237 research outputs found
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Solving her problems? Beyond the seductive appeal of specialist problem-solving courts for women offenders in England and Wales
At the nexus of the social and penal policy fields, problem-solving justice promises to punish offenders while working to address the complex issues that drive their law-breaking behaviour. Appealing to the left and right due to its dual focus on pragmatism and welfarism, the concept has floated in and out of political fashion for the past two decades. Recent years have heralded a renewed political interest in the approach, closely aligned to the Conservative governmentâs commitment to âtransforming justiceâ. With a focus on empowerment and collaboration, the problem-solving model has much to offer women offenders in particular. Drawing on data from a large-scale study into the sentencing and punishment of women under the new probation arrangements, this article reveals a divergence of views on gender-specific courts among sentencers, probation officers and third sector workers. Moral concerns about up-tariffing sit alongside the practical barriers of government bureaucracy and hindering legislation. With data pertaining to effectiveness (rather than potential) still required, this article argues that specialist problem-solving courts for women present a risky strategy, however seductive their promise
Discussing atypical sexual harassment as a controversial issue in bystander programmes: One UK campus study
This research emanates from an anti-sexual violence bystander programme delivered at an English university. Fifteen students were identified through purposive and convenience sampling to take part in focus groups. Discussions emerged regarding atypical sexual harassment. There is a gap in the literature exploring sexual harassment outside of the male perpetrator and female victim narrative which this paper contributes to. This paper considers four conversational themes: âunwanted touching: women to menâ, âsexual banter: women to menâ, âsexual stereotypes: women and menâ, and âdeveloping stronger ethical subjectivityâ. This paper recognises most sexual harassment occurs from men to women, and acknowledges criticism of focussing otherwise when resources are limited, noting this risks obscuring the enduring power differentials between the sexes. It contends that exploring a controversial issue, such as male experience of sexual harassment, might help bystander programmes by developing ethical subjectivity in undergraduate students. Exploring sexual behaviour as a spectrum may lead to counter hegemonic discourses to emerge
Implicit theories and offender representativeness in judgments about sexual crime
Implicit theories structure the way people understand and respond to various human actions. Typically, people believe attributes are either fixed (entitists) or malleable (incrementalists). The present study aimed to examine: (a) whether attitudes towards sexual offenders differ depending upon oneâs implicit theory about human nature and sexual offenders, and (b) whether implicit theories are associated with judgments made about different types of child abuser. A sample of 252 community participants was recruited. Their attitudes, implicit theories, and political orientation were assessed via self-report. One of three vignettes describing an incidence of child sexual abuse was then presented. The cases were identical except the perpetrator was either an adult male, an adult female, or a male juvenile. Participants then made judgments about the offender's deserved sentence and moral character. Entitists (across both domains) held more negative attitudes than incrementalists, although the magnitude of the difference was greatest when examining implicit theories about sexual offenders. Compared to those with an incremental theory of sexual offenders, entity theorists judged sexual offending to be more: (a) indicative of the perpetratorâs moral character, and (b) deserving of punishment. However, scores were greater towards the adult male relative to the adult female and juvenile. The findings suggest that implicit theories about sexual offenders are domain-specific. They also indicate that judgments made by those with an entity theory (about sexual offenders) are affected by whether a case is representative of a stereotypical sexual offender. Implications of the findings are discussed, along with limitations and future research
Gender and police leadership: time for a paradigm shift?
