Showing papers in "Howard Journal of Criminal Justice in 1998"
TL;DR: In this article, the use of the term transnational is queried and a better understanding of organised crime can be gained from interrogating its local manifestation, which is referred to as local transnational organized crime.
Abstract: Transnational organised crime is currently regarded as a threat to contemporary political and economic regimes. This paper will query the use of the term transnational, and suggest that a better understanding of organised crime can be gained from interrogating its local manifestation.
171 citations
68 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors provide a snapshot of the range and nature of ‘outine’victimisation in a prison environment, based on an inmate survey and in-depth interviews.
Abstract: Discussions of safety in prisons often emphasise the grossest forms of interpersonal violence, such as murder and sexual assault. However, a focus on spectacular acts of violence obscures the mundane, day-to-day victimisation which characterises institutional life. This study, based on an inmate survey and in-depth interviews, provides a snapshot of the range and nature of ‘outine’victimisation. It builds on the prisoners'own accounts of assault, robbery, threats of violence, cell theft, verbal abuse and exclusion, to show how these experiences shape their daily lives.
59 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine, from an inmate perspective, their use of drugs and the perceived effect of the prison environment upon their drug using behaviour, and the results suggest that prison environment is not a supportive environment for those individuals that wish to abstain from drug use and indeed for most respondents, actually encouraged drug use.
Abstract: The aim of the present study was to examine, from an inmate perspective, their use of drugs and the perceived effect of the prison environment upon their drug using behaviour. Design of the study was an analytic survey, presented to the respondents as an anonymous, self-administered questionnaire. The results suggest that the prison environment is not a supportive environment for those individuals that wish to abstain from drug use and indeed for most respondents, actually encouraged drug use.
46 citations
TL;DR: This article explored the significance of some contemporary writing on masculinities to the management of male prisons and argued that the incorporation of gender into discussions of imprisonment is an important development, but that there has been a tendency to focus on prisoners rather than prisons as organisations.
Abstract: The paper explores the significance of some contemporary writing on masculinities to the management of male prisons. It argues that the incorporation of gender into discussions of imprisonment is an important development, but that there has been a tendency to focus on prisoners rather than prisons as organisations. Drawing on work which has emphasised the gendered nature of contemporary organisation structure and struggles, the paper examines interactions around masculinity in ‘routine’and ‘exceptional’types of prison management. The discussion of the routine leads, inter alia, to an examination of the place of the body in struggles over control. The consideration of the exceptional points to the significance of the processual constitution of masculine identity. The emphasis on contestation and constitution is reiterated in the conclusion which connects the approach developed to some contemporary research on female prisons.
44 citations
TL;DR: The criminal responsibility of children is on the parliamentary agenda in the Crime and Disorder Bill which contains a provision to abolish the presumption of doli incapax for children aged 10 to 13.
Abstract: The criminal responsibility of children is on the parliamentary agenda in the Crime and Disorder Bill which contains a provision to abolish the presumption of doli incapax for children aged 10 to 13. This article examines the operation of the presumption of doli incapax and considers issues raised by the proposal for its abolition. It is argued that rather than abolish it, it should be retained and taken seriously as recognition of the protection which the law should be affording to children.
41 citations
TL;DR: The authors examines the portrayal of Russian organised crime in the Western and Russian media and how these representations reaffirm orthodox interpretations of the "mafia" particularly those produced in the US, particularly those in Hollywood films.
Abstract: This article examines the portrayal of Russian organised crime in the Western and Russian media and how these representations reaffirm orthodox interpretations of the ‘mafia’, particularly those produced in the US. The influential Kefauver Committee hearings in the early 1950s limited the notion of organised crime to ethnicity and conspiratorial syndicates, while Hollywood films helped to disseminate this interpretation universally. Although generally discredited by criminologists from the 1970s, this populist notion of ‘mafia’ has been given a new lease of life through the emergence and proliferation outside the former Soviet Union, of Russian organised crime. Already conversant with Cold War rhetoric and the simplistic dichotomy between capitalism and communism, the media offers an equally prejudiced and simplistic interpretation of the Russian ‘mafia’ and threatens to obfuscate and consequently exacerbate the actual dangers presented by its proliferation.
