School Of Criminology Research Articles

Editorial

This first issue of the School of Criminology’s working paper series focuses on international interdisciplinary collaborations by showcasing a series of articles, reflections and poems written by participants at the 2023 University of West Indies–University of Leicester International Summer School, held at the University of Leicester and hosted by the School of Criminology. In the first week of June 2023, Dr Sonjah Stanley Niaah (University of West Indies, Mona) and Professor Michael A. Bucknor (University of Alberta) joined Leicester academics Dr Tammy Ayres, Dr Lucy Evans and Professor Martin Halliwell to co-deliver an intensive week-long cross-disciplinary programme, with an emphasis on both interdisciplinary exploration and professional development.

Truths and Reconciliation: Reflections on the University of the West Indies and University of Leicester International Summer School 2023

The University of the West Indies and University of Leicester International Summer School is an annual event, a week-long programme of lectures, workshops and social activities aimed at supporting postgraduate research students and early career researchers predominantly from the UK and Caribbean. It is hosted alternately at the University of Leicester and the different campuses of the University of the West Indies, and since its inception has been spearheaded by Dr Lucy Evans and Professor Martin Halliwell at the University of Leicester, Dr Sonjah Stanley Niaah at the University of the West Indies, Mona, and Professor Michael A. Bucknor at the University of Alberta. The 2023 edition was hosted by University of Leicester’s School of Criminology from 5th to 10th of June, under the theme of ‘Crime, (In)Justice, Human Rights’. Sub-topics included crime and culture, histories and legacies, security, surveillance, the police and the state, human rights, gender and sexualities, reproductive rights, the environment, and race. It promised an opportunity to connect with researchers in similar or related fields from around the world, who we may have otherwise not met.

A Comprehensive Study of the Classical School of Criminology

The eighteenth century saw the development of the classical school of criminology. This theory of criminology was primarily influenced by Cesare de Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham. They are regarded as the most significant intellectuals of the Enlightenment. Are regarded as the founders of the classical school of criminology and are leaders in the field of "classical" thought. Because he was a utilitarian and concerned with the happiness and well-being of the populace, Bentham's contribution to "classical" philosophy is predicated on his conviction that punishment, in the form of causing pain, should always be justified in terms of a larger benefit. Bentham's writings revolved around the notion of the pleasure-pain principle, which holds that human behavior is intended to maximize pleasure and minimize pain. Beccaria thought that in order to make punishments fair and commensurate with the offence, laws had to be implemented. According to him, there are three key concepts that determine how effective crime prevention is: the likelihood of a crime occurring, its certainty, and the timing of the crime, the speed at which it is punished, the seriousness of the offence, and the extent of the suffering caused. According to Beccaria, the harshness of the punishments meted out should be commensurate with the offence committed and should not exceed what is required to dissuade the perpetrator and others from committing similar crimes in the future. Because there would be no deterrent, classical philosophers like Jeremy Bentham and Beccaria believed that the death penalty was meaningless. But in the case of manslaughter, as Bentham also holds, the death penalty should unquestionably be applied if the severity of the penalty significantly outweighs the offence. Seeing another criminal eliminated as a result of their acts doesn't seem to be a more powerful deterrence to future criminals considering engaging in the same criminal behavior. Though possibly not as much on criminal justice practice, classical philosophy has had a major influence on criminological thought generally. Since the advent of classical criminology and classical thought, the use of torture, corporal punishment, and the death penalty has decreased.

In search of a "criminal person": Changing scientific views on the role of biological determinants in the etiology of crime

Aim to analyze the transformation of criminologists' approach to the biology of a criminal, to highlight the achievements of physiological, genetic, endocrinological, neurobiological, biochemical, ethological research in this area, to study the dynamics of the scientific views on the role of biological factors in the etiology of criminal behavior, to give a dialectic assessment of the development of the described scientific paradigm.
 Results. The article provides an overview of research in the field of biological criminology. The results of physiological, psychological, genetic, neurobiological, biochemical, endocrinological, ethological studies are described. The role of the positivist school of criminology is evaluated as negative for the harmful consequences of their activities. It is shown that its provisions became the starting point for the development of social Darwinism, eugenics, the ideology of fascism, racial theory, the organization of national, racial and ethnic genocide.
 Conclusion. The most promising and most effective is a comprehensive, multifactorial approach to the problem of criminal behavior with mathematical modelling and artificial intelligence technologies.

History as activism: critical uses of history at the Berkeley School of Criminology in the 1970s

Works of historical criminology do not have to be disinterested studies of past crime-related phenomena. Instead, they can represent practical attempts to intervene in the politics of crime and justice in the present. This article takes this claim to a critical conclusion; historical research in criminology can function as a weapon in contemporary political struggles and a way of injecting radical politics into criminological studies. To demonstrate this point, the article scrutinises the ways in which early critical criminologists in the US engaged in historical research as a way of doing politics and activism. To such criminologists, doing historical research was a form of praxis. Focusing on the works produced at the Berkeley School of Criminology in the 1970s, the article shows that the nurture of a historical interest was deemed to be a vital step in the development of a critical paradigm within American criminology.

