It is said that "one picture is worth a thousand words". This implies that pictorial testimony has more value than ten witnesses. The witnesses may give different views on the same issue, and, furthermore, they may forget some of the facts. Due to human error, omission, and defects such as old age and sight problems, they are contributing factors for people to give different accounts of the same events. The study entails the various roles of photography, such as recording the crime scene and that photography is considered as evidence in court. Investigators may use them for both suspects' and witnesses' interviewing. Furthermore, witnesses and victims may use them to refresh their memories, and the court uses them to prove the matter at issue. This indicates that photographs have a major role to play in the judicial and investigation processes. / Police Practice / M. Tech. (Forensic Investigation)

Vandalism is a problem for many communities across Scotland negatively affecting the lives of people who live in them. Whilst there has been recent research into the broad phenomena of anti-social behaviour, there has been little recent research into the specific phenomena of vandalism. In particular, little is understood about why vandalism often persistently re-occurs year in year out in particular locations. Wider research into crime and place suggests that, opportunities to commit crime, levels of relative deprivation, and the capacity or belief that a community can work together (collective efficacy) may be relevant factors. Other theories suggest some areas may act as crime attractors or be more criminogenic than others. There is a strong need for a better understanding of why certain places experience persistent vandalism and others do not. This thesis seeks to redress that gap by suggesting that to understand the nature of vandalism it is best understood as a crime of place rather than property. By drawing on theoretical and methodological approaches from both criminology and geography the thesis explores whether some areas experience high and low concentrations of vandalism year on year; if patterns change over time and whether areas with differing levels of vandalism share characteristics. Exploring issues related to crime and place presents specific methodological challenges. In criminology there has been much debate about whether it is best to consider crime and place processes at the micro or macro level. This thesis contributes to this debate by contending that it is necessary to employ a multi-method approach which integrates both micro and macro levels of investigation to properly understand crime and place. The results presented here are based on secondary analysis of six years of recorded crime data on vandalism supplied by Lothian and Borders police covering the period 1 April 2004 to 31 March 2010 for a case study area within Edinburgh with a broad mix of socio-demographic contexts. The thesis investigates the value of taking an Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis approach combining GIS based Crime Mapping and LISA (Local Indicators of Spatial Autocorrelation) analysis with Group Trajectory Analysis. This is complimented by data acquired from holding focus groups with Police Officers responsible for neighbourhood policing who used shaded maps to aid discussion of characteristics of areas with high and low vandalism. Findings suggest there are distinct High, Low and Drifting areas of vandalism with particular characteristics influenced by crime attractors, routine activities, relative deprivation and collective efficacy. By using an innovative multi-method ESDA quantitative and qualitative approach, important insights into the nature of vandalism as a place crime are gained; using a multi-spatial and temporal approach was found to be crucial. Findings are somewhat confined as they relate to a single case study area and a small number of focus groups were undertaken only with police Officers and not other community actors which may limit generalisabily. These concerns are discussed along with recommendations for future policy on vandalism and theoretical and methodological approaches for researching crime and place.

No description available.

This thesis explores recent Scottish penal culture through the biographical narrative accounts of retired judges. Insights from the sociology of punishment are used to develop a more fully cultural approach to the judiciary and to sentencing practice. This entails a view of the judiciary as a complex institution whose practices reflect tension and compromise, and which recognises judges as bearers of penal culture through their sentencing practices. The aims of the research are twofold: to provide insight into the changing conditions of judging in Scotland and into the judicial role in criminal justice. Narrative research methods were used to interview retired judges and gain contextual accounts of judicial life and practice. This approach focuses on subjectivity and on individual responses to experiences and constraints. Reflecting the judicial role in punishment, an interpretive position based on the hermeneutics of faith and suspicion is used to evaluate and interpret these narrative accounts. This conceptual and methodological framework is used to explore aspects of judicial occupational culture including training and early experiences, the status of criminal work, judicial conduct, collegiality, the influence of criminological research on sentencing practice, and the relevance of the ‘master narrative’ - judicial independence - to sentencing. It is also used to explore the frameworks of meaning and vocabularies of motive which judges bring to penal practice. What emerges from these judicial narratives is firstly the entanglement of individual life histories and organisational imperatives. Secondly, a picture emerges of a judicial habitus that includes complex motivations, some openness to new approaches, and capacity for reflecting on the conditions which structure and constrain criminal justice practice. This suggests the reflexive judge may be an important vector of penal change and there are implications for judicial training, penal reform and for the dissemination of criminological and criminal justice research.

published_or_final_version / Sociology / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Crime and violence are central issues for citizens in new democracies, many of which are increasingly threatened by organized crime and “brown areas” of lawlessness. The impact of crime concerns on vote choice, however, has been largely overlooked in the existing literature on voting behavior, which has centered on the role of partisanship, clientelistic linkages, or economic voting in explaining electoral outcomes. In this paper, I argue that crime voting explains much of vote choice in high crime new democracies. Using Mexico as a representative case of a new democracy facing rising violence, I find that crime considerations significantly affect vote choice in the country’s recent presidential elections. In 2006, crime views had up to five times the effect on vote choice as economic considerations. In 2012, despite stronger partisanship, clientelism, and economic effects, and a dearth of candidate attention to the issue, crime perceptions remained a significant predictor of vote choice. This finding suggests crime matters to vote choice and should be incorporated into models of voting behavior in violence-plagued new democracies. / text

