By Matthew B Robinson

The book provides a thorough summary of the relationships between race, ethnicity, crime, and justice practice and discusses the existence of disparities in criminal and juvenile justice practices and highlights the impact of race and ethnicity on the law, policing, courts, and corrections.It addresses the issue of institutionalized discrimination against different racial and ethnic groups in American institutions, including the criminal law and mainstream media.

Carolina Academic Press, 2021, 317 pages

By Jonathan Gu

AIM To estimate the association between judge-alone trials and the probability of acquittal, trial length, and sentence severity. METHOD We compared 5,064 jury and 805 judge-alone criminal trials finalised in the NSW District Court and Supreme Court between January 2011 and December 2019, excluding cases where the defendant entered a guilty plea to their principal offence or had a special verdict of “not guilty by reason of mental illness” (under s. 25 of the Mental Health (Forensic Provisions) Act 1990 (NSW)). Entropy balancing was used to match judge-alone cases with jury cases on available covariates. We then estimated the association between trial type (judge-alone vs jury) and four criminal justice outcomes, adjusting for relevant observable factors. The analysis was repeated for two subsets of offences: violent offences and offences with a higher likelihood of having prejudicial elements or complex evidence (prejudicial and complex offences). We also interviewed 12 legal practitioners, including District and Supreme Court judges, prosecutors, and defence lawyers, to identify factors motivating judge-alone applications that may be correlated with the outcomes of interest. RESULTS We estimated that compared to jury trials, judge-alone trials are associated on average with a statistically significant nine percentage point increase in the probability of acquittal and a shorter prison sentence by 7.6 months. Within prejudicial and complex offences, we found that judge-alone trials were associated with a statistically significant decrease in average trial days. Judge-alone trials were also associated with a statistically significant decrease in prison sentence length for the violent offences subgroup. Interviewees suggested that increased use of written submissions may influence both shorter trial length in judgealone matters and reduced prison sentences (i.e., via discounts from efficiencies resulting from pre-trial cooperation or time saved by submitting tendered evidence). Interviewees stated that judge-alone applications in NSW are mostly made in cases with prejudicial elements (e.g., evidence that cannot be separated from prior proven offending) or complex evidence (e.g., cases with substantial scientific or financial evidence). CONCLUSION Judge-alone trials are associated with an increased probability of acquittal, shorter trials, and a shorter prison sentence. However, we cannot determine whether these differences are driven by confounding factors (such as strength of the prosecution’s case) and/or causal factors.

Sydney: NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, 2024. 49p.

By Julie Marie Baldwin, John M. Eassey, and Erika J. Brooke

This paper reviews the distinct nature of the COVID-19 pandemic and examines the resultant court responses and recommendations disseminated by various entities that support courts. Specifically, we contextualize the current environment the present pandemic has created by considering how it compares to the most-recent previous pandemics. We then review guidelines disseminated to the courts and the modifications and innovations implemented by the courts in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Additional challenges related to these recommendations and modifications are identified and discussed.

American Journal of Criminal Justice, 2020. 16p.

By Yue Yuan; Edward Cohen; Chris Melde

The research study presented in this final report examined the nature and extent of criminal victimization experiences across immigrant groups and immigrant generations. The author describes the quantitative survey, which involved dissemination of more than 25,000 invitations to San José residents in December 2020 and April 2021 to participate in an online survey. The final sample size was 3,756 people who resided in 82 of the 212 census tracts, with a final response rate of 16.98 percent. For the qualitative component, the author describes recruiting respondents through a variety of non-probability methods, conducting individual interviews with San José residents, and conducting of additional interviews. The description of the qualitative data analysis for individual interviews includes discussion of the following topics: crimes experienced; safety and trauma; law enforcement reporting; services for victims of crime; qualitative data analysis for professional and focus group interviews; factors in crime trends; domestic violence; factors in reporting; and response and services. The author also presents conclusions based on the study’s major findings and policy implications.

San Jose, CA: San Jose State University, 2023. 37p.

By  Elizabeth A. Mumford; Bruce G. Taylor; Weiwei Liu; Jeremy Barnum

This document reports on the Officer Safety and Wellness (OSAW) Initiative, created in 2017, and aims to perform a longitudinal study, assessing a variety of safety and health concerns of law enforcement officers in the United States, with an overarching goal of supporting researchers, agency leaders, and policymakers as they address the risk factors for law enforcement and correctional officers’ wellness and safety. The report describes the OSAW sample, which was based on the 2017 National Database on Law Enforcement Agencies (NDLEA), OSAW instrument development, data collection, data analysis, and findings. Risk factors examined included Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy, Patient Health Questionnaire-15 (PHQ-15), coping styles, stress, job satisfaction and job performance, effects of occupational status on health, sleep, social support and suicidality, sexual harassment, binge drinking, resilience, occupational prestige, and correctional officer health profiles. The report also discusses implications of the study’s outcomes regarding the importance of agency environment and climate for supporting officer well-being.

