British Journal of Criminology - recent issues

THE RADZINOWICZ MEMORIAL PRIZE

Pratt, J. — 2009-06-17

Restorative Justice for Banks Through Negative Licensing

Braithwaite, J. — 2009-06-17

The most general lesson of the crime prevention literature is taken to be that repeat victimization and repeat offending are concentrated in time and space; early intervention to prevent wider inflammation of such hot spots is more effective than reactive general deterrence (as in economic models of crime). That prescription is applied to how the 2008 financial crisis might have been prevented and how the crimes of Enron and Arthur Andersen might have been tackled to ameliorate the 2001 crisis. Negative licensing based on walking the beat and kicking the tyres at financial hot spots, with reduced reliance on economic models of risk, is one remedy advocated. Then, the threat of negative licensing might be used to motivate restorative justice that transforms the ethical culture, particularly the bonus culture, of banks.

The International Ban on Ivory Sales and its Effects on Elephant Poaching in Africa

Lemieux, A. M., Clarke, R. V. — 2009-06-17

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) secured an agreement in 1989 among its member states to ban the international trade in ivory. This disruption of the international ivory market was intended to reverse a sharp decline in the African elephant population, which resulted from widespread poaching for ivory in the previous decade. The continent's overall population of elephants increased after the ban, but an analysis of elephant population data from 1979 to 2007 found that some of the 37 countries in Africa with elephants continued to lose substantial numbers of them. This pattern is largely explained by the presence of unregulated domestic ivory markets in and near countries with declines in elephant populations.

Guanxi and Fear of Crime in Contemporary Urban China

Zhang, L., Messner, S. F., Liu, J., Zhuo, Y. A. — 2009-06-17

Western research has investigated individual correlates of fear of crime with a primary focus on people's vulnerability. This vulnerability model examines the possible effects on fear of indicators of people's physical vulnerability (e.g. age and gender) and social vulnerability (e.g. income and education). As is well documented in the research on China, guanxi is a unique aspect of social capital in Chinese society. The present study argues that guanxi in the immediate neighbourhood is an important indicator of the social vulnerability of individuals in urban China. We accordingly hypothesize that residents who have strong neighbourhood guanxi are less likely to be fearful of crime. This hypothesis is assessed with data collected from a recent survey in the city of Tianjin, China. The results of multilevel analysis show that guanxi in the neighbourhood is a significant predictor of fear of crime in contemporary urban China when other important factors are controlled.

The Robbery of Motorcycle Taxi Drivers (Dake Zai) in China: A Lifestyle/Routine Activity Perspective and Beyond

Xu, J. — 2009-06-17

Using official police records, interviews with motorcycle taxi drivers and the participant observation of their working activities in Tianzhi city, China, this paper examines how and why a dimension of social stratification—household registration (hukou)—is related to the risk of robbery victimization and attempts to evaluate the effectiveness of applying lifestyle/routine activity theory to contemporary urban China. It discloses that migrant motorcycle taxi drivers are highly overrepresented in robbery victimization. Their night-time working practices enhance their chances of being robbed by both increasing exposure to likely offenders and reducing the presence of capable guardians. The study further explores how a structural factor—motorcycle ban policy—shapes different routine activities between migrant and resident motorcycle taxi drivers and, by extension, differential risks of robbery victimization. The paper concludes by pointing out the importance of locating lifestyle/routine activities in a larger Chinese macro-social structural context. The outcome is one of the very first ethnographic analyses of crime conducted in situ in China.

The Causal Connection Between Drug Misuse and Crime

Bennett, T., Holloway, K. — 2009-06-17

One of the most influential accounts of the causal connection between drug use and crime was developed by Paul Goldstein in a tripartite conceptual framework that divided explanations of the connection into ‘economic-compulsive’, ‘psychopharmacological’ and ‘systemic’ (Goldstein 1985). The aim of this paper is to examine the validity of the taxonomy in explained drug-related crime across different crime types and to identify some of the mechanisms involved. This was done by interviewing drug-misusing offenders currently serving sentences of imprisonment in the United Kingdom about the role of drug use in their recent crimes. The paper concludes that Goldstein's taxonomy should be refined to take into account the wide range of factors that influence the connection between drug use and crime.

