Criminology and Criminal Justice recent issues

'Urban safety, anti-social behaviour and the night-time economy'

Crawford, A., Flint, J. — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 01:00:53 PDT

The contemporary city is a contested space and its governance is the subject of complex global economic forces, local interests and political struggles as well as a response to the changing face of governing alliances in residential and commercial areas, forms of consumption, commercially-generated crime and disorder and cultural expressions of leisure. This article seeks to provide a thematic introduction to the manner in which the regulation of contemporary British cities has been influenced by concerns with tackling anti-social behaviour and promoting civility. It argues that in governing urban safety, the normative governmental agendas that seek to remoralize and cleanse city spaces and promote certain values of appropriate consumer-citizen, often clash with commercially-driven imperatives to (excessive) consumption and the allure of cities, for some, as places of difference that exhibit relaxed normative constraints; most notably in the night-time economy. It argues that the manner in which these forces are played out is conditioned by the interplay between different actors and organizations, as both regulators and regulated, some of whom have assumed new responsibilities in the governance of urban safety. The resultant pressures have produced mixed experiences of the city as a meeting place for loosely connected strangers, as a place of indulgence and as a place of cultural expression.

Social landlords and the regulation of conduct in urban spaces in the United Kingdom

Flint, J., Pawson, H. — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 01:00:53 PDT

Social landlords in the United Kingdom are embedded in governance regimes that regulate citizens’ conduct, including addressing antisocial behaviour. This article seeks to contribute to the literature on the geography of regulating conduct through examining the spatial dimensions of social landlords’ attempts to influence behaviour, and to map the range of technologies and measures utilized by social landlords on to particular urban spaces. Two spaces are identified: the property and its vicinity, and the wider neighbourhood. The article argues that social landlords have been engaging in increasingly intensive regulation of the private and domestic arena of the home as well as expanding their role in the regulation of spaces and populations within and beyond residential neighbourhoods.

Repertoires of distinction: Exploring patterns of weekend polydrug use within local leisure scenes across the English night time economy

Measham, F., Moore, K. — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 01:00:53 PDT

Presented here are the first findings of self report surveys of prevalence of illicit drug use by customers in the night time economy of a large English city. Five random sample surveys conducted with dance club customers and three similar surveys with bar customers identified an association between illicit drug use, entertainment type and venue type. First, club customers were significantly more likely to report lifetime, past month and fieldwork night drug use than bar customers. Second, distinct and prolific polydrug repertoires were associated with the genres of electronic dance music favoured within different clubs, along with evidence of the growing popularity of emergent drugs such as MDMA powder. Such polydrug repertoires support the notion of culturally, spatially and pharmacologically distinct local leisure scenes operating within the contemporary night time economy; rather than the same broad mass of customers choosing different leisure experiences on different occasions, or the more fluid, ‘neo-tribal’ cultural groupings suggested by some. The article concludes by suggesting that prolific and enduring weekend polydrug repertoires within local leisure scenes increasingly polarize such scenes from drug use in the general population, with implications for policing and governance, alongside the need for a more nuanced understanding of the night time economy as an analytical concept in social research.

'This town's a different town today': Policing and regulating the night-time economy

Hadfield, P., Lister, S., Traynor, P. — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 01:00:53 PDT

This article considers recent policing and regulatory responses to the night-time economy in England and Wales. Drawing upon the findings of a broader two-year qualitative investigation of local and national developments in alcohol policy, it identifies a dramatic acceleration of statutory activity, with 12 new or revised powers, and several more in prospect, introduced by the Labour Government within its first decade in office. Interview data and documentary sources are used to explore the degree to which the introduction of such powers, often accompanied by forceful rhetoric and high profile police action, has translated into a sustained expansion of control. Many of the new powers are spatially directed, as well as being focused upon the actions of distinct individuals or businesses, yet the willingness and capacity to apply powers to offending individuals in comparison to businesses is often variable and asymmetrical. The practice of negotiating order in the night-time economy is riddled with tensions and ambiguities that reflect the ad hoc nature and rapid escalation of the regulatory architecture. Night-time urban security governance is understood as the outcome of subtle organizational and interpersonal power-plays. Social orders, normative schemas and apportionments of blame thus arise as a byproduct of patterned (structural) relations.