Despite a number of initiatives aimed at improving the representation and progression of women in the police service in England and Wales, the number of women in leadership ranks remains low. At the same time, concern over the quality of police leadership has been at the forefront of much public debate in recent years. This article focuses on recent proposals to reform the way in which senior officers are recruited through a discussion of the appointment of non-sworn/'outsider' officers through the adoption of direct and multiple entry models of recruitment as outlined by the Winsor Review (2012, Independent review of police officer and staff remuneration and conditions. Part 2. http://review.police.uk/part-two-report/). Hailed as an opportunity to secure an alternative face to police leadership, we reflect on the growing disquiet over police leaders and leadership and consider the possibilities of such a reform agenda for the representation and progression of women in policing. We propose that although a multipoint system of entry for specialisation or leadership roles may offer a number of opportunities to a service in crisis, such a reform agenda may ultimately serve to threaten and further undermine women's participation and status in policing as 'outsiders'
'Drowning in here in his bloody sea' : exploring TV cop drama's representations of the impact of stress in modern policing
The Criminal Justice System is a part of society that is both familiar and hidden. It is familiar in that a large part of daily news and television drama is devoted to it (Carrabine, 2008; Jewkes, 2011). It is hidden in the sense that the majority of the population have little, if any, direct contact with the Criminal Justice System, meaning that the media may be a major force in shaping their views on crime and policing (Carrabine, 2008). As Reiner (2000) notes, the debate about the relationship between the media, policing, and crime has been a key feature of wider societal concerns about crime since the establishment of the modern police force. He outlines the recurring themes in post-war debates in this field. For Conservatives there has been an ongoing concern that the media is criminongenic, as it serves to undermine traditional institutions, including the police. From the viewpoint of radical criminology, the impact of the media is two-fold: it exaggerates legitimate concerns about crime and emphasises the bureaucratic and other restrictions under which the police operate (Reiner, 2000). This is seen as undermining due process and legitimatising what can be termed a âmaverickâ approach to policing. An early example of this can be seen in Clint Eastwoodâs Dirty Harry movies (Siegel, 1971) where Harry Callaghan acts as a one-man law enforcement system outside of the formal legal process, a process portrayed as corrupt, inefficient, and concerned with offendersâ rights rather than protecting victims. From a policing perspective, Reiner (2000) argues that film and TV drama creates a simplistic narrative of crime solving that is almost completely divorced from the reality of modern police work, a finding consistent with more recent work by Cummins et al., (2014)
To See Ourselves As Others See Us? Incorporating the Constraining Role of Socio-Cultural Practices in the Theorization of Micropolitical Resistance
In this paper, I explore micro-political resistance (defined as resistance at the level of meanings, identity or subjectivity) within the context of professional part-time working. Using Skeggs' (1997) notion of dialogical recognition, which refers to an individual's identification with negative portrayals of the social categories to which they belong, I argue that in transgressing dominant (and taken-for-granted) workplace norms, part-time professionals experience guilt and a sense that they may not be fulfilling their professional obligations. Based on a qualitative study of part-time working in the UK police service, I show how part-time professionals navigate these feelings by both drawing attention to the instrumental value of conforming to certain work-based norms, specifically long hours, and by refusing deployment to tasks and roles that they see as peripheral to their professional identities. It is through such refusals, I argue, that the micropolitical resistance I illustrate in this paper can be understood as effective because of its impact on how everyday routines are performed
Disrupting the âHeroicâ Male Within Policing: A Case of Direct Entry
This article drives forward a more critical insight into the position of women within policing. In focusing on women as police leaders, it problematizes taken for granted representations of gender and proposes an alternative reading of their experiences. Drawing on theoretical work on gendered organizations, the article argues that greater attention needs to be paid to the cultural and structural conditions that enable the âheroic maleâ to emerge as the âidealâ police leader. It also considers the recent introduction of Direct Entry for senior officers in England and Wales as a disruptive tool to the gendered order within policing
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Sentencing Women in the Transformed Probation Landscape
In 2013 the government promised that new reforms would âdeliver better outcomes for women offendersâ (Ministry of Justice, 2013b, p.16). This was a bold statement and a laudable ambition. However, this strategy â called and aimed at Transforming Rehabilitation - will only be successful if sentencers are aware of (and support) the options that new providers put in place to achieve its goals. This chapter considers current levels of awareness of the new reforms among magistrates. Highlighting reservations about the suitability of community provision, and a lack of awareness about developments under Transforming Rehabilitation, it emphasises the lack of information that magistrates receive on this issue. Supplementing the findings of a recent research project conducted with 168 magistrates (see Birkett, 2016), this chapter provides a post-Transforming Rehabilitation âupdateâ, drawing on 24 semi-structured interviews and a survey of 86 magistrates sitting across England and Wales. As such, it places particular focus on developments that followed the implementation of the Offender Rehabilitation Act 2014, the legislative measures underpinning the governmentâs flagship Transforming Rehabilitation policy agenda
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