Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Criminal Justice, 2009. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Jul 14, 2010). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-12, Section: A, page: 4866. Adviser: Marla R. Sandys.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Fairleigh Dickinson University, 2001. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 61-12, Section: B, page: 6697. Chairperson: Linda A. Reddy. Available also in print.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Fairleigh Dickinson University, 2004. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 65-06, Section: B, page: 3155. Chair: Robert McGrath. Available also in print.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Criminal Justice, 2006. / "Title from dissertation home page (viewed July 5, 2007)." Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-08, Section: A, page: 3172. Advisers: Steven Chermak; Kip Schlegel; William Oliver.

This dissertation argues that community policing--which police describe as a form of policing centered around the principles of partnership, prevention and problem solving--is an illusion which serves to legitimate the police without fundamentally changing the way police do their job. Community policing, I argue, is a logical extension and refinement of the basic technics of policing. This is evident in the ways that police hope to organize city residents into a policing body within which civilians serve as the eyes and ears of the police. It is evident also in the ways that police are dominating urban space. A second argument is that because of its emphasis on partnership, community policing contains within it a mechanism--unintended by its architects and unrecognized by police--by which communities can shape police practice even as police strive to shape, control and in some cases dissolve communities. Thus community policing is one such instance in which the very means by which a repressive agency of the state bureaucracy exercises its power can serve not only as a point of resistance to state projects but may even provide a mechanism for shoring up and reconstituting popular traditions--in this case, community. In Boston, civilians hope to use community policing as a means for capturing and thereby shaping police practice and for (re-)building neighborhood-based communities. My discussion draws upon twenty months of field experience in Boston where I interviewed community activists and engaged police and communities through intensive participant observation.

In the last twenty years there has been a growing desire to devolve justice interventions to the level of the community. An example of one such initiative is the justice committee program, an extrajudicial program set up in a number of Canadian communities to address minor youth cases, and cases involving Aboriginal people. This thesis is a capacity assessment of justice committees in Aboriginal communities in Quebec. With the help of literature on restorative community justice, crime prevention and building sustainable community programs, this thesis explores the recommended capacities for the implementation of sustainable justice committees, as well as the capacities perceived to be currently available to some justice committees in Aboriginal communities in Quebec. Through personal observations gathered during my work with justice committees in the past and interviews with various individuals working closely with justice committees in Quebec, this thesis found that a number of capacities were either lacking or were sporadically available to the communities studied. It concludes that with a common vision of the program's purpose, careful consideration of a community's ability to effectively intervene, and increased collaboration, resources and training; justice committees will be more likely to be implemented in a sustainable manner.

In 2003, the Islamic Institute of Civil Justice announced their intention of providing arbitration services to resolve family law disputes according to Islamic law. Concerned that such arbitration might be inconsistent with principles of equality and Ontario family law, many women's organizations and members of the public called on the government of Ontario to prohibit the use of arbitration based on religious law, in particular Islamic law. On September 11, 2005 the Government of Ontario announced that all family arbitration must be conducted in accordance with Ontario and Canadian law, thereby making faith-based arbitration awards non-enforceable. The purpose of this study is to explore the media's representation of faith-based arbitration in family law. A latent content analysis of Ontario newspaper articles was conducted to explore how the media portrayed the issue of faith-based arbitration. A sample of editorial, column, and opinion pieces from mainstream English Ontario newspapers published between December 13, 2003 and February 16, 2006 were selected. An analysis of the articles found common representations of women, immigrants and the Islamic faith, multiculturalism and religious freedom, and the justice system. More specifically, the findings from this study indicate that the media was misguided in defining the issue of faith-based arbitration. This occurred in one of three ways; either as faith-based arbitration exceeding the boundaries of multiculturalism, as eroding the secular state, or as contradicting the principle of one law for all. A second finding from this study was that much of the media coverage was alarmist and misinformed with strong signs of Islamophobia and the stereotyping of religious groups. As well, in accordance with Ayelet Shachar's (2001, 2005) view that multiculturalism is often portrayed as in conflict with women's equality rights, one of the major findings of this study is that the media depicted faith-based arbitration as a competition between women's equality rights and religious freedom (or multiculturalism). In conclusion, it is argued that the media's representation of faith-based arbitration was frequently misleading, alarmist, and uninformed. Although faith-based arbitration is conducted in other faith communities, the media coverage focussed primarily on the Muslim community, with stereotypes and alarmist rhetoric pervasive throughout the coverage. Indeed, there was a lack of knowledge about Islam, faith-based arbitration, and multiculturalism in the media's representation of faith-based arbitration.

