Therapeutic Jurisprudence: the Application to an England and Wales Review Court

Whilst the Therapeutic Jurisprudence ("TJ") paradigm and related movements have proliferated across jurisdictions worldwide, England and Wales has significantly lagged behind. This thesis examines the therapeutic quality of Manchester Review Court ("MRC") using TJ lenses. MRC is a specialist court in England and Wales, which possesses a problem-solving rationale by bringing offenders back for regular review of recovery and law-compliance on the core Drug Rehabilitation Requirement ("DRR") component. There is no detail of MRC in the accessible literature, no mention on the UK Justice Innovation website, not in the media, not in any policy document, nor is there a court handbook or website outlining objectives and expected practice. However, MRC arguably represents the remains of the six England and Wales Drug Court pilots, established during the early noughties, and which since appear to have been closed down. In the absence of available literature, the aim of this thesis is to provide a groundwork of knowledge to a significantly underexplored area. Positing both "wine" and "bottle" (Wexler, 2014) level research questions, it uses mixed methods (standardised observations, surveys, and interviews) as well as an enveloping ethnographic stage to answer the two-tiered questions within an overall qualitative genre. The methods are justified using the Critical Realism paradigm and data points are brought together using a triangulation rationale within a broader case study approach. One of the original contributions of this thesis is positing a new empirical tool to measure the therapeutic quality of the wine ("judicial interpersonal skills") within problem-solving court contexts. To do so, it uses Principal Component Analysis to arrange eighteen sub-skills on three measurement scales: "harnessing therapeutic support", "engaging therapeutic dialogue" and "inspiring therapeutic change". Implementing these scales for measurement of the "wine" data suggests that the magistrates' interpersonal skills at MRC were largely TJ infused and the most prominent of the eighteen sub-skills exhibited within their interactions were: "understanding the complexity of Alcohol and Other Drugs recovery", "motivating individual", "giving the offender a voice", and "setting realistic goals". However, extending the analysis towards the bottle (laws, provisions, rules, and procedures), the data indicates that the wine was operated within a significantly anti-therapeutic bottle. Where England and Wales' current criminal justice system is emphasising privatisation, centralisation, and austerity measures, the bottle remains unfriendly and is thwarting effective application of TJ at MRC. If MRC were repackaged in a way that subscribes to the current criminal justice climate without eroding other core values and priorities, this would invariably pave way for a more successful future for problem-solving court craft. This, in turn, could help in tackling deep-seated current social and human issues surrounding recidivism, addiction, and austerity

Increased ParB level affects expression of stress response, adaptation and virulence operons and potentiates repression of promoters adjacent to the high affinity binding sites parS3 and parS4 in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Similarly to its homologs in other bacteria, Pseudomonas aeruginosa partitioning protein ParB facilitates segregation of newly replicated chromosomes. Lack of ParB is not lethal but results in increased frequency of anucleate cells production, longer division time, cell elongation, altered colony morphology and defective swarming and swimming motility. Unlike in other bacteria, inactivation of parB leads to major changes of the transcriptome, suggesting that, directly or indirectly, ParB plays a role in regulation of gene expression in this organism. ParB overproduction affects growth rate, cell division and motility in a similar way as ParB deficiency. To identify primary ParB targets, here we analysed the impact of a slight increase in ParB level on P. aeruginosa transcriptome. ParB excess, which does not cause changes in growth rate and chromosome segregation, significantly alters the expression of 176 loci. Most notably, the mRNA level of genes adjacent to high affinity ParB binding sites parS1-4 close to oriC is reduced. Conversely, in cells lacking either parB or functional parS sequences the orfs adjacent to parS3 and parS4 are upregulated, indicating that direct ParB- parS3/ parS4 interactions repress the transcription in this region. In addition, increased ParB level brings about repression or activation of numerous genes including several transcriptional regulators involved in SOS response, virulence and adaptation. Overall, our data support the role of partitioning protein ParB as a transcriptional regulator in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Factors associated with concurrent illicit use of opiates and crack/cocaine among opiate-users in Treatment: Implications for treatment services in England.

