Independent advocacy to support children and young people undertaking a Family Group Conference (FGC) is commonplace in England and Wales. This approach is viewed as good practice when working with young people in promoting their rights, agency, and participation in statutory social work meetings and processes where decisions are being undertaken that directly affect them. FGC provides a forum that allows statutory social workers to work in partnership with children and families where there are identified welfare concerns. However, the use of advocacy approaches within the FGC model researched in this study differs from the successful original processes developed in New Zealand. The study uses interviews with FGC participants, both users and practitioners, and an analysis of legislative and policy documents. It suggests that adapting the FGC model by changing its core processes of advocacy and coordination has had a variety of consequences, many unforeseen and negative as well as positive and affirming for young people and their families. The study found that empowerment, collaboration, and participation, all major precepts and objectives for FGC and advocacy approaches, were at times disrupted and diffused. This undermined rather than enhanced the experiences and the outcomes for service users with many feeling disempowered rather than empowered through the process. Hence the exercise of power through the processes of FGC Advocacy is held up to critical scrutiny and its impact both positive and negative on the FGC participants is discussed in depth.

This thesis makes an original contribution to the study of online support on domestic violence (often referred to as online support communities/groups) through a discursive feminist perspective. Whilst the few previous studies on the topic are limited in scope, this is the first to adopt a mixed methods approach, exploring the topic through three sets of data from one online support forum on domestic violence: qualitative textual analysis of threads (n=215); an online survey (n=70); and two interviews with the manager of the forum and the moderator. The thesis aims to explore the role of an online support forum for women in the process of ending violence in their lives. Six aspects of online support are explored: forum-host’s goals, history and development of the forum; the experience of online support from the perspective of its members; exploring the themes and topics dealt with in the forum; how forum users perceive the impact and relevance of these themes; how members construct emotions, violence, victims and perpetrators in written postings; and how members use violence discourse in support processes. The analysis of these aspects provides a new body of evidence regarding the possibilities of online support groups. First, interviews with the forum hosts give a unique insight to the challenges with hosting the forum, pursuing moderation, and the limits and possibilities with using a public anonymous space. Second, through the survey, a sample of forum-members describes an eclectic form of mutual support, the experience of moderator’s work, and the interaction with other members. The forum's impact on participants’ understanding of violence, help-seeking and decision-making is measured. Third, the analysis of threads demonstrates in-depth members’ reflexive work (Giddens, 1991) in the forum, which comprehends the whole processes of ending violence, and shows how members use violence discourse to understand violence, manage emotions and encourage specific choices and actions. A discursive theoretical perspective explicates how support processes are enacted within and according to a normative practice. The findings suggest previously overlooked issues, in particular with regard to flexible long-term support for women with experiences of domestic violence (Kelly et al, 2014).

