Reece Walters

New Modes of Governance and the Commodification of Criminological Knowledge

This article explores the influence of new modes of governance on the production of criminological knowledge. In doing so, it examines the rise of discourses on risk and critiques the ways in which academic environments are changing under new managerialist philosophies. The article further explores the increasing ‘commodification of criminological knowledge’ and analyses its effect on contemporary criminological scholarship. Finally, this article examines the contours of critical criminological scholarship and advocates for a criminology of resistance.

Locally oriented crime prevention and the “partnership approach”

Why have multi‐agency or “partnership” approaches to crime prevention and community safety been reported internationally with unfavorable results? Can groups and individuals from disparate government and non‐government sectors work together to reduce or prevent crime? This article will address these and other questions by using developments in Belgium as its case study. In 1992, Belgium launched its “safety and crime prevention contracts”, a series of locally based crime prevention initiatives which have attempted to contract federal, regional and local governments to a range of social and police oriented crime prevention endeavors. Traces the development of the Belgian crime prevention contracts and examines the difficulties experienced with “multi‐agency crime prevention” and suggests that much of the political rhetoric in Belgium calling for local, community and intersectorial “partnerships” has, like several other countries including England and Wales, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, lacked clear practical expression. However, some promising initiatives indicate that this prevention approach may be capable of producing effective crime prevention and community safety outcomes. Further research is needed to describe these initiatives and analyze the conditions under which they are developed.

Punishing ‘Poor Parents’: ‘Respect’, ‘Responsibility’ and Parenting Orders in Scotland

This article critiques the rise of parenting orders in Scotland within New Labour’s self-styled model of ‘respect’ and ‘responsibility’. It examines the emergence of parenting orders in Scotland, which became available in April 2005, and argues that Scottish local authorities are sceptical of an approach they perceive as an ideological and legislative mix premised on punitive notions of individual responsibility and justice.

The Politicization of Youth Crime in Scotland and the Rise of the 'Burberry Court'

In 2003, the youth justice system in Scotland entered a new phase with the introduction of a pilot youth court. The processing of persistent 16 and 17 year old (and serious 15 year olds) represented a stark deviation from a ‘child centred’ and needs-oriented state apparatus for dealing with young offenders to one based on deeds and individual responsibility. This article, based on an evaluation funded by the Scottish Executive, is the first to provide a critical appraisal of this youth justice reform. It examines the views of the judiciary and young offenders and reveals that the pilot youth court in Scotland represents a punitive excursion that poses serious concerns for due process, human rights and net widening.

Victoria's “Day in Prison Program”: An Evaluation and Critique

The use of “Day in Prison” programs to deter young adult offenders is a concept which originated in the United States and was replicated in Australia during the late 1970s. After almost a decade of uncertainty this model of ‘crime prevention’ re-emerged in Victoria with the introduction of a pilot “Day in Prison” program. This article traces the development and operation of the Victorian experience and provides evaluation research findings which conclude that coercive, intimidatory and degrading aversion techniques should not be utilised by the criminal justice system for the purposes of individual deterrence.

Bhopal, Corporate Crime and Harms of the Powerful

H. RAJAN SHARMA is an attorney and partner at the firm of Sharma & DeYoung LLP where he practices international law and is presently lead counsel in Sahu et al. v. Union Carbide Corp., representing victims of environmental pollution from Bhopal. He has also successfully litigated several major international legal disputes such as the Holocaust-era cases, Bodner v. Banque Paribas et al. Please address correspondence to: Rajan Sharma, Esq., Sharma & DeYoung LLP, 286 Madison Avenue, Suite 2002, New York, New York 10017, USA. [email: rajan@sharmadeyoung.com]

Food Crime, Regulation and the Biotech Harvest:

This article focuses on the trade and regulatory practices of transgenic or genetically modified (GM) food, or what Pringle (2003) refers to as the ‘biotech harvest’. It explores issues of eco-crime and raises questions for environmental and transnational justice when corporations and government are complicit in acts of economic exploitation and illegality.

Social Defence and International Reconstruction: Illustrating the Governance of Post-War Criminological Discourse

This article examines the technocratic priorities of criminological discourse following the Second World War. In doing so, it charts the role and influence of the United Nations and the doctrine of social defence, and traces those shifts and events that have forged a nexus between criminological endeavour and processes of governance. This article aims to illustrate that social defence and international reconstruction provide a useful framework for understanding the links between power/knowledge and the pragmatic orientations of criminological scholarship.This article examines the technocratic priorities of criminological discourse following the Second World War. In doing so, it charts the role and influence of the United Nations and the doctrine of social defence, and traces those shifts and events that have forged a nexus between criminological endeavour and processes of governance. This article aims to illustrate that social defence and international reconstruction provide a useful framework for understanding the links between power/knowledge and the pragmatic orientations of criminological scholarship.

Alternatives to Youth Imprisonment: Evaluating the Victorian Youth Attendance Order

On 22 June 1988 the then Minister for Community Services Victoria, Race Matthews, officially launched the Youth Attendance Order (YAO), a high tariff alternative for young offenders aged between 15 and 18 years who were facing a term of detention. Throughout the orders gestation, much debate occurred about the impact it would have on rates of juvenile incarceration as well as about the potential ‘net widening’ effect it could have on less serious offenders. In May 1994 the National Centre For Socio-Legal Studies at La Trobe University submitted its report evaluating the Victorian Youth Attendance Order. This article presents some of the major findings of that report and examines the future options for this high tariff order in juvenile justice.

Eco Mafia and Environmental Crime

Environmental crime is currently one of the most profitable forms of criminal activity and it is no surprise that organised criminal groups are attracted to its high profit margins. (Banks et ah, 2008: 2) The industrialisation of societies continues to create an indelible human footprint with both immediate and long-term environmental consequences (White, 2010). It is a footprint that represents rapid human activity and with it has come new commercial opportunities, not only for global businesses, but also for organised criminal networks. Both the acceleration and byproducts of global trade have created new markets as well as underground economies. As the opening quotation from the Environmental Investigation Agency suggests, the ‘environment’ is big business for organised crime. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), for example, estimates that organised crime syndicates earn between US