Social control and the censure(s) of sex

Sex/gender is a primary social censure which is fundamental to social relations of organization and control. This paper explains the concept of social censure — a new heuristic tool enabling the social theorist to move beyond an outmoded and distorting focus on deviance—and illustrates how social censures may be utilised as part of a critique of societies (exemplified by our own) which are deeply entrenched in the ideological censure of women, femininity and subversive masculinities.¹ Hegemonic masculinity is characteristically (re)created and (self)affirmed in the censure of femininities and subordinate masculinities. It is (re)constituted and consolidated through a complex network of formal and informal mechanisms, rooted in the construction of individual subjectivities and reproduced at the interweaving levels of collectivity and institution. Sex/gender censures are mediated by other primary censures such as race and socio-economic class. In struggling against censure we need to comprehend the pervasiveness, complexity and diversity of censuring practices, and the fixity of censure in social relations and individual psyches: the limits to resistance and the potentialites for change.     

The cost benefits of providing community-based correctional services: An evaluation of a statewide parole program in California

This was a cost-benefit study of a statewide program involving multiple community-based services for parolees in California. Program effectiveness was assessed by comparing program costs to incarceration costs avoided due to decreases in recidivism. During the first year following parole release, program participants on average stayed out of prison longer than the comparison population. Participants who completed any of the community-based services stayed out of prison substantially longer. The reductions in re-incarceration yielded a net saving of $21 million in incarceration costs over the study period, after the costs of the program and parole supervision were subtracted, or a 47 percent net return on each program dollar invested. This study did not include potential cost savings to other parties in the justice system. These findings suggest future investments in community-based correctional services might produce substantial financial benefits. A fuller apprehension of the potential benefits would benefit from continuing evaluations, including studies employing a true experimental design.     

Confronting penal excess

Each year, in the United Kingdom more than two million of our fellow citizens are subject to some form of penal sanction, including imprisonment, house arrest, community punishment, fines, cautions and penalty notices. This will strike many as excessive.     

Kunqu Opera In Nanjing

正Foreigners in China often pursue the passions. One person may collec antique snuff bottles, while anothe may seek out a prized Qing robe. One of th most compelling     

Bringing Principles and Fairness to the Sentencing of Murder

The authors take a closer look at the current sentencing laws for murder and argue the need to change them. Expanding on the proposals described in the recently published book, Exploring the Mandatory Life Sentence for Murder, the authors provide a more detailed explanation for the new framework. The proposals suggest a new method of sentencing, and discuss how primary and secondary mitigating and aggravating favors can play a role in forming the suggested scheme. This article suggests that this method would constitute a more principled approach compared to mandatory life sentencing, by achieving higher levels of proportionality, greater consistency and restraint in the use of custody. While these proposals focus on the sentencing regime in England and Wales, the authors argue their relevance for other countries that also impose a mandatory life sentence framework.     

The influence of sample type,presentation format and strength of evidence on juror simulation research

Abstract

Recent research has indicated that treatment of psychopaths in therapeutic communities is problematic in terms of high rates of attrition, low levels of motivation and increased reconviction. However, there has been little previous research investigating in detail how the behavioural diffculties posed by psychopaths in therapeutic community settings could be systematically monitored is order to assess change. This paper reports on the development of a checkilst completed by prison officers designed to measure behaviours association with a poor adjustment to a prison based therapeutic community. Behaviour checklist accores showed statistically significant correlations with the Hare Psychopathy Checklist Revised (PCL-R, Hare 1991), patticularly with Factor 1 scores measuring intarpersonal aspects of psychopathy. The potential for developing this method as a type of dynamic assessment for psychopaths undertaking treatmant is discussed.