Judicial oversight of policing: investigations, evidence and the exclusionary rule

Police procedures and practices in the investigation of crime are shaped by many things. One particularly important constituent part of the development of investigative procedures and practices is the approach of the courts to the admissibility at trial of evidence obtained in a certain manner. While a judge can only address the specifics of whatever cases are brought before him, the judiciary as a whole have a significant role to play in terms of police accountability and governance through their development and application of any exclusionary rules of criminal evidence. This article examines the judicial oversight of policing by way of the exclusion of improperly obtained evidence at trial. Its central focus is on the development and operation of the exclusionary rule in Ireland, though relevant law in other jurisdictions, including England and Wales, the United States, Canada and New Zealand, is also considered. Particular attention is paid to the recent Irish Supreme Court decision of DPP v Cash, and its ramifications for judicial oversight of policing.     

Victim Protection Orders and the Stake in Conformity Thesis

Victim Protection Orders have gained wide use by local courts as one method to protect victims of domestic violence. This study of protection orders involves interviews with individuals who obtained such orders in Arizona. The research questions specifically addressed those variables known as the stake in conformity variables in the six attempted replications of the Sherman–Berk Minneapolis Police Study, to examine their potential relevance for the effectiveness of victim protection orders. The findings of this study are analyzed in terms of other research about the effectiveness of victim protection orders.     

The Role of Aggressive Peer Norms in Elementary School Children’s Perceptions of Classroom Peer Climate and School Adjustment

Journal of Youth and Adolescence - Although prior research has indicated that peer norms for aggression enhance the spread of aggression in classrooms, it is unclear to date how these norms relate...     

Entering Religious Life,Claiming Subjectivity: Irish nuns, 1930s–1960s

Despite the number of Irish women who entered religious life, especially in the decades following independence, very little is known about their motivations for joining or experiences therein. Based on their oral histories, this article explores how Irish women religious articulated their attraction to religious life. Providing the reader with a contextual background in which to place the narratives, it highlights the significance of several factors affecting the women’s decision to enter and, in particular, illuminates the claims to subjectivity revealed in the women’s accounts. Through varied responses, the women collectively rejected any notion that they were forced into religious life, asserting the decision to enter as truly their own. Comparing the ways the women framed their vocation with their families’ response to it, the article draws on Pierre Bourdieu’s notion of symbolic capital to explore the ways in which women are positioned as ‘social objects’ but present themselves as ‘subjects’.     

Individual Conceptions of Justice and Their Potential for Explaining Proenvironmental Decision Making

In Germany, community-based climate-protective decisions were measured on micro up to macro levels, and the role justice appraisals play in decision-making was investigated in comparison to responsibility-related and self-centered motives. Results reveal that in the field of carbon dioxide emission, gaps between those who are gaining profits and those who have to suffer from negative side effects are recognized by the community on a national as well as an international level. For gaining behavioral impact, the perception of these gaps needs to be regarded under a moral perspective and considered unjust. These justice appraisals are shown to be stable predictors of climate-protective commitments, even when powerful responsibility-related variables were included in the regression analyses. Self-centered motives proved to be of minor importance.