Sydney Institute of Criminology
CrimNet
28 January 2022
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The CrimNet newsletter is sponsored by the Sydney Institute of Criminology. CrimNet provides regular communication between criminal justice professionals, practitioners, academics and students in Australia and overseas. Share CrimNet with your peers and help grow the network.
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Institute Events and Activities
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Sydney Institute of Criminology hosts Neurotechnology, Criminal Justice and Human Rights – Interdisciplinary Perspectives.
Developments in neurotechnology are attracting significant interest from the corporate and medical sectors. While billionaires including Elon Musk, Peter Thiel and Gina Rinehart are investing in these technologies and large technology companies are creating a "metaverse", Chile has become the first state to alter their constitution to address concerns about neurorights.
The possibility of undesirable outcomes resulting from this technological development has also concerned many scholars and other thinkers, who are calling for ethical considerations including those pertaining to human rights to be taken note of in the development of neurotechnologies, rather than addressed after market release, or not at all.
The commercial excitement surrounding the advances gives reason to believe that brain-computer interface technologies may soon be more widely available in society. Whether it be individuals committing crimes by way of brain-computer interface, or the use by the state of technologies that monitor brains, or even intervene on them to reduce the risk of a person offending, it is likely that there will be a criminal justice dimension to neurotechnology.
In December 2021, the Sydney Institute of Criminology hosted a collection of passionate thinkers who share a concern about the potential impact of emerging neurotechnologies.
This public conference, entitled Neurotechnology, Criminal Law and Human Rights: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, was organised by our Deputy Co-Director, Dr Allan McCay. Throughout the seven sessions, the conference sought to understand: What kind of human rights challenges might emerge from neurotechnology and how might these challenges play out in criminal justice?
This is a question that requires the expertise of a variety of fields including science and technology, philosophy, as well as law. We heard from leading thinkers in these fields, including:
- Professor Rafael Yuste, NeuroTechnology Center, Columbia University and Neurorights Foundation
- Jared Genser, Perseus Strategies and Neurorights Foundation and Stephanie Herrmann, Perseus Strategies
- ProfessorJennifer Chandler and Tugba Basaran Akmazoglu, Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa
- Professor Fabrice Jotterand, Medical College of Wisconsin and Institute for Biomedical Ethics at the University of Basel
- Dr Marcello Ienca, ETH Zurich and Intelligent Systems Ethics Unit, College of Humanities, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne
- Susie Alegre, Associate, Doughty Street Chambers and Senior Research Fellow, University of Roehampton and Associate, The Policy Practice and Director, Island Rights Initiative
- Lisa Claydon, The Open University Law School
After each presenter spoke there was a response from another speaker.The full program may be found here.
In exploring these thorny issues and in facilitating a multi-continental discussion between those eager to solve them, the conference was a great success and we thank everyone who was involved in making this event possible and the 245 people who registered for the event.
The presentations are available at the Podcasts page. The individual presentations are as follows:
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Call for Expressions of Interest: Research Handbook on Youth Criminology
Greg Martin and Estrella Pearce
We are seeking Expressions of Interest for Elgar’s Research Handbook on Youth Criminology, due to be published in 2023.
Given this is a Research Handbook we invite state-of-the-art, cutting edge research in the field that is particularly focused on critical perspectives in criminology, including contributions that are critical of the discipline of criminology itself. We are interested in receiving contributions from a broad range of scholars but we are especially keen to include early career researchers and scholars from the Global South.
As a general guide, we encourage people to consider how their proposed contribution might relate to one of the following themes:
- History and origins of youth criminology and juvenile justice, including colonialism and its legacies in Southern Criminology
- Theories and concepts in youth criminology
- Methods of researching youth crime and juvenile justice
- Geographies of youth criminology
- Institutional contexts of youth criminology and juvenile justice, e.g. social, racial and Indigenous justice; harms of criminalisation and victimisation; policing and surveillance; prisons; courts; media/moral panics; rights; gender; sexualised violence
- Governance around youth crime and juvenile justice, including issues of state violence, decolonisation, reform, abolition, justice reinvestment, diversion and early intervention.
- Future research and new directions in youth criminology
Potential contributors should email Estrella Pearce (estrella.pearce@sydney.edu.au) with a Title and Abstract (100-150 words). Please also include any institutional affiliation and email contact.
The closing date for Expressions of Interest is: 28th February 2022.*
(*please note: this is a revised date from 20th January 2022.)
If successful, we expect the book contract to be agreed in the first quarter of 2022 and, once contributions are confirmed, we expect first drafts to be submitted to the editors by the end of July 2022. Chapters will be approximtaely 7,000 words in length (including references).
All the best,
Greg Martin & Estrella Pearce
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Draft National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-2032
The Australian Government is developing the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-2032 (National Plan) to replace the existing National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010–2022 when it ends in mid-2022.
The consultation was open from 14 January 2022 to 31 January 2022 (11.00pm).
A number of activists including scholars, professionals and concerned citizens have released a media statement criticising the two-week window of consultation for the 10-year plan, and requesting that the Consultation Reports be released to the public for the consultation period. The petition may be viewed and/or signed here. The government has just extended the consultation period closing date to 26 February 2022, but has not released the Consultation Reports.
To read the draft National Plan and/or to respond to the survey and make a submission, click the button.
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Robbery in the illegal drugs trade
James Densley and Robert McLean, authors of ‘Robbery in the Illegal Drugs Trade’, reveal what they have learned from interviewing robbery victims and offenders in Scotland in the context of illegal drug markets.
The sudden death of US actor Michael K. Williams in September 2021 had many criminologists like us reminiscing about his acclaimed performance as notorious stick-up man Omar Little on The Wire. With his scarred face and sawed-off shotgun, Omar stalked street-level drug dealers and robbed drugs stash houses, whistling ‘The Farmer in the Dell’ as he went. But Omar was more than just a robber. Beneath his bulletproof vest was the tender heart of a complex character, someone with a compelling backstory and strict moral code; someone who walked a fine line between crime and justice.
