This study is the result of exploratory research on the daily lives and experiences of private security officers working in Hong Kong housing estates. As the first qualitative investigation of its kind, it examined two case studies of separate estates through the lens of Nodal Governance, which involved interviews with security practitioners and end-users, work practice observations, and documentary analysis. Security officers were found to ‘wear many hats’. Apart from crime prevention, the core roles and functions of private security in these estates are to enforce property owners’ orders and maintain the residents’ quality of life. These ‘hats’ were underpinned by the operational characteristics of property management businesses, especially that of security provision structures. The study found that security officers needed to improvise strategies that stopped short of exercising their legal powers, but dealt with suspects and rule breakers nonetheless. In this way, these officers and security companies provided a resident-orientated service style of private policing, with a focus on neighbourhood safety and harmony.The private security industry in Hong Kong is regulated by a ‘hybrid regulation mechanism’, with a unique mix of public and private actors, and closer inspection suggested that government ordinance initiatives on building management and security services have unintentionally shifted policing responsibility from the state to its citizens, which did much to address residential security inequity indirectly. These findings contribute to a variation on the theme of nodal governance in two ways: ordinances implicitly delegating security provision to citizens paradoxically centralised governance as an unintended consequence; and the genealogy of policing institutions in Hong Kong test the hidden assumptions in western norms of governance. Elsewhere, the study shed light on private security industry regulation, shifting policing responsibilities, security inequity, ad hoc strategizing by actors with limited powers, and high-rise housing security for future reference and further research.

This research considers the problem of small boat crime, the causes and possible prevention. Marine crime experts have explained the increase in small boat crime as being caused by boat owners' apathy in protecting their vessels. However this has never been substantiated. This investigation examines this explanation and attempts to comprehend the phenomenon of small boat crime and its prevention. Boat owners' apathy is considered in light of their levels of guardianship activities, an element of the Routine Activity theory which places the guardian in the crime event context. The research focuses on four key objectives; the lack of detailed small boat crime knowledge, the issue of apathy related to the crime prevention of boat owners, the un-orchestrated efforts of the boat community to tackle the problem and the wider provision of marine crime prevention. Through the achievement of these objectives a significant innovative work develops to identify recommendations for the boating community to prevent and control the problem. The validation of the explanation is undertaken by the examination of the boating community and environment, as well as the wider consideration of crime by society and by criminology. This is completed by the surveying of boat owners in relation to their crime prevention activities and attitudes in their environment. Through boating community collaboration and examination, this information is corroborated to endorse the research findings and the conclusions of the survey. The investigation provides a potential small boat crime prevention strategy of the boating community. It is significant that boat owners are only one part of the existing boat system. As yet however the issue of small boat crime being a 'boating community' problem has not yet fully been realised by its consi=tituent structure and elements, as no practical community encompassing strategy is in place to stem the growth of crime. The findings depict that the label of 'apathetic guardian' for boat owners is inappropriate. Evidence highlights a complex web of organisation, operation and legislation of the boating community and environment. Consideration of small boat crime and general crime in society are similar, yet society is not labelled apathetic in its prevention of crime. Latterly the Boat Owner Survey highlights the majority of boat owners appreciate this issue, not apathetic to the problem of small boat crime. The validation of the explanation assists in the comprehension of the phenomenon, initiating the possible control of small boat crime in the future.

<p> Sexual assault has been an issue facing institutions of higher education for many years (Office of Civil Rights, 2011). Alcohol plays a role in both who have been victims of sexual assault and who have perpetrated the crime of sexual assault (Crawford, Wright, &amp; Birchmeier, 2008). The purpose of this study was to look at sexual misconduct at institutions of higher education and to determine if substance use, such as alcohol or drugs, is a factor in the incidence of sexual misconduct happening to students on college campuses. The quantitative data section of the study reviewed three years of data from the Survey of College Health and Behavior. Baseline data were reviewed to show the rate of individuals experiencing nonconsensual sexual contact. Almost 6% of students reported they were taken advantage of sexually due to alcohol use. Over 16% reported they had engaged in risky sexual behavior due to alcohol use, and over 3% had been taken advantage of sexually due to alcohol use by others. Over 1% of students reported they had taken advantage of someone due to their alcohol use. More than 18% of students reported using alcohol or drugs to feel more comfortable with a sexual partner. Half of the 12 survey questions asked had an average of over 70% of respondents who had utilized protective factors. For the qualitative portion of the study, seven interviews were conducted with Title IX Coordinators at higher education institutions in the Midwest with experience ranging from one year to 15 years of working with sexual misconduct in the collegiate setting. Four themes emerged from the interviews: consent, communication, programming, and promotion. Based on the findings from this study, students need to be aware of the connection between substance use and sexual misconduct.</p><p>

