Care-experienced children and the criminal justice system

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew McGrath ◽  
Alison Gerard

The current study examines the factors underlying pathways from out-of-home care into the criminal justice system. Using a multi-method approach—specifically, court observations, file reviews and qualitative interviews—we found evidence of how histories of trauma and situational factors relating to the care environment interact to increase criminalisation. While many policy initiatives have been developed to address this criminalisation, in all parts of our study we found little evidence these are having an impact on practice in relation to care-experienced children. Some innovations we observed in our United Kingdom case study offer potential solutions to address this serious and ongoing problem.

Laws ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 31
Author(s):  
Rhiannon Davies ◽  
Lorana Bartels

This article focuses on gendered experiences of the criminal justice system, specifically the experiences of adult female victims of sexual offending and the communication difficulties they experience during the criminal justice process. Drawing on the findings from qualitative interviews about sentencing with six victims and 15 justice professionals in Australia, we compare the lived experiences of the victims with the perceptions of the justice professionals who work with them, revealing a significant gap between the information justice professionals believe they are providing and the information victims recall receiving. We then analyse the international literature to distil effective communication strategies, with the goal of improving victims’ experiences of the criminal justice system as a whole. Specifically, we recommend verbal communication skills training for justice professionals who work with victims of crime and the development of visual flowcharts to help victims better understand the criminal justice process. We also recommend that Australian victims’ rights regimes be reformed to place the responsibility for providing information about the criminal process on the relevant justice agencies, rather than requiring the victim to seek this information, and suggest piloting automated notification systems to help agencies fulfil their obligations to provide victims with such information.


Incarceration ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 263266632093644 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian O’Donnell ◽  
Eoin O’Sullivan

This article argues in favour of ‘coercive confinement’ as a useful addition to the criminological lexicon. It suggests that to properly understand a country’s level of punitiveness requires consideration of a range of institutions that fall outside the remit of the formal criminal justice system. It also requires a generous longitudinal focus. Using Ireland as a case study, such an approach reveals that since the foundation of the state, the prison has gradually become ascendant. This might be read to imply a punitive turn. But when a broader view is taken to include involuntary detention in psychiatric hospitals, confinement in Magdalen homes and mother and baby homes, and detention in industrial and reformatory schools, the trajectory is strongly downward. This might be read to imply a national programme of decarceration. (In recent years, asylum seekers have been held in congregate settings that are experienced as prison-like and they must be factored into the analysis.) While some of these institutions may have been used with peculiar enthusiasm in Ireland, none are Irish inventions. It would be profitable to extend the idea of ‘coercive confinement’ to other nations with a view to adding some necessary nuance to our understanding of the reach and grip of the carceral state.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 147
Author(s):  
Nur Dwi Edie W ◽  
Gunarto Gunarto

In the criminal justice system process the judge plays a role in implementing the decision in which the decision was taken in consideration of the indictments by the prosecutors. In alternative indictments each indictment is mutually exclusive. The judge will choose one of the charges proven according to his conviction. Therefore the alternative indictment is also called the indictment of choice (keuze telastelgging). This research formed the formulation of the problem namely how is the juridical implication of alternative forms of indictment in case number 82 / Pid.B / 2019 / PN.Blora and what is the basis of the judge's judgment in deciding case Number 82 / Pid.B / 2019 / PN.Blora with alternative indictment. This research uses juridical sociological methods with descriptive analysis research specifications. The data used for this study are secondary data with field observation methods and literature and document studies. Based on the research it was concluded (1) the preparation of the indictment in the case of verdict number 82 / Pid.B / 2019 / PN Bla based on Article 378 of the Criminal Code, with an alternative Article 372 of the Criminal Code. In this case, the element that eliminates one another is about the "existence" of the goods in the possession of the defendant. (2) In decision number 82 / Pid.B / 2019 / PN Bla, the judge considers that based on the legal facts revealed in the trial the defendant violated the criminal provisions as in the Second Indictment of alternative charges Article 378 of the Criminal Code Jo Article 64 paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code.�Keywords: Judge Policy; Criminal Decisions; Alternative Indictments.


