bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Stakeholder Perspectives on Police Complaints and Discipline: Towards a Civilian Control Model
Authors: Prenzler Tim
Published: May 2006

This paper examines the case for independent investigation and adjudication of complaints against police, and the implications for restructuring of public sector institutions concerned with integrity. The need for external review of police in-house investigations is well established. However, there is now an accelerating trend for civilian agencies to go beyond review to engage directly in investigations and to have much greater input into disciplinary decisions.This paper reports on the experiences and principles behind this trend, focusing on the points of view of specific actors and stakeholders.These include commissions of inquiry, oversight agencies, complainants, police, the public, civil liberties groups, government review bodies and miscellaneous bodies. The perspectives of each of the groups were analysed to develop a distinctive “civilian control model” for maximising stakeholder confidence in police integrity.The model entails police management responsibility for primary misconduct prevention and informal resolution of complaints, with external agencies having control over the investigation and adjudication of complaints.The paper also argues for efficiency gains from integrating police oversight within a larger public sector integrity commission, especially in countries with large numbers of small police departments.
Is Communalism Dead? Reflections on the Present and Future Practice of Crime Prevention: Part Two
Authors: Carson W.G.
Published: May 2006

This paper, of which this is the second part, takes up a strange paradox or dissonance that characterises contemporary crime prevention, particularly perhaps in Australia. On the one hand, there is an ample literature pointing out the conceptual and practical drawbacks of community, or more broadly of communalism (incorporating social capital), in crime prevention; on the other, policy and practice seem largely oblivious to these difficulties and hence, by extension, to the need for more appropriate conceptual formulations upon which to base collective approaches to crime prevention. Part One of the article (Carson, 2004) traced the allure and the difficulties of communalism in general and in crime prevention in particular. Part Two takes up the challenge of developing new and more appropriate foundations for a collectively-based approach in this policy arena. This it does by drawing selectively on the insights of radical communitarianism (shorn of its utopian communal overtones), on attempts to go beyond the close ties of social capital to a looser collective efficacy, and on discursive possibilities that address issues of difference, rights and democratisation in relation to crime prevention. By this means, it is argued, crime prevention may be reconnected to questions of social justice and collective capacity without surrendering to the false attractions of an anachronistic communalism.
The Effects of DNA Evidence on Homicide Cases in Court
Authors: Briody Michael
Published: May 2006

This study examines the effects that deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) evidence had on decisions in homicide cases as they progressed through the criminal courts. These effects were examined within a context of other evidentiary and extra-legal factors that may also have had a bearing on case outcomes. A sample of 150 solved and completed cases referred by police for prosecution in the jurisdiction of Queensland was selected for examination. In half of these cases prosecutors produced DNA evidence to relate the accused to the crime, while the other half acted as a control group and did not include DNA evidence. Outcomes of the analyses were that cases with DNA evidence were much more likely to reach court than cases without, while incriminating DNA evidence demonstrated a powerful influence on juries' decisions to convict. Additionally, some extra-legal social factors such as age and gender of defendants or victims proved to be predictors of court outcomes at various stages. DNA was associated with a slightly decreased length of imprisonment for manslaughter offences. As with previous controlcomparison studies on sexual offences and serious assault cases, in homicide cases DNA evidence demonstrated no significant statistical relationship with guilty pleas.
A Reply to Buckingham's “Newsmaking” Criminology or “Infotainment” Criminology? Inaccuracy, Distortion and Feminist Doctrine
Authors: Newbold Greg
Published: May 2006

This edition of the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology carries an article by Judith Buckingham dedicated to discrediting my criminology and, via me, the PhD thesis of my former student, Samantha Jeffries. Inter alia, I am accused of hijacking the public consciousness of New Zealand through a dominating presence in the news media, of negatively influencing the Jeffries' PhD, and of writing a book called Crime in New Zealand which erroneously depicts women's role in domestic violence and their treatment by the criminal justice system. In this response to Buckingham's attack, I argue that she has made unsupportable claims in relation to my influence in the news media, has completely misunderstood Jeffries' thesis, has distorted, misreported, misconstrued and misrepresented the content of Crime in New Zealand and has accused me of making errors when a check of the facts shows that the errors are her own. She has given false meanings to things I have said and defaced me by focusing on small, decontextualised fragments of writing and ignoring the bulk of my work.
“Newsmaking Criminology” or “Infotainment” Criminology? A Decontextualised, Fragmented and Misconstrued Critique
Authors: Jeffries Samantha
Published: May 2006

This article is a response to the critique of the author's PhD thesis methodology and findings presented in Judith Buckingham's article titled “Newsmaking Criminology” or “Infotainment” Criminology? It explains in more detail the author's thesis study and provides responses to Buckingham's arguments.
Gang Rape in Sydney: Crime, the Media, Politics, Race and Sentencing
Authors: Warner Kate
Published: May 2006

