Suchergebnisse

Abstract: This article aims to consider all cases of non‐consensual sex crime involving a court appearance that were reported in a local newspaper, the Lancaster Guardian, over a period of 120 years (1860–1979). Searching over 6,000 editions of a local newspaper, there are huge shifts in the outcome of non‐consensual cases over the 120 years. There is evidence of a lively direct interest from the local populace in some of the early cases, but it is only since the Second World War that more sustained coverage of cases are featured in the newspaper. There is a clear shift over time in the type of cases that receive more media attention.

Following abolition in September 1993 of the common law presumption that a boy aged under 14 years is incapable of sexual intercourse, there were twelve prosecutions of boys aged 10 to under 14 years for rape and just two convictions (of which one was overturned on appeal) in 1993 and 1994. This study identifies and discusses newspaper reports of such cases coming to court in the period 1993 to 1995. It is suggested that the law change has not been helpful in dealing with serious sexual offences among this age group. In particular, victims are unlikely to have benefited. Confronting the reality that boys aged 10 to 13 years can indeed rape opens the window to another set of realities which also need to be confronted.

Designed specifically for criminology students, this book takes them to the heart of the contradictions, confusions and blurred boundaries around the subject of crime, about what crime is, about social regulation and control, and about social responsibility.

AbstractNewspaper representation of blackmail cases from over half a century (1960–2009) is used to illustrate 'marginal' crime reporting in an era of social change: we asked how such crimes fare in attracting public attention and what meanings they represent during a period of politicised, public and criminological narratives of crime and disorder. 'Marginal' crimes sit at the edges of crime narratives and at the boundaries of criminology, yet the example of blackmail indicates wider social concerns. A macro analysis of 252 cases showed a steady public profile with six major categories of blackmail reported. At a micro level, only 33 cases achieved sustained reporting, deriving meaning from current social anxiety; acted normatively – defining current group values; or were one of a palette of charges brought against individuals.