It is credit to Michael K. Williams that Omar comes to most people’s mind when they think about robbing drug dealers. But truth is stranger than fiction. For the last three years, we’ve interviewed robbery victims and offenders in Glasgow and West Scotland for a new book that examines robbery in the context of illegal drug markets. In the ethnographic tradition of Randol Contreras, Bruce Jacobs, Richard Wright, Scott Decker and others, we sat down with the real-life Omars to ask them what they do and why.
We learned that robbery is a perennial threat for drug dealers because drugs are illegal, the drug economy is cash-based, and there is no legal recourse for drug sellers when transactions go awry. For obvious reasons, drug dealers cannot call the police or file an insurance claim if they are robbed. Instead, drug dealers must police themselves by carrying weapons for protection and retaliating with violence. Violence is integral to the drugs business and robbery is but one iteration of it.
Read the full piece here.
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What is racial invisibility, and how do white people benefit from it?
Luke Pearson writes for IndigenousX.
“Where are you from?”
There are few other questions in Australia that help shed a light on the overlapping and contradictory sense of sovereignty and belonging between Indigenous people, white people, and non-Indigenous people of colour.
For many, it exists as a safe topic of small talk. Where are you from? Where do you work? Where did you go to school? What’s your favourite footy team?
For Indigenous people, it is the gateway question that all relationality stems from. Where are you from? Where are you connected to? Who are you connected to? Are we connected? What are our responsibilities to each other? It highlights the importance of connection and responsibility between people and place and all things within it.
See the article here. Luke Pearson is a Gamilaroi man living in NSW. He is the founder and CEO of IndigenousX.
27 January is the fifty year anniversary of the Tent Embassy. See this article providing a short history of the Tent Embassy.
For persons interested in stories from First Nations authors, see also this reading list prepared by Pip Ardler.
Image: IndigenousX (link).
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Guilty verdicts for crimes perpetrated in conflict
A Guatemalan court has returned guilty verdicts against five men for historic sexual crimes perpetrated during the country’s civil war. 36 Maya Achí women had initiated the proceedings. The perpetrators were members of Guatemala's paramilitary Civil Self-Defense Patrols, which were accused of atrocities during the Guatemalan Civil War fought between leftist guerrilla groups and the government that from 1960 to 1996. The perpetrators were found guilty of crimes perpetrated between 1981 and 1985 in a town Rabinal, north of the capital. For an account of the trial prior to the verdict, see here. The presiding officer, Judge Yassmín Barrios, had presided over the trial of the country’s former president Efraín Ríos Montt who was accused of genocide against the Maya Ixil indigenous population. She had returned a guilty verdict, but the conviction was overturned by the Constitutional Court on the grounds that he had not been afforded an effective defence. A retrial was not able to commence due to the advanced age of the accued.
The court victory comes within two weeks of a guilty verdict against former Syrian intelligence officer Anwar Raslan. The prosecution was heard in the German Higher Regional Court in Koblenz, on the basis of universal jurisdiction. The case was one of the first criminal trials on atrocities perpetrated during the Syrian Civil War. Mr Raslan was accused of complicity in crimes against humanity from April 2011 to September 2012 as well as a larger number of counts of murder, while performing a role as head of an investigative unit and its detention centre. Al Jazeera completed a two-part documentary, The Trial of Anwar Raslan: People and Power available here. Image: Verdad y Justicia en Guatemala via alai (link)
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On Defense: Twenty-five years of fighting mass incarceration in court
Sergio De La Pava writes for Harper's. Sergio is the legal director of New York County Defender Services and the author, most recently, of the novel Lost Empress.
When I began working as a public defender in Manhattan, I was met mostly with pity. It was the mid-Nineties, and whatever was in the air, it wasn’t nuance. The city was in the process of reimagining the very concept of crime and, by extension, who should be subject to incarceration. Under orders from the mayor, the police took conduct that New Yorkers had grudgingly borne for years as symptoms of inequality—stop at a red light and someone emerges to clean your windshield in the hopes of a quarter, visit a fast-food restaurant and someone opens the door with their palm out—and criminalized it. This was broken-windows policing, and you were assured that it was not targeting any particular group, just following the science. It was theoretical and innovative and evidence-based, and to object was equivalent to insulting victims. The euphemistic target was “quality of life” offenses, but to us interested observers, well, we had eyes and could see what our clients almost always looked like.
In these cases, the damage was mostly limited to misdemeanor prosecutions. Just above them, though, was the toxicity of the long and wholly undeserved sentences with which America has packed its prisons. At the height of this era, I picked up the case of Huascar Jimenez*. I can kind of remember his face, but what I doubt I’ll ever forget is two numbers: seven and fourteen.
To read the full piece, see here.
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Podcast: Talking About Justice
The UNSW Centre for Crime, Law and Justice has released the second season of its podcast series, 'Talking About Justice'.
The new episodes feature the latest research on some vital criminal justice topics, including: the impact of COVID-19 on the courts, a look inside the student climate protest movement, and the effect of COVID-19 in Aboriginal communities.
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Archaic laws punish WA families while losing war on drugs: lawyers
Aja Styles reports for WAtoday.
Western Australia is jailing more people for small quantities of drugs and giving them harsher penalties than any other state.
Outdated laws allow police to seize properties and possessions from their families, whether or not these are proceeds of crime, and the state sell them for amounts that barely touch the billions of taxpayer dollars used to keep the “traffickers” in jail.
And the government has not acted on recommendations from some of the state’s most respected legal minds to overhaul the laws, and prevent them from penalising unintended victims.
Read the full piece here.
Image: WAtoday.
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Brother of missing Perth woman wants accountability for missing, murdered Indigenous women
Alicia Bridges for ABC News.
When Eric Hayward looks at the symbol of the lion and unicorn on the facade of Perth's grand, old Supreme Court building, he sees a mythical creature, a foreign icon, and an unfulfilled promise.
"It's like a symbol of our people, including my sister, having a real disconnect between what the system says justice is, and what we actually get," said Mr Hayward, a Noongar man and lawyer based in Perth.