In 2001 and 2002, print, radio and television gave extensive coverage to a series of gang rapes in Bankstown and other suburbs of south-west Sydney. The coverage attacked the laxity and inefficiency of the criminal justice system and immigration policy. It fuelled public fears about increases in crime in particular areas and fear of “ethnic gangs” and racially-motivated crime. The sentences imposed on three youths of Lebanese background in the first of these cases to be dealt with attracted widespread criticism from politicians, the media and the public because of their leniency. These events occurred at a time when issues of race were in the news as a result of the arrival of “boat people”, followed by a heightened fear of terrorism because of the events of September 11, 2001. The issue of gang rape by ethnic-minority youth resurfaced in August 2002 when a second group of offenders, again Lebanese-Australian youth, were sentenced, this time with gaol terms which for the most part were applauded for their severity. In parliament, legislation was introduced to increase penalties and political parties engaged in a pre-election law-and-order auction. These events are portrayed as an example of how a localised story about crime can become “racialised” and linked with debates about asylum-seekers and terrorism. This article attempts to draw out some of the criminal-justice issues from this story. In particular it explores some of the flaws in the sentencing process that assisted in inflaming the debate. A pedagogical role for judges is suggested in relation to the public understanding of crime and guideline judgements are recommended.
Beyond Representation: Cultural Understandings of the September 11 Attacks
Authors: McMillan Nesam
Published: May 2006

The September 11 attacks changed the world. This article explores this common assertion by analysing selected Australian and American media and political representations of the September 11 attacks. The aim is two-fold: to explore these representations and to analyse their functions and implications. Three themes that characterise Australian and American understandings of September 11 in the immediate aftermath of the attacks will be discussed. The first theme is that the impact of the attacks was represented differently in each country (but in a way that reaffirms the status quo in both nations). Second, the countries shared an interpretation of the attacks that reflects the characteristics of mainstream terrorism discourse. Third, the attacks were also understood in both countries as a challenge to existing structures of representation. It is argued that the September 11 attacks, therefore, expose and violate the limits of representation. By breaking the rules of representation, the September 11 attacks raise the possibility of alternative understandings and appropriate responses to them.
Procedural Safeguards for Young Offenders: Views of Legal Professionals and Adolescents
Authors: Hicks Anthony J. , Lawrence Jeanette A.
Published: May 2006

We investigated the importance of procedural safeguards for young offenders, identified by adolescents and legal professionals. Comparisons were made of the ratings of 17 individual procedural safeguards related to the story of a hypothetical young person brought before the court for stealing $50. Procedural safeguards were rated by 362 students from Year 9 and 370 from Year 11 at two Catholic secondary schools, and by 881 members of the legal profession. There were differences related to professional role and stake in proceedings in the emphases of judges and magistrates compared with barristers and with solicitors, and in the emphases of all legal professionals compared with those of the students. These data on the emphases of young people on representation by lawyers and parents, having a say, and some control are pertinent as the basis for understanding and promoting the procedural rights of young people when they are being dealt with by authoritative adults.
Reviews
Authors: Milivojevic Sanja , McCulloch Jude
Published: May 2006

Unmasking the Crimes of the Powerful: Scrutinizing States and Corporations Edited by Steve Tombs and David Whyte (2003) Peter Lang: New York, 318 pp., ISBN 0820456918

Deviant Knowledge: Criminology, Politics and Policy By Reece Walters (2003) Willan: Devon, UK, 218 pp., ISBN 1843920298

Criminal Woman, the Prostitute, and the Normal Woman [La donna delinquente] By Cesare Lombroso and Guglielmo Ferrero Translated and with a new introduction by Nicole Hahn Rafter and Mary Gibson (2004) Durham: Duke University Press, 304pp., ISBN 0822332078
Disaggregating the Relationship Between Drug Misuse and Crime
Authors: Bennett Trevor , Holloway Katy
Published: May 2006

Studies on the association between drug-misuse and criminal behaviour have tended to be based on either aggregated data (composite forms of drug-misuse or offending) or data on just one or two types of drug-misuse or crime. Such studies can obscure variations in the nature of the relationship between particular drug types and particular offences. The current study uses disaggregated data derived from the NEW-ADAM (New English and Welsh Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring) program to investigate both connections and nonconnections between drug-misuse and crime. The results show some variations in the relationship depending on the particular combinations of type of drug-misuse and type of crime. The paper concludes that the use of disaggregated data can help identify both consistencies and variations in the relationship and might help to understand its complexities and inform government policy.
Using Financial Incentives and Income Contingent Penalties to Detect and Punish Collusion and Insider Trading
Authors: Chapman Bruce , Denniss Richard
Published: May 2006

