Choice versus crisis: how Scotland could transform the way we think about prisons and punishment

In late 2007, and in the face of a high imprisonment rate and unmitigated growth in the prison population over the past decade, Scotland’s Cabinet Secretary for Justice launched an independent commission to consider the use of imprisonment in Scotland and to raise the public profile of this issue. The Scottish Prisons Commission was Chaired by former Scottish First Minister, the Rt. Hon. Henry McLeish, and comprised a mixed group of criminal justice and civic leaders. The Commission reported in July 2008

Fertile Ground for Violent Extremists: A New Framework to Protect Military Servicemembers and Their Civil Liberties

Veterans and active-duty members of the armed forces are popular and vulnerable targets for recruitment by alt-right and violent white extremist (“VWE”) groups. As the United States government attempts to deal with an influx of violent hate groups throughout the country, both in the civilian and military context, it must respect the civil liberties of those investigated. This is critical because prosecutors often sweep with a broad brush when investigating resistance movements, and protestors of color and from marginalized backgrounds are disproportionately targeted. Further, on a constitutional level, every American has fundamental rights that cannot be abridged. Therefore, when dealing with active duty servicemembers and recruitment by violent white extremist groups, military courts must remain mindful and respectful of servicemembers’ First Amendment rights. Prosecutors must find ways to separate extremist conduct—which can and should be punished—from extremist ideologies, words, and thoughts, which, on their own, cannot and should not. This Article first provides a brief overview of the characteristics of alt-right and VWE groups, including a history of the white supremacist movement in the United States and the current landscape in which these groups operate. It then explores the tactics that alt-right and VWE groups utilize to recruit U.S. servicemembers and reviews current First Amendment doctrine that traditionally limits law enforcement’s ability to police VWE speech both online and in person, making it difficult to prevent this type of recruitment. Finally, after examining the relevant cases in military courts that demonstrate the different standards for servicemembers’ speech, this Article proposes a new specific, speech-integral crime of recruitment for extremist organizations. This proposed crime, in the vein of other speech-integral crimes like solicitation, extortion, and perjury, is designed to preserve servicemembers’ First Amendment rights when adjudicating cases in this space

Bud Gone, But Not Forgotten

To all of those who have walked through, studied at, or worked for ISU College of Veterinary Medicine, February 6, 2000 marked the death of a friend. Bud was one of Iowa\u27s best known and most loved steers. He was a gentle giant in the large animal hospital, which has felt emptier to all who have wandered past the empty stall known as the Bud Zone since his death. Bud, a brown Swiss steer, came to ISU in 1980. He was one of ten calves bought for research on hormonal influences on the immune system. For three years, he participated in immunology experiments with Dr. James Roth, distinguished professor in veterinary microbiology and preventative medicine. Bud, then known only as No. 36, was involved in about ten research projects and was published six or seven times

At risk of rights: rehabilitation, sentence management and the structural violence of prison

This article explores governing through rights in a penal context by analyzing a recent case before the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (the “Court” or “Supreme Court”), Brown v The Parole Board for Scotland et al. (UKSC 2017). The case involved a prisoner whose stay in prison was extended by several years beyond what the trial court ordered because he was unable to access offender behavior courses due to staffing shortages and waiting lists. In rejecting this as an arbitrary detention (in violation of Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights), the Supreme Court focused on the prisoner’s behavior as a justification for non-release. This article traces how the Court applied concepts of rehabilitation and sentence progression to shift focus from the state’s compliance with its rights duties to the prisoner’s deservingness of rights protection. Using frameworks of governmentality and structural violence, I explore how administrative processes, such as sentence management and rights litigation, facilitate and constitute prison violence. Specifically, rehabilitation provided the means of constructing the petitioner as a disobedient and undeserving subject, while simultaneously valorizing the penal authorities’ enlightened oversight of his sentence. Through such moves, the Court and, by extension, legal institutions, can inflict violence in three ways: first, by legitimating the extension of confinement using tools aimed at limiting detention; second, by imposing material and psychic burdens in the pursuit of legal claims, creating both hope and the basis of destroying it; and third, by obscuring and denying the disordered and inherently violent nature of the experience of imprisonment. The article seeks to expose how bureaucratic logics (like balancing tests), spaces (like appeal courts), and material practices (as in the temporal organization of “background facts” in legal judgments) are part of prison and the violence which characterizes the prison experience

