The Killing of Women in 'Sex Games Gone Wrong': An analysis of femicides in Great Britain 2000-2018

This research investigated cases of femicide in Great Britain where perpetrators had claimed that victims died in 'sex games gone wrong'. Forty-three femicides that resulted in a conviction for murder, manslaughter or culpable homicide were examined in relation to victim-perpetrator socio-demographic characteristics, victim-perpetrator relationship, homicide details and criminal justice outcomes. Key patterns within the data were identified. The research highlights that the 'sex game gone wrong' narrative has gained traction against a cultural backdrop of normalised BDSM within neoliberal political economy

Technology-Facilitated Domestic Abuse in Political Economy: A new theoretical framework

This paper presents a new theoretical framework around technology-facilitated domestic abuse (TFDA) in identifying four distinct types of omnipresent behaviour. Perpetrators are increasingly drawing upon networked technologies likes smartphones, social media and GPS trackers in monitoring, controlling and abusing survivors. There is considerable academic literature developing in response to this. Whilst this scholarship is valuable, this paper argues that TFDA must be understood as a neoliberal manifestation of patriarchal legacies of misogyny and sexism. A failure to recognise this will serve to prioritise abusers’ freedom to do harm over rights of survivors to be protected from harm

The Elephant in the Room: Towards an integrated, feminist analysis of mass murder

This paper argues for a new approach to making sense of mass murder, emphasizing the urgency of recognizing the proliferation and significance of misogyny and domestic violence among perpetrators of this type of homicide. It is vital that scholarship recognizes the political-economy of neoliberal patriarchy and seeks to better understand how harmful subjectivity develops in this context. We propose a new multi-level framework for the analysis of mass murder and issue a call to action for a global programme of independent qualitative research and activism to tackle its drivers, prevent further harm and save lives

Transesterification of Poly(ethyl glyoxylate): A Route to Structurally Diverse Polyglyoxylates

Polyglyoxylates are a class of self-immolative polymers that depolymerize in solution and the solid state. The glyoxylic acid degradation product is a metabolite in the glyoxylate cycle and can also be processed in the liver in humans, making polyglyoxylates attractive for applications in the environment and in medicine. Although expanding the scope of available polyglyoxylates would enable new properties and applications, highly pure glyoxylate monomers are required for polymerization, and this level of purity is difficult to achieve for many potential monomers. To address this challenge, we report here the 1,5,7-triazabicyclo[4.4.0]dec-5-ene (TBD)-catalyzed post-polymerization transesterification of poly(ethyl glyoxylate) (PEtG) as a general method for the synthesis of directly inaccessible polyglyoxylates. Using a new end-capping strategy, PEtG compatible with the transesterification reaction was developed. n-Propanol, i-propanol, n-butanol, t-butanol, n-pentanol, n-hexanol, n-octanol, and benzyl alcohol were employed and the reactivities of these different alcohols were investigated. The resulting polyglyoxylates were characterized chemically and their thermal properties were compared. In all cases, the transesterified polyglyoxylates retained the stimuli-responsive depolymerization properties of the parent PEtG. In addition, functional polyglyoxylates based on allyl, propargyl, and furfuryl esters, which are suitable for subsequent click reactions, were prepared. The propargyl-functionalized polyglyoxylate was used to conjugate pyrene, and the resulting molecules underwent a change in fluorescence properties upon depolymerization

The ‘Dunblane massacre’ as a ‘photosensitive plate’

This article seeks to understand the mass murders that took place at Dunblane in 1996 and to consider if we might see aspects of this mass shooting as prophetic of other mass murders, such as those that took place at Columbine, Sandy Hook and on Utoya Island. It does this by using what we describe as a ‘criminological autopsy’ about the shootings and, in doing so, considers why this mass murder – still the worst in British history – has rarely been considered within criminology

