If there is any fixed star in our constitutional and criminal procedure constellation, it is that torture is illegal and torture-introduced evidence is inadmissible. The purposes of this research are to (1) assess the exclusionary rule in the United Kingdom and United States; (2) explore the theoretical constitutional foundation of the rule; and (3) establish the Chinese exclusionary rule. Currently, there is no exclusionary rule explicitly in the Chinese Code of Criminal Procedure. If the wrongful conviction of the innocent is a pressing issue in China today, police torture is the flashpoint. Police torture in China is the prevalent evil not the isolated anecdote. This thesis combines diagnosis and prescription – the problem of police torture in China and the solution of the exclusionary rule. The ultimate goal of the research is to find a suitable exclusionary rule for China to solve the serious problem of police torture and wrongdoing. At the level of theory, my exclusionary rule framework is grounded in the separation of powers. Previous research about the separation of powers doctrine has focused almost entirely on constitutional law and political theory. They completely ignored the special role that the doctrine plays in the criminal justice system, a role consisting of the exercise of a reviewing function to ensure executive compliance with the criminal law. Separation of powers is a core component of the constitution’s system of checks and balances, a system in which each branch of the government is endowed with a constitutional control over the others. Without any judicial supervision or due process, the potential for arbitrary enforcement is high. The alternatives to the exclusionary rule are mainly illusory and of no practical avail. Past history also demonstrates that the very idea of protecting the defendant’s right is completely empty unless it is linked to an efficient mechanism. China grants the police too much power and has too little judicial supervision over police investigations. It creates imbalance in the existing Chinese criminal justice system. It is such an imbalance and the lack of separation of powers in the criminal justice system that poses a significant and growing threat for the protection of defendants’ rights.

This research emerged out of an idea which originated in an earlier MSc dissertation, in which I had explored the differences between male and female offenders (Pullar, 2000). Here I discovered that a substantial number of women had been found guilty of offences that were violent in nature. This finding was backed up by my own recent practice experience relating to women involved in the probation services. What I began to suspect was that women offenders, contrary to conventional assumptions operating within criminal justice social work services, were not an homogeneous group. On the contrary, I began to consider whether there were identifiable differences between women who had been convicted of offences involving violence and those who had been convicted of non-violent offences. This observation led me to turn to some of the more recent research on women offenders, some of which, (e.g. Loucks and Zamble, 2001), suggested that in practice, women offenders display significantly different offending patterns in terms of their pathways into offending, their offending behaviour and the factors that sustain that behaviour. It is also suggested that women w are convicted of violent offences display behaviour that is very similar to that of male offenders. The target group for my own research was all women who had appeared in court and had had a social enquiry report prepared about them and were living in Fife within the financial year April 2003 to March 2004. This time-scale allowed verification of the quantitative data collected, by comparison with figures submitted by Fife Council Criminal Justice Service to the Audit Commission for Scotland. A population of women offenders was considered in this year and 200 separate cases were included. In addition to the quantitative data collected, in-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with 21 women, all of whom were subject to statutory supervision. Both parts of the data collection were completed by August 2004. In order that the quantitative data could be collected in a systematic fashion, the Level of Service Inventory (Revised), or L.S.I.-R., was used to collect information about the target group. Furthermore, two additional parameters were added to this inventory, both of which were factors that had been identified previously by researchers as being associated with offending behaviour in women. These were firstly, experiences of childhood abuse and neglect, and secondly, having a male partner who was involved in criminal activity. The differences between the two groups of women offenders were analysed for statistical significance, using the Excel worksheet package. The L.S.I.-R. was also used in helping to construct a framework for the collection of the qualitative data. The interview schedule for the semi-structured interviews with women probationers was devised to reflect the areas of criminogenic need identified as relevant both by the L.S.I.-R. and by researchers in the field of women offenders (e.g. Carlen, 1988). Once completed, the interviews were transcribed, coded and analysed, with the help of the NUD*IST qualitative data analysis computer package. The research concludes that marked differences were found between women offenders convicted of violent offences and those convicted of offences which did not involve violence. Strong evidence was gathered regarding differences in the ways that the women had become involved in offending and some of the elements that sustained that behaviour, notably substance abuse. There was also some indication that life-course experiences were particularly significant for the group of women who had been convicted of violent offences. The thesis concludes that, in view of the differences, these groups require different kinds of social work service provision.

