By Christi Smith

Driving is a privilege, not a right, in the United States. It is also a privilege that is revoked from millions of Americans, not due to dangerous driving or criminal conduct but because of their failure to pay court-ordered fines, fees and other costs. In fact, every state in the United States imposes debt-based license suspension. While the practice was designed to incentivize people to pay their debts and have their licenses restored, lack of transportation only exacerbates an individual’s inability to maintain stable employment and fulfill financial obligations. Further, the practice of debt-based suspension disproportionately impacts low-income individuals and people of color. Without access to reliable and affordable transportation, people are forced to choose between driving on a suspended license or failing to secure or maintain the work they need to pay fines. Minor debts become major financial obligations when left unaddressed, which ensnares well-meaning people in a cycle of poverty, joblessness or legal violations due to a suspended license.

The practice is particularly burdensome for individuals who are facing legal proceedings and for those on probation or parole supervision who face the threat of punishment for driving to court-ordered appointments on a suspended license or for failing to appear in court for probation/parole check-ins or employment/rehabilitative programming due to a suspended license. This is especially common in rural areas that lack robust public transportation systems. Because criminal penalties fall disproportionately on racial and ethnic minorities, as well people in lower socioeconomic groups, the burden of debt-based license suspensions presents yet another barrier to success for individuals attempting to resolve their court-ordered responsibilities.

Debt-based license suspensions are simply another tool in the judicial system’s arsenal of policies that disproportionately punish poor people and people of color. The policy encourages rather than discourages noncompliance because of the sheer impossibility of existing in a modern world without access to dependable and affordable transportation. The inefficiency of the policy’s ability to recoup court costs and the negative impact on public safety has prompted lawmakers, advocacy organizations, law enforcement groups and researchers on both sides of the aisle to push for an end to debt-based driver’s license suspensions with S. 998, the Driving for Opportunity Act of 2021.

Given the disproportionate burden license-for-payment systems place on indigent individuals, racial minorities and justice-involved persons, it is the purpose of this policy paper to evaluate the extent to which these systems are used; the degree to which the practice unduly harms individuals, families and communities; and the impact of enforcement on incarceration and recidivism rates. This assessment will also include the identification of alternative methods of transportation and existing programs designed to overcome the challenge of transportation with a suspended license. This paper suggests improved policies for debt collection and for providing more effective methods of transportation to individuals subjected to a license suspension.

R STREET POLICY STUDY NO. 254   

Washington, DC: R Street, 2022. 6p.

By Christi Smith and Jillian Snider  

After 115 years of prohibition, the legal status of cannabis in the United States is at a tipping point. Significant advances in state-level cannabis legalization have been made in the past decade, and decriminalization efforts have increased in cities across the nation. More than 90 percent of Americans—on both sides of the political aisle—support legal adult use of medical or recreational cannabis. Legalization is also increasingly supported by law enforcement, with two-thirds of police supporting medical or recreational cannabis. Yet cannabis remains illegal at the federal level, and its possession and use are subject to the most severe criminal penalties under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).

The federal government has an opportunity to end America’s longest war, the war on drugs. As evidenced by our experience with alcohol, national prohibition produces disastrous outcomes, including rising crime and violence, underground markets, unregulated products and continued demand for the substance. The general consensus among criminologists, criminal justice scholars and drug policy experts is that the war on drugs—described as a war on marijuana—has been a “resounding failure.” Further, the harms associated with marijuana prohibition far exceed the benefits in nearly all ways that can be measured.

Rather than continue the prohibition policies that have contributed to mass incarceration and the destruction of police-community relationships, we need smart federal legislation to legalize and properly regulate cannabis. This approach would significantly disrupt illegal drug markets, as marijuana is the most widely cultivated, trafficked and used illegal substance in the world. Better legislation is also critical for reducing violence and enhancing public safety, as such efforts could contribute to fewer negative police-citizen interactions, improvements in police legitimacy, the restoration of police-community partnerships, and a reallocation of resources to help stem the recent surge in homicides. Regardless of personal or moral perspectives, the federal prohibition of cannabis is bad public policy.

R Street Policy Study No. 261

Washington DC: R Street, 2022. 18p.

By Randolph Roth

The recent rise in American homicide rates did not start in 2020 with a spike during COVID. Homicide actually began to increase in 2015, reversing more than 20 years of declining or stable rates.

In this report, Randolph Roth, professor of history and sociology at The Ohio State University, examines this trend in the context of homicide patterns throughout the history of the United States.  