This month marks five years since his sister, 34-year-old Rebecca Hayward, was last seen walking on a remote roadside north of Alice Springs in January 2017. She has never been found.
Mr Hayward has recently returned to Perth after two years living in Alice Springs where, frustrated with the official police investigation into her mysterious disappearance, he took the search for answers into his own hands.
Read the full article here.
Image: Alicia Bridges.
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United States: Flaws plague a tool meant to help low-risk federal prisoners win early release
Carrie Johnson for NPR.
Thousands of people are leaving federal prison this month thanks to a law called the First Step Act, which allowed them to win early release by participating in programs aimed at easing their return to society.
But thousands of others may still remain behind bars because of fundamental flaws in the Justice Department's method for deciding who can take the early-release track. The biggest flaw: persistent racial disparities that put Black and brown people at a disadvantage.
In a report issued days before Christmas in 2021, the department said its algorithmic tool for assessing the risk that a person in prison would return to crime produced uneven results. The algorithm, known as Pattern, overpredicted the risk that many Black, Hispanic and Asian people would commit new crimes or violate rules after leaving prison. At the same time, it also underpredicted the risk for some inmates of color when it came to possible return to violent crime.
Read the full article here.
Image: Andrew Harnik/AP via NPR.
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Podcast: Temporary
The stories of people seeking asylum are supposed to end. But in Australia, people who arrive by boat are seldom able to finish their story.
Right now there are 30,000 people living in Australia who are being denied their right to protection. 30,000 people whose stories you haven’t yet heard.
Temporary is a new eight-part narrative podcast from the UNSW Centre for Ideas and Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law co-produced with Guardian Australia. In this series we hear stories from those seeking asylum in this country. Those who are stuck in a new country with no support, separated from their families and the people they love. We learn about the system that is designed to keep these people in a state of permanent uncertainty. Listen to their voices, from a limbo of Australia’s own creation, and discover who they are and why the end of their story can’t yet be told.
In 2021 Temporary has been nominated in the Australian Podcast Awards for Best Current Affairs Podcast and Best Documentary Podcast, received the NSW Humanitarian Media Award and been named a Webby Awards Honoree in the Podcast Documentary category.
Access the episodes on most major podcast apps or here.
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Webinars
Women Who Kill: Cambridge Centre for Criminal Justice / Centre for Women’s Justice webinar (Centre for Women’s Justice and Cambridge Law). See here.
Virtual Roundtable: The Imminent Trial of Two Human Rights Lawyers—Criminal Justice in Xi Jinping’s China (Council on Foreign Relations). See here.
Gender and countering modern slavery: Priorities for a post COVID-19 world (Griffith Asia Institute). See here.
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Against All Odds, Femicide Did Not Increase During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence From Six Spanish-Speaking Countries
Marcelo F. Aebi, Lorena Molnar and Francisca Baquerizas. (2021). Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, 37(4), 615–644
Abstract:
This paper tests a situational hypothesis which postulates that the number of femicides should increase as an unintended consequence of the COVID-19-related lockdowns. The monthly data on femicides from 2017 to 2020 collected in six Spanish-speaking countries—Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Panama, Mexico, and Spain—and analyzed using threshold models indicate that the hypothesis must be rejected. The total number of femicides in 2020 was similar to that recorded during each of the three previous years, and femicides did not peak during the months of the strictest lockdowns. In fact, their monthly distribution in 2020 did not differ from the seasonal distribution of femicides in any former year. The discussion criticizes the current state of research on femicide and its inability to inspire effective criminal polices. It also proposes three lines of intervention. The latter are based on a holistic approach that places femicide in the context of crimes against persons, incorporates biology and neuroscience approaches, and expands the current cultural explanations of femicide.
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Classical deterrence theory revisited: An empirical analysis of Police Force Areas in England and Wales
Juste Abramovaite, Siddhartha Bandyopadhyay, Samrat Bhattacharya, Nick Cowen. (2022). European Journal of Criminology 1.
Abstract:
The severity, certainty and celerity (swiftness) of punishment are theorised to influence offending through deterrence. Yet celerity is rarely included in empirical studies of criminal activity and the three deterrence factors have never been analysed in one empirical model. We address this gap with an analysis using unique panel data of recorded theft, burglary and violence against the person for 41 Police Force Areas in England and Wales using variables that capture these three theorised factors of deterrence. We find that the three factors affect crime in different ways. Increased detection by the police (certainty) is associated with reduced theft and burglary but not violence. We find that variation in the celerity of sanction has a significant impact on theft offences but not on burglary or violence offences. Increased average prison sentences (severity) reduce burglary only. We account for these results in terms of data challenges and the likely different motivations underlying violent and acquisitive crime.
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The impact of multiple interviews on the accuracy and narrative coherence of children’s memories
Zsofia A. Szojka, Annabelle Nicol, Non Davis Frenguelli, David La Rooy & Hayden Henderson (2022). Psychology, Crime & Law, 1.
Abstract:
This study investigated the accuracy and narrative coherence of children’s accounts of a staged event across two interviews in comparison to a control condition to discern between the effects of repeated recall and delay between interviews. Seventy-six 8–11-year-olds took part in a first aid training session. Half of the children were randomly assigned to be interviewed using open-ended questions twice, one week after the event and five weeks after the event, whilst the other half were interviewed only once, five weeks after the event. Supporting the hypotheses, children reported more details over the course of two interviews than in a single interview either 1-week or 5-weeks after the event, and details that remained consistent across the two interviews were more accurate than reminisced details. The increased completeness of children’s accounts in two interviews was accompanied by an increase in the use of markers of causal-temporal connectedness. The hypothesis regarding the negative effect of delay on the accuracy of children’s testimony was partially supported, as details reported in the first, 1-week interview were more accurate than details in the single 5-week interview. Results demonstrate that multiple interviews can increase the narrative coherence of children’s testimony without decreasing their accuracy.
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Come at the king, you best not miss: criminal network adaptation after law enforcement targeting of key players
Giulia Berlusconi (2021). Global Crime, 1.
