• Refine Query
  • Source
  • Publication year
  • to
  • Language
  • 11
  • 7
  • 5
  • 1
  • 1
  • Tagged with
  • 542
  • 41
  • 27
  • 25
  • 23
  • 22
  • 19
  • 19
  • 19
  • 18
  • 11
  • 11
  • 11
  • 10
  • 10
  • About
  • The Global ETD Search service is a free service for researchers to find electronic theses and dissertations. This service is provided by the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations.
    Our metadata is collected from universities around the world. If you manage a university/consortium/country archive and want to be added, details can be found on the NDLTD website.
21

Some aspects of the history of crime in 17th century England, with special reference to Cheshire and Middlesex

Curtis, T. C. January 1973 (has links)
The first chapter of this thesis is concerned with placing the body of the work as a whole in context. Thus it contains a description of the basic methodology of research, and the limitations imposed by the nature of the main sources used; from which follows a short description of some of the areas - such as the problem of the criminal class - which were excluded from the thesis. The second chapter opens with a brief exposition of an hypothesis which predicates the possibility of a correlation between rising prices and rising crime rates in seventeenth century England. Statistical material drawn from Quarter Sessions records for Middlesex and Cheshire is then assessed in order to find such a correlation. When none appears, the possibility of a correlation between falling price rates and crime rates is then examined. When, again, none appears the conclusion is drawn that, subject to the limitations of the evidence, neither rising nor falling prices caused appearances before Quarter Sessions. The third chapter examines in a similar manner the possibilities that either short or long term industrial/commercial disruption might have influenced crime rates. Again no positive correlations appear. The fourth chapter analyses the possibility that rising death rates may have been correlated with rising crime rates. Again, however, no positive connections can be established and, within the limitations of the evidence, a negative conclusion is drawn. The fifth chapter is devoted to examining the suggestion that crime may have been differentiated by geographical regions; particularly that forest area were peculiarly lawless. Again, after analysis of material drawn from Quarter Sessions in comparison with population data for selected parishes, no correlation emerges.However by this point it became clear that a major feature of the crime statistics is their instability : the emergence of peaks and troughs apparently unrelated to external phenomena such as rising prices. The sixth chapter 1.8 concerned, therefore, with the boundary maintenance theory propounded by Dr . Kai T. Erikson which purports to explain such variations. From discussion and re-analysis of the tables it is concluded that this thesis does provide some explanation for variations in rates, but does not go far enough in examining the mechanisms of boundary maintenance in detail. The final chapter is therefore devoted to postulating the possibil1ty that crime patterns were largely shaped by the interaction of interest groups, and making suggestions as to how these interactions may have operated.
22

Transfers of gunshot residue (GSR) to hands : an experimental study of mechanisms of transfer and deposition carried out using SEM-EDX, with explorations of the implications for forensic protocol and the application of Bayesian Networks to interpretation

French, J. January 2013 (has links)
Gunshot residue (GSR) is produced during a firearm discharge and its recovery from the hands of a suspect may be used to support an inference that the suspect discharged a firearm. Various mechanisms of GSR transfer and deposition involving the hands of subjects were studied through a series of experimental scenarios that were intended to mimic real-world forensic situations. Samples were analysed using SEM-EDX with an automated search and detection package (INCAGSR, Oxford Instruments, U.K.). The results demonstrate the possibility of recovering considerable quantities of GSR from the hands of subjects as a result of a secondary transfer via a handshake with a shooter, or through handling a recently discharged firearm. As many as 129 particles were recovered from a handshake recipient. Additionally, GSR particles were found to undergo tertiary transfer following successive handshakes, while the possibility of GSR deposition on the hands of a bystander was confirmed. Particle size analysis revealed that very large (>50µm and >100µm) particles may undergo secondary transfer. The implications of these findings for forensic investigations are considered, particularly for interpreting the presence of GSR under competing activity level propositions about its deposition and the actions of the suspect. Bayesian Networks are inferential tools that are increasingly being employed in the interpretation of forensic evidence. Using the empirical data derived during the experimentation, the utility of Bayesian Networks for reasoning about mechanisms of GSR deposition is demonstrated. Further research aimed at unlocking the interpretative potential of GSR through empirical research and establishing the use of Bayesian Networks in forensic applications is recommended. It is anticipated that this emphasis on empirical support and probabilistic interpretation, in combination with the findings of this study, will strengthen the scientific basis of inferences made about GSR evidence and contribute to the accurate interpretation of evidence in legal settings.
23

The trafficking of British children within the UK for sexual exploitation : a situational analysis