Under These Conditions: Gender, Parole and the Governance of Reintegration

Turnbull, S., Hannah-Moffat, K. — 2009-06-17

Despite the widespread use of conditions in various phases of the criminal justice system (e.g. bail, probation, parole), there has been little theoretical examination of their purposes or the implications associated with their use. This paper extends the theoretical discussion of women prisoners’ reintegration by focusing on parole conditions as a form of ‘targeted governance’. Using national data on federally sentenced female offenders in Canada, it shows how parole boards constitute the female parolee as a fractured subject consisting of various ‘risk/need factors’ to which parole conditions are applied. It also considers how conditions are techniques of targeted governance that exemplify an integrated exercise of penal power, which is simultaneously productive and repressive: conditions help prepare women prisoners for ‘freedom’ on parole by mobilizing particular techniques of self-governance, while at the same time operate as modes of surveillance that police the boundaries of acceptable conduct.

Co-Offending, Age, Gender and Crime Type: Implications for Criminal Justice Policy

van Mastrigt, S. B., Farrington, D. P. — 2009-06-17

It has long been reported that many crimes are committed in groups, yet few studies of co-offending exist. In this paper, we argue that large-scale information on the prevalence of co-offending and its variations across age, gender and crime type is essential for the development of criminological theory and for the accurate estimation of important criminal justice measures like the probability of conviction and the incapacitative effects of imprisonment. To this end, we present results from the most extensive multivariate analysis of co-offending available in the United Kingdom to date. Findings indicate that a minority of detected crime implicated multiple offenders, and that co-offending decreased with age, was greater for females and was most common for robbery and burglary. Age, gender and crime type independently predicted co-offending. Implications for criminal justice policy and theory are discussed.

Cultural Criminology: An Invitation. By Jeff Ferrell, Keith Hayward and Jock Young (London: Sage, 2008) * Criminal Identities and Consumer Culture: Crime, Exclusion and the New Culture of Narcissism. By Steve Hall, Simon Winlow and Craig Ancrum (Cullompton: Willan, 2008, 248pp. {pound}19.50 pb)

Carlen, P. — 2009-06-17

Violence and Sex Work in Britain. By Hilary Kinnell (Cullompton, Devon: Willan Publishing, 2008, 290pp. {pound}19.50 pb)

Self, H. J. — 2009-06-17

Police in the Age of Improvement: Police Development and the Civic Tradition in Scotland, 1775-1865. By David G. Barrie (Uffculme, Devon: Willan Publishing, 2008, xii + 307pp. {pound}45.00)

Dodsworth, F. — 2009-06-17

Victims' Rights, Human Rights and Criminal Justice. By Jonathan Doak (Oxford: Hart Publications, 2008, 325pp. {pound}30.00 pb)

O'Mahony, D. — 2009-06-17

ASBO Nation: The Criminalisation of Nuisance. Edited by Peter Squires(Bristol: Policy Press, 2008, 383pp. {pound}24.99 pb)

Rodger, J. J. — 2009-06-17

Sexual Assault and the Justice Gap: A Question of Attitude. By Jennifer Temkin and Barbara Krahe (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2008, xi + 257pp. {pound}30.00 pb)

McAlinden, A.-M. — 2009-06-17

The Prisoners' Dilemma: Political Economy and Punishment in Contemporary Democracies (The Hamlyn Lectures 2007). By N. Lacey (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008, 235pp.)

Morgan, R. — 2009-06-17

Restorative Justice, Self-interest and Responsible Citizenship. By Lode Walgrave (Cullompton: Willan Publishing, 2008, 240pp. {pound}25.99 pb)

Karstedt, S. — 2009-06-17

Reluctant Gangsters: The Changing Face of Youth Crime. By John Pitts (Cullompton, Devon: Willan Publishing, 2008, 176pp. {pound}22.00 pb)

Muncie, J. — 2009-06-17

A Deafening Silence: Hidden Violence against Women and Children. By Patrizia Romito (Bristol: Policy Press, 2008, 223pp. {pound}52.00 hb, {pound}19.99 pb)

Westmarland, N. — 2009-06-17

Work, Family and Criminal Desistance: Adult Social Bonds in a Nordic Welfare State

Savolainen, J. — 2009-04-10

This research presents an application of Sampson and Laub's theory of age-graded informal social control in a national environment in which the structural and cultural contexts of work and family are radically different from the United States, where the theory was developed. Focused on a sample of Finnish recidivists, the study examines the role of work, parenthood, marriage and cohabitation in the process of criminal desistance. The study finds empirical support for the basic assumptions of the theory as well as the general contention that the restraining capacity of adult life course transitions is sensitive to the cultural context in which they are embedded.

