Articles
Nathan Monk
| Published | 13/03/2002 |
| Type | Article |
| Author(s) | Mark Oldfield |
| Corresponding Authors | Mark Oldfield, Kent Probation Area and University of Hertfordshire |
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Abstract
The probation service in England and Wales has undergone massive change during the late 20th and early 21st centuries to become a National Service. This paper examines the wider social and political contexts in which such change has occurred. The reconfiguration of probation is argued to reflect the transition from a society governed through a political rationality of welfarism to one reflecting the tenets of neo-liberalism. A key shift has been in the massive purchase made in the service by managerial strategies and tactics which have been legitimated by their incorporation of the “What Works” research findings into the role of management. Such findings are argued to be provisional rather than universally applicable principles, and the meta-analyses from which they are derived are discussed in terms of their shortcomings and tendency to collapse rather than extract, detail. The “What Works” principles have been used as a mechanism to effect change in a service that hitherto had resisted various incursions by elements of the New Public Management. The key principles of effectiveness are depicted as being resonant with the notion of the rational-choice actor which provides the core model of individual behaviour within neo-liberal politics and which marks a disjunction with probation’s older association with issues of social justice and disadvantage
Time to Reset the Clock on the Design of Impact Evaluations in Criminology: The Case for Multi-Methodology Designs
Articles
Nathan Monk
| Published | 23/07/2020 |
| Type | Article |
| Author(s) | Stephen Morris, Andrew Smith, Chris Fox |
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This paper highlights how qualitative research can enhance causal explanation in impact evaluations and provide additional causal leverage to findings from randomised experiments. We assess the extent to which randomised studies in criminology adopt mixed or multi-methodological approaches as seen in other fields such as health care, education and international development. We reviewed current practice in the design of experimental evaluations within criminology. Structured searched terms previously used to identify qualitative research components within randomised studies in health research, were used to search for evidence of mixed method design in 46 primary studies involving randomisation, published in four leading journals in criminology since 2013. Although such mixed-method randomised studies are increasingly seen in other fields such as health, education and international development, among the studies we identified in criminology and criminal justice our review reveals almost an entire absence of designs in which qualitative research is formally and explicitly integrated into study designs. We argue that randomised studies are significantly enhanced through incorporating explicit and planned mixed-method elements, and particularly qualitative research. We suggest reasons for this absence and what might be done to address it.
Sex Workers in the Crisis of Covid
Nathan Monk
| Published | 04/06/2020 |
| Author(s) | Kevin Wong, Kris Christmann, Gavin Bailey |
Teela Sanders, University of Leicester.
There appears to be three residing issues for sex workers across the world in the pandemic. First the direct and immediate loss of income, pushing them to the economic margins of society. Second, the paring back (or in some cases withdrawal) of services for health and welfare. Thirdly, the risk of increased surveillance from police as they enforce social distancing, with the ramping up of stigma towards sex workers as conduits for disease.
As skeleton staffing of health care services for sex workers persists, only those with symptoms are likely to get access to treatment, and outreach services have transformed into emergency provision deliveries to where people are staying, as food and basic essentials take priority over sexual health. Despite some health care delivery taking place to sex workers, they will ultimately miss out on regular health interventions such as sexual and reproductive services, drug interventions – particularly accessing scripts at a time when normal systems are not in operation, and of course a massive reduction in mental health support. There will of course be some people still working through the pandemic because they have no income source, and where there are no health interventions, this group are at serious risk.
In the UK, the National Policing Chief Council on Sex Work and Prostitution guidance firmly supports protection over enforcement, and that welfare and safeguarding is the primary role of the police. However, as this guidance has little power, consistency across 43 police forces in England and Wales is tricky. These are strange times for the police as their role as public health enforcers is alarming and most likely to be misread, poorly understood and out of their comfort zone in terms of ordinary public order duties. With very few people in street sex work areas, the online spaces are those which may be surveyed. Trawling sex workers online profiles has long been established as not effective in spotting exploitation or organised crime, but police analysts may be using this technique to spot if direct sex is being sold. However, we know from the Beyond the Gaze project, that online negotiations and discussions happen between provider and purchaser, and that these connections do not necessarily mean real life contact is being made. Often these relationships are longer term, regulars etc, who will be making contact for social reasons and not to arrange meetings.