Cockbain, E. P. January 2013 (has links)
The trafficking of British children within the United Kingdom for the purposes of sexual exploitation has been recognised as a crime threat for over a decade. Yet, the issue has been subject to little research and remains poorly-understood. The aim of this doctoral research was to provide an in-depth empirical assessment of this crime that could inform future evidence-based counter-measures. Located within a situational framework, this research focused on the immediate opportunity-structures to this crime. Due to the under-developed research-base the research question was framed in broad and inclusive terms: ‘What situational factors and processes contribute to the internal sex trafficking of British children and impede official responses?’. A rich combination of sources was employed, including extensive police operational files, court records and original interviews with convicted offenders, police investigators and prosecutors. A series of seven studies were conducted to disentangle key situational aspects of this complex process crime. Cohesion was provided by a consistent focus on six of the earliest and largest internal child sex trafficking operations in the UK to date. Distinguishing characteristics of the crime process, offenders and victims were identified and the implications for crime-reduction were explored. Particular attention was paid to assessing how the crime’s idiosyncrasies translate into challenges for investigation and prosecution. Overall, the crime was shown to be an inherently social phenomenon embedded in a complex web of interpersonal interactions and associations. Group structures, processes and dynamics were shown to promote, provoke, facilitate, sustain and spread patterns of abuse and to impede official responses. This research makes novel contributions to underdeveloped aspects of the international literatures on human trafficking, child sexual abuse, group crime and situational crime research. Its conceptual and empirical contributions on internal child sex trafficking are expected to benefit on-going and future developments in policy and practice.
24

Unusual suspects : identifying active serious offenders by self-selection policing

Roach, J. January 2009 (has links)
The present thesis examines the emergent and complementary investigative method known as self-selection policing. This method seeks to identify minor offences indicative of more serious criminality, whereby the serious offender volunteers him or herself for warranted police attention by dint of committing a minor (often considered innocuous) infraction of the law. In early chapters a conceptual and theoretical underpinning for self-selection is developed by exploring relevant criminological and psychological theory. Terms and concepts are clarified early on, for example, discussion and clarity are provided regarding what constitutes serious and minor offences and offenders. Next, a series of exploratory studies is presented whereby specific minor offences are identified and their utility as indicators (or ‘flags’) for more serious criminality tested. These include non-compliance with Home Office Road Transport Form 1 (HO/RT1), where drivers are required to present necessary motoring documents to police within seven days, and the giving of false details to police. After presenting a theoreical and empirical case for using self-selection policing, late chapters explore anticipated obstacles to its wider implementation. For example, a study is presented which demonstrates a general overestimation of offence homogeneity by police. The implications of this finding for self-selection policing are discussed. The present thesis concludes by suggesting where self-selection policing sits both conceptually and theoretically within academic criminology, and within operational policing. For example, suggestions are offered as to how police and public might be convinced of the utility of self-selection policing and how it might be best integrated with mainstream policing.
25

Understanding and preventing crime in Malawi : an opportunity perspective

Sidebottom, A. L. January 2013 (has links)
Numerous studies demonstrate that crime is highly concentrated. The risk of criminal victimization is unequally distributed across available targets – be they people, products or places. Determining the extent to which crime concentrates and the correlates of victimization is a popular research area with implications for theory and crime prevention. Presently, such research is largely confined to Western industrialised settings attributed to a lack of suitable data in many developing countries. This thesis is concerned with the concentration and correlates of crime in Malawi. It uses a predominately environmental criminology framework to explore whether crime opportunity theories, amongst others, can make sense of the victimization patterns observed in the hitherto unexplored context of Malawi. The thesis is victim-oriented, saying little about the motivation of offenders and focussing instead on the attributes and activities of crime targets. This is achieved through secondary analysis of data from the Malawi Integrated Household Survey 2004/05, a cross-sectional, nationally representative survey containing questions comparable to crime victim surveys. The thesis is comprised of five case studies on livestock theft, residential burglary and physical assault. Despite the radically different circumstances, the findings suggest broad though not unanimous support for crime opportunity theories in the Malawian context. The findings also help draw attention to the plight of several population groups associated with higher risks of victimization, most notably the chronically ill. The implications of the research for reducing vulnerability, in particular the feasibility of applying situational crime prevention in resource-limited settings such as Malawi are discussed.
26

An exploration investigation into the processes of desistance amongst minority ethnic offenders

