What is JacketFlap

  • JacketFlap connects you to the work of more than 200,000 authors, illustrators, publishers and other creators of books for Children and Young Adults. The site is updated daily with information about every book, author, illustrator, and publisher in the children's / young adult book industry. Members include published authors and illustrators, librarians, agents, editors, publicists, booksellers, publishers and fans.
    Join now (it's free).

Sort Blog Posts

Sort Posts by:

  • in
    from   

Suggest a Blog

Enter a Blog's Feed URL below and click Submit:

Most Commented Posts

In the past 7 days

Recent Comments

Recently Viewed

JacketFlap Sponsors

Spread the word about books.
Put this Widget on your blog!
  • Powered by JacketFlap.com

Are you a book Publisher?
Learn about Widgets now!

Advertise on JacketFlap

MyJacketFlap Blogs

  • Login or Register for free to create your own customized page of blog posts from your favorite blogs. You can also add blogs by clicking the "Add to MyJacketFlap" links next to the blog name in each post.

Blog Posts by Tag

In the past 7 days

Blog Posts by Date

Click days in this calendar to see posts by day or month
new posts in all blogs
Viewing: Blog Posts Tagged with: upheld, Most Recent at Top [Help]
Results 1 - 7 of 7
1. Some warning behaviors for targeted violence

By J. Reid Meloy, Ph.D.


As the debate concerning public and social policy surrounding gun control intensifies, I would like to offer some comments on the identification of individuals who concern us as potential perpetrators of planned killing(s). These thoughts are from the trenches of threat assessment, and don’t address or offer opinions concerning the larger policy issues we face as a country regarding firearms and public mental health care — one of which is emotionally charged and the other sorely neglected.

The usual demographic characteristics such as a young male, loner, psychiatrically impaired, bullied, and angry don’t work as markers of risk, simply because there are hundreds of thousands of individuals in the USA, and the world, who match these demographics and pose no risk at all. The disturbing fact is that targeted violent events, such as the mass murder in Newtown, cannot be predicted because they are too rare. If we attempt to do this, we err on the side of labeling thousands of individuals as potential perpetrators when they are not a risk at all. So where do we turn?

For the past several years we have been working on identifying warning behaviors (acute and dynamic patterns of risk), which may signal an impending act of targeted violence, including mass murder. These patterns create concern in observers, and warrant a reasonable response to mitigate such risk, whether that involves increased community and educational attention, mental health intervention, or law enforcement interdiction. Anyone can evidence these warning behaviors:

  1. Pathway warning behavior: any behavior that is part of research, planning, preparation, or implementation of an attack.
  2. Fixation warning behavior: any behavior that indicates an increasingly pathological preoccupation with a person or a cause. There is a noticeable increase in perseveration; strident opinion; negative statements about the target(s); increasing anxiety and/or fear in the target; and an angry emotional undertone. It is accompanied by social or occupational deterioration.
  3. Identification warning behavior: any behavior that indicates a psychological desire to be a “pseudocommando” or have a “warrior mentality”, closely associate with weapons or other military paraphernalia, identify with previous attackers or assassins, or identify oneself as an agent to advance a particular cause or belief system.
  4. Novel aggression warning behavior: an act of violence which appears unrelated to any pathway warning behavior which is committed for the first time, often to test the ability of the individual to actually do a violent act.
  5. Energy burst warning behavior: an increase in the frequency or variety of any noted activities related to the target, even if the activities themselves are relatively innocuous, often in the hours or days before the attack.
  6. Leakage warning behavior: the communication to a third party of an intent to do harm to a target through an attack.
  7. Last resort warning behavior: increasing desperation or distress through declaration in word of deed; there is no other choice but violence, and the consequences are justified.
  8. Directly communicated threat warning behavior: the communication of a direct threat to the target or law enforcement beforehand.