Collusion and insider trading, being white collar crimes, are often characterised as being victimless crimes. The absence of identifiable victims makes the detection of these crimes particularly difficult. This paper proposes that, in order to increase the flow of information about collusion and insider trading, parties engaged in these crimes should be offered financial incentives to provide evidence against their co-conspirators. In order to provide greater certainty that rewards will be paid, and also to increase the probability that any fines are paid, it is also proposed that an income-contingent fine collection mechanism be utilised. The paper presents two case studies to illustrate how the fine collection mechanism could be used.
Tracking the Regulation Debate
Authors: Haines Fiona
Published: May 2006

Restorative Justice and Responsive Regulation By John Braithwaite (2002) Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 336pp, ISBN 0195158393

The Open Corporation: Effective Self-regulation and Democracy By Christine Parker (2002) Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 376pp, ISBN 0521818907

Securing Compliance: A Principled Approach By Karen Yeung (2004) Oxford, UK: Hart, 284pp, ISBN 1841133779

Adapting Legal Cultures By David Nelken and Johannes Feest (2001) Oxford, UK: Hart, 282pp, ISBN 1841132918
Justice in the Risk Society
Authors: Shearing Clifford , Johnston Les
Published: May 2006

The punishment paradigm is attractive because of the parsimonious way in which it integrates the instrumental and the symbolic features of ordering. This paper examines the relationship between these features in a context where risk and risk reduction are prioritised.The central question motivating the paper is a normative one: What opportunities, if any, does the explosion of risk-focused technologies present for minimising our reliance on punishment as a technology for governing security? Our contention is that the mentality of risk has promoted the exploration of alternative technologies that call into question the tight coupling of punishment with the governance of security. A key issue addressed in the paper is whether it is possible for subjects to experience a sense of justice that is not punishment-centred. Such a situation exists, we argue, in the case of an initiative in the governance of security that one of us has been facilitating in South Africa.
Evaluation Research and Criminal Justice: Beyond a Political Critique
Authors: Travers Max
Published: May 2006

This article is intended to stimulate reflection and debate about the relationship between pure and applied research in criminology. The central argument is that evaluation research, which has almost become a dominant paradigm in researching criminal justice, has lower methodological standards than peer-reviewed social science. It considers this case in relation to quantitative and qualitative methods, and examines examples of a ‘flagship’ and ‘small-scale’ evaluation. The article concludes by discussing the implications for evaluators (who are encouraged to employ a wider range of methods), funding agencies and criminology as an academic discipline.
Why Don't the Police Stop Crime?
Authors: Dixon David
Published: May 2006

Several answers to the question “Why don't the police stop crime?” are considered. Police do stop some crime, although increasingly they will rely on nonpolice personnel for assistance in doing so.The proportion of crime they stop is not fixed: learning the right lessons from the experience of New York City will help them to increase it. Nonetheless, police need to be alert to the dangers of concentrating single-mindedly on crime reduction. Doing so not only has inherent dangers, but it can also divert attention from other tasks and objectives of policing. Understanding the police role in crime control and reduction is hampered by populist insistence that simple answers are enough. Equally, the academic promise of new “sciences” of crime and policing is overstated. The article argues for a more inclusive and sophisticated approach to answering the question in its title.
Assessing Reoffending in Restorative Justice Conferences
Authors: Hayes Hennessey
Published: May 2006

Restorative justice conferencing, in response to youthful offending, has grown in popularity around the world.While there is now substantial empirical evidence that shows offenders and victims are satisfied with outcomes and perceive the process as generally fair, available data on reoffending have produced mixed results. Uncertainty about how conferencing affects future offending may result from how reoffending is analysed. In this paper, I used survival analysis to reanalyse data from the Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Restorative Policing Experiment and assessed two methodological approaches: a standard comparative approach to examine differences in reoffending between offenders in conference and court and a variation analysis to examine differences in reoffending within conference and court groups. Comparative analyses showed that violent offenders referred to conference were less likely to reoffend compared to violent offenders referred to court. There were no differences in reoffending for property offenders in conference and in court. Variation analyses showed that female offenders attending conferences were less likely to reoffend than male offenders in conferences. There were no differences in reoffending for males and females in court. These results suggest that there is value in comparing the effects of traditional and restorative interventions, as well as assessing how variation within interventions is related to future offending.
Reforming Police: Opportunities, Drivers and Challenges
Authors: Stenning Philip C. , Shearing Clifford D.
Published: May 2006

