Showing papers in "Criminology & Criminal Justice in 2017"
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that food fraud, rather than being an exogenous phenomenon perpetrated by externally organized (transnational) "criminal enterprise", is better understood as an endogenous phenomenon within the food system where legitimate occupational actors and organizations are in some way necessarily involved.
Abstract: This article conceptualizes ‘food fraud’ by shifting analytical focus away from popular/policy conceptions foregrounding the centrality of organized crime towards understanding the factors that shape the organization of food frauds. We argue that food fraud, rather than being an ‘exogenous’ phenomenon perpetrated by externally organized (transnational) ‘criminal enterprise’, is better understood as an ‘endogenous’ phenomenon within the food system where legitimate occupational actors and organizations are in some way necessarily involved. Criminal opportunities arise under conducive conditions as part of legitimate actors’ routine behaviours. Our contention is that the common definition of food fraud is too prescriptive and fails to allow space to understand the role of different actors and their motivations. We analyse a case study in soft drinks, presenting the necessary role of legitimate, occupational actors within/between legitimate organizational settings and markets, and demonstrate how criminal be...
62 citations
TL;DR: The authors empirically examined the everyday problem of corrupt policing and other related abuses in Nigeria, and how these deviant behaviours engender public cynicism towards the law, using a sample of 462 participants from a cross-sectional survey.
Abstract: This study empirically examines the everyday problem of corrupt policing and other related abuses in Nigeria, and how these deviant behaviours engender public cynicism towards the law. In any democratic society, police officers are expected to be accountable for their actions and inactions. But the perennial problem in Nigeria is that the police are not accountable to anyone. The history of Nigeria policing is littered with accounts of deviance, malevolent attitudes towards the public and failures of the police organization in detecting or disciplining errant officers. Using a sample of 462 participants from a cross-sectional survey, this study examines whether actual or vicarious experiences of police deviance are likely to predict public cynicism towards the law. This current study corroborates previous assertions that the relationship between the police and the public in Nigeria is poor and that police deviance engenders cynicism towards the law. Implications for policymaking and law-abiding behaviour ...
52 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, contemporary police claims to professional status are analysed and related to a new structure of police regulation in England and Wales, and it is argued that the notion of the police a...
Abstract: In this article contemporary police claims to professional status are analysed and related to a new structure of police regulation in England and Wales. It is argued that the notion of the police a...
50 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigate the contingency of the procedural justice effect and consider the effectiveness of procedural justice for certain individuals through the concept of disengagement, and find that procedural justice is more effective for building legitimacy for ethnic minority respondents who report being highly disengaged from police.
Abstract: Procedural justice is known to enhance perceptions of police legitimacy. Studies show that procedural justice may be less effective for some individuals and groups, while others show it to be more effective. This study investigates the contingency of the procedural justice effect and considers the effectiveness of procedural justice for certain individuals through the concept of disengagement. Utilizing a survey of 1480 ethnic minority group members, the study tests whether or not disengagement moderates the effect of procedural justice on perceptions of police legitimacy. As expected, we find procedural justice is linked to enhanced perceptions of police legitimacy, while disengagement is associated with reduced perceptions of legitimacy. Interestingly, the study finds that procedural justice is more effective for building legitimacy for ethnic minority respondents who report being highly disengaged from police. These findings highlight how police might be able to improve perceptions of their legitimacy ...
47 citations
TL;DR: This article conducted a national British study of everyday life in immigration removal centres (IRCs) and found that research relationships were difficult to forge due to low levels of trust and unfamiliarity with academic research, while participants had unrealistic expectations about our capacity to assist while most exhibited high levels of distress.
Abstract: Immigration Removal Centres (IRCs) are deeply contested institutions that rarely open their doors to independent research. In this article we discuss some of the complications we faced in conducting the first national British study of everyday life in them. As we will set out, research relationships were difficult to forge due to low levels of trust and unfamiliarity with academic research. At the same time, many participants had unrealistic expectations about our capacity to assist while most exhibited high levels of distress. We were not immune from the emotional burden of the field sites. Such matters were compounded by the limited amount of published information about life in IRCs and a lack of ethical guidelines addressing such places. Drawing on related literature from prison sociology, we use our experiences in IRCs to set out a methodological account of understanding, ethics, and impact within these complex sites.
