This thesis defends epistemological pragmatism against arguments which see it as a compromise position and the term 'reflexive pragmatism' is adopted as a theoretical position suitable for a post-modern perspective. The route to this pragmatic perspective is outlined in criminal justice by a historical narrative of the development of criminal justice perspectives. "Progressive" criminal justice is seen as having undergone three stages: an early modern founding in philosophical construction; a modern faith in science based on the naturalist conception of the so-called natural sciences; and a late-modern pluralism of conceptions which serves as the backdrop to the rise in Just Deserts ideology. The present is seen as a complex and ambiguous situation. The advent of the post-modern consciousness, or the pragmatisation of belonging, both lowers modernist confidence and allows the possibility of confident power plays to dominate. The allure of simplistic solutions is ever present and the rhetoric of Just Deserts is seen as one socio-political choice concerning the proceduralisation of justice when the foundational security of rationalism or empiricism is seen to be lacking. This choice is implicitly contrasted to a reflexive pragmatic position, which, although underdeveloped and only possible to conceive of as 'notes for a potential', is radically different to the formalism of Just Deserts on issues such as objectivity, fairness and in the self-consciousness of the relativism, and human foundation it offers the notion of 'justice'. Considering contemporary penal practice, although Just Deserts espouses the rhetoric of return to punishment and strict formalism, other factors ensure that a complementary provisions to imprisonment are being utilized. In the range of arguments and conflicting perspectives room for experimentation may well exist. Considering the macro-sociological perspectives of Norbert Elias and Niklas Luhmann there are grounds for believing that rehabilitation was not merely a product of criminological positivism or the welfare state, but is reflective of the demands of increasingly differentiated and interfunctional societies. There are grounds therefore, for seeing the rhetoric of Just Deserts as only one facet - the production of post-modern 'selves' able to play their part in complex, differentiated and interdependent post-modern societies demands techniques of installing self-discipline. The catch is that such societies may require less selves, hence there is also the prospect of a developing underclass who will provide the basis of coercive control whilst alternative forms of social control structure the life games of the supra-class.

Motivating offenders to engage in a treatment programme is important as engagement in treatment is often seen as an intermediate goal before behaviour change (Ward, Day, Howells & Birgden, 2004). A lack of motivation is a reason why some offenders drop out of treatment (McMurran & McCulloch, 2007; Pelisser, 2007) and dropping out of treatment can lead to an increased risk of recidivism (Cann, Falshaw, Nugent, & Friendship, 2003; Hanson & Bussiere, 1998; McMurran & Theodosi, 2007; Hanson & Harris, 2000). This thesis reports on the construction, on-going development and testing of a goal-based semi-structured interview procedure that holds potential to explore an offender's treatment motivation: the Personal Aspirations and Concerns Inventory – for Offenders (PACI-O). A pilot study confirmed the suitability of the PACI-O for use with offenders. Psychometric testing indicated that the PACI-O can identify adaptive and maladaptive motivation profiles in an offender. These motivation profiles were found to be related to the degree to which the offenders in the general prison population engaged in a cognitive skills treatment programme. This indicates that the PACI-O has potential as a measure of offender treatment motivation. Results of a randomised controlled trial indicated that some offenders who complete the PACI-O before treatment engage more in treatment, finish with a better motivation structure and have reduced impulsivity levels (high impulsivity has been linked to recidivism risk; Wong & Gordon, 1998) compared to offenders who attend treatment as usual. It was concluded that the PACI-O may have utility as an initial assessment of treatment motivation that can highlight problems with an offender's motivation structure which, if not attended to, may impede on their treatment engagement. Furthermore, due to the additional focus on personal goals, the PACI-O interview procedure may have utility as a brief, time-efficient pre-treatment motivation enhancer.

No description available.

