Computers in criminal justice — Realising the potential: Part II: The future

A number of trends are apparent from the current development of existing Criminal Justice computer systems (CJS). Apart from in probation, the first systems in each criminal justice agency in this country have been designed to assist with routine clerical and administrative tasks — book-keeping in the magistrates' courts, wordprocessing and finance in prisons, etc, which although effective at easing the clerical and administrative tasks have made little overall impact on the operation of criminal justice. They have not, for example, reduced the delays in the criminal justice process, or reduced the overcrowding in prisons. This is in contrast to the US, where computerisation in some courts, for example, has significantly reduced delay and has helped with the operation of sentencing guidelines to bring about a great consistency of sentencing. In Part II of his article A D Maclean looks at what the future holds as far as computers in criminal justice and concerned.     

Exhaled breath for drugs of abuse testing — Evaluation in criminal justice settings

Exhaled breath is being developed as a possible specimen for drug testing based on the collection of aerosol particles originating from the lung fluid. The present study was aimed to evaluate the applicability of exhaled breath for drugs of abuse testing in criminal justice settings. Particles in exhaled breath were collected with a new device in parallel with routine urine testing in two Swedish prisons, comprising both genders. Urine screening was performed according to established routines either by dipstick or by immunochemical methods at the Forensic Chemistry Laboratory and confirmations were with mass spectrometry methods. A total of 247 parallel samples were studied. Analysis of exhaled breath samples was done with a sensitive mass spectrometric method and identifications were made according to forensic standards. In addition tested subjects and personnel were asked to fill in a questionnaire concerning their views about drug testing. In 212 cases both the urine and breath testing were negative, and in 22 cases both urine and breath were positive. Out of 6 cases where breath was negative and urine positive 4 concerned THC. Out of 7 cases where, breath was positive and urine negative 6 concerned amphetamine. Detected substances in breath comprised: amphetamine, methamphetamine, THC, methylphenidate, buprenorphine, 6-acetylmorphine, cocaine, benzoylecgonine, diazepam and tramadol. Both the prison inmates and staff members reported breath testing to be preferable due to practical considerations. The results of this study documented that drug testing using exhaled breath provided as many positives as urine testing despite an expected shorter detection window, and that the breath sampling procedure was well accepted and provided practical benefits reported both by the prison inmates and testing personnel.     

Plea bargaining in the Nigerian criminal justice system: A procedural tool for loot recovery or justice administration?

Crime, Law and Social Change - Plea bargaining is one of the procedural tools introduced into the Nigerian Criminal Justice System to ensure quick dispensation of justice, save time and resources...     

Is restorative justice for sexual crime compatible with various criminal justice systems?

In addition to the more conventional approaches of the criminal justice system, this article suggests that there is a need for restorative justice as another method of addressing sexual crime. In support of this view, the present article explores the possibility of a hybrid justice system based on a complementary relationship between restorative justice and the criminal justice system. An analysis of the limits of the criminal justice system and the need for restorative justice in the contentious area of sexual crime will be followed by a detailed examination of key justice considerations when trying to marry both criminal justice and restorative justice perspectives. Such considerations include: the meaning of justice; legislation; sentencing principles; due process; victims’ rights; and the location of restorative justice within/alongside/outside the criminal justice system. The aim of this article is to determine whether it is possible to reconcile two seemingly juxtaposed methods of justice delivery in the context of sexual crime in order to create a hybrid system of justice that best protects and responds to the rights and needs of victims and offenders.     

Sex/gender‐based decision‐making in the criminal justice system as a possible (additional) explanation for the underrepresentation of women in official criminal statistics — a review of international literature

This article represents an analysis of the literature on sex‐based selection processes in the criminal justice system. It is only since the feminist wave of the sixties that sexual discrimination has been considered as an issue of importance in the study of the criminal justice system and that female criminality has been looked at more thoroughly. The article deals with the different assumptions and hypotheses which have come forward in the debate on the possible discrimination of men and women in the criminal justice process. In the first part of the article the various theoretical models are outlined: the chivalry and evil women hypotheses, the legal or etiological model, the social control theory, the family‐based justice model, and a multifactoral model. In the second part of the article, the results of empirical research relevant to these hypotheses are presented. American, British, Belgian, Dutch and some German literature has been taken into account. The review of the literature shows that the chivalry hypothesis cannot offer an all‐embracing explanation for the possibly perceived preferential treatment of women. Similar conclusions can be drawn for the explanatory value of the legal model. Although a more lenient treatment of women can sometimes be explained by legal factors, these factors can offer no more than a partial explanation for observed sex differences in the criminal justice system. Especially in the case of pre‐trial release and sentencing, more particularly when deciding whether or not to send a defendant to prison, a noticeable sex‐effect can still be found. In the literature we find strong suggestions — although not always confirmed — that an (initially observed) more lenient treatment of women at these stages can be explained by stereotypes and expectations about the personality of women as less dangerous and the specific role which women fulfill in western society.     