Abstract:
This paper investigates the impact of the targeting of key players by law enforcement on the structure, communication strategies, and activities of a drug trafficking network. Data are extracted from judicial court documents. The unique nature of the investigation – which saw a key player being arrested mid-investigation but police monitoring continuing for another year – allows to compare the network before and after targeting. This paper combines a quantitative element where network statistics and exponential random graph models are used to describe and explain structural changes over time, and a qualitative element where the content of wiretapped conversations is analysed. After law enforcement targeting, network members favoured security over efficiency, although criminal collaboration continued after the arrest of the key player. This paper contributes to the growing literature on the efficiency-security trade-off in criminal networks, and discusses policy implications for repressive policies in illegal drug markets.
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Criminal justice responses to domestic violence and abuse in England: an analysis of case attrition and inequalities using police data
D. McPhee, M. Hester, L. Bates, S. J. Lilley-Walker & D. Patsios. (2021). Policing & Society, 1.
Abstract:
Responding to domestic violence and abuse (DVA) poses significant challenges for the criminal justice system, with recent studies highlighting a number of significant gaps and failings in the nature of the police response in particular. This paper reports on findings from a component of the multi-stage ESRC funded project ‘Justice, Inequality and Gender-Based Violence’ (ESRC grant ES/M010090/1) that relates to 400 reported incidents of DVA involving intimate partners recorded by two police force areas in England in 2014. Drawing on this large data set concerning a wide range of incidents, this paper employs quantitative methods to analyse the trajectories of reports made to the police, and the factors that may influence their progress through, or attrition from the criminal justice system. In doing so, this paper finds that certain ‘inequality’ factors such as victim gender, vulnerability (including mental health) and incident type are found to impact the progression of cases through the criminal justice system. This work seeks to build on our understanding of what happens to incidents of DVA that are brought to the attention of the police by victims and survivors, and reflects upon how the outcomes of such incidents impact the broader debate concerning the pursuit of a formal, or criminal ‘justice’ in cases of DVA.
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Hate Hurts: Exploring the Impact of Online Hate on LGBTQ+ Young People
Rachel Keighley (2021). Women & Criminal Justice, 1.
Abstract:
Research has demonstrated how LGBTQ+ hate is widespread on the internet. The nature of the online world is such that the permanence and desistance of hate is greater than its offline counterpart. However, comparatively little attention has been paid to the impacts of this type of behavior. Drawing on the findings of a survey involving 175 LGBTQ+ respondents aged 13–25, and 15 follow-up interviews, this paper addresses this gap by exploring the range of significant impacts that LGBTQ+ young people experience on their well-being and relationships with others. Given the ubiquitous nature of online abuse, this paper demonstrates the need for a targeted criminal justice response. Consequently, this paper discusses the implications of the findings with respect to future research.
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Prevent, Ideology and Ideological State Apparatus: Analysing Terrorism Prevention Policies Using Althusser’s Framework
Andrews, Sam, and Joshua Skoczylis. (2022). Millennium, 1.
Abstract:
The work of Louis Althusser is well regarded in the study of ideology, having been used to analyse the material basis for ideology, and challenging the idea that ideology is simply a product of the mind. Recent advances in counterterrorism have seen many states adopting preventative programmes which are non-violent, and nominally voluntary, attempting to deradicalise or steer subjects away from radical ideologies, in an attempt to stem terrorist recruits. Many of these programmes claim not to be ideological. Prevent, which is the UK’s preventative counterterrorism programme, claims not to be ideological, but rather only concerned with stopping extremist ideologies. Using Althusser’s Ideological State Apparatus (ISA) framework, this article explores the ideological and material basis of Prevent, arguing that while Prevent assures us of its non-ideological nature, at its core is a programme that is part of the reproductive ideological apparatus of the state.
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Effectiveness of Forensic Assertive Community Treatment on Forensic and Health Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Marie-Hélène Goulet, Laura Dellazizzo, Clara Lessard-Deschênes, Alain Lesage, Anne G. Crocker, and Alexandre Dumais. (2021). Criminal Justice and Behavior, 1.
Abstract:
Given the increasing literature on forensic assertive community treatment (FACT), we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to explore the effectiveness of FACT among justice-involved individuals with severe mental illness. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines were followed. Sixteen studies were included in the systematic review, six of which were included in the meta-analyses for a total of 1,246 participants. Mixed results regarding health-related outcomes were found. The pre-post FACT analysis and comparison with control groups did not yield significant results other than increased outpatient service use. Results on forensic outcomes were more compelling. Both the narrative review and the meta-analysis highlighted that FACT programs may improve justice outcomes such as the number of days spent in jail. More high quality and multisite randomized controlled trials are needed to consolidate findings. Further research is needed to examine other psychosocial factors related to FACT program success.
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Domestic Violence Policing of First Nations Women in Australia: ‘Settler’ Frameworks, Consequential Harms and the Promise of Meaningful Self-Determination
Emma Buxton-Namisnyk. (2021). British Journal of Criminology, 1.
Abstract:
This article analyses domestic violence fatality reviews/coronial files for a whole-of-population study of First Nations women killed by male partners across several Australian jurisdictions between 2006 and 2016, alongside yarning/interviews with First Nations domestic violence workers, violence survivors and Elders. Findings show that most women had domestic violence-related police contact before their deaths, and these interactions were frequently harmful. Harms resulted from police inaction, including failures to respond or enforce the law. Harms also resulted from police action, with policing enhancing state surveillance of victims’ families, eroding victims’ autonomy and criminalizing victims. Findings are located in neo-colonial context, emphasizing a policy need for meaningful Indigenous self-determination and reinforcing the importance of inclusive disciplinary and epistemological practices in gender-based violence criminology.
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Street culture meets extremism: How Muslims involved in street life and crime oppose jihadism
Sébastien Tutenges and Sveinung Sandberg. (2021). British Journal of Criminology, 1.
