Showing papers in "British Journal of Criminology in 2004"

Women's Violence to Men in Intimate Relationships Working on a Puzzle

Abstract: Different notions among researchers about the nature of intimate partner violence have long been the subjects of popular and academic debate. Research findings are contradictory and point in two directions, with some revealing that women are as likely as men to perpetrate violence against an intimate partner (symmetry) and others showing that it is overwhelmingly men who perpetrate violence against women partners (asymmetry). The puzzle about who perpetrates intimate partner violence not only concerns researchers but also policy makers and community advocates who, in differing ways, have a stake in the answer to this question, since it shapes the focus of public concern, legislation, public policy and interventions for victims and offenders. The question of who are the most usual victims and perpetrators rests, to a large extent, on ‘what counts’ as violence. It is here that we begin to try to unravel the puzzle, by focusing on concept formation, definitions, forms of measurement, context, consequences and approaches to claim-making, in order better to understand how researchers have arrived at such apparently contradictory findings and claims. The question also turns on having more detailed knowledge about the nature, extent and consequences of women’s violence, in order to consider the veracity of these contradictory findings. To date, there has been very little in-depth research about women’s violence to male partners and it is difficult, if not impossible, to consider this debate without such knowledge. We present quantitative and qualitative findings from 190 interviews with 95 couples in which men and women reported separately upon their own violence and upon that of their partner. Men’s and women’s violence are compared. The findings suggest that intimate partner violence is primarily an asymmetrical problem of men’s violence to women, and women’s violence does not equate to men’s in terms of frequency, severity, consequences and the victim’s sense of safety and well-being. But why bother about the apparent contradictions in findings of research? For those making and implementing policies and expending public and private resources, the apparent contradiction about the very nature of this problem has real consequences for what might be done for those who are its victims and those who * Russell P. Dobash is Professor of Criminology and Rebecca Emerson Dobash is Professor of Social Research at the University of Manchester. They have been researching violence against women since the 1970s and have co-authored several books, numerous government reports and scores of articles on the subject. Their books include Violence against Wives (1979), The Imprisonment of Women (1986), Women Viewing Violence (1992), Women, Violence and Social Change (1992), Penal Theory and Penal Practice: Traditions and Innovations (1994), Gender and Crime (1995), Rethinking Violence Against Women (1999) and Changing Violent Men (2000). They have won the World Congress of Victimology Award for Original Research and Publications in the area of Domestic Violence, the American Society of Criminology’s Distinguished Book Award for Comparative Research and the August Vollmer Award. The main focus of their research is violence and the policies and interventions relating to it. Specific studies include the areas of violence against women; convicted child sex abusers; evaluation of criminal justice-based treatment programmes for violent men; bodybuilding, steroids and violence; men’s and women’s responses to televised violence and the first national study of Homicide in Britain. They have held research grants and/or fellowships from the Carnegie Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Fulbright Foundation, the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, the Economic and Social Research Council, the Home Office, the Scottish Office and other government departments. They have served as research and policy advisors to various government agencies in Britain,

Experience and Expression Social and Cultural Significance in the Fear of Crime

Abstract: This paper argues that to ignore the social meaning that constitutes public perceptions of crime is to offer a shallow picture of the fear of crime – and survey research need not do either. Examining the symbolic links between community cohesion, disorder and crime, this study suggests that perceptions of risk are explicably situated in individuals’ understandings of the social and physical make-up of their neighbourhood, as well as vulnerability and broader social attitudes and values. Furthermore, an explanation is offered for recent research that suggests the prevalence of fear of crime has been exaggerated. Namely, survey responses may articulate both ‘experienced’ fear—summations of the frequency of emotion—and ‘expressive’ fear, or attitudes regarding the cultural meaning of crime, social change and relations, and conditions conducive to crime.

Gender, socially desirable responding and the fear of crime: Are women really more anxious about crime?