Much current research on victimisation focuses primarily on demographic risk factors associated with those who have experienced crime and how these factors affect the likelihood of a person breaching the so called ‘first hurdle’. That is, the probability of moving from a state of non-victim to one of victim. In contrast, this thesis will argue that in order to achieve a more comprehensive understanding of victimisation, it is not only desirable but necessary to move beyond the study of the causes of criminal victimisation and examine the consequences for victims as well as the criminal justice system as a whole. Thus, it seeks to explain the experience of victimisation not just as an isolated incident, but as a process consisting of a number of steps or stages of progression through the criminal justice system, each one building on the last. As such, in addition to considering risk factors, this thesis also examines the decision to report a crime to the police, the use of victim services, as well as the perceived satisfaction with services received. In so doing it explores not only the causes and consequences of crime, but the longer term impact of criminal victimisation. The results presented here are based on the secondary analysis of data from the 2008/9 Scottish Crime and Justice Survey complimented by a data set acquired through in-depth interviews with victims of crime from the Edinburgh Local Authority. Interview data is used to provide a greater depth of meaning to the patterns which emerged from the survey data; lending insight into the psychological processes driving victim decision making and behaviour. This thesis thus provides an example of how a combination of techniques including multi-level modelling and interview analysis, provide a clearer understanding of how victims experience crime. Findings suggest that factors associated with each step of the process are related and may represent a more general underlying pattern of victimisation. It is also argued that by employing multi-level analysis, the thesis provides a more accurate explanation of how respondent’s experiences may differ according to the context in which they live. Finally, the analysis highlights the ongoing importance of emotion in victim decision making and the severity of long term impact. The analysis presented offers new insights into how we understand victimisation as an ongoing experience, as well as demonstrating the necessity of the analytic techniques employed. It is however somewhat confined by the coverage of survey questions and the limited generalizability of the data collected in interviews due to the small sample size. These concerns will be discussed, along with recommendations for victim policy and future research.

This thesis seeks to understand and theorise the process of penal transformation, using changes in penal policy within post-devolution Scotland as a case study. It is based on an in-depth analysis of the evolution, passage and implementation of the Management of Offenders etc. (Scotland) Act 2005, including interviews with key players at each stage of the process (politicians, civil servants, practitioner groups) and documentary analysis. The thesis draws on Kingdon’s multiple streams framework to explain how rapid changes in policy can occur. Kingdon argued that the greatest changes occur when a policy window is opened which allows three independent streams which run through policy at any one time, politics, problems and policies, to become joined (1995). However the thesis argues that to account fully for transformation, this framework needs to be developed to incorporate analysis of institutional structures which provide the most compelling explanation for the factors which lead to, escalate and impede change. Although structures are central in this analysis however, this thesis shows how both structure and agency are important in penal change: institutional structure forms the parameters in which political choice is made. Pre-devolution policy-making was carried out in partnership between civil servants and agencies and the rate of change was incremental. Post-devolution criminal justice policy-making has been thrust into a volatile and politicised environment, although this has varied under the different administrations thus far. The primary reason for the accelerated rate of change that occurred following devolution was because of the creation of new democratic structures which provided the means and the incentives to create rapid change but it also involved explicitly political choices by key members of the Scottish Executive. Somewhat paradoxically, once change was instigated, the structure of post-devolution political institutions became critical in mitigating the pace and rate of change. The existence of PR electoral arrangements together with the relative decentralisation of power (in relation to the ownership of criminal justice services) meant that change had to be achieved through negotiation and compromise. Institutional structure is also important in the extent of the Parliament’s ability to form any meaningful veto point on executive power. Overall it was new democratic structures combined with a political capacitybuilding project and the availability of a politicised approach to law and order from England and Wales which could be easily translated to Scotland, which together, explain the period of rapid change in Scotland during this time.

Since the day Saudi Arabia was founded, its highly centralised and paramilitary police organisation remained immune to scrutiny, and police performance and their relationship with the public have remained uncharted territories.  But lately, in response to leaking reports about rising crime levels and an escalating social control crisis, writers affiliated to the police organisation were quick to deny that a real crime problem exists.  However, some of those writers do admit that a serious social disorder problem is now brewing, and they find an urgent need to address the crisis.  According to them, any effective response requires a community orientated policing strategy to be applied immediately, even without debate or planning. The statement above raises three important questions.  First, does a social control problem really exist? Secondly, if yes, would a community policing (CP) approach address it?  And third, are the police and the public ready for change? To answer those questions, quantitative and qualitative data have been collected from a wide range of sources.  Results obtained from the data show clearly that the police are not the effective crime fighters they claim they are.  Further, although it has been found that the Saudi policing system is not without problems, a community policing approach, at least in the sense it is understood in the west, is incompatible with the Saudi culture.  Reasons for this incompatibility have been examined, and suggestions to improve the Saudi police performance have been made.