A few years ago, David Bayley and Clifford Shearing (1996) argued that at the end of the 20th century we were witnessing a ‘watershed’ in policing, when transformations were occurring in the practices and sponsorship of policing on a scale unprecedented since the developments that heralded the creation of the ‘New Police’ in the 19th century. In this special issue of the journal, we and our fellow contributors turn our attention to a somewhat neglected aspect of this ‘quiet revolution’ in policing (Stenning & Shearing, 1980), namely the nature of the opportunities for, and challenges posed by, the reform of policing in different parts of the world at the beginning of the 21st century. Our attention in this issue is particularly focused on the opportunities, drivers and challenges in reforming public (state-sponsored) police institutions.
Police Reform in Peru
Authors: Costa Gino , Neild Rachel
Published: May 2006

Following a political transition, Peru launched a police reform in 2001. This study focuses on internal and external impediments to the reform. The highly transparent and democratic process won public support and the backing of rank-and-file officers, but failed to overcome opposition from police leadership. The strength of senior police opposition is directly related to financial interests threatened by anticorruption initiatives. In the external environment, government weakness and lack of presidential support present critical breaking points. Additional external weaknesses include the politically independent profile of the Interior Ministry reform team, the lack of a politically negotiated reform plan, and the absence of international backing. Presidential support failed at a critical moment when police challenged the Interior Minister. Noting the limitations of different evaluative criteria in policing reforms, the article argues that important advances have been achieved in policing in Peru even as short-term impacts are limited.
The Reform of Policing in the Russian Federation
Authors: Solomon Peter H.
Published: May 2006

The reform of policing in the Russian Federation involves an unusual combination of challenges. These include finding the best distribution of police powers and responsibilities among three levels of government (federal, regional and local); confronting an excessive degree of commercialisation of policing; and developing ‘democratic’ policing that meets standards of professionalism, accountability and legitimacy. In the new millenium, talk about police reform in Russia has focused on organisational questions and ways of administering police functions. Relatively little attention has been given to the content of policing and police relations with the public. Significant reform of policing in Russia has not yet begun.
Zhou Yongkang and the Recent Police Reform in China
Authors: Hualing Fu
Published: May 2006

This article is an attempt to understand the conflicting imperatives of police reform and the underlying constraints affecting it in a one-party state. When China entered the 21st century, police abuse of powers was a conspicuous national problem. Facing mounting public outcry, as crystallised in the series of scandals before 2003, the police, under the leadership of the powerful new Minister, started a nationwide campaign to control police abuses. The article analyses the competing explanations for police abuses in China and the conflicting demands placed on the police in China's social and economic transition. The article concludes that the ultimate restriction on police reform in China is its politicisation. As long as China remains an authoritarian state, which uses police to maintain its political stability, the police will still be unable to be truly responsive and accountable to public need.
Paradigm Lost: The Dutch Dilemma
Authors: Punch Maurice , Hoogenboom Bob , Williamson Tom
Published: May 2006

In the 1970s the Dutch police developed a paradigm of policing that married ideas from the United States on community-oriented policing to a strongly social and democratic role for the police in society. From the early 1990s there was a gradual shift to the right in Dutch society that was reflected in concerns about crime and safety. The paradigm came under scrutiny. Then Dutch officers began to visit New York in considerable numbers and returned with ideas on ‘zero tolerance’. This ‘tough’ approach to crime reduction appears to conflict with Dutch ‘tolerance’ in criminal justice. The paper argues that there is reluctance to abandon that original paradigm, ambivalence about the new concepts from abroad but, above all, an inability to develop a new, comprehensive paradigm. This may well be true elsewhere and we assume that modern policing needs to be based on a well-thought paradigm on the police role in society.
‘Boozers and Bouncers’: Masculine Conflict, Disengagement and the Contemporary Governance of Drinking-Related Violence and Disorder
Authors: Tomsen Stephen
Published: May 2006

The links between crime, violence and male offending are now more deeply researched in a growing international literature that understands much antisocial and criminal behaviour as a social resource for the attainment and protection of masculine identities. Nevertheless, the tie between masculinity and nonoffending has been much less explored. This focus group study of understandings of public drinking-related conflict and violence among young male drinkers and security officers in a combined urban and rural district of New South Wales illustrates the significance and complexity of these links. Masculine concerns inform a readiness for involvement with conflict and its enjoyment through the prominence of issues of social status, gender policing, honour and carnival during different social occasions. But this must be understood in relation to the different masculinity ‘projects’ (Connell, 1995) that contrast security officers with an idealised professional self-image and the majority of drinkers, from a more violent minority. A surprisingly common pattern of ‘respectable’ masculine subjectivity informs disengagement from serious violence. This is often characterised by an exaggerated view of the rational male self as safe and in control of most social interaction in dangerous public contexts. The pitfalls of this may even be enhanced by the new influence of campaigns around ‘risky’ public drinking that aim to instill ideals of responsible self-governance.
Forgiveness, Shaming, Shame and Bullying
Authors: Ahmed Eliza , Braithwaite John
Published: May 2006

