Belonging and Unbelonging in Encounters Between Young Males and Police Officers: The Use of Masculinity and Ethnicity/Race

This article is based on a study in which the work of police officers has been followed on a day-to-day basis, with a special focus on the work directed at youths. The focus is on how contact is established or obstructed in the meeting between police officers and young males, and the significance of constructions of masculinity and ethnicity/race for this process. Encounters between young males and police officers are analysed from Yuval-Davis notions of belonging and unbelonging. The analysis shows how both masculinity and ethnicity/race can be used for establishing or obstructing contact between police and young males. The article also show how belonging and unbelonging is a question of negotiations that can undergo a number of shifts in the course of a given situation, and also that these negotiations take the form of a collaborative activity, even if this starts from unequal power positions. A situation that starts from an antagonistic approach may in fact, via markers of belonging, turn out quite different. But it is also pointed out that the markers of belonging in one dimension, at the same time may generate markers of unbelonging in others. Finally this developing of contact shall be understood both as a way of changing the contacts into less conflicted ways and as one of several ways of gaining more control in stigmatized areas.     

A simple method for collection of gunshot residues from clothing.

Simple equipment for the sampling of gunshot residue particles from clothing, inside of bags, pockets, etc, is described. Collection was achieved by vacuuming through a double filtration system constructed from a Nucleopore aerosol holder connected to an ordinary vacuum cleaner. The collected particles were examined by scanning electron microscopy. Good results were observed in functional tests of this equipment and the method has been introduced into casework in our laboratory. Various experiments on possible contamination of clothing by GSR particles were performed. The usefulness of clothing as evidence material in searching for GSR particles is discussed.     

Women's law: methods,problems, values

Conclusion The five areas of women's law that I have chosen to focus — money law, housewives' law, paid-work law, criminal law and birth law — represent different coordinating perspectives on women's legal position. These perspectives could certainly have been supplemented by others, for example, discrimination law. The feminist perspective can also be used in several traditional areas of legal science e.g., social insurance law, tax law, family law etc. I, however, have chosen a problematic other than the traditional one: first, to underline the importance of theory through the development ofconcepts anddiscussions of values in women's studies in general; and second, to indicate the especial fields in focus within the Institute of Women's Law at the University of Oslo. Through the perspective discussed in this article we think that we are on our way to describe, explain and understand women's legal status. The fundamental aim is to improve women's position both in law and society.     

Borderline and psychotic adolescents: Borderline symptomatology from childhood — Actual therapeutic approach

Of 100 borderline and psychotic adolescents, 21 had suffered from borderline psychoses in childhood. This study investigated the symptoms of these adolescents and therapeutic possibilities from a developmental point of view. It concluded that therapeutic possibilities exist. Some childhood symptoms can be used directly in treating adolescents. Other symptoms disappear with general improvement. The therapeutic possibilities are not dependent upon the age of the symptom. Psychopharmacological treatment does not preclude psychodynamically oriented therapy.Received her M.D. from University of Copenhagen in 1957. Major interest is psychotic and borderline adolescents.     

Issues and Actors in African Nonstate Conflicts: A New Data Set

Armed nonstate conflict without the direct involvement of the state government is a common phenomenon. Violence between armed gangs, rebel groups, or communal militias is an important source of instability and has gained increasing scholarly attention. In this article, we introduce a data collection on conflict issues and key actor characteristics in armed nonstate conflicts that provides new opportunities for investigating the causes, dynamics, and consequences of this form of organized violence. The data builds on and extends the Uppsala Conflict Data Program Non-State Conflict data set by introducing additional information on what the actors in the conflict are fighting over, alongside actor characteristics. It covers Africa during the time period 1989–2011. The data set distinguishes between two main categories of issues, territory and authority, in addition to a residual category of other issues. Furthermore, we specify sub-issues within these categories, such as agricultural land/water as sub-issue for territory and religious issues for other issues. As actor characteristics, the data set notes whether warring parties received military support by external actors and whether religion and the mode of livelihood were salient in the mobilization of the armed group. The article presents coding processes, key features of the data set, and point to avenues for new research based on these data.     

Crowning Miss Sweden—National Constructions of White Femininity

Beauty pageants clearly construct gendered ideals and norms of femininity. In this article, we analyse how the Miss Sweden pageant constructs intertwined gendered and racialized symbolism of nationhood during the 1950s. This article covers the period between 1949 and 1960, the first 12 years of the competition's existence, when the competition and its institutional practices took shape. We conclude that the Miss Sweden pageant constructs a particular Swedish femininity of the 1950s, denoted by ideals of modernization founded within the development of the Swedish welfare state. The pageant articulates the ethos of the times, with its conflicting discourses on both gathering the nation within and looking outward internationally. In this way, we understand Miss Sweden as a medium to convey a set of stories directed both inwardly, towards a Swedish audience, and outwardly to other nations and an international audience.     

The production and reproduction of prostitution

This article is the result of a study aimed at grasping the knowledge of ‘prostitution’ since 1999 when the purchase of sexual services was criminalised in Sweden. Key informants drawn from the police, social services and voluntary organisations, who work in close proximity to prostitution, were interviewed. We focus on how the position of the informant, considering governmental and non-governmental exercise, effects her or his understanding, and reproduction, of the phenomena. The central themes are the question of definition, the importance of exposure and the occurrence of male prostitution. It is suggested that a study of these themes shows how the traditional position of the bad woman as vendor and the invisible man as purchaser is preserved. Hereby all the other constellations, that may as well be considered to be prostitution, remains unproblematized.     

Recidivism Among Young Males Sentenced to Prison and Youth Custody

In 1999, Sweden introduced a new Act focused on young persons aged 15–17 who commit serious offences. The object of the Act was to replace prison sentences with a new sanction in the form of youth custody, which would involve a placement in a special approved home. This study constitutes a follow-up comparison of criminal recidivism among young males sentenced to prison prior to the introduction of the Youth Custody Act (1991–1998) and young males sentenced to youth custody following the introduction of the Act (1999–2003). The study shows that the sanction has not only been used as a replacement for prison sentences, but has also led to an expansion in custodial sentencing in the form of ‘net-widening’. There has also been a substantial increase in the length of custodial sentences awarded in connection with the new sanction. A comparison with the youth sanction in Denmark raises questions about the consequences of having expanded the group of youths sentenced to a custodial sanction in Sweden, and of the increased length of the custodial sentences to which this group is subjected.     

The art of being “just right”: Language and gender—still a matter of power

In Norway the pioneering era in many ways is over with women in top politics and other important positions. After 25 years of explicit work towards equal opportunities for women and men, Norwegian society today seems to be characterized by “a declared equality”. Modern femininity and masculinity in a society where male dominance is illegitimate seem to be characterized by a common project: to hide the fact that men still dominate women. Women are socialized to communicate in specific ways and to choose conversational roles in interaction with men that contribute to concealing their subordinate position. This pattern may be described as the art of being “just right”.