Dr. Hasan Buker

This study examines the correlative factors influencing weapon-carrying behaviors among Norwegian youth, utilizing data from the Ungdata surveys conducted in 2021 and 2022. By exploring both delinquent and victimization-related risk factors, the research adopted two theoretical perspectives: the “crime facilitation” and “fear-and-loathing” models. Findings indicate that male gender, lower socioeconomic status, and weaker family bonds significantly correlate with weapon-carrying behaviors. School bonds were negatively associated in the baseline model but became non-significant when fear-and-loathing and crime facilitation variables were added. Additionally, bullying, violent victimization, and delinquent behaviors, particularly violent acts, emerged as critical predictors. Substance use, such as smoking and cannabis, also showed a significant association, highlighting the complex interplay of personal, social, and environmental influences on this behavior. The study underscores the need for multifaceted intervention strategies to mitigate youth weapon carrying and informs policy formulation tailored to the Norwegian context. These findings contribute to the broader discourse on youth violence prevention, emphasizing the importance of early intervention and supportive environments.

This research note provides an exploratory analysis of a remarkable - and broadly available - set of documents from the early twentieth century. This preliminary study examined one month of police call logs and warrant books from Pensacola, Florida, in December 1912. Combining perspectives from history, geography, and police practice, the authors integrated these records with digitised spatial data using Geographic Information System (GIS). The analysis revealed significant racial disparities in arrest patterns, unexpected temporal trends in policing activity, and compelling spatial concentrations of law enforcement interactions. This project suggests the potential of applying modern analytical techniques to historical police datasets in order to yield meaningful insights into the evolution of policing practices and their societal impacts. It highlights the wealth of untapped historical arrest records available for similar studies across the United States, suggesting avenues for future comparative research that bridges historical analysis with contemporary policing concerns.

Preventive patrol has been a cornerstone of modern policing since 1829, yet efficiently allocating patrol resources remains challenging. This study introduces a new approach, the Need for Patrol Presence Score (NPPS), to guide the design of patrol beat borders and coverage areas. Unlike traditional models, NPPS incorporates evidence-based policing by considering call types, urgency, and high-risk locations. Using Computer-Assisted Dispatch data, this method aims to create balanced patrol beats that can improve response times and workload distribution across the patrol beats. Implementation of NPPS can enhance police response, workload distribution, and community safety, providing a valuable tool for police departments seeking efficient patrol beat structures.

Beginning early in fetal development, the androgen receptor (AR) gene helps regulate bodily exposure to testosterone. Most studies of individuals have found an inverse correlation between the number of CAG repeats on this gene and serious forms of physical aggression. This two-phased study was primarily undertaken to determine if a link between AR CAGn and physical aggression also exists at an ecological level of analysis. To make this assessment, we first conducted a bivariate analysis of the average number of AR CAG repeats for a large number of countries and the rates of crime victimization in those same countries. Except for motor vehicle theft, as the national average number of CAG repeats increased, crime victimization rates decreased. This inverse relationship was especially strong for violent offenses. In the second phase of this study, we sought to determine if per capita gross domestic product, pathogen prevalence, and average intelligence might be mediating some of the AR CAG repeats-criminality relationship. Mediation analysis analysis indicated that, once gross domestic product and pathogenic prevalence were controlled, average intelligence was able to eliminate most of the links between CAG repeats and crime victimization rates, especially in the case of violent offenses. These findings suggest that the AR gene is not influencing criminality primarily by altering testosterone brain exposure (as we suspected). Instead, it may affect criminality mainly by affecting cognitive ability. In fact, once average national intelligence is included in the mediation analysis model, direct relationships between CAG repeats and measures of homicide, assault, and robbery were no longer statistically significant. Findings from this two-phased study point toward the AR gene as having multiple effects on brain functioning, particularly regarding intellectual development as hypothesized by Manning [62]. Replication is obviously needed.