The Path and Promise of Fatherhood for Gang Members

Moloney, M., MacKenzie, K., Hunt, G., Joe-Laidler, K. — 2009-04-10

While an increase in research on criminal desistance has occurred in recent years, little research has been applied to the gang field. Using qualitative interview data, this article examines fatherhood as a potential turning point in the lives of 91 gang members in the San Francisco Bay Area. Fatherhood initiated important subjective and affective transformations that led to changes in outlook, priorities and future orientation. However, these subjective changes were not sufficient unless accompanied by two additional features: first, changes in the amount of time spent on the streets and, second, an ability to support oneself or one's family with legal income. Though fatherhood is no panacea, becoming a father did act as an important turning point toward desistance and motivator for change for some.

The Responsibilization Strategy of Health and Safety: Neo-liberalism and the Reconfiguration of Individual Responsibility for Risk

Gray, G. C. — 2009-04-10

Workplace safety is undergoing a process of ‘responsibilization’. While employers have traditionally been the target of health and safety law, workers are increasingly assigned greater responsibility for their own safety at work and are held accountable, judged, and sanctioned through this lens. This is illustrated through an analysis of the rationales and mentalities of a new ticketing regulatory system in Canada whereby workers are targeted for sanctions and blamed for health and safety violations. Under the responsibilization strategy of health and safety, workers are not only re-defined as both potential victims and offenders but they also find themselves forced to adopt a rights-defined identity. This is a significant albeit subtle shift that paves the way for a host of new projects that strive to reveal the discourses and techniques that define and characterize individual responsibilization in health and safety.

From Dangerousness to Precaution: Managing Sexual and Violent Offenders in an Insecure and Uncertain Age

Hebenton, B., Seddon, T. — 2009-04-10

Theorists such as Ewald and Ericson, in their respective writings, argue that, increasingly, governmental responses to incalculable, but high-consequence, threats to life and security are framed by what has been described as ‘precautionary logic’. Neither theorist sought to analyse and develop the argument with regard to the problem of protecting the public from ‘dangerous’ sexual and violent offenders. This article takes up this challenge. It re-describes and refines features common to their characterizations of ‘precaution’ and examines how this approach to risk management is playing out in the context of decision-making practices. We outline the significance of this process and show how precautionary logic is refiguring the institutions of law and science in the management of sexual and violent offenders. Lastly, we consider the implications of our analysis for the normative politics of risk and security by exploring how the approach to the future entailed in the paradigm enframes ‘security’ and arguably stifles democratic participation and innovation in ways of responding to our fears.

Turning Mirrors Into Windows?: Assessing the Impact of (Mock) Juror Education in Rape Trials

Ellison, L., Munro, V. E. — 2009-04-10

In 2006, the Government proposed allowing prosecutors in England and Wales to adduce ‘general’ expert witness testimony in rape cases. This initiative was based on two assumptions—first, that jurors currently lack an adequate understanding of rape complainants’ post-assault behaviour (which, in turn, generates inappropriate inferences regarding credibility) and, second, that expert testimony offers a useful vehicle for addressing such juror ignorance. In a previous article, the authors reported on a mock jury study that provided empirical support for the first of these claims—at least in regard to a complainant's calm demeanour, delayed reporting or lack of physical resistance. In this article, the authors investigate whether educational guidance presented at trial—via expert testimony or an expansive judicial instruction—can have the intended beneficial impact of redressing popular misconceptions, thereby leading to a fairer assessment of complainant credibility in rape cases.

Confidence In The Criminal Justice System: Does Experience Count?

Van de Walle, S. — 2009-04-10

Public confidence in the Criminal Justice System has been found to be relatively low compared to public confidence in many other institutions. This lack of confidence has been attributed, in part, to low public understanding of how the courts work. Greater experience with the justice system is often suggested as a way to increase confidence in its fairness, efficiency and effectiveness. In this article, therefore, we first explore the difficulties of assessing attitudes towards the Criminal Justice System and then, distinguishing between four types of experience, we use a multivariate model controlling for socio-demographic characteristics to map the effect of experience on evaluations of the fairness, efficiency and effectiveness of the criminal courts. Experience is found to have only a marginal effect on these evaluations.

'I'm a Detainee; Get Me Out of Here': Predictors of Access to Custodial Legal Advice in Public and Privatized Police Custody Areas in England and Wales

Skinns, L. — 2009-04-10

This article examines anew the factors that predict whether detainees in police custody request legal advice, a due process right, and whether those requests are met. It is primarily based on quantitative data collected from custody records, in one public and one privatized custody area in England and Wales, which are analysed using logistic regression. By comparing these two types of custody area, I was able to develop new insights into a neglected area of research. I conclude that privatized custody areas have unexpected consequences for procedural justice. The newer and less austere conditions may facilitate a higher proportion of requests for legal advice, which, in turn, results in higher absolute numbers of legal consultations, although a similar proportion of unmet requests. And, surprisingly, given the wider context of a more vigorous form of managerialism, this suggests that there has not been a deepening of the tendency for due process values to be trumped by crime control values.

