Showing papers in "Howard Journal of Criminal Justice in 2015"
TL;DR: The Children First, Offenders Second (CFOS) model as mentioned in this paper proposes a whole child, preventative and diversionary approach that normalises offending by children and promotes strengths and positive behaviour.
Abstract: Contemporary European youth justice practice, notably in England and Wales, fosters retrospective, risk-focused and reductionist views of children. Enforced, inequitable, prescriptive and adult-led youth justice relationships adulterise children and responsibilise them fully for their offending behaviour, disengaging them from constructive youth justice interventions. This article sets out and evidences an alternative model of youth justice: Children First, Offenders Second (CFOS). The CFOS model offers a whole child, preventative and diversionary approach that normalises offending by children and promotes strengths and positive behaviour. The model is grounded in the principles of child-friendly, child-appropriate and legitimate practice as a means of engaging children with youth justice services and interventions. Evidence of how these key principles have been animated in local practice is provided and implications for engagement in the youth justice context are discussed.
57 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the potential of the comradeship and mutual resilience that underpin military life being re-directed to support recovery and desistance journeys, through assertive linkage to peer support and community activities, is described.
Abstract: While only a minority of veterans experience transitional difficulties after military service, there is increasing recognition of the unique challenges that some veterans face, including involvement with the criminal justice system, mental health problems and substance misuse. There is growing acknowledgment that both recovery from substance misuse and desistance from crime are lived transitional processes grounded in social relationships and community. This paper reports on the potential of the comradeship and mutual resilience that underpin military life being re-directed to support recovery and desistance journeys, through assertive linkage to peer support and community activities, describing a new initiative and an innovative evaluation model.
57 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a conceptual and contextual overview of disablist violence is provided, followed by a critical literature review of the reasons why the phenomenon is largely under-reported and under-recorded.
Abstract: While there is a paucity of research pertaining to the phenomenon of disablist violence, one key feature has emerged: it is widely under-reported and under-recorded. The reasons for this are diverse: many are representative of reporting issues attributable to all forms of (hate) crime, and others are unique to the individual and social conditions of living with a disability (Sin 2013). This article provides a conceptual and contextual overview of disablist violence before proceeding to a critical literature review of the reasons why the phenomenon is largely under-reported. Against this backdrop, we offer a critical examination of the various policing strategies necessary for addressing the problem of under-reporting of disablist violence.
21 citations
TL;DR: The Life as a Film (LAAF) procedure as mentioned in this paper was developed for use with offenders, building on McAdams' (1993) explorations of autobiographical accounts from effective individuals.
Abstract: The Life as a Film (LAAF) procedure is described. This was developed for use with offenders, building on McAdams’ (1993) explorations of autobiographical accounts from effective individuals. The advantages of the LAAF for a prison population are discussed, together with the content dictionary used for analysing LAAF responses. The LAAF reveals implicit and explicit aspects of self concepts and relationships to others, as well as perceived agency and future orientation within a dynamic storyline. Quotations are given to illustrate those psychological processes that underlie criminality, complementing Presser's (2009) work on offender reform and Maruna's (2001) study of narratives of desistance. The values of the LAAF for understanding the maintenance of offending behaviour and the consequent implications for interventions with offenders are discussed.
18 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the concept of "civil courage" and its role in the future of probation work is explored, and the reader is invited temporarily to suspend their justifiable cynicism about the politics of probation and to examine how "nostalgia" can be used to build future cultures and identities that are recognisably "probation work".
Abstract: This article, based on the 18th Annual Bill McWilliams Memorial Lecture, explores the concept of ‘civil courage’ and its role in the future of probation work. The reader is invited temporarily to suspend their justifiable cynicism about the politics of probation and to examine how ‘nostalgia’ – the recollection of past good – can be used to build future cultures and identities that are recognisably ‘probation work’, regardless of the organisational environment in which they are located. Drawing on recent research projects, the work of others and the emergence of the Probation Institute, I suggest that probation workers engage with courage in what has been termed ‘edgework’ in other contexts. Controlling the boundary between order and chaos through voluntarily testing one's values, knowledge and skills to their limits and thus experiencing the satisfaction of success in the face of predicted failure, may be one characteristic of courageous probation work.
