During the past two decades there was an unprecedented influx of Indian immigrants - mostly rural - to the industrial centres and cities of the UK. Their children in this country face an uphill task in their adjustment in the new environment, mainly due to traumatic separation of family members, conflict between the home and host culture and inadequate knowledge of the host language. There is a deplorably acute dearth of research and empirical data on the adjustment problems of immigrant children in general and of Indian immigrant children in particular. The purpose of this study was therefore, to provide base line information on the prevalence of maladjustment in Indian immigrant children in comparison with a similar group of English children. By a 20% sampling procedure 52 boys and 52 girls were selected for the study group from the 521 Indian children in the ultimate and penultimate Glasses of junior schools in the city of Leicester. The contrast group consisted of the same number of boys and girls from the host community who were matched for every Indian pupil of the study group sex for sex and class-room for class-room. Data were collected (1) from the parents through structured interviews using Rutter's Scale for parents and (2) from teachers through questionnaire using Rutter's Scale for teachers. Pupils who scored 13 or more deviance scores on the parents' scale and/or 9 or more on the teachers' scale were considered maladjusted. 11% of Indian children and 31.6% of English children were thus considered as maladjusted at home and/or at school. The higher prevalence of maladjusted behaviour in the English than Indian children was statistically significant. The average deviance scores of Indian children were 5.3 (with a range of 0 - 18) at home and 3.3 (with a range of 0 - 18) at school; the avegare deviance scores for the English children were 9.9 (with a range of 0 - 31) at home and 6.1 (with a range of 0 - 25) at school indicating the presence of more deviant behaviour among them than among the Indian children. As a result of the study it was hypothesized that maladjusted behaviour rate among the first generation of Indian immigrant children in the study was lower than the rate in a comparable population of native non-immigrant children. A number of factors were speculatively suggested as contributing to the lower prevalence of maladjustment in Indian than in English children, such as the close supervision and strong discipline in Indian homes and the comparatively short duration of stay of Indian children in this country. Antisocial types of behaviour disorders were more common than neurotic types in both groups; similarly in both groups more boys than girls showed antisocial behaviour disorders. From the advantageous position of hindsight it is realised that for an epidemiological study like the present one, a group of 100 subjects is a small number to arrive at meaningful conclusions. Further, the present study did not seek clinical certitude but only some non-clinical assessment of prevalence of maladjusted behaviour which might serve as a base line information for future studies.

Numerous studies have been conducted on football ‘hooliganism’ with the majority of this work ignoring the immediate, environmental conditions that facilitate opportunities for crime in the football match day context. Consequently, the existing theoretical framework for explaining why crime emerges during football matches remains incomplete. This thesis aims to fill this gap for understanding modern football-related crime and disorder. The thesis uses a predominantly environmental criminology framework to explore whether crime opportunity theories can make sense of crime patterns observed around previously unexplored English domestic football stadia. It is crime event-oriented, focussing on how variation in the ecology of the area around stadia on match days and a set of counterfactual days when the stadium is not used facilitates different criminal opportunities. This is achieved primarily through the analysis of police-recorded crime data for three kilometre areas surrounding a sample of five stadia for the period 2005- 2010. The thesis focuses on three components of crime events - where they occur, when they occur, and why a disproportionate amount of it clusters in some neighbourhoods and not others. Despite the contrasting physical environment around the five stadia, the findings suggest very similar spatial and temporal crime patterns in the area surrounding stadia when they are used relative to when they are not and thus lend support to environmental theories of crime in the football context. The findings also help draw attention to where and when crime is elevated on football match days. The implications of the research for reducing the unintended and unwanted side-effect of football that is desired for the positive utilities it brings, in particular the practicality of employing situational crime prevention in the context of English domestic football are discussed.

Security technologies (STs) are increasingly being positioned, developed, and implemented as technological-fixes for addressing crime; never more so than in the wake of the numerous terrorist attacks beginning with September 11th 2001. However, despite the purported security benefits afforded citizens by these technologies, their smooth assimilation into society is never assured. STs which evoke social controversy and resistance fail to survive unscathed over the mid- to long-term; subjected instead to enforced modification, restrictions on acquisition, restrictions on use, or in the worst case scenario - outright banning. Such controversies can negatively affect the companies designing these STs, end-users who employ them, governments who authorise them, and citizens whose security may genuinely remain compromised. The aim of this thesis is to assist the developers and designers of STs in anticipating and mitigating negative societal responses to their technologies upstream in the design process. The logic being that; by targeting STs before they are completed those elements of design most likely to evoke controversy can be modified, which in turn will produce STs the public are more likely to afford legitimacy through acceptance. To achieve this aim, three objectives were set. The first was to identify the causes of social controversies arising from the design and operation of STs. Through repeated focussed case-studies of previous controversial STs a taxonomy of forty-three commonalities of controversy was produced. The second goal was to generate guidelines for the development of future methodological design-tools that could be produced to assist those developing STs in identifying these controversies. This was achieved by conducting interviews with scientists and engineers actively involved in the design and production of STs. Finally, this taxonomy and guidelines were applied to produce two prototypes of potential design tools; with one subsequently applied to an ongoing ST design project.