Background: In the UK alone it is estimated that there are 2.1 million adult electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) users (Action on Smoking and Health, 2014). Introduced to the UK in 2006, ecigarette use has grown rapidly from 700,000 users in 2012 (Kmietowicz, 2014). Given that smoking initiation begins for the most part during adolescence, it is debatable as to whether the e-cigarette could be a gateway into addiction for adolescent non-smokers. This study examined awareness and use of the e-cigarette amongst adolescents, exploring factors that could lead to willingness to try the e-cigarette and susceptibility to smoking conventional cigarettes. Method: Using a between-participants survey design, power analysis calculated a sample size of at least 103 for medium effect. Exceeding this, 256 adolescent pupils aged 16 to 19 years consented to take part in the study. Survey data was collected in November 2013, during a series of 45-minute workshops held during school time. Data was analysed using chi-squared analysis and hierarchical multiple regression. RESULTS: Nearly all participants had heard of the e-cigarette (94.5%), with friends/family (49.2%) being the most frequently named source of information, followed by television (35.2%). Of the sample 14.5% had used an e-cigarette. Participants were more willing to try flavoured as opposed to the unflavoured version. Smoking status significantly predicted over a third of the variance of willingness to try an e-cigarette (F(1,254) = 141.81, p < .05) and a further 7.8% of the variance was significantly predicted by a positive prototype of a smoker and a negative prototype of an e-cigarette user (R² change = .078, F (8,246) = 4.27, p < 0.05). Willingness to try an e-cigarette was a significant predictor of susceptibility to use of an e-cigarette in the next year (F (1,253) = 174.71, p < .05) and smoking in the next year, in non-smokers (F(1,190) = 60.34, p < .05). Conclusion: Findings illustrated high levels of e-cigarette awareness among adolescents in a London, UK population. Use, whilst at low levels, had increased from the 10% reported in 2012 by Action on Smoking and Health (2014). Willingness to try an e-cigarette was associated with use susceptibility in the next year for both e-cigarettes and conventional cigarettes. This could be interpreted as a gateway effect, in terms of adolescents inclined to use e-cigarettes and then switch to conventional cigarettes (Bell and Keane, 2014). Future research using longitudinal methodologies would enable researchers to track the trend in e-cigarette use over time, observing whether e-cigarettes are truly serving as a gateway to addiction for other forms of nicotine products. Furthermore, prevention efforts to minimise smoking in youths should educate them about e-cigarette use as a cessation aid for smokers.

Despite its stated importance to outcome evaluations, ‘programme integrity’ has long been lamented as a lacuna in the literature, especially in relation to domestic violence perpetrator programmes (DVPPs). Indeed, the literature reveals a lack of clarity regarding programme integrity in any context, although a baseline definition recognises its role as being to ensure programmes are delivered as intended and with a high level of efficacy. A ‘dominant definition’ emerges which is premised on programmes being subject to experimental models of development and evaluation and thus requiring strict adherence to a manual. This study draws on interviews with British DVPP pioneers, current practitioners and a case study, to explore how programme integrity is understood and practised in British DVPPs. The study finds that the dominant definition is inadequate to capture the practise of DVPPs due to their ‘process-driven’ approach which relies upon a high level of reflexivity, responsivity, and innovation. Furthermore, DVPPs require a concept of programme integrity – directly related to group-work delivery – which is embedded within a wider ‘service integrity’ which recognises the ways in which all aspects of the DVPP service contribute to integrity. The Respect Accreditation Standard requires that the work of the whole service is taken into account but this ‘whole service approach’ has not always translated into a ‘whole service ethos’ since the men’s group-work aspect of the service is often given prominence in terms of resources and status. Thus, a concept of ‘service integrity’ is presented which builds on the Accreditation Standard and encourages a culture, or ‘whole service ethos’, that properly recognises and addresses the contributions of the whole service to achieve an intervention which is effective and innovative, and has ‘integrity’.

The aim of this body of work has been to explore the anti-social behaviour and criminality of disaffected young people. In particular, my focus has been on how the perception of young offenders as ‘youth at risk’ needing guidance has metamorphosed into one of ‘gang’ membership requiring a punitive response. My work examines how community agencies and the criminal justice system have responded to this shift and focuses on the consequences for young people. Theoretically, this body of work has been influenced by a constructionist epistemology and incorporates a feminist methodology. The research work upon which this body of work rests consists mainly of qualitative research with marginalised young people, family members and practitioners working with them. My findings, detailed in various publications, have challenged assumptions about anti-social youngsters, the nature of collective offending by young people and the role the family plays in ‘gang-related’ offending. Most notably, they have sought to shape academic and political discourse in Britain by adopting a critical position against the prevailing view that ‘gang-related’ offending is the primary driver for the rise in violent offences. The work has contributed to the conceptualisation of ‘gang’ groups as they exist in contemporary Britain. It has influenced public policy on the gang, particularly in relation to defining the gang, on crime control and it has rerouted the debate about the involvement of girls and young women in street-based groups.