Dissipation and phytotoxicity of oil sands naphthenic acids in wetland plants

Naphthenic acids (NAs) are toxic organic acid compounds released during the caustic hot-water extraction of crude oil from oil sands in north-eastern Alberta, Canada. NAs subsequently accumulate in the large volume of oil sands process water (OSPW) produced daily by oil sands operations. The complexity of dealing with a mixture of over 200 individual NA compounds, combined with their acute aquatic toxicity and large volume of production has made them an emerging pollutant of concern for western Canada. The following thesis outlines a variety of experiments designed to determine the potential to use wetland plants to enhance the dissipation of NAs from OSPW (phytoremediation). Investigations were carried out with three native emergent macrophyte species cattail (Typha latifolia), common reed (Phragmites australis subsp. americanus), and hard-stem bulrush (Scirpus acutus) to see if they enhanced the dissipation of NAs from a hydroponic system. Dissipation of NAs (at 30 mg L-1 and 60 mg L-1) was investigated with both a commercially available NA mixture as well as with a NA mixture extracted from the OSPW. Dissipation of NAs was also investigated under the different ionized forms of NAs (ionized, pH = 7.8; and non-ionized, pH = 5.0) to better elucidate the mechanisms of NA uptake and toxicity in plants. Phytotoxicity of NAs was investigated in hydroponic experiments through fresh weight gain and evapotranspiration was monitored throughout the experiment by water uptake. Commercially available NA mixture was more phytotoxic than oil sands NAs mixture. As well, NAs were found to be more phytotoxic in their non-ionized form therefore indicating that they may be taken up through an 'ion-trap' mechanism. However despite this, no significant dissipation of total NAs was observed from planted hydroponic systems. Nevertheless there was a significant change in the distribution (percent abundance) of individual NA families of certain size. These changes were related to the one- and two-ring NA compounds (Z = -2 and Z = -4). Despite not detecting any dissipation of total NAs from the systems, plants were able to reduce the toxicity of a NA system over 30 days by 45% as determined by Daphnia magna acute toxicity bioassays; a 11% greater reduction than unplanted systems. Studies were also conducted investigating the microbial community inhabiting cattail roots exposed to NAs. It was observed that the rhizosphere community changed with NA exposure, with a general increase in potentially pathogenic bacteria and a decrease in bacteria previously found to be beneficial to plant growth. The observed microbial community change could be an indirect effect of the Phytotoxicity experienced by aquatic macrophytes exposed to NAs. Synchrotron-sourced, fourier transform microspectroscopy analysis of root cross sections revealed that there were significant physiological changes to those roots exposed to NAs. These changes were identified as being cell death in the plant root epidermis as well as a change in the chemistry of parenchyma cells in the root pith. It is not known if these changes are a direct effect of NAs to the plant or due to changes of the associated rhizosphere community in the roots or some combination of both these factors

New Spaces: Safeguarding Students from Violence and Hate

Full report of the HEFCE Catalyst funded projectSexual assault, harassment, violence and hate crime on university campuses is a prevalent and pressing concern. A recent Universities UK taskforce report recommended that urgent action in this area is needed. Universities are significant sites for implementing a joined-up approach and tackling these issues. As a campus of Changemakers, students, inter-disciplinary researchers, professional and support staff at The University of Northampton decided to take action to address these significant and important issues, in particular within the context of a major campus move to a town centre location. As one of only 60 institutions across the country to be awarded funding from HEFCE’s Catalyst fund, this ‘New Spaces: Safeguarding Students from Violence and Hate’ cross collaborative project aimed to create vital partnerships in tackling sexual violence and hate crime on campus. The aims of the project were to evaluate existing policies and develop a student-led collaborative approach to identify what currently happens when disclosures are made; staff and student perceptions, knowledge and experiences within the campus transition; as well as providing recommendations for new institutional policies, strategies and recommendations to support students in reporting harassment, sexual abuse, sexual violence and hate crime. This project also contributes to HEFCE’s wider work in creating guidelines and recommendations for HEIs for addressing these issues. A survey of the published literature, as well as an evaluation of existing processes and policies at The University of Northampton were carried out within this project. Data collection involved 2 Staff and 2 student focus groups, as well as 11 interviews with members of the university management team. These were conducted to discuss staff and student experiences, what support was in place for disclosures and recommendations for future practice within the transition to the new campus. One of the student focus groups utilised photo-elicitation methods to allow students to visually conceptualise and create a new, safe campus space. Recommendations are provided for understanding the prevalence of these issues within a campus context; tackle normative beliefs which may influence how they are perceived; increasing knowledge and awareness of sexual violence and hate crime; implementing mechanisms for disclosure and reporting; addressing issues related to security measures and procedures; enhancing partnership working within the local community. These recommendations have local impact and are being used to inform institutional policies and procedures at The University. Project findings are also being implemented into HEFCE’s wider work and national action around these issues. Internationally, the dissemination of these findings is contributing to the limited research in this area

On the Cooling Rate-Microstructure Relationship in Molten Metal Gas Atomization

Abstract Gas atomization is the most used powder production technique since it provides good control on particles shape, surface oxidation and dimension. It is a rapid solidification technique involving fast cooling rates, which are strictly correlated to particle size. This relationship is typically described with a power law function that can be determined experimentally by measuring the microstructural length-scale or through the application of a heat transfer model. Both paths were exploited in the present work focusing on a gas-atomized Al-4.5Cu alloy. Atomized powders were characterized by means of X-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry, light and scanning electron microscopy to investigate the relationship between cooling rate and microstructure length-scale. A recently proposed semi-empirical model was validated and discussed in terms of a physically based heat transfer approach. The change in gas-to-melt mass flow ratio (GMR) was also investigated showing that it does not affect appreciably the relationship between solidification rate and particle size, but does increase the Cu supersaturation in the powders of finer size

Experiences and perceptions of Spring Lane Sure Start Children's Centre

Spring Lane Sure Start Children’s Centre was designated in September 2007, and ‘officially opened’ in February 2009. The Centre is housed in refurbished premises within a nursery/school complex in the heart of Northampton and offers diverse health, childcare, early education and support services delivered by a multi-professional team. These services and activities are available to children aged 0-5 years old, and their parents/carers, residing within a catchment area comprising eight ‘Super Output Areas’ in the Castle and St. James ward of Northampton. In April 2009, the Centre for Children and Youth (CCY) – a research centre based at The University of Northampton – was commissioned by Spring Lane Sure Start Children’s Centre to collate and gather evaluative data regarding experiences and perceptions of the Children’s Centre during its first year of activitie

Gender and Disability: A First Look at Rehabilitation Syllabi and a Call to Action

This study provides an overview of recent scholarship in the area of gender and disability, as well as findings from an evaluation of syllabi from five core courses in graduate rehabilitation education programs. Findings from this exploratory study revealed a need for more attention toward integration of the topic of gender and disability into rehabilitation education courses. Study results showed that in only one out of three courses where there would be a reasonable expectation to see such topics was the content actually addressed. Specific recommendations for enhancing attention to gender issues within rehabilitation education courses are offered