British Journal of Criminology 52(1)

British Journal of Criminology, January 2012: Volume 52, Issue 1

Using ‘Turning Points’ to Understand Processes of Change in Offending: Notes from a Swedish Study on Life Courses and Crime
Christoffer Carlsson

Processes of within-individual change in offending and desistance from crime can be very complex, often involving multiple, context-specific processes. But even in a generous reading of much research on turning points, while this is theoretically stated or inferred, it is less often shown or illustrated in empirical cases. I explore processes of change in offending with the help of the concept of ‘turning points’, through life story interviews conducted in the Stockholm Project, trying to make use of the possibilities inherent in qualitative inquiry. I show how life course processes and the turning points that emerge within them are often interdependent on each other, emerging in very context-specific circumstances, and need to be studied and understood and such. Future research areas are suggested.

History And Global Criminology: (Re)Inventing Delinquency in Vietnam
Pamela Cox

How might historical analysis enrich global criminology? More specifically, could histories of European crime contribute to understandings of social change in present-day Asia? How can evidence bases generated through distinct research practices—those used by historians, criminologists and criminal justice consultants—be combined? This article explores these challenges through an analysis of contemporary Vietnamese concerns about youth crime and a critique of local and international policy makers’ efforts to address these. It argues that historically informed analysis can enrich understanding in four key ways. The first is that this kind of analysis suggests how French colonialism and its legacies have shaped Vietnamese criminal justice practice through (in)direct policy transfer. The second is that it can help to defuse current moral panics by locating Vietnam's rising youth crime within a familiar historical pattern. The third is that it can broaden the narrow evidence base available to those searching for youth justice interventions that ‘work’. Finally, a historical view can expand existing spaces for difficult but critical dialogues around human rights in a reforming authoritarian state with its own traumatic past.

Informers and the Transition in Northern Ireland
Ron Dudai

Though criminological literature has paid attention to the use of informers in ordinary law enforcement, there is a research gap regarding their usage in contexts of conflict and political violence. This article explores the social, political and security functions of IRA informers in the transition from conflict in Northern Ireland. Based on that experience, it develops four heuristic models regarding informers that the paper argues may be of direct relevance to other conflicted and transitional societies. These are the informer as folk devil, the informer as rumour, the informer as political manipulator, and the informer as celebrity. All these themes demonstrate the long-term effects of the use of informers during the Northern Ireland conflict—an important finding given the increasing prevalence of the use of informers in a political context.

E-Resistance and Technological In/Security in Everyday Life: The Palestinian Case
Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian

This paper analyses the roles played by Information Computer Technologies (ICT) and the internet in areas of conflict, with a specific focus on the Palestinian context in Jerusalem. In particular, it examines the way the politics of everydayness in Jerusalem constructs Palestinians as security threats and, in turn, subjects them to technologized surveillance and spatial control. Examining the effect of the politics of everydayness when juxtaposed with the effect of technologized surveillance on a group of young Palestinian college women from Jerusalem and surrounding areas, the paper considers the ‘double-edged’ nature of new information technologies and the internet. On the one hand, Palestinian women’s narratives demonstrate the emancipatory possibilities of such technologies, in that they allow for and forge spaces of resistance and contestation. On the other hand, women participants indicated that such technologies increased their vulnerability and victimization. Looking closely at the Palestinian case study, it is argued, enables us to shed light on broader issues related to criminology, surveillance and ICT in militarized/occupied areas.

Compstat and The New Penology: A Paradigm Shift in Policing?
James J. Willis and Stephen D. Mastrofski

Using fieldwork data collected at seven police agencies in the United States, this study asks ‘To what extent is the operation of Compstat, a recent and highly touted police management and accountability system, consistent with the new penology?’. Examining a multidimensional reform in an area (police innovation) that has been relatively neglected helps illuminate to what degree Compstat is part of a new trend in criminal justice, and it gives theoretical insight into how the applicability of the new penology's elements may vary across different institutional settings. Our findings suggested support for the new penology at a general level but this weakened significantly upon closer examination. This article then provides a broader theoretical explanation for this looseness of fit with our observations of Compstat's operation.

Using Jurors to Explore Public Attitudes to Sentencing
Kate Warner and Julia Davis

This paper reports the findings of an innovative method of ascertaining public opinion about sentencing—namely using jurors in actual cases to explore both the appropriateness of the sentence imposed in the juror's trial and more general views about sentencing levels. Contrasting images of public opinion emerged: a punitive public in relation to general perceptions of leniency and a more merciful public in relation to individual cases. The extent and reasons for this dichotomy are explored, as are differences in levels of satisfaction for different offence types.

Executions, Imprisonment and Crime in Trinidad and Tobago
David F. Greenberg and Biko Agozino

The effect of death sentences, executions and imprisonment on crime rates in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is assessed using annual time series data from 1955 to 2005. Policy implications of the research findings are drawn, and speculations are offered as to the reasons for the recent large increase in homicide rates.

Sentencing for Murder: Exploring Public Knowledge and Public Opinion in England and Wales
Barry Mitchell and Julian V. Roberts

In 1965, it was thought that nothing less than a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment would be an acceptable replacement for the death penalty for murder in England and Wales. It was assumed that anything else would have led to a significant loss of public confidence in the criminal justice system. The authors have recently conducted what is believed to be the first survey in this country that tests this assumption, as well as the extent of public knowledge and belief of the current system for sentencing convicted murderers. The survey casts doubt over the assumption and highlights the misunderstanding and lack of knowledge on which public opinion is based.

Homicide Law Reform in Victoria, Australia: From Provocation to Defensive Homicide and Beyond
Kate Fitz-Gibbon and Sharon Pickering

Homicide law reform surrounding the partial defences to murder currently animates legal stakeholders in Australia and the United Kingdom, particularly in relation to cases of lethal intimate partner violence. In 2005, the Victorian Government implemented a series of homicide law reforms, central to which was the abolition of the partial defence of provocation and the instatement of an offence of defensive homicide. This article, based on a larger qualitative research study with British, Victorian and New South Wales legal stakeholders, explores experiences and perceptions of reforms in Victoria. An analysis of the impact of homicide law reform, using Hudson's principles of discursiveness and reflectiveness as a framework for analysis, reveals some dissonance between the intent and outcomes of these legal reforms. This study concludes that reforms crafted to counter gender bias in the operation of homicide law have produced mixed results for female victims of intimate partner homicide and related case law.

Understanding Cooperation With Police in a Diverse Society
Kristina Murphy and Adrian Cherney

Past research has shown that procedural justice enhances an authority's legitimacy and encourages people to cooperate with them. However, this past research has examined legitimacy by focusing solely on the perceived legitimacy of authorities and has ignored how people may perceive the legitimacy of the laws and rules authorities enforce. This distinction has relevance to the policing of ethnic minority groups who may come from different cultures or countries where distrust in the law and legal institutions is prevalent. Using survey data collected from a random sample of 1,203 Australians, this paper explores how procedural justice and both institutional and legal legitimacy impact on people's willingness to cooperate with police. The findings will be explained using Braithwaite's (2003; 2010) social distancing framework.

Review Article

A Symposium of Reviews of Peculiar Institution: America’s Death Penalty in an Age of Abolition: By David Garland (Oxford University Press, Belknap Press, Harvard University Press, 417pp.) Reviews by Anette Ballinger, David Brown, Pat Carlen, Richard Garside and Magnus Hörnquist