A Pre-Trial Domestic Violence Intensive Supervision Unit: Exploring Case Seriousness and Successful Disposition

This study measures the seriousness of domestic violence cases from the population of cases (N = 96) sentenced to a pre-trial domestic violence intensive supervision unit in one county probation office in Florida from April 1, 2006, to April 30, 2007. No significant differences were found in seriousness across sex, self-reported drug use, or attorney type. Furthermore, no relationship was found between the number of special conditions imposed by the court and the seriousness index value for a case. However, non-Whites had a significantly higher mean case seriousness index than Whites. Findings suggest that using the seriousness index presented in this study, some of the cases examined were not serious enough to warrant being sentenced to the pre-trial domestic violence intensive supervision unit. Implications for future research, including the use of lethality assessments, are addressed.     

‘An Unsolvable Justice Problem’? Punishing Young People's Sexual Violence

This article addresses the paradox that whilst young offenders in general are increasingly diverted from formal justice, there continues to be resistance to the idea of diversion for those young people who commit sexual offences. It explores the ways in which tensions arising from this paradox are currently being played out within criminal justice systems in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. Building on published and new research on criminal justice responses to young sexual offenders, the article highlights the problems of responding within any one justice framework to the – at times – competing concerns about risk, welfare, and control that these young offenders provoke. Drawing on criminological, psychological, and sociological work, the article argues that these concerns are accentuated in relation to young sexual offenders because of interrelated fears about the progressive nature of sexual offending; the ability of 'newer' justice practices to meet the need for 'affective' and 'effective' justice in relation to sexual crimes; and because of wider societal anxieties about sexual crimes, particularly where the victims and the offenders are children or young people.     

You Say You Want a Revolution: the Arab Spring,Norm Diffusion,and the Human Rights Regime

We discuss how the Arab Spring is a reflection of the resiliency of the human rights regime. In order to accomplish this, we explore the extent to which the Arab Spring represents norm diffusion among Middle East and North Africa (MENA) states. Specifically, we examine the cases of Tunisia, Egypt, and Bahrain and consider how economic and demographic changes created space for human rights discourse in these countries. We find that, in the case of MENA states, the Arab Spring represents significant pressure from below. Access to new forms of social media allowed civil society to organize, publicize, and protest relatively efficiently. Social media expanded the potential role of individuals and created newly empowered latent human rights activists who emerged as leaders of the norm diffusion process. The resulting diffusion of human rights norms in the Arab region represents one of the most significant expansions of the human rights regime since the regime’s inception.     

Research partnerships : A discussion paper based on case studies from “The place of Alcohol in the lives of New Zealand women” project

Research partnerships between anthropologists and the individuals or groups with whom they work may take a variety of forms. This paper examines four partnerships which evolved during the research project, “The Place of Alcohol in the Lives of New Zealand Women.” These partnerships were between anthropologists and Samoan, Cook Islands, Maori, and Lesbian women living in New Zealand. The strengths and weaknesses of each relationship are evaluated in an attempt to evolve a range of successful models of research partnership.     

Pre-emptive Strike: How Australia is Tackling Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs

In the past three years, new laws have been introduced in four Australian states designed to prevent criminal conspiracies by outlaw motorcycle gang (OMG) members and to disrupt the criminal activities of these gangs. The Australian laws push the boundaries previously set in similar laws in other jurisdictions, in that controls can be imposed because of membership of an organization perceived as a threat by the state. The laws constitute a pre-emptive strike against OMGs. However, there are very real issues about their likely effectiveness, given research suggesting that the primary structures targeted in this legislation, the clubs, are not necessarily the ones that OMG members use to conduct their criminal business. This article explores these issues, and suggests that the reaction of OMGs to this legislation may provide important information about OMG adaptiveness and resilience.     

The Culprit in Target-Absent Lineups: Understanding Young Children’s False Positive Responding

Young children (4- to 7-years old; N = 59) and adults (N = 53) were shown a series of targets that were either familiar (i.e., popular cartoon characters) or unfamiliar (unknown human faces) to assess whether children’s false positive responding with target-absent lineups is driven by social factors to a greater degree than cognitive factors. Although children were able to produce correct identification rates with virtually 100% accuracy for the cartoon characters, they produced a significantly lower correct rejection rate compared to adults. Children also produced a significantly lower correct rejection rate for the human faces compared to adults. These data are discussed for understanding children’s identification evidence.     

Does Lineup Size Matter with Child Witnesses

Children’s (N = 89) identification accuracy was examined as a function of lineup size. Participants (8–13 years) viewed a videotaped staged event, described what was witnessed and then were presented with either a target-present or—absent lineup containing 6 versus 12 lineup members. The elimination lineup procedure (Pozzulo and Lindsay J Appl Psychol 38: 2195–2209 1999) was used to present lineups. No significant differences in correct identification rates were found across the target-present sized lineups. In addition, the target was likely to “survive” at a comparable rate regardless of lineup size. Moreover, there was no significant difference in correct rejection rate as a function of lineup size. The non significance of these data are critical given that most research with child witnesses uses 6-person lineups whereas in many real world contexts larger sized lineups are used (e.g., 12-person in Canada).