International Journal of Law Crime and Justice最新文献

This study delves into the narrative criminological facets of Agnew's (2016) four-factor theory on crime resistance and susceptibility, particularly within the realm of organized crime. Drawing insights from thirty-two interviews with college students and other young adults residing in a Mafia-influenced area, the study observes that the four inducements to crime—Negativity, Pleasure and Sensation Seeking, Conventional Efficacy and Perceived Social Support, and Environmental Sensitivity—also manifest as narratives that inspire or induce a resistance to an affiliation with organized crime. Nevertheless, the distinct nuances of narrative criminology and the unique characteristics of organized crime reveal additional influencing factors. Cultural and discursive narrative themes, such as Familism, Opportunities and Careerism, and Ambiguities and Contradictions, highlight the capacity of narrative criminology to unearth dimensions and interpretations often overlooked by more traditional methodologies. Given these considerations, this study represents the inaugural endeavor to integrate narrative criminology within a formal theory of crime resistance and susceptibility.

Wrongful conviction of an innocent person is an extreme type of injustice that plagues the criminal justice system today. Wrongful conviction for a sexual offense is especially traumatic for the individual due to the inherent stigma surrounding this type of crime; however, there is a dearth of research focusing on the unique aspects of both the offense and the investigation that may contribute to those convictions. The current study sought to answer the following research questions: 1-Are most sexual assault wrongful convictions in series inter-racial? 2- Does relational misattribution play a role in wrongful conviction for sexual assault? 3-Where in the series do wrongful convictions occur? 4-Do wrongful convictions in serial sexual assault cases occur primarily due to behavioral inconsistency on the part of the perpetrator (i.e., the crime for which there is a wrongful conviction appears to be significantly different from the rest of the series) leading to linkage blindness? 5-To what extent does police misconduct and other investigative issues play a role in mishandling of the offense as a one-off as opposed to part of series? Data for this study included 43 violent sexual series where a proven wrongful conviction was present for at least one of the crimes. Results suggest that thorough investigation, evidence testing, and the ability to reopen cases after similar incidents can reduce wrongful sexual assault convictions. Distinguishing between group and solo offending, stranger and acquaintance offenses, and developing investigative models that account for serial crime behavior change can improve investigative accuracy.

This study explores cyberbullying and cyberstalking in higher education from the victims' perspective. It presents a novel contribution byutlising a convenience sample of students and staff in a university setting in England. Their perceptions as victims were collected through a semi-structured online survey during the COVID-19 pandemic. This temporal setting helps to explore how external traumatic events, collective restrictions, and increased internet use affect online social interactions. A quantitative method is employed to gain a deeper understanding of the complexity of human behaviour and factors that contribute to changes in the everyday lives of victims. Despite the exploratory nature of this study, the empirical insights provide valuable contributions that can inform the development of innovative best practice and evidence-based policies to support victims in higher education.

Although the science behind hot spot policing is robust and grounded in theory, implementation issues prevent it from becoming commonplace in everyday policing. The mounting evidence suggests that “hot spot policing” (Sherman and Weisburd 1995) is rarely applied in police routines. The paper critically discusses three common problems with the implementation of this approach into policy: officers' motivation, organisational resistance, and technological failures. Two competing solutions are proposed to these endemic issues: instituting specialised hot spot policing units or outsourcing the job of ‘cooling down’ hot spots to alternative non-police entities, partially or wholly.

Child homicide remains responsible for a high number of child deaths despite decreasing in recent decades. Much of the research on child homicide has focused specifically on filicide or the broader characteristics of child homicide. Little research has examined whether the degree of intimacy between victims and perpetrators in child homicide cases may impact criminal justice outcomes. Focusing on 603 cases of child homicide between 1985 and 2018 in Ontario, Canada, this exploratory study compares the criminal justice outcomes of perpetrators with a familial relationship, non-familial relationship, and no prior relationship with the victim. Results show that familial perpetrators were less likely to be convicted of murder. Stereotypes about intimacy and violence that may impact criminal justice outcomes in child homicide cases are explored. Suggestions for future research on the effect of intimacy on criminal justice outcomes are highlighted, and policy implications are also discussed.

Research generated by Prevent is abundant. The majority of studies focus on the delivery of Prevent as a Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) initiative but rarely question the methodological pretences that underpin its practices. There is mounting pressure from the public sphere and sections of the research community that is casting doubt on Prevent's effectiveness as a policy as well as its potential to cause harm to the vulnerable communities it professes to serve through the pre-criminal space it occupies. This qualitative investigation evaluates the implementation of Prevent and its Statutory Duty at the community level, drawing on the experiences of Local Authority (LA) Prevent managers and their pastoral networks, which are predominantly populated by schools and education providers. It questions the validity of the Prevent manager's evidence base, using the Foucauldian concept of governmentality and the Bourdieusian conception of the educational field to navigate this dynamic.

Predictive policing, that is, the data-driven deployment of police operations on the ground, has become increasingly important in recent years. While predictive policing instruments serve to formalise the ways in which police think and operate, the human agent remains central to their exploitation and translation into strategic, operational, and tactical decision-making. The introduction of predictive policing instruments and methods therefore represents a particularly insightful terrain on which to analyse negotiations of formality and informality. How this plays out in the Swiss context will be addressed in this paper. Based on a review of documents and policies on predictive policing developments and exploratory interviews conducted with police officers and developers, we discuss how institutions and actors engage with predictive policing and what this tells us about the formalisation, respectively informalisation of police work. Our findings point to the challenges related to the federalist organisation of police in Switzerland and the growing importance of cantonal threat management (Bedrohungsmangement) platforms. We also note a general lack of awareness regarding the potentially harmful outcomes of predictive policing instruments, which may be related to a specifically Helvetic narrative that downplays the impact these instruments have on decision-making.

Intercept interpreters ensure the interlinguistic transfer from oral conversations wiretapped by the police into written evidence that is used in criminal proceedings. So far, this element of the criminal proceedings has received little attention in research, and knowledge on practical implementation of the formal requirements and the related informal practices is scarce. Using Switzerland as a case study, this article examines the daily practices of intercept interpreters within the legal framework. Theoretically, this study aligns with Lipsky's (1980/2010) concept of “street-level bureaucracy”. It is based on 24 semi-structured interviews with intercept interpreters and police officers and on an observational study conducted at the intercept interpreters' workplace in a Swiss police department. The major finding of our qualitative content analysis is that the formal framework is felt as a corset by police officers, and that the police and the intercept interpreters are loosening it in their daily cooperation. However, this is not disclosed in the final production of the formal evidence. Furthermore, the findings show that both are aware of the daily trade-offs between formal requirements and the need for informal working processes.

In this study we examine the use of the police stop and search tactic for preventing and investigating crime and as a method for maintaining order, during periods of national lockdown in England and Wales during the covid-19 global pandemic. By using time series modelling on data for all recorded stop and search over a 5-year period, we identify that of the 24 areas we examined, 16 saw the volume of stop and search increase significantly during lockdown periods. Significant findings included a rise in the overall volume of stop and search, and searches for controlled drugs. This is unusual given the reductions in crime and traditional police demand during the pandemic, creating somewhat of a paradox. We discuss this further and suggest that this can be reconciled by considering the possibility that the police have used the tactic of stop and search as a tool to maintain order during the pandemic, and specifically adherence to national lockdowns. This position is supported by the academic literature, an absence in associated recorded crime, correlations in the application of FPNs during the same period, and an increased volume of searches that resulted in no further action.