46 citations
TL;DR: The literature on desistance from crime has become well established in recent years with strong bodies of evidence supporting the role of factors such as employment, relationships and identity chan... as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The literature on desistance from crime has become well established in recent years with strong bodies of evidence supporting the role of factors such as employment, relationships and identity chan...
39 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe the narrative repertoire of the street field, including stories of crime business, violence, drugs and the "hard life", and argue for the inclusion of narrative for understanding street fields.
Abstract: The work of Bourdieu has increasingly gained interest in criminology. His theoretical framework is rich and arguably the most sophisticated approach to social inequality and difference in sociology. It has however, been criticized for bias towards the structural aspects of social life, and for leaving little space for the constitutive, and creative role of language. We argue for the inclusion of narrative for understanding street fields. Based on qualitative interviews with 40 incarcerated drug dealers in Norway, we describe the narrative repertoire of the street field, including stories of crime business, violence, drugs and the ‘hard life’. The narrative repertoire is constituted by street capital, but also upholds and produces this form of capital. Street talk is embedded in objective social and economic structures and displayed in the actors’ habitus. Narratives bind the street field together: producing social practices and social structure.
38 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the feasibility of routine activity theory in predicting online harassment victimization of people aged 15 to 30 years in the USA, Finland, Germany, and the UK was examined.
Abstract: This study examined the feasibility of routine activity theory in predicting online harassment victimization of people aged 15 to 30 years in the USA, Finland, Germany, and the UK. Logistic regress...
35 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the subjective experiences of punishment are investigated and two primary conceptualizations of punishment were identified: punishment as deprivation of liberty and punishment as hard treatment, which has implications for the concept of retributive proportionality, as well as the function of punishment more generally.
Abstract: In England and Wales, ‘punishment’ is a central element of criminal justice. What punishment entails exactly, however, and how it relates to the other aims of sentencing (crime reduction, rehabilitation, public protection and reparation), remains contested. This article outlines different conceptualizations of punishment and explores to what extent offenders subscribe to these perspectives. The analysis is supported by findings from two empirical studies on the subjective experiences of imprisonment and probation, respectively. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 male and 15 female prisoners and seven male and two female probationers. Two primary conceptualizations of punishment were identified: ‘punishment as deprivation of liberty’ and ‘punishment as hard treatment’. The comparative subjective severity of different sentences and the collateral (unintended) consequences of punishment are also discussed. It is shown that there are large individual differences in the interpretation and subjective experience of punishment, which has implications for the concept of retributive proportionality, as well as the function of punishment more generally.
33 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors provide a historical-critical framework to reconstruct and discuss how the crime victim is portrayed within theoretical literature, policy and legal documents on restorative rehabilitation. But they do not discuss the role of the victim in the rehabilitation process.
Abstract: This article seeks to provide a historical-critical framework to reconstruct and discuss how the crime victim is portrayed within theoretical literature, policy and legal documents on restorative j...
29 citations
TL;DR: In 2013, a joint report by the Inspectorates of Probation and Prisons in England and Wales concluded that offender management in prisons was ‘not working' and called for a fundamental review as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: In 2013 a joint report by the Inspectorates of Probation and Prisons in England and Wales concluded that offender management in prisons was ‘not working’ and called for a fundamental review. This a...
TL;DR: In 2011, the high profile murder of Clare Wood led to the introduction of the national domestic violence disclosure scheme (Clare's Law) in England and Wales as discussed by the authors, which aims to prevent the perpetration of violence between intimate partners through the sharing of information about prior histories of violence.
Abstract: In 2011 the high profile murder of Clare Wood led to the introduction of the national domestic violence disclosure scheme (‘Clare’s Law’) in England and Wales. The scheme aims to prevent the perpetration of violence between intimate partners through the sharing of information about prior histories of violence. Despite already spreading to comparable jurisdictions in the UK and Australia, to date the merits of a domestic violence disclosure scheme have been the subject of limited scholarly review and analysis. This article provides a timely critical analysis of the need for and merits of Clare’s Law. It examines the data impediments to the scheme, the need to balance the right to protection with the right to privacy and the question of victim empowerment versus responsibilization and victim blaming. The article concludes that there is a need to heed caution in adopting this policy elsewhere.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a study evaluating an innovative advocacy model introduced in Scotland to assist reporting rape to the police and highlight the importance of advocacy that is independent of statutory and criminal justice agencies, arguing that the distinction between advocacy at an individual and societal level represents a false dichotomy.