40 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the phenomenon of money-laundering as a form of criminal money-management and discuss some of the pitfalls of the official approach as set out by the Financial Action Task Force report and the lost opportunities concerning understanding of the cross-border money-flows in north-western Europe.
Abstract: This article examines the phenomenon of money-laundering as a form of criminal money-management. It elaborates some of the pitfalls of the official approach as set out by the Financial Action Task Force report and the lost opportunities concerning understanding of the cross-border money-flows in north-western Europe. It describes the relationship between crime-money and the upperworld, questions the magnitude of the supposed financial infiltration and gives an example of a positive use of criminal funds. The final section discusses the role of the financial investigator.
32 citations
TL;DR: The authors reviewed information generated by the CRIME-PICS instrument in the Mid Glamorgan ‘STOP’ experiment and compared it with reconviction data and identified relationships between components of CRIMEPICS scores and subsequent reconvictions.
Abstract: Recent studies of probation’s effectiveness have relied largely on reconvictions, but there is widespread interest in other possible measures of impact (for example, on attitudes or on social problems) which might provide more immediate and relevant evaluative information for practitioners. This paper reviews information generated by the CRIME-PICS instrument in the Mid Glamorgan ‘STOP’ experiment and compares it with reconviction data. Some relationships are identified between components of CRIME-PICS scores and subsequent reconvictions. The paper comments on the potential and feasibility of this kind of instrument in evaluation and makes suggestions about future research.
29 citations
TL;DR: The National Crime Squad and its focus on those whom the National Criminal Intelligence Service have identified as the top echelon of criminals, has improved the police service's ability to address organised crime at the national and international level as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The establishment in April 1998 of the National Crime Squad and its focus on those whom the National Criminal Intelligence Service have identified as the ‘top echelon’of criminals, has improved the police service's ability to address organised crime at the national and international level. This article draws on two studies carried out within the police service, one examining travelling criminals and the other gang violence, which illustrate the extent to which organised crime manifests itself at levels lower than these. This lower level organised crime is both more visible and of more immediate concern to chief officers than higher levels. Failure to take account of this lower level has implications for both academics, the police and policy makers.
28 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors highlighted problems of separation between the determination and administration of punishment, the adoption of the free market model to the provision of human services, the symbolic messages of private prisons, corporate ethics, and organisational accountability.
Abstract: This article deals with several conceptual issues concerning the privatisation of prisons. The focus is on the private operation rather than the financing and the construction of facilities. Typically, the issue of correctional privatisation is debated on utilitarian grounds, the main supporting argument centring on cost effectiveness, while such issues as ethics, symbolism, motivation, and accountability are neglected. The article highlights problems of separation between the determination and administration of punishment, the adoption of the free market model to the provision of human services, the symbolic messages of private prisons, corporate ethics, and organisational accountability.
TL;DR: The politics of British policing from 1979 to 1997 was guided by ideology and political practicality as mentioned in this paper, and the chief theme of practical criminal justice politics was the sustained effort of the Home Office to gain greater de facto control over policing without increased de facto accountability.
Abstract: The politics of British policing from 1979 to 1997 was guided by ideology and political practicality. Margaret Thatcher and John Major were libertarians committed to the reduction of the British state, but in classical libertarian fashion, these considerations did not apply to criminal justice agencies, which were needed to cope with rising crime in a growing and increasingly deregulated economy. The chief theme of practical criminal justice politics was the sustained effort of the Home Office to gain greater de facto control over policing without increased de jure accountability. This was achieved by laws and by administrative measures. The Tories also imposed a distinctive libertarian style on policing through their micro-ideology of managerialism, designed to get the police to conceive themselves as economical service providers and the public as customers.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe how prison culture affects male and female workers differently, and consider the implications of this for work with male sex offenders in prison, by describing the gender make up of the staff group of the Prison Service of England and Wales.
