Ester Blay

Bio: Ester Blay is an academic researcher from Pompeu Fabra University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Comparative research & Empirical research. The author has an hindex of 3, co-authored 6 publications receiving 34 citations.

Community Service in Belgium, the Netherlands, Scotland and Spain: A Comparative Perspective:

Abstract: Current criminological research is particularly interested in the question whether or not we are witnessing a punitive turn and it seems that Western democracies today punish differently than a few decades ago. The ‘new punitiveness’ literature (Pratt, et. al., 2005) and David Garland’s (2001) study on the culture of control have fuelled an ongoing debate and research on this question. There are however many ways to compare penal practices and measure punitiveness. Leading comparative research by Cavadino & Dignan (2006) for example relates variations in incarceration rates to contrasting kinds of political economy. However, punitiveness rankings vary substantially depending on the indicator used and ideally we have to take into account all of them to make sense of the assumed penal change. In this special issue we have focused on the use and implementation of community service and have focussed on its characteristics as a contemporary form of punishment. Through a detailed description of the different aspects of the rhetoric on and practice of community service, we aim to identify commonalities and local differences and attempt to understand and explain them. The question of increasing or decreasing punitiveness therefore is only one of our points of interest.

‘It Could Be Us’: Recent Transformations in the Use of Community Service as a Punishment in Spain:

Abstract: Community service orders, or work for the benefit of the community orders, were introduced in Spanish legislation with the 1995 Criminal Code. Its practical use was until recently scant, and has since 2008 exploded in numerical terms. After describing the legal framework and aims of this sanction, this paper focuses on recent developments in the use of this penalty and in implementation and supervision practices. It draws from analysis of Parliamentary debates, sentences passed by judges, official statistics and other official documents, and interviews with judges, public prosecutors, supervisors and senior civil servants responsible for implementation.

Interpreting performance in offender supervision: The use of observation as a data collection method:

Abstract: Empirical research on practicing offender supervision seems to be rather scarce in many European jurisdictions. Existing studies tend to be mostly descriptive and use interviews and surveys as meth...

The culture of control: crime and social order in contemporary, society

Abstract: Nos últimos trinta trinta anos, houve profundas mudanças na forma como compreendemos o crime e a justiça criminal. O crime tornou-se um evento simbólico, um verdadeiro teste para a ordem social e para as políticas governamentais, um desafio para a sociedade civil, para a democracia e para os direitos humanos. Segundo David Garland, professor da Faculdade de Direito da New York University, um dos principais autores no campo da Sociologia da Punição e com artigo publicado na Revista de Sociologia e Política , número 13, na modernidade tardia houve uma verdadeira obsessão securitária, direcionando as políticas criminais para um maior rigor em relação às penas e maior intolerância com o criminoso. Há trinta anos, nos EUA e na Inglaterra essa tendência era insuspeita. O livro mostra que os dois países compartilham intrigantes similaridades em suas práticas criminais, a despeito da divisão racial, das desigualdades econômicas e da letalidade violenta que marcam fortemente o cenário americano. Segundo David Garland, encontram-se nos dois países os “mesmos tipos de riscos e inseguranças, a mesma percepção a respeito dos problemas de um controle social não-efetivo, as mesmas críticas da justiça criminal tradicional, e as mesmas ansiedades recorrentes sobre mudança e ordem sociais”1 (GARLAND, 2001, p. 2). O argumento principal da obra é o seguinte: a modernidade tardia, esse distintivo padrão de relações sociais, econômicas e culturais, trouxe consigo um conjunto de riscos, inseguranças e problemas de controle social que deram uma configuração específica às nossas respostas ao crime, ao garantir os altos custos das políticas criminais, o grau máximo de duração das penas e a excessivas taxas de encarceramento.

Have community sanctions and measures widened the net of the European criminal justice systems

Abstract: Analysing the evolution of imprisonment and community sanctions in Europe from 1990 to 2010 this article tests whether community sanctions have been used as alternatives to imprisonment or as supplementary sanctions. The results show that both the number of persons serving community sanctions and the number of inmates have continuously increased in almost all European countries during the period studied. A comparison with the evolution of crime rates shows that the latter cannot explain such trends and suggests that, instead of being alternatives to imprisonment, community sanctions have contributed to widening the net of the European criminal justice systems. The analyses also show a wide diversity in the use of community sanctions across Europe where, in 2010, the ratio between inmates and persons serving community sanctions varied from 2:1 to 1:3. In a comparative perspective, Finland, Norway and Switzerland seem to have found a reasonable balance between the use of imprisonment and community sanctions.

Visibility and the Policing of Public Space

Abstract: From studies of ‘panoptic’ CCTV surveillance to accounts of undercover police officers, it is often mooted that visibility and invisibility are central to the policing of public space. However, there has been no comprehensive and critical assessment of this axiom. Drawing on the practices of a variety of policing providers and regulators, and the work of geographers, criminologists and other social scientists, this paper examines how and why visibility underpins the policing of public space. We begin by considering the ways in which policing bodies and technologies seek to render themselves selectively visible and invisible in the landscape. The paper then moves on to explore the ways in which policing agents attempt to make ‘incongruous’ bodies, behaviours and signs variously visible and invisible in public space. We then offer a sympathetic critique of these accounts, arguing that more attention is needed in understanding: (i) how other senses such as touch, smell and sound are socially constructed as in and out-of-place and ‘policed’ accordingly; and (ii) how the policing of undesirable bodies and practices is not simply about quantitative crime reduction, but conducted through qualitative, embodied performance. The paper concludes by pinpointing key areas for future research.

What matters is what you do: The rediscovery of skills in probation practice:

Abstract: This article discusses the recent emergence of practice skills or ‘core correctional practices’ as a focus for research and staff development in probation work. Starting with the gradual discovery ...

How do probation officers apply attachment theory in their practice? : a qualitative study of probation supervision

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