Public order policing is about power and control. The preservation and maintenance of order is a defining characteristic of the sovereign power. It is a highly political activity which is also emotive, controversial and reflects national culture and identity. Public order policing asks serious questions of the police and represents the most contentious policing activity in modern democratic states. The purpose of this study is to increase and improve current knowledge of public order policing by comparing the policing of disorder in Britain and Spain. It reviews two high profile incidents, the 2011 London Riots and the 2014 "22M" Protests in Madrid, using a fusion of Waddington’s "Flashpoints Model" and Herbert’s "Normative Orders" to comparatively analyse the incidents. The study is supported by a comprehensive literature review and interviews with experienced police public order commanders. This thesis concludes that British public order policing is in need of considerable reform to improve operational effectiveness, efficiency and professionalism. It identifies several key themes which contributed to the inability of the Metropolitan Police to respond effectively to the serious disorder and criminality which proliferated across 22 of London’s 32 boroughs in August 2011. These include the need to review British public order tactics, invest in the training of specialist public order units and improve the understanding of crowd psychology. Practical recommendations are suggested which would refine, enhance and improve the ability of the British public order policing model to respond to the challenges of serious disorder in the twenty first century.

Discussions about risk are central to the formulation of criminal justice and penal policies. They shape ways of perceiving and responding to what is deemed risky behavior. This thesis builds upon research about the application and effects of “the new penology”, with its emphasis on “actuarialism”, which promotes quantitative methods used in accountancy as an analytical method for risk assessment. This thesis goes beyond policy texts and theories providing original contribution that explores how the police and the probation services actually interpret and implement policy and manage mutual institutional pressures and biases. It does so by using interviews and debriefing process with police and probation practitioners, as well as by drawing upon the author’s own professional experience. This thesis identifies some of the effects of implementing actuarial practices within police and probation working, looking at convergent and divergent views. It aims at a clearer understanding of the partnership working between police and probation services arising from different perspectives and response to risk. The findings support the notion that actuarial practices permeate this arena of public protection; influencing intra and inter-service partnerships and the implementation of MAPPA aims. Actuarial analysis accentuates a tendency to prioritise police crime control policies but not without resistance from probation officers. A number of MAPPA deficiencies including ineffective information sharing processes exist between critical partners impeding partnership working. Disagreements formed from differences in organisational aims of rehabilitation and crime control, accentuated by the actuarial risk assessment methodology. Repeated working together of personnel and development of collaborative initiatives helped alleviate misunderstandings. Conflict between the two services was most acute in relation to the transfer process, breach of licence conditions and recall to custody of offenders. Gaps in knowledge and experience created significant issues particularly for those new to risk management and the responsibilities associated to this arena of public protection work. Activities to aid communal development were identified through organisational learning founded in communities of practice and isomorphic learning encouraging the growth of networks of learning. Crisis causation models and the systemic lessons learned knowledge model (Syllk) provided diverse perspectives to assess people, learning, culture, social values, technology, process and infrastructure. Improvements in any combination of these factors supported the development of trust and learning between agencies. The Transforming Rehabilitation agenda transformed the public protection world and amplified the negative aspects of the findings in this thesis. Anxieties about data, information sharing and the effectiveness of the framework to transfer cases between agencies are a contemporary problem for the National Probation Service and Community Rehabilitation Companies to tackle. Failure to do so will place the public at greater risk.