Chicago: NORC at the University of Chicago, 2023. 24p.

By Anja Emilie Kruse and May-Len Skilbrei 

The contemporary normative climate regarding sexual violence affects how perpetrators of such violence relate to their harmful acts. In this article, we analyze how men convicted of sex offences are affected by how perpetrators of such offences are often represented as monsters and ask what this tells us about what characterizes the Monster as a figure. While people convicted of sexual offences are likened to monsters in many contexts, there is little research that unpacks the characteristics of this figure and how it is contingent on ideas about and the regulation of sex offending. By analyzing data from qualitative interviews with 17 men convicted of sexual offences in Norway, we found that, although they presented themselves and the acts they were convicted of committing differently, they had a common fear of being identified as a monster. In these narratives, a monster was characterized by (1) intentionality—having intentionally harmed others, (2) preference—having a sexual preference for harmful, nonconsensual sex, and (3) authenticity—being authentically violent. We conceive of the narrative processes that the participants engage in as forms of social abjection and discuss the consequences that abjection may have for accountability, rehabilitation, and justice.

Punishment & Society, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/14624745231221933

By Jeffrey P. Aguinaldo and NicoleR.Greenspan

A robust body of research has documented the representational politics of news coverage in their depiction of HIV-positive people charged for HIV non-disclosure. News media representations of HIV-negative sex partners in cases of HIV non-disclosure have received far less scholarly attention. Adopting a social constructionist perspective, this article identifies how “victims” of HIV non-disclosure are constructed in news media. It is based on a dataset consisting of 341 news articles on HIV non-disclosure from 14 English Canadian newspapers across the political spectrum. Victims of HIV non-disclosure were constructed as: (1) suffering horribly, (2) morally pure and virtuous, (3) vengeful and (4) agentic and responsible for their situation. We consider how such constructions are enmeshed within arguments that establish or reject HIV non-disclosure as a social problem. We then discuss the ways these constructions and the assumptions upon which they are based reflect broader discussions on the severity of HIV, the responsibility for HIV risk and exposure, and the contestations over the very nature of the social problem of HIV non-disclosure. Constructions of victims that uphold HIV criminalisation have relied on assumptions of HIV as a deadly disease but de emphasise personal responsibility for HIV risk. By contrast, constructions of victims that, in effect, oppose HIVcriminalisation have tended to minimise the harms of HIV and invoke personal responsibility for HIV risk. We Suggest that both proponents and opponents of HIV criminalisation engage in the “ideology of victimhood” and thus participate in and reinforce what Best (1997) termed, the “victim industry.” 

CanRevSociol. 2024;61:67–84. 

By Stephen H. Jones, Amy Unsworth

Debates about Islamophobia have been blighted by the question of whether the prejudice can be defined as a form of racism or as hostility to religion (or a combination of the two). This paper sheds light on this debate by presenting the findings of a new nationally representative survey, focused on the UK, that contrasts perceptions of Muslims not only with perceptions of other ethnic and religious minorities but also with perceptions of Islam as a religious tradition. We find that prejudice against Muslims is higher than for any other group examined other than Travellers. We also find contrasting demographic drivers of prejudice towards Muslims and towards Islam. Across most prejudice measures we analyse, intolerant views are generally significantly associated with being male, voting Conservative and being older, although not with Anglican identity. We find, however, that class effects vary depending on the question's focus. Anti-immigration sentiment – including support for a ‘Muslim ban’ – is significantly correlated with being working-class. However, prejudice towards Islam as a body of teachings (tested using a question measuring perceptions of religious literalism) is significantly correlated with being middle-class, as is negative sentiment towards Travellers. Using these findings, the paper makes an argument for supplementing recent scholarship on the associations between racism and Islamophobia with analyses focusing on misperceptions of belief.

The British Journal of Sociology, 
Volume75, Issue1

January 2024

Pages 5-22

By Kelsea Perry, Rosemary Ricciardelli and Michael Adorjan 

‘Sexting’ as a form of sexual expression and experimentation has grown increasingly ubiquitous among teens. In addition to fostering intimacy and closeness among selected partners, sexting between minors incurs considerable risks to youth mental, physical, social and emotional wellbeing. Current debates on sexting focus on the conflicting role of pressure and pleasure among youth. We highlight findings from 35 focus groups with Canadian teens examining attitudes and experiences with cyber-risk and sexting. Our results show that youth demarcate boundaries between public and private and an ordered/disordered sense of self as they seek intimacy with others through the exchange of explicit digital material. Drawing on recent conceptual and theoretical work on image-based sexual abuse, we suggest that teens express situated agency when reflecting on sexting, indicating only partial awareness of wider patriarchal contexts mediating and patterning gendered behaviours involved in sexting and its outcomes.

