What we call “police” today in America is an institution that the state has power to create through what is known as the police power. The police power is, in turn, defined as the power of the state to “prescribe regulations to preserve and promote the public safety, health and morals, and to prohibit all things hurtful to the comfort and welfare of society.” We traditionally and too often focus on the power to prohibit to the exclusion of the state’s power to preserve and promote the safety and health of its citizenry. This talk will explore the long history of police in the United States demonstrating its deep and foundational connection to modern governance and why Police is central to the project of the legitimacy of the state.

Prosecutors play one of the most consequential roles in our criminal legal system. Their discretion during the processes of filing charges, offering plea deals, and trying cases affords them the ability to critically impact the lives of those who come into contact with law enforcement. This talk focuses on prosecutorial responsibility to uphold principles of procedural justice through prosecutors’ everyday work, both within the hierarchies of their offices, and most importantly, during their interactions with the community they serve. This talk will highlight findings from recent projects and qualitative studies that exhibit this research-backed theory in the real world: Yale Law School’s Justice Collaboratory partnered with the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys and LaGratta Consulting to develop the Elevating Trust and Legitimacy for Prosecutors Project. Through a multi-phase site selection process, project partners chose the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office, Saint Paul City Attorney’s Office, and Columbus City Attorney’s Office as the project pilot sites to engage in a year-long collaborative assessment, planning, and implementation process of procedural justice practices, which included witness and defendant interview protocols and guides, community and participant feedback forums, and improved transparency efforts for key decision points like case screening, diversion eligibility, and pretrial detention.

Co-authors: Arabella Kyprianides (University College London, UK), Will Andrews (Keele University, UK), Elizabeth Aston (Edinburgh Napier University, UK), Estelle Clayton (Edinburgh Napier University, UK), Megan O’Neill (University of Dundee, UK) and Helen Wells (Keele University, UK)

Driven by social and technological change and the imperative to enhance efficiency, UK police forces have in recent years adopted various technologies to transform their interactions with the public. These initiatives often fall under "transformation" agendas with a significant technological focus, promoting "channel choice" strategy to facilitate public interactions through various technologically mediated platforms, such as reporting crimes online using form-based or chat functions. Reporting the results of an online vignette experiment, in this paper we consider how people ‘read’ policing interactions involving machines. Participants read a fictitious ‘chat’ between a victim of crime and a police operator identified as either a human or a chatbot. Although the chats, and outcomes, where identical, we find a consistent preference for human operators over chatbots across all scenarios. Human operators were thought to provide clearer explanations, although there were no significant differences in judgements of interpersonal treatment or decision neutrality between human and chatbot operators. Outcome satisfaction was higher when there was a human operator and a proactive outcome. These findings provide a springboard for wider exploration of the possible implications for trust and legitimacy of inserting machines – and potentially machine decision-makers – into police-public interactions.

Co-authors: João Pedro Ramos, Pedro Barbosa and Marta Pinto (University of Porto, Portugal)

Disseminating false or inaccurate information is not new, however, in recent years this phenomenon has reached a different threshold. The speed, scale and quantity of incorrect information being spread has been associated with an unprecedented impact on society and on social cohesion. In this systematic review we conceive misinformation as deceiving information disseminated without the intention of manipulating or causing harm; disinformation as the deliberate use of erroneous information to manipulate, cause harm or confuse people; and malinformation as the dissemination of correct information out of context with the intent to cause harm, manipulate and confuse. As such, the available scientific literature describes misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation (MDM) as being preferably disseminated or spread through social media platforms and those involved seem to be motivated by a wide range of factors. However, for this review, we will specifically focus on interventions that aim to prevent and counter MDM leading to violent extremism. So, this systematic review aims to answer to the following research question: what are the strategies and interventions that are effective in preventing and countering MDM leading to violent extremism? Also, this review aims to understand its impact on two primary outcomes: violent extremism and violent behaviour. Although this review is still in a preliminary stage, it will produce relevant findings at three levels: academia, practitioners and policymakers.

Violent extremists exploit the outreach offered by online social media platforms, engaging with propaganda intended to radicalise and recruit adherents. In a data-driven reality, the creation and dissemination of propaganda become more sophisticated and, inherently, also forms of propaganda that lead to radicalisation and violent extremism. Through massive staging, dissemination, and consumption, violent extremist propaganda reaches more vulnerable individuals online, creating conditions for more radicalisation and recruitment. As a result, many extremist actors are radicalised, recruited, and mobilised online – a disruptive challenge to governments, security forces and civil society organisations. Tackling transnational online violent extremism is a complex and long-term challenge. A growing body of strategies to tackle this phenomenon is being put in place by governments and civil society, highlighting the need for a thorough and rigorous assessment of these types of propaganda. So, how effective are the interventions employed to counter online extremist propaganda? At what time points the interventions to counter online extremist propaganda are more effective? What are the primary outcomes of the interventions countering online extremist propaganda? This systematic review focuses on the effectiveness of interventions at preventing, countering, or responding to online extremist propaganda in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, and Scandinavian languages. As such, a systematic review needs to be included in research agendas to inform the work of practitioners and policymakers more effectively to prevent, deter, and, when necessary, prosecute those who spread violent extremist content and objectionable material online.

