Parent abuse: Can law be the answer?

© Cambridge University Press 2012This article reviews the different forms of legal interventions which may be available to address parent abuse. It seeks to examine the evidence as to which are actually used currently and the problems which are inherent in them. We do this both by examining the statutory basis of the existing potential legal remedies and reported cases relating to those provisions, and by drawing on evidence from a small-scale study of relevant professional workers in one city. We conclude that while recourse to the police, and hence potentially the criminal justice system, is most frequent in practice, the criminal justice system is not suited to tackling the issue. Other interventions, such as anti-social behaviour orders and injunctions, also reveal problems. Law struggles to find an effective response to such a complex problem. Notwithstanding the acknowledged limits of law in changing behaviour, we argue that law could be used more effectively to reduce the incidence and impact of parent abuse

Conducting Mountain Lion Research: A Citizen Science Project

Rocky Mountain Cat Conservancy, a Colorado-based conservation group dedicated to promoting wild cat conservation through research and community stewardship, seeks to mitigate human-mountain lion conflicts through an innovative community stewardship project that engages local students and volunteers in citizen science research. In addition to establishing a permanent, outdoor, wildlife-based curriculum at Front Range Community College - Larimer Campus, Communities, Cameras and Conservation establishes a connection to conservation through hands-on education where no such opportunity currently exists. It creates a new prospect for community members to engage in citizen science research and serve as conservation envoys by raising the level of awareness of the wildlife in their backyards. Front Range Community College, in collaboration with Rocky Mountain Cat Conservancy, has implemented an innovative research method that generates valuable, quantitative data, and enables full community engagement in understanding the movements and behaviors of our local mountain lion population. Students analyze the habitat and then install digital cameras, hike to the camera locations, retrieve the memory cards and download the information into a computer data program. They map the vegetation and record the biotic and abiotic factors affecting the land, including the human use of the area. After one year of data collection, students are able to map patterns of movement and compare these trends with existing data on mountain lions from other research. This has provided students, community residents, and park managers with information at a critical time as development continues to encroach on wildlife habitat, increasing urban wildlife contacts. All classes involved in this project work with the wildlife biologists on this project, giving them an opportunity to experience firsthand a career in natural resources management

No children, no DSS, no students : online adverts and “property guardianship”

Purpose: Those seeking a new place to live – especially in the private rented sector – now head online to do so. The platforms they use and adverts they see are an important source of information about the properties they will occupy and how their owners’ seek to project them. This paper aims to argue for the importance of property adverts as a source of data, using “property guardianship” to illustrate the value in the approach. Design/methodology/approach: The study draws on an analysis of 503 advertisements published on SpareRoom.co.uk – a leading property search engine – in July 2018. Findings: The authors put forward four key areas of findings. The first two look at legal understanding, dealing with the context, the advertisement provides for eventual occupation (the “process of construction”) and any indications they provide of legal elements of occupation (“diagnostics”). The final two deal with the broader positioning of the sector, analysing the practice of excluding prospective occupiers, such as the widespread inclusion of “no Department of Social Security” seen elsewhere in the private rented sector, and how the adverts project a certain lifestyle to their viewer. Research limitations/implications: The findings demonstrate that further research into property advertisements would be valuable, particularly into other sub-markets in the private-rented sector, such as student accommodation and “professional” lets. Originality/value: This study is the only analysis of property guardian advertisements and the first dedicated study of private rented sector advertisements in the UK

Ensuring Compliance: The Case of the Private Rented Sector

regulation, law and economics, governance, compliance, renting