Criminal narrative experience: relating emotions to offence narrative roles during crime commission

A neglected area of research within criminality has been that of the experience of the offence for the offender. The present study investigates the emotions and narrative roles that are experienced by an offender while committing a broad range of crimes and proposes a model of Criminal Narrative Experience (CNE). Hypotheses were derived from the Circumplex of Emotions (Russell, 1997), Frye (1957), Narrative Theory (McAdams, 1988) and its link with Investigative Psychology (Canter, 1994). The analysis was based on 120 cases. Convicted for a variety of crimes, incarcerated criminals were interviewed and the data were subjected to Smallest Space Analysis (SSA). Four themes of Criminal Narrative Experience (CNE) were identified: Elated Hero, Calm Professional, Distressed Revenger and Depressed Victim in line with the recent theoretical framework posited for Narrative Offence Roles (Youngs & Canter, 2012). The theoretical implications for understanding crime on the basis of the Criminal Narrative Experience (CNE) as well as practical implications are discussed

Fear of cyber-identity theft and related fraudulent activity

Identity theft and related fraudulent activities affect approximately one in twenty-five adults each year across western societies. The Internet provides a new avenue for obtaining identity tokens and identifying information and increases the scale on which identity theft can be perpetrated. Recent research has suggested that fear of these types of crimes now matches or exceeds the fear of traditional place-based crimes, and has the potential to curtail online activities and hinder the further development of e-commerce applications. In this article, we conduct exploratory research identifying predictors of fear of cyber-identity theft and related fraudulent activities, based on the analysis of items included in the Australian Survey of Social Attitudes (2007). Fear was predicted by a generalized fear of crime component and a specific Internet exposure component. Traditional predictors of fear of crime were insignificant or weak predictors, highlighting the need for further research

Diet and habitat as determinants of intestine length in fishes

Fish biologists have long assumed a link between intestinal length and diet, and relative gut length or Zihler’s index are often used to classify species into trophic groups. This has been done for specific fish taxa or specific ecosystems, but not for a global fish dataset. Here, we assess these relationships across a dataset of 468 fish species (254 marine, 191 freshwater, and 23 occupy both habitats) in relation to body mass and fish length. Herbivores had significantly relatively stouter bodies and longer intestines than omni- and faunivores. Among faunivores, corallivores had longer intestines than invertivores, with piscivores having the shortest. There were no detectable differences between herbivore groups, possibly due to insufficient understanding of herbivorous fish diets. We propose that reasons for long intestines in fish include (i) difficult-to-digest items that require a symbiotic microbiome, and (ii) the dilution of easily digestible compounds with indigestible material (e.g., sand, wood, exoskeleton). Intestinal indices differed significantly between dietary groups, but there was substantial group overlap. Counter-intuitively, in the largest dataset, marine species had significantly shorter intestines than freshwater fish. These results put fish together with mammals as vertebrate taxa with clear convergence in intestine length in association with trophic level, in contrast to reptiles and birds, even if the peculiar feeding ecology of herbivorous fish is probably more varied than that of mammalian herbivores

Preventing Violence in Seven Countries: Global Convergence in Policies

Do governments take the measures that are supported by the best scientific evidence available? We present a brief review of the situation in: Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Our findings show surprisingly similar developments across countries. While all seven countries are moving towards evidence-based decision making regarding policies and programs to prevent violence, there remain a number of difficulties before this end can be achieved. For example, there continue to be few randomized controlled trials or rigorous quasi-experimental studies on aggression and violence. Results from experimental research are essential to both policy makers and researchers to determine the effectiveness of programs as well as increase our knowledge of the problem. Additionally, all noted that media attention for violence is high in their country, often leading to management by crisis with the result that policies are not based on evidence, but instead seek to appease public outrage. And perhaps because of attendant organizational problems (i.e., in many countries violence prevention was not under the guise of one particular agency or ministry), most have not developed a coordinated policy focusing on the prevention of violence and physical aggression. It is hypothesized that leaders in democratic countries, who must run for election every 4 to 6 years, may feel a need to focus on short-term planning rather than long-term preventive policies since the costs, but not the benefits for the latter would be incurred while they still served in office. We also noted a general absence of expertise beyond those within scientific circles. The need for these ideas to be more widely accepted will be an essential ingredient to real and sustaining change. This means that there must be better communication and increased understanding between researchers and policy makers. Toward those ends, the recent establishment of the Campbell Collaboration, formed to provide international systematic reviews of program effectiveness, will make these results more available and accessible to politicians, administrators and those charged with making key policy decision