This study predicts self-initiated bullying from three variables: shaming, forgiveness and shame. Data were collected from 1875 Bangladeshi school children (60% girls; mean grade = 8.28) using the Bengali version of the Life at School Survey. Results demonstrated that reintegrative shaming and forgiveness were related to less bullying. High shame acknowledgment (accepting responsibility, making amends) and low shame displacement into anger or blaming others were also associated with less bullying. Liking school protected children who experienced (a) less reintegrative shaming, and (b) more stigmatising shaming at home. Equally, more reintegrative shaming and less stigmatising shaming protected children against bullying when liking for school was absent. The forgiveness main effect on bullying (22.4% reduction) was much bigger than the main effect of reintegrative shaming (11.3% reduction). These results are consistent with the view that forgiveness is a more powerful restorative practice than reintegrative shaming.
Policing the Rural Crisis
Authors: Hogg Russell
Published: May 2006

Based on empirical research in a number of rural communities in north-western NSW, this article explores the dynamics of rural crisis as it is manifested in and through popular attitudes and campaigns around law and order. There is no denying that crime rates in many rural communities are high, often very high by national standards, or that local crime disproportionately involves Indigenous offenders (and Indigenous victims). However, the views expressed in interviews with established White residents, in local media and in organised campaigns around law and order are suggestive of a much deeper sense of threat and crisis. This, it is argued, can be explained in relation not simply to crime rates but the way in which crime is experienced at the local level and the manner in which it is connected to other unwanted change that is seen to threaten the integrity of these communities. In order to understand these anxieties it is necessary to explore historical patterns of settlement, the economic structure and the culture of rural communities. Indigenous Australians have, at best, occupied an ambiguous and fragile position in relation to membership of these communities, a form of ‘passive’ belonging, ‘conditional’ on deference to dominant White norms governing civic and domestic life. Local Indigenous crime can be a source of deep anxiety not only because it causes harm to person and property but because it is interpreted by many Whites as a repudiation of the local social order, a signifier of larger threats to the community and on occasions as a harbinger of social breakdown. The article explores some of the key themes emerging from interview material that characterise this sense of crisis and relates them to the larger pattern of change affecting many communities: economic decline, changing government policies and priorities, the growing relative economic and political power of Indigenous people, debates about native title and so on.
Boys and Road Rage: Driving-Related Violence and Aggression in Western Australia
Authors: Roberts Lynne , Indermaur David
Published: May 2006

This article reports on the results of a population survey of 1208 West Australian drivers designed to measure the prevalence of drivingrelated violence and aggression as well as perceptions of these behaviours. A clear distinction is made between driving-related violence (restricted to criminal acts of violence, threats of violence and vehicle damage) and other aggressive driving behaviours. Although the majority of survey respondents had experienced some form of aggressive driving behaviour, only 13% reported ever being a victim of driving-related violence. However, 17% of respondents believed they were likely, or very likely, to be a victim of driving-related violence within the coming year. More than two thirds of respondents thought their likelihood of being a victim of driving-related violence had increased over the past 10 years. Both aggressive driving behaviours and driving-related violence were typically perpetrated by young males against other males. The article concludes with a discussion of the masculinist characteristics of road rage and what this implies for the prevention of this crime.
Unlikely Friends? Oprah Winfrey and Restorative Justice
Authors: Richards Kelly M.
Published: May 2006

In recent years, restorative justice has surfaced as a new criminal justice practice in diverse parts of the world. Often, it appears that these practices have emerged in complete isolation from one another. This prompts us to question what it is that has allowed restorative justice to become an acceptable way of dealing with criminal justice issues, or in Foucault's terms, the ‘conditions of emergence’ of restorative justice. This article explores one of numerous potential ‘conditions of emergence’ of restorative justice — the discourses of the ‘therapeutic’, ‘recovery’, ‘self-help’ and ‘New Age’ movements. It aims to investigate the ways in which the taken-for-granted nature of these discourses have, in part, permitted restorative practices to become an approved way of ‘doing justice’.
Secret State, Transparent Subject: The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation in the Age of Terror
Authors: McCulloch Jude , Tham Joo-Cheong
Published: May 2006