17 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors provide a framework for understanding psychological adjustment and describe patterns of adjustment of prisoners who are close to their release, characterised by differences in coping ability and functioning, mental health, subjective well-being and outlook on the future.
Abstract: The rich body of prison literature suggests that imprisonment is a painful experience, even though imprisonment does not appear to uniformly cause psychological deterioration. However, psychological adjustment and its variations remain poorly defined in the literature. The aim of this study is to provide a framework for understanding psychological adjustment and describe patterns of adjustment of prisoners who are close to their release. Thirty semi-structured interviews were conducted with male and female prisoners. Even in the same prison environment, prisoners showed a wide variety of patterns of psychological adjustment, characterised by differences in coping ability and functioning, mental health, subjective well-being and outlook on the future.
17 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore the silencing process of female offender's voices in newspaper articles and consider the potential consequence of this silencing and the ways in which such techniques serve to frame women as 'unexplainable others' and deny agency.
Abstract: This article explores the silencing process of female offender's voices in newspaper articles. It establishes the ways in which silencing, muting, and distortion, occurred in four case studies of co-accused women who appeared in court between 2003 and 2013. In doing so, the article falls into three parts. The first part presents an analysis of what is known about the silencing of female offenders. The second part presents the findings of the empirical investigation, which explores the direct and hidden silencing techniques utilised by journalists to mute female offenders’ perspectives. In light of this analysis, the final section considers the potential consequence of this silencing and the ways in which such techniques serve to frame women as ‘unexplainable others’ and deny agency.
17 citations
TL;DR: The emergence and dimensions of the academic orthodoxy on regulation, a series of shared assumptions regarding feasible and desirable forms of regulation, have been examined in this paper, and the extent to which this orthodoxy has been reassessed in the light of events since 2007.
Abstract: What can criminology or socio-legal studies tell us about the causes of the financial crisis – a failure of regulation, at the very least – or ways in which further such crises might be prevented, mitigated, responded to? The article begins by setting out the emergence and dimensions of the academic orthodoxy on regulation – a series of shared assumptions regarding feasible and desirable forms of regulation. Then it undertakes
quantitative and qualitative content analysis of work on regulation and the crisis to assess the extent to which this orthodoxy has been reassessed in the light of events since 2007.
17 citations
TL;DR: The authors examines contemporary corporation tax policies, outlines some of the key methods corporations use to minimize their tax liabilities, explores the interdependencies between the demand for reduced tax liabilities and the professional infrastructure of tax planning and avoidance, and examines how the contemporary political economy of corporate taxation enhances the bargaining power of transnational corporations in the implementation of tax policy.
Abstract: Globalisation has increased corporate tax competition amongst states and facilitated widespread corporate tax avoidance. Some of the largest businesses now pay little or no tax: in some cases with the active assistance of governments. This article examines contemporary corporation tax policies, outlines some of the key methods corporations use to minimise their tax liabilities, explores the interdependencies between the demand for reduced tax liabilities and the professional infrastructure of tax planning and avoidance, and examines how the contemporary political economy of corporate taxation enhances the bargaining power of transnational corporations in the implementation of tax policy.
15 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors identify and analyse relevant cases of homicide from around the world and compare the characteristics of these cases with the general literature on homicide, and identify six ways in which homicide perpetrators have used SNSs -as reactors, informers, antagonists, predators, fantasists and imposters.
Abstract: This article sets out to establish whether, and to what extent, homicides involving social networking sites (SNSs) are unique and to identify the ways in which perpetrators of homicide have used SNSs in their crimes. It does so by identifying and analysing relevant cases of homicide from around the world and comparing the characteristics of these cases with the general literature on homicide. We argue that the cases in our sample are largely typical of homicide in general and identify six ways in which homicide perpetrators have used SNSs - as reactors, informers, antagonists, predators, fantasists and imposters. © 2014 The Howard League and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
14 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explored the views of individual online fraud victims regarding the sentencing of the scammers who target them and explored their views on aggravating and mitigating factors as well as the different types of sanction which can be used.