Tuning the hydrophobic cores of self-immolative polyglyoxylate assemblies

Polyglyoxylates are a recently-introduced class of self-immolative polymers, that depolymerize to small molecules upon the cleavage of a stimuli-responsive end-cap from the polymer terminus. The incorporation of different pendant ester groups or other aldehyde monomers offers the potential to tune the polymer properties, but this remains largely unexplored. With the goal of tuning the self-assembly and drug-loading properties of polyglyoxylate block copolymers, we explored the polymerization and copolymerization of n-butyl glyoxylate, L-menthyl glyoxylate, and chloral with ethyl glyoxylate to form UV light-responsive polyglyoxylates. The resulting polymers were coupled to poly(ethylene glycol) to afford amphiphilic block copolymers. Self-assembly of the different copolymers was studied and although each system formed solid particles, the cores of the assemblies differed in their stability, hydrophobicity, and their ability to load the hydrophobic drug celecoxib. All systems depolymerized and released the drug in response to UV light. The toxicity profiles for the assemblies were also evaluated using MDA-MB-231 cells. Overall, this work demonstrates that the properties of polyglyoxylates and their assemblies can be readily tuned through the incorporation of new monomers, thereby providing a promising platform for drug delivery and other applications

Photocontrolled Degradation of Stimuli-Responsive Poly(ethyl glyoxylate): Differentiating Features and Traceless Ambient Depolymerization

The depolymerization of coatings prepared from a 6-nitroveratryl carbonate end-capped poly(ethyl glyoxylate) (PEtG) self-immolative polymer was studied. This polymer undergoes end-to-end depolymerization following cleavage of the end-cap by UV light. Several important fundamental diff erences between this class of polymers and conventional degradable polymers were revealed. For example, polymer backbone cleavage and depolymerization exhibited different dependencies on pH, emphasizing the decoupling of these processes. Probing of the coating erosion mechanism illustrated an interesting combination of features from surface erosion and bulk degradation mechanisms that arise from the end-to-end depolymerization mechanism and further differentiate these polymers from convention degradable polymers. It was also demonstrated that, unlike backbone cleavage, PEtG depolymerization did not exhibit a dependence on water and that PEtG could depolymerize back to the volatile monomer ethyl glyoxylate at ambient temperature and pressure. This unusual feature was utilized to perform facile polymer reprogramming/recycling via an irradiation− trapping− repolymerization sequence as well as polymer patterning by a simple irradiation− evaporation sequence

What’s the deal with ‘websleuthing’? News media representations of amateur detectives in networked spaces

This article explores websleuthing, a phenomenon widely discussed and debated in popular culture but little-researched by criminologists. Drawing upon a review of existing literature and analysis of news media representations, we argue that websleuthing is much more diverse than previously thought. Encompassing a wide range of motives, manifestations, activities, networked spaces and cases, websleuthing has a variety of impacts upon victims, secondary victims, suspects, criminal justice organisations and websleuths themselves. We conclude that websleuthing is the embodiment of true crime infotainment in a ‘wound culture’ (Seltzer, 2007, 2008) and as such, is deserving of more criminological scrutiny than has been the case to date

Using Participatory Action Research in the Development of an Innovative Cottage Hospice Model of Care in the United Kingdom

Title Using Participatory Action Research in the development of an innovative Cottage Hospice model of care in the United Kingdom Objectives a) To contribute to the development of the Cottage Hospice programme and its constituent components. b) To ascertain barriers to and facilitators of Cottage Hospice using action cycles to address identified challenges. Methods Our three-phase Participatory Action Research (PAR) study comprised: 1) A situational analysis using documents (n=150) and stakeholder qualitative interviews (n=28). 2) A Core Action Group oversaw action cycles designed to address challenges identified from the situational data. Local stakeholders participated in a deliberative workshop where study results were presented and refined. 3) An end of study conference is planned in order to disseminate learning to a wider stakeholder audience Results Results presented here align with the objectives in terms of identifying challenges and contributing to the development of the Cottage Hospice programme. Our situational analysis revealed growing support and enthusiasm for the model among hospice staff and volunteers, over time. However, anxieties regarding the viability, reach and conceptual clarity of Cottage Hospice were identified, as were concerns about communication systems and staff feedback to the planning team. Early results demonstrated a need to gather the views of a wider range of health and social care providers regarding the local impact of the initiative. Action cycles included a focus on determining who might use Cottage Hospice; what support family caregivers may need; and conceptual explorations of ‘family’. The deliberative workshop enabled findings to be refined in discussion with those most invested in Cottage Hospice, feeding into the final report and dissemination plans. Conclusions Using PAR democratises the research process and provided an opportunity for all interested parties to contribute to the development of Cottage Hospice. It enabled ‘ground up’ development and ownership of the model and led to contextualised solutions to identified challenges. Despite the locally situated setting, we believe the lessons learned are widely applicable