The online adult entertainment platforms are boldly reinforcing the message to ‘stay home’ and are deterring escorting in the physical sense of meet ups, but instead promoting their webcamming and online sexual interaction services. These platforms are providing enhanced technology to do this, bonus points for setting up new camming services during this period, and supporting hardship funds set up by activist and support projects such as SWARM and National Ugly Mugs. No doubt there is some element of this message being reinforced by the police to adult entertainment platforms as well as those frontline officers patrolling urban streets. The police must be seen to uphold the government guidelines relating to social distancing and sex is not an essential service.
Yet whilst the social distancing mantra is acceptable in order to keep everyone as safe as can be, the historical stigma attached to selling sex, and particularly women selling sex, continues in the form of treating them as spreaders of disease. Under the Contagious Diseases Act 1864 women ‘prostitutes’ were regulated, usually through Lock Hospitals, to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. There are concerns from the sex work community that COVID could be the modern day replacement and could lead to policing those selling sex further, as COVID restrictions become another mechanism of exclusion for those who do not have networks, resources, mainstream jobs or access to welfare systems. These are certainly migrant sex workers and those who do not have a wage from other income. In a country where criminalisation of sex work continues, the COVID measures could be used against the most vulnerable, who depend on an informal invisible economy which has been temporarily shut down. It has never been considered that those who want to buy sex would simply not be there, wiping out the demand and financial flow of income to sex workers. Even before the COVID crisis, in jurisdictions where paying for sex is made a crime, there is still plenty of exchange of sex for money as we know the law is not a deterrent in the sex market. But the pandemic has been a major turn off, a mega disincentive to purchase sex, and this has hit the unwaged, invisible informal economy workers very hard. For sex workers, the lack of work and the restrictions have been unprecedented. In systems where sex work is not recognised as legitimate work, this group have not been considered in any recovery plan, emergency provisions or government schemes.
There was already a crisis in provision of health and support services for sex workers, with a decade of austerity extensively reducing specialist services, dedicated outreach, or the development of new online services to reach individuals (netreach) to address the switch to working online. COVID makes this situation worse and becomes another barrier to providing health care, drug intervention programmes and prevention services. Sex workers will have even less services available, as drop in’s, outreach vans, and street based services all change the way they work to protect their own staff, abide by government guidelines and deal with the changing needs to sex workers. Yet in all of this the dedicated health and safety workers have the well being of sex workers at the fore of their missions, creatively changing their services, adapting their capabilities for service delivery, and providing support to access complex new and existing benefit systems, vouchers, food banks and basic supplies to protect the people who often have very little safety nets. Shifting funding to frontline organisations in the sex work community could immediately address the absence of a recovery plan for those truly marginalised.
Desistance from lockdown
Nathan Monk
| Published | 25/06/2020 |
| Author(s) | David Honeywell |
Dr David Honeywell, Research Assistant at the University of Manchester and Criminology Lecturer at the University of Hull
Introduction
During this difficult period of lockdown, I have begun to make comparisons between the process of desistance and the impending collective recovery from the social and psychological impact of coronavirus. Desistance is a theory that examines how ex-offenders abstain from crime (see Farrall & Calverley, 2006) and transform their identities (Giordano et al, 2002; Maruna, 2001, McNeill, 2016). It has always been my view that desistance can be translated to any walk of life not just the experiences of ex-offenders. It is about abstaining and rebuilding which can be likened to countless other examples of recovery, including from addictions (Coleman & Vander Laenan, 2012), illness (Frank, 1995), grieving and divorce (Giddens, 1991).
I am writing this from an autoethnographic perspective as an ex-offender, a desister, and an academic. It may be a surprise to some, but lockdown has had a positive effect on my sense of self. It has forced me to self-reflect and, as many others discussed in relation to their own experiences of lockdown, promise to make significant changes in my life which. The last time I self-reflected to this extent, was during my time in prison over 20 years ago. Back then, I made several resolutions, some of which I achieved and some of which I did not achieve.
I set myself two main goals, which was to become a criminologist to have a family of my own (see Sampson & Laub,1993; see also Earle, 2018 in relation to Convict Criminology).. These goals resonate with Shadd Maruna’s articulation of the informal social control theory of desistance (see Sampson & Laub, 1993) as ‘A steady job and the love of a good woman’ (2001, p. 30) but it’s important to look beyond this traditional nuclear family (see Jardine, 2017) because we cannot all fit snugly into the ideology of marriage, kids and a stable job. More important, is how we feel about our personal identity and acceptance of who we are.