This article describes the secrecy provisions embodied in the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Legislation Amendment Act 2003 (Cwlth). The article explains how these provisions curb freedom of speech and remove ASIO's activities from the domain of public scrutiny. It argues that by effectively criminalising open discussion of ASIO's activities the provisions insulate much of the domestic ‘war on terror’ from the public gaze. It also argues that the provisions implicitly sanction lawlessness by ASIO in open breach of the rule of law. By undermining free speech and the rule of law, this legislation increases the risk of torture of persons detained by ASIO. The legislation also exacerbates the punitiveness of such detention. Moreover, the secrecy offences will distort Australian politics by enabling the government to control and manipulate ‘security’ information. The article concludes that the increase in state secrecy and its impact are part of a continuing shift in the relative distribution of power between state and subject in liberal democracies; a shift that signals a move to more repressive or authoritarian forms of rule.
Critical Criminology and Its Discontents: A Response to Travers' Critique of Criminal Justice Evaluation
Authors: Weatherburn Don
Published: May 2006

In a recent article in this journal Max Travers advanced the view that criminal justice evaluation is boring, biased and beset with methodological problems. As evidence of this he cited (among other things) an evaluation of the NSW Drug Court carried out by the present author and several of his colleagues. This article offers a brief response to Travers' claims.
Deterrence, Defiance and Deviance: An Investigation Into a Group of Recidivist Drink Drivers' Self-Reported Offending Behaviours
Authors: Freeman James , Liossis Poppy , David Nikki
Published: May 2006

This article reports on the utilisation of aspects of defiance, deviance and deterrence theories to examine the self-reported offending behaviours and punishment experiences for a group of recidivist drink drivers ( N = 166). The analysis indicated that the sample perceived their penalties as severe yet fair, but not entirely certain nor swift. Participants also reported they were treated fairly in court and received reasonable punishments compared to others, but a considerable proportion reported low levels of respect for the law and questioned the government's legitimacy to control drink driving. Multivariate analysis revealed that factors from all three models were identified as predictors of reoffending (e.g., severity, government legitimacy and respect for the law), as well as for the frequency of drink driving in the past (e.g., certainty and severity of punishment, personal shame and respect for the law). The findings indicate that aspects of all three models are applicable to the examination of habitual reoffending, but a number of factors appear associated with a drink driving offence.
Is Corrections Correcting? An Examination of Prisoner Rehabilitation Policy and Practice in Queensland
Authors: Walsh Tamara
Published: May 2006

This article provides an analysis of the policy and practice of prisoner rehabilitation in Queensland, and the extent to which they accord with international best practice. Actual practice was identified through interviews and written submissions from 20 ex-prisoners and 18 prisoner service providers (including two past staff members from Queensland prisons), as well as through an examination of reported judicial review decisions and Department of Corrective Services statistics. The results demonstrate that although the legislation and procedures suggest that a best practice system of prisoner rehabilitation exists in Queensland, there is a significant gulf between policy and practice. Far from being sufficiently prepared for release, Queensland prisoners are generally released directly from high security facilities into a community which they have great difficulty reintegrating into. The results suggest that the corrective services system in Queensland is not succeeding in fulfilling its primary purpose, ‘correction’, or in meeting its well-publicised goal of ensuring community safety.
Reviews
Authors: Gill Charlotte , Grabosky Peter
Published: May 2006

Juvenile Justice Reform and Restorative Justice: Building Theory and Policy from Practice Gordon Bazemore and Mara Schiff (2005) Cullompton:Willan Publishing, xiv + 386pp, ISBN 1843290948

Handbook of Crime Prevention and Community Safety Nick Tilley (Ed.) (2005) Cullompton,Willan Publishing, xxvi + 782pp, ISBN 1843921464
Ex-Prisoners, Homelessness and the State in Australia
Authors: Baldry Eileen , McDonnell Desmond , Maplestone Peter , Peeters Manu
Published: May 2006

Australia, with other OECD countries, has experienced a rapid rise in numbers of prison releasees. With this, there is heightened interest in the social impact of more prisoners returning to the community. International research has consistently indicated that suitable housing is a vital factor in ex-prisoners' social integration. This project investigated whether and to what extent ex-prisoner housing and associated social factors are important to integration in Australia, specifically New South Wales and Victoria, where no reliable prior research on this matter had been done. Analyses indicated significant differences between states; chronic homelessness, poverty and lack of support in the participants' lives; and that accommodation instability is a predictor of return to prison. Justice system policy implications are discussed.
‘Standing on the Inside Looking Out’: The Significance of Police Unions in Networks of Police Governance
Authors: Fleming Jenny , Marks Monique , Wood Jennifer
Published: May 2006