Planning, urban design and the night-time city: Still at the margins?

Roberts, M. — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 01:00:53 PDT

The planning system was constrained by a neo-liberalist insistence on land-use planning in the 1980s and early 1990s, thereby providing the institutional framework for deregulation of the numbers, capacities and types of licensed premises in town and city centres. This had a direct impact on levels of crime, violence and anti-social behaviour. Criminologists have criticized planners for their complicity in this process. The article argues that entertainment uses have been marginal to the social and ecological preoccupations of the planning profession. It suggests that the reintroduction of spatial planning by the New Labour government has allowed planners to reassert social and environmental objectives into their development plans and potentially to introduce a greater degree of regulatory control. The article examines the changes to the planning system and its complex relation to licensing. Finally, it questions whether this new opportunity for planners to intervene will be realized in the current economic downturn.

Controlling the 'anti sexual' city: Sexual citizenship and the disciplining of female street sex workers

Sanders, T. — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 01:00:53 PDT

This article makes connections between the politics and policies relating to prostitution and anti social behaviour, with the construction of sexual citizenship. Through an analysis of what I have termed policing the ‘anti sexual’ city, I argue that new social technologies of control applied by a range of policing agencies include a gendered and sexual dimension to enforce ‘appropriate’ conduct among those considered to be sexually ‘disordered’ and ‘uncivil’. I apply the concept of public patriarchy to the case of the management of female street prostitution, through New Labour’s insistence on an eradication and ‘exiting’ agenda. I argue that ‘forced welfarism’, through anti social behaviour mechanisms, are used to enforce ‘correct’ sexual citizenship through the tools of public patriarchy. Mechanisms of coercion, rehabilitation, and responsibilization are applied to sex workers through the contradictory narratives of ‘victim’ and ‘offender’ that are played out in policy and practice. In summary, I argue that anti social behaviour policies that implement contractual governance have become a vehicle for ensuring that the benchmarks of sexual citizenship are maintained through the politics of inclusion and exclusion.

Preface: Guns, crime and social order

Sheptycki, J., Edwards, A. — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 03:07:31 PDT

The illicit firearms trade in North America

Cook, P. J., Cukier, W., Krause, K. — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 03:07:31 PDT

Gun violence in North American is the subject of much speculation and debate, often based on limited or incomplete empirical evidence. We summarize the regulatory frameworks in Mexico, the United States and Canada, and provide statistics on gun misuse in these countries. Based on our analysis of publicly available information on sources of crime guns, we conclude that while the United States is a major supplier of illegal handguns to Canada and illegal firearms of all types to Mexico, quantifying the extent of its role, particularly in Mexico, is difficult because of data limitations. Still more difficult is to project the consequences of an effective crackdown by US authorities. If the illicit supply from the USA dried up, the criminal gangs could turn to a variety of other sources that already appear to be playing some role. A complete analysis of these issues must await more complete disclosure by the authorities of data on gun sources and trafficking investigations.

Guns, crime and social order in the West Indies

Agozino, B., Bowling, B., Ward, E., St Bernard, G. — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 03:07:31 PDT

This article examines guns, crime and social order in the West Indies. Set in the context of the region's colonial history, contemporary geopolitics and the growing availability of small arms, the article analyses the extent and nature of gun homicide and related phenomena in various locations across the English-speaking Caribbean. It explores some explanations for the disturbing growth in violent death and injury mainly caused by guns, focusing specifically on the nexus between drug trafficking, political patronage and armed violence and the resulting `pistolizaton' of civil society. The article examines the impact of extant security practices and offers some directions for future policy based on the precepts of public health, peace-building, violence prevention, gun control and the pursuit of human security.

