ABSTRACT This study examines the lived experiences of homicide offenders in Ghana navigating trials and justice processes. Using in-depth interviews with men and women serving life sentences, it applies procedural justice theory to explore perceptions of fairness, legal representation, and institutional integrity. Reflexive thematic analysis revealed divergent narratives: some accepted guilt and viewed the process as fair, while others cited wrongful conviction, limited legal support, and spiritual explanations. Findings highlight the complex interplay of accountability, procedural experiences, and moral meaning-making, underscoring the need for reforms that enhance fairness, access to justice, and culturally sensitive approaches.

ABSTRACT This study validated the Psychopathic Personality Traits Scale – Revised (PPTS-R) using a representative sample of 4,606 Polish adults (M age = 45.13, SD = 15.29). Statistical analysis confirmed a robust four-factor structure and high measurement reliability. The results demonstrated strong factorial invariance across sex, ensuring the scale’s applicability for both men and women. Additionally, the study provided standardized T-score norms for non-forensic and clinical use. These findings position the PPTS-R as a validated instrument for assessing core psychopathic traits in the general population, effectively distinguishing personality features from antisocial or criminal behavior.

ABSTRACT The Eurogang operationalization of gang membership introduced an innovation in measuring gang involvement, improving the validity of cross-cultural research on gangs. This study fills a gap by focusing on English-speaking Caribbean countries, often overlooked in gang research but key for understanding gangs beyond the Global North. It builds on previous work that assessed the validity of three operational definitions of gang involvement by comparing demographics, risk factors, and delinquency. We also examine missing data in gang markers, an understudied issue. Analyzing 17,600 youth across nine Caribbean countries, we found that how gang membership is defined affects identifying gang-involved youth, with different definitions capturing distinct groups. Item non-response for self-reported gang association is significantly related to many variables, though with small effects. These findings raise questions about definitional variation in gang research, especially in the understudied Global South, and emphasize the need for multiple methods to understand gangs.

ABSTRACT Existing research on noncompliance with public health protocols during the Covid-19 pandemic features relatively low- rather than high-risk violations almost exclusively, with a small, difficult-to-verify set of exceptions. This paper adds an investigation of high-risk noncompliance with a qualitative inquiry into attendance at superspreader events in October 2020. With this possibly unique dataset, I use neutralization theory to analyze 27 college students’ decisions to attend indoor mass gatherings with at least 100 attendees. Using a new 60-neutralization model as a coding scheme, I find that, rather than using neutralizations independently, students knitted neutralizations together into a two-phase argument. Consistent with antisocial motivations for noncompliance documented in the literature, all but one argued they had a desire, right, and opportunity to attend parties. More than two-thirds, however, also explained measures they took to party safely in the hopes of ensuring no one was harmed. This is consistent with “creative non-compliance”: breaking a rule while acting parallel to its principles. This finding contributes to the literature on noncompliance during the Covid era, but also to new questions in neutralization theory regarding the new model’s exhaustiveness, whether neutralizers prefer higher-order neutralizations, and how identity and context influences which neutralizations are available to whom.

ABSTRACT This study examines gender differences in the emotional and coping pathways linking stalking victimization to legitimate coping strategies using a gendered general strain theory framework. Using the 2016 Supplemental Victimization Survey, stalking victimization was measured across physical and cyber domains. Forty-eight Poisson-based regression models tested direct and indirect associations of stalking with coping strategies (legal action, behavioral change, social support seeking) through negative emotions (anger, depression, fear), separately for women and men. Women showed broader emotional pathways to coping, while men’s pathways were more selective, driven primarily by anger and fear. Findings support gender-responsive stalking interventions.