Out identity is the mirror image of how others perceive us. Desistance scholars agree that desistance is a process of identity transformation which involves developing a replacement self (Giordano et al. 2002) while disassociating oneself from former associates and environments. That said it is also essential to draw on one’s past experiences as a way of making good – to redeem oneself. For example, some desisters work for charities becoming mentors for substance users and the homeless or work in education where the lived experience as former substance users, being homeless, victims of crime, physical and sexual abuse becomes an essential tool to give something back as a sort of ‘wounded healer’ (Maruna, 2001). The most profound message here, though, is how we are able to turn hardship into a positive (see McAdams, 2006; Giddens, 1991).
I was able to do this through education and, ironically, the structure of prison life enabled this process. I had clear vision of what I wanted to do and, through education, I began to develop a new student identity. But once I was released from prison, I experienced what I now know as ‘the pains of desistance’ (see Nugent & Schinkel, 2016). The importance of education has become more apparent much later in my life because as the desistance theory has developed, I have a greater understanding my own and others experiences. For me, education during my time in prison, 1995-1997 was the main goal towards gaining a stable life and then later in my academic career, as I developed a theoretical understanding of what desistance was (Sampson & Laub, 1993), I began to develop my own theoretical position about the complexities of desistance. I also found that the theory of desistance validated my own experiences and enabled me to use my past and present to develop my position in academe.
There are many desistance perspectives but the most profound for me is Giordano et al’s four stage Cognitive Transformation Theory which sets out what individuals need to do which include (1) being open to the idea of change; (2) Finding a hook/hooks to assist change; (3) envisioning a “replacement self”; (4) transforming the way they view deviant behaviour or lifestyle itself. And though each of these components are associated with ex-offenders, they are as pertinent to those who are not associated to a criminal lifestyle. Desistance is a criminological theory associated with ex-offenders who genuinely want to turn their lives around but there will be many parallels to how individuals will have to turn their lives around coming out of lockdown.
The criminological theory of ‘desistance’ is a process of self-transformation associated with ex-offenders that involves a trajectory towards achieving what many others take for granted such as gaining employment, developing meaningful relationships, achieving financial stability and gaining stable accommodation. The ultimate goal of desistance is to change one’s lifestyle and I feel that many people who have had time to reflect during lockdown may wish to make significant changes whether that means spending more time with loved ones, being more health conscious or simply allowing themselves more time to relax. Desistance is about starting again, and a lot of people will now need to start a process of desistance as they begin rebuilding their lives. Some will have to find new employment; some have lost loved ones; some will lose their homes and businesses and as result of being forced into isolation many relationships will have been tested to the maximum. But if desistance is anything to go by then past experience shows that people can overcome the most difficult situation and even emerge much stronger and more focussed.
References
Colman, C. & Vander Laenen, F., 2012. Recovery came first: desistance versus recovery in the criminal careers of drug-using offenders. Scientific World Journal, pp. 1-10.
Earle, R., 2018. Convict Criminology in England: Developments and Dilemmas. The British Journal of Criminology, 58 (6) pp. 1499–1516.
Farrall, S. & Calverley, A., 2006. Understanding desistance from crime: Crime and Justice Series. London: Open University Press.
Frank, A. W., 1995. The Wounded Storyteller: Body, Illness and Ethics. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Giordano, P., Cernkovich, S. A. & Rudolph, J. L., 2002. Gender, Crime, and Desistance: Toward a Theory of Cognitive Transformation. American Journal of Sociology, 107(4), pp. 990-1064.
Giddens, A., 1991. Modernity and Self-Identity. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Jardine, C., 2017, Constructing and Maintaining Family in the Context of Imprisonment, The British Journal of Criminology, Volume 58, Issue 1, January 2018, Pages 114–131.
Maruna, S., 2001. Making Good: How Ex-Convicts Reform and Rebuild Their Lives.. Washington: American Psychological Association.
McAdams, D., 2006. The Redemptive self: Stories Americans live by. New York: Oxford University Press.
McNeill, F., 2016. Desistance and Criminal Justice in Scotland. In: H. Croall, G. Mooney & M. Munro, eds. Crime, Justice and Society in Scotland. London: Routledge, pp. 200-216.
Nugent , B. & Schinkel, M., 2016. The pains of desistance. Criminology & Criminal Justice, 16 (5), pp. 568–584.
