Declines in violence and police arrest among female sex workers in Karnataka state, south India, following a comprehensive HIV prevention program

INTRODUCTION:

Female sex workers (FSWs) frequently experience violence, harassment and arrest by the police or their clients, but there is little evidence as to the impact that such factors may have on HIV risk or whether community interventions could mitigate this impact.

METHODS:

As part of the evaluation of the Avahan programme in Karnataka, serial integrated behavioural and biological assessment (IBBA) surveys (four districts) (2005 to 2011) and anonymous polling booth surveys (PBS) (16 districts) (2007 to 2011) were conducted with random samples of FSWs. Logistic regression analysis was used to assess 1) changes in reported violence and arrests over time and 2) associations between violence by non-partners and police arrest and HIV/STI risk and prevalence. Mediation analysis was used to identify mediating factors.

RESULTS:

5,792 FSWs participated in the IBBAs and 15,813 participated in the PBS. Over time, there were 

• significant reductions in the percentages of FSWs reporting being raped in the past year (PBS) (30.0% in 2007, 10.0% in 2011, p<0.001), 
• being arrested in the past year and being beaten in the past six months by a non-partner (clients, police, pimps, strangers, rowdies). 

The proportion drinking alcohol (during the past week) also fell significantly (32.5% in 2005, 24.9% in 2008, 16.8% in 2011; p<0.001). Violence by non-partners (being raped in the past year and/or beaten in the past six months) and being arrested in the past year were both strongly associated with HIV infection. 

They were also associated with drinking alcohol (during the past week), reduced condom self-efficacy with clients, symptomatic STI (during the past year), gonorrhoea infection and syphilis infection, but not with exposure to peer education, community mobilization or HIV testing uptake. 

Mediation analysis suggests that alcohol use and STIs may partially mediate the association between violence or arrests and HIV prevalence.

DISCUSSION:

Violence by non-partners and arrest are both strongly associated with HIV infection among FSWs. Large-scale, comprehensive HIV prevention programming can reduce violence, arrests and HIV/STI infection among FSWs.

Below:  Reductions in reported violence over time in 16 districts in Karnataka (2007 to 2011); polling booth surveys

Full article at:   http://goo.gl/36esUp

By: Beattie TS1, Bhattacharjee P2, Isac S2, Mohan HL2, Simic-Lawson M3, Ramesh BM2,4, Blanchard JF4,5, Moses S4,5, Watts CH3, Heise L3.

• 1Department of Global Health and Development, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK; Tara.beattie@lshtm.ac.uk.
• 2Karnataka Health Promotion Trust, Bangalore, India.
• 3Department of Global Health and Development, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
• 4Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada.
• 5Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada. 
• J Int AIDS Soc. 2015 Oct 16;18:20079. doi: 10.7448/IAS.18.1.20079. eCollection 2015.

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Willingness of Housing First Participants to Consider Supported-Employment Services

OBJECTIVE:

People who had a recent history of homelessness and had mental illness were studied to determine how many wished to be employed and were willing to accept supported-employment services and the factors associated with a decision to decline services.

METHODS:

People (N=194) with mental illness receiving Housing First were assessed at three-month intervals over 24 months. Analyses determined variables that were associated with accepting or declining randomization to supported-employment services. A regression model was used to determine the odds of obtaining employment.

RESULTS:

Of the 133 (69%) participants who wanted work, 75 (56%) accepted and 58 (44%) declined randomization to services. Those who declined had lower odds of obtaining employment (OR=.42, p=.022), less education, and fewer arrests and had spent less time homeless.

CONCLUSIONS:

People with a recent history of homelessness who have a mental illness want work. People who declined randomization to supported-employment services had fewer barriers to employment but had reduced odds of obtaining employment.

Purchase full article at:   http://goo.gl/dE7ypP

By:   Poremski D1, Hwang SW1.