我政府播遷來臺後，在總統蔣公英明領導之下，全國上下，勵精圖治，奮發圖強，在各方面均有長足之進步，優異之績效，尤其是軍事的精進，工業的發達，經濟的繁榮，社會的安定，以及人民的安居樂業，豐衣足食，博得國際人士一致之讚譽。然而，尚待努力革新之缺陷，自亦不少。譬如貪污即其一例。當然古今中外，任何政府貪污事情之發生低。行政院副院長蔣經國先生，於六十年九月卅日，在歡迎由地方民意代表所組成之國家建設研究會的茶會上說：「任何政府及機關，都不免有缺點有錯誤，問題在是否有勇氣面對缺點和錯誤，而加以改進。今天我們要改革政治風氣，必須大家都有一種肯認錯的精神，認錯並不是難為情的事，有錯誤而不承認，才是真正難為情」（註一）。又左傳有云：「國家之敗，由官邪也」（註二）。故吏治不清，政風不良，而仍不知澄清整飭，任其滋長蔓延，其不淪國家於危亡者，未之有也。因此，筆者以為吾人不可諱疾忌醫，尤須有勇氣面對現實，實事求是，以解決貪污問題，因有本文之作。 本文之研究，係兼採歷史的，理論的，統計的，個案的，問卷的等研究法，並重以從行政學之觀點，來探討闡述，以期理論與實際密切配合，相互為用，而冀求較佳之成果。 本文共分五章，第一章緒論，係闡述貪污行為之涵義，及其對於國家之影響，並說明我國現行處罰貪污瀆職犯罪之法律規定。第二章貪污瀆職犯罪之概況分析，乃從司法機關偵辦貪污瀆職犯罪之情形，省屬公務員涉嫌貪瀆之情形，蒐集資料，予以整理統計，列表分析，以明實況。更從目前正在台北、台中、新竹等三監獄服刑之貪瀆罪犯方面，作實地之問卷調查，以瞭解其一般狀況，家庭與經濟情況，職務狀況，以及犯罪情形等之真象，俾便於說明事實，提出對象。第三章貪污行為之成因分析，從社會風氣、政治、人事行政、財務行政、法令缺陷、以及司法等原因來探討其主要因素，以期發現實況，找出病源。第四章防止貪污行為之對策，乃針對成因之分析，試為對症下藥，並提出具體之方向，如獲採擇施行，或有助益於防止貪污。第五章結論，乃綜結前述數章之立論，說明防止貪污必須標本兼治，以及亟待改進之問題。 筆者有緣深造進修，從事於研究，乃司法行政部調查局局長沈之岳先生激勵青年上進，愛護與拔擢青年，有以致之。至於本文之研究，有關之參考資料不多，專書論著亦甚貧乏，研究過程至為艱難，幸獲傳師宗懋之懇切指導與匡正，張師明誠，雷師飛龍之薰陶與鼓勵，以及台北典獄長周震毆，新竹典獄長張齊斌，台中典獄長趙益藩之協助問卷調查，始得以完成。均謹此併致最誠摯之謝忱。惟筆者才疏學淺，初次涉臘，雖兢兢業業，彈精竭慮，舛誤缺失，在所難免，敬祈師長先進，不吝斧正，以匡不逮。

<p>I undersökningen om ungdomars attityder mot homosexuella ochheterosexuella brottsoffer utfördes ett experiment där 151 deltagare fick svara på en enkät. Det fanns fyra olika versioner av enkäter där brottsoffret varierade mellan hetero- och homosexuell man men även orten där brottet tog plats varierade mellan liten ort och stor stad. Resultatet visade ingen skillnad i ungdomars empati beroende på brottsoffrets sexuella läggning, dock visade det sig att unga kvinnor har något mer empati än unga män. Resultatet gav inte heller någon skillnad i ungdomars empati beroende på ort. Dock upptäcktes en interaktionseffekt i empati mellan ort och sexualitet som visade att om brottet tog plats i Stockholm kände deltagarna mer empati för en homosexuell man än en heterosexuell man samt att empatin blev motsatt i en liten ort. Resultaten visade ingen signifikant skillnad på empati mellan deltagarnas etnicitet och brottsoffrets sexualitet. Resultaten kan tillämpas som diskussionsmaterial för exempelvis gymnasieskolor.</p>

This project represents one of the few major pieces of research into women’s narratives of political incarceration and is an examination of first person accounts written against a backdrop of significant historical events in twentieth-century Germany. I explore the ways in which the writers use their published accounts as an attempt to come to terms with their incarceration (either during or after their imprisonment). Such an undertaking involves examining how the writer ‘performs’ femininity within the de-feminising context of prison, as well as how she negotiates her self-representation as a ‘good’ woman. The role of language as a means of empowerment within the disempowering environment of incarceration is central to this investigation. Rosa Luxemburg’s prison letters are the starting point for the project. Luxemburg was a key female political figure in twentieth-century Germany and her letters encapsulate prevalent notions about womanhood, prison, and political engagement that are perceptible in the subsequent texts of the thesis. Luise Rinser’s and Lore Wolf’s diaries from National Socialist prisons show, in their different ways, how the writer uses language to ‘survive’ prison and to constitute herself as a subject and woman in response to the loss of self experienced in incarceration. Margret Bechler’s and Elisabeth Graul’s retrospective accounts of GDR incarceration give insight into the elastic concept of both the political prisoner and the ‘good’ woman. They demonstrate their authors’ endeavours to achieve a sense of autonomy and reclaim the experience of prison using narrative. All of the narratives are examples of the role of language in resisting an imposed identity as ‘prisoner’, ‘criminal’ and object of the prison system.

No description available.