Background: The aim of this study was to identify factors associated with concurrent illicit drug use of opiates and crack/cocaine use among individuals receiving of opioid medication-assisted treatment (MAT) in one English rural/urban County Council area. Methods: 776 opiate users in treatment were assessed using the Addiction Dimensions for Assessment and Personalised Treatment (ADAPT) assessment tool. The tool encompasses three domains and 14 subdomains covering addiction severity, recovery strengths and coexisting health and social needs. Data were opportunistically matched to the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System (NDTMS) and the Treatment Outcome Profile (TOP). Two backward stepwise logistic regression models were run to discern the nature of concurrent illicit drug use. Results: Addiction severity (Odds Ratio [OR] 12.55, Confidence interval [CI] 6.49–24.27), low recovery strengths (OR 2.30, CI 1.30–4.07) and no ‘urge/control’ (OR 27.45, 13.18–57.16) were strongly associated with concurrent use. Individuals with moderate psychological needs were more likely to be abstinent (OR 2.97, CI 1.67–5.29) compared to those with no need. Abstaining from injecting (OR 2.38, CI 1.15–4.93), alcohol consumption (OR 1.55, CI 1.05–2.30), increasing age (OR 1.03, CI 1.01-1.06) and increased quality-of-life (OR 1.05, CI 1.00–1.10) were associated with abstinence from concurrent use. Conclusion: Practitioner assessments with self-report data offer unique perspectives on service users’ holistic needs. Interventions addressing concurrent use during MAT should consider managing urges and control of illicit Class A use, injecting and alcohol consumption within a stepped-care approach. Packages for developing recovery strengths supporting psychological need and enhancing quality-of-life is recommended

Challenging the brain disease model of addiction: European launch of the addiction theory network

Challenging the brain disease model of addiction: European launch of the addiction theory networ

The significance of the judge within the choices and consequences and prolific intensive schemes: international lessons for England and Wales and back again

This research paper examines the significance of the judges in the problem-solving courts of England and Wales’s Choices and Consequences (C2) and Prolific Intensive (PI) programmes using the lenses and language of therapeutic jurisprudence. These unique schemes mobilise an intensive combination of strict control measures (with a view to deterring people from reoffending) alongside a personalised package of rehabilitative support overseen by a judge in a problem-solving court. Our findings strongly indicate that the judge-led problem-solving court is the bedrock of the schemes. Acknowledging that this practice relies upon strong leadership from a judge as a community convener with the authority and profile to initiate and sustain the programme, this paper identifies the strengths and barriers that this finding may pose. Our data also points to the difficulties of achieving support for the model at all judicial levels. Readiness (or lack of) within judges in the future could hamper the prospects of both current and new schemes. Moreover, finding a judge with a susceptible personality lowers chances. The authors conclude that the UK’s current punitive, rapid results ethos of the justice system is not working. The international problem-solving court movement has shown that long-term success often ensues when practices are embedded into a broader culture of rehabilitative justice supported by visible communities. By tapping into the broader international community, the key will be a changing cultural process to make keen and compatible judges easier to come by

DEVELOPMENT OF ALTERNATIVE METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING STRUCTURAL ZIRCONIUM ELEMENTS FOR NUCLEAR ENGINEERING

irconium is used as a structural material for use in aggressive environments, including the core of nuclear reactors. The traditional technology of manufacturing the structural elements of zirconium nuclear reactors is characterized by a long technological process and a significant amount of waste in the form of metal shavings. The paper presents the results of an alternative technology, spark plasma sintering, for manufacturing zirconium products. A complex of microstructural and mechanical studies of the obtained samples was carried out according to the ASTMB-351 standard. The sintering of zirconium powder and options for subsequent processing by various methods, including non-standard ones such as radial shear rolling, are justified. Keywords: zirconium; powder metallurgy; spark plasma sintering; microstructure; rheological; dilatometric studie

OBTAINING OF UFG STRUCTURE OF ZR-1% NB ALLOY BY RADIAL-SHEAR ROLLING

An overview of the prospects for the development of nuclear technologies and the conclusion of the relevant requirements for advanced structural materials, their classification and features were described. In order to obtain a bar with a modified radiation-resistant outer layer, an experiment on radial-shear rolling of the Zr-1% Nb alloy in conditions favorable for the UFG structure formation was conducted. In the process of radial-shear rolling of round bars along the route 37 mm → 20 mm in diameters with a total deformation of ≈ 70 %, a microstructure of submicron size was obtained. The nature of the microstructure is equiaxed with mainly high-angle boundaries and large crystallographic misorientation of the grains that is the most promising from the point of view of radiation resistance

Investigation of the Influence of Hot Forging Parameters on the Closing Conditions of Internal Metallurgical Defects in Zirconium Alloy Ingots

In this article, we present research results on the closing conditions of internal metallurgical discontinuities during the hot elongation operation of a Zr-1%Nb alloy ingot using physical and numerical modeling. Research on the influence of thermal and deformation parameters of elongation operations on the rheological behavior of a Zr-1% Nb alloy was conducted using the Gleeble 3800 metallurgical process simulator. Modeling of the influence of thermal–mechanical parameters of hot elongation operations in combinations of rhombic and flat anvils on the closure of metallurgical discontinuities was performed with the help of the FORGE®NxT 2.1 program. Based on the results of the research, recommendations were made regarding forging elongation technology and the geometry of working tools in order to ensure the closure of metallurgical discontinuities during hot elongation operations of Zr-1% Nb alloy ingots