Ethnic minority women can be a particularly vulnerable to domestic violence. This vulnerability is linked to factors such as home-country norms, post-migration isolation, limited language skills and visa dependency. This paper discusses the challenges which can be related to ethnic minority women leaving abusive relationships. Drawing on interviews with ethnic minority victim-survivors as well as with relevant frontline personnel, the paper explores both the women’s paths to safety, and the (sometimes deficient) help received from Danish front-line workers. The article posits two reasons why the help may be wanting. First, the individual approach in Danish social work can be inadequate for women who are enmeshed in collective power dynamics. Some frontline workers, for example, do not understand how complex women’s situations are, when issues of “honor” make them threatened not just by husbands but also by natal kin. Likewise, a proposed safety-solution such as cutting all family ties to start living under a new name elsewhere in Denmark, can carry too high costs for women, socialized within collective family cultures. Second, Danish frontline support is national in scope, and thus unable to meet the women’s transnational challenges and needs. In some cases, for example, violence and abuse in countries of origin become part of divorce cases in Denmark. It can be a father being beaten up abroad in order to punish a woman for leaving her husband in Denmark; the ever-present fear of cross-border child abductions; or serious harm levelled at women, if they venture outside Denmark. While the Danish authorities do provide substantial and suitable help to some women, when they leave abusive relationships, other women have to struggle on their own and/or come to face considerable hardships due to a lack of fit between their specific needs and the available support.

The ban against female genital mutilation was instituted in Sweden in 1982. The implementation of the ban has been analyzed in the research project 'Societal Measures to Identify Suspected Female Genital Mutilation in Sweden: An Analysis of Proportionality in the Authorities' Handling of Suspected Cases' (Sara Johnsdotter & Lotta Wendel, Forte 2019-00657). Our result draws upon preparatory work, public policy documents, insights from 40 interviews with professionals within the police and social authorities, and our archive encompassing appr. 230 police files dating back to the implementation of the ban.

The analysis of the results is informed by Miranda Frickers concept of Epistemic Injustice (Fricker 2007). She focuses primarily on two injustices: testimonial justice where the credibility attributed to a speaker’s assertion is reduced by prejudice of some kind, and hermeneutical injustice which builds upon insufficient shared concepts or interpretive tropes, owing to hermeneutical marginalization. Epistemic injustice results in wrongs of different kind. Primarily, one is wronged in the capacity as an epistemic subject, e.g. not being noticed, heard or listened to; capacities essential to distinctly human value. Secondly, wrong results in practical disadvantages; failing to convince a public authority, losing benefits etc.

Our empirical material shows that despite well-intented efforts, the evolution of laws and policies surrounding the ban on female genital mutilation has been influenced by bias rooted in outdated cultural perceptions, leading to the perpetuation of epistemic injustice. Professionals who apply these norms, balance conflicting legal principles and interests at the best of their ability, but the results still inflict harms to girls, women and certain migrant groups.

Government action plans on violence against women include a focus on honor-related crimes, but for the past ten years there is limited research, and Swedish authorities receive only few reports. There is a large dark figure. In this study, we focus on the honor-related crimes, as defined by Swedish law, that do not pertain directly to violence, or female circumcision.

In Swedish law, the most important remnant categories pertain to forced marriages, underage marriage, and arranging travels abroad for these purposes. Many of these offenses do not come to the attention of police by victims reporting. Rather, for these offenses, the criminal justice process begins with social workers reporting a suspicion. There is an administrative recommendation for social workers to report suspicion of these offenses, but there is no requirement.

Using a sample of interviews with social workers, we examine arguments for and against reporting suspicion through a qualitative lens. Our theoretical framework derives from prior studies on reporting propensity and the Blackian concept of social distance and access to law. We present findings in relation to perceptions of costs and advantages of reporting, access to potential witnesses, completion of the criminal process, alternatives to criminal sanctioning.

Co-author: Anna Jonsson (The Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention, Sweden)

In recent years, the involvement of children and young people in criminal networks has become an important policy issue in Sweden. However, there is limited knowledge about how children and youths enter criminal networks and what motivates the recruitment of these young people. This paper is a novel study that addresses that question. It is based primarily on interviews with 28 individuals who have themselves been active members of criminal networks in different parts of Sweden. The majority of participants has experience of both entering networks as children and of themselves involving younger children in the networks.

The study also analyses age and career structures within criminal networks. One important contribution is that the study shows how the flow of children and youths into criminal networks occurs within the context of drug distribution systems, in which continuous recruitment constitutes part of an established business model. The study shows that children (aged 12–15) are primarily recruited into criminal networks by an older teenager (aged 15-20). This means that the majority of those involved in the lower levels of the network hierarchy engage in recruitment.

Co-authors: Ingryd Silva, Franciane dos Santos, Sarah Menezes, Joaquim Araújo and Thiago de Holanda (Violence Prevention Committee of Ceará State, Brazil)

Living in a society - under the aegis of monopolistic capitalism that produces, and reinforces social abysses - requires creating survival strategies, especially because this scenario contributes to making peripheral, impoverished, and racialized youth the target audience of criminal groups' recruitment initiatives, which offer short-term financial returns, protection, status, or social recognition. This phenomenon was associated with local gangs, groups that showed a strong connection to their territory and the community and sought to build their self-image and independence. Presently, it is observed that some of these criminal groups, called factions, expand in a dual movement, nationalizing their areas of operation and branching out into small municipalities. It is worth noting that when discussing the affiliation or disaffiliation of young people with factions, it is necessary to consider that sometimes the real possibility of deciding on insertion is not offered, and there is an express prohibition on disaffiliation. This occurs because factions adopt intense strategies, such as taking over new territories, forcibly removing families from housing complexes, and continuously relocating young people themselves to operate in other territories controlled by the group. These groups constantly change their rules; absorb elements of conservative logic; are hierarchically structured; and use threat and torture to ensure the members' permanence. Thus, it is understood that the distribution of income, opportunities, and possibilities of a livable life are selective or limited. For young people who are or have been affiliated with factions, especially those who have already undergone juvenile justice, they become more susceptible to state violence, urban conflicts, and denial of social rights. When they try to break ties with criminal organizations, they end up having their lives interrupted. These are lives carried by the currents of invisibility and the necropolitics.

Co-authors: Chris Devany, Charlie Lloyd and Kate Brown (University of York, UK), Laura Bainbridge (University of Leeds, UK), Ross Coomber (University of Liverpool, UK)

The emergence of the concept of Child Criminal Exploitation (CCE) has to some extent changed how the police perceive and handle young people that are involved in selling, transporting, or storing illicit drugs in the United Kingdom. Whereas these previously would be perceived as ‘offenders’, they are now, under certain circumstances, perceived as ‘victims of exploitation’, who have been coerced or groomed into drug dealing by organised crime groups.

