The regulation of heroin: Drug policy and social change in early twentieth-century Britain

Heroin, a derivative of opium, was first created in 1874 and was marketed in 1898 as a cough medicine by a German pharmaceutical company. In Britain, the dispensing of heroin was initially restricted to pharmacists under the general pharmacy and poisons legislation. Just 22 years later, the Dangerous Drugs Act 1920 made it a criminal offence to manufacture, sell, distribute or possess heroin for non-medical purposes. This article attempts to explain this major shift in the regulation of heroin by drawing on David Garland's influential book Punishment and Welfare. Garland traces the fundamental transformation in social regulation that occurred at the turn of the twentieth century, arguing that a new penal-welfarism emerged which was to underpin the welfarist politics that held sway until the 1970s. It is argued that by locating the shift in heroin regulation in this wider context of social change, some new insights are revealed. In conclusion, some implications of this argument for contemporary approaches to heroin are discussed.     

Inventing Drugs: A Genealogy of a Regulatory Concept

The trade in, and consumption of, illicit drugs is perhaps the archetypal ‘wicked problem’ of our time – complex, globalized, and seemingly intractable – and presents us with one of the very hardest legal and policy challenges of the twenty‐first century. The central concept of a ‘drug’ remains under‐theorized and largely neglected by critical socio‐legal and criminological scholars. Drawing on a range of primary archival material and secondary sources, this article sets out a genealogy of the concept, assembled a little over a century ago out of diverse lines of development. It is argued that the drug label is an invented legal‐regulatory construct closely bound up with the global drug prohibition system. Many contemporary features of the ‘war on drugs’ bear traces of this genealogy, notably how drug law enforcement often contributes to racial and social injustice. To move beyond prohibition, radical law and policy reform may require us to abandon the drug concept entirely.     

Predicting Serial Killers' Home Base Using a Decision Support System

The effectiveness of a geographical decision support tool (Dragnet) forlocating the base of serial offenders was compared across 570 modelscomprised of a range of negative exponential functions, buffer zonecomponents, and normalization parameters. The models were applied to thebody disposal locations within each series for 70 U.S. serial killers. Twonormalization parameters were compared for all functions. The test ofeffectiveness was a specifically defined measure of search cost. Whenapplied to the Dragnet predictions it was found that the specially developednormalization parameter (QRange) produced the optimal search costs. Theoptimal search cost was also found to be for a function that did not includeany buffer zone. The optimal, average search cost across the whole samplewas 11% of the defined search area. Fifty-one percent of the offendersresided in the first 5% of the search area, with 87% in the first 25%. Allresided in the total defined search area. These results support thepotential for operational tools using such procedures as well ascontributing to our understanding of criminal's geographicalbehavior. The applicability to other forms of serial crime is considered.     

An experimental study of the effect of structured videotape feedback on adolescent group psychotherapy process

Group psychotherapy with disturbed undersocialized adolescents requires modification of traditional group psychotherapy methods. The effectiveness of a structured, brief video-tape feedback and discussion on group psychotherapy process with this population was studied by an analysis of detailed ratings of each statement, or process unit; in randomly selected videotapes from a control and experimental group during a nine-month period. Significant differences in level of intimacy of verbal content and in frequency of feedback about behavior in content indicate that this technique is effective in facilitating group psychotherapy goals.Received Ed.D. from University of Kentucky. Research interests are group psychotherapy process and methodology.Received M.A. from North Carolina State University. Research interest is adolescent group psychotherapy.Received Ph.D. from North Carolina State University. Research interest is adolescent group psychotherapy.Received M.A. from University of North Carolina. Research interest is group psychotherapy process.Received Ph.D. from Purdue University. Research interets include analysis of small group processes.     