Calverley, Adam January 2009 (has links)
In contrast to the widespread public and academic focus on ethnicity in relation to engagement in offending, existing research has largely overlooked whether processes associated with desistance from crime vary by ethnicity. This is despite known ethnic differences in factors identified as affecting disengagement from offending such as employment, place of residence, religious affiliation and family structure providing good reasons for believing differences would exist. This thesis explores the processes associated with desistance from crime among offenders drawn from some of the principal minority ethnic groups in the United Kingdom. Data were obtained from qualitative interviews with 33 male offenders who were of Indian, Bangladeshi, and Black and dual heritage ethnic origin, had a previous history of offending and were identified (in collaboration with their probation officers) as being in the process of desisting. Interviews explored life histories, factors responsible for their desistance, strategies to avoid further offending, access to resources, impediments faced, and plans for the future. To identify shared themes and make comparisons data was analysed by ethnic group. Ethnic differences did exist in terms of desistance, particularly at the meso level in terms of family and community. For the Indians desistance was influenced by their families' aspirational values and access to resources, while Bangladeshis families showed a laudable willingness to offer acceptance and forgiveness. Forboth these groups desistance was characterised as a much more collective experience involving their families actively intervening in their lives and a reorientation towards the family. In contrast Black and dual heritage offenders' desistance was a much more individualistic endeavour c::haracterised by greater isolation and disengagement from their community. The implications of these findings for a need for a wider research agenda that appreciates the importance of how desisters' structural location affects their desistance is discussed in the concluding chapter
27

Perceptions of probation in a context of #just deserts'

Rex, Susan Anne January 1997 (has links)
No description available.
28

Criminal resistance : an analysis of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 and its effects on social movement networks in Britain

Chesters, Graeme Stuart January 2000 (has links)
No description available.
29

An examination of the means of establishing the efficacy of asset recovery and anti-money laundering policies

Fleming, Matthew Hitchcock January 2008 (has links)
Asset recovery (AR) refers to the process through which criminals are deprived of the proceeds of crime. Despite strong support for AR in the policy arena, virtually no work to date has confirmed that it reduces (or should theoretically reduce) crime. This thesis seeks to fill this gap in understanding. The thesis begins with an examination of the theoretical support for AR, drawing on the economics of criminal behaviour. This chapter probes the claims made throughout the literature, illustrating how different approaches to AR should have different impacts on crime. AR powers are likely ineffective in reducing crime if offenders' spending/saving behaviour renders them with little to recover. This next chapter examines offenders' spending/saving using data from the UK's Joint Assets Recovery Database. Offenders can and will take steps to hide the fruits of their labours, and AR will be toothless if offenders can do so. Most AR regimes include anti-money laundering (AML) components to prevent offenders from hiding their proceeds. The crime-reduction efficacy of AML policies is a function of the ability of offenders to reduce their exposure to AR of banks/etc. to alert law enforcement when they know/suspect that an offender is laundering and of law enforcement to make use of the information provided. The latter two issues are considered in turn. Banks/etc. must alert law enforcement (by filing suspicious activity reports, or SARs) if they know/suspect that an offender is laundering proceeds. While this requirement likely deters some criminality, reporting does not deter all offenders. This chapter explores whether banks/etc. targeting of laundering represents more signal than noise. Finally, as the criminality of the undeterred who have been identified by banks/etc. will only be reduced if law enforcement uses the SARs sent to them, the final chapter explores the law enforcement's actual use and management of SARs.
30

Lost in translation? : an examination of the implementation of problem-oriented projects

Bullock, Karen Anne January 2007 (has links)
Problem-oriented policing is an approach to policing within which primacy is attached to preventing the recurrence of problem behaviours which fall within the remit of the police rather than merely reacting to individual calls for service as and when they occur. This study was born of weaknesses in existing accounts of the delivery of problem-oriented projects. Framed almost entirely in top-down conceptions of project implementation, existing studies tend to neglect the behavioural features that shape what projects deliver and the links between the behavioural and structural features of them. This study will examine the legitimacy of the dominant top-down approach to studying patterns of implementation and whether top-down and bottom-up approaches are sufficient to explain the implementation of problem-oriented projects. Drawing on evidence from in-depth case studies of two problem-oriented projects, it identifies the factors that shaped their execution. Top-down features of leadership, resources, theory, guidance, accountability and management all played a role in shaping what the projects achieved but bottom-up features of practitioner re-negotiation of aims, values, routines and conflict were also present. The study concludes that neither approach is sufficient for explaining the delivery of problem-oriented projects. Both top-down and bottom-up factors play a role and there are strong dependencies and relationships between them. An alternative approach to conceiving implementation is proposed, drawing on a broad theoretical framework developed by Giddens (1984). First, it is contended that the structural and behavioural features of projects are mutually dependent. Project structures both transform and are transformed by their interaction and reproduction by practitioners. Second, it is suggested that there may be limits to the nature of constraint in project settings as formal systems of project management may have limited authority unless they are sanctioned and mobilized by the very people they are trying to monitor and control. Third, projects are inserted into organisational contexts where there are existing taken-for-granted sets of routinely understood organisational processes and practices. New project structures interact with these and are likely to transform and be transformed by interaction with them. As such they are not likely to be implemented in a straightforward manner. Fourth, project structures change over time as they are re-negotiated by practitioners and are influenced by unanticipated events and unintended consequences of actions.

Page generated in 0.2029 seconds