Overrepresentation of Indigenous students in school suspension, exclusion, and enrolment cancellation in Queensland: is there a case for systemic inclusive school reform?

Well-established evidence of the ill-effects of exclusionary school discipline, its disproportionate use on students of colour, and association with the “school-to-prison pipeline” has, in the last decade, led to systemic reforms in the United States, which are successfully reducing exclusion and improving outcomes. Few studies, however, have similarly investigated overrepresentation in Australia, with little attention to systemic reform as a result. In this study, we analysed suspension, exclusion, and enrolment cancellation rates in Queensland (QLD) government schools between 2013 and 2019 and found Indigenous students were consistently overrepresented. Suspension incidents proportionate to enrolments increased for all students, but this increase was faster for Indigenous than non-Indigenous students and driven primarily by steep rises in short suspensions during primary school (Preparatory-6). Exclusions increased—again disproportionately—for Indigenous students, chiefly in secondary school (7–12). During 2019, Physical Misconduct had the highest incident rate for both groups; however, Indigenous students were most overrepresented in suspensions for Disruptive/Disengaged behaviours. Further, while Indigenous students were overrepresented in all QLD regions, one region’s Indigenous suspension rate was higher than all others despite no difference in the distribution of Indigenous/non-Indigenous enrolments across regions. The scale and nature of Indigenous overrepresentation in exclusionary discipline incidents in QLD indicate clear need for further research to secure political commitment to systemic inclusive school reform, as well as to produce high-quality evidence capable of guiding that reform.

Reddit’s cops and cop-watchers: Resisting and insisting on change in online interpretive communities

This study explores how two subreddits—r/Bad_Cop_No_Donut (Donut) and r/ProtectAndServe (PnS)—function as online interpretive communities discussing the same topic: police conduct. Members of Donut construct a genre from videos depicting a history of police violence in order to advocate for policing reform, arguing that cop-watching practices that produce this genre are essential to driving changes in policing. Members of PnS construct a genre from similar videos in order to advocate for resisting systemic reform, reading these videos as professional development opportunities for police to reestablish legitimacy with the public. Donut insists on change, while PnS resists change. Donut produces a discourse which engages with historical instances of police misconduct; PnS produces a discourse which rarely engages with this history. Studying these processes of interpretation reveals how dissonant meanings can arise from the same material, how meaning is made in communities consuming and repurposing texts, and how historical narratives are essential to challenging structural inequity.

Les Enfants Perdus

Following the deaths of fourteen children at a children’s residential facility in Froissy in November 1968, a moment of national interest in France in the challenges facing disabled children led parents’ associations to press for systemic reform. Concomitantly, social critiques following the protests of May 1968 focused on poor institutional conditions as evidence of society’s failures. Though government inquiry into the incident placed the blame on the proprietors, media reports and advocates asserted the failure of the French government to protect the disabled. This viewpoint aligned with the rhetoric of reformers seeking to dismantle institutions to instigate social change. However, an alliance of reformers and parents’ groups did not materialize, even after the important reforms of the law of 30 June 1975. That law articulated the government’s commitment to the equality of disabled citizens, but it had limited impact due to its failure to address conditions for the mentally disabled.

The History, Justification, and Purpose of Mental Health Law

Chapter 2 examines the historical development of mental health law in England (which is similar to the rest of the common law world, including America, Canada, and Australia) and uses that history to consider the justification, purpose, and need for mental health law from Ancient Greece to the present. Contrary to the claims of abolitionists that mental health law has essentially always stayed the same, it demonstrates a history of continuous legal and systemic reform in mental health law. Rather than an over-zealous and interfering state keen to exercise social control over persons with mental impairment, it instead depicts a state which for the most part reluctantly only became involved in the care of persons with mental health problems when informal care by family and friends failed or was non-existent, to prevent abuses by private operators, and as an incident of its administration of the criminal law. When set against the background of the fashions, cycles, and recurring themes of mental health law, the call of abolition can be conceptualized as simply the latest fad in its evolution. Further, many of the issues which arise from mental health problems will continue to exist even without mental health law. Mental health law can be positive and negative, including defining and protecting rights and allocating resources. The chapter cautions against being too optimistic about the promises of sweeping revolutionary changes which have never really delivered (deinstitutionalization or the ‘abolition’ of the asylum being the most poignant example), in favour of solid incremental change.