Abstract: In this article, the authors use survey data to explore relationships between gender, fear of crime and socially desirable responding. The data show that for men, but not women, reported fear levels are inversely related to scores on a so-called 'lie scale', which measures the tendency to provide socially desirable rather than totally candid responses. This pattern holds irrespective of age and suggests that the genders are affected differently by social pressure to downplay fears about crime. Statistical analyses suggest that this tendency is likely to be responsible for the observed inclination for males to report lower levels of crime-related anxieties. In fact, males may actually be more afraid of crime than women when this tendency is quantified and corrected for. The results raise concerns about apparent gender differences in fear of crime, and about the use of fear of crime measures more generally. The present findings may also go some way to resolving the victimization-fear and fear-risk paradoxes which for so long have mystified criminologists. The article ends with some recommendations for research into the fear of crime.

Prospective hot-spotting - The future of crime mapping?

Abstract: Existing methods of predicting and mapping the future locations of crime are intrinsically retrospective. This paper explores the development of a mapping procedure that seeks to produce Prospective' hot-spot maps. Recent research conducted by the authors demonstrates that the risk of burglary is communicable, with properties within 400 metres of a burgled household being at a significantly elevated risk of victimization for up to two months after an initial event. We discuss how, using this knowledge, recorded crime data can be analysed to generate an ever-changing prospective risk surface. One of the central elements of this paper examines the issue of how such a risk surface could be evaluated to determine its effectiveness and utility in comparison to existing methods. New methods of map evaluation are proposed, such as the production of search efficiency rates and area-to-perimeter ratios; standardized metrics that can be derived for maps produced using different techniques, thereby allowing meaningful comparisons to be made and techniques contrasted. The results suggest that the predictive mapping technique proposed here has considerable advantages over more traditional methods and might prove particularly useful in the shift-by-shift deployment of police personnel.

The Stability of Space-Time Clusters of Burglary

Abstract: This research, inspired by the precepts of optimal foraging theory, suggests that areas where domestic burglaries cluster shift over time, such that the location of clusters is not predictable over periods of three or more months. However, although clusters do not remain in the same location over time (i.e. are not stable over prolonged periods) they do tend to move in a ‘slippery’ manner, moving to nearby areas at successive points in time. The implications of the findings for hot-spotting and crime prevention are discussed.

BURGLARY VICTIMIZATION IN ENGLAND AND WALES, THE UNITED STATES AND THE NETHERLANDS A Cross-National Comparative Test of Routine Activities and Lifestyle Theories

Abstract: This study examines factors relating to burglary incidence in England and Wales, the United States, and the Netherlands. Negative binomial regression models are developed based on routine activities theory. Data are drawn from national victimization surveys of about the same time: the 1994 British Crime Survey, the 1994 National Crime Victimisation Survey, and the 1993 Police Monitor, respectively. Relative to the two European countries, US households have more idiosyncratic patterns of burglary victimization. Despite differences across the three data sets, several similar effects emerge of variables tapping lifestyle characteristics on burglary victimization. Four variables had significant effects in the same direction in two or more countries where the third country showed a non-significant effect in the same direction. These were age, lone parent household status, urbanization, and the presence of security measures in the home. Some variables had significant effects in opposite directions according to country: rented accommodation was associated with higher burglary rates in the UK but lower rates in the Netherlands; household affluence was linked with higher rates of burglary in the UK and lower rates in the United States. The present study seeks to contribute to crime research in two main areas. The first contribution is to substantive knowledge about crime. The contribution derives from an examination of three main research questions: • Do indicators derived from routine activity and lifestyle theory affect household burglary incidence similarly across three countries? • If they do, which are the most consistent? • What are the potential implications of the findings? The second hoped-for contribution is to methodology, though this is necessarily also linked to the area of substantive knowledge. There are, to the writers’ knowledge, no previous cross-national studies which use comparative negative binomial models to examine routine activity and lifestyle theories. The negative binomial model has two main advantages for present purposes. First, it accounts for the role of repeat victimization in the composition of crime. Second, it allows an examination of the extent of unexplained heterogeneity between households in different countries (this is explained more fully below). Further, instead of concentrating on relatively few variables as in some previous studies, all available indicators of routine activities and lifestyle are