The thesis presents experimental work conducted on environmentally altered bloodstains over four distinct experimental stages. Bloodstains that have been exposed to and altered by the environment are frequently encountered in crime scene analysis and developing accurate methods of quantitatively identifying, interpreting and analyzing them is important for crime scene reconstruction. Over the course of the four experimental stages bloodstains were progressively exposed to a range of environmental conditions and their responses to this exposure recorded. During the first stage stains were dried at a range of temperatures between -10 and 50oC in order to establish the influence of temperature on stain appearance. In the second stage stains were longitudinally exposed to natural environmental fluctuations over the course of a 6-month experimental period. In the third stage stains were exposed to a variety of extreme environmental conditions, including fire, freezing, freeze-thaw and extreme heat, in order to establish the influence of these conditions on stain appearance and behavior. In the final experimental stage the influence of environmental conditions on stain drying time was examined. During the course of stain analysis a new quantitative method for digitally capturing and measuring bloodstain colour was designed. The findings of the experimental work conducted represent the first empirical confirmation of relationships between the environmental conditions explored and bloodstain appearance and behavior. Quantitative confirmation of these relationships has direct implications for developing methods of spatial and temporal crime scene reconstruction from bloodstain pattern analysis.

In the past ten years the scientific basis of forensic science has been challenged, its reliability and validity in court contested and commercialisation of forensic provision introduced in England and Wales. In light of this there is the need for increased research into establishing a sound body of knowledge for forensic science, which supports the requirements of its end- users. This requires an increase in resources for forensic research, as well as evidence-based direction that is centred on the use of forensic evidence by law enforcement. This thesis explored the applicability and reliability of forensic research and investigated the impact forensic evidence has in court. By means of a case study, experimental findings regarding the effects of fire on sharp force trauma in bone highlighted the prevalence of assumptions made in forensic research. The results demonstrated the need to ensure that experimental studies within the forensic domain incorporate ‘forensic reality’ into experimental design in order to ensure findings are applicable to casework. The role of experimental research within the forensic sciences is crucial; however, frameworks must be created to enable research to be undertaken in collaboration with end-users to ensure results are applicable and implementable. Subsequently, using a mixed-methods approach, 115 homicide cases in London were analysed to assess the efficacy of forensic evidence in court. Medical evidence, CCTV, voice recognition and defence witnesses had the greatest effect on the adjudication of these cases. The findings provide law enforcement with empirical evidence of which types of evidence are most prevalent and have the greatest impact in a criminal trial. Understanding the utility of forensic evidence also provides support to forensic researchers and policy makers for directing research and resources. By conducting research that analyses both forensic research and evidence, this thesis demonstrates the benefits of a unified approach to forensic science.

Epidemic phenomena are ubiquitous, ranging from infectious diseases, computer viruses, to information dissemination. Epidemics have traditionally been studied as a single spreading process, either in a fully mixed population or on a network. Many epidemics, however, are hybrid, employing more than one spreading mechanism. For example, the Internet worm Conficker spreads locally targeting neighbouring computers in local networks as well as globally by randomly probing any computer on the Internet. This thesis aims to investigate fundamental questions, such as whether a mix of spreading mechanisms gives hybrid epidemics any advantage, and what are the implications for promoting or mitigating such epidemics. We firstly propose a general and simple framework to model hybrid epidemics. Based on theoretical analysis and numerical simulations, we show that properties of hybrid epidemics are critically determined by a hybrid tradeoff, which defines the proportion of resource allocated to local and global spreading mechanisms. We then study two distinct examples of hybrid epidemics: the Internet worm Conficker and the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection within the human body. Using Internet measurement data, we reveal how Conficker combines ineffective spreading mechanisms to produce a serious outbreak on the Internet. We propose a mathematical model that can accurately recapitulate the entire HIV infection course as observed in clinical trials. Our study provides novel insights into the two parallel infection channels of HIV, i.e. cell-free spreading and cell-to-cell spreading, and their joint effect on HIV infection and treatment. In summary, this thesis has advanced our understanding of hybrid epidemics. It has provided mathematical frameworks for future analysis. It has demonstrated, with two successful case studies, that such research can have a significant impact on important issues such as cyberspace security and human health.