Disability hate speech: Social, cultural and political contexts By MarkSherry, TerjeOlsen, Janikke SolstadVedeler, and JohnEriksen Abingdon (Eds.), Routledge. 2021. pp. 268

British Journal of Learning DisabilitiesEarly View BOOK REVIEW Disability hate speech: Social, cultural and political contexts By Mark Sherry, Terje Olsen, Janikke Solstad Vedeler, and John Eriksen Abingdon (Eds.), Routledge. 2021. pp. 268 David Wilkin, Corresponding Author David Wilkin [email protected] Centre for Hate Studies, School of Criminology, University of Leicester, Leicester, Leicestershire, UK Correspondence David Wilkin, Centre for Hate Studies, School of Criminology, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester, Leicestershire, LE1 7RH, UK. Email: [email protected]Search for more papers by this author David Wilkin, Corresponding Author David Wilkin [email protected] Centre for Hate Studies, School of Criminology, University of Leicester, Leicester, Leicestershire, UK Correspondence David Wilkin, Centre for Hate Studies, School of Criminology, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester, Leicestershire, LE1 7RH, UK. Email: [email protected]Search for more papers by this author First published: 22 May 2023 https://doi.org/10.1111/bld.12539Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL No abstract is available for this article. Early ViewOnline Version of Record before inclusion in an issue RelatedInformation

Enhancing research collaboration within a large university department

ABSTRACT As academic research evolves into distinct identities of specialised knowledge, institutional and paradigmatic barriers are formed between research teams, which demand enhanced research collaboration and cross-fertilisation of ideas. Drawing on the concept of cross-fertilisation, this paper adds original contributions to literature on research collaboration in three ways. First, it underlines key barriers facing academics in undertaking research. Second, it demonstrates why research collaboration helps to drive research output and enrich research cultures. Third, it offers valuable insights into technological and social initiatives supporting research collaboration. This paper reports on a study within the University of Portsmouth’s School of Criminology and Criminal Justice – the UK’s largest criminology department. It reveals universities must address four key issues to enhance research collaboration. These involve managing researchers’ workload pressures, fostering positive research cultures, improving knowledge of and access to research and funding processes, and exploring collaborative technologies.

DATA & INFRASTRUCTURE SECURITY: THE RISK OF AI ENABLED CYBER ATTACKS AND QUANTUM HACKING

On November 21, 2022, Dr. Ryan Prox, Adjunct Professor in the School of Criminology at Simon Fraser University, presented on Data & Infrastructure Security: The Risk of AI Enabled Cyber Attacks and Quantum Hacking. The presentation was followed by a question-and-answer period with questions from the audience and CASIS Vancouver executives. The key points discussed were the evolution of data and infrastructure security, the increasing interconnectedness of critical infrastructure, and the need to increase resilience in the face of revolutionary technological advancements. Received: 2023-01-23Revised: 2023-01-27

Discovering the Best Criminology Program in Poland: Contemplation of the Month-long Sabbatical at the University of Białystok

This article traces the friendship between Professor Emil Pływaczewski and me over a quarter of a century with an emphasis on my impressions of Poland in general and Białystok School of Criminology in particular during my recent one-month stay. While I have been fascinated by the best criminology program growing from none to the current prominence, I argue that criminology’s potential as avant-garde of legal reform before the passage of law and as evidence-based evaluation has not been fully developed in Poland. International criminology as a method permeates every aspect of research. As a progressive and meliorative major, criminology could further promote good and inclusive society and play a role in closing the gap between the survivalist culture and self-expressionist culture by strengthening justice-based institutional structure and the rule of law through ramping-up global connectivity among international scholars.

Feminist Criminology and Intersectionality in Crimes

In this paper, “Feminist Criminology and Intersectionality in Crimes”, I have attempted in tossing some clarity onto the theoretical and methodological framework of feminist criminology and intersectionality in crimes with respect to its work in criminal justice system. For an easy comprehension of this extensive topic, the paper is divided into minor segments such as an Introduction and Scope of Feminist school of Criminology, Emergence of the study in an historical perspective, Theoretical Framework, Methodological Framework, Contributions of the school to the Criminal Justice System, the subject as a Scholarly Discourse, Global perspective of the study, Current day concerns drawn by the Feminist Criminological School and Conclusion. Society in a general run of things has invariably associated Women with passive connotations since time immemorial. Women are often seen as nurturers, mothers, care takers, teachers, homemakers and fragile in nature. Owing to the fact that these stigmatized attributes of women are competently amalgamated in the society, it becomes inordinately onerous for the society to accept the existence of the nature in women who are involved with violent crimes and its studies. These women, in numerous instances are seen as an abnormal women and unladylike or less womanly. Attributable to which, the women were customarily kept out and/or paid no attention to in the criminological studies for the few initial decades even after the its emergence and expansion. The Feministic Approach in Criminological Studies is said to be born and evolved with an intent to draw attention to and spot light the concerns correlated with the communication and representation of difficulties faced by women in field of criminological studies, both as a subjects in the study and as the scholars of the field.

