News 2019

Researchers based at the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research have published a major new report which consolidates existing knowledge on violence in Scotland. A wealth of research has been conducted in Scotland over the last decade which has been essential in helping us understand violent offending in this country, but this is the first time that evidence has been compiled into one document.

Brief, friendly door-to-door visits by uniformed police officers substantially improve people's attitudes toward the police and increase their trust in law enforcement, according to a new study of community-oriented policing in New Haven. The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is the first randomized, controlled field experiment to test the effects of community-oriented policing on people's opinions of their local police.

Qualities such as patience or risk-taking are often thought of as product of an individual's innate character. But a new Yale study of children from four countries suggests many behaviors may not be a product of who you are, but where you are. " We tend to think of qualities like patience as an innate part of who we are but virtually all of what we know about how these behaviors develop comes from children in industrialized societies," said Dorsa Amir , anthropologist and lead author of the Yale study published Sept.

Most British adults, including a majority of Leave voters, think existing EU rules would provide "enough control" over EU immigration, according to a UCL and University of Cambridge survey conducted by YouGov. Crucially, the survey revealed that few people are aware of restrictions the UK could enforce under existing EU free movement regulations.

With wealth inequality in Australia showing no sign of slowing, it is now a person's assets - rather than their employment status - that operates as the key decider and distributor of their life chances, argue University of Sydney researchers in a new paper. Social scientists Professor Lisa Adkins , Associate Professor Melinda Cooper and Professor Martijn Konings have spent the past 18 months researching the relationship between asset ownership and new forms of inequality , as part of the University of Sydney's flagship FutureFix arts and social sciences research.

A world without poverty, in which everyone's well-being is ensured: achieving this goal by 2030 is still possible, but only if the relationship between people and nature is fundamentally changed and social inequalities are reduced. That is the conclusion of the 2019 UN Global Sustainable Development Report, drafted by an independent group of scientists co-chaired by Peter Messerli, University of Bern, and Endah Murniningtyas.

Less than 10 per cent of domestic violence and abuse (DVA) services identify themselves as providing specialist support to military families, according to a new report from the University of Bristol. The report, from the Centre for Gender and Violence Research and funded by the Forces in Mind Trust (FiMT), also finds a lack of communication between the civilian and military sectors is hampering efforts to support victims and perpetrators of DVA within military families.

Prospective Students Students and Doctorate Alumni and Supporters Continuing Education International research team led by Freie Universität publishes results of a two-year study No 263/2019 from Sep 10, 2019 An international team of researchers led by a team from Freie Universität Berlin has excavated a 9,000-year-old grave and its contents in the south of Jordan and interpreted the findings.

A dolescents attending schools with high suspension rates reported lower levels of feeling "connected" at school, according to a recent study by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. Previous research has shown that feeling "connected" at school and volunteering relate to a positive school climate.

Learning a new language is a multi-step, often multi-year process: Listen to new sounds, read new word structures, speak in different patterns or inflections. But the chances of picking up that new language - even unintentionally - may be better if you're exposed to a variety of languages, not just your native tongue.

New research from the University of Bristol is the first to use a large generational family study to examine links between childhood trauma, the impact of inflammation and self-harm. Epidemiologists examined 4300 young people in Bristol's Children of the 90s study to see if adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) such as experiencing abuse, witnessing domestic violence or having separated parents are linked to self-harm at the age of 16.

It has long been clear that a person's sexual preference - whether they prefer male or female sexual partners, or both - is influenced by his or her genetic makeup. The most straightforward evidence for this is that sexual preference is more likely to be the same in identical twin pairs, whose genetic makeup is identical, than in non-identical twin pairs, who share only around 50% of their genetic makeup.

Outside prisons and jails, more than four million people in the United States are still monitored on probation and parole. Mental health disorders may affect about half a million of them-or perhaps more. No one is quite sure. The absence of accurate statistics holds serious implications: If the criminal justice system is meant to rehabilitate rather than punish, then failure to identify those in need undermines the system's purported goal.

A group of geoscientists, among them Eawag PhD student Andrea Popp, collected data for a conference paper to be given at the annual meeting of the EGU (European Geosciences Union). The decision was made to use social media for the purposes of the research, the central question of which was what colleagues think about the unequal treatment of men and women in the geosciences.

A Stanford sociologist found that recent Asian immigrants moving to neighborhoods with more Asians explains the lack of redevelopment in these areas and contributes to the gentrification of areas with a higher African American population. A competitive housing market combined with the rapid rise of immigration is driving gentrification in Seattle's low-cost black neighborhoods, according to a new study by Stanford sociologist Jackelyn Hwang.

A program that reduces loneliness, depression and anxiety caused by social disconnection has been developed by researchers at The University of Queensland. Groups 4 Health (G4H) was created by a team of UQ School of Psychology researchers to directly target the psychological distress that results from loneliness and social isolation.

A new study finds that women of color perceive their interactions with doctors, nurses and midwives as being misleading, with information being "packaged" in such a way as to disempower them by limiting maternity healthcare choices for themselves and their children.

Outside prisons and jails, more than four million people in the United States are still monitored on probation and parole. Mental health disorders may affect about half a million of them-or perhaps more. No one is quite sure. The absence of accurate statistics holds serious implications: If the criminal justice system is meant to rehabilitate rather than punish, then failure to identify those in need undermines the system's purported goal.

White nationalist demonstrators clash with counter protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017. Photo: Associated Press White nationalist demonstrators clash with counter protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017. Photo: Associated Press A team of researchers created the first mapping model of its kind to track how hate spreads and adapts online, and, they hope, to thwart it.

Matchmaking is now the primary job of online algorithms, according to new research from Stanford sociologist Michael Rosenfeld. His new study shows that most heterosexual couples today meet online. Algorithms, and not friends and family, are now the go-to matchmaker for people looking for love, Stanford sociologist Michael Rosenfeld has found.