Trends in the management of registered sexual offenders across England and Wales: a geographical approach to the study of sexual offending

Abstract

Social scientists, and geographers in particular, have long been interested in examining spatial patterns of offending in order to generate a “geography” of crime and criminality. This paper examines what value, if any, a geographical approach to the study of sexual offending might offer. Utilising published official data from England and Wales it presents for the first time geographical analyses of the registration, risk assessment and management of Registered Sexual Offenders (RSOs) across 42 Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangement (MAPPA) areas. In doing so it considers and evaluates the methodological issues pertaining to the use of such data and such a geographical approach. We conclude that geographical interpretations of both the incidence of RSOs and the rates of risk allocations between MAPPA areas provide valuable insights and raise new questions about the way in which RSOs are managed nationally and are thus worthy of further exploration.     

Food distribution's socio-economic relationships and public policy: Mexico City's municipal public markets

Traditional food supply systems, like municipal public markets (MPM), are in crisis. Nevertheless, MPMs continue to demonstrate importance in the lives of the cities. In this article we discuss the case of Mexico City and the importance of the public markets for its neighbourhoods. We present the results of two research projects, completed in Mexico City at two different historical times and interpreted longitudinally. The results demonstrate the importance of socio-economic relationships for MPM's survival and potential. The article concludes with public policy recommendations to permit conservation, given the MPM's importance for the city's social cohesion.     

Zambia: The First Fifty Years

As Zambia completes 50 years of independence from British rule, an assessment of the present state of the country is topical. This article argues that, for all the setbacks that Zambia has suffered over the past half century, substantial progress has been made in a number of areas and that the Zambian people have maximised the opportunities that this progress has generated.     

What Really Happens: Department Secretary Appointments,Contracts and Performance Pay in the Australian Public Service

This account of the practice in the Australian Public Service (APS) for appointing department secretaries, using contracts and rewarding for performance, is based on my own experience in being appointed, reappointed and not reappointed, and in receiving and not receiving performance pay. It also draws on my experience as Public Service Commissioner in assisting with appointments and performance pay of secretaries. I also discuss weaknesses in the current system, and the drift to ‘politicisation’. I was first appointed as a department secretary at the end of 1993 after 25 years in the APS including 15 years in the Senior Executive Service (SES) in three different portfolios (Social Security, Finance and Defence). I was secretary of three different departments (Administrative Services, Housing, and Health, some of which went through changes in name and responsibilities during my tenure) before being appointed as Public Service Commissioner from the beginning of 2002. I retired from the APS in June 2005.     

The States, Federalism and Political Science: A Fifty-Year Appraisal

The role of the states within the Australian federation has evolved significantly over the past 50 years. So has the interpretation of that role by political scientists. Until the early 1970s, the states seemed to be declining into financial and policy subservience notwithstanding their continuing primary responsibility for the delivery of public services. They then experienced a political and policy renaissance, accompanied by a more balanced political-science appreciation of the virtues of federalism. Since the early 1990s, the states' trajectory has become more uncertain.