465 research outputs found
Notes on the development of the urban heritage management concept in contemporary policies
This paper seeks to present an overview of the development of the urban heritage management (UHM) concept by analysing documents from key international organisations in this field. The period 1964-2011 is deemed to have been marked by a paradigm shift in the discipline of conservation. Over the course of the last decade, the discussion has been focused on the development of the historic urban landscape (HUL), a concept that incorporates principles of conservation into the integral urban planning framework. However, it seems that the gap between conservation and development is yet to be bridged in practice. The first part of the paper briefly outlines the most important theoretical thought in the fields of conservation and urban planning that contributed to the development of the urban heritage (UH) concept in the 20th century. The second section reviews the UHM policies presented in documents, with an emphasis placed on the roles of particular stakeholders in the process. This paper contributes to overviewing the key aspects of contemporary UHM policies and highlighting perspectives for its future development
Starting to Stop: Young Offenders' Desistance from Crime
This paper explores the complexities of the interplay between structural and agentic changes in 21 young offenders' lives as they start to stop offending. The young people's ability to desist from crime was dependent upon their engagement with a 'hook for change', their development of prosocial relationships and 'knifing off' of elements of their offending past, the extent of their identity change, and their confidence about desistance. Desistance was less likely in the absence of a 'hook' and where offenders were running a 'condemnation script'. The study challenges previous research that argues that desistance from crime in adolescence is unlikely
"Itâs sort of reaffirmed to me that I'm not a monster, I'm not a terrible person": sex offendersâ movements toward desistance via peer-support roles in prison
Individuals incarcerated in prisons across the United Kingdom and abroad are able to volunteer for a variety of peer-support roles, which are characterized by prisoner-to-prisoner helping. Some research has found that such roles can represent turning points in the lives of those who have offended and encourage movements toward desistance. This proposed redemptive influence is argued to result from the prosocial behaviors that such roles appear to elicit in their holders. The present study aims to explore the mechanics of this claimed influence. While a limited amount of research has attempted this on a general offending population, no research has done so with a sample of sexual offenders. Given the intensive treatment programs involved in such contexts, and the requirements for sexual offenders to demonstrate reduced risk, the authors believe those serving time for sexual offenses represent an important sample on which to explore the potentially redemptive properties of peer-support roles. To this end, 13 peer supporters participated in semistructured interviews. Transcripts were analyzed using a phenomenologically oriented thematic analysis. Results suggest that sexual offenders who adopt peer-support roles are able to live up to desired selves by âdoing goodâ in prison, âgiving back,â and consequently resisting negative labels. These benefits have been theoretically linked with better reintegration outcomes for sexual offenders, who are publicly denigrated in the extreme and find it especially difficult to (re)integrate. Suggestions regarding the future utility of such schemes are offered
Understanding Compliance Dynamics in Community Justice Settings
This article seeks to expand the existing literature on compliance in community justice settings by highlighting the importance of service user participation in efforts to achieve compliance. The articleâs central argument is that although co-productive strategies can enhance service user participation, the degree to which co-production is achievable in penal supervision is perhaps uncertain, and has received insufficient theoretical or empirical attention. To address the gap in knowledge, the article draws on the data generated from a study of compliance in Wales, United Kingdom, and employs the Bourdieusian concepts of habitus, field, and capital to argue that the convergence of two key factors undermines the viability of co-productive strategies in penal settings. One factor is the service usersâ habitus of powerlessness which may breed passivity rather than active participation. The second also relates to the power dynamics that characterize penal supervision contexts. Within these contexts, practitioners are statutorily empowered to implement and enforce the requirements of community orders. In the current target-focused policy climate in England and Wales, practitioners may prioritize measurable compliance over forms of compliance that stem from service user participation and engagement perhaps because these are not readily quantifiable
Probation, credibility and justice
This paper explores the difficulties that arise for probation agencies or those that deliver community sanctions in developing and maintaining their credibility in prevailing âlate-modernâ social conditions. It begins by questioning the limits of the pursuit and promise of âpublic protectionâ as a source of credibility, and then proceeds to examine the emergence of an alternative strategy â based principally on reparation and âpaybackâ â in Scotland, arguing that these Scottish developments have much to say to the emerging debates in England and Wales (and elsewhere) about the ârehabilitation revolutionâ and the proper use of imprisonment. The paper provides a critical account of the development and meaning of the Scottish version of âpaybackâ, linking it to some important philosophical and empirical studies that may help to steer the development of payback away from a âmerely punitiveâ drift. In the conclusion, I argue that probation agencies and services need to engage much more deeply and urgently with their roles as justice services, rather than as âmereâ crime reduction agencies