Community based restorative justice organisations developed in Northern Ireland as response to a specific community problem of paramilitary punishment beatings. They have grown to become critical components not only within the communities in which they practice but also in establishing relationships between community and State in a transitional post-conflict Northern Ireland. Community based restorative justice organisations only developed in a Loyalist community context in paramilitary constituencies associated with the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). This thesis contributes to knowledge as the first research study of restorative practices being implemented in a Loyalist community associated with the Ulster Defence Association (UDA). In addition, this thesis also considers community based restorative justice being introduced to a community not in response to a specific issue of paramilitary punishment attacks but as a conduit in developing alternative and deepened experiences of justice within a community context. This study connects with an extensive European Union funded research project involving research sites in member states including Austria, Belgium, Hungary, Norway, Serbia and Northern Ireland. This is a qualitative research study of a Loyalist community in South Belfast. Participants were selected using snowball sampling techniques to include a broad spectrum of participants with knowledge not only of the research site but also community based restorative justice. The individuals chosen for this research include restorative practitioners, residents of the research site, politicians, clergy, statutory sector employees, police officers and members of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA). Throughout the thesis it will be demonstrated that restorative practices when permitted the space to operate on an equitable basis without subservience to statutory regulations can enable a community to respond to harm and conflict more effectively than the traditional mechanisms of conflict resolution to which the community has become accustomed. However, it will be argued that the capacity for community based restorative practices to actualise it's potential is inhibited by the impact of system and pseudo-system factors.

This thesis attempts to answer the question why, and by what right, do some people punish others. I begin by examining the retributivist theory, largely through an analysis of the work of Kant and Hegel. I conclude that no adequate justification can be given for the core retributivist claim. I then go on to examine consequentialist theories of punishment and "mixed" accounts. I find that the former, like consequentialism generally, cannot accommodate the special value of persons and, thus, cannot give an adequate account of just punishment. "Mixed" accounts are also found to be flawed as they do nothing to resolve the tensions between their retributive and consequentialist elements. I go on to examine the "fair play" theory. I conclude that such a theory cannot justify punishment nor can it capture the truth of our moral obligations. I argue that fair play theorists rely on a contractarian understanding of morality and it is this that should underpin the account of punishment. Turning to contractarianism, I look at three different approaches, justice as reciprocity, as mutual advantage, and as impartiality. I argue that none of these approaches can give either an adequate grounding to justice nor to punishment. Instead I argue for a combination of mutual advantage and impartiality. That is, I argue that each agent has a prudential reason to enter into an agreement with others to co-operate on moral terms, (that is terms which would be agreed between agents conceived as fundamentally equal), but that such a reason is not sufficient. In the absence of any decisive reason, I claim that each individual so agrees as an act of existential commitment. The community thus formed is a coercive one, for it is necessary that the condition of sufficient security be fulfilled through the coercion of free-riders. Such coercion is converted into moral punishment only through being addressed to the offender as a member of the moral community. The theory of punishment combines these two elements in "hard treatment" and retributive blaming.

This thesis focuses on the use of Restorative Practices (RP) in two Singapore Secondary Schools. Relying mainly on the use of in-depths interviews with 149 students and 30 teachers, this study examines how the two schools’ contexts and cultural demands affect the definitions, adaptations and practices of RP. The research shows that RP is predominantly used as a disciplinary tool in order to uphold existing social norms. Many teachers could articulate the non-negotiables that must be secured in all circumstances such as those of ‘non-domination’ and ‘respectful listening’. Teachers spoke of RP as primarily about building relationships and it is about doing things with (and not to) students. However we see instances of teachers’ domination over students when teachers dictated the type of answers students were to write down on their RP forms. The relationship between corporal punishment and RP is also examined. While many teachers believed that ‘pure RP’ should not co-exist with caning, they still preferred the status quo and argued that RP should be taken as a complementary framework alongside existing corrective practices and punishment, rather than as a replacement to the existing disciplinary framework. Through an analysis of a case conference, we see how caning is retained in part because it is taken to be the utmost symbol of hard treatment that is required to express condemnation in cases of major offences. Finally, the specific context of the school is important in analysing participants’ ability to engage in RP processes such as class conferences or circles. The class is not a homogenous community that is resolving issues collectively but consists of a group of individuals who belong to a class that is attempting to resolve things but the very coming together as a class to resolve and discuss issues creates difficulty for things to get done because of the group dynamics involved.