Abstract: The advent of the Internet has expanded opportunities to commit fraud and millions regularly fall victim. Fraud victims in general have been largely neglected by researchers in comparison with other crimes. There has also been very little research on issues related to the sentencing of fraudsters. This article offers some of the first insights on what individual online fraud victims actually want regarding the sentencing of the scammers who target them. It explores their views on aggravating and mitigating factors as well as the different types of sanction which can be used. The article particularly highlights the opportunities and attraction of restorative justice-based approaches to victims. It uses data from in-depth interviews with 15 online fraud victims, six focus groups with a further 48 online fraud victims and interviews with nine professional stakeholders involved in combating this problem.
TL;DR: In this article, a study aimed to determine whether distinct subgroups of psychopathic traits exist in a sample of civil psychiatric patients, using data from the MacArthur Violence Risk Assessment Project (n = 810), by means of latent class analysis.
Abstract: This study aimed to determine whether distinct subgroups of psychopathic traits exist in a sample of civil psychiatric patients, using data from the MacArthur Violence Risk Assessment Project (n = 810), by means of latent class analysis. Multinomial logistic regression was used to interpret the nature of the latent classes, or groups, by estimating the associations with criminal behaviour, violence, and gender. The best fitting latent class model was a 4-class solution: a ‘high psychopathy class’ (class 1; 26.4%), an ‘intermediate psychopathy class’ (class 2; 16.0%), a ‘low affective-interpersonal and high antisocial-lifestyle psychopathy class’ (class 3; 31.3%), and a ‘normative class’ (class 4; 26.3%). Each of the latent classes was predicted by differing external variables. Psychopathy is not a dichotomous entity, rather it falls along a skewed continuum that is best explained by four homogenous groups that are differentially related to gender, and criminal and violent behaviour.
TL;DR: In this paper, an exploratory article is based on interviews and focus groups with prisoners reflecting on the benefits of engaging in creative arts-based activities, and the data presented here are used to illustrate the positive changes in offenders' subjective understandings and to highlight the appropriateness of using more nuanced research designs to provide evidence of effectiveness of engagement with artsbased projects.
Abstract: This exploratory article is based on interviews and focus groups with prisoners reflecting on the benefits of engaging in creative arts-based activities. Desistance theorists emphasise the importance of judgments based on individual personal impressions, feelings and opinions in offenders’ co-production and ownership of their desistance narratives. The data presented here are used to illustrate the positive changes in offenders’ subjective understandings and to highlight the appropriateness of using more nuanced research designs to provide evidence of effectiveness of engagement with arts-based projects.
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss what might motivate someone to become a hitman, by considering those hitmen identified as "novices" and "dilettantes" in the research by MacIntyre et al. (2014) and then using a critical analysis of a biography of one British hitman not considered in that article to pursue these ideas further.
Abstract: This article discusses what might motivate someone to become a hitman. It does this by considering those hitmen identified as 'Novices' and 'Dilettantes' in the research by MacIntyre et al. (2014) and then uses a critical analysis of a biography of one British hitman not considered in that article to pursue these ideas further. Throughout, we are keen to see how potential hitmen develop a psychological 'reframing' of their victim (Levi 1981), so as to be able to achieve their objectives, and how this reframing might thereafter be maintained. Hitmen, it is argued, emerge as an extreme example of Hall's (2012) 'criminal undertakers'. © 2015 The Howard League and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the value of a series of prison visits for comparative research and argue that such visits, if ethically conducted and reflectively considered, offer benefits for investigating comparative penal practice.
Abstract: Prison visits by academics are controversial. While they can provide an insight into penal practice, prisoner researchers warn against such visits as spectacles of degradation. In this article I examine the value of a series of prison visits for comparative research. Drawing on my own experiences and those of, among others, John Howard and John Pratt, I argue that prison visits, if ethically conducted and reflectively considered, offer benefits for investigating comparative penal practice. They can consider the self-presentation of the prison, material conditions (including the sounds, smells and the sights), and possibly, where the script allows it, a glimpse beyond the facade of official prison discourse. As such, they have merit, in particular in the early stages of a comparative project.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explored arts practitioners' methods in leading workshops with prisoners as part of the Inspiring Change pilot, a co-ordinated pilot program of arts interventions that took place in five Scottish prisons throughout 2010.