Abstract: Concerns about the criminal justice response to rape have prompted the development of victim advocacy services across a range of jurisdictions, yet research evidence about the nature, meaning and value of advocacy remains limited. This article draws upon a study evaluating an innovative advocacy model introduced in Scotland to assist reporting rape to the police. Findings from interviews with nine victims highlight the importance of advocacy that is independent of statutory and criminal justice agencies. However, it is argued that this does not mitigate the need for specialization or reform in the criminal justice response to rape and, further, that the distinction between advocacy at an individual and societal level represents a false dichotomy.
TL;DR: It is contended that this development not only has significant implications for the future of probation services but also provides a unique example of the impact on an occupational culture of migration from the public to the private sector.
Abstract: In June 2014 approx. 54 per cent of the total probation service workforce in England and Wales were transferred to the newly created Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) as part of the government’s plans to establish a market for offender management services. This marked the beginning of one of the largest and most significant migrations of criminal justice staff from the public to the private sector in England and Wales. This article presents findings from an ethnographic study of the formation of one of these CRCs through to the period immediately following the transfer into private ownership. The authors discuss the key features of this migration which are identified as ‘splitting and fracturing’, ‘adapting and forming’ and ‘exiting or accommodation’. It is contended that this development not only has significant implications for the future of probation services but also provides a unique example of the impact on an occupational culture of migration from the public to the private sector.
TL;DR: The authors examined the role of extra-legal characteristics on United States federal sentencing outcomes in the aftermath of recent policy changes (e.g. United States v. Booker), but scholarship has less often examined these characteristics at the intersections of race/ethnicity, gender, and especially age.
Abstract: Approaches to intersectionality stress the importance of recognizing multiple, intersecting inequalities. As such, recent sentencing research has examined the changing role of extra-legal characteristics on United States federal sentencing outcomes in the aftermath of recent policy changes (e.g. United States v. Booker), but scholarship has less often examined these characteristics at the intersections of race/ethnicity, gender, and, especially age. This article uses an intersectional approach to examine the influence of these characteristics net of legally relevant characteristics. Using ordinary least squares regression procedures, the author examines the role of the joint effects of extra-legal variables on sentence length decisions across four distinct time periods. Net of control variables, results indicate that young black men are the group most likely to receive the longest sentences, but interesting differences between other groups also emerge.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors highlight organizational and institutional barriers to implementing a unique intervention, contributing to the persistence of careless practice, facilitating the neglect of care leavers' needs to a system dominated by risk.
Abstract: The link between experiences of care and criminal justice systems is well documented, yet curiously neglected in policy and practice. While the over-representation of care leavers in the justice system is often taken as given, there has been negligible change in policy and practice that appropriately responds to the needs of these individuals. Drawing on interviews with practitioners, this article highlights a series of organizational and institutional barriers to implementing a unique intervention. More broadly, such barriers contribute to the persistence of care(less) practice, facilitating the neglect of care leavers’ needs to a system dominated by risk. It is argued that the continued inertia within this area can only be construed as practice negligence and an affront to justice.
TL;DR: The authors developed a conceptual model of the pathways through which normal features of the human memory result in complaints of rape dropping out of criminal justice process without a full investigation, prosecution or conviction.
Abstract: The complainants’ memory of the rape is commonly the key and frequently the only evidence in the investigation and prosecution of rape allegations. Details, specificity and consistency in the victim’s recollection are central criteria that criminal justice agents – police, prosecutors and juries – use to assess the credibility of the victim account. However, memory research has shown these to be poor indicators of the accuracy of a memory. In this article we develop a conceptual model of the pathways through which normal features of the human memory result in complaints of rape dropping out of criminal justice process without a full investigation, prosecution or conviction, with a particular focus on the role of inconsistencies in the victim account. We provide initial, tentative evidence from a large, representative sample of rape complaints and discuss implications for criminal justice policy.
TL;DR: In this paper, a multilevel model was implemented to specify the probability of receiving a custodial sentence for commercial burglary for offences of commercial burglary in the wake of the English summer riots of 2011.