Based on interviews with senior officers across all 45 territorial police forces in the UK, representatives from national and regional policing bodies, front-line police officers and partner agencies in the statutory and voluntary sector (n=96), this paper explores how the police understand and respond to the involvement of young people in drug markets in the UK.

The findings point to several complexities in this potential recategorization of people involved in drug supply, and how the participants were engaged in ‘policing’ the boundaries around victimhood. The paper ends with reflections on how recognising victimhood and exploitation more broadly would potentially unsettle deep-seated assumptions within the criminal justice system about culpability and agency of perpetrators.

County Lines, a form of drug trafficking prevalent in the UK, has garnered significant attention due to its exploitation of vulnerable individuals, particularly young people. Based on interviews with senior officers across all 45 territorial police forces in the UK, representatives from national and regional policing bodies, front-line police officers, partner agencies and people with lived experience (n=96), this paper explores the multiple pathways into County Lines criminal networks.

Recruitment pathways into County Lines networks are often portrayed to be exploitative and predatory. Whilst this occurs, the analysis reveals that recruitment into County Lines is a complex interplay of social, economic, and psychological vulnerabilities. Factors such as poverty, lack of educational opportunities, family instability, and peer influence contribute to the formation of individual vulnerabilities and the susceptibility of young people to exploitation. Moreover, the allure of financial gain, status elevation, and a sense of belonging further incentivise youth involvement in county lines activities.

Recognizing the nuanced pathways and vulnerabilities involved in recruitment is essential for developing effective safeguarding measures, early intervention programs, and educational initiatives aimed at deterring young people from involvement in criminal networks. This research underscores the importance of addressing structural inequalities that render young individuals susceptible to exploitation, offering insights into pathways for disrupting the cycle of county lines involvement and safeguarding vulnerable youth.

Mateus Renno Santos (University of South Florida, USA) and Gary LaFree (University of Maryland, USA)

Cross-national homicide researchers have traditionally relied on homicide data drawn from criminal justice records, medical records, or some combination of the two. However, there have been few studies that directly examine the methodological differences between homicide data sources and the consequences of these differences. In the current study we examine the gap in homicide rates for data compiled by the UNODC and WHO. We provide a set of theoretically grounded hypotheses aimed at explaining differences between criminal justice and medical sources of homicide data. Analyzing 1,597 cases for 82 countries from 1991 to 2020, results from ANOVA and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests indicate that countries with a great deal of homicides have larger gaps than those with relatively few homicides. According to our quantile regression analysis for panel data models, the divide between criminal justice and medical sources of homicide data declines as medical and criminal justice systems grow more efficient. We also find that the gap in homicide rates narrows as countries globalize. Average marginal effects analysis indicates that health quality exerts the greatest reductions in the homicide gap. These findings remain robust when we use dynamic panel model as a robustness check. Implications for theory and policy are discussed.

Co-authors: Gary LaFree and Yesenia Angelica Yanez (both University of Maryland, USA)

At the county level, the two primary U.S. homicide measures have historically been based on the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Reports (now the National Incident Based Reporting System, NIBRS) and the Centers for Disease Control's National Vital Statistics System (NVSS). Each measurement approach has unique strengths and weaknesses, documented in previous literature. Among the most notable concerns are the incomplete coverage of the UCR county data (including the Supplemental Homicide Reports data), the distinction between place of residence and place of occurrence in the NVSS, and the differential handling of self-defense cases across both data sources. Researchers have also raised concerns about whether results for the impact of county-level independent variables on homicide outcomes using the two measures will differ. In this paper, we focus particularly on this latter set of concerns. In so doing, we examine the empirical link between several common county-level census variables and county-level homicides using both the UCR and the NVSS at several different time points. In order to provide useful information to homicide researchers, we analyze both data sets in terms of how best practices for researchers downloading data to begin a project. In providing systematic comparisons of the effects of independent variables on two sources of homicide data, we also address several key issues in the extant homicide literature including the: (1) very large number of zero-homicide counties; (2) highly skewed distribution of homicides among counties that have at least one homicide; and (3) widely disparate population sizes across counties. We conclude with implications for the use of counties and county-equivalents as a unit of analysis for homicides along with the measurement of aggregated homicide and its predictors.

Co-author: Meghan L. Rogers (University of Iowa, USA)

Poverty and inequality are frequently found to covary with national homicide rates. Multiple theoretical traditions equate this with the vagaries of market-oriented societies. A similar proposition suggests institutional imbalance resulting from market dominance over pro-social institutions results in higher crime rates. Some traditional theoretical claims and recent empirical findings, however, suggest market expansion may reduce crime and violence. Elias argued economic interconnectedness increases sensitivity to others and demands stable societies. Durkheim maintained that division of labor and greater integration require a dynamic equilibrium that produces fewer offenses against property and the person, especially with the concomitant development of a religion of humanity that privileges the sanctity of the individual. Recent empirical evidence from criminology and economics reveals that greater trade is associated with lower national homicide rates and that market-oriented societies are more averse to unethical behavior. We studied the criminal costs of markets by examining the association between market orientation and national homicide rates. We used data for 1990 to 2020, obtained national homicide rates from the World Health Organization’s Mortality Database, employed the Fraser Institute’s Economic Freedom of the World index to measure market orientation, controlled for all common structural covariates of homicide rates, and employed pooled cross-sectional models with fixed effects to estimate effects. Contrary to popular discourse in criminology but consistent with the classic theoretical ideas and recent research outlined above, we found that as marketization increases in a nation its homicide rates decline. Our findings, together with prior theory and research, suggests market expansion may reduce violence via the production of state legitimacy and webs of mutual trust.