Scholars and practitioners now recognise the importance of ‘governing through networks’ if policing agendas are to be promoted effectively and democratically. Central to such an agenda of networked governance is the identification or creation of community-based structures and processes that can be harnessed by, and linked to, other forms of governance in furtherance of security outcomes. However, notions of community have generally been limited to the ‘communities’ outside of police organisations. This article explores the idea of a police union as ‘a community of interest’. We suggest that police unions are ‘communities’ that have the potential to impact significantly on the governance of security. As ‘insider groupings’ police unions are engaged in complex networks of police management, policy decision-makers and civil society groupings both at the national and international level. Given their organisational status, police unions have the potential to constitute themselves as active, forward-thinking social agencies within policing network arrangements. But, in order to do this they need to move beyond the demands of their conservative social base and their preoccupation with industrial issues and embrace the changing world of policing. In addition, they may need to network with a range of agencies beyond the security industry such as social justice groupings and the broad trade union movement.
Genetic Similarity Shared by Best Friends Among Adolescents
Authors: Guo Guang
Published: May 2006

Two observations suggest a genetic similarity among close friends: (1) the observed similarity among friends in certain traits and behaviors; (2) the evidence that many of these traits and behaviors have a genetic component. This hypothesis is tested using monozygotic (MZ) twins, dizygotic (DZ) twins, full biological siblings, and their best friends from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). Whether the resemblance between MZ twins' friends is larger than that between friends of DZ twins and full siblings is investigated with respect to 4 individual traits or behaviors: grade point average (GPA), AHPVT (the version Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test [PPVT] designed for Add Health), aggressive behavior, and depression. Our hypothesis is supported in analyses among same-sex friends (not among different-sex friends) for GPA, aggressive behavior, and AHPVT.
‘It's Good to be Different’: Parent and Child Negotiations of ‘Twin’ Identity
Authors: Bacon Kate
Published: May 2006

Research on twins has tended to focus around the question of heredity/environment. As part of this, attention has been paid to how twins' family environments impact upon them. By examining twinship as a social identity, this article considers the social experience of twinship as it is framed by parent–child relations and also actively shaped by twins themselves. Sameness constitutes one central defining component of ‘twin’ identity within Western societies. In preparing their twins' bodies for public presentation, parents play a key role in communicating twin identity on their children's behalf. However, children also construct and convey their own identities through presenting their bodies in certain ways. Drawing on findings from a small-scale qualitative study of twinship, this article examines how twin identity is created, modified and reproduced by parents and child twins. It highlights the active role that twins take in constructing their own identities and in shaping the ‘twin situation’.
Twins and Their Friendships: Differences Between Monozygotic, Dizygotic Same-Sex and Dizygotic Mixed-Sex Pairs
Authors: Thorpe Karen , Gardner Karen
Published: May 2006

This study examined the influence of twin status (monozygotic [MZ], dizygotic same-sex [DZss] and dizygotic opposite-sex [DZos]) on friendship patterns. It examined the friendships of 60 children from 30 twin pairs, mean age 8 years, 4 months. The study sought to establish how number of friendships and degree to which these are shared vary according to twin status. Additionally, it sought to assess the children's meaning of shared friendship and to examine whether there were group differences according to twin status. Results indicated that, while number of friends did not vary, the degree to which friendships were shared was significantly associated with twin status. MZ children shared approximately 50% of their friends, DZss 25% and DZos 5%. Group patterns emerged from interviews with the children concerning shared friendships. MZ twins were characteristically positive or accepting about shared friends; DZos pairs shared fewer friends and were, therefore, less challenged by the twin situation in negotiating friendships; and DZss pairs were more diverse in their reaction with some expressing ambivalent or negative views about the twin situation and sharing of friendship. The results are presented in the light of their implications for twin children's developmental and scholastic progress.
Handedness in Twins: Joint Analysis of Data From 35 Samples
Authors: Medland Sarah E. , Duffy David L. , Wright Margaret J. , Geffen Gina M. , Martin Nicholas G.
Published: May 2006

Simultaneous analysis of handedness data from 35 samples of twins (with a combined sample size of 21,127 twin pairs) found a small but significant additive genetic effect accounting for 25.47% of the variance (95% confidence interval [CI] 15.69–29.51%). No common environmental influences were detected (C = 0.00; 95% CI 0.00–7.67%), with the majority of the variance, 74.53%, explained by factors unique to the individual (95% CI 70.49–78.67%). No significant heterogeneity was observed within studies that used similar methods to assess handedness, or across studies that used different methods. At an individual level the majority of studies had insufficient power to reject a purely unique environmental model due to insufficient power to detect familial aggregation. This lack of power is seldom mentioned within studies, and has contributed to the misconception that twin studies of handedness are not informative.
Genetic Architecture of Smoking Behavior: A Study of Finnish Adult Twins
Authors: Broms Ulla , Silventoinen Karri , Madden Pamela A. F. , Heath Andrew C. , Kaprio Jaakko
Published: May 2006