<p> Although human trafficking continues to be a growing problem around the world, there are scarce quantitative methodologies for evidence-based research because it is hard to gather reliable and comparable data on human trafficking. It is also difficult to track patterns in human trafficking on a regional or global scale because the victims are a vulnerable population. Using Datta and Bales conceptualization of modern slavery as the theoretical foundation, the primary purpose of this study was to establish a baseline measurement of trafficking predictors in the Middle East North Africa (MENA) as well as understand the statistical relationship between measurements of corruption, democracy, state of peace, and terrorism on the prevalence of contemporary slavery in the MENA region. Data were collected from the 2016 Global Terrorism Index, 2016 Democracy Index, 2016 Corruption Perception Index, 2016 Global Slavery Index, and the 2016 Global Peace Index and analyzed using multiple linear regression. The results of the study showed that corruption (<i>p</i>=.017) and state of peace (<i>p</i>=.039) were significant predictors for contemporary slavery in the MENA region. Whereas, terrorism and democracy were not significant predictors. The positive social change implications of this study include recommendations to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to create a central repository for the archival of human trafficking data. The creation of this archive will promote a more accurate accounting of a vulnerable population such as victims of trafficking, thereby increasing awareness of contemporary slavery among law enforcement, policy makers, and scholars.</p><p>

Samaritans volunteers have been visiting prisons since 1991 to select, train and support prisoners to provide confidential emotional support to other prisoners. Despite its existence for approximately two decades, the Listener scheme has received very little research attention other than a few scattered examples of in-house or small scale reviews (for example Davies, 1994; Richman, 2004; Snow & Biggar, 2006; The Samaritans, 2001a; 2001b). This paucity is also reflected in the current lack of knowledge about peer mentoring and support more widely, despite the significant government attention it has received. This thesis explores and analyses the operation of the Listener peer support scheme in four prisons in England. It investigates how prisoners used (or did not use) Listener support in their patterns of coping and helpseeking in prison, how the Listener scheme was perceived and used by prisoners, Listeners and prison staff, and how Listeners described their experiences of conducting their voluntary work in prison. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were adopted, including a survey of prisoners (n=331), and interviews with prisoners (n=14), Listeners (n=16), and prison staff (n=12). This thesis contends that the prison environment shapes and influences help-seeking by prisoners and the operation of peer support schemes in important ways. It is asserted that helpseeking by prisoners is ‘strategic’, that there is a need to recognise the importance of the factors that drive help-seeking in prison, and the impact this has on the spectrum of helpseeking activity that prisoners exhibit. Furthermore, this thesis examines the dilemmas and contradictions that arise, when prisoners attempt to engage as citizens by volunteering and helping their peers, with whom they share the same pains of imprisonment and experience of subordination.

<p> While recent research has focused on the relationship between educational attainment and recidivism for formerly incarcerated persons, less research has focused on the relationship between educational attainment/level and employment. This study employed mixed methods to examine data on post-release employment outcomes for ex-offenders from, and explore the forces that govern educational programming offered in, the Connecticut Department of Correction. For the quantitative analytics, the primary independent variable of employment was operationalized as employment status (employed/unemployed) and weekly wage. The two dependent variables were education level and race/ethnicity. Data indicate that, for the ex-offenders studied, education level varied by race, post-release employment status varied by race, the relationship between education and employment was impacted by race, yet there was no mean wage difference either by education level or race. Forces that influenced educational offerings were state budget, local job markets, inmate programs, and partnerships initiated by facility school leaders. Forces that influenced educational program participation were student mobility, custody mandates/restrictions, external partnership selection criteria, and agency practice of providing inmates with a small financial incentive for enrollment and matriculation. Forces that influenced student outcomes included extensive differentiated instruction, custody mandates/restrictions, the lack of quiet time and study space, GED exam changes in content and administration, and access to school supplies. The findings indicate an agency need for better systems of data collection and maintenance, attention to the impact of budget cuts, and attention to faculty and administrative tenure within the agency. Ultimately, the research paradigm around recidivism needs to shift to a more detailed examination of the myriad components that comprise recidivism, as opposed to simply using recidivism as the sole predictor of successful ex-offender rehabilitation. </p><p>

