Across Boundaries: european cooperative societies. Study cases
The aim to achieve �in 2003� the single market also for the European
cooperative societies was one of the major objectives of the EC Regulation
concerning the status of the Societas Cooperativa Europeae (SCE). Seven
years later there seems to be little practical experiences. This paper is focused
in the analysis of experiences in the Basque Country, especially on
Ethical Banking and the Project developed known as Fiare, which would be the first European scope credit cooperative. The study of this case has
just emerged some questions about the real difficulties for extending this
kind of European collaboration: some of them with legal basis but others
probably with cultural basis.
La banca ética como herramienta de acción política
This article offers a reflection about the value and relevance of ethical banking in the actual economic context and outlines the pillars on which those initiatives are based. The approach is based on the consideration of the place that credit has in our societies, as the key factor to understand the social impact of the financial intermediation. The analysis focuses on the human rights perspective and leads todescribe the processes that ground the ethical banking initiatives that promote the right to credit, underlying its status as a tool for political action, as collective action networks committed to social transformation.
Exposure to violence in incarcerated youth from the city of São Paulo.
OBJECTIVE
This study aimed to determine the extent of exposure to community violence among delinquent Brazilian youth in the 12-month period prior to their incarceration and to identify factors associated with this exposure.


METHOD
With an oversampling of girls, a cross-section of youth under 18 years of age from juvenile detention units in the city of São Paulo, Brazil completed a structured interview. Key items related to exposure to violence (witnessed and experienced) were drawn from the Social and Health Assessment questionnaire to cover the 12-month period prior to incarceration.


RESULTS
Participants (n = 325, 89% boys) reported high rates of exposure to violence with largely similar levels for boys and girls. Being threatened with physical harm, being beaten or mugged and/or shot at were the most common forms of violence experienced. After controlling for demographic and family variables, the fact of having peers involved in risk behavior, easy access to guns and previous involvement with the justice system were associated with witnessed violence; whereas having slept on the street was the only variable associated with experienced violence.


CONCLUSION
This group of youth was exposed to high levels of violence and other adverse experiences. Future research should examine the effectiveness of strategies aimed at reducing the exposure to violence of high-risk youth.