If we observe these warning behaviors in others, we should be concerned. If we see something, we should say something. We don’t know if these warning behaviors predict targeted violence, yet these accelerating patterns have been found in a number of small samples of subjects in Germany and the US that have committed school shootings, mass murders, attacks and assassinations of public figures, and acts of terrorism. We are getting some tantalizing results: in comparing a small sample of school shooters and school threateners in Germany, our research group (with Dr. Jens Hoffmann) found that the school shooters were much more likely to exhibit pathway, fixation, identification, novel aggression, and last resort warning behaviors when compared to the school threateners who had no intention to attack. Although the samples were small, the effect sizes were large in a statistical sense.

The paradox in all this work — targeted violence threat assessment — is that we will never know which of the individuals of concern would have carried out an act of violence if there had been no intervention.

J. Reid Meloy, Ph.D. is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego, and President of Forensis, Inc., a nonprofit dedicated to forensic psychiatric and psychological research. He co-edited Stalking, Threatening, and Attacking Public Figures (OUP, 2008) with Lorraine Sheridan and Jens Hoffmann, and is currently co-editing another volume entitled International Handbook of Threat Assessment, which is scheduled to publish in 2013. Learn about his latest news by following Forensis on Twitter at @ForensisInc. The scientific basis of this blog article is available in Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 30:256-279, 2012.

Subscribe to the OUPblog via email or RSS.
Subscribe to only psychology articles on the OUPblog via email or RSS.

The post Some warning behaviors for targeted violence appeared first on OUPblog.

0 Comments on Some warning behaviors for targeted violence as of 12/18/2012 10:46:00 AM
Add a Comment
2. So Much Closer by Susane Colasanti




In the Northwest it is hard to imagine moving to another state to following a boy. The distances are just too far. But Brooke adores Scott Abrams so much that she moves from...New Jersey to New York City and ends up in the same school as he is! Brooke is hiding something from herself and us as readers, and she does it very well. But she discovers that those hidden qualities are really an asset at this new school. Is the move worth it? Is living with her aloft dad worth it? Is Scott worth it?

ENDERS' Rating: ****


Suzane's Website

0 Comments on So Much Closer by Susane Colasanti as of 1/1/1900
Add a Comment
3. Protecting Your Privacy Before You Get "The Call"

I read a discussion forum today about an author's struggle with privacy. We're not talking, "Hey I want to hide from my fans" but more of "Why are you showing up on my doorstep and how do you know where I live?".

For years we write. We query.We get rejected, defeated, and heartbroken because we haven't found an agent or publisher. We keep our eyes on the prize though. A gorgeous, solid, hardback book with a stunning, artistic cover and our name written in bold letters. Finally an author's Holy Grail has been achieved.

But now what? Hopefully, you'll sell the book, gather a few fans here and there. During this euphoric time in your life, the googling will start. People that love your work want to know more about YOU. So they search and with an overload of cyber information at their disposal, it should be easy to find out everything from your favorite meal to where your children go to school.

It's a scary, scary thought. Hell, it's scary even if your not famous. Stalking occurs for a variety of reasons and not just to famous people.

It's important to be savy now, before you get 'The Call' and before you're on the NYTimes bestseller list.

Some of the suggestions were:

*Have your personal information removed from spokeo.com
*Use a PO Box or have all fan mail come through your publisher
*Have an unlisted phone number
*Have multiple phone numbers. One for personal use and one you can give out and change easily if you need to.
*Have multiple e-mail addresss. One for personal relationships, another for fans, journalists, etc
*Don't post information or pictures of your children on the web
*Use a Facebook Fan Page rather than a personal page
*Have all your Facebook setting set to friends and family only
*Don't link to your family on Facebook and review your privacy settings or turn some information off like the city you live in
*Have home security
*When asked where you live for book jackets, press release, etc. give a vague geographic location or state like MidWest, Texas, New England

With all the info out there, it's important to protect our privacy and loved ones now and not wait until our name appears on a book cover.

2 Comments on Protecting Your Privacy Before You Get "The Call", last added: 1/23/2011
Display Comments Add a Comment
4. Wonderful Secret Agent has a BLOG! Let the stalking begin!


I'm ashamed to admit that I'm officially a stalker of Wonderful Secret Agent's blog in hopes that she will update today with something I can squeal about.