YOUNG, 30(4), 400-418. 2022.

By Faye Mishna, Elizabeth Milne, and Jessica Ringrose

The purpose of this qualitative study was to obtain youth perspectives on consensual and non-consensual sexting. We began this study on young people’s (12–19) sexting practices in a large urban center. Before the study was put on pause due to COVID-19 physical distancing measures, we conducted 12 focus groups with 62 participants (47 girls, 15 boys). A key finding was that many girls had received unsolicited sexts (e.g., “dick pics”) or unwanted requests for sexts. Analysis revealed four interconnected themes: (1) unsolicited sexts; (2) unwanted requests for sexts; (3) complexity associated with saying “no”; and (4) general lack of adult support. Using our findings from before COVID-19, we discuss the potential impact of COVID-19 on teens’ sexting experiences and outline the ways in which social workers and other mental health practitioners can support adolescents and their parents in navigating this new context of sexting during and beyond the global pandemic.

Youth & Society, 55(4), 630-651.

By Kristina Hunehäll Berndtsson

The present article examines teenage boys’ perceptions of the practice of sending unsolicited dick pics and gender dynamics among peers at two lower secondary schools in Sweden. Drawing on focus group interviews as well as individual and pair interviews with ninth-grade students (14–15 years) from a rural working-class area and an urban middle-class area. The study indicates that class habitus has a significant influence on the boys’ perceptions and practices. In the rural working-class school, the boys had a humorous attitude towards the practice of sending unsolicited dick pics and were not aware that unsolicited sexting could be experienced as sexual harassment. In the urban middle-class school, one the other hand, the boys clearly distanced themselves from and expressed their strong disapproval of unsolicited dick pics, mainly due to their fear of girls’ power to portray boys as sexual harassers.

YOUNG, 32(1), 61-77. 2024

By Australian Law Reform Commission

The Australian Law Reform Commission (‘ALRC’) is inquiring into justice responses to sexual violence. The ALRC will consider how to harmonise laws about sexual violence across Australia and how to promote just outcomes for people who have experienced sexual violence. Particular attention will be paid to people in groups that are disproportionately reflected in sexual violence statistics. The recommendations will aim to ensure that people who have experienced sexual violence and their families are properly supported when they seek help, and that the justice response minimises the extent of any re-traumatisation.

The Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) invites stakeholder submissions in relation to the questions raised in this issues paper and welcomes submissions from individuals and organisations from all over Australia. The ALRC is especially interested in hearing from:

• people who have experienced sexual violence;

• state and territory government and law enforcement agencies;

• policy and research organisations;

• community service providers (especially specialist sexual assault service providers and legal assistance service providers) and the broader legal profession (including prosecutors and defence lawyers); and

• people and organisations representing groups that are overrepresented in sexual violence statistics.

  Issues Paper 49  

Victoria: The Commission, 2024. 32p.

By The Pennsylvania Council of Children, Youth and Family Services

  There are limited service and placement options for youth who commit serious offenses in the community. The Pennsylvania juvenile justice system, specifically detention, continues to experience long waitlists related to workforce shortages in services, among other factors, for youth entering the system. The total number of licensed agencies in Pennsylvania for secure detention is 13, however, only 6 of these facilities offer open access to all counties, resulting in significant unmet placement needs within the system (JCJC, 2023). Detention is a small part of the larger juvenile justice system. The purpose of detention is to provide temporary, secure, and safe custody to youth who are involved in the juvenile justice system process. In Pennsylvania, secure detention beds are used only after less restrictive alternatives have been considered and rejected. The Juvenile Act and Pennsylvania Rules of Juvenile Court Procedure authorize the secure detention of juveniles for brief periods of time and for very limited purposes. Detention services are utilized when other methods of service delivery cannot ensure community safety. A 2023 report by the Pennsylvania Juvenile Court Judges Commission (JCJC) calculated the average and median length of stay in detention placements to be 27 and 14 days, respectively, in 2022

Camp Hill, PA: PPennsylvania Council of Children, Youth and Family Services ,

2024. 14p.ennsylvania Council of Children, Youth & Family Services  

2024. 15p.

Harry Rositzke

THE KGB: THE EYES OF RUSSIA delves deep into the history and operations of one of the most notorious intelligence agencies in the world. Through meticulous research and firsthand accounts, this book uncovers the secretive world of the KGB, revealing its inner workings, espionage tactics, and impact on global affairs. A gripping and informative read for anyone interested in Cold War history and the shadowy realm of international espionage.

DOUBLEDAY & COMPANY, INC. GARDEN CITY, NEW YORK. 1981. 292p.