This thesis sought to explore how restorative justice (RJ) could be implemented into the Bermuda Department of Corrections using action research. The aim was to explore how RJ can work for victims and incarcerated offenders in Bermuda in regards to the potential for reduction of harm, increasing empathy and as an addition to the existing CJS. Training was provided and partnerships established with the Bermuda Police Service and Prison Fellowship Bermuda for the specific purpose of the initiative. Phase-one involved the introduction of two prerequisite programmes (Victim Empathy and the Sycamore Tree) that offenders were invited to voluntarily participate in. Respectively, one programme delivered by Corrections staff and consisting of only prisoners and the other delivered by Prison Fellowship facilitators and involving 16 surrogate victim-participants. A mixed-method approach was used to examine impact and process. These included questionnaires pre and post the phase-one programmes and the CRIME-PICS II psychometric to assess attitudinal change, participatory and non-participatory observations and a focus group. Both programmes increased the offenders’ empathy while the Sycamore Tree programme involving participants from the community, helped create further positive attitudinal change on the main scales measured by the CRIME-PICS II. 93% of the Sycamore Tree victim-participants were ‘very satisfied’ overall and ‘would definitely’ recommend the programme to others. Qualitative findings indicated victim healing, with some referring to a sense of closure and forgiveness for themselves and the offender. The second-phase introduced RJ conferencing, two conferences were held and the experience of participants was again very positive. The offenders considered trained conference facilitators from the Police and Corrections as being impartial. Overall benefits for both parties (offenders and victims) indicated a promising start to the initiative. A number of previous findings from empirical research were found in the current study. Victims valued having a voice and rehabilitation; and offenders valued the ‘victim’s forgiveness and reintegration’. The social interconnectedness of Bermuda creates a need for RJ as the stigmatization of criminality often extends beyond the offender to include their family. The pilot indicated the need in some cases for reparatory preparation work with offenders and their families before the offender feels comfortable, or able to call upon family members as conference supporters. Further the importance of community lay in the fact that the likelihood of victims coming into contact with the person who offended against them, once released is virtually inevitable. The success of the action research pilot led to the Department of Corrections adopting the initiative and continuing with it and produced nine trained facilitators. The content of the Sycamore Tree Project was superior as a phase-one prerequisite programme to RJ conferencing; however, an adaption to the programme would be needed to reduce the strong religious content. Victims and offenders benefitted from the initiative.

Tensions between public expectations for police governance and ethical governance mirror recent spectacular governance failures. Several recent Canadian commissions of inquiry and court cases critical of the police have suggested police governance need to be more direct and assertive. The small numbers of academic studies that focused on the unique field of policing have largely ignored the behaviour of police boards responsible for their governance. More importantly is the apparent lack of attention paid by those responsible for police governance to the criticality of the pluralistic nature of policing itself. This research focuses on police boards in particular and not the police, with particular attention given to the link between their ethical decision-making and public trust. National leads in police governance, representing regional and national boards and board associations from across the country, were interviewed for this research. Eight key aspects of police governance were analyzed, and a number of gaps between current and best practices were identified. Ultimately, a number of recommendations are made to close those gaps, including the contribution of a new universal assessment instrument for police governance: the parallax perspective tool.

The purpose of this study is to explore how the experience of being looked after impacts on the emotional wellbeing of black and dual heritage young people. Looked after children and young people have been identified as a specific group whose views need to contribute to the development of policy (DfES, 2007). However, studies gaining the views of black and dual heritage looked after young people are limited, thus their needs remain under researched and largely unknown. Guided by the philosophical assumptions and methodological approach of Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis a semi-structured face-to-face interview was conducted with ten (n-10) care experienced black and dual heritage young people. Five (n-5) black and dual heritage social workers who were experienced in working with this demographic were also interviewed. Three superordinate themes were identified from the interpretive analysis: 1) Emotional Unavailability, 2) Ethnicity, and 3) Surviving School. A number of subordinate themes were also identified under each theme. The findings suggest that black and dual heritage looked after young people have additional and different needs from the general looked after population. The young people emphasised a lack of authentically warm relationships with their foster carers and to a lesser extent with their social workers. The findings raise challenging issues for teachers who were experienced by the young people as being insensitive and judgmental. An underpinning concern was the lack of recognition from foster carers of their identities as black and dual heritage young people. In attempting to move towards service improvement the data analysis lead to a number of recommendations for key professionals, local authorities and future research. Underpinning these recommendations is an emphasis on the importance of listening to the voices of this vulnerable group.