Appeals to community and crime prevention

This paper considers the growing appeals to the idea of community in criminal justice policy and the involvement of actual communities in criminal justice initiatives. It draws on a completed two year research study of a number of community-based crime prevention initiatives in the South East of England. The paper considers the nature of community to which appeals are made in criminal justice discourse and policies, the contribution of community to the practices of social order and the nature of community representation and participation in crime prevention initiatives. It is argued that appeals to community in crime prevention, and crime control more generally, embody shifts in what constitutes the legitimate responsibilities of individuals, collectivities and the state. This has a number of implications, the first of which is a redrawing of the cost of policing and security services. Additionally, there is an associated shift in blame for failure. Finally, actual community involvement in crime control gives rise to new structures and forms of local governance that evoke key questions about the regulation of social relations, the nature of conflict resolution, citizenship, democracy and social justice.     

A Cross-Cultural View of Adults’ Perceptions of Children’s Rights

This study examined how the need for autonomy may be coexisting with current cultural norms. A total of 264 U.S., 76 Swiss, and 51 British adults completed two perceptions of children’s rights surveys. The results showed that Swiss and British participants were significantly more likely to advocate for autonomy or self-determination rights than same-aged U.S. adults. British participants were also more likely to advocate for children’s self-determination rights than U.S. and Swiss participants, whereas Swiss adults were more likely to grant children nurturance rights than British and US adults. Generally, parents were less likely to advocate for autonomy than non-parents. The results are discussed in terms of individualism—collectivism, self-determination theories, and parentalism.     

Immigrants, assimilation, and perceived school disorder: An examination of the “other” ethnicities

Extant research on school disorder has largely ignored modern immigrant groups, or has lumped these groups in an “other” category. This was often done for pragmatic reasons, but it likely masked any unique experiences these groups had with regard to school disorder. The current study examined Latino and Asian immigrant students’ experiences with school disorder using data from the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study. Findings indicated that Latino and Asian immigrant students report marked differences in school disorder. Current results revealed, in particular, that Asian immigrants report significantly higher levels of school disorder even though they outperform Latino students academically. Assimilation variables, however, have little to do with such perceptions. Implications from these findings are discussed.     

Comte's Caveat: How We Misunderstand Terrorism

Since the end of the Cold War, and particularly since September 11, 2001, the U.S. Government has substantially misunderstood its circumstances and has launched policies based on a compound error that has made those circumstances worse. The error consists of three parts: thinking the United States had more usable power after the Cold War when it had less; misreading the sources of apocalyptical terrorism; and failing to correct its misreading because of a bias set deep in its own political culture. Seeing the situation and the problems as they really are would lead to vast changes in both foreign and homeland security policies.