Sampson, R., & Laub, J. (1993). Crime in the making: Pathways and turning points through life. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
‘People get killed cause of there [Their] Skin. IT CANNOT BE STOPPED’
Nathan Monk
| Published | 26/02/2020 |
| Author(s) | Sarah Page |
A MIDLANDS CASE STUDY CONSIDERING EXPERIENCES OF RACISM AMONGST PUPILS IN UK SECONDARY SCHOOLS AND THE COMMUNITY
Sarah Page, Senior Lecturer in Sociology and Criminology at Staffordshire University and Co-Director of the Staffordshire University Crime and Society Research Group
In 2018 an academic partnership research team from Staffordshire University School of Law, Policing and Forensics conducted fieldwork with young people in secondary schools and college students. We endeavoured to find out about race-hate and race-hate related extremism encounters based on secondary school experiences and in the community to ascertain the extent of the issue. We also asked participants about their ideas for how issues could be resolved.
World Café method
Our research used mixed method qualitative data collection of world café combined with follow up questionnaires. World café is a relatively new methodology to the criminology field and works well in educational sessions because it has the capacity to reflect a lesson (presentation and discussion groups), putting participants at ease with the research process. A world café event allows for a larger group of participants to engage in a research session than would typically be accommodated through a focus group. We ran 3 world café events in total. The follow up questions captured basic demographics and offered opportunity for participants to share anything that they felt uncomfortable sharing in a group context.
Racial abuse
Rich data was collected from 57 UK school and college pupils aged 14–17 years from a city in the Midlands. Just under half of the participants were black and minority ethnic (BAME) pupils, and the rest were white British. Race-hate victimisation ranged from verbal abuse to physical assault including reports of weapons being used in some of the attacks. Islamophobic abuse (such as headscarves being removed) was described along with race-hate between white and BAME pupils and between BAME pupils of different origins. Both BAME and white pupils reported being victims of racial abuse, but BAME victimisation was more apparent in school. Interestingly, teachers were perceived as favouring white pupils when incidents occurred, with some teachers described as ‘racist’.
Race-hate exacerbated by social media
Inter-school racial conflict was apparent. Schools with higher BAME pupil populations were negatively labelled by pupils from white majority schools. It was evident that racism is complex and that race-hate in schools was reflected in the community and exacerbated through social media communication and media reporting. Some experiences indicated underlying far-right extremist ideology, for example, Nazi signs graffitied in the community. To address racism and race-hate related extremism efforts are needed in schools with corresponding interventions in the community.
20 years since the MacPherson report and change is still needed…
It has been 20 years since the MacPherson (1999) report following the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence. The incident was a concern within education because Stephen was a sixth from pupil, despite the murder occurring in the community, rather than on school premises. The MacPherson (1999) report championed changes to all public sector organisations, including education to address racism more effectively. However, our research suggests that change is still needed, and we would encourage the government to make concerted efforts to eliminate racism and race-hate related extremism within society and schools.
More Than a Tick-Box? The Role of Training in Improving Police Responses to Hate Crime
Articles
Nathan Monk
| Published | 04/06/2020 |
| Type | Article |
| Author(s) | Dr Stevie-Jade Hardy, Prof Neil Chakraborti, Ilda Cuko |
| Corresponding Authors | |
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In the years since the publication of the Macpherson report, many countries across the world have implemented policy and legislative frameworks in order to respond more effectively to hate crime. Within the UK, and despite laudable progress in some contexts, a set of significant challenges remains in relation to the under-reporting of hate crime, widespread victim dissatisfaction with police responses and inconsistent recording practices. This broader landscape of flawed responses illustrates the need for and importance of effective training for police professionals. However, little is known in connection to what training is delivered and to whom, despite a series of government action plans committing to the rollout of a national training package.
Drawing from a body of empirical evidence gathered from Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, in-depth semi-structured interviews and observations of police training, this article highlights that although hate crime training is being delivered within forces, a series of structural, organisational, operational and individual barriers are undermining its delivery and effectiveness. At a time when levels of hate crime are rising, it is imperative that police officers and staff are equipped with the necessary understanding and skills to deliver a service which meets the needs of diverse communities. This article identifies how existing training provision can be improved in order to facilitate such an outcome.
