A Defender\u27s Take on Good Prosecutors

When Professor Abbe Smith asked “Can You Be a Good Person and a Good Prosecutor” in 2001 (and answered it mostly in the negative), she began a conversation that would result in me, a public defender, having to repeatedly answer the question from earnest law students and young lawyers. I haven’t yet forgiven Professor Smith. My first impulse when I’m asked the question is to hand out her home phone number. My second impulse is to answer: “Why are you asking me?” I’m a defense lawyer. Worse still, I am a public defender. I’m not, shall we say, naturally drawn to answering questions about who should become a prosecutor. Nor am I naturally drawn to “good people.” But here we are seventeen years later and the question is still on the table—perhaps more so than ever with the election of several “progressive prosecutors” in notable jurisdictions. I will start by saying that I would like to practice in a criminal justice system where the question of whether a “good person” can be a “good prosecutor” is a silly, even offensive, question. The fact that in this day and age it is instead a legitimate question fraught with moral significance speaks volumes about the system itself

The Social Construction of Successful Market Reforms

The transition from socialism to capitalism has spawned a large literature on comparative policy reforms. While many sociologists using qualitative data have concluded that neo-liberal reforms led to negative outcomes, a large body of cross-national literature, mostly from economics and political science, claims that more neo-liberal reforms produced better economic and political outcomes. These latter studies almost all use measures of policy reform constructed by economists at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). We show, using the EBRD’s own data, that their indices of progress in market reforms are biased in the direction of positive growth. That is, the EBRD’s bureaucracy over-codes the more successful countries. When one accounts for this bias, the relationship between the EBRD’s transition indicators and growth significantly weakens or disappears. These findings have implications for social scientific research using statistics constructed by �international organizations, like the World Bank and the IMF.sociology of knowledge, transition, bias

The need for new criminal justice & criminological approaches to end the ‘War on Terror’

Violent attacks in the West in recent years by terrorist groups have reinforced the fact that acts of violence by extremist groups are increasingly becoming a feature of 21st Century life. Understandably, such acts have been met with outrage, condemnation, horror and fear. In addition, the West's responses to such events have been amongst other things, more bombing for Syria; more resources given to the police; more powers for security agencies, greater surveillance employed and new laws passed which highlight that the war on terror is active. However, George Bush’s declaration that the ‘war on terror’, "will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated" is unrealistic. The state response to terrorism broadly follows a ‘war on terror’ approach; similarly current criminal justice and criminological approaches also broadly follow a retributive style approach. This paper will argue that a new paradigm for an emotionally intelligent CJS is needed, one which utilises theories and models of criminal justice that are also emotionally intelligent, in order to put an end to the patterns of separation, exclusion, excessive punishment, shaming and humiliation and thus end the misguided approach used at present specifically in relation to terrorism (and more generally in relation to criminality)

Navigating drugs at university: normalization, differentiation & drift?

Whilst drug use appears to be common amongst university students, this study moved beyond mere drug prevalence, and for the first time in the UK, used the 6 dimensions of normalisation to better understand the role and place drugs play in the lives of university students. 512 students completed a Student Lifestyle Survey. A differentiated normalisation is occurring amongst different student groups; the social supply of drugs is common, and some users are ‘drifting’ into supply roles yet such acts are neutralized. Students are ‘drug literate’ and have to navigate drugs, and their consumption, availability and marketing, as part of their everyday student life. Student drug use is not homogenous and very little is known about the nuances and diversity of their use/non-use beyond prevalence data.  Qualitative studies are needed to better understand the processes of differentiated normalisation and social supply. This is the first study in the UK to use the six dimensions of normalisation amongst a sample of university studentsWhilst drug use appears to be common amongst university students, this study moved beyond mere drug prevalence, and for the first time in the UK, used the 6 dimensions of normalisation to better understand the role and place drugs play in the lives of university students. 512 students completed a Student Lifestyle Survey. A differentiated normalisation is occurring amongst different student groups; the social supply of drugs is common, and some users are ‘drifting’ into supply roles yet such acts are neutralized. Students are ‘drug literate’ and have to navigate drugs, and their consumption, availability and marketing, as part of their everyday student life. Student drug use is not homogenous and very little is known about the nuances and diversity of their use/non-use beyond prevalence data.  Qualitative studies are needed to better understand the processes of differentiated normalisation and social supply. This is the first study in the UK to use the six dimensions of normalisation amongst a sample of university student

Galaxy pairs in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey - XII: The fuelling mechanism of low excitation radio-loud AGN

We investigate whether the fuelling of low excitation radio galaxies (LERGs) is linked to major galaxy interactions. Our study utilizes a sample of 10,800 spectroscopic galaxy pairs and 97 post-mergers selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey with matches to multi-wavelength datasets. The LERG fraction amongst interacting galaxies is a factor of 3.5 higher than that of a control sample matched in local galaxy density, redshift and stellar mass. However, the LERG excess in pairs does not depend on projected separation and remains elevated out to at least 500 kpc, suggesting that major mergers are not their main fuelling channel. In order to identify the primary fuelling mechanism of LERGs, we compile samples of control galaxies that are matched in various host galaxy and environmental properties. The LERG excess is reduced, but not completely removed, when halo mass or D4000 are included in the matching parameters. However, when BOTH M_halo and D4000 are matched, there is no LERG excess and the 1.4 GHz luminosities (which trace jet mechanical power) are consistent between the pairs and control. In contrast, the excess of optical and mid-IR selected AGN in galaxy pairs is unchanged when the additional matching parameters are implemented. Our results suggest that whilst major interactions may trigger optically and mid-IR selected AGN, the gas which fuels the LERGs has two secular origins: one associated with the large scale environment, such as accretion from the surrounding medium or minor mergers, plus an internal stellar mechanism, such as winds from evolved stars.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS Letters; 5 page

Motivations for change in drug addiction recovery:turning points as the antidotes to the pains of recovery

Painful life events have been highlighted as being instrumental in promoting change during drug addiction recovery. This paper attempts to integrate the ‘pains of desistance’ approach into a recovery capital framework. It explores the life courses of 30 people in drug addiction recovery who had previously had a problem with an illicit substance to explore the role of the pains of recovery (potential push factors) alongside different forms of recovery capital (pull factors) at key turning points of change during recovery. Findings demonstrate that pull factors linked to CHIME were significant in promoting positive changes. Turning points acted as antidotes to pains experienced in early recovery. Three antidotes appeared to be gender specific. Implications highlight the need for greater access to community capital pathways. It advocates the need to dispel the myth for a rock bottom moment and for a more macro conceptualisation of drug addiction recovery