Re-Thinking Miscarriages of Justice: Beyond the Tip of the Iceberg . By Michael Naughton (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007, 248pp. {pound}48.00)

Quirk, H. — 2009-04-10

Decisions to Imprison: Court Decision-Making Inside and Outside the Law. By Rasmus H. Wandall (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2008, {pound}55.00 hb)

Henham, R. — 2009-04-10

The Irish War on Drugs: The Seductive Folly of Prohibition. By Paul O'Mahony (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2008, 244pp. {pound}55.00 hb, {pound}16.99 pb)

Murphy, T. — 2009-04-10

The Phantom Capitalists: The Organization and Control Of Long-Firm Fraud . By Michael Levi (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2008, lxxxiv + 356pp. {pound}60.00 hb)

Tombs, S. — 2009-04-10

Penal Populism, Sentencing Councils and Sentencing Policy. Edited by Arie Freiberg and Karen Gelb (Cullompton, Devon: Willan Publishing, 2008, 248pp. {pound}25.00 pb)

Whitehead, P. — 2009-04-10

Crime, Aboriginality and the Decolonisation of Justice. By H. Blagg (Leichhardt, NSW: Federation Press, 2008, 176pp. {pound}20.99)

Cunneen, C. — 2009-04-10

Handbook of Probation. Edited by Loraine Gelsthorpe, and Rod Morgan (Cullompton: Willan, 2007, 626pp. {pound}32.50)

Green, S. — 2009-04-10

Making Counter-Law: On Having No Apparent Purpose in Chicago

Levi, R. — 2009-02-16

Faced with the most violent summer in its history, the City of Chicago enacted a gang loitering ordinance, making it an offence to have ‘no apparent purpose’ on city streets. This paper analyses the testimonies of Chicago residents and aldermen to draw out the lay narratives of insecurity that underwrote the ordinance. These testimonies provide evidence for Ericson's (2007) model of counter-law: the ordinance was a response to broad insecurity among residents, a perceived failure of existing risk management systems, and a view that liberal legal principles were themselves aggravating residents’ insecurity. Yet, while counter-law is generally theorized as undermining conventional legality, this paper draws on legal consciousness research and finds that the polysemic appeal of legality endures the counter-law turn.

Does Policing the Risk Society Hold the Road Risk?

Ferret, J., Spenlehauer, V. — 2009-02-16

Ericson and Haggerty's book, Policing the Risk Society (1997), sets out to annul Bittner's classical, coercion-based reading of the police and replace it with a radically new paradigm that foregrounds the panoptical or knowledge work dimension of the police and its potential to serve the interests of non-police social-disciplinary institutions. In this article, we test this neo-Foucauldian paradigm on the basis of a body of research into road traffic policing. As a result, we observe that though non-police owner-managers of new risks challenge the societal immanence, centrality and publicness of police organizations, with time, these challenges fail. We therefore argue that Ericson and Haggerty's notion of panoptical policing should be taken as a theoretical innovation, which, far from eliminating Bittner's paradigm, enhances it with a new force.

Policing Housemaids: The Criminalization of Domestic Workers in Bahrain

Strobl, S. — 2009-02-16

This research stems from ethnographic observations in 2005 and 2006 of the women's sections of police stations in Bahrain. It uncovered details of a larger social and economic problem in the Arabian Gulf countries involving the unique legal status of the female expatriate guest workers. Housemaids or former housemaids formed the majority of female defendants who were ethnographically observed at Bahrain's local police stations. Observations revealed that this reflected an overall trend of criminalization of domestic worker-related labour disputes. This research presents the types of cases observed and discusses the women police as agents of social control whose job involves handling a larger socio-economic problem at the backend, through policing.

Trade Secrets: Intersections between Diasporas and Crime Groups in the Constitution of the Human Trafficking Chain

Turner, J., Kelly, L. — 2009-02-16

Human trafficking is an old, but increasingly complex, phenomenon. In an age of globalization and transnationalism, demand for cheap labour and services fuels a trade deeply rooted in different cultural and historical contexts. Human traffickers share those roots with their respective diasporas the world over. This paper examines the case for an empirical investigation, and gender-sensitive analysis, of the connections between crime networks engaged in international human trafficking and their respective diasporas in countries of transit and destination. It proposes a typology to assist research into, and analysis of, the extent to which, and how, diasporas may play a part in the processes that constitute the cross-border trade in human beings.