Data processing by police and criminal justice authorities in Europe – The influence of the Commission's draft on the national police laws and laws of criminal procedure

The proposal for a fundamental reform of the European data protection law, published by the EU Commission on 25 January 2012 is composed of two elements. Apart from a General Data Protection Regulation, the Commission proposes a second regulatory instrument, namely a Directive with regard to data processing by police and criminal justice authorities that shall supersede the Council Framework Decision 2008/977/JHA. This paper seeks to analyse the draft Directive in the context of the entire reform approach and scrutinizes a number of specific issues in regard to the scope, the requirements of data processing, notification duties and data transfer to third countries.     

What do students really know about criminal justice?

This survey of three hundred and twenty undergraduate students attempted to determine their knowledge of crime and punishment in North Carolina. Respondents answered a series of open- and closed-ended questions regarding various legal topics, such as statutory rape and the legal ages for tobacco and alcohol use. The participants were also asked to list punishments for various offenses, such as possession of marijuana, driving while intoxicated, and rape. They were then asked to define certain legal terms such as larceny. The results indicated that most students were unable to provide correct corresponding punishments for many offenses. They were also unable to accurately define various legal terms, such as robbery or rape. The implications for stronger education in the area of criminal justice are discussed.     

A meta-analysis of the correlates of turnover intent in criminal justice organizations: Does agency type matter?

Purpose

The study synthesizes the literature on turnover intentions to assess what domains (e.g., personal characteristics, work environment, and job attitudes) account for the strongest association with turnover intent, what are the characteristics of these relationships, and how do these relationships differ by criminal justice practitioner type.

Methods

The current study utilizes a systematic review to obtain studies for conducting a meta-analysis. The researchers utilized the r family/correlation coefficient. Studies were weighted by sample size, correlations converted to Fisher’s z, analyses performed, and results converted back to r for interpretation.

Results

In terms of the individual predictors for law enforcement, the five strongest variables included alternative job search behavior, job satisfaction, psychological distress, emotional exhaustion, procedural and distributive justice. The five strongest predictors of turnover intent for institutional corrections were normative commitment, emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, affective commitment, and job satisfaction. The five strongest predictors for community corrections included experience, alternative job search behavior, perceptions of coworkers, growth need strength, and job satisfaction.

Conclusions

The results of the meta-analysis confirmed the domain of personal characteristics, overall, has the weakest association with turnover intent whereas work environment and job attitude domains consistently display moderate-to-large effects for both law enforcement and corrections.     

Avoiding the emperor’s prophecy: a case for the primacy of emergency management in criminal justice and human security studies

Recent events have illustrated the reciprocal nature of the relationship between emergency management actors and law enforcement agencies. Emergency management and disaster studies, as fields of practice and academic scholarship are inherently interdisciplinary. Primary among the fields impacting their development is criminal justice. This relationship is confirmed as criminal justice departments continue to include specialized Homeland Security curriculum. However, even as universities and colleges around the country are integrating emergency management into traditional criminal justice programs, there remain gaps in recognition of the unique practical skills and perspectives disaster scholars bring to criminal justice programs. In many ways, disaster scholarship complements existing law enforcement-focused programs by expanding the breadth of what is considered public or community safety. During each phase of the disaster management cycle (preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation), emergency management research highlights the assistance of volunteer community disaster response organizations that are utilized to assist victims and survivors, and to distribute necessary aid and information. This essay provides a discussion of the linkages between emergency management, disaster studies, and criminal justice, and supports a call for a broadened, integrative approach to human security that fully recognizes the role of each.     