Guns, crime and social order: A Canadian perspective

Sheptycki, J. — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 03:07:31 PDT

Canada has undergone intensive public debate concerning firearms over the past two decades, much of which has concerned the effectiveness of gun control legislation. Since about 2005 public discourse has focused increasingly on an upsurge in gun-crime perpetrated by street-level criminals. The article examines the projection of these concerns within the Canadian mass media and through official statistics. It shows that gun control legislation appears to have had a positive effect on gun-related crime in Canada, but that a residuum of gun-crime has remained. Evidence suggests that a process of pistolization is ongoing in some places, but that it is not a dominant strain. The article also looks at some examples of grassroots resistance to pistolization in Canada in some communities that are worst affected by street-level gun crime.

The 'death' of Dixon?: Policing gun crime and the end of the generalist police constable in England and Wales

Roberts, C. H., Innes, M. — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 03:07:31 PDT

Informed by qualitative data from a study of formal and informal social control responses to gun crime in Lambeth, South London, this article seeks to map the contours of some of the key aspects of the policing of firearms offending in England and Wales. It is proposed that policing responses can be distinguished between a `preventative' disposition in areas where gun-related offending is rare, and a pragmatic `manage and suppress' reaction that is implemented in the small number of areas of the country where gun crime is comparatively more common. Focusing in particular upon the work of Operation Trident in London, the discussion seeks to identify some of the complex social forces at work within communities where gun violence is comparatively prevalent and how police seek to engage with such situations. This focus is utilized to construct an argument about a broader and deeper nascent trend in British policing that is exemplified by the response to gun crime. It is suggested that key components of the police function are increasingly being cast as requiring specialist expertise and skills if they are to be performed effectively. As such, the internal social organization of policing is coming to be organized around an increasingly complex architecture and division of labour.

'That's life innit': A British perspective on guns, crime and social order

Hallsworth, S., Silverstone, D. — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 03:07:31 PDT

Recent years have witnessed an escalation in the number of young men involved in lethal gun-related violence in the UK. Within the last two years these have resulted in over 80 deaths. Lacking any overarching explanation some have attributed such violence to a burgeoning `gun culture', others to the (alleged) arrival of American style gangs onto the streets of the UK. This article rejects these explanations as inadequate on the basis that the problem of gun-related violence cannot be reduced to the problem of gangs, while terms such as `gun culture' and `gang culture' are too general to explain the differing contexts of gun use. The article makes the case that to understand contemporary gun use we need to locate it within an examination of the life world of gun users. There are, we suggest, two we need to consider. First, the patterned world of `successful' violent career criminals, and second, a far more volatile street-based world termed by the violent young men who inhabit it as `on road'.

Third Wave criminology: Guns, crime and social order

Edwards, A., Sheptycki, J. — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 03:07:31 PDT

Evidence-based policy-making implies greater clarity in the relationship between science, politics and crime control. This is especially the case with a highly polarizing topic like gun-crime. Specifically, the enrolment of social science by pressure groups, political parties and other political actors raises questions about the possibility and desirability of a scientifically detached appraisal of the problem. One resolution is to reject the feasibility of objective detachment, treat science and politics as synonymous and locate criminology firmly in the domain of politics and morality—to `take sides' as it were. This renders the purpose of academic criminology problematic, for if its practitioners are to be regarded as inevitably partisan, what do they contribute as social scientists to public issues defined as political and moral in content? Why should criminological knowledge claims be especially valued over that of other political and moral actors? More recently, attempts to define concepts about the formative intentions, intrinsic and extrinsic to the politics of scientists' work, suggest ways of demarcating science from politics in this and other criminological disputes. They provide a rationale for the distinctive contribution of social science to public controversies over crime and control.