Gun violence in school settings has recently been of great concern in the US. However, research on youth carrying a gun to school is limited in numbers and scope. This study strove to improve the understanding of the risk factors associated with gun carrying in the general public and taking a gun to school among middle- and high-school students. Based on a dataset collected from rural, urban, and suburban schools in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania (n = 5648), this study explored the predictor value of several potential risk factors derived from two prominent theoretical frameworks: "crime facilitation" and "fear and loathing" on two major outcome variables; carrying a handgun in public, and taking a handgun to school. The predictor variables included measures of bullying, violence against a dating partner, and non-gun delinquency. The bivariate analysis (group comparisons) indicated no significant difference between the likelihood of carrying a hand gun in public and taking a handgun to school among participants. The multivariate analysis indicated that non-gun delinquency was the most important risk factor increasing the likelihood for carrying a hand gun in public and taking a handgun to school. How future risk/threat assessment efforts should interpret these findings is discussed, along with the implications on how taking a gun to school is an extension of general gun carrying and may primarily be shaped by the presence of a delinquent lifestyle, rather than any other possible predictors examined.

Sexual aggression and offense among youths have long been subjected to scientific inquiries. A sizable number of these inquiries have identified sexually aggressive youths to constitute a heterogeneous group with possible distinct subgroups varying across their targeted victims and risk factors. This study aims to contribute to the growing body of research geared toward identifying these subgroups. Using self-reported data collected from US middle and high school students, this study employs a latent class analysis (LCA) to identify the subgroups of sexually aggressive youths using a data-driven strategy. The LCA results indicate three latent classes (sub-groups) to be distinguishable both quantitatively and qualitatively in the study sample: general delinquents, emotionally disturbed, and low-risk youths. These subgroups are comparable with those identified in similar previous studies.
However, the subgroups’ sizes in this study vary slightly from the sizes of the subgroups identified by earlier studies. The study concludes by presenting the reasons for the identified differences, policy implications, study limitations, and future research directions

This study intended to explore possible variations among youth adjudicated for sexual offenses based on personal criminogenic factors, offense, and victim characteristics. Utilizing a data set collected from the juvenile court files in Turkey (n = 460), the Latent Class Analysis revealed that the study sample included three different subgroups with distinct features: "non-delinquent, peer victim-targeting," "non-delinquent, younger victim-targeting," and "delinquent, versatile" youth adjudicated for sex offenses. The first two of these groups were similar in terms of having low levels of delinquency, while the third group included the lowest number of youth with significantly broad delinquent activity patterns. These findings were in line with the results of previous studies, and the implications were discussed for future research and policy development.

As the mediator of androgen actions, the androgen receptor (AR) plays a central role in establishing both physical and behavioral sex differences. The AR gene contains a CAG repeat polymorphism that is related to the strength of androgen actions on target tissues and that is correlated with various health-related conditions, especially prostate cancer and infertility. Some studies have also linked the number of AR CAG repeats with behavioral and mental health factors. The present study provides a tabulated summary of the average number of AR CAG repeats for males according to the countries in which each study was conducted, thereby allowing future research to correlate national average AR CAG repeats with national variations in physical, medical and behavioral traits. Findings are summarized in two tables. The first table lists results from each of 187 studies of a total of 57,826 research participants according to the country in which each study was conducted. In the second table, the results from the first table are condensed down to the average number of AR CAG repeats for each of the 78 countries from which samples were drawn.

Based on a data set (n = 920) derived from court files of adjudicated youth in one of the largest court districts in Turkey, this study represents the first systematic attempt to understand juvenile sex offenders (JSOs) and their offenses in this contemporary urban context. The study results show, first off, that sexual offending among Turkish youth has been increasing at a rate comparable to that of other Western societies. Secondly, the victims of the sex offenses examined in the study were mostly of the opposite sex (female), were typically younger than the offenders, and commonly were acquaintances (friends, family, partners). Thirdly, the results indicated that the JSOs were significantly different from other juvenile offenders, and in terms of most of the risk factors used in juvenile justice assessments they had an advantage over the other juvenile offenders. These results are discussed in light of findings reported in previous studies, along with considerations relating to the public policy implications and the research recommendations arising from the outcomes of this foundational research.

Most teen dating violence (TDV) victims do not seek help after their victimization experience. While research has identified that victims are more likely to turn to informal versus formal sources, there is a lack of knowledge about what factors are predictive of help-seeking
from formal sources. The current study explored the impact of incident and victim characteristics on help-seeking from formal sources among middle and high school TDV victims (N = 2,174). Findings indicate that the severity and location of the victimization significantly increase the likelihood of help-seeking from formal sources.