Abstract: The English summer riots of 2011 resulted in the criminal justice system having to process an unprecedented number of offenders in a short timeframe. This study explores sentencing practice in the wake of the riots using the 2011 Crown Court Sentencing Survey. A multilevel model was implemented to specify the probability of receiving a custodial sentence for offences of commercial burglary. This model allows exploring differences in sentencing before and after the riots. An increased probability of receiving a custodial sentence in the post-riot period was identified. An increase in variability was also detected, changing from a state of almost perfect consistency to one in which substantial variation was observed between courts. Custodial rates for burglary increased to a level associated with more serious offences, thereby undermining the principle of proportionality. This, as well as the increased dispersion between courts, challenges other principles such as legal certainty and transparency.
TL;DR: In this paper, a focus group discussion of ways to tackle intimate partner violence (IPV) in the immigrant Nigerian community was conducted in Houston, USA, to reveal a fundamental relationship between patriarchal ideologies and the views of immigrant women from Nigeria.
Abstract: In response to the incidents of intimate partner murders of immigrant Nigerian women in the USA in recent years, a sample of immigrant Nigerian women in Houston were invited in 2013 to engage in focus group discussions of ways to tackle intimate partner violence (IPV) in the immigrant Nigerian community. Findings reveal a fundamental relationship between patriarchal ideologies and the views of immigrant women from Nigeria. Immigrant Nigerian women are likely to interpret IPV and perceive solutions to it in patriarchal ideologies and practices held in their country of origin – an approach that endorses and reinforces IPV. Based on these findings, this article recognizes the need to make patriarchy salient in studies of IPV among immigrant communities from Africa. Further, the article recognizes the absence of adequate knowledge of IPV against immigrant Nigerian women and other immigrant African women, so that IPV risk and preventive factors for these immigrant groups may not be captured sufficiently in pol...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present the first national analysis of parricide in England and Wales, using data from the Home Office Homicide Index (HOMI) and examine the characteristics of offenders, victims, incidents and court outcomes.
Abstract: The killing of one’s parents is a neglected area in criminological scholarship, particularly in the UK, and this article presents the first national analysis of parricide in England and Wales. It draws on data from the Home Office Homicide Index to examine all recorded cases of parricide over a 36-year period and examines the characteristics of offenders, victims, incidents and court outcomes. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to two particular dominant theoretical ideas within the field: the role of mental illness in parricide, and the notion that there are distinct forms of violence against parents that can be organized along dimensions of chronological age (i.e. juvenile/adult offender) and whether the violence is fatal (i.e. parricide) or non-fatal. The article concludes with a discussion of its wider implications for future research.
TL;DR: In this paper, the unique experience of participants who during their reintegration back into the community, following a conviction for sexual offending, reengaged with religious and spiritual communities was examined.
Abstract: This study examines the unique experience of participants who during their reintegration back into the community, following a conviction for sexual offending, re-engaged with religious and spiritual communities. To explore meaning Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was adopted. Four in-depth interviews of men convicted for sexual crimes were undertaken and analysed. Findings indicate that through religious affiliation participants were: exposed to new prosocial networks; provided opportunities to seek forgiveness; felt a sense of belonging and affiliation; and were psychologically comforted. However, the study also found that the process of identity transition from ‘offender’ to ‘non-offender’ was not seamless or straightforward for those with an innate sexual deviancy towards children, caution is therefore advised.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the effect of researcher positionality on research involving re-tracing an over-surveilled and highly stigmatized population and reflect on the effects of re-tracking methods as a form of sociological stalking.
Abstract: Scholarship on criminal careers and desistance from crime employing longitudinal methodologies has paid scant attention to sociological and anthropological debates regarding epistemology, reflexivity and researcher positionality. This is surprising in light of a recent phenomenological turn in desistance research wherein (former) lawbreakers’ identity, reflexivity and self-understanding have become central preoccupations. In this article I interrogate aspects of the methodological ‘underside’ of qualitative longitudinal research with criminalized women through an examination of the surveillant position of the researcher. Focusing on methods, ethics and power, I examine some contradictions of feminist concerns to ‘give women voice’ in research involving re-tracing an over-surveilled and highly stigmatized population. I reflect on the effects of researcher positionality through a conceptualization of re-tracing methods as, at worst, a form of sociological stalking.
