Power Imbalance within the Setting of Special Education Mediation: A View toward Structural and Organizational Factors Influencing Outcome

Research on mediation as a means of dispute resolution has alluded to potential injustices that may emerge from the process when conflict occurs between persons of unequal status. An example of such inequity would be when one parly in the dispute is an individual who is somehow dependent on the second party (who may represent an organization or institution). In a recent evaluation of special education mediation services, structural and organizational factors were identified that could influence the impact of power imbalance between disputants (parents and school personnel) independent of the mediation session itself. This paper examines these factors and proposes that future research broaden its perspective on power-imbalance theories associated with mediation. In particular, the present examination brings into question the sufficiencies of claims that mediation is procedurally inappropriate when an inherent power imbalance exists in conflict situations

Torn between two targets: German police officers talk about the use of force

Considering earlier research into police use of force as well as the judicial and practical frame of police work in Germany, the article presents the results of an empirical study on the individual and collective legitimization of the use of force by German police officers. There are numerous justifications for the use of force expressed by focus group participants in eight German Federal States who were responding to a hypothesized scenario. In the discussions observed within the groups, reference is first made to the state’s duty to prosecute alleged offences and the measures or formal actions to do this—hence, the legal authority to use force. In the course of the discussions, however, it became obvious that illegal violence may occur, although it was not perceived as such by the officers. Overall, and after an intensive analysis of the focus group discussions, it can be stated that use of force (whether legal or not) depends on the police officer’s perception of the resistance of the person being engaged with. In this regard, different social–cultural or physical–material factors can be identified. They have different influences on the individual legitimization of police actions, intertwined with the perception of the situation as constructed by the officer. Three ways of perceiving the situation can be deduced, resulting in different patterns of justification for the use of force

Police Criminal Charging Decisions: An Examination of Post-Arrest Decision-Making

Scholars have encouraged studies of police decision-making to move beyond the arrest decision into research that broadens the understanding of police behavior. The criminal charge placed by officers against offenders is largely an untouched area of study. Examining criminal charging decisions goes beyond simple dichotomous decisions, such as arrest, but instead explores the area of police leniency or punitiveness. Randomly constructed vignettes describing a domestic violence incident were given to officers from four agencies. Officers indicated the criminal charges they would likely list against an offender if they were to make an arrest. Serious criminal charges were often supported by additional, but less serious, charges. Victim injury and an uncooperative offender were related to the decision to charge a misdemeanor offense. There was a significant negative relationship between the number of charges listed and more experienced officers and officers working in smaller agencies. The implications of this study and directions for future research are discussed

Police Cybercrime Training: Perceptions, Pedagogy and Policy

Cybercrime has become one of the most pressing developments for police organisations to engage with over recent years. One of the key challenges here is to understand how best to effectively impart relevant skills and knowledge about cybercrime throughout the organisation to enable police officers to react appropriately to such illicit behaviours. This paper is drawn from mixed-methods research undertaken as part of a major study into the effectiveness of cybercrime investigation within a large UK police force funded by College of Policing/Hefce. The research found that officers perceived some modes of training as considerably more effective than others and, similarly, highlighted some of the organisational contexts that impact negatively on the delivery of effective cyber training to police officers. The authors believe that the findings will have relevance to police training policies both in the UK and in the wider international context