Discourses on women and shoplifting: a critical analysis of why female crime mythologies past and present operate to legitimate the incompatibility between female gender roles and the idea of women as active agents of crime.

This thesis looks at what has been said and what can be said about women and shoplifting. The first section introduces and discusses oral history as a method and includes original oral history material through the testimony of Shirley Pitts, who lived in London between 1934-1992 and who earned her living as a professional thief. The purpose of this oral history material, and discussion of the oral history method, is not to introduce a `hidden' or 'subjugated' truth about the `essential' nature of women and shoplifting into the debate. Instead, using a methodology associated with Michel Foucault's I Pierre Riviere [FOUCAULT, M., I Pierre Riviere. Having Slaughtered My Mother. My Sister. and My Brother: Case of Patricide in the 19 Century] this oral history material is discussed in order to understand what insights 'unofficial' discourses can offer about women and shoplifting. This approach attempts to ensure `through the re-appearance of this .... disqualified knowledge that criticism performs its work'. [FOUCAULT, M., Politics. Philosophy. Culture: Interviews and Other Writing] The second section takes up discussion raised in response to the oral transcript of Shirley Pitts about wider issues concerning women, shopping, consumerism and identity. It investigates why official knowledge about women and shopping as well as women and shoplifting has often operated to conceal the idea of women as active agents of crime. The source material for this section of the investigation is intentionally diverse and examines a number of discourses - including those that are historical, sociological, psychological, psychoanalytic, criminological, consumerist, anthropological and media led etc. - in order to reveal an incompatibility between narratives of `femininity' and `criminality' in both historical and contemporary discourse. It is during these discussions that theoretical ideas about discourse, associated with Michel Foucault, are further mobilised to draw attention to silences, contradictions and other problems of information about shoplifting. Consequently, the critical focus herein leads towards consideration of why female crime mythologies, originally linked to an inappropriate model of human nature, construct women as sad, mad or bad. Such mythologies have been reiterated in many diverse ways so that even contemporary criminal statistics are not always helpful when trying to refute inappropriate mythologising of the activities of women who shoplift. Lastly, it is the intention of this thesis to use critical investigations of different types of discourse to consider not only women's relationship to shoplifting, but the relationship of theft to what Guy Debord describes as 'the society of spectacle'' [DEBORD, GUY, Society of the Spectacle]. This is because overall, the thesis argues that issues about consumer tactics and visual seduction connect the behaviour of women shoppers and women shoplifters in ways that have been overlooked by official discourses

Processing speed in children and adolescents

Literature Review Background: Mathematical and reading abilities are predictive of academic achievement. To date, limited research has examined the relationship between processing speed and academic achievement in typically developing children. Greater insight into this relationship could help to identify the impact that reduced processing speed may have on long-term academic achievement. This review aimed to explore the relationship between these variables in typically developing children. Method: Studies conducted in the past twenty years measuring mathematics and/or reading abilities and processing speed in typically developing children using a standardised assessment measure were included in the review. In total 1278 studies were screened, which led to the identification of eight eligible studies that were included in the review. Results: No relationship was found between processing speed and reading ability. The findings on mathematics abilities were conflicting, with some studies identifying a relationship and other finding no significant association between these variables. Age appeared to be a moderating factor in studies that reported a significant relationship between mathematics and processing speed. Conclusions: The findings suggest that the relationship between processing speed and academic achievement is complex and the following review was unable to ascertain the direct relationship between these variables. It is recommended that future research examines the relationship between age and academic achievement in further detail. Empirical Paper Processing speed interventions have been found to be acceptable in children; however, there is limited evidence that they are effective in this population. This study investigated whether a processing speed intervention was effective in improving processing speed (PS) in children with suspected white matter disorders. The study hypothesised that children would demonstrate improvement on a daily outcome measure and between pre-baseline and post-intervention measures of PS. A single case experimental design utilising a multiple baseline approach was used to observe the effect of the intervention within and across participants. Three participants were recruited, each completing a choice reaction time (CRT) task three times a week that acted as the outcome measure. The processing speed intervention involved playing single player, multiplayer and iPad/android games. Overall there was no significant change in CRT between phases; however two participants demonstrated a medium effect size. There was no significant change in pre- or post-PS measures but there was evidence of reliable change in overall and cognitive fatigue. These findings suggest that the processing speed intervention was not effective in improving PS abilities. This paper highlights a number of challenges in implementing a processing speed intervention and explores the clinical implications of these findings