Abstract: This article explores arts practitioners’ methods in leading workshops with prisoners as part of the Inspiring Change pilot, a co-ordinated pilot programme of arts interventions that took place in five Scottish prisons throughout 2010. Session review forms, which were completed by arts practitioners after each session, were designed to find out what happened in sessions, what worked well with prisoners in these sessions and what did not. Very little has been written on the arts practitioners’ methods and, in particular, the data gathered from session review forms. This article discusses the data gathered and three themes that came out of the arts practitioners’ responses including ‘Response to planned activity’, ‘Response to working in a prison environment’, and ‘Development of skills for participants’. The article concludes that documenting arts practitioners’ practice can contribute to the understanding of the connection and role of the arts in desistance studies.
TL;DR: The authors explored belief in parental deficiency as a causal factor of youth anti-social behaviour and crime and found that lower income households and those containing young people are more likely to consider parental responsibility a problem.
Abstract: This article explores belief in parental deficiency as a causal factor of youth anti-social behaviour and crime. Empirical interrogation of household interview data from a UK city considers whether there is widespread support for blaming parents. Somewhat surprisingly, lower income households and those containing young people, are found to be more likely to consider parental responsibility a problem. Most notably, a tendency to blame the parents strongly associates with a perception that people in the area do not treat each other with respect.
TL;DR: This paper explored the escalating conflict between European judges and domestic politicians over the issue of whole-of-life tariffs and found that the response to Europe has been the announcement of widening the applicability of the tariff to those who kill police or prison officers.
Abstract: This article explores the escalating conflict between European judges and domestic politicians over the issue of whole of life tariffs. After the decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Vinter and Others v. the United Kingdom and the subsequent decision of the Court of Appeal in R v. McLoughlin, there has been a very public tension between the two sides over reviewing prisoner sentences. When bids for release have previously been made by whole life prisoners, most infamously Myra Hindley, the political mood has been defiant. Now Europe has decreed that such prisoners are entitled to an enhanced review of their sentence beyond the possibility of executive release owing to terminal illness, the political stance has further hardened. Instead of enhanced sentence review, the response to Europe has been the announcement of widening the applicability of the tariff to those who kill police or prison officers.
TL;DR: In 2005, Bloomstein released KZ, which aimed to find a new way to represent the Holocaust for future generations who face a world with no living survivors, yet a mediated world oversaturated with images of global atrocity.
Abstract: In 2005, film-maker Rex Bloomstein released KZ, which aimed to find a new way to represent the Holocaust for future generations who face a world with no living survivors, yet a mediated world oversaturated with images of global atrocity. Despite much critical acclaim, KZ received little academic attention. Ten years later, this article provides a reflective analysis of the film, exploring the emergent themes, and their criminological significance. Focus is given to bystanders of atrocity who bear witness to the past. The moral dilemmas of Holocaust representation, such as its commodification for both entertainment and tourism, are additionally discussed.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that the exploitation of human subjects in developing countries, affecting as it does the most vulnerable groups, must be understood as a form of state-corporate crime.
Abstract: Despite a number of beneficent outcomes, clinical trials on human subjects have exposed some of the worst forms of state crime, most notably in Nazi Germany. Even with the subsequent establishment of guidelines for the protection of human subjects, such as the Nuremberg Code, clinical trials resulting in death and injury is a continuing feature of medical research, especially as Western states outsource more trials to the private sector where profit margins often trump personal safety. Focusing on the clinical trials business in India, the article argues that the exploitation of human subjects in developing countries, affecting as it does the most vulnerable groups, must be understood as a form of state-corporate crime. In this way, the moral distance we prefer to place between Nazi medical crimes and those committed in the interests of neoliberal values becomes less viable and the need for effective responses to unethical clinical trials more pressing.
TL;DR: Probation matters because of its role in creating a humane justice system as discussed by the authors. At probation's core is a value base which unites the profession and has been sustained through political change.
Abstract: Probation matters because of its role in creating a humane justice system. At probation's core is a value base which unites the profession and has been sustained through political change. The politically driven restructuring of probation through ‘Transforming Rehabilitation’ did not build on probation's achievements, nor was it evidence led. International examples show the negative impact of privatisation if values are secondary to profit. The fragmentation of service provision and removal of the requirement of a unifying probation qualification framework also pose major threats to the profession. The new Probation Institute will be important in maintaining professional identity and standards.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used the biographies of three young men serving custodial sentences to elucidate the feelings that experiences of this nature can engender and argued that more needs to be done to identify and support traumatised young people in custody.
