New Zealand lawyers and conveyancers disciplinary tribunal cases involving vulnerable clients, 2011–2017*

ABSTRACT

This research analyses disciplinary decisions of the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal (NZLCDT) from 2011 to 2017 that involve vulnerable clients. Increasingly, scholarship discusses vulnerability as an ethical concept, including in the legal context. Based on published decisions, the present study inquires whether some legal clients’ vulnerability warrants special attention. Twenty-five of the 193 clients in the NZLCDT decisions qualified as vulnerable based upon age, gender, mental health/neuro-disability or immigrant status. The results may inform disciplinary bodies and inspire preventive strategies by lawyers, educators and regulatory bodies. Ultimately, this evidence-based analysis magnifies the importance of client-centred approaches to risk reduction in legal practice.     

Zombies,Gender, and Student Active Learning

Abstract

While the use of active learning exercises and the incorporation of popular culture in the classroom have increased in recent years, the study of potential gendered effects on learning and engagement when it comes to these practices has been limited. In this study, data are collected from international politics courses using a zombie outbreak as the theme for a United Nations simulation to explore whether there are unintentional gendered outcomes from these activities. Contrary to expectations of previous literature, no statistical differences manifest between men and women in enjoyment and learning when using zombie themes in active learning.     

‘Brightening their leisure hours’? The experiment of BBC Women's Hour, 1923–1925

ABSTRACT

On 2 May 1923, the newly established BBC, launched Women's Hour, a daily bespoke programme aimed at its female audience produced by Ella Fitzgerald, a former Fleet Street journalist. In December 1923 a Women's Advisory Committee (WAC) was established to represent women's interests at the BBC with eminent members who included the Chairman of the National Federation of Women's’ Institutes, Lady Denman; the actress Dorothea Baird and the physician Elizabeth Sloan Chesser. The WAC, working with Fitzgerald and other BBC officials, introduced into Women's Hour an innovative range of programme ideas. It also prompted a debate about the premise of the programme, whether it should be about domesticity or provide escapism from the ‘common task’ of housework. In addition the WAC challenged the Women's Hour name. Through a consideration of the programme and the WAC, both of which were short-lived, this article explores how the BBC sought to address its female audience in the early 1920s.     

Negotiated compliance at the street level: Personalizing immunization in England,Israel and Sweden

Often portrayed as behaviour that is inconsistent with policy goals, public noncompliance poses a significant challenge for government. To explore what compliance efforts entail on the ground, this study focuses on childhood immunization as a paradigmatic case where a failure to ensure compliance poses a public health risk. The analysis draws on 48 semi‐structured interviews with frontline nurses and regional/national public health officials in England (N = 15), Sweden (N = 17) and Israel (N = 16), all of which have experienced periodic noncompliance spikes, but differ in direct delivery of vaccination provision. Compliance efforts emerged as a joint decision‐making process in which improvisatory practices of personalized appeals are deployed to accommodate parents’ concerns, termed here ‘street‐level negotiation’. Whereas compliance is suggestive of compelling citizens’ adherence to standardized rules, compliance negotiation draws attention to the limited resources street‐level workers have when encountering noncompliance and to policy‐clients’ influence on delivery arrangements when holding discretionary power over whether or not to comply.     

The lack of experimental research in criminology—evidence from Criminology and Justice Quarterly

Journal of Experimental Criminology - Despite experiments being termed the “gold standard,” criminology has been slow to adopt experimentation as a methodology. The goal of this...     

Taxing Times: Taxation,Divided Societies and the Informal Economy in Northern Nigeria

This paper challenges the notion that taxing the informal economy provides a mechanism for increasing popular political voice and rebuilding the social contract. It contends that current arguments for taxing the informal economy suffer from a Eurocentric understanding of taxation and state formation, and a fiscally essentialist and undifferentiated notion of the informal economy. Drawing on fieldwork in northern Nigeria, this paper shows that history, gender, wealth and ethno-religious identity influence how taxing the informal economy shapes governance outcomes. Evidence from Nigeria suggests an inverse relationship between informal economy taxation and political voice, posing the risk that increased taxation will exacerbate social divisions rather than rebuild the social contract.     

The RCMP's “Mr. Big” sting operation: A case study in police independence,accountability and oversight

This paper analyses the RCMP's “Mr. Big” undercover investigation technique, which involves the use of undercover officers posing as high‐ranking members of a criminal organization. These officers befriend a target (the suspect) and promise the suspect that their leader (Mr. Big) can help the target in several ways; in exchange, the officers demand that the suspect truthfully reveal past criminal activity to establish credibility and protect the organization against surprises. There appears to be little interest on the part of state actors, other than the courts, in reducing police independence and providing more accountability and oversight for Mr. Big and other undercover operations. Yet, as parts of Canada's criminal justice system, such operations deserve scrutiny because of their cost and potential for wrongful convictions. This article calls for oversight of the police by several actors, including legislators providing guidelines for police investigations, closer judicial scrutiny and executive oversight of police operations, and improved police training.