Criminology & Criminal Justice

Publisher:: Sage Publications, Inc.
Publication date:: 2021-09-06

ISBN:: 1707-7753

Issue Number

Latest documents

Identifying and understanding barriers to investigation of gender-based hate crimes: Perspectives from law enforcement in Ireland and the United Kingdom
This article is an exploratory study presenting empirically based analyses of gender-based hate crime policy and practice from the perspectives of law enforcement officials in Ireland and England and Wales, in the United Kingdom. Despite increasing awareness of victims of gender-based hate crimes, robust legislation and successful investigation and prosecution of these offences remain rare. By developing a critical, evidence-based understanding of the factors impeding effective investigation of gender-based hate crimes, this research provides an early foundation for a more rigorous, survivor-centred approach. This article examines and problematises concepts and norms relating to gender-based hate crimes in law and policy. It analyses the significance of gender in hate crime legislation and examines the relationship between gender-based violence and gender-based hate crimes. Drawing on two case studies, this article suggests ways to refine and redirect law enforcement efforts to improve the quality of outcomes in criminal cases and the quality of survivors’ experiences.
UK victim-survivor experiences of intimate partner spiritual abuse and religious coercive control and implications for practice
This study extends existing scholarship on coercive control within an intimate relationship by exploring how some perpetrators use spiritual abuse as part of their control repertoire and how others harness belief and doctrine to exercise a totalising ‘religious coercive control’ over their victims. The analysis in this article draws on two multi-faith datasets: secondary data analysis of 27 semi-structured interviews and primary data collected through an online anonymous survey eliciting 24 qualitative responses, supplemented by 4 follow-up interviews with victim-survivors. Thematic analysis demonstrates the experience and longer-term impact of coercive control on victim-survivors and the barriers to help-seeking, including complicity at familial, community and leadership levels. We articulate their recommendations for change within places of worship and the implications for criminal justice practitioners.
“Would your level of disgust change?” Accounting for variant reactions to fatal violence against women on social media
The murders of Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa, occurring in similar contexts in London over the course of 2021, prompted renewed public discourse around violence against women and the nature of stranger-perpetrated murder of women in British society. It also provided the opportunity to analyze our responses to such crimes as a community and, in particular, our expectations and assumptions about who is committing fatal violence against women. In this study, Facebook comments (n = 414) pertaining to the first identification of the alleged murderers in each of the above cases were analyzed for sentiment. This analysis revealed major differences in the levels of shock and/or surprise at Everard’s murderer (a police officer) being identified, compared with Nessa’s alleged killer (a migrant). The article assesses the divergent responses in each case and explores the reasons that allegations of migrant-committed crime appear to attract significantly lower rates of resistance than allegations of police crime.
Body-worn cameras: An effective or cosmetic policing response to domestic and family violence?
Drawing together the literature on police body-worn cameras and video-recorded evidence in domestic and family violence matters, this article explores whether technology can ‘fix’ criminal justice responses to domestic and family violence. We argue that the use of police body-worn cameras and digitally recorded audio-visual evidence in domestic and family violence matters is not a cure-all for deficiencies in criminal justice responses to domestic and family violence. While the use of such technologies may alleviate some of the deficiencies highlighted in the Australian state of Victoria’s 2016 Royal Commission into Family Violence, it raises serious concerns about victim’s agency and privacy. We argue that the introduction of such technologies requires significant investment in training and education – for police to adapt to their changed role and for judicial officers, legal practitioners and potential jurors in understanding and interpreting victim survivor behaviour on film.
‘Devastating, like it broke me’: Responding to image-based sexual abuse in Aotearoa New Zealand
The non-consensual taking or sharing of intimate images, also known as ‘image-based sexual abuse’, has become a widespread problem. While there has been growing attention to this phenomenon, little empirical research has investigated victim-survivor experiences. Drawing on interviews with 25 victim-survivors, this article focusses on the different responses to image-based sexual abuse in Aotearoa New Zealand. We found that victim-survivors had diverse and often multiple experiences of image-based sexual abuse, perpetrated for a variety of reasons, which extended beyond the paradigm of malicious ex-partners seeking revenge. Some participants described the harms experienced as ‘devastating’: a form of ‘social rupture’. Few had formally reported to police or pursued other justice options. While participants held different justice ideals, all sought recognition of the harms perpetrated against them. Yet they faced multiple obstacles when navigating justice, redress and support options. The authors conclude that far-reaching change is needed to improve legislative, policy and prevention responses to image-based sexual abuse.
What is trauma-informed practice? Towards operationalisation of the concept in two prisons for women
A cultural initiative, ‘Becoming Trauma-Informed’, was introduced into prisons in England and Wales from 2015 based on the work of American clinical psychologist, Dr Stephanie Covington, and as part of a more general trend towards the recognition and treatment of trauma-related conditions in the community and in mental health settings. Becoming trauma-informed training for Prison Officers in England and Wales was carried out in all 12 women’s prisons during 2015–2017 and began in the long-term high-secure male estate from May 2018. The becoming trauma-informed work is based on considerable expertise, and a deep commitment by experts and practitioners to the development of trauma-informed practice. The authors welcome this ‘trauma-turn’ in thinking and practice and describe an extended pilot attempt to operationalise and measure its impact on the prison experience. The results were disappointing. By highlighting challenges, and exploring meaning-in-practice, we hope to contribute to the improvement of these initiatives.
Rejecting and retaining aspects of selfhood: Constructing desistance from abuse as a ‘masculine’ endeavour
Evaluative studies of men who have attended domestic violence perpetrator programmes have, thus far, paid attention to the question of what they are expected to desist from. This is entirely appropriate. However, the question of what they are expected to achieve, or ‘become’, is less clearly articulated, indeed often overlooked. Based on a series of interviews with men who had completed perpetrator programmes, the narratives explored in this articles suggest that their abusive behaviour was underpinned by fears about how to ‘perform masculinity’ satisfactorily in the past. Consequentially, the programme experience was perceived as threatening or as ‘feminising’. However, the accounts of these men suggest that in desisting from abusive behaviour, issues of identity and processes of behaviour change remain profoundly gendered. Indeed, committing to desistance is perceived as something of an ‘heroic struggle’ in which qualities associated with being a ‘proper man’ are harnessed and utilised in the process.
Investigating the role of social media abuse in gender-based violence: The experiences of women police officers
Online abuse communicated via social networking sites has increased considerably in recent years, with a significant amount of pejorative communication targeted at women. This mixed methods research study investigates the online abuse received by women police officers in the course of their work. The study considers how the abuse received in the online space echoes other forms of gender-based violence, drawing upon evidence gathered from semi-structured interviews with serving senior police officers in England and Wales. The research has devised a seven-element framework to demonstrate that the online abuse directed at women is misogynistic, frequently includes violent threats and dismisses female contributions to online discussions. The study also reveals that the abuse directed at women varies significantly, depending on occupation, with women police officers more likely to receive abuse that questions their ability or criticises their appearance.
‘A welcome change . . . but early days’: Irish Service Provider Perspectives on Domestic Abuse and the Domestic Violence Act 2018
This article is an exploratory study of service provider perspectives on the impact and effectiveness of the recently commenced Domestic Violence Act 2018 in Ireland. Drawing on 22 semi-structured interviews with domestic abuse organisations, and a review of both national and provincial newspaper sources, the article highlights the challenges facing domestic abuse service providers in Ireland and identifies key areas in need of reform. The research was conducted during the ongoing COVID-19 global pandemic, and as such, provides a unique insight into the experiences of frontline service providers, and the victims that availed of their services, during the public health crisis.
Book review: Criminal Women: Gender Matters