‘Intelligence Led Policing or Policing Led Intelligence?’Integrating Volume Crime Analysis into Policing

Abstract: This paper expiares the integration of volume crime analysis into policing. Based on qualitative research in two police forces, the paper outlines the importance of analysis far intelligence led policing. However, while the rhetoric of using analysis to target police activity is generally accepted, the practice is different. A poor understanding of analysis amongst police officers, and a lack of understanding of policing amongst analysts, influenced the usefulness of analytical products for operational policing. The paper also addresses police culture and the impact it has on perceptions of analysts and their products. The paper argues that training and development for both police officers and analysts is crucial to develop a productive working relationship. Crime analysis is the process of identifying patterns and relationships between crime data and other relevant data sources to prioritize and target police activity (Gill 2000: 212). The uneven distribution of crime in terms of space and place (Bottoms and Wiles 2002; Sherman 1990), type of offenders (Graham and Bowling 1995), and victimization (Pease 1998), theoretically allows analysts to draw inferences from patterns of crime, which can be used as a foundation for allocating police resources. Crime analysis has developed alongside the reliance on criminal intelligence to direct police activity, the growth of information technologies, and the requirement to monitor police performance (Fletcher 2000; Gill 2000; Manning 2000, 2001a). It also has sound foundations within the principles of problem-orientated policing (Goldstein 1979). Essentially analysts are information translators, whose role is to review information and provide reliable intelligence in a practical and operational format. There is a theo retical division between operational and strategic analysis (Gill 2000; Read and Oldfield 1995). While definitions of each analytical function vary, generally a tactical overview focuses on the identification of crime problems to direct operational responses such as high visibility patrols, and a strategic overview provides longer term, more detailed analysis of problems and their causes to facilitate strategic interventions, forecast crime and implement crime reduction strategies. This paper, based on qualitative research conducted in two police forces and ongoing research of volume crime analysis, explores the practice of crime analysis and why it is * Strategic Research, Metropolitan Police Service. The views expressed by the author are not not necessarily those of the Metropolitan

The frequency of the fear of crime

Abstract: Research exploring the emotional responses to crime experienced by the citizens of several major European and North American countries, including the UK, has suggested that a significant proportion of the residents of these countries fear' crime. However, few researchers have explored the frequency with which citizens feel fearful. This brief research note reports on a study that explored the frequency and intensity of such feelings. The research suggests that few people fear crime frequently.

In proportion: race and police stop and search

Abstract: Equal contributions by Stenson and Waddington, based on their commissioned work on police stop and search of minorities for Thames Valley Police. Led to numerous invitations to present papers and has been widely cited internationally.

‘The Appliance of Science?’The Theory and Practice of Crime Intelligence Analysis

Abstract: Intelligence analysis has emerged as an important component of contemporary policing strategies. Drawing upon qualitative data and a perspective informed by some of the concepts associated with the sociology of scientific knowledge, this paper provides an epistemologically oriented critique of some of the key techniques associated with crime analysis. Data presented suggest that crime analysis: is used in line with traditional modes of policing; is a way of claiming ‘scientific objectivity’ for police actions; and is largely shaped by police perspectives on data. It is argued that the sense of enhanced objectivity often attributed to the products of ‘intelligence work’ is frequently overstated. The products of crime analysis are better understood as an artefact of the data and methods used in their construction, rather than providing an accurate representation of any crime problems.