Mass shootings have increasingly played a devastating role in American life. To combat the growing problem, scholars and policymakers need theoretically driven empirical research. I argue that if the pathways to mass shootings and other types of homicide are similar, existing criminological theories may improve our understanding of mass shootings. Thus far, prior research comparing mass shootings to other homicides has been limited mostly to macro-level studies. In this paper, I explore how mass shootings compare to homicides in terms of commonly theorized contributors to crime on the individual level. Specifically, I compare mass shooters to a sample of incarcerated single-victim homicide offenders - focusing on characteristics that stem from contemporary criminological theories such as social control and general strain theories. This analysis adds to the existing literature by including detailed information on offender background including socioeconomic status, family structure, criminal background, substance abuse, and mental health history. Similarities found between the two groups of offenders can highlight ways in which existing interventions for common forms of violence can also apply to mass shootings. By providing a better understanding of the similarities and differences between two distinctive forms of homicide I aim to provide policy recommendations for reducing mass shootings.

Co-author: Natasha Pusch (Texas Tech University, USA)

Police misconduct—including excessive use of force, corruption, verbal abuse, and other deviant acts—has been studied extensively in the social sciences. Nevertheless, there is a lack of consensus on which variables best explain misconduct. Such a limitation is striking given the ongoing motivation to reform the police and curb instances of police misconduct. This study used hierarchal meta-analytic methods to take stock of sixteen different predictors of police misconduct. These predictors represent three domains: individual, organizational, and ecological. Additionally, moderator analyses were conducted to determine if mean effect sizes differed according to research design characteristics, type of misconduct, and the inclusion of control variables. Using 78 individual studies relying on 53 unique samples, preliminary findings suggested that deviant organizational subculture, occupational strain, and working in heavily populated areas were among the strongest predictors of police misconduct. Moderator analyses revealed that findings were not homogeneous and that effect sizes differed on factors such as country, type of misconduct, source of misconduct data, and whether the study was published. Implications for police practice, research, and theory are discussed.

Numerous studies indicate that legitimacy plays a significant role in shaping the public's response to law enforcement. The primary determinant of legitimacy is the perceived fairness of police procedures (SUNSHINE; TYLER 2003). However, this assertion is challenged, especially concerning lethal force in certain Brazilian regions where abuse is common, and incidents remain uninvestigated. How can legitimacy be maintained? With the Brazilian Constitution assigning the Public Prosecutor's Office (PPO) the responsibility for exercising what it terms "external control of police practices," the question arises: How can this institution contribute to changing this situation? In normative terms, this control aims to shape police practices through an individual and repressive approach. However, its efficacy is debated, evidenced by complaints at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights against Brazil. I suggest that this framework lacks a comprehensive approach. In a previous study, I proposed PPO protocol standards, with guidelines addressing structural, methodological, and investigative aspects, aligning with the Minnesota Protocol and considering the multifaceted responsibilities of the Brazilian PPO. Regarding the perceived fairness of police procedures, there is room for improvement in key structural aspects, which can be addressed through external control. The PPO must advocate for administrative measures within police forces to prevent the abuse of lethal force, covering doctrines, operating procedures, recruitment, equipment, training, and internal supervision. Establishing non-disciplinary mechanisms is crucial for effectively monitoring this issue. These aspects reveal the limitations of traditional remedies for police misconduct, emphasizing the central role of occupational and organizational cultures of police agencies, which must be a central theme in the exercise of external control of police practices (ARMACOST, 2004).

This presentation reports on the CNA Corporation's evaluation of body-worn cameras (BWCs) in the Loudoun County, Virginia, USA Adult Detention Center; the first randomized controlled trial of BWCs in a correctional setting in the country. Through a 12-month clustered randomized controlled trial and mixed-method design, data were collected from various sources including 1) surveys of deputies; (2) interviews of jail leaders, deputies, and external jail stakeholders; (3) a focus group with deputies who serve on the Special Weapons and Tactics team; (4) observations of jail operations and BWC trainings; (5) review and analyses of jail administrative data, including response to resistance events and resident injuries; and (6) review and analyses of data collected from stationary cameras and BWC footage. Results indicate potential benefits of BWCs in enhancing facility safety and reducing resistance events and injuries among residents. However, concerns emerged regarding the impact the BWCs had on deputy-inmate relations. The study also addressed the debate over the necessity of BWCs in facilities that already have numerous stationary cameras, revealing limitations in both but also opportunities for the cameras working together in investigations. Recommendations for policy offer valuable insights for future research and practice in correctional settings.

Prisons need talented frontline staff to run safe and purposeful regimes focused on preparing prisoners to lead successful lives post-release. These staff need motivation, training and support to deliver that. This presentation focuses on the work of Unlocked Graduates, a charity working across England and Wales focused on recruiting, developing and retaining talented graduates to drive change in the prison service. Drawing on findings from interviews and surveys with serving prison officers we explore the cultural and organisational factors shaping their experience of their work, wellbeing, sense of possibility and motivation to remain in the prison service, before setting out some proposed solutions.

Music and its significance both within cultures of crime and in penal rehabilitation is gaining increased attention within the fields of criminology and penal studies. This paper explores music therapy as an intervention for young offenders in a prison setting in Norway, with a particular focus on young inmates engaged in the production of rap and hiphop. Drawing on more than fourteen years of experience as a music therapy practitioner and researcher researcher in a variety of penal and forensic psychiatric settings, the author discusses how and why music interventions may be especially relevant in work with younger offenders. Building primarily on findings from a comprehensive ethnographic study of music therapy in a low secure prison in Norway, the paper illucidates the importance of music in everyday prison life with particular reference to issues of identity, relationship, networks and community. In line with a reflexive attitude to the practitioner researcher vantage point the paper adopts a critical perspective in the interrogation of music’s potentials in prison settings. Issues of how music therapy may reproduce stereotypes are discussed, as are the ethics of censorship and uses of music as a form of territorialization. Case examples and vignettes from music therapy practice are employed to illuminate the various ways in which music interacts with broader issues of power, agency, resistance and control. Uses of music in its many forms in prison settings is discussed in light of developments in cultural criminology and desistance research. In particular, the concept of tertiary desistance is linked to notions of musical community.