Both genetic and environmental factors affect smoking initiation and maintenance, but less is known about the genetic architecture of various other smoking-related behaviors. The aim of this study is to examine the genetic architecture of smoking behavior in a large twin cohort. Questionnaires with an extensive smoking history section were mailed to same-sex adult twins of the Finnish twin cohort. The final study population included 2923 monozygotic and 6018 dizygotic twin pairs aged 24 to 88 years. Two-stage bivariate genetic modeling of age at initiation with amount smoked (less than 20 cigarettes per day vs. 20 or more) and age at initiation with smoking cessation was done by using the Mx statistical package. For men the heritability estimate for age at initiation was .59 (95% confidence interval [CI] .49–.69), for amount smoked .54 (95% CI .45–.62) and for smoking cessation .58 (95% CI .50–.65). For women the heritability estimates were .36 (95% CI .28–.43), .61 (95% CI .46–.70) and .50 (95% CI .39–.60), respectively. The genetic correlations between age at initiation and amount smoked or smoking cessation were at most .22 in magnitude, indicating that genetic influences in age at initiation accounted for at most about 4% of the genetic factors in amount smoked or in cessation. Genetic factors are important in amount smoked and smoking cessation and they are largely independent of genetic influences on age at initiation. This has implications for defining phenotypes in searches for genes underlying smoking behaviors.
Angiotensinogen G(–6)A Polymorphism Is Associated With the Elevation of Blood Pressure in the Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy
Authors: Shim Soon-Sup , Jun Jong Kwan , Park Joong Shin , Hur Yoon-Mi , Choi Young Min , Yoon Bo Hyun , Syn Hee Chul
Published: May 2006

The objective of the present study was to determine whether angiotensinogen G(–6)A polymorphism is associated with the elevation of blood pressure (BP) in the hypertensive disorders of pregnancy in Korean population. The subjects included 201 cases with the hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and 160 healthy controls. The medical records of subjects were reviewed. Cases were classified into the four subtypes (transient hypertension, preeclampsia, chronic hypertension, and preeclampsia superimposed on chronic hypertension) by the diagnostic criteria suggested by the National High Blood Pressure Education Program Working Group. Cases were also divided into the high and low BP group by the elevation of BP (diastolic BP greater than or equal to 110 mmHg). Maternal angiotensinogen G(–6)A polymorphism was determined by restriction fragment length polymorphism. Frequencies of AA genotype were significantly higher in the high than in the low BP group in the preeclampsia, superimposed preeclampsia, and the combined group (N = 201), suggesting that the angiotensinogen G(–6)A allele was significantly associated with the elevation of BP in the hypertensive disorders of pregnancy among South Korean women. The present findings imply that the elevation of BP can serve as an endophenotype for a spectrum of hypertensive conditions in pregnancy.
Social Development of Twins
Authors: DiLalla Lisabeth Fisher
Published: May 2006

This project sought to examine 2 competing hypotheses: first, that twins are likely to be more prosocial by virtue of growing up with another same-age peer in the home, or second, that they are less prosocial because they have become more comfortable interacting with a same-age peer who is both genetically and environmentally similar to themselves and therefore they are less comfortable with other children who are dissimilar. Two studies were conducted to compare twins to singletons on measures of prosocial and aggressive behaviors. In Study 1, 5-year-olds (N = 91 twins and N = 152 singletons) engaged in a peer play situation with an unfamiliar, same-age, same-sex peer, and they were rated on items assessing prosocial and aggressive behaviors. Results showed that twins were less prosocial but not more aggressive than were singletons. In Study 2, which was a supplemented follow-up study of twins in Study 1, 10- to 15-year-old twins (N = 98) and singletons (N = 84) were rated by their parents on prosocial and aggressive behaviors. No significant differences were found between the groups on prosocial behavior, but twins were rated as more aggressive than singletons. Thus, in early childhood twins appear to exhibit fewer prosocial behaviors with unfamiliar peers, but this prosocial deficit was not aligned with parent-reported prosocial behaviors in adolescence. In adolescence, twins were rated by parents as more aggressive. These studies suggest that twins may be at risk for poorer social interactions in early and middle childhood.
Automated judgment of document qualities
Authors: Ng Kwong Bor , Kantor Paul , Strzalkowski Tomek , Wacholder Nina , Tang Rong , Bai Bing , Rittman Robert , Song Peng , Sun Ying
Published: May 2006

The authors report on a series of experiments to automate the assessment of document qualities such as depth and objectivity. The primary purpose is to develop a quality‐sensitive functionality, orthogonal to relevance, to select documents for an interactive question‐answering system. The study consisted of two stages. In the classifier construction stage, nine document qualities deemed important by information professionals were identified and classifiers were developed to predict their values. In the confirmative evaluation stage, the performance of the developed methods was checked using a different document collection. The quality prediction methods worked well in the second stage. The results strongly suggest that the best way to predict document qualities automatically is to construct classifiers on a person‐by‐person basis.