Traditionally criminological inquiry has excluded the voices of female partners of imprisoned men, leaving their lived experiences and impacts of incarceration unacknowledged. This is a disturbing oversight in light of the stigmatization of this group both by the correctional system and in society. This thesis is an exploratory study that seeks to capture some of the experiences and challenges faced by female partners of male prisoners to shed light on their lived realities. In order to do so, this study has built upon symbolic interactionism, by drawing on Goffman's concept of stigma, the more recent theorizing around this concept as well as the issue of resistance. This theoretical framework has provided a useful lens through which to examine how structural stigma and interpersonal stigma are experienced by female partners of prisoners. The research is a qualitative study. Five female partners of male prisoners were interviewed regarding their experiences, challenges, and negotiations in the correctional and social spheres. The findings were analyzed and ultimately broken down into four sections: the challenges experienced in corrections and in the social realm, the hardships of intimate relations related to incarceration and the positive side to enforced separation. The analysis revealed that the experiences and coping strategies of women partners of prisoners are diverse. Further, structural stigma and interpersonal stigma (in particular the use of search technologies) were significantly present. In response to these challenges the study highlights that the women engaged in numerous tactics of overt and covert resistance. The findings, while recognizing the agency of these women also speaks to the imperative need for Corrections to humanize their policies and practices.

La présente thèse porte sur un examen des discours des représentants politiques dans le cadre des débats sur l'adoption du projet de loi antiterroriste C-36 et cible essentiellement les documents officiels du Hansard de la Chambre des communes et du Sénat, ainsi que les rapports et les témoignages de leurs comités respectifs. Cette étude identifié comment ces parlementaires perçoivent le potentiel d'abus des droits et libertés de cette loi, quelles sont les protections qu'ils croient nécessaires pour les éviter, et quels sont les éléments de ces discours qui ont prévalu dans la version finale de ce projet de loi au regard de son dépôt initial. L'analyse de cette imposante documentation nous a permis de constater le lien unissant la compréhension de la menace et les solutions perçues, donc la perception de ce qui est abusif, équilibré, efficace et nécessaire, mais également d'identifier les débats passés sous silence.

Since the 1980's a number of amendments have been made to the Canadian criminal justice system and Canadian police services in an effort to increase the reporting of sexual assault cases. According to the Department of Justice Canada (1997) the term sexual assault is used to refer to criminal acts, which range from any unwanted sexual touching to forced intercourse. However, despite reforms, under-reporting continues to remain drastically high. This study uses Anthony Giddens' social theory of structuration as a theoretical framework and employs semi-structured in-depth qualitative interviews as a data collection method to analyze and further an understanding of female sexual assault survivors' perceptions of police investigations and their reasons for not reporting their assaults. The data collected for this study was analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings suggest that survivor perceptions of police investigations had an impact on their decisions not to report their assaults to police. Additionally, survivors indicated that their decisions not to report were also contingent upon the overarching theme of fear of being discredited. Within this theme, the sub-themes of self-blame and guilt, previous sexual history, lack of understanding of police investigation, and distrust of the Canadian criminal justice system also impacted participants' decision-making processes in regard to that which they elected to report to police. These findings were analyzed using Anthony Giddens' theory of structuration, and can be used to further our understanding of why sexual assault survivors may choose not to report their assaults to police.