The factors that correlate most consistently with national and regional homicide rates, he finds, are aspects of nation building, arguing that shifts in citizens’ beliefs about the legitimacy of their government, character of leadership, feelings of affinity for or alienation from fellow citizens, and acceptance or resentment of the social hierarchy affect the frequency with which Americans kill each other.

This report is the first offering in HFG’s Violence, Politics & Democracy initiative, a multi-year project examining how these phenomena interact in mature democracies to better understand and counter political violence and other forces that damage democratic norms and institutions, imperiling the safety of citizens.

New York: HARRY FRANK GUGGENHEIM FOUNDATION, 2024. 39p.

Child, early and forced marriage and unions are a reality in Latin America and the Caribbean, albeit not a highly visible one. This is a complex phenomenon associated with gender inequalities, violence, poverty, school dropout, adolescent pregnancy and inadequate, limited or non-existent legal and political frameworks, and it puts the present and future of girls and adolescent girls in jeopardy.
These practices are both the cause and the consequence of women’s limited physical, economic and decision-making autonomy, and they disproportionally affect girls and adolescent girls in rural areas and those in poor households with less access to education. In some countries, they are also associated with a notably greater prevalence among indigenous peoples.
This document seeks to turn a spotlight on this harmful practice, particularly as a detonator and aggravator of gender inequalities for girls and adolescent girls. It draws on statistical and qualitative information to offer an innovative contribution by presenting gaps in different dimensions of development, including the time that girls and adolescent girls who are married or in union spend on domestic and care tasks, and it recommends actions to address this situation at the regional level and in the countries.

Santiago, Chile: 

38p.

Violence against women and girls and its most extreme expression, femicide, feminicide, or the gender-related killing of women and girls,1 dramatically bring to light the persistence of the structural challenges of gender inequality and gender-based discrimination and violence against women and girls in Latin America and the Caribbean. The deep historical and structural roots of patriarchal, discriminatory and violent cultural patterns, grounded in a culture of privilege, have proven among the most difficult to dismantle. Gender-based violence against women and girls is systemic and persistent in the region. It knows no borders, affects women and girls of all ages and happens everywhere, from the domestic setting to public places. It happens in workplaces, within the framework of political and community participation, on public transportation and in the street, in schools and other educational institutions, in cyberspace and certainly in the home. The Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, has called it a “shadow pandemic

By Daniel Kane , Maeve Eogan 

Sexual violence is common in contemporary society and disproportionally affects adolescents. In order to develop effective treatment, awareness and prevention strategies it is vital that we understand the epidemiology of adolescent sexual assault (SA). The aim of this study is to evaluate attendances by female adolescents to the national sexual assault treatment unit (SATU) network in the Republic of Ireland and compare these attendances with adult women accessing the service.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional study analysing the attendances of all adolescent female attendances at the 6 SATUs in the Republic of Ireland and comparing them with all adult female attendances between 1/1/2017 and 31/12/2022.

Results: There were 1014 female adolescent attendances and 3951 female adult attendances over the timeframe studied. Adult attenders were more likely to attend within 7-days of the alleged assault compared with adolescent attenders (80.3% V 70.2% OR1.513 CI 1.35-1.697 p < 0.001). When compared with adult attenders, adolescent attenders were significantly more likely to disclose being assaulted outdoors (40.9% V 15.7% OR2.607 CI 2.346-2.898 p < 0.01), during the day (58.4% V 34.4% OR1.673 CI 1.565-1.790 p < 0.01), assaulted by a friend/family member (28.9% V 16% OR 1.812 CI1.603-2.049 p < 0.01) and less likely to have consumed alcohol prior to the incident (45.6% V 25.3% OR1.807 CI 1.653-1.975 p < 0.001). Physical injuries were less likely in adolescent attenders (30% V 35.5% OR0.845 CI 0.758-0.942 p = 0.02).

Conclusion: A comparison of the characteristics of adolescent and adult female sexual assault disclosures identifies differences regarding location of the incident, relationship to perpetrator and prevalence of alcohol consumption. Knowledge of these factors support appropriate tailoring of treatment, prevention and awareness strategies to help modify the impact and reduce the incidence of SA in the vulnerable adolescent cohort.

Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine

Volume 101, January 2024, 102613

Earthsight’s year-long investigation reveals that cotton used by two of the world’s largest fast fashion companies, H&M and Zara, is linked to large-scale deforestation, land grabbing, human rights abuses and violent land conflicts in the Brazilian Cerrado, a biome known as the world’s most biodiverse savannah.

The destruction being wrought in the Cerrado – home to five per cent of the world’s species (including giant armadillos, tapirs, jaguars, rheas) – by industrial agriculture has been even worse than that seen in the Amazon. About half of the biome’s native vegetation has been lost. Nearly a fifth of its species, including the maned wolf and blue-eyed ground dove, face extinction due to habitat loss. Major Cerrado rivers could see their water levels drop by a third by 2050 due mostly to deforestation and overexploitation.

Over the last decade Brazilian cotton has gained prominence in the global fashion market. The country is now the world’s second largest exporter and expected to be the number one cotton supplier by 2030. In the decade to 2023, Brazil’s exports more than doubled. Almost all this cotton is grown in the Cerrado. 
 
Our investigators found that H&M and Zara’s clothes suppliers in Asia source cotton grown in the western portion of the Brazilian state of Bahia by two of the country’s largest producers: SLC Agrícola and the Horita Group.

Both companies are implicated in some of Brazil’s most egregious land grabbing cases. In Bahia’s municipality of Formosa do Rio Preto, Horita has been closely linked to the violent land disputes pitting a mega agribusiness estate against traditional communities, known as geraizeiros, that have inhabited the area since the 19th century. More than 10 years ago geraizeiros started experiencing harassment and violence by armed men working for the estate. In 2018, Bahia’s attorney general found the estate was one of the largest areas of public land grabbed in Brazilian history and launched a lawsuit against it to recover these lands.

In the municipality of Correntina, large agribusinesses are accused of misappropriating public lands inhabited by the traditional community of Capão do Modesto to convert them into protected areas for their farms in a process known as ‘green land grabbing’. Instead of setting aside part of their productive properties for environmental conservation, several agribusinesses have acquired land elsewhere for this purpose. Both the Horita Group and SLC Agrícola have cotton farms in Bahia that are linked to green land grabbing at Capão do Modesto. Bahia’s attorney general has referred to Capão as "one of the most serious land grabbing cases in Bahia,” and requested the cancellation of all land titles overlapping it. The local community has suffered harassment, surveillance and attacks carried out by gunmen linked to the agribusinesses.

The Horita Group and SLC Agrícola have a brazen history of environmental infractions in western Bahia, where both companies have been repeatedly fined for illegal deforestation. SLC has been named one of the top deforesters in the Cerrado. Some of its cotton farms in western Bahia have lost at least 40,000 hectares of native vegetation in the last 12 years. Earthsight conservatively estimates Horita has cleared at least 30,000ha over the last 20 years, but the true number is probably closer to 60,000ha. 

As part of their sustainability efforts, H&M and Zara rely on a fundamentally flawed ethical supply chain certification system called Better Cotton (BC). The cotton we linked to land rights and environmental abuses in Bahia carried the Better Cotton label. This should not be surprising. The scheme suffers from several weaknesses, including in relation to requirements on compliance with local laws, respect for local communities’ rights and illegal deforestation. A new traceability system being rolled out in the coming years is woefully inadequate as it only traces cotton back to the country of origin, not to individual farms. Earthsight also identified worrying problems with BC’s accreditation and compliance systems. In Brazil, a national cotton producers’ association (ABRAPA) is in charge of the certification programme, a serious conflict of interest.

By James Lewis, Sarah Marsden, Adrian Cherney, Martine Zeuthen, Lotta Rahlf, Chloe Squires, Anne Peterscheck

Background

Increasingly, counter-radicalisation interventions are using case management approaches to structure the delivery of tailored services to those at risk of engaging in, or engaged in, violent extremism. This review sets out the evidence on case management tools and approaches and is made up of two parts with the following objectives.

Objectives

Part I: (1) Synthesise evidence on the effectiveness of case management tools and approaches in interventions seeking to counter radicalisation to violence. (2) Qualitatively synthesise research examining whether case management tools and approaches are implemented as intended, and the factors that explain how they are implemented. Part II: (3) Synthesise systematic reviews to understand whether case management tools and approaches are effective at countering non-terrorism related interpersonal or collective forms of violence. (4) Qualitatively synthesise research analysing whether case management tools and approaches are implemented as intended, and what influences how they are implemented. (5) Assess the transferability of tools and approaches used in wider violence prevention work to counter-radicalisation interventions.

