Applying generic sentencing aims in domestic violence cases in England and Wales

There is an enduring legacy of trivialisation and ineffectiveness at various stages in the criminal justice process when it comes to responding to domestic violence. One area of contention relates to sentence. Sentencers in England and Wales are bound by law to have regard to a number of aims: the punishment of offenders; deterrence; public protection; rehabilitation; and reparation. Whilst commentators have criticised the framework on the basis that it is contradictory and engenders inconsistency, it will be argued that granting sentencers discretion to balance the prescribed aims maximises the potential for a successful outcome in individual cases.     

Beyond ‘Constitutionalism Beyond the State’

For contemporary constitutional theory, the key challenge posed by globalization undermines the traditional link between constitutionalism and the state: in response to multi‐level governance, theories of constitutionalism beyond the state have been advanced. This focus on levels obscures more fundamental epistemological questions raised by globalization about the nature of constitutionalism itself. Critical analysis of three leading schools of constitutionalism beyond the state – supranational, societal, and new constitutionalism – highlights their shared assumptions with state‐based thought regarding the separation between economics and politics, and the necessarily hegemonic character of constitutionalism. However, globalization intensifies critique of these assumptions, and questions their translation to the transnational context. An alternative scholarly fault line to the state/non‐state cleavage emerges between working within and transcending the politics of constitutional knowledge produced during the nation‐state era. A broader globalization perspective reveals the extent to which such processes of constitutional rethinking are under way through developments in the global South.     

Apology,Recognition, and Reconciliation

The article examines the role of apology in a process of reconciling with historic injustice. As with so many other facets of the politics of reconciliation, official apologies are controversial, at times strenuously resisted, and their purpose and significance not always well understood. The article, therefore, seeks to articulate the key moral and practical resources that official apologies can bring to bear in a process of national reconciliation and to defend these symbolic acts against some of the more influential criticisms from the skeptics. The analysis is developed in relation to apologies offered in the context of state-indigenous reconciliation processes in the Americas, Australasia, and other regions of the globe.     

Regulating the Influence Game in Australia

In this research note we describe the introduction and evolution of Australia's approach to regulating lobbyists. We examine how the lobbying regulations in place across Australia today compare with each other, as well as with lobbying regulations in some other countries around the world. The regulations in each Australian jurisdiction are classified according to their characteristics, providing insights into their commonalities and differences.     

An apparently jawless cadaver: a case of post-mortem slippage

Passer-by witnesses reported a human cadaver in woodland associated with an agricultural college to police in Northern Ireland. The cadaver comprised reasonably preserved feet, legs and pelvis, with poorly preserved arms and torso, lying with the torso down-slope abutting a fallen tree. A search of the area around the torso, and for some 20m around, failed to find the cranium and mandible. The mandible was found, embedded inside the chest cavity. The cranium was found some 30m away. The victim was later identified as a 24-year old drug addict who had absconded from a local hospital. Mapping of the area led us to speculate that he had tripped and fallen down-slope: other reasons for the body location were also considered. After death, the cadaver had further slipped down-slope forcing the mandible into the chest cavity: slippage of human remains is well-known in forensic and archaeological literature but not well documented. Knowledge of this process of cadaver 'slip' may save wasted police resources in future similar environments where the mandible, and possible other nearby bones appear missing yet are inside the body.     

TREAD: A Promising Change-Target for Partner Abuse Prevention with Adolescents

There is consensus in the partner abuse prevention education literature that a skills-focus is needed. However, appropriate instruments for evaluating the effectiveness of skills-focused programs do not exist. Against this background, and based on the dyadic slippery slope model of partner abuse, the Tendency to Resist or End Abusive Dynamics (TREAD) scale was developed. TREAD is defined as one’s tendency to respond assertively or protectively in situations involving warning-sign (potentially hurtful or controlling) behaviors by a partner. The scale’s development drew on the input of three Australian samples: mixed-gender adolescent focus groups, 426 young female respondents to an online survey, and 152 adolescent girls participating in a school-based program trial. When tested with the 152 adolescent girls, the TREAD scale had acceptable internal consistency and high inter-rater reliability. Principal components analysis identified three interrelated TREAD subscales (i.e., Conflict-Retaliation TREAD, Denigration TREAD, and Dominance-Possessiveness TREAD) all of which were negatively associated with frequency of exposure to warning-sign behaviors. This paper charts the preliminary development of the TREAD scale, presenting evidence supporting its validity as a change-target for partner abuse prevention education with adolescent girls and, potentially, boys.     

Macro versus micro remedies for alienation in the workplace

Manifestations of alienation are ubiquitous in modern society and are not limited to the workplace. The paradigm of alienation as delineated by Karl Marx is a valuable tool for understanding this phenomenon at societal and organizational levels. In addition, comprehension of this model can assist decision-makers in formulating better diagnoses and more effective solutions.

A review of the major points of Marx's three forms of alienation is described as a basis for examining the manifestations of alienation in society and the workplace. Subsequently, the author indicates societal solutions offered by selected scholars.

In examining the problem of estrangement in the workplace, it is clear that managers could identify the forces causing alienation more precisely through an understanding of Marx's paradigm. This knowledge would enable managers to select appropriate remedies to ameliorate the condition.

What the workers want most, as more than 100 studies in the past 20 years show, is to become masters of their immediate environments and to feel that their work and they themselves are important--the twin ingredients of self-esteem. Workers recognize that some of the dirty jobs can be transformed only into the merely tolerable, but the most oppressive features of work are felt to be avoidable: constant supervision and coercion, lack of variety, monotony, meaningless tasks, and isolation. An increasing number of workers want more autonomy in tackling their tasks, greater opportunity for increasing their skills, rewards that are directly connected to the intrinsic aspects of work, and greater participation in the design of work and the formulation of their tasks.

--Work in America     

Poverty and prosperity among migrant settlers in the Amazon rainforest frontier of Ecuador

Household‐level interview data from a probability sample survey conducted in the northeastern Ecuadorian Amazon in 1990 are used to examine the determinants of income and assets among migrant farmers in the agricultural frontier. Multivariate analysis indicates that size of plot owned, proximity to markets, duration of residence, quality of soil, receipt of technical assistance, off‐farm employment and initial wealth positively influence current household income and wealth. More land in cattle pasture is also associated with higher status. Some settlers are prospering relative to others despite variable soil quality, unsustainable land uses, geographic isolation, apparent scarcity of labor, and lack of supportive infrastructure. The article closes with a discussion of implications for policies to assist small farmers, with some consideration of the potential ecological consequences of farmers’ activities.