TL;DR: For nearly three decades, drug courts have provided a rehabilitative approach within the criminal justice system for individuals who have a substance use disorder as discussed by the authors, and the goal of drug courts is to red...
Abstract: For nearly three decades, drug courts have provided a rehabilitative approach within the criminal justice system for individuals who have a substance use disorder. The goal of drug courts is to red...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors compare two data analysis methods to adjust for prior underlying differences between groups, namely regression adjustment of treatment covariates that are related to the outcome measure in the sample data and regression adjustment using propensity scores derived from a wide range of baseline variables.
Abstract: This article addresses the issues involved in using compliance with probation supervision as an interim outcome measure in evaluation research. We address the complex nature of compliance and what it implies. Like much research on probation and criminal justice more generally, it was not possible to use random assignment to treatment and comparison groups in the case study we address, which evaluated the SEED training programme. We therefore compare two different data analysis methods to adjust for prior underlying differences between groups, namely regression adjustment of treatment covariates that are related to the outcome measure in the sample data and regression adjustment using propensity scores derived from a wide range of baseline variables. The propensity score method allows for control of a wider range of baseline variables, including those which do not differ significantly between the two groups.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss the perception of fear and management of victims of intercity bus robberies, and argue that it is urgent for the state to exercise its regulatory authority over these crimes and to guarantee security in bus transport.
Abstract: Drawing on interviews with drivers and passengers, this article discusses the perception of fear and management of victims of intercity bus robberies. It compares the victimization that takes place during bus robberies on highways and where buses are diverted off route. It addresses the relationship between perception of fear, the vehicle characteristics, multiplicity of victims, and duration of robbery. The article highlights important variations in the perception of violence according to the robbers’ victim management style as well as to the roles of and responses by drivers and passengers in the different phases of the coercive process. It concludes by arguing that it is urgent for the state to exercise its regulatory authority over these crimes and to guarantee security in bus transport.
TL;DR: The authors explored the policing of organised crime in the context of new public management and highlighted the need to make the "business case" for resources on the basis of strategic intelligence, recognition of the complexities associated with performance measurement and institutional competition as agencies vie for limited public resources.
Abstract: The globalisation of new public management (NPM) across OECD countries had a profound impact on the administration and management of policing policy and practice The ideologies of NPM were enthusiastically embraced in Australia in response to high-level corruption with mixed results This article draws on interviews with senior Australian federal police to explore the policing of organised crime in the context of NPM Emerging themes concerned the requirement to make the ‘business case’ for resources on the basis of strategic intelligence, recognition of the complexities associated with performance measurement and institutional competition as agencies vie for limited public resources This article questions the discursive practices of NPM policing and raises questions about notions of ‘accountability’ and ‘transparency’ for effective police approaches to organised crime
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that newsmaking can provide a vehicle for controversial or "difficult" research findings, and serve to hold authorities to account, using a case-study approach.
Abstract: In recent years, the value, or otherwise, of newsmaking criminology has generated considerable debate within academia. On the one hand, critics have argued that such approaches risk devaluing academic enterprise, for instance, privileging style over substance; on the other hand, proponents argue that newsmaking can promote more informed, progressive discourse in societies that are already saturated with crime and justice issues. Taking a different tack, this article argues that newsmaking criminology can provide a vehicle for controversial or ‘difficult’ research findings, and serve to hold authorities to account. Using a case-study approach, the article shows how police executives and government officials sought to undermine a critical report on the use of stop and search in Scotland by deploying a range of ‘neutralization’ techniques; and how, via media coverage, the findings nonetheless gained traction, prompting legal reform. The article also acknowledges the risks and limitations of newsmaking, and a...
TL;DR: Although women represent a small minority of the prison population in all nations, it has long been a concern that custody is overused with respect to female offenders as discussed by the authors, and reducing the number of women...
Abstract: Although women represent a small minority of the prison population in all nations, it has long been a concern that custody is overused with respect to female offenders. Reducing the number of women...
TL;DR: Scandals have featured consistently in the development and operation of public policing in England and Wales as mentioned in this paper, however, criminologists have rarely explored scandal as a concept or its attempted mana...
Abstract: Scandals have featured consistently in the development and operation of public policing in England and Wales. However, criminologists have rarely explored scandal as a concept or its attempted mana...