Contextualism and the History of Philosophy

In this paper, I seek to advance the thesis that if we are to come to a better appreciation of the historical rootedness of philosophical thinking, we must strive to encourage the contextualization of philosophical texts and support this goal by developing methods and tools for research that are facilitative of this contextualist goal

Street-level surveillance: human agency and the electronic monitoring of offenders

Recent years have witnessed an increase in new ‘technologies of control’ that decrease reliance upon labour intensive forms of policing. The electronic monitoring of offenders represents just one section of the expanding industry in ‘techno-corrections’ that incorporates elements of the private security, military and telecommunications industries. The surveillance capacity generated by these industries has diverted attention away from the role of human agency in the implementation of surveillance services. This paper is concerned with the reliance of ‘technologies of control’ upon ‘street-level surveillance’ which involves a shift in focus away from the capacity of surveillance technologies and towards the actions of agents of control, offenders and the local community, in ensuring the successful operation of electronic monitoring services

Tagging re-booted! Imagining the potential of victim-oriented electronic monitoring

Electronic monitoring (EM) technologies or ‘tagging’, as the ankle bracelet is known, have been subject to much experimentation across the criminal justice landscape, yet there remains a good deal of conjecture concerning the purpose and subsequent effectiveness of these technologies. This article calls for renewed consideration of both the potential and pitfalls of radio frequency (RF) and global positioning by satellite (GPS) EM technologies and provides a victim-oriented perspective on future developments in EM. The author proposes further interrogation of the penal assumptions that underpin thinking about the use of EM as well as analysis of recent police experimentation with the technology. The article concludes with a call for a clear and strong probation voice in the renewed debates about EM that can guide and support ethical and effective policy and practice

Aquinas, Finnis and Non-naturalism

In this chapter I seek to examine the credibility of Finnis’s basic stance on Aquinas that while many neo-Thomists are meta-ethically naturalistic in their understanding of natural law theory (for example, Heinrich Rommen, Henry Veatch, Ralph McInerny, Russell Hittinger, Benedict Ashley and Anthony Lisska), Aquinas’s own meta-ethical framework avoids the “pitfall” of naturalism. On examination, the short of it is that I find Finnis’s account (while adroit) wanting in the interpretation stakes vis-à-vis other accounts of Aquinas’s meta-ethical foundationalism. I think that the neo-Thomists are basically right to argue that for Aquinas we cannot really understand objective truths about moral standards unless we derive them from our intellective knowledge of natural facts as given to us by the essential human nature that we have. While I find Finnis’s interpretative position on Aquinas wanting, I go on to argue that his own attachment to non-naturalism is justified and should not be jettisoned. Because I think non-naturalism important to the future tenability of a viable natural law ethics (an ethics that is both cognitive and objectivist), I argue that Finnis should, so to speak, “beef up” his “fundamental option” for non-naturalism and more fully avail himself of certain argumentative strategies available in its defense, argumentative strategies that are inspired by the analytical philosophy of G.E. Moore

The global trade in (techno)corrections

Electronic monitoring (EM) of offender technologies developed as responses to the problem of prison overcrowding and the enhanced focus upon re-introducing market values to the criminal justice sector, incorporating advances in information and communication technological infrastructures into new modes of crime control. At first glance, EM technologies appear to be tools with the potential to stimulate criminal justice innovation: new modes of virtual regulation suited to the digital world that global citizens inhabit. Yet, closer scrutiny of the use of EM across the globe unveils a sprawling, amorphous industry in commercial techno-corrections that both stimulates penal growth in domestic markets and facilitates policy transfer across international jurisdictions. The pioneering EM markets of North America, the UK and Australasia act as testing stations for the next generation of developers across Europe, Latin America and South East Asia. Viewed more closely, EM appears indicative of an intensification of surveillance and electronic population governance that has emerged from neo-liberal states and dispersed across the globe in a myriad of shapes and forms

An experimental study of self-regulated learning in biology with special reference to instructional control, locus of control, and academic performance

Bibliography: pages 189-198.Applying theoretical conceptualisations of current theories of self-regulated learning, a biology instructional programme facilitating learner perceptions of control by offering choices in task engagement was undertaken with two intact samples of Caucasian standard ten higher grade biology pupils in Cape Town, with the student groups matched for IQ and ability. A counter-balanced, quasi-experimental research design was implemented for two five-day cycles. Learner locus of control and self-regulatory behaviour were established using, respectively, the Intellectual Achievement Responsibility Questionnaire (Crandall, et al, 1965), and the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (Pintrich and De Groot, 1990). The primary aim was to test the prediction that, in contrast to teacher-regulated instruction, academic performance after learner self-regulation would be appreciably greater. Differences between the experimental and control group mean achievement scores at the end of the programme were highly significant

Rebalancing criminal justice : potentials and pitfalls for neighbourhood justice panels

The coalition government have pledged a commitment to a shift from 'Big Government' that presumes to know best, to the 'Big Society' that trusts in people for ideas and innovation to mend Britain's 'broken society'. While the policy implications of this shift remain opaque at this stage, further work has been undertaken to articulate what this strategy entails (see Cabinet Office, 2010). Five key themes have emerged which promise a dramatic shake-up of the system. This paper focuses on the theme that most closely relates to notions of 'Big Society' - restorative justice. In the current economic climate it is perhaps unsurprising that the coalition is supportive of restorative justice, as it mirrors the desire to redistribute power from central government to local communities and individuals. The Liberal Democrat experimentation with Community Justice Panels (now being referred to as Neighbourhood Justice Panels or NJPs) in the run-up to the general election has been highlighted as a measure that will be introduced to combat low-level offending and antisocial behaviour. This is given particular consideration as it involves local communities and victims themselves responding to offending behaviour rather than the state. NJPs, it is claimed, have a dramatic impact on recidivism rates in comparison to the traditional criminal justice process and a corresponding reduction on police time and resources. However, as Crawford & Newburn (2002) highlight, England has traditionally adopted a more punitive approach towards dealing with offending behaviour due to widespread public anxiety about crime and political competition to secure votes. Thus, this paper seeks to explore the potential implementational difficulties and resistance that may come

Towards victim-oriented police? Some reflections on the concept and purpose of policing and their implications for victim-oriented police reform

The global policy drift towards community policing and an enhanced philosophical and practical orientation towards victims of crime has been slow but incrementally successful in some jurisdictions. This paper uses a comparative approach to review the different conceptual and theoretical assumptions that underpin thinking about policing to tentatively identify the factors that support victim-oriented police reform. The paper draws on evidence from India and Argentina plus England and Wales to assess how different policing models have translated victim-oriented language into practice. It is notable that while police forces across the globe often share a common understanding of police functions there is less agreement when referring to how to engage with citizens and balancing the broader panoply of policing priorities. Conceptual understandings of policing often contain unarticulated assumptions about how policing should be done and this partly explains why placing citizenship and victims at the core in rhetorical terms does not always translate into practice. The paper concludes with a call for a concerted effort to articulate a clear philosophical and conceptual understanding of victim-oriented policing as an enabler of police reform