Case management and Think First completion
âThe final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, Probation Journal, Vol 53 Issue 3, 2006, Copyright The Trade Union and Professional Association for Family Court and Probation Staff, by SAGE Publications Ltd at: http://prb.sagepub.com/ " DOI: 10.1177/0264550506066771This article considers the findings of a small-scale study of the practice of case managers supervising offenders required to attend the Think First Group. It explores the interface between one-to-one and group-based work within multi-modal programmes of supervision and seeks to identify those practices that support individuals in completing a group.Peer reviewe
Chaos, containment and change: responding to persistent offending by young people
This article reviews policy developments in Scotland concerning 'persistent young offenders' and then describes the design of a study intended to assist a local planning group in developing its response. The key findings of a review of casefiles of young people involved in persistent offending are reported. It emerges that youth crime and young people involved in offending are more complex and heterogeneous than is sometimes assumed. This, along with a review of some literature about desistance from offending, reaffirms the need for properly individualised interventions. Studies of 'desisters' suggest the centrality of effective and engaging working relationships in this process. However, these studies also re-assert the significance of the social contexts of workersâ efforts to bring 'change' out of 'chaos'. We conclude therefore that the 'new correctionalism' must be tempered with appreciation of the social exclusion of young people who offend
"We're all the same here"âInvestigating the rehabilitative climate of a re-rolled sexual offender prison: a qualitative longitudinal study
Understanding how individuals with sexual convictions experience prison and its environment is important because such experiences can impact on rehabilitation outcomes. This is the first qualitative longitudinal investigation that explores the experiences of prisoners in a prison exclusively for individuals with sexual convictions over time. The purpose of this research was to explore the rehabilitative and therapeutic climate of a recently re-rolled prison (a general prison turned into a prison only for individuals who have sexually offended) at two time points (T1 at reroll and T2 a year later). The study focuses on prisoners perspectives of the purpose of the prison, experience of prison life, relationships in the prison, and the prison regime over time. Twenty interviews were conducted across the time points and revealed two main superordinate themes ââBeingâ in a prison for individuals with sexual convictionsâ and âobstructions to change". This research adds to the emerging body of knowledge surrounding the importance of the wider prison environment on the rehabilitation of individuals with sexual convictions and on the benefits and risks of co-locating men who have committed sexual offences in the same prison site. It also has implications wider than rehabilitation of those convicted of sexual offences and has insights for the types of environment and prisoner-staff relationships that are conducive to rehabilitation
Deconstructing the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender victim of sex trafficking: Harm, exceptionality and religionâsexuality tensions
Contrary to widespread belief, sex trafficking also targets lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) communities. Contemporary social and political constructions of victimhood lie at the heart of regulatory policies on sex trafficking. Led by the US Department of State, knowledge about LGBT victims of trafficking constitutes the newest frontier in the expansion of criminalization measures. These measures represent a crucial shift. From a burgeoning range of preemptive measures enacted to protect an amorphous class of âall potential victimsâ, now policies are heavily premised on the risk posed by traffickers to âvictims of special interestâ. These constructed identities, however, are at odds with established structures. Drawing on a range of literatures, the core task of this article is to confront some of the complexities and tensions surrounding constructions of LGBT trafficking victims. Specifically, the article argues that discourses of âexceptional vulnerabilityâ and the polarized notions of âinnocenceâ and âguiltâ inform hierarchies of victimhood. Based on these insights, the article argues for the need to move beyond monolithic understandings of victims, by reframing the politics of harm accordingly
A Cell of Oneâs Own? Incarceration and Other Turning Points in Womenâs Journeys to Desistance
Research has shown the importance of turning points in desistance from criminal behavior. Using qualitative data from a sample of 100 formerly incarcerated mothers interviewed about their criminal behavior, this article explores their descriptions of transition moments and whether and how those moments affected their criminal behavior. The findings indicate that whereas parenting emerges as a turning point, the practical difficulties of reentry may reduce the impact of mothering on womenâs desistance. More self-focused turning points, such as those due to incarceration, arrest, and sobriety appeared to be particularly important to the womenâs desistance. This article emphasizes the need for research into the subjective and environmental factors that affect womenâs desistance behaviors
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