Gang Membership, Drugs and Crime in the UK

Abstract: There is some evidence from national newspapers and government reports that the number of gangs and gang members in the United Kingdom is increasing. There are also reports that street gangs are involved in serious and violent offending and sometimes carry guns. In some respects, the picture painted by these reports is similar to the stereotype of gang membership in the United States. However, there is little criminological research on gangs in the United Kingdom that can shed light on this development. In particular, little is known about whether gang members are different in any way from non-gang members of similar social background. The current paper reports findings generated from the NEW-ADAM (New English and Welsh Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring) programme on gang membership and its relation to crime and drug misuse. The research shows that there are some similarities between the current findings and the results reported in the US research with respect to the social characteristics and problem behaviours of gang members. However, there are also some important differences. The paper concludes that the United Kingdom may be entering a new phase in the development of street crime among young people and argues that it is important to monitor this development for the purpose of policy and fundamental knowledge.

Policing Communal Spaces: A reconfiguration of the Mass Private Property Hypothesis

Abstract: Explanations for developments in state and non-state policing include the influence of globalization/late-modernity (Reiner 1992; Sheptycki 1995), shifts in political rationalities (O'Malley and Palmer 1996; O'Malley 1997), the rise of 'mass private property' (Shearing and Stenning 1981; 1983), and the decline of secondary social controls (Jones and Newburn 2002). Responding positively to recent critiques of the mass private property hypothesis raised by Jones and Newburn (1998; 1999a), we argue that shifts in policing can be tied to the resurgence of many new forms of 'communal space' (von Hirsch and Shearing 2000; Hermer et al. 2002) of which mass private property is only one example. We then induce a framework suggestive of the links between the extant accounts of trends in policing.

From Imitation to Intimidation: a Note on the Curious and Changing Relationship Between the Media, Crime and Fear of Crime

Abstract: Although a connection between media reports and dramatizations of crime and peoples' fear of crime is intuitively attractive, an actual relationship has been discovered surprisingly infrequently. This study (which analyses the quantitative responses of 167 respondents, and the qualitative responses of a sub-sample of 64 of them) is no exception. The qualitative material indicates that respondents' perceptions and interpretations are more important than the frequency of media consumption and/or any objective characteristics of media material.

Newspaper reporting and the public construction of homicide.

Abstract: This paper outlines the distorted nature of press reporting of English and Welsh homicides. We investigated the reporting of 2,685 homicides in England and Wales in three national newspapers: The Times, the Mail and the Mirror in the period 1993–97. By systematically charting the nature of reporting distortions, we explore the contribution of newspapers to the social construction of homicide. The study analysed a wide range of variables to explain homicide story salience: the circumstance of the killing was found to play a crucial role in whether a homicide is reported, with sexual homicides and motiveless acts being more likely to be reported. Homicides involving young children are highly likely to be reported, but infant homicides are not. These public narratives construct homicide differently to the reality of illegal killing, highlighting particular versions of ‘otherness’ and danger. Such distorted contributions to framing criminological problems may, we argue, foster political and social responses to homicide that are not based on statistical reality but media representations of reality.

Juror Stereotypes and Blame Attribution in Rape Cases Involving Intoxicants: The Findings of a Pilot Study

Abstract: Prior to recent legislative changes, sexual offences were contained in a combination of statutory provisions and common law that was criticized as being ill-equipped to tackle the intricacies of modern sexual (mis)behaviour. This pilot study explored the capacity of these provisions to address the complexities of drug-assisted rape using focus groups and a trial simulation to identify factors which influenced jurors in rape trials involving intoxicants. The findings revealed that jurors considered numerous extra-legal factors when reaching a decision: rape myths, misconceptions about the impact of intoxicants and factors such as the motivation of the defendant in administering an intoxicant. This paper draws upon these findings, focusing in particular on the interaction between juror attributions of blame and stereotypical conceptions about intoxication, sexual consent and drug-assisted rape. The findings of this pilot study form the basis for a larger-scale project (ESRC -funded, commenced January 2004) that examines this interaction in the context of new provisions under the Sexual Offences Act 2003.