Abstract: The aims of this paper are to describe how prison culture affects male and female workers differently, and to consider the implications of this for work with male sex offenders in prison. This paper sets the context of work within prisons both by describing the gender make up of the staff group of the Prison Service of England and Wales and by considering the presence and influence of dominant masculinities within Prison Service establishments. It reports some findings of research which the author has undertaken, and considers the implications for work with sex offenders in prison.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine how willing fraudsters confront the "barriers to entry" caused by financing, obtaining credit and other cards, using them, re-selling goods and avoiding arrest.
Abstract: The study examines how willing fraudsters confront the ‘barriers to entry’caused by financing, obtaining credit and other cards, using them, re-selling goods and avoiding arrest. This analysis then is used to explain how such frauds can be committed by, at one extreme, lone thief/merchant fraudsters to, at the other extreme, international counterfeiting and distribution syndicates. On the basis of interviews with fraudsters and with card fraud investigators, the study reviews how fraudsters learn their business, how the organisation of fraud prevention affects both their techniques and their organisation, and how fraudsters connect up to stolen property markets. Finally, it examines the likely impact of technological developments upon the extent and organisation of plastic fraud, concluding that the Internet will lead to faster fraud transmission but that there will be some inhibiting effect on the non-computerate and on those who are not able or willing to travel overseas to defraud.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue the case for greater probation service involvement with the literacy needs of offenders under supervision and draw attention to the high levels of poor literacy amongst offenders and discuss the significance of literacy intervention in relation to current probation objectives.
Abstract: This article argues the case for greater probation service involvement with the literacy needs of offenders under supervision It draws attention to the high levels of poor literacy amongst offenders and discusses the significance of literacy intervention in relation to current probation objectives Consideration is given to the need for policy development and changes in both agency procedures and practice perspectives in order to promote a suitable response to the problem
TL;DR: This article found that women referred for community service assessments are less likely than men to be at risk of being sent to prison, with gender differences being particularly marked among cases referred directly by the court.
Abstract: Community service is most commonly imposed upon young males and there are clear differences in the characteristics of men and women sentenced to undertake unpaid work. Gender differences may be introduced at any of a number of key decision-making points in the sentencing process. Data from three Scottish courts indicate that women referred for community service assessments are less likely than men to be at risk of custody, with gender differences being particularly marked among cases referred directly by the court. It is concluded that the potential for community service to divert women from short sentences of imprisonment is not being fully exploited.
TL;DR: This paper found that women who led a non-violent lifestyle prior to incarceration might, once released, commit crimes of violence largely due to prison experiences through a prisonisation process, concluding that short prison sentences can be as effective a punishment as long prison sentences with less future options toward acts of criminality.
Abstract: To examine the extent of time-served and regime on incarcerated females, 304 inmates were surveyed about prior lifestyles, violent orientations, and future anticipations of future crime. Results show that women who led a non-violent lifestyle prior to incarceration might, once released, commit crimes of violence largely due to prison experiences through a prisonisation process. A conclusion arising from this finding is that short prison sentences can be as effective a punishment as long prison sentences with less future options toward acts of criminality. Some implications of this finding are that organisational membership changes attitudes and that female prisonisation is as salient among female inmates as it is among male inmates. A longitudinal study should be conducted on released female offenders and recidivism.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors report on an ongoing study of partnerships between probation services and substance misuse agencies in England and Wales and compare the expectations of partnership as revealed in policy and management perspectives with the experience of probation officers and drug/alcohol workers involved in projects at practice level.
Abstract: Home Office directions to probation services to forge financial partnerships with voluntary sector organisations are beginning to have their impact on inter-agency relationships. Concurrently, encouragement has been given to the development of treatment programmes for substance misusing offenders through Schedule 1A of the Criminal Justice Act 1991, which provides for such treatment to be required as a condition of a probation order. The authors report on an ongoing study of partnerships between probation services and substance misuse agencies in England and Wales. They compare the expectations of partnership as revealed in policy and management perspectives with the experience of probation officers and drug/alcohol workers involved in projects at practice level. Differences between successful and problematic partnerships are explored and the question is asked as to how far inter-agency relationships are influenced by the additional factor of financial contracts for the services of voluntary agencies. The implications for the developing role of statutory and voluntary agency partnerships in community supervision of offenders are considered with particular reference to issues in compulsion and enforcement.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a family group conference model applied both to child welfare and youth justice in England and Wales, and discuss the issues for implementation in the youth justice system in the UK.