Search Methods

Search terms tailored for Part I and Part II were used to search research repositories, grey literature sources and academic journals for studies published between 2000 and 2022. Searches were conducted in August and September 2022. Forward and backward citation searches and consultations with experts took place between September 2022 and February 2023. Studies in English, French, German, Russian, Swedish, Norwegian and Danish were eligible.

Selection Criteria

Part I: Studies had to report on a case management intervention, tool or approach, or on specific stages of the case management process. Only experimental and stronger quasi-experimental studies were eligible for inclusion in the analysis of effectiveness. The inclusion criteria for the analysis of implementation allowed for other quantitative designs and qualitative research. Part II: Systematic reviews examining a case management intervention, tool or approach, or stage(s) of the case management process focused on countering violence were eligible for inclusion.

Data Collection and Analysis

Part I: 47 studies were eligible for Part I. No studies met the inclusion criteria for Objective 1; all eligible studies related to Objective 2. Data from these studies was synthesised using a framework synthesis approach and presented narratively. Risk of bias was assessed using the CASP (for qualitative research) and EPHPP (for quantitative research) checklists. Part I: Eight reviews were eligible for Part II. Five reviews met the inclusion criteria for Objective 3, and seven for Objective 4. Data from the studies was synthesised using a framework synthesis approach and presented narratively. Risk of bias was assessed using the AMSTAR II tool.

Findings

Part I: No eligible studies examined effectiveness of tools and approaches. Seven studies examined the implementation of different approaches, or the assumptions underpinning interventions. Clearly defined theories of change were absent, however these interventions were assessed as being implemented in line with their own underlying logic. Forty-three studies analysed the implementation of tools during individual stages of the case management process, and forty-one examined the implementation of this process as-a-whole. Factors which influenced how individual stages and the case management process as a whole were implemented included strong multi-agency working arrangements; the inclusion of relevant knowledge and expertise, and associated training; and the availability of resources. The absence of these facilitators inhibited implementation. Additional implementation barriers included overly risk-oriented logics; public and political pressure; and broader legislation. Twenty-eight studies identified moderators that shaped how interventions were delivered, including delivery context; local context; standalone interventions; and client challenges. Part II: The effectiveness of two interventions – mentoring and multi-systemic therapy – in reducing violent outcomes were each assessed by one systematic review, whilst three reviews analysed the impact that the use of risk assessment tools (n = 2) and polygraphs (n = 1) had on outcomes. All these reviews reported mixed results. Comparable factors to those identified in Part I, such as staff training and expertise and delivery context, were found to shape implementation. On the basis of this modest sample, the research on interventions to counter non-terrorism related violence was assessed to be transferable to counter-radicalisation interventions.

Authors' Conclusions

The effectiveness of existing case management tools and approaches is poorly understood, and research examining the factors that influence how different approaches are implemented is limited. However, there is a growing body of research on the factors which facilitate or generate barriers to the implementation of case management interventions. Many of the factors and moderators relevant to countering radicalisation to violence also impact how case management tools and approaches used to counter other forms of violence are implemented. Research in this wider field seems to have transferable insights for efforts to counter radicalisation to violence. This review provides a platform for further research to test the impact of different tools, and the mechanisms by which they inform outcomes. This work will benefit from using the case management framework as a way of rationalising and analysing the range of tools, approaches and processes that make up case managed interventions to counter radicalisation to violence.
Campbell Systematic Reviews
Volume 20, Issue 2

June 2024

By Scott R. Kegler, et al.

Introduction: The majority of homicides (79%) and suicides (53%) in the United States involved a firearm in 2020. High firearm homicide and suicide rates and corresponding inequities by race and ethnicity and poverty level represent important public health concerns. This study examined changes in firearm homicide and firearm suicide rates coinciding with the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Methods: National vital statistics and population data were integrated with urbanization and poverty measures at the county level. Population-based firearm homicide and suicide rates were examined by age, sex, race and ethnicity, geographic area, level of urbanization, and level of poverty.

Results: From 2019 to 2020, the overall firearm homicide rate increased 34.6%, from 4.6 to 6.1 per 100,000 persons. The largest increases occurred among non-Hispanic Black or African American males aged 10–44 years and non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native (AI/AN) males aged 25–44 years. Rates of firearm homicide were lowest and increased least at the lowest poverty level and were higher and showed larger increases at higher poverty levels. The overall firearm suicide rate remained relatively unchanged from 2019 to 2020 (7.9 to 8.1); however, in some populations, including AI/AN males aged 10–44 years, rates did increase.