RESEARCHING POLICE TRANSFORMATION: The Ethnographic Imperative

Abstract: This paper makes a case for employing an ethnographic approach in trying to understand police organizational transformation. It argues that changing police organizations demands change in the cultural knowledge of the police and that in order to understand this cultural knowledge and assess whether it has changed, it is important for the researcher to immerse herself in the daily organizational field of the police. The paper then explores some of the moral dilemmas and personal difficulties that police ethnographers may encounter, by reviewing my own ethnographic work in South Africa.

An Ambiguous Participant: The Crime Victim and Criminal Justice Decision-Making

Abstract: Popular debate about the appropriate place of victims in criminal justice decision-making tends to be couched in terms of 'balance'. This rhetorical device precludes a comprehensive analysis of the issues raised by victim involvement. This article argues that an analysis of the concept of participation is more fruitful. I delineate four different participatory roles for victims, each envisaging a particular relationship between victim and criminal justice decision-maker. I then discuss a recent reform in England and Wales - the Victim Personal Statement Scheme - to illustrate the ambiguity that can arise in a victim's participatory role when governments pay insufficient attention to the issues underlying rationales for victim involvement.

Against 'green' criminology

Abstract: This article offers an overview of recent work on environmental crime and regulation. It demonstrated the majority of such scholarship is imbued by quite problematic ideas concerning how best to envisage the nature of environmental harm and the type of regulatory structures which should be promoted to assist in the amelioration of environmental damage. The article concludes with a very brief discussion of the kinds of theoretical tools which might be used in place of orthodox framings of environmental crime and its prevention.

Joined-Up Services to Tackle Youth Crime A Case-Study in England

Abstract: The ubiquitous theme of 'joined-up' services in UK government thinking is exemplified by recent reforms to the youth justice system in England and Wales. Previous research on multi-agency approaches has distinguished between 'benevolent' and 'conspiratorial' interpretations of joined-up criminal justice and has identified complexities in turning the rhetoric into reality. In line with conspiratorial perspectives, New Labour's changes to the youth justice system have been seen as evidence of further departure from welfare-based work, towards increased punitiveness and managerialism. This paper reports findings from an in-depth case-study of one youth offending team and its partnerships, exploring the realities of collaboration on three levels: core practice; specialist projects; and strategic management. It was found that the social work ethic has survived this overhaul of the youth justice system.

The Effectiveness Of Methadone Maintenance Treatment In Controlling Crime An Australian Aggregate-Level Analysis

Abstract: This article presents the results of a study into the effectiveness of methadone maintenance treatment in preventing crime. Using court appearance records, the officially recorded offending rates of a sample of 8,154 people on the public methadone programme between 1 January 1999 and 31 December 2000 were determined to see whether they were lower during periods when they were on the methadone programme than during periods when they were off the programme. After adjusting for time spent in custody, officially recorded offending rates were found to be significantly lower for most people during periods when they were in methadone treatment than during periods when they were out of it. A reduction in officially recorded offending rates was found for all age groups and for both men and women but the reduction was much more substantial for young women. When the reductions in officially recorded offending were scaled up to allow for offences that do not result in the prosecution of an offender, it was found that, for every 100 persons in methadone for one year, New South Wales gets 12 fewer robberies, 57 fewer break-and-enters and 56 fewer motor-vehicle thefts.