Body-worn cameras (BWCs) have become a crucial tool in policing activities on a global scale. Despite their growing prevalence, there is a dearth of analyses in Brazil regarding the utilization of BWCs in public safety. Furthermore, certain police agencies have initiated BWC projects without considering the attitudes of officers towards the utilization of such equipment. Understanding variation in acceptance among different groups is crucial in guiding an organization's implementation of BWCs. This study examines the pre-BWC deployment perceptions of a large nationwide sample of police officers in Brazil. The survey engaged over 32,000 police officers nationwide, representing diverse regions across the country. Drawing upon previous research, we investigated officer’s perceptions of usefulness, internal procedural justice, social recognition, and social control. Overall, the results demonstrated a clear division over different regions regarding BWCs support. Police departments located in the Northeast and North regions tended to be more supportive to BWC compared to those in the South and Southeast. Also, the military police agencies were more aligned and demonstrated stronger support for the use of BWCs, comparing to civilian police agencies, which were more heterogeneous and resistant to the technology. Additionally, younger officers and those deployed in operational units have emerged as the primary cohort resistant to the adoption of BWCs. Conversely, positive perceptions of usefulness, internal procedural justice, and social recognition have shown a substantial impact on fostering acceptance of this technology. Finally, this study underscores the policy implications stemming from individual attitudinal shifts toward BWC acceptance across diverse social groups and within police agencies.

Specialism can be intended as any task that go beyond the traditional day-to-day duties of police officers and is routinely used to handle specific types of crimes, victims, and perpetrators. Despite this, there is lack of clarity around what police specialism should look like in England and Wales, contributing to a climate of shared organisational confusion. For instance, there is little evidence-based understanding of how police specialism affects officers' wellbeing, perceived competence, and performance. Improving the clarity around police specialism is becoming increasingly relevant, especially, as emerging needs for further professionalisation have been clashing with the localist structure of UK police forces - frequently resulting in diluted expertise, duplicated resources and negative effects on the legitimisation of police work. This research links together evidence from the literature and the first-hand experiences of specialism among police officers. The study's aim was to establish what police specialism looks like in practice, adding valuable insights towards academic and police knowledge on the topic, but most especially giving a voice to police officers. The findings highlighted some of the socio-cultural, policy-based information that contributed to the development of police specialism in its contemporary form. A scarcity of original studies published on the topic, showed a consistent lack of appropriate terminology of how specialism is defined in practice and implemented across forces. Overall, common patterns have been identified as for how and why specialist units have been instituted over time. There is also evidence that specialism might impact on police efficacy, and that the specialist knowledge of officers working for within specialist units is frequently inferred– rather than measured. Advantages and challenges of specialism within policing were investigated, to understand if and how specialism could be a tool to restore trust in the police.

The expectation placed on the police to combat and prevent crime is arguably higher than ever before. In 2022, the Swedish police introduced a crime prevention strategy that includes a definition of police crime prevention work. Previous studies have revealed a disparity between the official definition and how police officers perceive a method. Therefore, this study aimed to explore what police officers perceive to be police crime preventive work by researching how they define crime prevention. Semi-structured interviews with fifteen police officers formed the basis for a thematic analysis of their understanding of crime prevention work. The preliminary analysis revealed a heterogeneous understanding of crime prevention. However, trust was highlighted as one of the cornerstones that enables police crime prevention work. Firstly, trust between police officers and their collaborative partners facilitates the implementation of preventive actions. Secondly, the trust of citizens enables the police to engage in crime prevention activities. Trust facilitates the ability of the police to influence young people who are at risk of criminal behavior, as well as aiding in the acquisition of information necessary for crime prevention efforts. Police officers described trust as being cultivated through the establishment of relationships, accessibility, and justified actions. In conclusion, although the official definition of police crime prevention work may not explicitly prioritize trust, police officers perceive trust as a crucial tool in their crime prevention work.

Co-authors: Lisa Öman Ekervhén (Luleå University of Technology, Sweden), Markus Nyström (Luleå University of Technology, Sweden), Tova Stenlund (Umeå University, Sweden), Martin Carlsson (Umeå University, Sweden) and Paul Davis (Umeå University, Sweden)

A core component of criminal investigation is the investigative interview where investigators rely on an interviewee’s willingness to disclose information. This willingness to share can be heavily dependent on the interviewee’s trust in the interviewing officer and perceptions of law enforcement. Establishing and maintaining trust during an interview thus becomes a vital part of effective investigative interviewing. Swedish police are currently implementing a new model for investigative interviewing which utilizes building trust and maintaining conversational rapport with the interviewee. Previous research has highlighted that facilitating trust and rapport yields more detailed and truthful accounts than interviews using more dominant styles. However, rapport-focused interviewing has proven to be difficult to operationalize and teach to recruits. Our study aimed to understand what Swedish police teachers value as important interpersonal skills for investigative interviewing as well as what strategies and struggles these teachers face when teaching recruits. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six experienced interviewing teachers at Swedish police training programs. The teachers described that taking the interviewee's perspective, accepting responsibility to build rapport, as well as social and situational flexibility were important skills for interviewers to process. When describing their strategies and struggles in teaching, the teachers described the need to: bridge theory and practice; train flexibility through diverse scenarios; adjust to students’ social maturity and ability to self-reflect; and work with limited resources. This study also highlights how interviewing teachers express a need for adequate time and resources to help recruits develop the necessary skills for interviewing. This study contributes perspectives on building trust during information-gathering procedures and highlights what challenges instructors might face during training.