Conclusions and Implications for Public Health Practice: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the firearm homicide rate in the United States reached its highest level since 1994, with substantial increases among several population subgroups. These increases have widened disparities in rates by race and ethnicity and poverty level. Several increases in firearm suicide rates were also observed. Implementation of comprehensive strategies employing proven approaches that address underlying economic, physical, and social conditions contributing to the risks for violence and suicide is urgently needed to reduce these rates and disparities.

 MMWR Morb Motal Wkly Rep. 2022; 71(19):656-663. doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm7119e1Google ScholarCrossref

By Alex R. Piquero,  John K. Roman

This cross-sectional study evaluates changes in firearm homicide demographics before and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Go to:

Introduction

In 2020, the US experienced the largest 1-year increase in homicide since 1960. The spike began in the first few months of the year, accelerating during the COVID-19 pandemic, emergency measures, the murder of George Floyd, and social protests.1

Three additional observations are relevant. First, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that the homicide increase in 2020 was due to firearm injuries. While the overall homicide rate increased 28.4%, the firearm homicide rate increased 34.6%.2 Second, the spike in violence was concentrated within certain demographic groups. CDC researchers found 19 384 victims of firearms homicide in 2020.3 Of those victims, 61% were Black individuals, and they experienced firearm homicide at 14 times the rate of White indviduals in 2020. This racial disparity does not exist for other types of violence.4 Third, the largest increases in death by firearm homicide were for Black men aged between 10 and 44 years old.5

Go to:

Methods

This cross-sectional study queried mortality data from the CDC WONDER online database to examine race and ethnicity disparities in death by firearm homicide by 5-year age-band categories for the period 2018 through 2022 (2022 includes provisional data), before, during, and subsequent to the pandemic.6 The CDC WONDER database provides information on race and ethnicity as reported on death certificates. Population-adjusted rates were returned by the database using data from the US Census Bureau. Exemption of institutional review board review was granted by The University of Miami. Informed consent was not required because the study used publicly available data without personal identifying information. All analyses were completed in Excel version 16.0 (Microsoft).

Go to:

Results

Figure 1 displays the crude rate of death by firearm homicide per 100 000 for all individuals, White individuals only, Black individuals only, and Hispanic or Latino individuals of any race. Four results are evident. First, among all groups, 2 age bands (20-24 and 25-29 years) show the highest peaks. Second, the year 2021 has the highest rate for the majority of age bands. Third, firearm homicides for White individuals also peaked in 2021, with persons aged 20 to 34 years having the highest risk. Fourth, rates for White individuals never top 4.3 per 100 000. Among Black individuals, for those persons aged 20 to 24 years, the rate is over 80 per 100 000. Finally, Figure 2 displays the ratio of Black to White homicide victimization by age group, by year. For those aged 15 to 19 years, the rate for Black individuals in 2021 is 27 times the rate for White individuals.

JAMA Netw Open. 2024 May; 7(5): e2412946.

 By David C. Brotherton · Rafael Gude

 In 2008, the Ecuadorian Government launched a policy to increase public safety as part of its “Citizens’ Revolution” (La Revolución Ciudadana). An innovative aspect of this policy was the legalization of the country’s largest street gangs. During the years 2016–2017, we conducted ethnographic research with these groups focusing on the impact of legalization as a form of social inclusion. We were guided by two research questions: (1) What changed between these groups and society? and (2) What changed within these groups? We completed field observations and sixty qualitative interviews with group members, as well as multiple formal and informal interviews with government advisors, police leaders and state actors related to the initiative. Our data show that the commitment to social citizenship had a major impact on gang-related violence and was a factor in reducing the nation’s homicide rate. The study provides an example of social control where the state is committed to policies of social inclusion while rejecting the dominant model of gang repression and social exclusion practiced throughout the Americas.  

Critical Criminology, 2020.

Edited by Simon Holdaway and Paul Rock

First published in 1998. Thinking about criminology draws together the expertise of respected criminologists from the principle contemporary schools of thought. The book aims to provide a clear analysis of the relationship between sociological theory and contemporary empirical criminological research, discussing the ways in which theoretical perspectives have contributed to the understanding of relevant criminal justice institutions, law and policy

London: Routledge, 1998. 220p.