Reacting to Rape: Exploring Mock Jurors' Assessments of Complainant Credibility

Ellison, L., Munro, V. E. — 2009-02-16

This article discusses the findings of a study in which volunteers observed one of nine mini rape trial reconstructions, and were asked to deliberate as a group towards a verdict. In a context in which research with ‘real’ jurors is prohibited, these deliberations were analysed to better understand what goes on behind the closed doors of the jury room in rape cases. While previous research has established that jurors are often influenced by extra-legal factors relating to the complainant's behaviour before an alleged attack, this study explored the impact of complainant conduct during and post-assault on assessments of her credibility. More specifically, it examined the effects of (1) lack of physical resistance; (2) delayed reporting; and (3) calm emotional demeanour.

Explaining Ethnic Inequality in the Juvenile Justice System: An Analysis of the Outcomes of Dutch Prosecutorial Decision Making

Weenink, D. — 2009-02-16

Most studies of the treatment of minorities in criminal justice systems show that ethnic minorities are punished more harshly. This paper aims to explain ethnic inequality in prosecutorial decision making in the Dutch juvenile justice system. Based on statistical analyses of 409 case files, it emerged that ethnic minorities are more often summoned to juvenile court. The prevailing source of the ethnic unequal treatment lies in the reporting of troublesome encounters between judicial officials and suspects from ethnic minority descent. A qualitative analysis of 97 descriptions of such troublesome encounters showed that native Dutch suspects were more often regarded as defiant, while ethnic minorities were more often perceived as equivocating. Future research might focus on the ways in which judicial officials interpret the observed and reported behaviour of suspects, and the extent to which these stem from broader cultural stereotypes, ideologies and anxieties regarding ethnic minorities.

Aggregating to Versatility?: Transitions among Offender Types in the Short Term

McGloin, J. M., Sullivan, C. J., Piquero, A. R. — 2009-02-16

Empirical work consistently shows that offenders demonstrate diverse offending profiles over the life-course, but recent research also reveals indications of specialization in the short term. One way to reconcile these findings is the proposal that offenders favour certain offence types during the short term, largely because of opportunity structures, but that because of changing situations and contexts over the life-course, their offending profiles aggregate to versatility over the criminal career. The current inquiry also proposes that a particular analytic technique, latent transition analysis (LTA), is especially well suited for investigating this premise. This method both (1) derives latent classes of offender ‘types’ from the data, as well as (2) assesses the level and type of transitions among these types over time. We provide an empirical example that demonstrates the utility of this method and investigates the tenability of this view of specialization. Results emerging from life-event history self-report data on offending garnered from incarcerated felons provide modest support for the idea that offenders have crime preferences in relatively narrow time periods, but that they transition over time, thus suggesting a tendency to ‘aggregate to versatility’. The discussion considers the implications of these findings as well as offers some key points for future research.

Prostitution, Politics and Policy. By Roger Matthews (Oxon: Routledge-Cavendish, 2008, 157pp. {pound}24.99) * Paying for Pleasure: Men who Buy Sex. By Teela Sanders (Cullompton: Willan Publishing, 2008, 242pp. {pound}19.99)

Policek, N. — 2009-02-16

Victims, Crime and Society. Edited by Pamela Davies, Peter Francis and Chris Greer (London: Sage, 2007, 292pp. {pound}19.99)

Hall, M. — 2009-02-16

Domestic Violence: The Five Big Questions. Edited by Mangai Natarajan (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007, 600pp. {pound}140.00)

Ahmad, N. — 2009-02-16

Terrorism, Rights and the Rule of Law: Negotiating justice in Ireland. By B. Vaughan, and S. Kilcommins (Cullomtpon: Willan Publishing, 2008, 234pp. {pound}18.99pb)

Eriksson, A. — 2009-02-16

The Critical Criminology Companion. Edited by Thalia Anthony and Chris Cunneen (Sydney: Hawkins Press, 2008, 336pp. {pound}26.00 pb)

Carlen, P. — 2009-02-16

Race and Policing in America: Conflict and Reform. By R. Weitzer and S.A. Tuch (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006, 225pp. {pound}16.99)

Rowe, M. — 2009-02-16

My Father's Watch: The Story of a Child Prisoner in 70s Britain. By Patrick Maguire (London: Fourth Estate, 2008, 432pp., {pound}16.99 hb)

Sim, J. — 2009-02-16