• 1The authors are with the Centre for Research on Inner City Health, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (e-mail: daniel.poremski@mail.mcgill.ca ). Dr. Poremski is also with the Department of Psychiatry, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Dr. Hwang is also with the Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario. 
• Psychiatr Serv. 2016 Jan 4:appips201500140

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Racial Disparities in New York City Summonses for Minor Violations in 'Broken Windows' Policing

Via:  http://goo.gl/aEIb1i

Comparing Adults and Juveniles on Crime Arrests

The ‘age-crime curve’ suggests that people are more likely to commit crimes in their late teens, and that this declines as they reach their early 20s. But does this apply to all crimes? In new research, Wanda Leal and Carrie Mier find that while there are higher rates of some crimes among juveniles over the adult population, young people and adults’ drug use differs. They write that there are differences between drug use and crime based on age and that different drugs seem to matter for different types of crime within a certain age group...

Below:  Comparing Adults and Juveniles on Crime Arrests

Below:  Comparing Adults and Juveniles on Drug Use

Read more at http://goo.gl/TM8i1j 

The Role of Peer Arrests on the Development of Youths' Attitudes Towards the Justice System

During adolescence, youths develop attitudes about the justice system. Although there is consistent evidence that personal experiences with legal actors contribute to attitudes toward the justice system, adolescents' attitudes may also be influenced vicariously through their friends' experiences with the justice system. 

Using data from a sample of 1,216 first-time male adolescent offenders, the present study examines how attitudes toward the justice system develop over 24 months following the adolescent's first arrest. 

Even after accounting for personal justice system experiences, including self-reported offending, time on the streets, and contacts with the police, results indicate that adolescents with friends who were arrested report more negative attitudes toward the justice system than those without friends who were arrested. 

Further, experiencing a friend's arrest has a larger impact on the attitudes of youths who are experiencing it for the first time. 

We provide evidence that attitudes toward the justice system are a product of accumulated social experiences-both personal and vicarious-with the justice system.

Purchase full article at:  http://goo.gl/DnLnFD

By:  Fine A, Cavanagh C, Donley S, Steinberg L, Frick PJ, Cauffman E.

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Do Drug Seizures Predict Drug-Related Emergency Department Presentations or Arrests for Drug Use & Possession?

BACKGROUND:

Direct evidence of the effect of drug seizures on drug use and drug-related harm is fairly sparse. The aim of this study was to see whether seizures of heroin, cocaine and ATS predict the number of people arrested for use and possession of these drugs and the number overdosing on them.

METHOD:

We examined the effect of seizure frequency and seizure weight on arrests for drug use and possession and on the frequency of drug overdose with auto regressive distributed lag (ARDL) models. Granger causality tests were used to test for simultaneity.

RESULTS:

Over the short term (i.e. up to 4 months), increases in the intensity of high-level drug law enforcement (as measured by seizure weight and frequency) directed at ATS, cocaine and heroin did not appear to have any suppression effect on emergency department (ED) presentations relating to ATS, cocaine and heroin, or on arrests for use and/or possession of these drugs. A significant negative contemporaneous relationship was found between the heroin seizure weight and arrests for use and/or possession of heroin. However no evidence emerged of a contemporaneous or lagged relationship between heroin seizures and heroin ED presentations.

CONCLUSION:

The balance of evidence suggests that, in the Australian context, increases in the monthly seizure frequency and quantity of ATS, cocaine and heroin are signals of increased rather than reduced supply.

Purchase full article at:  http://goo.gl/Ed85sp

By:  Wan WY1, Weatherburn D2, Wardlaw G3, Sarafidis V4, Sara G5.

• 1NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, Sydney, Australia.
• 2NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, Sydney, Australia. Electronic address: Don_J_Weatherburn@agd.nsw.gov.au.
• 3National Security College, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.
• 4Department of Econometrics and Business Statistics, Monash University, Caulfield, Australia.
• 5NSW Ministry of Health, Sydney, Australia; Discipline of Psychiatry, Sydney Medical School University of Sydney, Australia. 

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