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Abstract Background The hypothesis that traumatic experiences in early childhood impact personality formation and psychopathology is well known in psychology and psychiatry, but this is difficult to verify statistically in methodological terms. The aim of this study, conducted with politically persecuted Poles, was to establish the influence of the time when trauma is experienced on the development of psychopathological symptoms. Methods The subjects were divided into two groups: those who had experienced trauma before age five (group 1) and those who experienced trauma at an older age (group 2). Subjects in both groups suffered from chronic untreated post-traumatic stress disorder. In order to test the research hypothesis, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 profiles of both groups were compared using Student's t-test, and the Mann–Whitney U -test. Results Statistically significant between-group differences were found for the F validity scale and the following clinical scales: Hypochondriasis, Depression, Psychopathic deviate, Psychasthenia, Schizophrenia, and Social introversion. All the significantly different scores were higher in the group traumatized in early childhood. People exposed to trauma under age five had profiles similar to those traumatized after age five, but they experienced their symptoms more intensely. Conclusions Of clinical significance, higher scores on the psychasthenia, schizophrenia, and social introversion scales, especially on the psychopathic deviate scale, indicated pathology only in the early childhood trauma group. Taken together, these symptoms lead to withdrawal and hindrance of social functioning. This outcome confirms the hypothesis of the influence of various early childhood factors (such as trauma) on personality formation and personality traits in adulthood.

Two broadcast news stories were manipulated to show victimization (food poisoning, handgun violence) in one of three versions: without victim exemplification, with exemplification by unemotional victims, and with exemplification by highly emotional victims. Male and female respondents, whose empathic sensitivity had been predetermined, recorded their own perceptions of each issue addressed: its severity as a national problem, the likelihood of it becoming a local problem, and the likelihood that they themselves might be placed at risk. They also indicated their reaction to each news story. Emotional victim exemplification fostered perceptions of greater problem severity than unemotional and no victim exemplification. Additionally, emotional victim exemplification, compared with no exemplification, fostered perceptions of increased victimization risk to self, whereas unemotional victim exemplification failed to do so. Empathic sensitivity did not interact with exemplar emotionality, but produced a main effect. Highly empathic persons perceived the severity of danger and risk to themselves as greater than did less empathic persons. Respondent gender similarly produced a main effect without interacting with exemplar emotionality. Female respondents assessed all dangers and risks as higher than did their male counterparts. Finally, exposure to emotional exemplification, but not unemotional exemplification, fostered reports of greater distress reactions than did exposure to the news stories without exemplification. Women reported greater distress than did men, and highly empathic persons reported greater distress than did less empathic persons.

As part of the Colombian government's strategy to support the armed-conflict victims, a Graduation Program called "Transformando Mi Futuro" (Transforming my future) was implemented. Unlike other graduation programs, this one targets the urban population and has no assets transfers. To evaluate this program, a Results Evaluation (Before/After) approach was performed using the information collected before and after implementing the program. The main results show positive changes in well-being and a reduction in the gap between the actual perception of well-being and the expectations for two and five years, and positive changes in labor income and savings. These results suggest that the program contributed to improving the living conditions of participating households. However, heterogeneity analysis shows that impacts are differentiated according initial status of participants. This exercise is part of the set of evaluations carried out within the Platform for Evaluation and Learning of the Graduation Program in Latin America (http://www.plataformagraduacionla.info/)

