Dr Emek Yuce Zeyrek Rios

A study combining interviews and the repertory grid analyses explored Turkish investigators’ views on what it takes to be an effective investigator. Experienced Turkish police officers (n = 286) from seven different cities dealing with high-harm, low-volume crime investigations were asked to describe what differentiates the effective investigator from the less effective one. A total of 1,819 skills, abilities and personal characteristics (SACs) described could be clustered under three main categories, namely “personality and general knowledge”, “investigative and analytical abilities” and “management and cooperation skills”. A vast majority of SACs identified were quite unspecific and provided only a general indication of a relatively low ability to describe the deeper and underlying functions involved in the job. They view their job mostly as a form of art which can only be mastered through mentorship and job experience. In this study, the variety and vastness of skills, abilities and characteristic in the data indicate that the investigators seem to acknowledge the complexity and the difficulty of modern-day criminal investigations. Thus, we reached inferences from the findings, and they are discussed in relation to levels of professionalism, strategic staff management and previous research from other cultures and jurisdictions. The findings of this research can assist with the development of a cross-cultural and cross-jurisdictional and evidence-based policy for the selection and development of investigators.

Criminal,Attitude,Reliability,Validity,Attitudes towards criminals

The pathways to violence in women—especially in non-Western contexts—remain underexplored. This study examines the relationship between emotion regulation difficulties, criminal thinking, and aggression among 114 incarcerated Turkish women convicted of violent offenses (i.e., assault, murder/manslaughter, bodily harm, etc.). The mean age of the sample is 35.67 (SD = 9.66). Half of the sample (50 %, N = 58) has a maximum educational level of primary school qualification, and 30 % are unemployed. Drawing on the General Aggression Model and criminal thinking framework, the participants were administered the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), the Buss–Perry Aggression Questionnaire (BPAQ), and the Criminal Thinking Scale (CTS). Results revealed significant positive associations between emotion regulation difficulties and all subtypes of aggression, yielding correlation coefficients ranging from 0.25 to 0.62. Furthermore, while offenders scored lower than university students on emotion dysregulation and aggression, they scored higher compared to age-matched community samples—highlighting the importance of contextual comparison. Mediation analysis demonstrated that criminal thinking partially mediated the relationship between emotion regulation difficulties and aggression, suggesting that cognitive distortions amplify the effect of affective dysregulation on violent behaviour. These findings underscore the interplay between affective dysregulation and cognitive distortions in female violence and suggest that gender-responsive, trauma-informed interventions must integrate cognitive restructuring alongside emotional regulation skills to effectively reduce female violent offending. The current study advances our understanding of female violence by integrating emotional, cognitive, and sociocultural perspectives within a non-Western context.

Associations of .35 and −.34, respectively, were found for a measure of having a Taoist orientation to life with death anxiety and the perception that one's self is unified (versus fragmented) in samples of 41 Korean high school and 145 Korean university students.

Using rating scales no associations were found between having a Taoist orientation to life, death anxiety, and the perception that one's self is unified (versus fragmented) in a sample of southeastern Asian students (18 women and 12 men).

The study of offense narratives emphasizes the agency of the offender which brings psychology closer to law. As an effort to create a standardized and quantitative method to evaluate offender narratives, Youngs and Canter developed the Narrative Roles Questionnaire (NRQ) based on the content analyses of the crime narratives of offenders in UK prisons. The current study aims to investigate the applicability of offense narrative roles framework among Turkish offenders. The application of the offense narrative roles model to a non-Western country is the first step toward the acceptance of criminal narrative theory as a universal explanation of criminal behavior. A translation of the NRQ was administered to 468 Turkish male inmates who have committed a wide range of offenses from fraud to murder. The results of an MDS analysis yielded four roles, namely Professional, Revenger, Hero, and Victim, echoing the original formulation proposed by Youngs and Canter. The reliability coefficients of scales derived for these roles were all at desired levels. The results support the applicability of the NRQ framework in a non-English context.

A positive association between having a Taoist orientation to life and unity in the subjective perception of the self was found in samples of both American ( n = 99) and Turkish ( n = 100) respondents.