Mental health consultations in a prison population: a descriptive study

BACKGROUND: The psychiatric morbidity among prison inmates is substantially higher than in the general population. We do, however, have insufficient knowledge about the extent of psychiatric treatment provided in our prisons. The aim of the present study was to give a comprehensive description of all non-pharmacological interventions provided by the psychiatric health services to a stratified sample of prison inmates. METHODS: Six medium/large prisons (n = 928) representing 1/3 of the Norwegian prison population and with female and preventive detention inmates over-sampled, were investigated cross-sectionally. All non-pharmacological psychiatric interventions, excluding pure correctional programs, were recorded. Those receiving interventions were investigated further and compared to the remaining prison population. RESULTS: A total of 230 of the 928 inmates (25 %) had some form of psychiatric intervention: 184 (20 %) were in individual psychotherapy, in addition 40 (4 %) received ad hoc interventions during the registration week. Group therapy was infrequent (1 %). The psychotherapies were most often of a supportive (62 %) or behavioural-cognitive (26 %) nature. Dynamic, insight-oriented psychotherapies were infrequent (8 %). Concurrent psychopharmacological treatment was prevalent (52 %). Gender and age did not correlate with psychiatric interventions, whereas prisoner category (remanded, sentenced, or preventive detention) did (p < 0.001). Most inmates had a number of defined problem areas, with substance use, depression, anxiety, and personality disorders most prevalent. Three percent of all inmates were treated for a psychotic disorder. Remand prisoners averaged 14 sessions per week per 100 inmates, while sentenced inmates and those on preventive detention averaged 22 and 25 sessions per week per 100 inmates, respectively. Five out of six psychiatric health services estimated the inmates' psychiatric therapy needs as adequately met, both overall and in the majority of individual cases. CONCLUSION: Our results pertain only to prisons with adequate primary and mental health services and effective diversion from prison of individuals with serious mental disorders. Given these important limitations, we do propose that the service estimates found may serve as a rough guideline to the minimum number of sessions a prison's psychiatric health services should be able to fulfil in order to serve the inmates psychiatric needs. The results rely on the specialist services' own estimates only. Future studies should take other important informants, including the inmates themselves, into consideration

Troublesome trade-offs: balancing urban activities and values when securing a city-centre governmental quarter

Background Homeland security measures increasingly affect urban life and activities. Standoff distance, which prevents unscreened vehicles from approaching within a certain distance of a building, is a widely applied measure when protecting buildings against attacks with vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices. This measure both is rather inexpensive and has few negative externalities when implemented in rural areas. Unfortunately, sites with protection needs often are situated in city centres. Methods We apply the so-called Security Function Framework to illuminate the externalities or the ‘troublesome trade-offs’ between protecting a high-value site against vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices and protecting other urban values. Results This paper demonstrates that standoff creates challenges for other important values, such as functional office spaces for all employees, deliveries and emergency vehicle access. Simultaneously, standoff creates opportunities for reinforcing social-responsibility requirements, such as accessibility for pedestrians and environmental considerations. Conclusions Security measures can have both negative and positive externalities and planning might alleviate some of the negative ones

Tricky design: the ethics of things

xvi, 231 p. ; 24 cm

Empowering the Culture of Social Innovation

It can be argued that today, in Europe and world-wide, there is an increasing effort of social actors and cultural operators to organise initiatives in support of social innovation, to find new and sustainable ways of thinking and doing. This paper suggests that designers, today, can play a role in empowering this phenomenon, supporting the culture of sustainable social innovation by catalysing co-creative and participative contexts involving citizens, communities, businesses, third sector organisations and institutions to find solutions for the most pressing societal issues. By presenting and discussing ‘design experiments’ developed within the international Network DESIS – Design for Social Innovation and Sustainability - and other benchmark cases, this paper considers how effective co-design contexts that help to scale this culture within society are created