Abstract:
Many studies have examined why individuals with a background in street life and crime are drawn toward extremism. This paper examines why most people with this background reject extremism. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Oslo, we found that Muslims involved in street culture were generally opposed to jihadism because they perceived jihadists as evil people who harm innocents; bad Muslims who defame Islam; and cowards who break the ‘code of the street.’ This opposition resulted in avoidance behaviours, criticism and, sometimes, violence against suspected jihadists. We argue that research on the crime-terror nexus has focussed too narrowly on the similarities between street culture and jihadism, contributing to a distorted image of Muslims involved in street culture as potential terrorists.
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The long history of prevention: Social Defence, security and anticipating future crimes in the era of ‘penal welfarism’
Charlotte Heath-Kelly and Šádí Shanaáh. (2022). Theoretical Criminology, 1.
Abstract:
Using a combination of documentary and archival research methods, this article explores the development of Social Defence criminology across the 19th and 20th centuries—highlighting the influence the ‘new’ Social Defence movement had upon the United Nations' and Council of Europe's international crime policy programmes. By exploring the integration of Social Defence within these international programmes, the article is able to challenge several longstanding arguments in Criminology which associate pre-crime and the securitization of criminal justice with the neoliberal era. Social Defence scholars influenced International Organizations to research and disseminate anticipatory mechanisms to identify and reform potential deviants decades earlier than prominent theses suggest. These measures were steeped in the language of security and were oriented towards the prevention of future juvenile crime. The article argues for a reweighing of the influence of Social Defence criminology and against accounts which draw significant divisions between ‘penal welfarism’ and ‘neoliberal penality’.
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The enforcement turn in plural policing? A comparative analysis of public police auxiliaries in England & Wales, France and The Netherlands
Megan O’Neill, Jacques de Maillard, and Ronald van Steden. (2022). European Journal of Criminology, 1.
Abstract:
This paper examines ‘auxiliary’ police in three European countries and the extent to which they continue to present a pluralisation of public sector policing. Examining findings from existing empirical research, we will argue that despite different origins, systems of governance, formal powers and levels of centralisation, the police auxiliaries in England & Wales, France and The Netherlands have all experienced an overall trend towards becoming more ‘enforcement-orientated’. This unique comparative analysis measures each agency's powers, appearance, organisational dimensions and mandate and the associated drivers towards change, such as the politicisation of law and order, large-scale institutional transformations and professionalisation attempts. This analysis will have implications for pluralised policing scholarship as it questions the extent to which auxiliary officers provide a true alternative to the standard or national public policing mandate, which has historically highlighted the ‘law and order’ function of the police. It also highlights the lack of research on what ‘policing by government’ ( Loader, 2000) looks like in practice and the need for further comparative research with these auxiliary state policing actors.
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Intimate Partner Homicides in Norway 1990–2020: An Analysis of Incidence and Characteristics
Solveig K. B. Vatnar, Christine Friestad, and Stål Bjørkly. (2022) Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 1.
Abstract:
Intimate partner homicide (IPH) is an extreme outcome of intimate partner violence (IPV). It is a societal challenge that needs to be investigated over time to see whether changes occur concerning the incidence of IPH, IPH characteristics, socioeconomic factors, and contact with service providers. This study includes the total Norwegian cohort of IPHs between 1990 and 2019 with a final conviction (N = 224). Poisson regression was applied to model the incidence rate of homicide and IPH between 1990 and 2020 as well as the incidence rates of immigrant perpetrators and victims. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to test the association between characteristics and period 1990–2012 compared to after 2012 as dependent variable. The results show that though homicide incidence rates in Norway declined steadily and significantly after 1990, IPH rates did not begin to decline until 2015. The following IPH characteristics showed reduced incidence after 2012: IPH-suicide, perpetrators with a criminal record, and IPHs perpetrated subsequent to preventive interventions towards the perpetrator. Sentence length in IPH cases had increased. Changes were not observed for any of the other IPH characteristics investigated. IPH is often the culmination of long-term violence and can be prevented, even if risk assessment is challenging due to the low base rates.
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Understanding the European Union's Perception of the Threat of Cyberterrorism: A Discursive Analysis
Christopher Baker-Beall and Gareth Mott. (2021). Journal of Common Market Studies 1.
Abstract:
This article analyses the European Union's (EU) construction of the threat of cyberterrorism. Through the application of interpretive discourse analysis, the article identifies several key strands that underpin the construction of the cyberterrorist threat within the political and security institutions of the EU. Locating the analysis within the literature pertaining both to the EU as a security actor and to cyber-security, the article identifies the emergence of the perceived threat of cyberterrorism within the EU discourse on emerging security threats. The article scrutinizes the meaning(s) ascribed to this threat, arguing that although cyberterrorism has not been conclusively defined by the EU, the threat has been invoked as a means of legitimizing existing and future security practices. In particular, the threat of cyberterrorism has been ascribed significance with respect to the need to implement harmonized, high standards for the securing of critical infrastructure across the EU and its member states.
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Mens rea, wrongdoing and digital advocacy in social media: Exploring quasi-legal narratives during #deleteuber boycott
Laura Illia, Elanor Colleoni, Kiron Ranvidran, Nuccio Ludovic (2022). Journal of Public Affairs 1.
Abstract:
#Boycotts represent digital advocacy attempts in which users publicly punish an organization as a lurata (i.e., jury), which assesses the guilty intent, the mens rea (i.e., guilty mind), from a set of visible acts, the actus reus (i.e., wrongdoings). Yet, we know little about the quasi-legal narratives advocated by users. To this aim, we developed a mixed method study of the #deleteuber boycott on Twitter. Our findings suggest that while users advocate both an Uber-specific and a shared mens rea of Uber with sharing economy firms or the tech giants of Silicon Valley, the latter narrative is the most prominent one; its use depends on whether users are part of a lurata of influencers or not. These findings provide a contribution to studies on public affairs that focus on online activism, boycotts in social media and digital advocacy because they increase our understanding of the opaque legal motivations that provoke boycotters. Also, they highlight that social media blurs the boundaries between boycotts directed at the firm from the boycotts arising indirectly due to the shameful acts of the industry or peers.
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Memory distrust is related to memory errors, self-esteem, and personality
Yikang Zhang, Henry Otgaar, Jianqin Wang (2022). Journal of Public Affairs 1.
