, violence, delinquency, antisocial behavior, or offending in addition to exposure to traumatic experiences, abuse, or maltreatment during childhood. Only peer-reviewed studies were included that investigated associations between any type of CM and different acts of aggression. Multi-level meta-analyses were applied, as well as meta-regressions, all based on Cohen's d. K = 34 studies were identified. The overall association between exposure to CM was in the positive but small range (Cohen's d = 0.30). There was no significant difference between specific types of abuse and/or neglect. However, associations were smaller for the perpetration of sexual aggression and violent crime compared with other acts of aggression. These findings underline the long-lasting and devastating impact of CM, including types of maltreatment that were long assumed to be less severe. Due to the limited number of available studies, interactions between types of CM and aggression could not be modeled, thus compromising their probable interacting contribution to the cycle of violence. Early interventions targeting families and women at risk are critical in order to prevent ongoing cycles of violence.

In 2012, James Stewart published an article in this journal. The piece – ‘The End of “Modes of Liability” for International Crimes’ – argued for the abolition of accomplice liability in international criminal law and the adoption of a unitary model of participation in crime. This article argues that Stewart's proposal is flawed. As a matter of moral responsibility, the distinction between principals and accomplices follows from the recognition of individuals as moral agents. Turning to ordinary criminal responsibility, neither practical benefits nor expressive benefits nor the mitigating effects of the distinctive institution of criminal sentencing justifies the abolition of the distinction between principals and accomplices. Moreover, despite the collective nature of many international crimes, international criminal law ought to strive to accurately differentiate, in the attribution of responsibility, among participants. Only a differentiated model of participation can accurately and defensibly capture the different ways that individuals contribute to wrongdoing.