Suchergebnisse

Revealing the cross utility potential of multiple disciplines to advance knowledge in crime studies, History & Crime showcases new research into crime from across the interdisciplinary perspectives of early modern and modern history, criminology, forensic psychology, and legal studies. Authored by emerging and established scholars from the around the world, the contributions span youth crime, feminist criminology, historic penology and court practices, through to the insanity defence, police corruption, and models for post-conflict governance. The chapters present the breadth of the work currently being undertaken around the world in this ground-breaking field, linking the present to the historic. Through these diverse chapters, the editors illustrate the current scholarship already bridging the oft-asserted divide between history and the social sciences. It is argued that differences in language and methodology may have created a mirage of disciplinary division. The collection consequently offers a unique opportunity for advancing a new framework for trans-disciplinary discourse to allow new research to be more easily interpreted and integrated across traditional disciplinary boundaries. This framework will guide future contributions in everything from histories of crime to future-focused crime scholarship, and by allowing better comprehension, drive ground-breaking new knowledge.

Revealing the cross utility potential of multiple disciplines to advance knowledge in crime studies, History & Crimeshowcases new research into crime from across the interdisciplinary perspectives of early modern and modern history, criminology, forensic psychology, and legal studies.

The wellbeing of corrections officers is an important issue deserving attention from the scientific community and government departments responsible for the regulation of correctional systems. A review of the existing scientific literature clearly indicates that corrections officers are at a heightened risk of experiencing a range of negative physical and psychological conditions. Despite this, little research has explored how best to assist officers to maintain their sense of wellbeing through the provision of wellbeing training. Over the past decade there has been a notable surge in the development and implementation of proactive staff training initiatives aimed at assisting employees to better manage their sense of wellbeing. Unfortunately, many of these programmes continue to lack a clear evidence-basis for their implementation or cannot claim to be prison officer-responsive as they have been adapted from other high-risk occupational settings. Few available programmes are evidence-informed and designed specifically to cater for the unique training needs of the contemporary corrections officer. This article discusses the challenges faced by the correctional industry in relation to officer wellbeing training and highlights the need for evidenceinformed, industry-specific, prison officer-responsive wellbeing training programmes. Furthermore, this article highlights the inherent benefits of engaging in inter-disciplinary collaborations involving research, government and industry bodies to establish bestpractice processes in regard to wellbeing training for correctional employees.

Theories of modern racism suggest that the level of prejudice toward black Americans has not decreased in recent years but rather is expressed primarily when white Americans perceive themselves to be in a state of situational (or normative) ambiguity. It is suggested that the current
concept of situational ambiguity may be extended by examining distinctive underlying factors that mediate the expression of racism: task specificity and target specificity. It is argued that a significant amount of research on racism, and its expression, has been conducted through the use
of a mock-juror paradigm and, as such, two studies were conducted to investigate the degree to which task and target specificity influence the guilt ratings of mock jurors. In Study 1, target specificity was manipulated by varying the race and social-status level of the defendant being evaluated.
In Study 2, task specificity was manipulated by varying the presence or absence of jury instructions and the subsequent interactive effects of task and target specificity were examined. Results suggest that guilt ratings were significantly more affected by target and task specificity than
by race per se, although there were race effects on ratings. Interestingly, task specificity appeared to affect responses only when target specificity was lacking. The implications of these results are discussed in terms of their contribution to the concept of modern racism.

This research investigated whether the prejudicial attitudes of mock jurors in Canada produce criminal sanction disparities similar to those reported by research in the United States. In order to investigate this hypothesis, English Canadian participants read a transcript of a sexual assault trial that varied the ethnic background of both the victim and the defendant (i.e., English, French or Native Canadian). Participants were then asked to rate the guilt of the defendant in two ways: (1) on a 7-point bipolar scale in accordance with their personal beliefs (i.e., Subjective Guilt Rating), and (2) on a dichotomous scale (guilty/not guilty) in accor- dance with judicial instructions (i.e., Legal Standard Guilt Rating). Participants were also asked to rate the victim and defendant on a number of personality traits. Results indicate that participants asked to rate the degree of guilt of the defendant according to the Subjective Guilt Rating found him more guilty if he was French, or Native Canadian as opposed to English Canadian. These prejudicial ratings, however, dissipated when participants were asked to rate the guilt of the defendant according to the Legal Standard Guilt Rating that included jury instructions. This apparent paradox in results is discussed in terms of modern racism theory.

We employed a theoretical model of dehumanization to identify the factors influencing attitudes toward asylum seekers within an Australian context. Specifically, we hypothesized that Australians high in social dominance orientation (SDO) would be more likely than those low in SDO to
dehumanize asylum seekers. Participants (N = 311) completed an online survey designed to assess SDO, their attitudes and emotions toward asylum seekers, and their tendency to engage in dehumanization. Results indicated that the model can be successfully applied to an Australian context
and that dehumanization played a significant role in influencing our participants' attitudes toward asylum seekers. Findings are discussed in terms of future research as well as policy implications for Australian immigration issues.

Imprisonment can be an intensely stressful experience, and efforts to limit distress are critical to prevent adverse events such as suicide. This study examined whether time spent in prison predicted psychological distress in young adult and adult prisoners, and whether coping style moderated this relationship. While time spent in prison was not associated with distress, the use of avoidance coping was associated with higher levels of prisoner distress. Seeking social support was associated with lower levels of distress, but only for older adult prisoners. These results can be drawn upon to guide psychological treatments designed to lessen prisoner distress.