Let me explain. Last week, after e-submitting my manuscript to a fabulous agent in New York City, I stumbled across her blog and have since become obsessed.

By far, she is the coolest literary agent, and I would be knocked off my feet with enthusiasm if she were to connect with my YA novel.

It's funny because I'm not alone on the stalking issue. My mom, husband, and oldest daughter are also obsessed with checking out her blog for updates.

Given that Wonderful Secret Agent usually posts the number of manuscripts she has requested in a day, I know that mine was one of eight from a pile of 63 query letters (OMG!).

I wish you could hear my mom and I analyzing each of her posts. We have disected each phrase in hopes of finding something promising (maybe even a secret code or hidden message saying, "Yes, Tory, I want to represent you!").

She hasn't updated in a few days, so needless to say, I'm anxiously awaiting her next post.

So, to all my writing buddies out there, I'd love to know if any of you have ever stalked the Internet for information regarding the agents you've queried. Thoughts, please!

Have a wonderful Sunday, everyone! Tory

9 Comments on Wonderful Secret Agent has a BLOG! Let the stalking begin!, last added: 4/20/2010
Display Comments Add a Comment
5. Watch out, Dinah!

A thief breaks out of jail to track down the sleuth who put her there – Dinah Galloway. Problem is, the thief is a former actress known as “the queen of disguises” for her cunning costume changes. In Melanie Jackson’s Queen of Disguises, Dinah Dinah knows she’s being stalked, but by whom?

 

Our heroine already has enough on her plate without the addition of revenge served cold: the red-headed 12-year-old is a finalist to sing in commercials promoting beautiful British Columbia. The deal is, to clinch the job, Dinah has to get fit at a wellness retreat on Salt Spring Island. Veggies? Exercise? Yech! Grudgingly, though, Dinah allows that her lifestyle could be a little healthier. Off to Salt Spring she goes, along with the two other finalists: one friendly, the other the last word in sulky. Her buddies Talbot and Pantelli make their usual disruptive appearances, along with Dinah’s ever-anxious mother and cool, elegant sister Madge. Hoping to shed not only pounds but her vengeful pursuer, Dinah learns the meaning of personal best – that it truly is how you play the game, not whether you win.

ISBN 978-1-55469-037-4

$9.95 Cdn

www.orcabook.com

1.800.210.5277

Add a Comment
6. The gift that keeps on giving me the creeps.


Honey,

First of all, thank you so much for the lovely panties. They are so comfortable and cute too! I have to say, though, I’ve been concerned about your behavior lately. I mean, when I was jogging in the woods and you were suddenly there, it kind of creeped me out. And then when you burst into that job interview it was pretty humiliating. I mean, how did you know I was there? It was a good thing I had determined I didn’t want the position (though I was still really nervous…always am at those things) because I’m pretty sure you freaked out the CEO and he wouldn’t have hired me anyway.



Okay, this week you must indulge me, gentle La Bloga readers. Like my earlier “priestcake-calendar” entry, this is one of those “products that just vex me” columns. Occasionally I come across a creation that brings out the sociologist in me, something that allows me to ponder about the state of modern society. Well, if I were to judge our future on the Forget-Me-Not panties I would have to say we are doomed.

I found the site by mistake, I was searching for the phone number for my favorite shop in Johnson, Vermont—the Forget-Me-Not-Shop—and I pulled up this site: http://forgetmenotpanties.com/ The first thing I saw was the seductive photo of the panty clad woman with the ray-emitting flower appliqué. As you can imagine, I was intrigued. And that image…was the flower giving off heat? Massaging her hip? Despite these questions I was about to head back to google when the tagline “protect her privates” caught my eye. Needless to say, I read further.

“Ever worry about your wife cheating? Want to know where your daughter is late at night?”

And my personal favorite:

“Need to know when your girlfriend’s temperature is rising?”

Turns out, it is a pair of attractive brief-cut cotton underwear with a decorative flower that is actually a GPS device that can provide the wearer’s location, temperature and heart rate. Temperature and heart rate…I felt my own ticker pickup its pace with a touch of anger.

“Make sure you will never be forgotten,” it promises.