The sale of ancient objects on eBay is presented to buyers as legitimate and ethical. However the antiquities trade is a grey market, where both licit and illicit objects are sold (Bowman, 2008). An unknown percentage of illicit antiquities have entered the market as a consequence of archaeological looting. However, antiquities are fungible by nature, meaning that it is very difficult for buyers to differentiate the licit from the illicit. This thesis is based on the premise that the antiquities trade causes harm through the destruction of archaeological knowledge, and therefore there is a necessity to reduce the size of the market. Using Sutton’s market reduction approach, the study sets out to collect empirical data on the market from eBay. The thesis considers three main research questions: First, is the current regulatory framework for the sale of antiquities adequate? Second, what is the scale and scope of the market on eBay for antiquities? Third, what are the routine features of the operation of this market?

This study seeks to understand and explain the problem of online child sexual abuse (CSA). More specifically, it presents a theoretical and empirical investigation of the current tactics and operational procedures employed by the London Metropolitan Police High Technological Crime Unit (HTCU) and Paedophile Unit, and it explores patterns and characteristics of online grooming. The thesis is divided into two parts. Part One is concerned with theoretical, empirical and legislative context. It critically reviews the existing literature on online CSA and assesses the operational challenges to policing this high profile social problem. Part Two uses this framework to explore the methods and practices used by suspected sex offenders to groom children online, and the covert and overt procedures used by the police to tackle online CSA. The approach is ethnographic in nature, since this is the only way in which the complex dynamics that shape the perpetration and policing of online eSA can be explored in sufficient depth. Other methods such as participant observation, in depth interviews and narrative and case analysis of sex offenders were also utilised. Key findings highlight that whilst there is no such. thing as a typical online child groomer, it is nevertheless both possible and instructive to identify a range of distinctive child grooming behaviours. The research explores a spectrum of grooming behaviours from online fantasists who groom for immediate sexual gratification in the virtual world, to persistent predators who groom online to lay the foundations for CSA in the physical world. This study shows that sex offenders can anonymously and simultaneously target a number of victims in a short period of time without taking into account the risk of being monitored by the police. Findings also emphasize that the police must prioritise in order to allocate their limited resources to dealing with those online groomers who are perceived to pose the greatest risk in the physical world. Informed prioritisation is a process that requires undercover officers entering the world of the online groomers and interacting over time to develop an understanding of their intentions. This research explores the complex, multi-faceted and at times counterintuitive relationships between online grooming behaviours, risk assessment, police practices, and the actual danger of subsequent abuse in the physical world. The ultimate aim is to generate a deeper knowledge and understanding of the under researched and sensitive area of online CSA, with direct relevance to policy and practice. This research makes an original contribution to theory, methods and epistemology.

In Chapter one I introduce the subject of geographic profiling, its use in criminology and its previous application to biology. I go on in Chapter two to examine the original model and develop a likelihood-based approach to fit the parameters to data from 53 UK invasive species. GP performs well on this novel problem, and outperforms other simple spatial modelling techniques. Using simulations I show that GP is particularly efficient at locating sources when there is more than a single source. Chapter three develops a Bayesian approach using Dirichlet Processes to account for the problem of multiple sources. This model was developed in collaboration with Robert Verity. This new Bayesian model outperforms the original model used in criminology and offers a range of additional information from the data. The Bayesian GP model is then used to determine the sources of malaria outbreaks in Cairo. These developments significantly improve and extend the theory and application of GP. In Chapter four I discuss the possible shapes of dispersal functions. I conduct a review of the literature and find a geometric mistake in the way linear distributions have been extracted from two-dimensional data. The correct back-transformation allows these dispersal distributions to be properly generated. Using this information; ecologists, conservationists and resources managers can now apply GP to real world problems and effectively allocate limited resources to locate sources of species invasions and disease outbreaks. I go on in Chapter five to develop a method for fitting the primary parameter sigma from the point pattern data and run simulations to show the effectiveness of this new approach. In Chapter six I illustrate the application of GP to three problems, one in criminology, one in ecology and one in epidemiology. I finish by summarising the work in this thesis and discussing the potential future developments and applications of GP.

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