Therapeutic jurisprudence and procedural justice in Scottish drug courts

Scotland, like other Western jurisdictions, has recently witnessed the development of problem-solving courts aimed at responding more effectively to issues that underlie certain types of offending behaviour. The first to be established were two pilot Drug Courts which drew upon experience of Scottish Drug Treatment and Testing Orders. In common with Drug Courts elsewhere, the Scottish pilots combined treatment, drug testing, supervision and judicial oversight. This article focuses upon the role of judicial involvement in the ongoing review of Drug Court participants’ progress, drawing upon court observation and interviews with offenders and Drug Court professionals. Drug Court dialogues were typically encouraging on the part of sheriffs, aimed at recognising and reinforcing the progress made by participants and motivating then to maintain and build upon their achievements to date, while participants were generally responsive to the positive feedback they received from the sheriffs as their orders progressed. Interactions within the Scottish Drug Courts reflect key features of procedural justice (Tyler, 1990), including ethicality, efforts to be fair and representation. By contributing to enhanced perceptions of procedural justice, Drug Court dialogues may, it is argued, increase the perceived legitimacy of the court and by so doing encourage increased compliance with treatment and desistance from crime

False Starts, Wrong Turns and Dead Ends: Reflections on Recent Developments in Criminology

The nature and direction of criminology has changed significantly over the past two decades. The subject area has also grown exponentially and become more diverse. New fields of inquiry are opening up as new issues are added to the criminological agenda. However, at the same time there are some unwelcome developments in the discipline that impact on the orientation of the subject and which detract from its overall viability and standing. The aim of this paper is to identify these unwelcome trends in order to contribute to the development of a more critical and coherent criminology

Differential resource selection within shared habitat types across spatial scales in sympatric toads

Differential habitat selection is a central component in the evolution of species, but it has been quantified rarely for sympatric species in relation to the multiple impacts of resources at the spatial scales at which animals operate. Our main goal was to quantify the selection of terrestrial summer habitats in a natural floodplain in Italy by two sympatric amphibians (Bufo bufo spinosus and B. viridis) as a function of habitat type, prey density, and temperature. We applied a Bayesian resource selection model at three spatial scales: (1) home range placement within the floodplain, (2) space use within 95% home ranges, and (3) space use within 50% core areas. Using these data we explored whether processes acting at large scales lead to space use patterns at small scales and whether the two species use the same habitat types in a way that would facilitate coexistence. Habitat selection was determined by habitat type, prey density, and temperature at all spatial scales, resulting in slightly higher prey density and significantly lower temperature within than outside home ranges. We conclude that amphibians perceive the distribution of habitat types as well as gradients in prey density and temperature at all spatial scales. The effects of habitat type dominated home range placement while prey density and temperature most strongly affected space use within home ranges. Our results suggest that home range placement relies on broad habitat features that indicate resource availability at small spatial scales. At the smallest spatial scale, the selection of prey and refugia is most probably facilitated due to the accumulation of environmental information as animals may sample the entire area. Both species largely preferred the same habitat types, but used them differently in relation to resources across the three spatial scales. For example, while one species used the same habitat type for foraging, the other used it for resting or both resting and foraging. Niche differentiation through differential resource selection within shared habitat types at all spatial scales may therefore facilitate the coexistence of the two species in terrestrial summer habitats