This research explores how probation officers utilise certain aspects of attachment theory as they supervise service users in the community. An action research methodology was used to follow the work of a sample of probation officers over a six month period, focusing on four key attachment based themes. A selection of cases were followed and the discussions between researcher and participants analysed. The findings supported the idea that a probation officer could come to represent something of a secure base to their service users, and demonstrated how attachment histories could be used constructively in supervision. However, the concepts of mentalization and the reflective function had only limited utility, and that of attachment style very little at all. The evidence suggested that the first two concepts were sufficiently digestible and memorable to be applied by non-specialists, whereas the latter two concepts had too many theoretical ambiguities to be useful or offer anything unique to practice. There was an absence of formal theoretical terminology in the practitioners' discussions, and the process by which theory featured in practice resembled that of practice wisdom. The data for this project was gathered at the end of 2013 and the beginning of 2014, and soon afterwards the Probation Service in England and Wales underwent a restructuring; it is not clear if the Probation Service/Community Rehabilitation Companies of the future will allow the type of practice described by the practitioners here.

Female prison officers have an important role to play in the lives of the imprisoned women they are charged with ‘looking after’. This thesis draws upon 64 days of research, over 35 weeks, over a 12-month period to produce a unique ethnographic study of female frontline officers responsible for female prisoners in a public sector prison in England. This thesis offers a snapshot of prison life during a particularly tumultuous period in contemporary British penology, whilst providing an important counter-narrative to previous gendered studies of prison occupational culture. Staff-prisoner relationships are central to the running of prisons (Sparks et al, 1996) and this thesis argues these relationships are becoming less robust due to the lack of face-to-face contact, reducing personal interactions and ultimately the quality of the prison regime. This thesis also argues mental illness is a key challenge for the prison officers, and will highlight the officer’s knowledge of this issue is limited due to a lack of sufficient training being available. This thesis will also address the impact of the occupation on female officers, and how personal issues such as childbirth can create unique emotional burdens for some of the female officers. Relatedly, this thesis argues prison is an emotional milieu where the officers are forced to manage their emotions under pressure, and how the mis-management of these emotions can lead to the job spilling-over into the private lives of the prison officers. Finally, this thesis will provide critical engagement with the theoretical aspects of prison occupational culture; spill-over and contamination, and the sociology of emotions.

The community-based restorative justice projects in Republican and Loyalist communities in Northern Ireland which are the focus of this thesis are some of the most high-profile developments of restorative justice in the world. The projects were established with the explicit aim of providing non-violent alternatives to punishment shootings and beatings as practiced by paramilitary groups in both communities at the time, and are led by former combatants of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) and the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). The projects are unique in that they were established and have operated independently from the state, and they represent a truly grassroots response to local problems 'with crime and antisocial behaviour. This thesis specifically investigates.how such grassroots initiatives can challenge cultures of violence at the individual and community levels within a period of transition from conflict to stable democratic rule. Furthermore, it investigates the potentials of bridge-building, both within communities as a form of community empowerment and capacity building; and between historically estranged communities and the state, both important contributions in the transitional phase. The arguments in this thesis speaks to broader debates within restorative justice by exploring the extent to which the framework may be applied to much more serious incidents of violence and criminality, rather than its traditional focus on juvenile and minor crimes. Moreover, it aims to contribute to the emerging literature on a criminological approach to peace-building, both within post-conflict societies and high-crime communities elsewhere.

One of the most conspicuous trends in contemporary criminal justice policy is the increased influence of penal populism, which favours reliance on severe punishment to solve social issues. Within this discourse, the “victim” has emerged as an important focus of recent developments in criminal law; likewise, the rhetorical role of victims has been expanded within criminal justice policy-making. This new victim-centred perspective has changed the landscape of criminal justice by shifting its focus from traditional criminal law norms that impose responsibility on offenders after the commission of crimes, towards more regulatory responses aimed at managing potential risks to victims. This study argues specifically that, in England and Wales and South Korea, victim-driven criminal justice policy in the area of sexual offending against children operates as part of a trend towards penal populism leading to a reinforcement of the state’s power to intervene, which is mainly influenced by the American policy mode,. The ultimate purpose of this research is to discover how to conceptualise the interrelation of these trends and how to explain this convergence and divergence of policies by comparatively examining legislative responses to sexual offences against children through the conceptual framework of “policy transfer.” The political rhetoric and the rationales used by legislators who advocate such legislation and its role in policy transfer are also examined. Furthermore, by comparing two different settings of transfer that show a similar movement towards US-driven punitive trends, this thesis will explore the possibility that the phenomenon of transfer can occur not only between countries with similar legal systems and cultural traditions, but also between countries which have entirely different legal systems and cultures. Examining what makes convergence and divergence between jurisdictions relevant aids understanding of how legislation and policies have been developed in response to similar policy issues in different cultural settings.