British Journal of Criminology 50(3)

Globalization, Frontier Masculinities and Violence: Booze, Blokes and Brawls
Kerry Carrington, Alison McIntosh, and John Scott

Over the last two decades, two new trajectories have taken hold in criminology—the study of masculinity and crime, after a century of neglect, and the geography of crime. This article brings both those fields together to analyse the impact of globalization in the resources sector on frontier cultures of violence. This paper approaches this issue through a case study of frontier masculinities and violence in communities at the forefront of generating resource extraction for global economies. This paper argues that the high rates of violence among men living in work camps in these socio-spatial contexts cannot simply be understood as individualized expressions of psycho-pathological deficit or social disorganization. Explanations for these patterns of violence must also consider a number of key subterranean convergences between globalizing processes and the social dynamics of male-on-male violence in such settings.

Responding TO Gun Crime in Ireland
Liz Campbell

From stereotypical views of Ireland as a peaceful and ‘low crime’ society, the media and policy makers now report the worsening of gun crime, in particular crimes of homicide committed by firearm. Despite this sometimes hyperbolic popular commentary, serious and fatal gun crime has indeed increased. In reacting through extraordinary legal measures, the Irish state adopts an unduly narrow perspective, predicated on a rational actor model; what this paper seeks to do is put forward two more profitable and persuasive means of analysis, by focusing on social deprivation and the expression of masculinity.

Studying the Microdynamics of the Rwandan Genocide
Alette Smeulers and Lotte Hoex

The genocide in Rwanda in 1994 stands out for the enormous number of people killed in a relatively short period of time; the mass involvement of the civilian population and the extreme and violent nature of the killings: victims were hunted down, beaten, raped and mutilated before being killed by machetes. This article describes how, within a politically explosive situation, many otherwise non-violent and law-abiding citizens became involved in genocide. It also explains how it was social interaction—rather than pure ethnic hatred—between various types of perpetrators and group dynamics, in which some fanatics managed to induce and force many others to join in, that were instrumental in the genocidal process in Rwanda.

'Securing' the Past: Policing and the Contest over Truth in Northern Ireland
Cheryl Lawther

The question of whether Northern Ireland should have a formal truth recovery process has been amplified by the recent Report of the Consultative Group on the Past. Compared to the volume at which the truth recovery debate has been played out, relatively little is known about policing attitudes to this form of dealing with the past. This paper analyses the ways in which the history and context of policing in Northern Ireland have shaped attitudes towards truth recovery. It will be argued that differing opinions on the need for truth recovery are part of a debate over ‘ownership of the past’ between the ardent supporters of the Royal Ulster Constabulary and the new post-Patten managers and modernizers.

Reporting Crime to the Police
Roger Tarling and Katie Morris

This paper examines how crime reporting has changed over time by comparing findings from the 2007/08 British Crime Survey with the results obtained from the last major enquiry reported in 1994. International research conducted since that date is also reviewed. The paper finds that seriousness of the offence is still the most important factor influencing victims’ decisions. But reporting rates have changed: broadly, property crime is less likely to be reported whereas violent crime is more likely to be reported. As property crime predominates, the overall trend has been downward. There has been a very notable shift in that crimes committed by family members and others well known to the victim are much more likely to be reported than previously.

Influencing Trust and Confidence in the London Metropolitan Police: Results from an Experiment Testing the Effect of Leaflet Drops on Public Opinion
Katrin Hohl, Ben Bradford, and Elizabeth A. Stanko

Enhancing trust and confidence has moved to the centre of policing policy in England and Wales. The association between direct encounters with police officers and confidence in the police is well-established. But is it possible for the police to increase confidence among the general population including those people who do not routinely come into direct contact with police officers? This paper presents the findings from a quasi-randomised experiment conducted on population representative samples in seven London wards that assessed the impact of a leaflet drop on public perceptions of policing. The results provide strong evidence of an improvement in overall confidence, and in perceptions of police–community engagement, specifically. The leaflets also appear to have had a buffering effect against declines in public assessments of police effectiveness. The findings support the idea that public trust and confidence can be enhanced by direct police communication of this type.

Serendipity in Robbery Target Selection
Bruce A. Jacobs

Drawing from interviews with active robbers (drug robbers and carjackers), this paper explores the role of serendipity in the robbery target selection process. Serendipity is defined as the art of finding something valuable while engrossed in something different (Roberts 1989). The discovery is unanticipated, unexpected and anomalous (Merton and Barber 2006) and may result from decidedly negative experiences. The extent to which robbery targets emerge through ‘pure’ serendipity or a more ‘manufactured’ variety sheds light on the conceptual interface between perception, need, opportunity and rational choice.

Are There Any True Adult-Onset Offenders?
Tara Renae McGee and David P. Farrington

In the extant literature, adult-onset offending has usually been identified using official sources. It is possible, however, that many of the individuals identified would have had unofficial histories of prior offending. To investigate this issue, the men from the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development (CSDD) were examined. The CSDD is a prospective longitudinal study of men from inner-city London, followed from age 8 to age 48. Onset of offending was identified using official records and then the self-reported offending of the adult-onset offender group (with a first conviction at age 21 or later) was compared to others. All the adult-onset offenders self-reported some previous offending in childhood and adolescence but most of this offending was not sufficiently frequent or serious to lead to a conviction in practice. About one-third of adult-onset offenders were considered to be self-reported delinquents who were realistically in danger of being convicted because of the frequency of their offending. For some, the adjudication by the criminal justice system was simply the first time that their ongoing pattern of offending had been detected. Their lack of detection was because the types of offences they were committing had lower detection rates.

Not so Tough on Crime?: Why Weren't the Thatcher Governments More Radical in Reforming the Criminal Justice System?
Stephen Farrall and Colin Hay

Despite becoming almost synonymous in the public's imagination with ‘law and order’ and toughness on crime, the Thatcher years (1979–90) would not be characterized by many criminologists as a period of radical reform of the criminal justice system. Thatcherism, it seems, was far less radical in the criminal policy field than it was in housing, the economy or local government finance. This paper explores the reasons for this seeming paradox. Our argument is that Thatcherite thinking came late to this policy realm and only started to inform policy in any consistent and radical way after Thatcher had left office. This we attribute to: (1) the precedence accorded other issue domains more closely associated with the ‘crisis’ to which Thatcherism claimed to provide a response; (2) the power-sharing that Thatcher had to engage in with the more paternalist wing of her party during much of her time in office; and (3) a series of time-lag effects. Crime, being the expression of social and economic forces, did not rise dramatically during the early phase of Thatcherite restructuring. In crime and criminal justice policy, radical Thatcherism post-dated Thatcher. It should be seen as a knock-on effect of the steep rise in unemployment and the social polarization resulting from policy radicalism in other issue domains exacerbated by the slide into recession from 1990.

Problematizing Carceral Tours
Justin Piché and Kevin Walby

Tours of operational prisons and jails have been advocated by some academics as one way of conducting observational research inside carceral institutions and have also been employed as a university-level pedagogical tool for teaching students about the realities of imprisonment. Though the merits of carceral tours as a knowledge-producing practice have been discussed in criminology and related social scientific disciplines, accounts of their limitations supported by empirical evidence remain sparse. Based on previously unpublished Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) penitentiary tour materials obtained through Access to Information requests, this article argues that carceral tours can be highly scripted and regulated in ways that obscure many of the central aspects of incarceration and, in particular, the experiences of prisoners. On the basis of our findings, we argue that, as presently organized, such tours afford little insight into the nature of imprisonment.

British Journal of Criminology, May 2010: Volume 50, Issue 3