Disorder and the law: a strange hostage-taking

In the context of the successive crises that have marked France (terrorism, yellow vests protesters and COVID 19), the judge and the police are trying to respond as best they can to complexity. However, law and science seem to be victims of a strange hostage-taking even though complexity and disorder are constituent elements of reality and therefore subjects for scientific research. After illustrating the messiness and the complexity of the law with concrete examples, the author underlines the importance of science in the field of security and justice and regrets that competition between academic disciplines is hindering the development of a French school of criminology.

Coming Full Circle: What Happens When Your Class Turns into ‘Real Life’

In this session, we will share some of the results of my experience with remote teaching and academic misconduct in my 200 seat, Introduction to Canadian Criminal Justice System class, which ran from May to Aug 2020 in the School of Criminology at Simon Fraser University. In June 2020, I learned quite by chance, that 41 of 200 students cheated on their midterm celebration of learning (ironically it was on the bonus question worth 1 of 90 marks - they looked up the due date of the quiz on academic integrity). After considerable thought, I decided to use course concepts and applied a restorative justice approach in my response and invited students to reach out and take responsibility. The student response was surprisingly encouraging, and I realized I needed to understand what happened more formally. Accordingly, we developed a study to examine student experiences with my response, how it affected their learning and understanding of course concepts and materials, and their feelings about academic integrity in online courses, especially during a global pandemic. My research assistant, Zana Nicolaou, and I will present findings from the 41 survey responses and 5 interviews that examined these questions. Then we will engage in conversation about how we can shift from conversations about academic misconduct to strategies that help us build a culture of academic integrity.

Radicalization and Violent Extremism in the Era of COVID-19

On January 21, 2021, the Canadian Association for Security and Intelligence Studies (CASIS) Vancouver hosted its first digital roundtable event of the year, Radicalization and Violent Extremism in the Era of COVID-19. The presentation was conducted by guest speaker, Dr. Garth Davies, an Associate Professor in the School of Criminology at Simon Fraser University. He is also currently involved in developing data for evaluating programs for countering violent extremism. Dr. Davies’ presentation provided an overview of the changes that society has had to make in adapting to the COVID-19 pandemic and shared some of his research findings on radicalization and violent extremism online during the pandemic. The increase in working remotely and being on the Internet has possibly contributed to a larger dissemination of misinformation leading people to certain extremist sites and forums that may contribute to radicalization. Additionally, Dr. Davies answered questions submitted by the audience, which focused on online radicalization, online platforms used for recruiting by extremist groups, misinformation, and the Incel movement.

Beyond wildlife crime: Towards the concept of ‘mundane fauna crime’

Research and theorisation on crimes against non-human species in rural regions have been conducted with less conceptual refinement than crimes against anthropocentric victims. The dominant conception of ‘wildlife crime’ predominantly advanced by the rational choice school of criminology is a nebulous ‘chaotic concept’. This article disaggregates crimes against common and relatively abundant species from that capacious categorisation and offers the original concept of ‘mundane fauna crime’ as a more precise alternative. The original concept aims to supersede the wildlife crime terminology using realist social relations theory and to offer researchers a rational abstraction to advance aetiological explanations. The additional category of ‘illegal taking’ is offered to complement the central conceptualisation, thus supplanting the terms of ‘wildlife poaching’. The new model is intended to contribute to the advancement of comprehensive theorisation and practically adequate knowledge on mundane fauna crimes in rural regions.

Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals and Criminology

The writings of Friedrich Nietzsche have much to offer criminology. To date, however, his work has been largely neglected in this scholarship. Taking this lacuna seriously, this article reads Nietzsche’s second essay of On the Genealogy of Morals and explicates its importance to criminology. Specifically, focus is cast upon Nietzsche’s exposition of crime and particularly punishment, pertaining to the production of a calculating and calculable being upon whom pain and suffering can be inflicted and the ways that concerns over excesses of punishment come to be framed as problematic. Via this reading, it is claimed that On the Genealogy of Morals can serve, among others, as an important critique to many of the presuppositions that ground the classical school of criminology, epitomized in the work of Cesare Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham. The article concludes by locating the importance of Nietzsche to penology specifically and criminology more broadly.