What does cost-benefit analysis add to decision making? Evidence from the criminal justice literature

This paper asks whether undertaking a cost-benefit analysis provides additional information to policy makers as compared to an analysis solely of the effect of an intervention. A literature review identified 106 evaluations of criminal justice interventions that reported both an effect size and measures of net benefit. Data on net benefit and effect size were extracted from these studies. We found that effect size is only weakly related to net benefits. The rank order of net benefits and effect size are minimally correlated. Furthermore, we found that the two analytic methods would yield opposing policy recommendations for more than one in four interventions. These bi-variate findings are supported by the results of multivariate models. However, further research is needed to verify the accuracy of the standard errors on net benefit estimates, so these models must be interpreted with caution.

A feminist analysis of the American criminal justice system’s response to human trafficking

While criminological and criminal justice scholars have made important contributions to human trafficking literature, to date, such scholarship has been devoid of a feminist analysis of the topic as scholars have spent little time reflecting on how patriarchy impacts the criminal justice system’s response to human trafficking. Such examination is necessary to understand how the issue of patriarchy impacts criminal justice system approaches to the crime as well as the outcomes of such anti-human trafficking efforts. It is argued the influence of patriarchy on criminal justice system policy development and practice undermines the system’s anti-human trafficking efforts.     

How many tiers of criminal justice in England and Wales? An approach to the limitation on fair trial rights

This article proposes a recognition of five tiers of criminal justice reflecting five degrees of limitation on fair trial rights instead of the traditional notion of two tiers of indictable and summary processes in England and Wales. Over the last 15 years, the radical transformation of summary criminal processes has challenged the idea of ‘two tiers of justice’. Such measures as preventive orders, out-of-court disposals and regulatory offences process, which are characterised by higher levels of restriction on due process rights in comparison with the traditional summary process in Magistrates’ Court, should be considered new tiers.     

Human rights in the administration of criminal justice in Southern Africa University of Botswana,Gaborone, Botswana October 8–10, 1990

Conference Papers

Human rights in the administration of criminal justice in Southern Africa University of Botswana, Gaborone, Botswana October 8–10, 1990     

The effect of race on criminal justice students’ career choices

This research compares White and Nonwhite criminal justice students in their career goals and reasons for studying criminal justice. Four hundred students from 12 four-year colleges and universities completed surveys for the study. The surveys included several questions about reasons why they chose to major in criminal justice and what the students hoped to achieve in their professional lives. Results of bivariate analyses indicated that students’ career choices do vary by race, but few of these differences remained significant when multivariate models were developed.     

Intimate partner violence against women. Does violence decrease after the entry of the alleged offender into the criminal justice system?

Intimate partner violence(IPV)is simultaneously assumed as a serious crime and a major public health issue,having recurrences as one of its main characteristics and,consequently,re-entries of some alleged offenders in the criminal justice system(CJS).The main goal of this study is to assess if in cases of female victims of IPV,violence decreases after the first entry of the alleged offender in the CJS.A retrospective study was performed based on the analysis of police reports of alleged cases of IPV during a 4-year period.The final sample(n=1488)was divided into two groups according to the number of entries in the CJS(single or multiple)followed by a comparative approach.Results suggest that violence decreases after the first entry of alleged offenders in the CJS.Re-entries were found in only 15.5%of the cases but they were accountable for 3.3 times more crimes on average.Besides,victims of recidivism presented more injuries and required more medical care.Thus,a small group of alleged offenders seems to be more violent and accountable for most of the IPV crimes registered in the CJS suggesting that regardless of legal sanctions aiming to deter violence,these measures may not be enough for a certain group of offenders.This study sustains the need for a predictive model to quantify the risk of repeated IPV cases within the Portuguese population.     

Justice for victims of human trafficking in Australia? Issues associated with Australia’s criminal justice response to trafficking in persons

Australia has witnessed an increase in human trafficking cases in recent years, most of which have involved women trafficked for sexual exploitation. In response, and within the framework of the United Nations Protocol to Prevent and Suppress Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, Australia has introduced legislation to combat human trafficking and punish traffickers. However, the number of prosecutions of human trafficking offences in Australia has, to date, been low. Drawing on the available literature, this article sets out to explore the reasons for this, which the paper argues have largely centered on Australia’s previously restrictive visa framework for trafficking victims. The paper also explores other obstacles and barriers to successful prosecutions, such as issues associated with discrediting and attacking vulnerable witnesses, and lengthy and complex trials. The paper argues that Australia needs to increase its efforts to meet the obligations set out by the United Nations Recommended Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights and Human Trafficking, and to balance its priorities regarding prosecution and victim protection.