Social Capital, Rehabilitation, Tradition: Support for Restorative Justice in Japan and Australia

This paper investigates the attitudes and beliefs that the public hold about criminal behaviour in Japanese and Australian society, with a view to uncovering sources of resistance to, and support for, restorative justice. The study draws on a survey of 1,544 respondents from Japan and 1,967 respondents from Australia. In both societies, restorative justice met with greater acceptance among those who were (1) strong in social capital, (2) believed in offender reintegration and rehabilitation, (3) saw benefits for victims in forgiveness, and (4) were advocates for victims' voices being heard and amends made. The alternative 'just deserts' and deterrence models for dealing with crime were grounded in attitudes of punitiveness and fear of moral decay, and reservations about the value of reintegrating and rehabilitating offenders. Like restorative justice supporters, 'just deserts' and deterrence supporters expressed concern that victims' voices be heard and amends made. Winning public support for competing institutional arrangements may depend on who does best in meeting expectations for meeting the needs of victims

Effects of thermal and mechanical fatigue on the flexural strength of G40-600/PMR-15 cross-ply laminates

The effects of thermal and mechanical fatigue on the flexural strength of G40-600/PMR-15 cross-ply laminates with ply orientation of (0(2),90(2))2S and (90(2),0(2))2S are examined. The relative importance of shear and tensile stresses is examined by varying the span-to-depth ratios of flexural test specimens from 8 to 45. Acoustic emission signals are measured during the flexural tests in order to monitor the initiation and growth of damage. Optical microscopy is used to examine specimens for resin cracking, delamination, and fiber breaks after testing. Transverse matrix cracks and delaminations occur in all specimens, regardless of ply orientation, span-to-depth ratio, or previous exposure of specimens to thermal and mechanical fatigue. A small amount of fiber tensile fracture occurs in the outer 0 deg ply of specimens with high span-to-depth ratios. Because of the complex failure modes, the flexural test results represent the 'apparent' strengths rather than the true flexural or shear strengths for these cross-ply laminates. Thermal cycling of specimens prior to flexural testing does not reduce the apparent flexural strength or change the mode of failure. However, fewer acoustic events are recorded at all strains during flexural testing of specimens exposed to prior thermal cycling. High temperature thermal cycling (32 to 260 C, 100 cycles) causes a greater reduction in acoustic events than low temperature thermal cycling (-85 to +85 C, 500 cycles). Mechanical cycling (0 to 50 percent of the flexural strength, 100 cycles) has a similar effect, except that acoustic events are reduced only at strains less than the maximum strain applied during flexural fatigue