Feminist literature on violence against people with disability has described instances where assistive devices, including items such as prostheses, wheelchairs, or medications, are withheld from a victim, moved out of reach, or destroyed in the context of intimate partner and family violence. In this paper, I utilise posthuman conceptualisations of the body to understand these forms of violence not as the removal or destruction of items essential to disabled people, but as harmful violations of the disabled body itself. That is, when the body is understood as enmeshed with and constituted by machines, animals, prosthesis, and other organic and inorganic elements, these forms of abuse become the use of the disabled body against itself in the enactment of violence. Drawing on media articles covering the domestic homicides of disabled people and interviews with disabled and non-disabled advocates, I argue that employing a posthuman understanding of the body helps to illuminate the significance of this violence as an intrusion into disabled corporeal assemblages. This research contributes to criminological understandings of the subject and of harm, and gives voice to the unique forms of violence experienced by disabled people.

Non-sexual violence in Scotland has fallen significantly since 2006-07 but remained broadly stable over the last decade. Recent data from the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey suggests that the risks of violent victimisation are highest for men, those living in deprived areas, and those living in urban locations. Victims of repeated incidences of violence account for most of the non-sexual physical violence reported, accounting for almost two-thirds of violent crime in 2019/20. Drawing on recent research exploring experiences of repeat violence within marginalised communities in Scotland, this paper contextualises the ways in which community structure and culture shape understandings of violence. Our work provides insight from people who are not counted in official statistics, highlighting the meanings and impacts of repeat violence when situated within structures of power, inequality, and social harm. In developing a qualitative understanding through critical criminological perspectives, the paper argues that repeat violence must be approached as a dynamic process, rather than a series of discrete events, in which different forms and contexts of violence interact and reinforce one another.

This paper contributes to the growing literature in Disability Hate Studies concerning experiences of hate, antisocial behaviour and victimisation. The data that will be presented has been derived from 206 case studies accessed through an advocacy service within the North-East of England that supports victims/survivors of hate crime. The paper employs the concept of intersectionality, thus, rather than merely focusing on hate crimes that are disablist/ableist motivated; this study investigates the experiences of hate crimes recorded as racist or homophobic and where the victims/survivors also have a disability or mental health condition. In the research, although very few hate incidents/crimes were conceptualised as disablist, disability played a significant role in the instigation and targeting of victims/survivors. The study suggests that the experience of hate crime has a disabling effect on many participants in this research. This paper will propose that hate crime is not a one-off crime perpetrated by a stranger but is often the accumulation of many hate incidents that have developed into more severe offences over a prolonged period. The paper will introduce the concept of ‘hate relationships’ by proposing that social and criminal justice agencies should move away from comprehending hate crimes as singular incidents to conceptualising this form of violence as a harmful relationship that progresses over time.

Research indicates that caring for people with dementia increases the risk of caregiver burnout, potentially leading to abuse (Fang and Yang, 2018). Elder abuse refers to ‘‘a single or repeated act, or lack of appropriate action occurring within any relationship where there is an expectation of trust, which cause harm to an elder’’ (WHO, 2002, p. 2). It can take many forms such as psychological, physical, financial, emotional, or sexual (Fang and Yang, 2018). Reported rates of abuse in people with dementia range from 0.3% to 78.4% in the community (Sasaki et al., 2007; Yan & Kwok, 2011) and 8.3% to 78.3% in institutional settings (Cooper, Dow, Hay, Livingston, & Livingston, 2013; Rabold & Goergen, 2013). These rates are disproportionately higher than the rates of 3.2–27.5% recorded in the general older population (Fang and Yang, 2018).

Although dementia is a recognized risk factor for elder abuse, relatively little attention has been paid to understanding such abuse (Fang and Yang, 2018). This systematic review addresses the following questions: What are the risk factors at the individual, interpersonal, community or societal level for experiencing abuse for adults living with dementia at home or in institutional settings? What are the protective factors at the individual, interpersonal, community or societal level for experiencing abuse for adults living with dementia at home or in institutional settings?

To answer these questions, the review includes literature published between 1980 and 2024, which focuses on the experiences of adults (over 18) who have been diagnosed with dementia. This includes those living at home as well as those living in care or institutional settings. The review includes both quantitative and qualitative studies. The findings of the systematic review will be presented.