Features of property management of corporations of the military-industrial complex in the production of high-tech products

In the context of the systemic reform of the Russian economy, there is a tendency to the emergence of corporations in various sectors of the national economy. The military-industrial complex is no exception. The article deals with the specifics of property management of corporations of the military-industrial complex in the production of high-tech products. To achieve the strategic goals of the corporation, it is necessary to develop a strategy based on objective forecasts of the development of the arms market, taking into account potential external and internal risks, as well as an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the corporation. Corporate governance is based on the existing norms in the field of financial activities, securities, labor relations in the labor market, contractual obligations, and contractual activities between enterprises. It is proved that the adaptive development of corporations of the military-industrial complex directly depends on the competent organization of financial activities, as well as within its framework of credit and investment activities. The article presents the balance sheet model of financing of the defense industry corporation, which allows to form the budget of the defense industry corporation, based on the allocation of financial resources for the operation and development of the main activities of the defense industry corporation. One of the most important tasks of managing the property of corporations of the military-industrial complex is to provide opportunities for scientific and technological development, which, after commercialization, can create key strategic competitive advantages for enterprises of the defense industry corporation.

Juveniles Are Not So Different

The “juveniles are different” doctrine is gaining ground in the United States. It holds that children, unlike adults, should not receive merciless punishments like life without parole, given their immaturity, impulsivity, and limited brain development. The doctrine’s impact has been both significant and modest because it operates in an exceptionally repressive context considering the advent of mass incarceration. Unless construed more broadly, it may help rationalize draconian sentences for adults and cement the status quo. This Article offers a wider historical and comparative perspective. Over time, age has recurrently served to legitimize punitiveness toward children or adults. America has oscillated between deeming that juveniles deserve fewer rights than adults, that they deserve more rights, or that they should essentially be treated the same. After diverse paradigm shifts, mass incarceration led to a downward-leveling process whereby juveniles were punished just as ruthlessly as adults. “Juveniles are different” was a reaction to this trend, although punitive assumptions undergird its rigid age carve-outs. This Article calls for a new phase: an upward-leveling process under which juveniles’ emerging right to be free from merciless punishments would apply to everyone. This is the norm in other Western democracies, which have gravitated toward universal human rights and moderate punishment. A broader outlook may spell the difference between a conception of “juveniles are different” that casts adults as irredeemable and a stepping-stone toward meaningful systemic reform.

Reimagining probation and parole for young adults in the United States

The aim of this article is to propose an overhaul in how young adults (approximately aged 15–25 years) should be supervised in the community while serving probation or parole sentences. Using a pilot model implemented in the Pacific Northwest in the United States, we describe the development of a new specialized caseload focused on the developmental needs of this age group. Once established, an ambitious training program using external subject matter experts was used to educate supervising officers and integrate best practices across four emerging areas in the literature: trauma informed care, brain development science, an Equity and Empowerment Lens with a racial justice focus, and the case management approach Effective Practices in Community Supervision. Results show the potential of this approach to change the trajectory of the life course of participants, as well as promote systematic and systemic reform in the participating jurisdiction.

Maitjara Wangkanyi: Insights from an Ethnographic Study of Food Practices of Households in Remote Australian Aboriginal Communities

Many historical, environmental, socioeconomic, political, commercial, and geographic factors underscore the food insecurity and poor diet-related health experienced by Aboriginal people in Australia. Yet, there has been little exploration of Aboriginal food practices or perspectives on food choice recently. This study, with 13 households in remote communities on the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands, fills this gap using ethnographic and Indigenist methods. Results highlight Anangu resourcefulness, securing food despite poverty and adversity, and provide unique insights into factors influencing the three major types and range of dietary patterns identified. These factors include household economic cycles and budgeting challenges; overcrowding and family structures, mobility and ‘organization’; available food storage, preparation and cooking infrastructure; and familiarity and convenience. Structural and systemic reform, respecting Aboriginal leadership, is required to improve food security.

Building Community-Based Approaches to Systemic Reform in Mathematical Biology Education

Starting in the early 2000’s, several reports were released recognizing the convergence of mathematics, biology and computer science, and calling for a rethinking of how undergraduates are prepared for careers in research and the science and technology workforce. This call for change requires careful consideration of the mathematical biology education system to identify key components and leverage points for change. This paper demonstrates the wide range of resources and approaches available to the mathematical biology education community to create systemic change by highlighting the efforts of four community-based education reform organizations. A closer look at these organizations provides an opportunity to examine how to leverage components of the education system including faculty, academic institutions, students, access to resources, and the power of community.