The use of the M-Vac® wet-vacuum system as a method for DNA recovery

Collecting sufficient template DNA from a crime scene sample is often challenging, especially with low quantity samples such as touch DNA (tDNA). Traditional DNA collection methods such as double swabbing have limitations, in particular when used on certain substrates which can be found at crime scenes, thus a better collection method is advantageous. Here, the effectiveness of the M-Vac® Wet-Vacuum System is evaluated as a method for DNA recovery on tiles and bricks. It was found that the M-Vac® recovered 75% more DNA than double swabbing on bricks. However, double swabbing collected significantly more DNA than the M-Vac® on tiles. Additionally, it was found that cell-free DNA is lost in the filtration step of M-Vac® collection. In terms of peak height and number of true alleles detected, no significant difference was found between the DNA profiles obtained through M-Vac® collection versus double swabbing of tDNA depositions from 12 volunteers on bricks. The results demonstrate that the M-Vac® has potential for DNA collection from porous surfaces such as bricks, but that alterations to the filter apparatus would be beneficial to increase the amount of genetic material collected for subsequent DNA profiling. These results are anticipated to be a starting point to validate the M-Vac® as a DNA collection device, providing an alternative method when DNA is present on a difficult substrate, or if traditional DNA collection methods have failed.     

Police recruits and perceptions of trust in diverse groups

Trust is critical in ensuring public co-operation with police and in turn building police legitimacy. Trust has been regarded as especially critical when police have sought to develop more positive interactions with diverse groups. Understanding how police officers perceive others and how this shapes trust in members of diverse groups is still developing. This study contributes valuable information regarding police perceptions of trust in minority group members; an area under-researched in policing studies, particularly in an Australian context. To understand how police recruit perceptions of socialization, interaction, and living and work choices affects their perceptions of trust in diverse groups of people, data were collected from a population of Police Recruits and Protective Service Officers (N = 1609) during pre-service awareness training. These were used in a Stepwise OLS model to ascertain opinions of trust in people distinguished by diverse identities. The results show socializing, and experiencing positive interaction whilst socializing with people from diverse groups, and the age of the participants, has a significant impact on the perceptions of trust police recruits have in members of diverse groups. However, this may not be enough to uphold positive levels of trust over time.     

Fixing failures of U.K. electoral management

Concerns about electoral malpractice have been raised in many democracies in recent years because of errors made in the administration of elections by local election officials (LEOs). This article argues that adopting appropriate policy instruments to manage LEOs is an under-explored method for improving election administration and reducing electoral malpractice. The article provides a case study of the use of performance benchmarking schemes in the UK 2008–2010. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 74 LEOs from 41 organisations subject to newly devised performance indicators. The research demonstrates that performance benchmarking can encourage learning amongst local electoral officials and strengthen central control over them.     

Measuring the quality of election administration

How do we distinguish between a ‘genuine’, ‘free and fair’, or ‘legitimate’ election and an election that is something less? In this article, we offer an answer to this vexing question: the Election Administration Systems Index (EASI). EASI is a practical, transparent, and sustainable tool for measuring the quality of elections in the developing world. The following pages describe the current limitations in measuring election quality, detail the EASI approach, and provide a comparative analysis of the results of its pilot implementation. EASI scores are drawn from a survey of experts on elections in the target country following a recent nationwide election. The analytical framework is comprised of three electoral dimensions: participation, competition, and integrity of the process. We also divide these dimensions temporally according to the electoral cycle: either pre-election, during the election, or post-election. The final product is a set of six primary scores displayed across dimension and time. By aggregating the survey data in this fashion, we provide for a nuanced assessment of an election by each dimension and across the cycle. As our pilot results demonstrate, EASI is a diagnostic tool for identifying electoral strengths and weaknesses and serves well for comparative assessments.     

Mediation: important preliminary questions: trustee's duties in trust disputes and trustee's powers of compromise

Before trustees can proceed to mediation, they need to knowwhether they have a duty to resist the claim that is being mediated.Before entering into mediation, trustees need to understandits duties in relation to the claim, and the scope of compromise.Applications for blessing are two ways of protecting to enterinto a compromise. These are considered in this article.