REPEAT PERSONAL VICTIMIZATION: Random Effects, Event Dependence and Unexplained Heterogeneity

Abstract: The paper seeks to clarify the risks of repeat personal victimization, acknowledging that much prior research is limited in enabling efficient applicability to crime-prevention purposes by its failure to address the interplay between personal and household factors conferring risk alongside the effects of prior victimization. The study reported here is an attempt to pin down sources of unexplained heterogeneity in terms of random effects of known characteristics of individuals and their households, their lifestyle and victimization history. The data for this study came from the 1994 US National Crime Victimization Survey, and focuses upon personal victimization. Individual, household and prior non-victimization fixed effects are found to be highly statistically significant, implying that each set of covariates adds important information for the prediction of personal crimes. Recent (6

Comparative Criminal Justice Policy-Making in the United States and the United Kingdom The Case of Private Prisons

Abstract: Recent years have seen a growing focus upon perceived similarities in criminal justice and penal policies in the United States and the United Kingdom. The increasingly punitive nature of penal policy discourse in both countries appears to have given rise to similar developments, such as 'three strikes' sentencing, youth curfews, sex offender registration schemes, 'zero tolerance' policing, etc. At the same time, governments in both countries have adopted a more 'managerial' approach towards criminal justice, including the development of 'risk-based' interventions, and expanding the role of the private sector in the criminal justice system. One body of work explains such developments with reference to globalizing trends visible across many Western industrialized countries (Christie 2000; Garland 2001). Such approaches point to deeper cultural and structural changes being experienced across all 'late modern' capitalist societies. By contrast, other authors highlight the localized and particular aspects of penal systems, and point to the very different trajectories of reform in varying political and cultural contexts (Melossi 2001; Tonry 1999). A precondition to the effective linking of these approaches is a more detailed understanding of the notion of 'policy' and the processes via which it is shaped. A fuller understanding of current developments requires attention to be paid both to 'deep structures' and to the particulars of political decision-making. Drawing upon a major comparative study of criminal justice policy-making, we focus upon the case of the re-birth of privately managed prisons in the United States and the United Kingdom. We compare the process of policy change in each country and analyse the factors shaping key policy decisions. The paper concludes with some observations about the nature of convergence and divergence in the penal policies of different nations.

Social change, institutional anomie, and serious property crime in transitional Russia.

Abstract: This study examined the association between socioeconomic change and serious property crime in Russia and tested the hypothesis that the strength of non-economic social institutions will condition this association. Russia experienced paradigmatic political, social, and economic change in the years following the collapse of the Soviet Union. The country and its citizens are experiencing uncertainty and instability as old social norms and values are being questioned and widely replaced by a new political-economy. These rapid changes have created anomic conditions that in turn may be contributing to a wide array of social problems (Durkheim, 1897), including increased rates of crime and violence (Pridemore, 2003a). Russia is the largest nation in the world and the nature and the pace of these changes, as well as the strength of social institutions, varies tremendously throughout the country. Recent research leads us to expect crime rates to covary with these factors (Kim, 2003; Pridemore, 2002). We might further expect that the strength of social institutions such as family, education, and polity to play a moderating role in any association between social change and crime. We thus draw upon Messner and Rosenfeld's (1997a) institutional anomie theory to test the idea that even if negative socioeconomic change proves to be associated with crime, the association should be lower than expected in regions where social institutions are stronger (Bernburg, 2002; Chamlin and Cochran, 1995).

Leaving a 'Stain Upon the Silence': contemporary criminology and the politics of dissent

Abstract: of deeply disturbing trends in the content of the discipline. We begin by exploring the recent boom in Home Office funded research in criminology, examining the key theoretical and empirical issues that have been both included and excluded from the official research agenda. The content and expanding nature of this agenda is then placed within the wider context of the entrepreneurialisation of universities, particularly with respect to the marketisation of academic research and the disciplinary, self-regulatory effects that follow from this. As a paradigmatic process within these wider trends, we subject the Research Assessment Exercise to critical scrutiny. We conclude by noting some strategies that criminologists might pursue to combat the increasingly narrow and pernicious research agenda funded and sanctioned by the state. Nothing is less logical than to try to be too logical: nothing is more imprudent than to try to maintain theories … if they are going to upset the order of society … the sociologist must observe still greater circumspection, for if he puts into operation innovations of an upsetting nature he will simply succeed in demonstrating the uselessness and inefficiency of his science. (Lombroso, cited in Garland 1985: 27)