ABSTRACT Cyberattacks are on the rise, fueled by a variety of motives. Although research on economically driven cybercrime is expanding, our understanding of politically motivated hacking remains limited and underexplored. To identify and assess the extent of available literature, we conducted a systematic literature review that highlights critical gaps in current knowledge. The research was guided by three research questions: (1) Which theories have been used to investigate politically motivated cyber-dependent crimes? (2) Which methods and data have been used to investigate motivated cyber-dependent crimes? (3) Which politically motivated cyber-dependent crimes have been investigated in the literature? In total, 22 studies met the inclusion criteria. This study highlights the critical need for common definitions to enable a more coherent foundation for research. It also reveals a broad spectrum of motivations, from left-wing hackers promoting freedom of information and transparency to right-wing hackers defending national interests. Finally, it provides evidence supporting the need to distinguish ideologically from economically motivated hackers. By systematically mapping the limited research in this area, we provide a clear foundation for future studies and contribute to the definition of an emerging research area.

ABSTRACT This article examines how social media and messaging apps mediate everyday access to illicit psychoactive substances in Poland. While the study broadly engages with digital infrastructures, Telegram emerged as the primary hub where drug-related practices converge. Drawing on interviews with 19 mostly young, socio-economically mainstream drug users, we analyze how participants navigate app affordances, convenience, and risk in a prohibitive and stigmatized environment. Findings show that digital drug markets are embedded within polymedia ecologies: buyers move across Telegram, Messenger, Snapchat, and offline encounters, combining multiple sources and delivery options such as parcel lockers or ride-sharing couriers. These affordances create hyper-accessibility, normalizing on-demand access while offering users a sense of comfort. At the same time, safety is actively constructed through both technical features (disappearing messages, secret chats) and social mechanisms (legit checks, referrals, reviews). Yet participants often overestimated the security provided by platform affordances and privacy features and assumed that individual buyers remained too minor to be targeted by law enforcement. By situating these practices within broader debates on risk in platform societies, we highlight the hybridity of digital and physical exchanges. App-based drug supply exemplifies how everyday technologies reconfigure access, reshape trust, and blur boundaries between legality and deviance.

ABSTRACT Technology-facilitated sexual violence (TFSV) has become a significant problem among adolescents and young adults worldwide, yet existing literature concentrates on its manifestations in the Global North. Surveying 280 Filipino college students, our research aims to expand the horizon of TFSV research and investigate the phenomenon in the Philippines. Specifically, we explore the prevalence and risk factors of two notable TFSV behaviors: unwanted sexting (sharing one’s [own] sexual materials without the recipient’s consent) and non-consensual pornography (sharing someone else’s sexual materials without their consent). We report that nearly one in four Filipino young adults has sent unsolicited sexts to others, and one in ten has posted others’ private information and images on pornographic websites. Results reveal a high victim-offender overlap, with men and those experiencing TFSV being significantly more likely to have also engaged in TFSV. We recommend that the Philippine government and authorities raise awareness of the issue and encourage formal legal and informal intervention tactics through the Philippine local government units (LGUs) or neighborhood governance units (barangays) to combat TFSV.

ABSTRACT Research suggests psychopathic traits may differ by gender, yet comparative studies are limited. This study compared Portuguese incarcerated men and women on psychopathy and examined whether psychopathy and its facets are associated with violent offenses. A total of 131 men and 63 women were assessed with the Revised Psychopathy Checklist (PCL-R). Men scored higher on total psychopathy, interpersonal, and affective facets, while women scored higher on the lifestyle facet. No significant associations were found between psychopathy (total or facets) and violent offenses in either gender. These findings may inform interventions and policies to reduce reoffending among individuals with psychopathic traits.

ABSTRACT This study analyzes 224 verified Amazon consumer reviews of BDSM gear to explore how erotic pain, power exchange, gender, and embodiment are experienced and narrated. Through qualitative content analysis, three central themes emerged: Pleasure and Pain, Control and Surrender, and Identity and Transformation. Reviews of products marketed to men emphasize endurance, technical mastery, and dramatized submission, while reviews of products marketed to women highlight relational intimacy and visually expressive play.