Now being a marketing professional, I delved further. How does one sell this kind of despicable, personal-liberty-stealing product? The section called “testimonials” give two examples. The first the one I can understand slightly, a father who was concerned about his teenage daughter’s safety after she spent many late nights out. Concern I understand, invasion of privacy I don’t. This goes way beyond reading her diary or rummaging through her purse (neither of which I condone). To top it off, his testimonial attests that the only improvement he suggested for the product was a video camera. I have no words.

The second testimonial was from a man who suspected his wife of cheating on him, which of course, she was. I mean, how creepy would it be to hear about a guy who tracked his wife through her panties and found out she was faithful? That wouldn’t sell too many bloomers, I’ll tell you that!

Okay, so as you’ve surmised, this is not a subject I’m on the fence about. It’s not the GPS, I mean we give our kids cell phones we can track, but it’s the deception that bothers me. Truth be told, I find this whole thing so disturbing it is almost beyond comment. I mean, why not added a banner that says, “Great for the stalker on your Christmas list!” or, “Paranoid? Delusional? Have we got the product for you!”

At this point I find myself asking, what is my raison d’etre for this blog entry? Is it enough to rant and rave about a bizarre and offensive product? Perhaps, but as I reflect on my need to tell you about this find I realize that it is more than that, more than a sociological study. I fear that we risk losing our dignity, our humanity when we give in to our darkest thoughts. There are always marketers out there to prey upon our anxieties, our innermost fears and insecurities. And if we are distrustful of our partners or our children and unable to confront them in a healthy and respectful manner, will we reduce ourselves to buying underwear that track their whereabouts and body temperature? Have we really sunk this low?

I’m being preachy you say? Yes, you’re right, and I apologize. I had intended this to have more humor, but honestly the forget-me-not panties frighten me. As they should you. And ladies, if your husband or partner gives you a pair of lingerie with an odd little appliqué on them, put them on the dog and set him loose through the neighborhood. But be sure to invite me to watch when the gift giver finds out he has been monitoring a mutt’s adventures through the neighborhood streets. I’m sure I could sell tickets, in fact.

P.S. My nephew Jedediah just informed me that this is a hoax created by pantyraiders.org "girls ambushing the media." (read the comments) Guess I got duped! As an art project this is so effective, I mean look at the depth of feeling they got in my reaction. Very powerful. I am not someone who is easily duped, I am often the one who sends you back the email about the toilet spiders or fake tsunami pictures and directs you to urbanlegends.about.com, but the fact that you have to go down so many layers to discover this is a hoax is brilliant (of course I did that once I found out). You click on order, then it gives you a selection of models of panties, and when you click on one, you get a note that flashes at you that says "Gotcha!" and gives the pantyraiders.org address. You should visit the site, it's fascinating.
As I said in my comment, what does it say to those people who actually click on the button with the full intention of ordering a pair? I would hope it makes them reflect.
Gente, this is what art is about.

5 Comments on The gift that keeps on giving me the creeps., last added: 4/8/2008
Display Comments Add a Comment
7. The Gun-Control Position: Part Two

Yesterday, Mark V. Tushnet author of Out Of Range: Why the Constitution Can’t End the Battle Over Guns, introduced us to the gun-rights argument. Today Tushnet takes a closer look at the gun-control position. Be sure to check back tomorrow for part three in this series.

Gun-control proponents support their position with several arguments. First, the text: The Second Amendment does refer to the militia, and the gun-rights position deprives the Amendment’s preamble of any operative significance, which is unusual in constitutional interpretation. But there’s more to the textual argument. The Constitution refers to the Militia in two additional places. It gives Congress the right to laws providing for the calling forth of the Militia, and it reserves to states the right to appoint the officers of the Militia. These references clearly deal with the state-organized Militia, and we ought to interpret the Second Amendment to use the term in the same way. The Second Amendment would then prohibit Congress from disarming the state-organized militia – and would thereby preserve the ability of those militias to resist an oppressive national government. (more…)

0 Comments on The Gun-Control Position: Part Two as of 1/1/1990
Add a Comment