Procedural justice research on policing can be mischaracterized as saying simply that promoting trust of police leads to better outcomes for all residents. Reasonable critics of this framing argue that trusting police does not, in and of itself, reduce racial, class, or other disparities in police behaviors. Further, framing trust as a normative expectation of communities takes on elements of victim blaming in many contexts. And yet, robust findings demonstrate that, where communities trust police, outcomes for most (if not all) greatly improve. How, then, should the field think about the relationship between trusting police and promoting equitable public safety systems? Using data from three experiments and field studies, I argue that trust does not operate only at the level of interpersonal exchanges, but across institutional and structural levels as well. Framed this way, trust can be conceptualized as a public good that must be earned through consistent procedurally just structuring of institutions, policies, and practices, not simply an interpersonal performance or individual opinion that should be promoted. I discuss implications for policy and the future of research in light of this framing.

Modern procedural justice theory is built on the interplay of instrumental and relational motivation in driving people’s perceptions of authorities’ fairness and legitimacy. Recently, scholars have shown that concerns over authority boundaries can also affect fairness and legitimacy perceptions, suggesting the existence of a third motivational force: the need for autonomy. The role of bounded authority in predicting police fairness and legitimacy was tested using data from multiple online convenienceU.S. samples. Across all samples, bounded authority was a significant predictor of fairness and legitimacy with the former mediating the relation between bounded authority and the latter. Additionally, procedural justice, distributive justice, and effectiveness were also associated with fairness and legitimacy. Procedural justice had significantly stronger associations compared to bounded authority, distributive justice, and effectiveness. These results provide further evidence that police fairness and legitimacy are tied to individuals’ need for autonomy, in addition to instrumental and relational concerns. In doing so, they indicate that procedural justice theory might be better served by expanding its assumptions about human motivation and adopting a tripartite model.

Co-authors: Adam Fine (Arizona State University, USA), Thiago Oliviera (University of Surray, UK), Ben Bradford (University College London, UK), Rick Trinkner (Arizona State University, USA)

Objectives: The police killing of George Floyd energized the Black Lives Matter (BLM) social movement across the United States. In this paper, we test the impact on public perceptions of the fairness and legitimacy of the police and law. Methods: A four-state, three-wave longitudinal study (N = 1048; Arizona, Michigan, New York, and Texas) measured public perceptions of the police and law before and after the killing of Floyd. Using a novel difference-in-change design, we tested whether public attitudes changed. Results: Fielding multiple outcome markers for perceptions of the police and law, as well as multiple pseudo-placebo comparison variables, we found that perceptions of police procedural, distributive and boundary justice, and perceptions of the legitimacy of the police and law, declined following Floyd’s murder, but levels of trust in science, identification with healthcare workers and collective efficacy perceptions did not. The effects regarding the police and law were not uniform, but rather contingent on whether or not people were likely to vote for Donald Trump in the next presidential election. Follow-up analysis suggested that this was rooted in identification with the police and a denial of the issues that BLM campaigned against. Conclusions: The police killing and subsequent protests seemed to have damaged attitudes towards the fairness and legitimacy of the police and law, but only among non-Trump supporters. There was no effect among those who tended to push back against the idea that policing helps to maintain established racial hierarchies.

In June 2022, the Government gave the Swedish Centre for Preventing Violent Extremism (CVE) the assignment to develop a support model to strengthen schools’ preventive work against violent extremism and school attacks. This happened in the aftermath of the murder of two teachers by a student at Malmö Latin in March 2022. The support model is made up of a literature review and a conversation guide, providing structure, questions and recommendations how schools and other local authorities can work together to prevent young people from becoming radicalised and committing school attacks. In this paper, we explore the part of the support model that deals with multi-agency efforts. Multi-agency collaboration – whether that is internally between different professions in schools or between different local authorities (such as the social services and the police) – is critical for preventive work, but it is something that many experience as difficult and challenging. In the paper, we draw on experiences from interviews with school professionals during the development of the support model and the CVE’s experiences of working with schools and local authorities. We ask: what does professionals in schools need to prevent violent extremism and school attacks? How do they experience multi-agency collaboration, internally and externally? And what needs to be done – in schools and in society – to make this happen? We end the paper by reflecting on what this could mean for policy and research on how to prevent young people from becoming radicalised and/or committing school attacks.

The shooting rampage at the Albertville Realschule on March 11, 2009 fundamentally changed everyday life in the town of Winnenden and influenced prevention work at schools in Baden-Württemberg, particularly in the Rems-Murr district. The special committee of the state parliament "Consequences of the shooting rampage in Winnenden and Wendlingen - youth endangerment and youth violence" presented 39 recommendations for action in its final report. In addition, the district council of the Rems-Murr district adopted a comprehensive catalog of measures to prevent violence in schools. The presentation shows the measures already initiated by the police, schools and the district before the 2009 rampage and the associated progress in (police) prevention work at schools in the Rems-Murr district. It reflects on the implementation of the measures and their effects as well as the changes in response to the shooting rampage.The measures implemented before the rampage proved to be the right decisions in an emergency. They cannot prevent a lone perpetrator from attempting a rampage at a school, but despite the high number of victims, the good preparation of the police department led to rapid intervention, which definitely prevented an even higher number of victims in view of the ammunition the perpetrator was carrying.In addition, the preventative arrangements with the schools have a positive effect on the early identification of potential perpetrators.

The latest assessment of the threats against Sweden shows that the broader threat to democracy is becoming increasingly prominent, as (violent) Islamist extremists in various subversive ways such as the spread of disinformation on social media work to increase division in society to overturn Swedish society and democracy. In recent years we have seen several disinformation campaigns targeting Sweden in order to incite Islamist extremist milieus to mobilize (i.e., recruit, motivate, attract and sustain supporters): 1) the LVU-campaign in 2021-2022, 2) the campaign following the Swedish Qur’an burnings in the summer of 2023, and 3) the campaign in connection with the Swedish Prime Minister’s statement on a meeting regarding the Israel and Hamas conflict in 2023. The campaigns resulted in demonstrations and protests (both online and offline) characterized by heightened emotions. Based on an open social media study of accounts on mainstream social media belonging to central actors, groups and organizations propagating radical Islam and disseminating content relating to the recent disinformation campaigns against Sweden, this paper explores the emotive narratives in the campaigns deployed to incite Islamist extremist milieus to mobilize. To understand this the project draws on literature on radical Islam in different Islamist extremist movements (both violent and non-violent) describing their religious/ideological worldview, as well as insights from cultural criminology and narrative criminology. The project contributes significant and urgent knowledge for the research community, as well as practitioners in preventive work, relevant authorities, and the general public. Work in progress.