Abstract:
Research on memory distrust and nonbelieved memory (NBM) both stress the importance of belief in memory but no previous research has brought these fields together. In the present study, we examined how trait memory distrust is associated with false memory and NBM, self-esteem as well as personality traits. Through two studies (N1 = 280, N2 = 77, we found that higher memory distrust was associated with higher false memory as well as NBM frequency, and lower self-esteem. As for personality traits, people who were high on agreeableness, openness, or conscientiousness had lower memory distrust. Explorative mediation analyses showed significant indirect effects of self-esteem on false memory (Study 1a and Study 2) and NBM (Study 2) through memory distrust. We conclude that memory distrust could be conducive to the formation of false memory and NBM under social conditions where one's memory is challenged.
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Social campaigns to social change? Sexual violence framing in U.S. news before and after #metoo
Selina Noetzel, Maria F Mussalem Gentile, Gianna Lowery, Sona Zemanova, Sophie Lecheler, and Christina Peter. (2022). Journalism, 1.
Abstract:
The discussion on sexual violence gained momentum in October 2017 after the Twitter hashtag (#metoo) spread globally highlighting the widespread reality of this problem. While this resulted in extensive media coverage, and naturally informed audiences about societal issues, it can also be problematic regarding the media’s power to reflect and construct reality. Therefore, it is important to research how societal issues like sexual violence are discussed in media settings. The study aimed to investigate how journalists frame sexual violence in the news (RQ1) and whether such practices have changed in the wake of the MeToo movement (RQ2). A quantitative content analysis was conducted for news articles published in four US newspapers, spanning a period of 2 years – from 1 year before to 1 year after the #metoo tweet (N = 612; Oct. 2016 – Oct. 2018). Results indicate that news coverage on sexual violence shifted from straightforward, single-incident reports to broader discussions. This study contributes to scientific research and journalism practices by providing an overarching view of how sexual violence is framed in the news and the potential impact of social movements on reportage.
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How Terrorism Does (and Does Not) Affect Citizens’ Political Attitudes: A Meta-Analysis
Amélie Godefroid (2022). American Journal of Political Science 1.
Abstract:
How does terrorism affect citizens’ political attitudes? Over the years, many scholars have tried to answer this question. This article performs a meta-analysis on this literature, reviewing about 325 studies conducted between 1985 and 2020 on more than 400,000 respondents. The findings confirm that terrorism is associated—to a small but significant extent—with outgroup hostility, political conservatism and rally-‘round-the-flag effects. At the same time, the effects of terrorism vary widely, with studies on Islamist violence, conducted in the United States or Israel, and using cross-sectional data yielding stronger results on average. Finally, the review reveals remaining gaps in this field of study, including a lack of research on non-Islamist violence or conducted in non-Western contexts. Taken together, this meta-analysis consolidates existing evidence, determines which results hold across contexts, and identifies key gaps in our current knowledge. Its data can also be accessed interactively via a Shiny App.
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Prisoner Re-Entry and Neoliberalism
Date: Feb 2, 2022 05:00 AM AEDT (hosted in London)
Online, free registration
London School of Economics’ Mannheim Centre in partnership with the British Society of Criminology, is commencing its Seminar Series for 2022. The series will open with Dr Alessandro De Giorgi presentation “Prisoner Re-Entry and Neoliberalism”.
Currently, Dr De Giorgi (San Jose State University) is conducting ethnographic research on the socioeconomic consequences of concentrated incarceration and prisoner reentry in a disadvantaged neighborhood of Oakland, California.
See the series page here.
Register for this free event below.
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Human Trafficking: Understanding how traffickers operate
Date: Tue, February 8, 2022 at 8:00 AM – 11:00 AM AEDT
Online
Human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery. This crime occurs when a trafficker uses force, fraud, or coercion to control another person for the purpose of engaging in commercial sex acts or soliciting labour or services against his/her will. However, the trafficker may use appealing methods towards the victim to initiate contact, leading them into life of human trafficking.
In this workshop Professor Nancy Aguirre with will cover smuggling vs human trafficking, international vs domestic human trafficking, labour trafficking, sex trafficking, victimology recruiting, grooming methodology, trafficking indicators, who the traffickers are, and how to report.
Nancy Aguirre serves as the Public Eduction and Outreach Service Provider for Million Kids. Nancy is currently a professor for the Riverside Community College District teaching the Administration of Justice discipline. Nancy is a former Criminal Intelligence Analyst with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department assigned to the Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force at the Special Investigations Bureau, assisting in investigating human trafficking, identifying suspects as well as locating victims. Her work history also includes Narcotics, Intelligence and Gangs within the Riverside Sheriff’s Department and previously the Riverside Superior Courts.
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The fight to stop online abuse against women
Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2022, 07:00 AEDT
Location: online
£7.81 – £21.32
Hosted by The Guardian Live.
Online abuse is a growing problem for many girls and women. Last year, more than a third of women, and almost half of girls and women aged 15 to 25, said they had been cyberstalked, sent explicit images without their consent, or abused online. Many more are coming forward with shocking accounts of violence that leave traumatised or fearing for their lives, with women of colour being disproportionately affected.
Social media giants have pledged to tackle gender-based violence. Is it enough, or should big tech do more to crack down on perpetrators? As a new bill criminalising cyberflashing is set to be published, what more can governments do to protect the online safety of women?
Guardian senior reporter Alexandra Topping leads our panel, which includes Professor Neil Chakraborti, Professor in Criminology and Director of The Centre for Hate Studies at University of Leicester; campaigner, speaker and writer Gina Martin; and Chi Onwurah, Labour MP for Newcastle upon Tyne Central. Together, they will discuss the issue, and explore the tireless and essential work of those leading positive and proactive change.
Running time: 60 minutes
This event will be hosted on a third-party live streaming platform.
Closed captions will be available for this event. To make use of this function, click the globe icon at the bottom of your screen once you have logged in to the event.
