Perceptions of restorative justice concepts: an evaluation of university housing residents

This study focuses on the perceptions of students who resided in a university residential hall regarding methods of conflict resolution and concepts of restorative justice. Furthermore, comparisons of perceptions between residents who participated in restorative justice workshops with residents who did not are also made. Variables studied include: understanding the perspectives of others, willingness to approach others, consideration of how to approach others, and awareness of communication styles during conflict situations. Additional considerations include a willingness for inclusion, providing perspectives, and listening and compromising during conflict situations. Also explored is usage of dialogue as well as residents becoming better equipped to approach others, and utilizing or sharing information about restorative justice concepts with others following restorative justice workshops. Findings suggest that residents exposed to restorative concepts during workshops were more likely than non-attenders to listen to the perspectives of others regarding conflict situations. The results indicate that a number of the residents within the university housing setting shared and utilized restorative justice techniques with others following attendance of the restorative workshops.     

“When perhaps the real problem is money itself!”: the practical materiality of Bitcoin

This paper investigates the semiotics of Bitcoin, an electronic cash system that uses decentralized networking to enable irreversible payments. For enthusiasts, Bitcoin provides an alternative to currencies and payment systems that are seen to threaten users' privacy, limit personal liberty, and undermine the value of money through state and corporate oversight. Bitcoin's promise lies in its apparent capacity to resolve these concerns not through regulatory institutions or interpersonal trust, but through its cryptographic protocols. We characterize this semiotics as a “practical materialism” and suggest it replays debates about privacy, labor, and value.     

The European 2030 climate and energy package: do domestic strategy adaptations precede EU policy change?

The European Union’s 2030 climate and energy package introduced fundamental changes compared to its 2020 predecessor. These changes included a stronger focus on the internal market and an increased emphasis on technology-neutral decarbonization while simultaneously de-emphasizing the renewables target. This article investigates whether changes in domestic policy strategies of leading member states in European climate policy preceded the observed changes in EU policy. Disaggregating strategic change into changes in different elements (goals, objectives, instrumental logic), allows us to go beyond analyzing the relative prioritization of different goals, and to analyze how policy requirements for reaching those goals were dynamically redefined over time. To this end, we introduce a new method, which based on insights from social network analysis, enables us to systematically trace those strategic chances. We find that shifts in national strategies of the investigated member states preceded the shift in EU policy. In particular, countries reframed their understanding of supply security, and pushed for the internal electricity market also as a security measure to balance fluctuating renewables. Hence, the increasing focus on markets and market integration in the European 2030 package echoed the increasingly central role of the internal market for electricity supply security in national strategies. These findings also highlight that countries dynamically redefined their goals relative to the different phases of the energy transition.

     

Consideration of Risk and Protective Factors for Families at Risk for Child Maltreatment: An Intervention Approach

Child maltreatment is associated with a complex interplay of risk and protective factors. Intervention service decisions for child maltreatment need an empirically-supported approach integrating targeted risk and protective factors. A literature review led to the proposed approach to address the interplay between risk (intimate partner violence; IPV and depression) and protective factors (social support and family resources) to help guide decision-making in home-based prevention services for vulnerable families. This approach suggests that social support and family resources are two pivotal protective factors in buffering against child maltreatment potential, while addressing core risk factors. This approach is consistent with research suggesting that home-based parenting programs should target central risk and protective factors in child maltreatment. Application of this approach can guide training of providers delivering home-based services and support decision-making. Future research is warranted to test this approach in empirically-supported interventions.     

An exploration of childhood victimization and family-of-origin characteristics of sexual offenders against children

A comparison of the childhood victimization experiences and family-of-origin characteristics of 33 sexual offenders against children, 66 violent offenders, and 25 nonviolent offenders participating in assessment or treatment at a forensic division of a Canadian psychiatric hospital was undertaken using a semistructured interview designed specifically for this study. Overall, 31.5% of the sample reported contact sexual abuse (i.e., oral, vaginal, or anal) by age 14. Sexual offenders against children reported significantly more sexual abuse than both violent and nonviolent offenders and were more likely to have been sexually propositioned and exposed to. Sexual offenders against children were also more likely to report physical discipline as the primary type of discipline in the home. Analyses of the variables concerning characteristics of parents, siblings, and significant others also indicated significant differences between groups. Implications of these findings on the intergenerational hypothesis are discussed as well as their relevance for treatment.     

DAMNED IF YOU DO AND DAMNED IF YOU DON'T

In contemporary Western societies women are often thought to have overcome inequality, become autonomous and resistant to social pressures, and in so doing gained the freedoms to make their own choices. However, this ‘post-feminist sensibility’ can arguably be seen as a double-bind as some types of ‘choices’ cannot always be recognised as freely chosen if they are taken as an indication of failing to resist social (appearance) pressures. We argue that one such example is the ‘choice’ to have cosmetic breast surgery, a practice that has received both criticism and celebration from different feminist angles. In this paper we analyse how women who have had breast augmentation are constructed by readers of an internet blog in which they are largely vilified and pathologised for not valuing their ‘natural’ (yet ‘deficient’) breasts. We demonstrate how the same discursive constructions that appear to value women's ‘natural’ bodies simultaneously (re)produce the conditions in which women may feel the need to have breast augmentation.     

Advance directives in action in a regional palliative care service: "road testing" the provisions of the Medical Treatment Act 1988 (VIC)

In order to explore the usefulness and acceptability of the provisions of the Medical Treatment Act 1988 (Vic) for palliative care patients in a rural region in Victoria, Australia, between July and December 2004 patients were given information explaining the Act and the opportunity to discuss it with the research officer. Grounded theory methodology was used to evaluate client responses. Findings suggested that palliative care patients are willing to engage in advance care planning but they have to be well enough and need skilled, practical, face-to-face assistance to complete the required legal forms. Written materials alone are not adequate, but provide the opportunity for medical staff to have conversations about death and dying. Doctors and nurses should understand the provisions of the Act to assist patients and families. It is recommended that advance care planning, appropriate to the jurisdiction, be an integral part of the palliative care assessment process.     

Integrating Municipal Workforces: A Comparative Study of Six Southern Cities

Black penetration of the municipal workforces of six southerncities—Atlanta, Augusta, Birmingham, Columbia, Macon,and Savannah—is examined for the purpose of highlightingthe factors either favoring or impeding integration. Also examinedis the relative importance of local and federal actors in changingonce segregated hiring patterns. Information was obtained througha series of interviews in each city with relevant participants.Results show that local factors are generally predominant ininfluencing black hiring (e.g., a black mayor, a white mayordependent on black electoral support, a permeable personnelstructure). However, federal intervention in individual discriminationsuits has had a strong effect in certain cities, particularlywhere suits resulted in consent decrees setting targets forminority hires.