The success of some current national and international security strategies depends on the accuracy of visual inspections, often achieved via transmission x-ray imaging. Human screeners face the difficulties of complex image interpretation as the resulting images consist of a cluster of superimposed shapes often seen from an unusual perspective. Object detection in transmission x-ray images appears to share challenges analogous to those entailed by the Embedded Figures Test (EFT), as both require disembedding a target from several distracters in a visual Gestalt. It is well documented that individuals diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) may show enhanced abilities at the EFT. Their abilities are attributed to a baseline individual aptitude, namely heightened attention to visual detail and sensitivity to trivial changes in the visual environment, of possible genetic origin. Although such aptitude may be emphasised in ASD, it is not necessarily associated with it and it is possible to identify individuals with high attention to detail in the general population. Here we demonstrate for the first time that self-reported Attention to Detail and EFT performance can predict detection abilities with transmission security x-ray images. Further, we develop a novel self-report scale for the security industry, the XRIndex. We validate this scale against Attention to Detail, EFT and aviation security x-ray images, with both untrained participants and professional security screeners. We show that the XRIndex may become a reliable aid-to-selection tool, it can be administered under supervision or remotely and its validity is not undermined by repetition or expertise with the x-ray screening task. Behavioural tasks – namely EFT and mental rotation - may prove valuable too, however their use in a digital version may not be advisable when applicants lack familiarity with computers. Stable personality traits with a significant association to threat detection performance are also identified and may usefully complement information provided by the XRIndex.

This multidisciplinary research is concerned with the ways in which the morphology of the urban landscape may affect the spatial distribution of drug crime incidents. Following from this rationale, the research pursued the following three objectives. First, the research explored where drug dealers are known to sell drugs, and the extent to which and in what ways these places differ from those places that they do not. In particular, the research focused on examining whether the types of places at which drugs are sold have the street network characteristics of places that offer good retail potential. Employing space syntax technique and event count regression models, the analysis showed that street permeability and proximity to high street significantly increase the likelihood of drug crime. Second, the research examined drug crime in relation to legal facilities, which inherently and routinely generate large flows of people. Using network distance buffers, the criminogenic fields of the facilities were identified. The regression results showed that not only the facility itself attracts crime, but the facility’s specific configurational positioning on the street network also influences the likelihood of crime. The last part of the research examined the relative positioning of drug dealing locations in the city with reference to the level of permeability, the drug types and quantities being sold per street segments. The results showed a spatial differentiation amongst varying drug types according to their drug classes. The overall picture suggested that the urban fabric, particularly the characteristics of the street network configuration and the way land uses are distributed across the street network, have a great effect on drug occurrences.

Based on the prosecution of Ernest Boulton and William Park in 1870, the cross-dressing cause célèbre of the Victorian period, this Thesis explores the complex interplay of gendered nineteenth century narratives that emerged in both public and institutional discourse as a result of the arrest and prosecution for conspiracy to commit sodomy of the male cross-dressers and their acquaintances. Within the current historiography of the nineteenth century the regulation of male cross-dressers has been associated with the reflexive homophobia that has come to dominate modern interpretations of Victorian conceptions of male gender deviance. Whilst accepting that the case of Boulton and Park has rightly found its place within the established narrative histories of male sexuality this Thesis argues that the case, and indeed the image of the male cross-dresser in general, illuminates much more than nascent Victorian conceptions of homosexuality. The effeminacy of the cross-dresser, although universally stigmatised, is shown to represent a multitude of social ills ranging from economic indolence to moral degeneracy, placing the cross-dresser at the nexus of bourgeoisie social anxiety. Through the detailed analysis of legal transcripts and press reports this Thesis demonstrates the significance of the analysis of the male cross-dresser beyond the narrow confines of the history of sexuality. The prosecution of Boulton and Park attests to more than the increasingly reactionary policing of bourgeois conceptions of masculinity during the mid to late nineteenth century. The unprecedented publicity that accompanied the case combined with the cross-dresser’s ability to unite previously disparate strands of deviant discourses, like those of the female prostitute and male sodomite, will be shown to represent a rare moment in which the totality of bourgeois anxiety was manifest, a moment in which the cross-dresser became the gendered folk devil for an age of ideological temperance.

Female offenders are far more likely to have experienced domestic abuse than the general female population. Yet despite wide acknowledgement of a relationship between domestic abuse and female offending there is a lack of research seeking to explore how this relationship operates. Therefore the central premise of this research was to examine ways in which a woman’s experience of domestic abuse may influence her involvement in crime. By focusing upon how women cope with their experiences of domestic abuse this research explored how women’s actions and reactions, in response to the abuse they experience, affected their offending. The study was approached from a combined feminist and symbolic interactionist perspective, drawing upon interviews with 25 community-based female offenders who had experienced domestic abuse, placing the women’s own voices and perspectives at the very centre of the discourse. A supplementary sample of 15 probation service practitioners were also interviewed to draw upon their experiences of supervising female offenders. The research findings reveal how women’s situated, subjective and individualised experiences within, and responses to, their abusive relationships can directly or indirectly influence their offending. Consequently, this research demonstrates that women’s criminal offences can occur in a much wider context than has previously been understood when examining the relationship between domestic abuse and women’s offending. Rather than women offending against, or with, an abuse perpetrator, or being forced or coerced by an abuse perpetrator to commit crime, this research illustrates the broader and longitudinal effects of domestic abuse. Significantly, women’s offences occur without their abuser present, after the relationship has ended, or even years after the abuse has ceased, yet their actions can still be attributed to their experience of domestic abuse. The findings have significant implications for criminal justice policy and practice including magistrates’ training, completion of pre-sentence reports and sentence compliance.