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Screening and Panel Discussion: “Apart”
Date: Wed, Feb 16, 2022, 12:00 PM AEDT
Location: online
Free registration
Join Nebraska Public Media for a preview screening of the new documentary Apart , followed by a live panel discussion featuring:
- Alana Alexander, Youth & Family Program Associate, RISE Prison Reentry Program
- Leah Butler, Assistant Professor, School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Nebraska Omaha
- Chantal Randall, Volunteer Relations Manager, RISE Prison Reentry Program
This intimate portrait examines the impact of America’s war on drugs through three mothers attempting to rebuild lives derailed by drugs and prison. As Tomika, Lydia, and Amanda prepare to rejoin their families after years of incarceration, they enter an innovative prison program in Cleveland, Ohio where they lean on each other and mentors who have also been in prison. With the hope of redemption on the horizon, the women work to regain the trust of their children and combat stigmas associated with people who have been incarcerated.
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Webinar: Supporting women and girls through the criminal justice system
Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2022, 21:30 – 23:59 AEDT
Location: online
£16.99
Join Dr Jessica Taylor (Chartered Psychologist and Senior Lecturer in Forensic and Criminological Psychology at the University of Derby) from in exploring how the criminal justice system and Family Courts blame and pathologise women and girls who have been subjected to violence and abuse.
Key topics:
• How the structures, laws, techniques and procedures used in the investigation and prosecution of sexual offenses frequently blames the victim rather than the perpetrator.
• Why sexual offenses are the least reported crime.
• Research showing how sexual and domestic violence trials are heavily biased against women and girls.
• How to support women and girls who have been subjected to violence but are treated as the offender by the Courts as their character and behaviour are scrutinised.
Dr Taylor is a Chartered Psychologist who specialises in exploring and challenging the way women and girls are blamed and pathologised for being subjected to male violence.
Suitable for:
Anyone with an interest in the victim blaming endemic in the Courts. Professionals, volunteers and members of the public are welcome.
This event is part of the VictimFocus open training programme..
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Youth Support Worker in Brisbane Youth Advocacy Centre
Deadline: 31 January 2021
The YASS Youth Support Worker is a strong advocate for young people, empowering them to take control of their lives and make informed decisions. YASS provides flexible, integrated and practical mobile support to young people aged 15-19 years who are homeless or at risk of homelessness and/or who have legal issues across the Greater Brisbane area (up to Caboolture and down to Beenleigh, from Ipswich across to the Bay and Islands). The YASS (Brisbane) complements and integrates with YAC’s Caboolture YASS program which provides mobile support, case work support and practical assistance to young people across the Greater Brisbane region.
YAC is looking for a person who is enthusiastic about working with young people, displays good judgement and initiative and is a good team member.
See below for the position description and how to apply.
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Professor (Criminology), Flinders University
Deadline: 31 January 2021
Reporting to: Dean, People and Resources (or delegate), College of Business, Government and Law
The Professor will provide sustained strategic leadership and direction in delivering excellence in teaching and learning across the suite of Criminology topics and courses in the College of Business, Government and Law.
The Professor will foster a culture of innovation and creative solutions through original and distinguished contributions to scholarship and teaching excellence which is recognised internationally. The Professor will also make a significant contribution to leadership and managerial activities of the College and/or University and be recognised for their contribution to the profession at the local, national and international level.
Key Position Capabilities:
- Completion of PhD with relevance to cybercrime and cyber-based systems, prevention of serious crime, sparing use of criminal justice mechanisms, or other related field.
- Recognised academic standing as an eminent authority in the discipline area, providing leadership and fostering excellence in teaching and the scholarship of teaching.
- Significant experience with making original, innovative and distinguished contributions to teaching and learning and the nexus of teaching with scholarship and research.
See also: Lecturer; Teaching Specialist (Clinical/Practitioner) - Criminology with same deadline.
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Julius Stone Professorial Visiting Fellowship
Deadline: 31 January 2022
The Julius Stone Institute of Jurisprudence at the University of Sydney is delighted to announce the Julius Stone Visiting Professorial Fellowship. The Fellowship aims to support a visit of several weeks to the Institute by a theorist of law.
During their visit, the Fellow would be expected to present their research to interested academics at the University of Sydney and to participate in the activities of the Institute.
Expenses up to AUD15,000 will be reimbursed.
Expressions of interest, including a description (of up to 500 words) of the research that would be undertaken during the visit and a CV, should be submitted here by 31 January 2022.
For overseas academics, information about visas is available here.
Enquiries about the Fellowship should be sent to law.jsi@sydney.edu.au.
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Koori Engagement Worker - Hume Region, Merri Health
Deadline: Friday 1 February 2022
An opportunity exists for a full-time Koori Engagement Worker in a dynamic and supportive team that provides a range of services to clients who have been affected by violent crime.
The Koori Engagement Worker will be responsible for:
Working closely with key Aboriginal and mainstream organisations to build strong working relationships and awareness of the VAP program to increase access for Aboriginal community members to victim support.
Providing intake, supportive counselling, criminal justice support and case management to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clients who have been the victim of violent crime
For more information and how to apply, see the link below.
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Casual tutors needed for Criminology at the University of Sydney
Deadline: 4 February 2022
The University of Sydney’s Department of Sociology and Social Policy, School of Social and Political Sciences is seeking criminology tutors for undergraduate units of study across first, second and third year of the Criminology Major, including, for example, Exploring Criminal Justice; Crime, Punishment and Society; and Current Issues in Criminal Justice.
Criminology tutors must possess an understanding of criminological theory and social theory with related research/teaching background, and have at least undergraduate level tertiary qualifications in criminology or a related field to be eligible. Please email your expression of interest and CV to Estrella Pearce at Estrella.pearce@sydney.edu.au by 4th of February.
Please note that applicants may be contacted before the closing date.
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Grant: Access to Justice Innovation Fund
Deadline: 11 February 2022
The Access to Justice Innovation Fund provides grants of between $50,000 and $250,000 to support innovative projects designed to improve the way legal problems are solved.
The Fund has a total value of $1 million, with up to $250,000 in grants available annually for four years (2019/20 to 2022/23).
The minimum grant that may be applied for is $50,000. The maximum grant that may be applied for is $250,000. Multiple grants may be awarded in each financial year, to a total value of $250,000.