The British Society of Criminology seeks a NEW EDITOR/EDITORIAL TEAM For Criminology & Criminal Justice An International Journal

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 03:07:31 PDT

Debate and dialogue

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 03:44:37 PDT

The illusion of control: A response to Professor Sherman

Hope, T. — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 03:44:37 PDT

Sherman vs Sherman: Realism vs rhetoric

Tilley, N. — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 03:44:37 PDT

Understanding the seriousness of corporate crime: Some lessons for the new 'corporate manslaughter' offence

Almond, P. — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 03:44:37 PDT

The measurement of public attitudes towards the criminal law has become an important area of research in recent years because of the perceived desirability of ensuring that the legal system reflects broader societal values. In particular, studies into public perceptions of crime seriousness have attempted to measure the degree of concordance that exists between law and public opinion in the organization and enforcement of criminal offences. These understandings of perceived crime seriousness are particularly important in relation to high-profile issues where public confidence in the law is central to the legal agenda, such as the enforcement of work-related fatality cases. A need to respond to public concern over this issue was cited as a primary justification for the introduction of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007. This article will suggest that, although literature looking at the perceived seriousness of corporate crime and, particularly, health and safety offences is limited in volume and generalist in scope, important lessons can be gleaned from existing literature, and pressing questions are raised that demand further empirical investigation.

Community safety and economic crime

Croall, H. — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 03:44:37 PDT

The contemporary focus of crime reduction and community safety policies on youth crime, anti-social behaviour and forms of conventionally defined property and violent crime excludes many hazards, in particular those associated with economic and corporate crime, which, despite their considerable impact, have a contested `criminal' status and have not generally been considered relevant to community safety. Drawing on work on the impact of economic crime, this article will map out the economic and physical harms associated with a selected range of economic and business offences. It will also argue that they pose a threat to citizens' quality of life and will explore their relevance to community safety. It will include activities that involve physical dangers and intrusions of privacy in the home and others that have an impact on consumers, the local neighbourhood and the quality of life. It will conclude with an analysis of the extent to which these crimes can and should be incorporated into a broader construction of community safety.

'Trying to get it right': What prison staff say about implementing race relations policy

Spencer, J., Haslewood-Pocsik, I., Smith, E. — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 03:44:37 PDT

Race Relations in English and Welsh prisons have a history of critical events and flawed management. There is evidence that at the policy level the Prison Service has responded to policy directives to improve race relations. This article is based on research that examined the relationship between national legislation, Prison Service policy and practice. The focus of the article is the views of operational Prison Service staff, revealing the complexities in implementing race relations policy in the testing prison environment. The article concludes that the policies implemented by the Prison Service appear, theoretically, to be a rational and appropriate means of achieving positive race relations. Operationally the Prison Service has experienced the challenges of the prison setting, the need for proper resources and the stresses and strains in meeting the demands of its own race relations policy.

Does CCTV displace crime?

Waples, S., Gill, M., Fisher, P. — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 03:44:37 PDT

Crime displacement is a concern often raised regarding situational crime prevention measures. A national evaluation of closed circuit television cameras (CCTV) has provided an interesting test-bed for displacement research. A number of methods have been used to investigate displacement, in particular visualization techniques making use of geographical information systems (GIS) have been introduced to the identification of spatial displacement. Results concur with current literature in that spatial displacement of crime does occur, but it was only detected infrequently. Spatial displacement is found not to occur uniformly across offence type or space, notably the most evident spatial displacement was actually found to be occurring within target areas themselves. GIS and spatial analysis have been shown to complement more typical crime analysis methods and bring a much needed dimension to the investigation of displacement.

Helping offenders into employment: How far is voluntary sector expertise valued in a contracting-out environment?

Vennard, J., Hedderman, C. — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 03:44:37 PDT

The Probation Service has, for some years, worked with external service providers in partnership. One strand of this work has involved collaboration with voluntary sector organizations in helping offenders into education training and employment (ETE). Underlying this work is a slim but important evidence base, which shows that offending diminishes when offenders gain employment, and that being in work may trigger longer term desistance.