This study assessed the impact of sixteen types of victim self protection (SP) actions on three types of outcomes of criminal incidents: first, whether the incident resulted in property loss, second, whether it resulted in injury to the victim, and, third, whether it resulted in serious injury. Data on 27, 595 personal contact crime incidents recorded in the National Crime Victimization Survey for the 1992 to 2001 decade were used to estimate multivariate models of crime outcomes with logistic regression. Results indicated that self‐protection in general, both forceful and nonforceful, reduced the likelihood of property loss and injury, compared to nonresistance. A variety of mostly forceful tactics, including resistance with a gun, appeared to have the strongest effects in reducing the risk of injury, though some of the findings were unstable due to the small numbers of sample cases. The appearance, in past research, of resistance contributing to injury was found to be largely attributable to confusion concerning the sequence of SP actions and injury. In crimes where both occurred, injury followed SP in only 10 percent of the incidents. Combined with the fact that injuries following resistance are almost always relatively minor, victim resistance appears to be generally a wise course of action.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Concerns have been raised about the privacy and security of personal information in light of advances in information technology and the increasingly sophisticated ways in which the government obtains and uses information. Federal agencies' use of personal information is governed by the Privacy Act of 1974 and the E-Government Act of 2002, while the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) provides implementation guidance and oversight. These laws and guidance are based on the Fair Information Practices, a set of widely accepted principles for protecting privacy. GAO was asked to testify on its report, being released today, concerning the sufficiency of privacy protections afforded by existing laws and guidance. To do this, GAO analyzed privacy laws and guidance, compared them with the Fair Information Practices, and obtained perspectives from federal agencies as well as an expert forum."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The loss of personally identifiable information, such as an individual's Social Security number, name, and date of birth can result in serious harm, including identity theft. Identity theft is a serious crime that impacts millions of individuals each year. Identity theft occurs when such information is used without authorization to commit fraud or other crimes. While progress has been made protecting personally identifiable information in the public and private sectors, challenges remain. GAO was asked to testify on how the loss of personally identifiable information contributes to identity theft. This testimony summarizes (1) the problem of identity theft; (2) steps taken at the federal, state, and local level to prevent potential identity theft; and (3) vulnerabilities that remain to protecting personally identifiable information, including in federal information systems. For this testimony, GAO relied primarily on information from prior reports and testimonies that address public and private sector use of personally identifiable information, as well as federal, state, and local efforts to protect the security of such information. GAO and agency inspectors general have made numerous recommendations to agencies to resolve prior significant information control deficiencies and information security program shortfalls. The effective implementation of these recommendations will continue to strengthen the security posture at these agencies."

The hypothesis that survey Rs try to suppress potentially incriminating information under conditions that are not completely anonymous was investigated in a study comparing identifiability vs anonymity on self-reported attitudes, intentions, & use of drugs. Twenty eighth- & ninth-grade social studies classes were stratified by teacher & grade level; 10 were randomly assigned to receive questionnaires with students' names on them, & the other 10 were provided anonymous questionnaires. Means were computed separately for each sex, & analyses of variance were performed on the class-level data. The results support the hypothesis only for actual current use of selected substances; the surprising overall lack of significant differences in self-reporting appears to justify continued confidence in identifiable drug surveys of adolescents. 2 Tables, 1 Appendix, 10 References. Modified AA.

Criminological research has shown the relevance of examining offender–victim interaction and related factors to understand crime event outcomes. In sexual offenses against children, an obvious lack of knowledge exists regarding this issue. From a criminological perspective, we seek to improve our understanding of the offender–victim interaction in sexual offenses against children and, in particular, what factors might increase the risk of a more intrusive offense. We argue that modus operandi strategies play a central role in crime event outcomes and examine this hypothesis with data obtained from a semistructured interview conducted with offenders. As expected, modus operandi was found to have a strong effect on crime event outcomes, especially victim participation during sexual episodes. Victim effects also emerged from the analyses. Specifically, a strong interaction effect between age and gender of the victim was found for victim participation, which suggests that as the victim gets older, offenders are more likely to make their victim participate in sexual episodes when abusing a male victim but are less likely to do so when abusing a female victim.

Victims of crime often receive little attention as their cases are processed, and are given little or no information on the progress of their cases. Many suffer personal or financial losses treated as beyond the jurisdiction of the criminal justice system. (AFH)

Following the Republic of Uzbekistan's socioeconomic independence, dramatic changes in society occurred. Despite the fact that this time in the personality society was brief, it opened the ground for a major transition in the Republic's social, political, and psychological existence. In this regard, research into the psychology of the victim as a result of violations in the country's life was also undertaken.