The topic of this presentation is an analysis of crime and migration in Poland on criminal and criminological knowledge. Speech will be divided into such layers like: 1. Introduction (terminological clarification: immigrant - emigrant - refugee - foreigner – foreign national); 2. Legal (application of the criminal code to a foreigner in Poland; application of the code of criminal procedure to a foreigner) 3. Statistical (structure of crime in Poland - general analysis; Foreigners in Poland; Structure of foreigners' crime in Poland); 3. Criminological (presentation of the causes of migration crime and tools for counteracting it); 4. Recommendations (presentation how to fight against crime in migration). Crime is a negative phenomenon that occurs in every country and poses a threat to the existing legal order. It encompasses a variety of behaviors, goals, motives and consequences of those involved in this phenomenon. The basis for crime is the social layer of the state, where people commit crimes by violating the existing legal order. Crime can be considered from various perspectives, such as the extent, intensity, variability, structure, dynamics, and the characteristics and background of those involved. Crime is a challenge for society, and effective prevention requires an understanding of the diversity of crimes and the different motivations of perpetrators. Research on foreigners' crime is particularly important in the context of increasing migration from Poland's eastern border. Knowledge of this topic can help develop appropriate migration management strategies and effective prevention and integration measures. It is important to continue research on crime to better understand its causes and effects and to develop effective methods to reduce and combat it.

A direct association between immigration and crime is often portrayed in the public arena. As reported in the 2020 Idos dossier, even for the same crimes, those committed by foreigners usually generate more fear, mistrust and resentment. On the one hand there is the inferiorization of the foreigner, on the other his demonization. A narrative that is then instrumentally manipulated by the media and politicians, to garner consensus.

Co-authors: Dolores Pachecho-Romero and Izabela Zych (Universidad de Córdoba, Spain)

The inclusion of all children in education is essential for fostering equality and peace among societies. Within this framework, particular emphasis should be placed on ethnic-cultural minority groups. These groups might be more vulnerable to bullying and cyberbullying. Additionally, they might have lower levels of social and emotional competencies, which have been related to a higher involvement in these violent phenomena. The first objective of the present study was to find out possible differences in bullying and cyberbullying involvement between the majority and minority ethnic-cultural groups. The second objective was to find out the possible differences in the levels of social and emotional competencies between both groups. Finally, the study sought to determine whether the level of social and emotional competencies moderated the relationship between being part of a minority group and a higher involvement in bullying and cyberbullying. An ex post facto descriptive longitudinal study was carried out with a representative sample of adolescents in Compulsory Secondary Education in Andalusia (Spain). The self-report questionnaire was answered by 1498 students (51.3% girls) from 21 schools, of which 1195 (53% girls) could be followed up at the end of the academic year. Results showed higher levels of cyber-victimization in the minority group. Lower levels of self-motivation and self-management were also found in this group. Self-motivation and self-management moderated the relationship between belonging to the minority ethnic-cultural group and cyber victimization. These findings underscore the importance of developing diversity-sensitive prevention programs and intervening to promote social and emotional competencies within these populations.

Co-authors: Daniele Negreiros, Mateus Torquato e Silva, Raimundo Madeira, Stella Maris (Violence Prevention Committee of Ceará State, Brazil)

The subjects of this research were 140 adolescents who had served time in juvenile detention. They are impoverished, racialized and vilified young people, most of whom are criminalized for surviving on the margins of the city. In terms of income, more than half of the participants earned up to a minimum wage (68.00%), with the mother (37.32%) or the young person themselves (32.39%) being the main breadwinners. Most of the young people interviewed had never had access to public policies, be it education, sports, housing, health, or employment, with the exception of government cash transfers, which a significant proportion received. And if they have access to these policies, it is in a precarious way, given the schooling of the young people interviewed, in which 73% did not finish primary school and only 20% finished high school. When we asked the adolescents if there had been any change in their support before and after internment, some said no, it remained the same. This shows that after hospitalization, youth are unable to reintegrate into society or access a support network, be it psychological, social, or economic. Participants answered the following questions on a 5-point Likert scale: "When I left the detention center, my job opportunities decreased" (M = 3.43; SD = 1.28; Min = 1; Max = 5), followed by "Today I take more risks than before I entered the detention center (e.g. threat of death and other territorial conflicts)" (M = 3.07; SD = 1.48; Min = 1; Max = 5). Therefore, these unsupported young people are sometimes drawn into other sociabilities that crime and its dynamics offer. In short, for our young people to follow paths of life opportunities, it is essential to strengthen policies for education, vocational training, paid internships and recruitment for the job market. To improve living conditions and break the cycle that leads thousands of families into social vulnerability.

The end of the 2010s saw an escalation in conflicts between a number of criminal networks in Sweden. The increase in fire-arms-related lethal violence observed in the country as a whole can almost exclusively be understood as a result of these conflicts. At the center of these conflicts are young men.In Sweden, young offenders usually receive secure residential care in youth institutions run by the Swedish National Board of Institutional Care (SiS). This presentation draws on in-depth interviews with 25 staff members and 22 youths across 7 such youth institutions. The study explores how SiS’ work is affected by the youths’ affiliation to criminal networks and how youths with these affiliations view SiS’ work, staff, and their own prospects for life outside. The presentation will discuss specific issues related to this group of gang-affiliated youths, and stake out important directions for the future of state care of young people – and the future of the youths involved.

