Beyond crime: justice and sustainability in the classroom and community

Criminology and criminal justice are not perhaps the most immediately obvious disciplinary hosts for embedding ESD. Yet, specific theoretical approaches (critical criminology, green criminology, zemiology and public criminology) within them illustrate clear overlaps with the sustainable development agenda. Perhaps the most explicit connections between criminology and sustainability are made via the concept of justice. Agyeman and colleagues (2003: 3) note how “justice and sustainability are intimately linked and mutually interdependent, certainly at the problem level and increasingly at the solution level.” Issues of inequality and injustice (and crucially, ways of addressing them) can be linked to the four areas of environmental, social, economic and cultural sustainability (UNESCO, 2005). The paper reflects on how such considerations have been introduced into criminology and criminal Justice curriculum by way of a new and innovative module ‘Criminology for a Just Society’. The pedagogical approach adopted is explicitly interdisciplinary and student-centred. The learning, teaching and assessment strategies of the module were developed in close collaboration with the students, facilitating a strong sense of commitment and ownership. Service learning through volunteering placements and assessment embedding critical reflection and knowledge exchange have helped facilitate transformational learning for all involved. The paper reflects on the student and staff experiences from the first year of ‘Criminology for a Just Society’, focusing on the benefits and challenges of learning beyond familiar disciplinary and classroom contexts, and the more enriched and connected understanding of criminology and sustainability developed as a result

On regional security governance once again: how analysis of the Southern Caucasus can advance the concept

Already introduced to the academic and political debate some years ago, the concept of “security governance” still needs to be clarified. In particular, four main shortcomings need to be overcome to make the concept more useful for an assessment of current security dynamics: in the first place, attention has been devoted more to “governance” than to “security”, while failing to consider the role of the understandings and perceptions of the actors involved in the governance system. Second, the literature on the actors (governmental or not) involved is still fragmented. Third, the literature on security governance has too often been detached from reflections on regionalism, while it would be useful to further explore the relationship between cognitive definitions of regional and security dynamics. Fourth, the literature has predominantly focused on Europe and the transatlantic area, overlooking processes of “region-building” in security terms in other “unexpected” geographical spaces. After proposing avenues to overcome the current gaps in the literature, the Southern Caucasus is chosen as a case study to show the different instances of security governance emerging, thanks to definitions of the region in security terms that have involved regional and external actors, of a state and non-state nature

Deletion of L-Selectin Increases Atherosclerosis Development in ApoE−/− Mice

Atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease characterized by accumulation of leukocytes in the arterial intima. Members of the selectin family of adhesion molecules are important mediators of leukocyte extravasation. However, it is unclear whether L-selectin (L-sel) is involved in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. In the present study, mice deficient in L-selectin (L-sel−/−) animals were crossed with mice lacking Apolipoprotein E (ApoE−/−). The development of atherosclerosis was analyzed in double-knockout ApoE/L-sel (ApoE−/− L-sel−/−) mice and the corresponding ApoE−/− controls fed either a normal or a high cholesterol diet (HCD). After 6 weeks of HCD, aortic lesions were increased two-fold in ApoE−/− L-sel−/− mice as compared to ApoE−/− controls (2.46%±0.54% vs 1.28%±0.24% of total aortic area; p<0.05). Formation of atherosclerotic lesions was also enhanced in 6-month-old ApoE−/− L-sel−/− animals fed a normal diet (10.45%±2.58% vs 1.87%±0.37%; p<0.05). In contrast, after 12 weeks of HCD, there was no difference in atheroma formation between ApoE−/− L-sel−/− and ApoE−/− mice. Serum cholesterol levels remained unchanged by L-sel deletion. Atherosclerotic plaques did not exhibit any differences in cellular composition assessed by immunohistochemistry for CD68, CD3, CD4, and CD8 in ApoE−/− L-sel−/− as compared to ApoE−/− mice. Leukocyte rolling on lesions in the aorta was similar in ApoE−/− L-sel−/− and ApoE−/− animals. ApoE−/− L-sel−/− mice exhibited reduced size and cellularity of peripheral lymph nodes, increased size of spleen, and increased number of peripheral lymphocytes as compared to ApoE−/− controls. These data indicate that L-sel does not promote atherosclerotic lesion formation and suggest that it rather protects from early atherosclerosis

Beyond criminal justice: connecting justice and sustainability

The potential of higher education in advancing sustainability has been widely accepted and even partly realised, although a wholesale reorientation of core activities and curricula toward and embedded with sustainability is still an exception. But even big changes start small and modules that address sustainability have both strategic and symbolic value particularly in disciplines and departments where it has not previously been explicitly, or at all, addressed. This paper discusses a project which aims to introduce sustainability considerations into the criminology and criminal justice curriculum byway of a new and innovative module “Criminology for a Just Society”,developed with the support and funding from the central university sustainability initiative. The module aims to facilitate a broad and nuanced understanding of sustainability and criminology’s potential to further it, focusing on the current ecological, cultural, socio-political and economic problems and ways of addressing them. This is done through a framework of (in)justice which allows students to embed new understanding within familiar disciplinary context and language. The pedagogical approach is interdisciplinary, emphasising service learning through volunteering placements and active student engagement, and assessment which embeds critical reflection and knowledge exchange. “Criminology for a Just Society” was piloted in 2014–2015 and the paper reflects on the project, drawing from both student and staff experiences to evaluate its impact and map further developments