Implementing Police-Led Responses to Hate Crime: A Case Study of One English Northern Town
Articles
Nathan Monk
| Published | 04/06/2020 |
| Type | Article |
| Author(s) | Kyle Hudson, Dr. Craig Paterson |
| Corresponding Authors | |
| DOA | |
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Since the seminal 1999 Macpherson report, hate crime has become a barometer for contemporary police relations with vulnerable and marginalised communities. The need to understand hate has resulted in a demand for impartial law enforcement and skilled police officers who appreciate the nuances of hatred and its impact on vulnerable populations. However, whilst the police are increasingly expected to be active agents in the response to hate crime, they continue to be criticised for over-policing and under-protecting certain communities.
This paper examines the insights of key stakeholders involved in policing anti-Muslim hate crime in a northern town in England, gathered through in-depth semi-structured interviews with the region’s police force and a third-sector agency. The paper unpacks what the policing of anti-Muslim hate crime entails, drawing upon the role of different agencies and providing lessons for the services involved in the current police-led model. Our results point to variability in understanding what constitutes anti-Muslim hate crime; challenges in understanding and responding to victims’ needs with limited resources; and the need for a system which extends beyond a criminal justice response.
“I Hope the River Floods”: Online Hate Speech Towards Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Communities
Articles
Nathan Monk
| Published | 04/06/2020 |
| Type | Article |
| Author(s) | Naomi Thompson, David Woodger |
| Corresponding Authors | |
| DOA | |
| DOI |
Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) communities experience hate and discrimination in a range of public and private arenas. Online spaces are a relatively new outlet for hate against GRT groups and fuel offline responses. This article outlines UK cases of online hate speech reported to Report Racism GRT, a third-party reporting website for incidents perpetrated against GRT communities, from its inception in October 2016 to February 2018. Our analysis found that online hate is primarily manifested through abuse on social media and is often incited by the mainstream media. A key trigger for online hate is the arrival of new camps, and a shortage of legitimate sites fuels the tensions. We consider the need to ease tensions over site provision; the need for a more serious response to online hate speech; and the need to ensure that policy-makers and practitioners are aware of how they may be affected by problematic and racist assumptions about GRT communities.
‘People Get Killed Cause of There [Their] Skin. It Cannot Be Stopped’: A Midlands Case Study Considering Experiences of Racism Amongst Pupils in UK Secondary Schools and the Community
Articles
Nathan Monk
| Published | 04/06/2020 |
| Type | Article |
| Author(s) | Sarah Page |
| Corresponding Authors | |
| DOA | |
| DOI |
This paper investigates UK pupil experience of racism and race-hate-related extremism.
World Café research was conducted with 57 school and college pupils aged 14–17 years
from a city in the Midlands. The college students mainly reflected upon their secondary
school experience. Follow-up questionnaires captured demographics. Just under half of the
participants were black and minority ethnic (BAME) pupils, and the rest were white British.
Race-hate victimisation ranged from verbal abuse to physical assault, including
Islamophobic abuse (including headscarves being removed) and attacks with weapons.
Some experiences indicated underlying far-right extremist ideology. Teachers were
perceived as favouring white pupils when incidents occurred, with some teachers described
as ‘racist’. As well as racial hate between white and BAME pupils and between BAME pupils
of different origins, inter-school racial conflict was apparent. Schools with higher BAME
pupil populations were negatively labelled by pupils from white majority schools. Both
BAME and white pupils reported being victims of racial abuse, but BAME victimisation was
more apparent in school. Race-hate in schools was reflected in the community and
exacerbated through social media communication and media reporting. The British
government needs to better address racism and race-related far-right extremism in schools
in conjunction with community efforts.
Reinterpreting the UK Response to Hate Crime
Articles
Nathan Monk
| Published | 04/06/2020 |
| Type | Article |
| Author(s) | Dr Wendy Laverick, Peter Joyce |
| Corresponding Authors | |
| DOA | |
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This paper considers the motivation and function of the UK’s hate-crime framework, offering a historically located interpretation. It discusses the development of legislation to combat discrimination- and prejudice-motivated harassment and offending before examining recent assessments of the UK’s approach. It then provides a cursory examination of the historical context in which the UK’s legislative and policy developments emerged. After exposing the limitations of the current UK response and framing this in a wider domestic and international context, the paper concludes by arguing that the UK’s evolving hate-crime policy framework currently remains partial and serves to obfuscate its social control objectives, along with the political anxieties related to the ideological and political threats and disorder that underpinned its development. The article concludes by arguing that the current framework has recently downgraded – and increasingly sidesteps – the need to address internal manifestations of illiberalism, including institutional discrimination, workforce representativeness, racial and religious disparity, and equal opportunities.