2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-69
Author(s):  
Kamri Ahmad ◽  
Hambali Thalib ◽  
Mursyid Muchtra

This study aims to identify efforts to protect the state's economic security through the criminal justice system in the case of nickel mining in Malapulu Block, Kabaena Island, Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia. The Supreme Court has decided the case with decision number 2633 K/Pid/Sus/2018. This research was conducted with a qualitative approach through analysis of the description of the prosecutor's indictment and the judge's decision. The results obtained in the study show that the KPK Prosecutor made a mistake by withdrawing the appeal that had been made. This condition results in the lack of consideration made by judges in decision making. Secondly, legal experts do not provide a difference in the meaning of economic and financial losses for the state in judex factie and judex jurist. Third, the indictment by the public prosecutor has not described the form of crime committed as an extraordinary crime. Fourth, there is negligence in the corporate sentence.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pamela Oliver

Pamela Oliver "Case Study 7.2 Data to Bring Justice: Addressing Disparities in the Criminal Justice System" Preprint of chapter in Philip Nyden. Leslie Hossfelt, and Gwen Nyden (eds.) 2011 Public Sociology: Research Action and Change. Pine Forge Press. https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/public-sociology/book234763 This is a case study of my racial disparities work that overlaps somewhat with other presentations I have made of the same material. My work has involved doing descriptive statistical analyses of racial patterns of imprisonment and making public presentations on these patterns, as participating in many meetings of boards and committees working on these issues. Part 1 of this article describes the background of my work and how I got involved, partly through connections with community groups and partly through luck. Part 2 describes my public engagement, including giving talks and participating in many meetings as well as doing analyses at the request of community groups. Part 3 is reflections on the differences and tensions between public and professional sociology.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-99
Author(s):  
Bruno Amaral Machado ◽  
Maria Stela Grossi Porto

This article examines homicide in the Metropolitan Area of Brasilia (MAB), analysing social representations from elites in the criminal justice system, including police chiefs, prosecutors and judges. It draws on the theory of social representations (TSR) to explore the imaginaries constructed around the criminal justice system’s inability to adequately investigate the rise in homicides. The representations from focus group participants highlight a lack of resources, infrastructure, equipment and human resources, as well as unsatisfactory working conditions. In seeking to understand and situate themselves in new realities and contexts, these elite criminal justice actors ultimately place themselves within the available reserve of knowledge, in which they claim that ‘nothing works’. Hence, this enables these powerful actors to justify themselves and blame others, while denying their inability to adequately investigate homicides. A hidden rationale emerges that represents the homicide victims of drug crimes and gang feuds as unworthy of investigation.


2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (5) ◽  
pp. 830-854
Author(s):  
Larissa Saco ◽  
Danielle Dirks

The criminal justice system and the media perpetuate the rhetoric of closure, which frames the end of grief for homicide survivors, or murder victims’ loved ones, as an attainable goal on their path to healing. Public discourse has also framed the death penalty as justice for survivors. However, little scholarly attention has addressed survivors’ experiences and perceptions of closure and justice. This research addresses this gap in the literature using in-depth, qualitative interviews with 36 community, academic, and criminal justice experts on homicide survivorship, 12 of whom are homicide survivors themselves. Using grounded theory, we derived six themes on closure and justice from the data. The majority of respondents indicate that survivors do not experience closure, and that they consider the term misleading. The question as to the meaning of justice produced more disparate responses. While many indicated that justice has unique meanings for individual survivors, holding the perpetrator accountable emerged as the most common theme. Half of the respondents also indicated that justice does not exist in homicide cases because of their difficult experiences with the criminal justice system. The findings have implications for policy, practice, and future research.


2013 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-231
Author(s):  
Willem F.M. Luyt ◽  
Gomolemu M. Moshoeu

Risk-taking behaviour is a global phenomenon that shows increased presence in certain institutional circles. Various forms of risk-taking behaviours are deeply rooted in the South African correctional system and other branches of the criminal justice system. South Africa needs new approaches to deal with matters related to risk-taking behaviour in the criminal justice system (particularly inside correctional centres), for example, HIV infection, inmate rape and a growing problem concerning substance abuse. This investigation looks into risk-taking behaviour behind prison walls. The Leeuwkop correctional complex, a microcosm of the South African correctional system, was chosen for the investigation.


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