Drawing on an evaluation of a government-sponsored `Employment Pathfinder' and on other relevant research, the article argues that recent governmental pressure to contract out services, and to adhere to certain `what works in reducing re-offending' principles, has given rise to tension within this collaboration attributable to conflicting ideology and practice. Specifically, this has created a context in which there is limited scope to adopt practices which are informed by knowledge about `what works' in getting people into employment. A less prescriptive approach from the centre about what should be delivered, and how, would restore effective teamwork and might also open up probation practice to empirical and theoretical insights into the desistance process. Wider implications of these findings for the future involvement of organizations with expertise in the provision of services for offenders are discussed.

Book Review: Benjamin J. Goold CCTV and Policing: Public Area Surveillance and Police Practices in Britain Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. xii + 244 pp. ISBN 978--0--19-- 926514--5

Walby, K. — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 03:44:37 PDT

Book Review: R. Reiner Law and Order: An Honest Citizen's Guide to Crime and Control Cambridge: Polity Press, 2007. 252 pp. ISBN 978--0--74--562997--1

Rowe, M. — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 03:44:37 PDT

Book Review: Loraine Gelsthorpe and Rod Morgan (eds) Handbook of Probation Cullompton: Willan Publishing. 626 pp. {pound}31.50 ISBN 1--843921--89--8

Gough, D. — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 03:44:37 PDT

Editorial note: Introducing 'Debate and Dialogue'

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 08:59:10 PST

Evidence and liberty: The promise of experimental criminology

Sherman, L. W. — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 08:59:10 PST

Evidence and liberty are two great ideas in British history. One consequence of both ideas is experimental criminology, which applies research designs developed in Britain to matters of liberty affecting the entire world. The promise of experimental criminology is to generate better evidence about how to increase liberty. The crucial challenge to experimental criminology is the means by which research results, even when accepted as true, may be translated into widespread practice. Two models for applying experimental research are possible. One is `bottom—up discretion', in which crime victims, police, judges and probation officers and others take experimental results into account when making their decisions one case at a time. Another model is `top—down guidance', in which either Ministers or an independent evidence-assessment agency like `NICE'—the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence—appoint committees of practitioners and researchers to develop succinct operational guidance based upon systematic reviews of experimental evidence. Bottom—up discretion will grow steadily from the sheer persistence of criminologists and practitioners doing experiments. Liberty could be advanced much faster by top—down guidance, however, if government chose to invest in `prospective meta-analysis' a method of multi-site randomized trials that would assess generalizability of policy effects as well as their magnitude and cost-effectiveness.

Therapeutic jurisprudence and procedural justice in Scottish Drug Courts

McIvor, G. — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 08:59:10 PST

Scotland, like other western jurisdictions, has recently witnessed the development of problem-solving courts aimed at responding more effectively to issues that underlie certain types of offending behaviour. The first to be established were two pilot Drug Courts, which drew upon experience of Scottish Drug Treatment and Testing Orders. In common with Drug Courts elsewhere, the Scottish pilots combined treatment, drug testing, supervision and judicial oversight. This article focuses upon the role of judicial involvement in the ongoing review of Drug Court participants' progress, drawing upon court observation and interviews with offenders and Drug Court professionals. Drug Court dialogues were typically encouraging on the part of sheriffs, aimed at recognizing and reinforcing the progress made by participants and motivating them to maintain and build upon their achievements to date, while participants were generally responsive to the positive feedback they received from the sheriffs as their orders progressed. Interactions within the Scottish Drug Courts reflect key features of procedural justice, including ethicality, efforts to be fair and representation. By contributing to enhanced perceptions of procedural justice, Drug Court dialogues may, it is argued, increase the perceived legitimacy of the court and by so doing encourage increased compliance with treatment and desistance from crime.