Shame, Rage and Racist Violence

Abstract: In this article, we argue that much racist violence can be understood in terms of unacknowledged shame and its transformation into fury. We use studies by Scheff and Retzinger as a framework for understanding transcripts of interviews with racist offenders from Greater Manchester, UK. We argue that much of the interview data support the claim that unacknowledged shame can be transformed into rage against those who are seen as the sources of shame. We argue that offenders' shame is rooted in multiple disadvantages and that rage is directed against south Asians who are perceived as more successful, but illegitimately so, within a cultural context in which violence and racism are taken for granted. The article is intended to contribute both to greater understanding of the complex motivation of racist violence and to current moves to redress the cognitive bias of much contemporary social science and reassess the role of emotion in human behaviour.

The Effect of a Reduction in Heroin Supply in Australia upon Drug Distribution and Acquisitive Crime

Abstract: In early 2001, Australia experienced a sudden, significant reduction in the availability of heroin, following a number of years of unprecedented availability of high-grade heroin. This study examines changes in the scale, method, structure and visibility of heroin and other drug distribution in New South Wales (NSW), and in the incidence of possession and use of heroin and other drugs associated with this reduction in heroin availability. Police incident data on possession/use of illicit drugs and on incidents of acquisitive crime were analysed using time-series analysis. Key informants (n=71) from NSW law enforcement and health agencies and heroin users (n=53) were interviewed regarding changes in the drug market following the reduced availability of heroin. NSW police reports were accessed for information on police investigations into drug crime and related activities. Drug distribution in NSW appeared to change around the time of the heroin shortage. High-level distribution of heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine may have remained somewhat discretely managed by different organized crime groups but greater collaboration occurred between these groups. Among mid-level distributors, there appeared to be a shift in emphasis from heroin to other drug distribution. Low-level dealers may have made a short-term shift from heroin to cocaine distribution. Low-level drug dealing also appeared to shift towards mobile and less overt methods of dealing. The number of street-level dealers reduced and in the longer-term, visibility of the drug markets decreased. There were significant decreases in police incidents of heroin possession/use reported by police, which were more marked among males and younger persons. At the same time, increases were observed in incidents for cocaine possession/use. There was a sustained decrease in theft offences but a temporary increase in robbery offences during the peak period of reduced availability. This appeared to represent a shift in the criminal behaviour of users remaining in the market and was associated with changes in drug-use patterns. Although the motivation behind the offending behaviour remained the same over time, cocaine use was associated with more violent crime. The method and structure of illicit drug distribution changed along with reduced heroin supply and carried implications for the policing of drug markets. Australia does not have a large cocaine market and the findings may have differed in countries where cocaine is in more ready supply. (Abstract Adapted from Source: British Journal of Criminology, 2005. Copyright © 2005 by Oxford University Press) Austalia Foreign Countries Adult Crime Adult Substance Use Adult Offender Drug Possession Drug Related Crime Drug Use Effects Crime Causes Offender Substance Use Heroin Use 01-05

Appraising The Inclusive Definition Of Workplace ‘Violence’

Abstract: This article examines the limits to which 'inclusive' definitions of 'violence' can be usefully employed It does so within the context of research into violence, threats and intimidation experienced in the workplace by police officers and social care professionals (Accident and Emergency staff, mental health professionals, and social workers) Data were obtained from in-depth cognitive interviewing of 54 police officers and 62 social-care professionals who believed that they had recently suffered such attacks in the course of their work What emerges is an enormously broad spectrum of behaviour that is experienced as violent, threatening or intimidating It is argued that to stretch terms like 'violence' to cover such an array of experience is confusing, ultimately self-defeating and may create more problems than it resolves The article concludes that researchers need to differentiate between episodes of ‘violence’ and suggests a set of criteria that should guide this enterprise