Abstract: This article examines current concerns with youth crime in England and Wales and offers an innovative approach to the prevailing options being proposed. It encourages the use of family group conferences, an internationally developing model applied both to child welfare and youth justice. This article outlines the origins and principles of the model and addresses the issues for implementation in the youth justice system in England and Wales. It concludes with a warning about hasty introductions without due consideration of the relevant issues. Please note that towards final submission of this article, a number of important developments in the debate around youth justice were presented in the Audit Commission (1996) Report Misspent Youth: Young People and Crime, and in the new government's proposals. It is hoped that readers will appreciate the difficulties of continuing revisions to an article in the light of new material and read it with appreciation of the considerable time lag between first submission, acceptance and publication.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors focus on the recent history and current operation of a well-established multi-agency diversion and crime prevention unit in Northamptonshire in Britain.
Abstract: This paper focuses on the recent history and current operation of a well-established multi-agency diversion and crime prevention unit in Northamptonshire in Britain. Four themes are addressed specifically. First, we examine the place of diversionary initiatives in the context of a central government-driven ‘get tough on crime’ agenda. Second, the local conditions and struggles over the fate of multi-agency diversion in Northamptonshire are outlined. Third, we present an empirical overview of the current rationale and routine work of the Diversion Unit. Fourth, we examine the nature of multi-agency practices on the ground and, in passing, test the claims of the influential academic ‘net-widening’ and ‘denial of justice’theses on multi-agency diversion. In conclusion, we argue that a multi-agency case-driven approach to diversion has emerged in response to the renewed ‘culture of severity’around crime control issues.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors consider how the Court of Appeal has interpreted the provisions in the Criminal Justice Act 1991 which allow for the selective incapacitation of violent or sexual offenders in order to protect the public.
Abstract: This article considers how the Court of Appeal has interpreted the provisions in the Criminal Justice Act 1991 which allow for the selective incapacitation of violent or sexual offenders in order to protect the public. It is argued that the Court of Appeal has been reluctant to use these provisions and, when they have been employed, the Court has introduced notions of proportionality in calculating the length of the sentence which would appear to undermine the government's policy in this area. The Court of Appeal's stance, however, recognises both the empirical and moral problems inherent in a policy of selective incapacitation and the failings of the ‘extended sentence’ which was abolished by the 1991 Act.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that the response of Group 4 in designing a regime for Wolds was directly influenced by their awareness of the remand status of the prisoners they were to manage, and that some of the problems that emerged in the first year of Wolds stemmed directly from the particular circumstances of remand prisoners.
Abstract: This article draws on our recently published evaluation of HMP Wolds, the first contracted-out prison in the United Kingdom. The authors argue that prison privatisation in England and Wales was a direct consequence of the increase in the remand population in the 1980s and the deteriorating conditions of their custody; that the response of Group 4 in designing a regime for Wolds was directly influenced by their awareness of the remand status of the prisoners they were to manage; that some of the problems that emerged in the first year of Wolds stemmed directly from the particular circumstances of remand prisoners; and that Wolds'response to these problems resulted in regime modifications relying on more traditional approaches, compromising Wolds'original ethos and resulting in convergence with the public-sector prisons. In addition, the authors argue that these changes reflected a response to the social status shared by all prisoners rather than the legal status which is unique to remand prisoners and this, arguably, has contributed towards a deterioration in the standards that Wolds initially offered to remand prisoners.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore a number of developing models of inter-agency co-operation in the UK, focusing on the creation of two interagency bodies: the Terrorist Finance Unit in Northern Ireland, and the Joint Action Group on Organised Crime of the Metropolitan Police.