Police release with conditions of the accused in cases of domestic violence in Montreal, Canada

Gauthier, S. — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 08:59:10 PST

This article presents the results of a study conducted in Montreal (Canada) on how police use their power to release an accused on bail with conditions in incidents of domestic violence, which was granted to them in 1995. Interviews conducted in 2000 with police investigators and lieutenant-detectives revealed that police view this measure favourably. It allows them to release the accused on bail before his first appearance by monitoring him with conditions. According to police, this both reassures and protects the victim and avoids the need to detain the accused just to have conditions imposed by the court. While investigators found the decision to detain or release to be difficult at times, they also felt they were as capable as judicial officials in making the decision to release on bail. The police respondents explained why and how they are prudent in their assessment of the risks associated with release. Future research should evaluate to what degree the conditions they impose are adequate.

The Empire, the police, and the introduction of fingerprint technology in Malta

Azzopardi Cauchi, J., Knepper, P. — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 08:59:10 PST

It required more than three decades for fingerprint technology, invented in the British colony of India, to reach the British colony of Malta. Fingerprint technology was not institutionalized in Malta until 1932 owing to a different social context; British colonial authorities tended to see the Maltese as Europeans and never regarded crime prevention as a priority. Nevertheless, a review of policing in Malta in the 19th and early 20th centuries supports the thesis that fingerprint-based identification was invented to maintain surveillance over `otherness'. Although the colonial situation in Malta did not produce anything like the Criminal Tribes Act in British India, the introduction of fingerprint technology coincided with concern over foreign residents. Fingerprint technology became institutionalized following enactment of the Aliens Act in 1899 and formation of a detective and alien branch within the police organization. The diffusion of knowledge within the British Empire did not operate in a predictable direction. Rather, knowledge arising in one colony spread to others, as well as to England, channelled by familiar prejudices as much as scientific discovery.

Criminal thinking and self-control among drug users in court mandated treatment

Packer, G., Best, D., Day, E., Wood, K. — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 08:59:10 PST

This article aims to explore the relationship between self-control and criminal thinking in a population of drug using offenders attending a court mandated treatment programme, and how this relates to recent offending and substance use. Fifty drug using offenders attending a Birmingham Drug Intervention Programme clinic under the terms of a Drug Rehabilitation Requirement (DRR) completed standardized measures of self-control and criminal thinking. Associations were found between both self-control and criminal thinking and drug use and offending. A strong association was found between low self-control and high criminal thinking. Lower levels of self-control were associated with younger age, and there was some evidence of a link between younger age and higher criminal thinking. The links between drug use and crime are more complex than could be explained by either the self-control model of crime or criminal thinking alone, although the current findings suggest a mediating role for age and indications that drugs—crime linkage is mediated by patterns of substance use and offending.

Book Review: D. Lyon (ed.) Theorizing Surveillance: The Panopticon and Beyond Devon: Willan Publishing, 2006. {pound}47.50 ISBN-10: 184392191X; ISBN-13: 978--1843921912

John, T. — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 08:59:10 PST

Book Review: J.V. Roberts and M. Hough Understanding Public Attitudes to Criminal Justice Berkshire: Open University Press, 2005. {pound}21.99 ISBN-10: 033521536X; ISBN-13: 978--0335215362

Penfold-Mounce, R. — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 08:59:10 PST

Book Review: Stuart Waiton The Politics of Antisocial Behaviour: Amoral Panics New York: Routledge, 2008. ISBN10: 0--415--95705--2

Ramsay, P. — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 08:59:10 PST

Book Review: J. Harvey Young Men in Prison: Surviving and Adapting to Life Inside Cullompton: Willan Press, 2007. {pound}30.60 (hbk) ISBN 1--84392--203--7

Wahidin, A. — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 08:59:10 PST

Erratum

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 08:59:10 PST

Erratum

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 08:59:10 PST

Erratum

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 08:59:10 PST