Edited by Marisa J. Fuentes and Deborah Gray White  

The 250th anniversary of the founding of Rutgers University is a perfect moment for the Rutgers community to reconcile its past, and acknowledge its role in the enslavement and debasement of African Americans and the disfranchisement and elimination of Native American people and culture. Scarlet and Black documents the history of Rutgers's connection to slavery, which was neither casual nor accidental-nor unusual. Like most early American colleges, Rutgers depended on slaves to build its campuses and serve its students and faculty; it depended on the sale of black people to fund its very existence. Men like John Henry Livingston, (Rutgers president from 1810-1824), the Reverend Philip Milledoler, (president of Rutgers from 1824-1840), Henry Rutgers, (trustee after whom the college is named), and Theodore Frelinghuysen, (Rutgers's seventh president), were among the most ardent anti-abolitionists in the mid-Atlantic. Scarlet and black are the colors Rutgers University uses to represent itself to the nation and world. They are the colors the athletes compete in, the graduates and administrators wear on celebratory occasions, and the colors that distinguish Rutgers from every other university in the United States. This book, however, uses these colors to signify something else: the blood that was spilled on the banks of the Raritan River by those dispossessed of their land and the bodies that labored unpaid and in bondage so that Rutgers could be built and sustained. The contributors to this volume offer this history as a usable one-not to tear down or weaken this very renowned, robust, and growing institution-but to strengthen it and help direct its course for the future. The work of the Committee on Enslaved and Disenfranchised Population in Rutgers History.

New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2017. 222p.

By China Scherz,  George Mpanga, and Sarah Namirembe

Higher Powers draws on four years of collaborative fieldwork carried out with Ugandans working to reconstruct their lives after attempting to leave behind problematic alcohol use. Given the relatively recent introduction of biomedical ideas of alcoholism and addiction in Uganda, most of these people have used other therapeutic resources, including herbal aversion therapies, engagements with balubaale spirits, and forms of deliverance and spiritual warfare practiced in Pentecostal churches. While these methods are at times severe, they contain within them understandings of the self and practices of sociality that point away from models of addiction as a chronic relapsing brain disease and towards the possibility of release. Higher Powers offers a reconceptualization of addiction and recovery that may prove relevant well beyond Uganda.

Oakland, CA: University of California Press, 2024.  156p.

 By Vivian Miller

Peter Christian "Paddy" Barrie was a seasoned fraudster who transferred his horse doping and horse substitution skills from British to North American racetracks in the 1920s. His thoroughbred ringers were entered in elite races to guarantee winnings for syndicates and betting rings in the prohibition-era United States. This case study of a professional travelling criminal and the challenges he posed for the Pinkerton National Detective Agency in the early 1930s war on crime highlights both the importance of illegal betting to urban mobsters and the need for broader and more nuanced critiques of Depression-era organised crime activities and alliances.

Cambridge, UK: Journal of American Studies, 2021. 22p.

By Vivien Miller 

This essay uses the 1950 “case of the clinking brassieres” to explore female theft in Miami at mid-century and the ways in which gender, race, class, respectability, and youth offered protections and shaped treatment within Florida’s criminal justice system. It focuses on the illegal activities of three female telephone employees, their criminal prosecution, and post-conviction relief. These seemingly respectable coin thieves challenged a familiar image of theft as a lower-class crime associated with poverty and economic need, while their blonde hair and white skin (and an idealization of the meanings of white beauty standards), complicated public attitudes in a period when “true” or serious criminals were racketeers and organised crime operatives.

European Social Science History Conference, 2013. 39p.

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 Matthew Bonn, Chelsea Cox, Marilou Gagnon. et al.

The International Guidelines on Human Rights and Drug Policy recommend that States commit to adopting a balanced, integrated, and human rights-based approach to drug policy through a set of foundational human rights principles, obligations arising from human rights standards, and obligations arising from the human rights of particular groups. Following two years of consultation with stakeholders, including people who use drugs, NGOs, legal and human rights experts, UN technical agencies and Member States, the Guidelines “do not invent new rights. Rather, they apply existing human rights law to the legal and policy context of drug control to maximise human rights protections, including in the interpretation and implementation of the drug control conventions.” In respect of the Guidelines and its obligations under UN human rights treaties, Canada must adopt stronger and more specific commitments for a human rights-based, people centered and public health approach.3 This approach must commit to the removal of criminal penalties for simple possession and a comprehensive health-based approach to drug regulation.

Ottawa, ONT: Royal Society of Canada, 2024. 52p.