Abstract: Research has shown that a significant proportion of young people in custody have experienced some form of abuse and/or loss in their lives. This article uses the biographies of three young men (all serving custodial sentences) to elucidate the feelings that experiences of this nature can engender. Crucially, none of the three was effectively helped to resolve their experiences. The article goes on to argue that more needs to be done to identify and support traumatised young people in custody. The article concludes that, while the CHAT: Secure tool may go some way to better identifying those needing support, an individual's reluctance to disclose their traumatic experiences in the first place may limit the tool's efficacy.
TL;DR: In this article, the ethical dimension is introduced in the analysis of the present article, which seeks to establish how offenders endowed with resources and power justify their conduct through a selective interpretation of classical Western philosophy.
Abstract: The ethical dimension adds a key tool for the analysis of the crimes of the powerful. This dimension is introduced in the analysis of the present article, which seeks to establish how offenders endowed with resources and power justify their conduct through a selective interpretation of classical Western philosophy.
TL;DR: The occupational history of known British serial murderers was examined and it was determined that there are four particular occupational ‘groups’ that known serial murderers selected and these are described as: ‘Healthcare’; ‘Business’, ‘Public and personal service’ and ‘Driving and transient dependent work’.
Abstract: Despite the wealth of academic literature relating to serial murder, there has been little research into how the occupational choice of serial killers influences their behaviour and subsequent offending. This article seeks to address this current gap by first examining the occupational history of known British serial murderers and determining if there were any particular work environments which were commonly selected. It was determined that there are four particular occupational 'groups' that known British serial murderers selected and these are described as: 'Healthcare'; 'Business'; 'Public and personal service'; and 'Driving and transient dependent work'. It is this latter occupational 'grouping' that was the most commonly selected form of employment. Through using a case study of Peter Sutcliffe - a serial murderer who was active during the 1970s and early 1980s - the reasons why such occupations may be so popular among serial sexual murderers are explored. © 2015 The Howard League and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors present an analysis of recent evidence emerging from the building industry about British state tolerance, and encouragement, of an illegal "blacklist" of workers in the industry, and they argue that the form of policing/regulation that is observable in the case of the blacklisted workers is one that ultimately seeks to guarantee as its primary concern, not the rule of law, but the orderly reproduction of surplus value in building industry.
Abstract: This article presents an analysis of recent evidence emerging from the building industry about British state tolerance, and encouragement, of an illegal ‘blacklist’ of workers in the industry. As part of this process, the article argues that the form of policing/regulation that is observable in the case of the blacklisted workers is one that ultimately seeks to guarantee as its primary concern, not the rule of law, but the orderly reproduction of surplus value in the building industry. The article does not suggest that the latter purpose is all that concerns policing/regulation, but it does suggest that it is the principal effect of a combination of various policing and regulatory techniques. In order to achieve orderly reproduction of surplus value, it is argued that building workers are confronted by a form of economic force which is given shape by, and ultimately underpinned by, the system of policing/regulation that at the same time, claims to protect them.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explored the likely impact of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 on the decision to imprison adult offenders convicted of theft using a sample of cases decided in the magistrates' court and the Crown Court under the criminal justice act 1991.
Abstract: The article explores the likely impact of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 on the decision to imprison adult offenders convicted of theft Using a sample of cases decided in the magistrates' court and the Crown Court under the Criminal Justice Act 1991, the article considers whether it is possible to estimate the effects of the 2003 Act on the use of imprisonment in theft cases It does so by applying the Sentencing Guidelines Council's guidelines on theft, which were formulated under the 2003 Act, to the sample of earlier cases, to consider the extent to which the guidelines align with the decision to imprison prior to the enactment of the 2003 Act
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors consider the extent to which hotel environments present opportunities to sexually exploit children and young people; and the challenges which might be encountered in attempts to address this and disrupt offenders.
Abstract: Child sexual exploitation (CSE) is a hidden and growing problem. Here, we consider the extent to which hotel environments present opportunities to sexually exploit children and young people; and the challenges which might be encountered in attempts to address this and disrupt offenders. There is a dearth of research on this topic and during the course of our discussion we reflect on data which emerged from a small-scale, exploratory study in which we sought the views of hotel staff and professionals working in the safeguarding field. We conclude by examining the implications of our work for safeguarding policy and practice.