Intergenerational offending in Liverpool and the north-west of England, 1850–1914

Using contemporary sources from the north-west of England in the Victorian period, the authors examine the putative connections made by contemporaries which linked together ‘bad’ parenting and the transmission of criminal traits. Poor parenting practices were a prevalent explanation for juvenile (leading onto sustained) delinquency, especially in the mid to late nineteenth century. Popular narratives by Charles Dickens and media opinion-formers were very influential in depicting neglectful mothers who did not socialise their children into law-abiding, useful members of society, and criminal fathers who inducted their children into their own criminal affairs and organisations. This article examines the reality of intergenerational offending (using prison- and court-generated data) to show that there is very little convincing research that proves direct intergenerational transmission of offending practices (i.e. parent-to-child-offending transmission). The authors then examine other possible routes of intergenerational offending using case studies and archival research, and the article concludes that environmental/socio-economic conditions and wider familial/neighbourhood relationships were, in fact, the main trigger for onset of offending, and the maintenance of criminal careers, rather than direct familial transmission. The article is therefore an important marker in understanding the processes which inhibit/generate criminality in a significant number of juvenile offenders in this period.     

Community rehabilitation workers as catalysts for disability: inclusive youth development through service learning

This paper explores access to health and education for disabled youth in sites with and without community rehabilitation workers (CRWs). A cross-sectional survey using a structured questionnaire was undertaken in nine sites in South Africa, and a snowball sample of 523 disabled youths of both sexes, aged between 18 and 35 years, was selected. The survey found that a significantly larger proportion of disabled youth living in sites with CRWs were seen by health care workers at home, and that there was a large difference in educational access between sites with and without CRWs. CRWs are well positioned to promote equal citizenship for disabled youth through service learning with occupational therapy final year students to improve access to health and education, so that barriers to their participation in economic development are removed.     

Work Choices and the Radical Revision of the Public Realm of Australian Statutory Labour Law

Australia’s statutory labour law has undergone very significantamendment following the enactment of the Workplace RelationsAmendment (Work Choices) Act 2005 (the Work Choices Act). Thisarticle argues that the new law radically revises the publicrealm of labour law established through the century-old systemof conciliation and arbitration. The Act seeks to strip backthe influence of trade unions and the traditional regulator,the Australian Industrial Relations Commission. It generatesa realm of private employer power, augmented where necessarywith direct intervention by Executive government to ensure thatthe old system does not re-emerge. The Work Choices Act is remarkablein its use of statutory language to obscure and defer meaning.The processes of its making were also marked by a reluctanceof the government to explain or even acknowledge the importof the law. It is tentatively concluded that the Act is a productof the mix of ideological, pragmatic and psychological motivationsunderlying its creation.