You must clearly demonstrate how your low cost, high impact project can reduce barriers to the justice system, particularly for socially and economically disadvantaged communities.
Priority will be given to proposals addressing access to justice concerns for:
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities
- Regional and remote communities
- Communities experiencing disadvantage.
Projects could include those that aim to explore new approaches to the delivery of legal assistance services and the resolution of legal problems, help people to navigate and access the justice system, promote collaborative approaches to reducing barriers to justice, and/or demonstrate how technology can improve access to, and user experience of, the justice system.
Your project must be focused on areas which fall within the NSW Government's legislative responsibility.
Applications are open to non-government organisations, not-for-profit organisations, or businesses that provide services to people living in NSW.
Government entities are not eligible to apply. Private individuals wishing to apply may only do so through partnership with an organisational entity
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Aboriginal Youth Justice Caseworker - Broken Hill Youth Justice Community Office
Deadline: 15 February 2022 - 11:59 PM
Broken Hill Youth Justice Community Office is looking for an Aboriginal Youth Justice Caseworker to provide front line services to young people at their Community Office.
This involves providing a range of quality externally and internally sourced services to detainees, youth justice conferencing clients, victims of crime and court mandated young people and their families. The YJ caseworker is part of a multi-disciplined team that aims to reduce re-offending of young people, enhance their functioning and support reintegration into their families and the community. As part of this role you will be:
- providing an Aboriginal perspective
- advocating on behalf of Aboriginal people in your community
- providing services to Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal young people and families
- building strong relationships with partner agencies to support and strengthen families and cultural connections
- using cultural knowledge to help inform and shape service delivery
Essential Requirements
- Relevant tertiary qualifications (diploma or higher) in social work, welfare, psychology, criminology, education or related field or equivalent experience.
- Current Driver’s Licence.
- Current NSW Working with Children Clearance
This position is open to Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants only.
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PhD Scholarships: Cyber Criminology (x2), University of Queensland
Deadline: 13 February 2022
Two (2) PhD scholarships in Cyber Criminology are available for students to begin in July 2022. These are funded by the UQ Cyber Security Initiative, which brings together academics, students, and professional staff from across the university – experts from social and political sciences, IT, computer science, cryptography, data science, mathematics, physics, business, and law, working together to address global cybercrime and cyber security challenges. More information about the UQ Cyber Security Initiative is available on the UQ Cyber website.
This PhD funding includes tuition, living stipend, and overseas health cover (if applicable). The current living stipend is $28,854 per year (tax free), indexed annually.
Research proposals are essential for applying. Proposed PhD projects are to be broadly focused on the human side of cybercrime or cyber security. For example, they may focus on offending, victimisation, prevention of, or responses to particular cybercrimes or cyber security problems, including but not limited to:
- Exploitation and abuse (e.g., online child exploitation; image-based abuse; technology-facilitated sexual or domestic violence; online hate).
- National security or social cohesion (e.g., disinformation; online extremism).
- Common cyber-enabled or cyber-dependent crimes (e.g., phishing; malware; online frauds; scams; hacking).
Regardless of topic, the key is to focus on the human side, whether behavioural, social, or cultural, as opposed to the technical side.
Successful applicants will be working with a supervisory team led by Principal Supervisor Dr Jonah Rimer, along with one or more Associate Advisors selected on the basis of their research expertise.
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Grant: Capstone Editing Grant for Mid-Career Researchers
Deadline: 24 February 2022
$5,000 for one researcher
You must be employed in a research-only position at a research institute, university or government science agency in Australia or New Zealand (i.e. if your position involves teaching you are not eligible and if you are a professional staff member you are not eligible).
You must be a mid-career researcher. This is defined as someone who 1) holds a PhD and 2) graduated from their PhD between five and ten years ago (excluding career interruptions in relation to caring responsibilities).
The research project must be one intended to lead to research output that will assist in the development of a research council funding application.
The grant can be used to cover any costs related to the research project, such as software or small lab equipment; domestic or overseas travel to learn new techniques or collaborate with colleagues; academic editing of the grant proposal; and data analysis.
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Lecturer in Criminology, University of Newcastle
Deadline: 15 February 2022
The Lecturer in Criminology will work across all areas of academic activity: education, research, and engagement. The successful candidate will be part of an innovative team, where they will utilise their demonstrated skills in blended learning and build and foster skills in research in the Criminology area. Those with a background in law are particularly encouraged to apply.
You will develop high-quality student-centred undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and deliver high-impact research. In addition, you will make a positive contribution to a culture of innovation and experience for students to engage and work with industry on challenging research problems.
This 3 year fixed-term position is located at the City Campus.
Completion of a PhD or equivalent qualification in Criminology in addition to relevant undergraduate qualifications is essential.
For additional information on the position contact Associate Professor Xanthe Mallett, School of Law (02) 4921 5488 or email: Xanthe.Mallett@newcastle.edu.au
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Campaign and Advocacy Coordinator – QLD, Justice Reform Initiative
Deadline: 5:00 PM AEDT, 28 February 2022
The Justice Reform Initiative is looking for a team of dedicated campaign and advocacy managers who are passionate about bringing about justice system change. They have the goal of reducing the numbers of people in prison by 50% by 2030.
The Justice Reform Initiative is a new national justice advocacy organisation working to reduce over-incarceration in Australia and promote a community in which disadvantage is no longer met with a default criminal justice system response. The Justice Reform Initiative currently has a network of over 100 eminent Australians as patrons, including two former Governors-General, former High Court judges, former parliamentarians from all sides of politics and many other established community leaders.
They also have strong support and partnerships with organisations and stakeholders around Australia who are all working to reduce incarceration. The advocacy and campaign managers will work directly with the Executive Director to implement the strategic plan and drive reform in each of the states and territories.
Further information, or to speak with the Executive Director, call: 0401 940 340. Contract to June 2023 (with likely extension).
People with lived experience of incarceration are encouraged to apply.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander candidates are encouraged to apply.
To see the key responsibilities and position description, and/or to apply, press the link below.
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