MAY CONTAIN MARKUP

R. M. DOUGLAS

"FEMINIST FREIKORPS: The British Voluntary Women Police, 1914-1940" delves into the history of the women who volunteered in law enforcement during a crucial period. Exploring their motivations, struggles, and impact, this book sheds light on a lesser-known aspect of feminism and policing in the early 20th century. Through meticulous research and compelling narratives, readers are invited to discover the untold stories of these pioneering women who challenged societal norms and paved the way for future generations in law enforcement."

London. Praeger. 1999. 188p.

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STANLEY H. PALMER

PREFACE: This book seeks to right an imbalance and recognize a contribution. The imbalance is the result of two decades of scholarship on English popular protest; the contribution, that of Ireland to British police history. Thanks to pioneering work in the 1960s by Eric Hobsbawm, George Rudé, and Edward Palmer Thompson, work that has been ably continued by succeeding generations of graduate students, historians have made a quantum leap in our knowledge of the motivations and aims, composition and tactics, of crowds and protesters in Georgian and carly Victorian England. By contrast, we still know little about the other side of the confrontation, the forces of order. The result has been an emerging, indeed a growing imbalance in our knowledge about crowds and the authorities. ..”

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS. CAMBRIDGE NEW YORK NEW ROCHELLE MELBOURNE SYDNEY. 1988. 840p.

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By CHARLES A. RUUD and SERGEI A. STEPANOV

From Introduction: Fontanka 16 takes a fresh look at the feared Russian tsarist secret police, the Okhranka, during the period of the imperial regime leading up to the Revolution of r917. It is a fascinating account of the development of a secret police organization that was deeply rooted in tsarist Russia but provided a model for Soviet police organizations.

McGill-Queen's University Press Montreal &e Kingston • London • Ithaca. 1999. 409p.

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By Bruce Smith

PREFACE: “This volume is a study of American state police forces —of the police bodies maintained by Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Texas, West Virginia; Michigan, New Jersey, Colorado, Maryland, Delaware, and also the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. It is concerned primarily with the organization, administrative methods, and statutory powers of those forces. It deals with the position of the police in state administration, their jurisdiction, the powers delegated to the administrative head, the direction, control, compensation and welfare of the rank and file, the distribution of patrol units and the patrol methods which are employed, eriminal investigation, identification and crime prevention.

THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF PUBLIO ADMINISTRATION. .1 925, 295p.

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By International Bolshevik Tendency

FROM THE PREFACE: The case ofMumiaAbu-Jamal, America's best-known political prisoner, starkly illuminates the brutal reality ofracist capitalist justice in a country that advertises itself as the citadel of "freedom." It is an extremely complicated case, and while the main elements are now known, pieces of the puzzle are still missing and ambiguities remain. In the following text, we attempt to outline both the essential elements of the case and the legal/political issues it poses.

Bolshevik Publications. 2004. New York. NY. 94p.

By Joanna R. Lampe

Federal law generally prohibits the production, distribution, and possession of marijuana for both medical
and recreational purposes. In April 2024, news outlets reported that the Drug Enforcement Administration
(DEA) planned to change the status of marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) by moving
it from Schedule I to the less restrictive Schedule III. Such a move would relax some controls over
marijuana but would not immediately legalize medical or recreational use of marijuana under the CSA.
Notwithstanding the strict federal control of marijuana, in recent years, many states have repealed state
law criminal prohibitions on some marijuana-related activities, and medical and recreational cannabis
businesses now operate openly in some parts of the United States.
In response to the disparity between state and federal law, Congress has enacted appropriations legislation
prohibiting the Department of Justice (DOJ) from expending appropriated funds to prevent states from
implementing their own medical marijuana laws. Federal courts have interpreted the appropriations rider
to prohibit DOJ from bringing criminal drug prosecutions against certain persons and entities involved in
the state-legal medical marijuana industry, but they have differed as to the scope of conduct the rider
shields from prosecution.
This Legal Sidebar first outlines the legal status of marijuana under federal and state law. It then discusses
the medical marijuana appropriations rider and analyzes how federal courts have interpreted the
provision. The Sidebar closes with key considerations for Congress related to the appropriations rider and
the disparity between federal and state marijuana policy more generally.
Federal and State Marijuana Regulation
The plant Cannabis sativa L. and products derived from that plant have a number of uses and may be
subject to several overlapping legal regimes. In recent years, a significant divide has developed between
federal and state marijuana laws. On the federal side, the CSA imposes stringent regulations on the
cannabis plant and many of its derivatives. Activities involving controlled substances not authorized
under the CSA are federal crimes that may give rise to large fines and significant prison sentences.
Unless an exception applies, the CSA classifies cannabis and its derivatives as marijuana. Congress
classified marijuana as a Schedule I controlled substance when it enacted the CSA, reflecting a legislative

Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 2024. 5p.