ByThomas D. Akoensi, Justice Tankebe

Using an experimental vignette design, the study inves-tigates the effects of criminal records on the hiring deci-sions of a convenience sample of 221 human resource(HR) managers in Ghana. The HR managers were ran-domly assigned to read one of four vignettes depicting job seekers of different genders and criminal records:male with and without criminal record, female with and without criminal record. The evidence shows that a criminal record reduces employment opportunities for female offenders but not for their male counter-parts. Additionally, HR managers are willing to offer interviews to job applicants, irrespective of their crim-inal records, if they expect other managers to hire ex-convicts. The implications of these findings are dis-cussed.

The Howard Journal of Crime and Justice, online first, May 2024

By Haydn Morgan and Andrew Parker

  Recent years have witnessed a growing interest at a policy level regarding the intentional use of sport and physical activity as a key component within interventions designed to support individuals who have become connected with, or are vulnerable to, engagement in the criminal justice system (Meek, 2018; Norman et al., 2024). Despite growing evidence to support the instrumental use of sport and physical activity within such interventions, both in custodial and in community settings (Morgan and Parker, 2023), there remain significant misconceptions regarding the ‘power of sport’ to prevent and/or divert engagement with crime or support efforts to rehabilitate and address reoffending. These misconceptions are largely based on assumptions regarding the ‘life lessons’ that (automatically and universally) transfer from the sport domain to other contexts. However, the evidence is clear that there are other key mechanisms in play, beyond participation, that enable sport and physical activity interventions to impact criminal justice outcomes. The aim of this paper is to introduce some of the mechanisms that have been identified in previous research which contribute to the effective implementation of sport-based criminal justice interventions. In addition, since there has been relatively limited academic consideration of how sport and physical activity might be integrated into policy and practice around probation and resettlement, the paper offers suggestions for how these mechanisms may be integrated into efforts to support probation and youth justice services.

Manchester, UK:  HM Inspectorate of Probation. 2024, 14pg