Child sexual abuse is typically studied using reports from the offender and in Western countries. The aim of the present study was to investigate pre- and post-abuse strategies of persons convicted of a sexual offense to children in Turkey using the statements made by the child victims and to frame the results using rational choice theory. A qualitative study was made for the themes in the police statements from 46 children who were victims of child sexual abuse. The content analysis revealed that persons convicted of a sexual offense to children differ in terms of their methods to approach children and in their pre- and post-abuse behaviors depending on their relationship with the victim. A total of 85% of the offenses were extra-familial and 15% within the family. Only 21% of the extra-familial offenses were opportunist; most involved bribes and introductions through friends or intermediaries. Two tactics unique to Turkey were promises of marriage and the use of children as intermediaries. The use of force and blackmail was more common in the intra-familial offenses. The results of the qualitative analysis were, on the whole, consistent with results from persons convicted of a sexual offense to children’s statements, but some of the tactics used by offenders in Turkey were unique to Turkish culture.

Background This study examines the 20-year trend of suicide in 46 Muslim-majority countries throughout the world and compares their suicide rates and trends with the global average. Ecological-level associations between the proportion of the Muslim population, the age-standardized suicide rates, male-to-female suicide rate ratio, and the Human Development Index (HDI) in 2019 were examined. Methods Age-standardized suicide rates were extracted from the WHO Global Health Estimates database for the period between 2000 and 2019. The rates in each country were compared with the age-standardized global average during the past 20 years. The countries were further grouped according to their regions/sub-regions to calculate the regional and sub-regional weighted age-standardized suicide rates involving Muslim-majority countries. Correlation analyses were conducted between the proportion of Muslims, age-standardized suicide rate, male: female suicide rate ratio, and the HDI in all countries. Joinpoint regression was used to analyze the age-standardized suicide rates in 2000-2019. Results The 46 countries retained for analysis included an estimated 1.39 billion Muslims from a total worldwide Muslim population of 1.57 billion. Of these countries, eleven (23.9%) had an age-standardized suicide rate above the global average in 2019. In terms of regional/sub-regional suicide rates, Muslim-majority countries in the Sub-Saharan region recorded the highest weighted average age-standardized suicide rate of 10.02/100,000 population, and Southeastern Asia recorded the lowest rate (2.58/100,000 population). There were significant correlations between the Muslim population proportion and male-to-female rate ratios (r=-0.324, p=0.028), HDI index and age-standardized suicide rates (r=-0.506, p<0.001), and HDI index and male-to-female rate ratios (r=0.503, p<0.001) in 2019. Joinpoint analysis revealed that seven Muslim-majority countries (15.2%) recorded an increase in the average annual percentage change regarding age-standardized suicide rates during 2000-2019. Conclusions Most Muslim-majority countries had lower age-standardized suicide rates than the global average, which might reflect religious belief and practice or due to Muslim laws in their judicial and social structure which may lead to underreporting. This finding needs further in-depth country and region-specific study with regard to its implication for public policy.

A negative association between having a Taoist orientation to life and death anxiety was found for a sample of 99 American students but not in a sample of 100 Turkish students

Schopenhauer attributed will to both humans and objects, and commentators have dismissed the notion that objects have will. It is proposed that by focusing on our perception of the environment, rather than the environment itself, the theory of personality proposed by Angyal provides a way of attributing forces to both the individual and to the environment.

In a sample of 100 Turkish undergraduates, the Collett-Lester Fear of Death Scale had adequate interitem reliability and adequate concurrent validity with Templer's Death Anxiety Scale.

In samples of 100 Turkish undergraduates and 87 American undergraduates, having a Taoist orientation was not consistently associated with fear of death and dying.

Among 180 Turkish university students, the probability of suicide was strongly predicted by both hopelessness and deficiencies in problem solving. In addition, for women, unhealthy attachment styles (preoccupied and dismissing) also predicted suicidality. The clinical implications of these findings are that psychotherapists should focus on helping suicidal adolescents improve their problem solving skills and decreasing their hopelessness and, for women, assisting them to develop healthier relationship styles. © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.