Abstract: In developing an effective police response to ‘organised crime’ many practitioners look to the experience of Northern Ireland and interagency models of co-operation. Recent action against organised offending in the province have been politically-driven, reliant on both emergency legislation and the support of a Terrorist Finance Unit which was integrated within the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) in 1996. Reviews of emergency legislation have sustained the profile of paramilitary funding, whilst the Northern Ireland Office has focused upon fears that ex-paramilitaries would become ‘organised mafia-type’offenders. In exploring a number of developing models of interagency co-operation in the UK, this article will focus on the creation of two interagency bodies: the Terrorist Finance Unit in Northern Ireland, and the Joint Action Group on Organised Crime of the Metropolitan Police. The aim is to show that an organisational response and a policing strategy within Northern Ireland directed against ‘terrorist funding’ is now the integrated criminal police response to all forms of crime in Northern Ireland. With the creation of the National Crime Squad and a statutory National Criminal Intelligence Service in April 1998, the prospect of these developments to be extended throughout the UK are all the more apparent. Despite the additional political momentum to enhance European-wide action against ‘international organised crime’ it is cautioned that recent UK interagency initiatives lack transparency, and pose major challenges to existing structures of accountability.
TL;DR: For example, the authors found that at least 84 out of 230 sentencers had deliberately not used direct deductions, for 21 separate reasons; foremost of which (expressed by 30 sentencers) was the belief that direct deductions would cause hardship to defaulters and their families.
Abstract: Since October 1992 Scottish courts have been able to make orders for unpaid fines to be recovered by deductions at source from defaulters' income support payments. This paper summarises the findings of research undertaken in an attempt to evaluate the new system and explain the relatively low usage of direct deductions in Scotland in the first year they were available. Perhaps the most significant finding was that at least 84 out of 230 sentencers had deliberately not used direct deductions, for 21 separate reasons; foremost of which (expressed by 30 sentencers) was the belief that direct deductions would cause hardship to defaulters and their families.
TL;DR: Boswell et al. as mentioned in this paper examined the characteristics of this small but singular group of young offenders, notably the population breakdown and the prevalence of background abuse and loss, and pointed out some pointers for more just, humane and effective practice in this field.
Abstract: Young people between the ages of ten and 17 inclusive who commit grave crimes are invariably sentenced to be detained under Section 53 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933. Subsection (1) provides that such children convicted of murder be detained during Her Majesty's Pleasure for an indeterminate period. The two ten-year-old boys convicted of killing James Bulger in 1993 come into this category. Subsection (2) of the 1933 Act provides that such children convicted of other serious crimes, usually involving actual or intended violence, which would attract a sentence of imprisonment of 14 years or more in the case of an adult, be detained for indeterminate periods in excess of the normal custodial limit for that age group. Common examples of this are those sentenced for rape, arson and robbery and those, such as Mary Bell in 1968 who, having been convicted of manslaughter, may be detained for a discretionary life period. This paper draws upon the findings of two research studies (Boswell 1991, 1995) to examine some of the characteristics of this small but singular group of young offenders, notably the population breakdown and the prevalence of background abuse and loss. Reference will be made to the exercise of professional discretion in the sentencing and custodial progressions to which this group is subject. Finally, some pointers for more just, humane and effective practice in this field will be identified.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors address some of the fundamental, complex and problematic issues that ethical interviewing entails by focusing on the reasons why an ethical approach might be advocated, the resources available in order to devise an ethical standard and the means by which such a standard may be inculcated in operational police officers.
Abstract: The training of officers in the skills associated with interviewing suspects is an issue of concern to the police service at both force and national level Within the scope of training has arisen a preoccupation with the idea of ‘ethical interviewing’ This paper attempts to address some of the fundamental, complex and problematic issues that ‘ethical interviewing’ entails by focusing on the reasons why an ethical approach might be advocated, the resources available in order to devise an ethical standard and the means by which such a standard may be inculcated in operational police officers
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors illustrate how recent criminal justice legislation, policy and practice have conspired to hinder the development of a common approach to the sentencing of sex offenders between the courts and the prison and probation services.
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to illustrate how recent criminal justice legislation, policy and practice have conspired to hinder the development of a common approach to the sentencing of sex offenders between the courts and the prison and probation services. In consequence, the treatment needs of sentenced sex offenders have been subsumed to the wider goals of system objectives and political agendas. A number of suggestions are made for improving coherence and continuity in both policy and practice.