Preparing and Supporting Graduate Students in Their Role as Teaching Assistants: An Exploration of TA Training in a School of Criminology

Teaching Assistants (TAs) play an important role in many undergraduate courses throughout North America. TAs have a range of responsibilities to fulfil, such as facilitating tutorials, delivering lessons, applying rubrics, invigilating exams, and/or providing students with feedback and academic support during the term. This article presents key findings from a project designed to identify how TAs in a School of Criminology in Western Canada are currently being prepared for and supported in their roles as TAs, their perceived utility of the preparation they receive, and their recommendations to improve their training and support preparation. Given the centrality of TAs in the delivery of undergraduate education, it is vitally important that institutions adequately train and support graduate students for their roles. This article provides recommendations for individual instructors, academic units, and universities to consider to better prepare and support graduate students for their increasingly complex roles as TAs.

The Birth of Soviet Criminology: Mikhail Gernet’s Vision of the Good State and the Dangers of the People in 1917

Abstract Mikhail Nikolaevich Gernet was a central figure in the study of criminology during the tsarist period, when he championed the sociological school of criminology. During the 1920s, he led the study of crime and penal reform. Through a study of Gernet’s important, largely overlooked, writings in 1917, this article argues that the revolution was a pivotal moment in his thinking and career. Gernet’s hopes in the February Revolution were crushed by what he saw as a dangerous wave of crime and samosud (mob violence) that did not respect the new state authority.

English

Jungle justice has added another dimension to the neigbourhood insecurity challenge in Lagos metropolis. The reoccurring lynching of suspect(s) in a crime scene, in Lagos metropolis and Nigeria, as well as, the dearth of empirical studies on this heinous crime in Nigeria motivated this study. Thus, this study anchored on Social Disorganisation Theory (SDT) of the Chicago School of Criminology, which identified neighborhood crime and delinquency, emphasizing spatial patterns of behaviours. In-depth interview was employed to uncover the factors, patterns of occurrence, and the security implication of Jungle justice in Lagos metropolis. Purposive sampling technique was utilised to get a sample size of thirty respondents for this study. Content analysis was used to analyze the transcribed data and results showed that jungle justice happens as a result of incessant neighbourhood crimes and insecurities with lack of public and institutional trust in the Nigeria Police Force in the prosecution of a crime suspect. To avert jungle justice in Lagos metropolis, there must be a concerted effort by the public and the Nigeria Police Force to preempt the future occurrence of such crime. Key words: Jungle justice, crime, insecurity, Lagos.

The International Self-Report Delinquency Study (ISRD3) in the Research Areas of the Białystok School of Criminology

On March 24, 2017, the Faculty of Law of the University of Białystok entered into a collaboration agreement with the Central Coordinating Team of the International Self-Report Delinquency Study (ISRD). Te Białystok School of Criminology is currently the only Polish representative participating in ISRD3. Te ISRD study addresses a wide range of issues examined by the Białystok School of Criminology, which launched its research work in 1994. The Białystok School of Criminology conducted its contribution to the ISRD3 research project in June 2017, in Białystok and Rzeszów, two Polish cities, regional capitals of their respective voivodeships. Each of these cities has a population of approximately half a million. The survey was conducted among pupils in their sixth year at a Polish primary (elementary) school (i.e. aged 12+) and in their first or second year at a Polish middle school (the 14+-16+ age group). In addition to the standard content prepared by the ISRD3 CCT, respondents filled in a questionnaire with questions intended to identify local levels of risks such as grooming or sexting. The results of the Polish ISRD3 study will help to diagnose various risks and will be compared to the results obtained in other countries participating in the project. The project’s added value will be the opportunity to develop appropriate preventive and educational programs for the schools in Białystok and Rzeszów which took part in the survey

74TH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGY ATLANTA, GA 14–17. XI. 2018

The 74th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology (ASC) in Atlanta gathered as many as 3681 participants (including 388 from outside of the USA) from 42 countries, of which a signifi cant proportion (1583) were students and PhD students. This confirms the global interest in this criminological forum for years. At the previous three ASC conferences, the threshold of four thousand participants was exceeded. The proceedings of the 74th ASC Conference were held in 935 sessions and 81 thematic categories. Among the new topic areas, the new themes included complicity, cybercrime, deterrence, law, mental health, sex work and human traffi cking, fear of crime, and the media. For the fi rst time in the almost 80-year history of ASC, the Polish criminological community was represented at this Conference by a record-breaking delegation from Poland of 9 persons. All Polish representatives came from the Białystok School of Criminology, as at the previous ASC conference in Philadelphia. The venue for the next 75th annual ASC Conference in November 2019 is San Francisco, and its main theme will be ‘Criminology in the New Area: Confronting Injustice and Inequalities’.