<p> The juvenile justice system provides a multicultural arena for mental health professionals who are interested in working in forensic social work. This curriculum aims to demystify cultural competence and highlights the importance of adapting multicultural perspectives and theoretical approaches to increase knowledge, awareness, empathy and respect for the diverse cultures of juvenile offenders. This curriculum is intended to train professionals on how to facilitate cross-cultural communication within the juvenile justice system, and establish a multicultural environment in the workplace. Most importantly, it will explore the nature of the juvenile justice system, analyze cultural competence models and integrate both domains to enhance the assessment and treatment of young offenders.</p>

<p> With overwhelming public support, pressure has been mounting on police departments to improve accountability and public trust by equipping their officers with body worn cameras (BWCs) to reduce police violence and hold officers responsible for excessive use of force, unjustified shootings, and other forms of misconduct. As police departments have begun to employ BWCs, however, concerns have risen regarding the application of this new technology and its potential to benefit police officers more so than the communities they serve. This study focuses on the city of Chicago&rsquo;s recently implemented Body Worn Camera Pilot Program. The goals of this study were to determine if racial demographics could predict which of Chicago&rsquo;s 22 police districts received BWCs during its pilot program, and whether and to what extent BWCs and the racial makeup of those districts influenced the arrest to crime ratios within them. A preliminary analysis revealed crime rates were not a statistically significant predictor for whether a district received BWCs. There was, however, an association between race and BWCs, where majority white police districts were much less likely to receive the technology. Standard multiple regressions indicate that as the white population percentage increases, arrests decrease. This finding was statistically significant at the .05 alpha level while controlling for the crime rate and BWC implementation. Three-way mixed ANOVA models were run to compare arrest to crime ratios pre- and post-BWC implementation for overall crime, serious crime, violent crime, non-index crime, and property crime. Although no significant two- or three-way interactions were found in any of the ANOVA models, when plotting the pre- and posttest arrest ratios there were noticeable differences between control and experimental groups across race.</p><p>

<p> The Latino paradox of crime suggests that relative to other groups with similar rates of economic disadvantage, Latinos fare a lot better in a wide array of social indices, including the propensity to violence and crime. While previous studies tend to overestimate the role of community members in creating the conditions under which violent crime occurs, very few have examined the direct role of the &lsquo;disorganizing&rsquo; or &lsquo;organizing&rsquo; factors that result from political turf wars. This study will examine the ways in which the mobilization of resources and organizational infrastructures affect the immigration-crime nexus. In an effort to better understand the Latino paradox associated with crime, this study shall critically examine how organization-based resources affect variations in violent crime rate among Latino neighborhoods in the City of Chicago.</p><p>

<p> The Secretary of Homeland Security, John Kelly, on April, 2017, at George Washington University, explained the dangers emanting from transnational organized crime (TOC), a rubric for convergent, crime-terror networked systems, as a joint homeland security and homeland security educational problem (HSE). The two-fold research problem for this mixed methodological concurrent-transformative study is: (1) a lack of knowledge regarding threat convergence by scholar-practitioner-administrators, and others, in various disciplines; (2) a lack of empirical data regarding threat convergence in research and Academia and its integration into HSE undergraduate-graduate curricula. The two-fold purpose of this study is: (1) to investigate, qualitatively and empirically (quantitatively) what scholar-practitioner-administrators, and others in various disciplines and occupations, know and understand about illicit threat convergence (e.g., narco-terrorism; crime-terror nexus phenomenon; (2) to consider the strategic implications of convergence and evolutionary, emergent potential to metastasize into higher-order, state-like systems (virtual states), including, al-Qaeda; Hezbollah, the Islamic State (ISIS), and transnational organized criminal networks, as manifestations of deviant globalization. The research participants, 62 scholar-practitioner-educators, first responders, and private citizens, arranged into two groups, completed a survey instrument that probed aspects of convergent interactivity. In the survey&rsquo;s overall raw-scores, Group I, a criminal justice-first responder group, showed greater understanding of convergence than Group II, a civilian-oriented group, providing sufficient evidence to reject the Null Hypothesis of equality of means between groups. Here, the z-statistic of 2.53 was greater than z-critical of 1.95; p (two-tailed) of 0.01, lower than alpha (level of significance), at the traditional p = 0.05. Cohen&rsquo;s d = 0.64; (r) of 0.30, indicated a significant effect size. However, elsewhere, in the ten Research Questions relating to cyber-crime, the Civilian Group II, showed greater awareness of specific, convergent phenomena, an unanticipated result. Accordingly, the present study&rsquo;s findings empirically validated prior researchers&rsquo; recommendations for greater academic focus on convergent phenomena, in order to address the related failure of HSE to keep pace with best practices in the field.</p><p>