Frenemies: restorative justice and customary mechanisms of justice

More often than not, restorative justice is said to take roots in Indigenous practices. In fact, Indigenous and other traditional mechanisms of justice are often described as examples of restorative justice practices. In New Zealand, the government equates the Mãori approach to doing justice with family group conferences (FGC); a restorative justice mechanism which it claims embodies Mãori values and preferences. This article contends, however, that the type of ‘justice’ embodied in customary mechanisms, has often been taken out of context, and rendered universal and ahistorical through its representation as restorative justice mechanisms. Using fieldwork evidence, an analytical comparison between principles of restorative practices, New Zealand’s FGCs and the Mãori approach to justice was conducted. It concludes that this tendency to equate restorative justice with Indigenous approaches to law and justice is harmful and dangerous for it risks rendering the scholarship homogenizing and universalizing restorative justice, to the detriment of local preferences and practices.     

An identity‐based understanding of intergroup conflict

As conflict has at its basis a contest of ideas, values or resources between two or more groups, a comprehensive understanding of intergroup conflict must take into account the psychological processes that make groups and group behavior meaningful. Because individuals value and internalize identities relevant to their social, geographic, economic, historical and political positions, any devaluation, loss or imposed change to one of those identities is likely to be particularly threatening. The Social Identity Approach formulates an understanding of how these identity‐based motivations interact with social structures to predict intergroup conflict. Importantly, it also provides an explanation of how procedural justice mechanisms can be utilized to guide conflicting interests to common cooperative goals that can be accepted and pursued. By having representation and participation of relevant actors in the development of a shared identity, as is this case when nation states are formed or re‐created, threat is reduced, legitimacy built and the basis for positive intergroup relations created.     

Testing the impact of group offending on behavioural similarity in serial robbery

Behavioural case linkage assumes that offenders behave in a similar way across their crimes. However, group offending could impact on behavioural similarity. This study uses robbery data from two police forces to test this by comparing the behavioural similarity of pairs of lone offences (LL), pairs of group offences (GG) and pairs of offences where one crime was committed alone and the other in a group (GL). Behavioural similarity was measured using Jaccard's coefficients. Kruskal–Wallis tests were used to examine differences between the three categories within the linked samples. No statistically significant differences were found for linked GG compared to linked LL pairs. However, differences emerged between GL and the other categories for some behaviours (especially control) suggesting caution should be applied when linking group and lone offences committed by the same perpetrator. Differences between linked and unlinked pairs were assessed using receiver operating characteristic. The results suggest it is possible to distinguish between linked and unlinked pairs based on behaviour especially within the GG and LL categories. There were, however, fewer significant findings for the GL sample, suggesting there may be issues linking crimes where the offender commits one crime as part of a group and the other alone.     

A systematic review of the literature comparing male non-serial sexual killers and sexual aggressors: examining homogeneous and heterogeneous characteristics of these groups

ABSTRACT

This systematic review considers what is known about the characteristics of sexual killers and sexual aggressors. The aim was to identify which characteristics have consistently been shown to be similar (homogeneous) and which are different (heterogeneous) across these two groups. Ten studies, including approximately 300 sexual killers, were analysed. Only studies where the samples were directly compared and where sexual killers were male, predominantly non-serial and perpetrated against adult female victims were included. Results indicate that levels of loneliness and anger appear to be more prevalent in the sexual killer sample while mental health disorders, criminal history, family structure and history of sexual abuse as well as some crime scene behaviours seem to be similar across the two groups. The results of this review have also highlighted some methodological problems inherent to these types of studies and these issues are discussed from the perspective of improving research on these crimes.     

Group size does matter: differences among sexual assaults committed by lone,double, and groups of three or more perpetrators

ABSTRACT

We compared a total of 340 sexual assault cases based on offender characteristics, victim characteristics, and offence behaviours to identify differences among sexual assaults committed by lone, double, and groups of three or more perpetrators in South Korea. Several differences were found among sexual assaults committed by varying numbers of offenders. First, lone, double, and groups of three or more perpetrators differed with respect to age, marital status, and employment status. Second, substantial differences in victim characteristics were observed with respect to age and the victim–offender (v–o) relationship. Third, significant differences in offence behaviours, including offence type, planning, method of approach, knife possession, and stealing property, were found. Furthermore, we identified several variables that significantly predict group size using logistic regression analyses. The study has theoretical implications for understanding how group dynamics influence the behaviours of rape perpetrators, and practical implications for victim treatment and offender intervention.     

Not Afraid at All? Dominant and Alternative Interpretative Repertoires in Discourses of the Elderly on Fear of Crime

This article demonstrates how a dominant and an alternative interpretative repertoire are activated and negotiated within two focus group discussions conducted with elderly people around the issue of fear of crime: the active, competent actor and the potential victim. In contrast to quantitative generalist studies that tend to neglect the ambiguity and complexity of group membership and identification, a contextualized, dynamic, and interactive understanding of the elderly – as well as of the victim – identity is presented.     

Explaining the Vientiane Action Programme: ASEAN and the institutionalisation of human rights

Abstract

Existing explanations for the emergence of human rights on the political agenda in ASEAN focus either on the role of external pressure on ASEAN member states to ‘do something’, or on the way those states copied the form, but not the function, of other regional organisations such as the EU. Both approaches tacitly acknowledge that given the strong preference for intergovernmental governance displayed by ASEAN, regardless of interpretations, that it was states that drove the institutionalisation of rights forwards. Through examining in detail the causes and consequences of the Vientiane Action Programme this article disagrees with that assertion. At crucial moments before and after 2004 it was the Working Group for the Establishment of an ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism, a track III actor, which both inserted human rights into ASEAN discussions and forged the link between protecting those rights and the continuing success of ASEAN's security goals. Through understanding the role of the Working Group as a norm entrepreneur, assisting in the localisation of human rights standards, this article suggests that existing explanations of ASEAN institutionalisation need to be revised to include a wider range of political dynamics than previously were acknowledged.     

外国警方处置突发事件机制研究及借鉴

突发事件是近年来危害公共安全的一大隐患,国内对这一问题的研究还处于初级阶段,警方在处置突发事件时经验不足,常导致突发事件成为暴动,而西方国家抗议示威活动不少,却鲜少酿成恶性事件。西方警察处理突发事件的典型模式、处置原则及防范策略为我国警方处置突发事件提供了借鉴。     

近年来国内网络群体性事件对策研究述评

近年来,学术界围绕网络群体性事件的治理方略开展了多视角、宽领域的研究,主要成果可以概括为转变思路、变革制度和多样举措等三个方面策略,但受研究基础、视域的影响,中国特色的网络群体性事件研究话语体系尚未形成。     

论老年诈骗犯罪被害人的被害性

老年诈骗犯罪被害案件随着老龄化的发展而大有愈演愈烈之势。犯罪的发生并不是犯罪人单方面意志作用的结果,而是犯罪人与被害人双方互动的产物。这种互动从老年诈骗犯罪被害人的角度看,则表现为其生理上、心理上和经济上的被害性。仔细分析老年诈骗犯罪被害人的被害性,不仅有助于全面准确地把握老年诈骗犯罪被害的原因,而且有助于提出有针对性地预防和处理老年诈骗犯罪被害的对策。