The Effect of Paramilitary Protest Policing on Protestors' Trust in the Police: The Case of the “Occupy Israel” Movement

The use of paramilitary methods in civil policing tasks has become common in Western police agencies. Despite propositions that such methods should undermine the relationship between the police and the public, the effect of paramilitary policing on public trust in the police has not been empirically tested. In the present study, we examine this question in the context of protest policing, which has become a major concern for Western police agencies. Using a survey of 470 protesters who participated in “Occupy” protest events in Israel in 2012, we find that the perceived use of paramilitary methods has an independent and negative effect on trust, stronger than that of police effectiveness and the “neutrality” component of procedural justice. In‐depth interviews suggest that the significance of paramilitarism may be the result of a sense of alienation and criminalization it elicits among protesters who generally perceive themselves as law‐abiding citizens.     

The ‘illegal sentences which magistrates were daily passing’: The Backstory to Governor Richard Bourke's 1832 Punishment and Summary Jurisdiction Act in Convict New South Wales

Recent literature has recast the history of the British empire as a vast project of intervention in and reordering of colonial legal administrations. Closer inspection of local moments of legal reform, however, reveals substantial complications and contradictions in that project. This article re-considers Governor Richard Bourke's Punishment and Summary Jurisdiction Act 1832, the most celebrated legal intervention in the history of the ‘convict colony’ of New South Wales by a governor whose liberalism and humanitarianism epitomized the spirit of imperial reform agendas. The nature and objectives of Bourke's so-called Fifty Lashes Act are widely misunderstood. This article shows that while Bourke positioned his Act as a matter of legal urgency, its core aim was to render convict punishment more useful and economical. Moreover, Bourke's reforms were less innovative than is commonly assumed, being mostly required to re-assert and refine existing law that was being disregarded. Nevertheless, Bourke's reforms did address long-contested legal issues surrounding the summary jurisdiction of colonial magistrates and the local application of English transportation law. The backstory to the Act reveals the remarkably complicated and truly disordered state of the law in New South Wales, but this article also shows how the implementation of legal reform was seasoned with confusion and caution.     

Entrepreneurial ecosystems in cities: establishing the framework conditions

This study focuses on regional entrepreneurial ecosystems and offers a complex model of start-ups, Regional Entrepreneurship and Development Index (REDI) and six domains of the entrepreneurial ecosystem (culture, formal institutions, infrastructure and amenities, IT, Melting Pot and demand). Altogether they capture the contextual features of socioeconomic, institutional and information environment in cities. To explain variations in entrepreneurship in a cross-section of 70 European cities, we utilize exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modelling for regional systems of entrepreneurship using individual perception surveys by Eurostat and the REDI. This study supports policymakers and scholars in development of new policies conducive to regional systems of innovation and entrepreneurship and serves as a basis for future research on urban entrepreneurial ecosystems.     

Green Criminology Before ‘Green Criminology’: Amnesia and Absences

Although the first published use of the term ‘green criminology’ seems to have been made by Lynch (Green criminology. Aldershot, Hampshire, 1990/2006), elements of the analysis and critique represented by the term were established well before this date. There is much criminological engagement with, and analysis of, environmental crime and harm that occurred prior to 1990 that deserves acknowledgement. In this article, we try to illuminate some of the antecedents of green criminology. Proceeding in this way allows us to learn from ‘absences’, i.e. knowledge that existed but has been forgotten. We conclude by referring to green criminology not as an exclusionary label or barrier but as a symbol that guides and inspires the direction of research.     

Using the National Diabetes Audit to improve the care of diabetes in secure hospital in-patient settings in the UK

To examine the ability of two forensic units, one high secure and one medium secure, to meet the NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) standards of care for diabetes. We applied the National Diabetes Audit programme, which uses as standards the NICE guidelines, to assess the quality of care provided for patients in two forensic units. Of the 500 patients, 200 in high secure and 300 in medium secure, 88 (17.6%) had type 2 diabetes. None had Type 1 diabetes. Of those with Type 2 diabetes, the care of 74 (84%) met all 8 NICE recommended standards. Glucose levels were lower in the medium/low secure unit compared to the higher security environment. Whilst achievement of process-based outcomes was higher than those reported nationally, achieving clinical outcomes was more challenging. High-quality diabetic care can be provided for patients in forensic units. Benchmarking physical health outcomes against national criteria in mental health inpatients is a potential method of improving outcomes.     

The effect of digital technology on prisoner behavior and reoffending: a natural stepped-wedge design

Objectives

Although prisons aspire to rehabilitate offenders, they fail to prepare prisoners for release into our modern digitally sophisticated society. The objectives of the current study were to assess the impact of digital technology on the culture of prisons, and on prisoners’ ability to self-manage their behavior and reoffending.

Method

Using a natural stepped-wedge design, 13 prisons in the UK were examined that had installed self-service technology over a period of 7 years. A longitudinal multi-level model was used to analyze frequencies of disciplinary proceedings within and between the prisons before and after installation. Reoffending was examined in comparison with a control sample. Quantitative results were supported by a prisoner survey and usage data.

Results

Prison disciplinary offenses were significantly reduced over a two-year period, and reoffending in the first year after release was reduced by 5.36% compared to a 0.78% reduction in comparison prisons. The prisoner survey and usage data suggested that prisoners felt much more in control of their lives in prison and much more confident in coping with technology in the outside world.

Conclusions

The changes created by the introduction of digital technology offer the opportunity to make prisons more efficient for staff, and places of improved learning and rehabilitation for prisoners, contributing to a safer society. This study offers an important contribution to the field of corrections, providing the first quantitative assessment of the effect of prisoner self-service technology on prisoner behavior and reoffending.

     

Developmental Experiences During Extracurricular Activities and Australian Adolescents�� Self-Concept: Particularly Important for Youth from Disadvantaged Schools

Extracurricular activities provide adolescents with a number of positive personal and interpersonal developmental experiences. This study investigated whether developmental experiences that occurred during extracurricular activities were linked to a more positive self-concept for Australian adolescents, and whether this link was particularly salient for youth from disadvantaged schools. Adolescents (N = 1,504, 56% Female) from 26 diverse high schools across Western Australia were surveyed. The findings revealed that adolescents from low socio-economic status schools who participated in extracurricular activities had a more positive general self-worth and social self-concept than adolescents from similar socio-economic schools who did not participate in any extracurricular activities. Furthermore, the positive developmental experiences that occurred during extracurricular activities predicted a more positive general self-worth and social and academic self-concept, and this link was stronger for youth from low SES schools. These findings suggest that the developmental experiences afforded by extracurricular activities may foster positive adolescent development.