Policing, young people, diversion and accountability in Ireland

The Irish police practice of diverting young offenders was placed within a statutory framework in 2001. The police discretion in the management of young offenders that had been a feature of the administrative process was retained at the heart of the new statutory programme although attempts were made to streamline the process. This article critiques the law, policy and practice underpinning the exercise of that discretion against the relevant international human rights standards on transparency, accountability and professionalism in juvenile justice. It reveals how the management of the programme in practice falls short of these standards and, in particular, the due process rights of the children who come within its reach. It argues that the root of the problem lies primarily in the lack of published criteria to guide the discretionary decision-making at several stages of the programme, and the lack of a credible complaint or review mechanism for the children affected. It recommends the publication of reasons for decisions taken in the exercise of Garda discretion in individual cases, together with provision for review or appeal of such decisions as well as regular independent monitoring of the operation of the programme as a whole.     

Searching for Sanctuary: Government Power and the Location of Maritime Piracy

Recent systematic work on the incidence of maritime piracy shows the importance of various political, economic, and geographic correlates at the country level. Yet these correlates tell us little about the determinants of piracy location off states’ coasts, despite the fact that piracy is well known to cluster locally. Conceptualizing pirates as strategic actors who consider the risk of detection and capture, this article argues that states’ ability to project power over distance affects pirates’ decisions on where to organize and operate. As state capacity increases, piracy will locate farther away from government power centers, whereas piracy can flourish closer to state capitals in weak states that struggle to extend control over space. Using geocoded data from the International Maritime Bureau for the 1996–2013 period, results show that increases in state capacity are associated with greater median capital--piracy distances. These findings are robust to several changes in model specification. Our results have important implications for the study of piracy and crime.     

Laudatio: Verleihung des Nachwuchsförderpreises 2003 der DVPW für die beste Dissertation an Ulrich Schneckener. Titel der Studie: „Auswege aus dem Bürgerkrieg,Modelle zur Regulierung ethno-nationaler Konflikte in Europa“ (Suhrkamp 2002)

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Research on organized crime in Western Europe — 4th research conference “OC research in Western European states” in Wiesbaden

The 4th Research Conference ??OC research in Western European States?? took place in November 2011 in Wiesbaden. The conference was organized by the Bundeskriminalamt and is part of the project ??International Research Network on Organized Crime??, funded by the European Commission in the framework of the ISEC programme. This article provides an insight into the current state of research on organized crime in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.     

When the Earth Belonged to All: the Land Question in Eighteenth-century Justifications of Private Property

Liberal conceptions of property rights are commonly associated with the idea of absolute, exclusive individual ownership. This article aims to show that, and why land constituted a special problem for eighteenth-century justifications of private property. Kant and Adam Smith are taken as the major exponents of eighteenth-century liberalism—of its natural-rights basis and its utilitarian orientation respectively. Their arguments against the still-existing feudal encumbrances, that is,'collective' forms of landownership, reveal a fundamental tension between libertarian and egalitarian premisses in liberal theory. The vindication of full individual ownership rests crucially upon the right to equal liberty —to an initial equality of starting chances. Yet this assumption of a substantive equality becomes an empty phrase to the extent that the idea of society's original common entitlement to natural resources loses all practical, political meaning.     

Transnationalisierung, Organisation und Kultur

The article takes ?transnationalization“, understood as a qualitative change in structures and strategies of internationally operating organizations, as the starting point for a discussion of the relation between organization and culture, as well as of possibilities to theorize this relation. ?Classical“ concepts of this relation, it is argued, have problems to adequately grasp the phenomenon of transnationalization. It is suggested to adopt a practice-theoretical approach to culture in organizational analysis in order to achieve a better understanding of processes of transnationalization. By doing so, internationally comparative organization studies could overcome the old debate on convergence versus divergence of organizational structures and strategies.     

Courting Compliance: Case Managers as “Double Agents” in the Mental Health Court

An ethnographic study of four Midwest mental health courts was focused on how case managers influence the judicial response to offender noncompliance. Mental health courts, which bear little resemblance to traditional work group models, are staffed by teams of legal and social service professionals working collaboratively toward reducing recidivism and community reintegration for high‐risk offenders. Few studies, however, have explored how treatment providers practice their trade in this new court organization. I investigate how case management professionals, working at the intersections of the social welfare and criminal justice systems, leverage courtroom decision making that results in greater leniency or enhanced punishment. The findings suggest that mental‐health‐court case managers act as boundary spanners in terms of their strategic use of resources to facilitate treatment goals. I conclude that case managers act as “double agents” challenging the state to advocate for clemency while enforcing client rules to uphold the integrity of the court.     

Non-strategic nuclear weapons as a ‘Trojan horse’: explaining Germany's ambivalent attitude

Germany's ambivalent attitude toward nuclear weapons is the result of an intricate rivalry between competing principles and goals of foreign and security policy-making. A deeply engrained strategic culture of anti-nuclearism and anti-militarism competes with a belief in collective defense and alliance cohesion. Similarly, the long-held belief in multilateralism is time and again challenged by newly emerging claims for leadership within multilateral institutions. The strategically rather insignificant non-strategic nuclear weapons issue provides a nodal point around which these conflicting principles came to the fore.