By Ben Grunwald and Jeffrey Fagan

In 2000, the Supreme Court held in Illinois v. Wardlow that a suspect’s presence in a “high-crime area” is relevant in determining whether an officer has reasonable suspicion to conduct an investigative stop. Despite the importance of the decision, the Court provided no guidance about what that standard means, and over fifteen years later, we still have no idea how police officers understand and apply it in practice. This Article conducts the first empirical analysis of Wardlow by examining data on over two million investigative stops conducted by the New York Police Department from 2007 to 2012. Our results suggest that Wardlow may have been wrongly decided. Specifically, we find evidence that officers often assess whether areas are high crime using a very broad geographic lens; that they call almost every block in the city high crime; that their assessments of whether an area is high crime are nearly uncorrelated with actual crime rates; that the suspect’s race predicts whether an officer calls an area high crime as well as the actual crime rate; that the racial composition of the area and the identity of the officer are stronger predictors of whether an officer calls an area high crime than the crime rate itself; and that stops are less or as likely to result in the detection of contraband when an officer invokes high-crime area as a basis of a stop. We conclude with several policy proposals for courts, police departments, and scholars to help address these problems in the doctrine.

California Law Review 345-404 (2019

By Damon L. Perry

In Britain, no one has the right not to be offended. Words or actions that are taken by some as offensive – whether they relate to religion, sexuality or race – are not criminal as long as they are not intentionally hostile and meant, or likely, to incite hatred. The statutory guidance on Non Crime Hate Incidents, revised in March 2023, is consistent with the law in this regard. It states: “Fundamentally, offending someone is not, in and of itself, a criminal offence. To constitute an offence under hate crime legislation, the speech or behaviour in question must be threatening, abusive or insulting and be intended to, or likely to, stir up hatred”. Yet, this does not seem to be fully acknowledged in Britain’s schools. As this revealing survey of over a thousand teachers from YouGov and Policy Exchange demonstrates, since the Batley Grammar School protests, a small but significant proportion of British teachers have self-censored to avoid offence on religious grounds – 16%. (That proportion is slightly higher for teachers of certain subjects, including almost a fifth of all English teachers and art teachers – 19%). In areas with the largest Muslim populations, around 10% fewer teachers do not self-censor than those in areas with the smallest Muslim populations. A worrying proportion believe that – regardless of a teacher’s intentions – images of the prophet Muhammad should never be used in classrooms, even in the teaching of Islamic art or ethics: In addition to the 55% of teachers that would not personally use an image of Muhammad independently from the Batley Grammar School protests, an additional 9% said they personally were less likely to use it as a result of the events in Batley. The case of the teacher at Batley Grammar who went into hiding after death threats thus appears to have had a significant impact on teachers’ confidence and willingness to use materials that fall within the scope of the law. Alarmingly, half of British teachers believe that if blasphemy-related protests led by activist and advocacy groups occur outside their schools, there would be a risk to their physical safety. Despite most teachers thinking that headteachers get the balance right – between supporting them to use materials that are on the right side of the law but which might offend, and ensuring no offence is caused – they are clearly in need of greater confidence in the support they can expect from their headteachers and, in the case of activist-led protests outside their school gates, the police. Recent events have given further impetus to concerns regarding the physical safety of teachers and the security at schools. On 13 October, 2023, in Arras, France, a literature teacher, Dominque Bernard, was killed in a knife attack; the suspect, an Islamist extremist, was looking for teachers  of history or geography. The case has been compared to that of Samuel Paty, the teacher who was killed three years ago by an Islamist extremist for showing cartoons of Muhammad to a class on freedom of expression. Both teachers have been described by President Macron as champions of the values of the French republic. Although this tragic incident took place across the Channel, France’s battle with Islamist extremism is one shared with the UK. Closer to home, in the wake of the Hamas terrorist attacks on hundreds of civilians in Israel on 7 October, protests on the streets of the UK against Israeli reprisals in the name of the Palestinian “resistance” have demonstrated alarming levels of hateful extremism and antisemitism.5 Some Jewish schools were forced to close on 13 October, when Hamas called for a “Global Day of Jihad”, and several Jewish schools were vandalised with red paint. The atmosphere has been fraught. The Department for Education wrote to school leaders “to ensure that any political activity from pupils in response to the crisis does not create an ‘atmosphere of intimidation’”  etc.

London: Policy Exchange, 2024. 51p.