I will present a new handbook on criminal exploitation of children and young people. I elaborate on how the recruitment and exploitation of children and young people to commit criminal acts can constitute human trafficking, and what significance this has for children's rights and how we should meet children who commits crime. What significance does it have if others benefit from the child committing criminal acts, and if the child is exposed to grooming, pressure or coercion? What rights do children who are exposed to exploitation and human trafficking have? In order to provide the right help to children and young people who commit criminal acts, it is important to understand what lies behind it. If the crimes committed is not only caused by drug use, behavioral problems or the child’s own desire for profit, but also that it is difficult for the child to withdraw due to pressure, debt, violence or threats, the child may need other forms of protection and assistance. This is important both to safeguard the child's rights and to prevent further crime. Human trafficking is a relevant and important perspective to bear in mind when it comes to children and young people who commit crime.The book contains the results of acquired experience-based knowledge from professionals who work with children and young people involved in crime in Norway (survey with 190 respondents and workshop with 50 participants). Topics covered in the book:- Which recruitment and control means are used in child criminal exploitation?- Who is behind the exploitation?- Which criminal acts are the children exploited for?- How does the children experience their situation (voluntary or forced)?- Which young people are particularly at risk?- How can we prevent child criminal exploitation?- How can we identify victims of child criminal exploitation?- How can we help exploited children?

Co-authors: Madisen T. Placzkowski, Dr. Lauren C. Porter, and Toryn R. Sperry (University of Maryland, USA)

Prior research has demonstrated distance from care increases mortality risk among persons with traumatic injury, but studies focusing on victims of shootings are rare. Further, structural disadvantage and violent crime are empirically linked, but the impact of availability of medical care on the gravity of gun violence in communities is not yet well understood. Using nationwide data from the United States National Emergency Management Services Information System, we measure the impact of the immediacy of life-saving care response on mortality among 38,000 shooting incidents to which paramedics responded in 2022. We then calculate excess mortality by geographic region and urbanicity to demonstrate a mechanism through which structural disadvantage impacts violent crime that has not previously been detailed. We additionally measure the contribution of delays securing a crime scene to mortality risk. We supplement and extend this analysis using data on fatal and non-fatal shootings in Baltimore, Maryland between 2015 and 2022, exploring the relationship between community structural disadvantage, proximity to trauma hospitals, and gun injury survival.

Co-author: Greg Midgette (University of Maryland, USA)

The principal aim of community-oriented policing (COP) is to improve police-community relations, including increases in trust and perceived legitimacy of the police. Ideally, these improvements should also translate to greater use of police services among community members, including calling 911 to report crimes. Unfortunately, communities being more inclined to call the police could also make it appear as though policing efforts have in fact increased crime, rather than crime reporting. In our study, we test whether COP increases the likelihood of calling the police for incidents involving gunfire specifically. Drawing on data for Baltimore City, we examine changes in 911 calls and shotspotter data following a policing intervention that emphasized COP efforts.

Co-authors: Kiminori Nakamura and Raquel Hernandez (University of Maryland, USA)

Firearm violence is a major policy concern in America, yet little is known about how criminal courts address these crimes or how their treatment of firearms offenders shapes future violence. The overwhelming majority of criminal cases are settled by plea bargaining, but little is understood about how plea deals impact sentencing and recidivism. Prior work suggests that plea deals can powerfully mitigate punishment, which may diminish deterrence and incapacitation. Conversely, though, imprisonment itself can have criminogenic effects on future offending. This project provides an empirical investigation of the impact that plea bargaining has on sentencing and recidivism outcomes for firearms-involved offenders. We compile judicial case processing and recidivism data from detailed criminal histories for a cohort of over 20,000 firearms offenders in the state of Maryland. The independent variable captures the “distance traveled” in plea bargaining, or the extent to which charge alterations reduce expected sentence severity. We then investigate how sentence reductions impact recidivism for future violent crimes and firearm offenses. Preliminary results indicate pleading guilty has large and consistent effects on sentence severity, significantly lowering expected punishments for firearms-involved offenders. Results for recidivism, however, are less consistent, suggesting the relationship between plea discounts and reoffending is nuanced and may vary across different types of firearms offenses. These findings raise important questions about the public safety implications of plea bargaining in firearms cases. On the one hand, short term incapacitation effects may be compromised by large discounts in prison time; on the other hand, this could be at least partially offset by the avoidance of criminogenic prison experiences. We conclude with a discussion of future research and policy consideration at the nexus of firearm offending, criminal punishment and public safety.

Co-authors: Harley Williamson (Utrecht University, the Netherlands) and Kristina Murphy (Griffith University, Australia)

“How” and “why” people come to obey the police, are persistent questions in criminal justice scholarship. The current paper extends the work of Tankebe (2009, 2013) and others (Akinlabi & Murphy, 2018; Bello & Matshaba, 2020) who have begun to explore the idea that the obligation to obey police can be coerced. In doing so, we compare the predictors of two types of obeyance: 1) the moral obligation to obey police; and 2) the dull compulsion to obey police. While police legitimacy research tends to explore the obligation to obey police more broadly (or the moral obligation to obey police more specifically) (see Jackson et al., 2012 for a discussion), few studies examine the antecedents of a dull compulsion to obey police specifically (for exceptions see Akinlabi & Murphy, 2018; Bello & Matshaba, 2020). We address this gap in the literature by comparing and contrasting predictors of both the moral obligation to obey and the dull compulsion to obey police in a sample of 791 immigrants. In doing so we incorporate concepts of procedural injustice and identity threat. We argue that procedural injustice will elicit feelings of dull compulsion through the mediating mechanism of identity threat. On the other hand, procedural injustice and identity threat will reduce the moral obligation to obey police. Examining these distinct pathways to "obeyance" further demonstrates the distinction between the moral obligation to obey police and dull compulsion.

Co-author: Oleksii Serdiuk (Kharkiv National University of Internal Affairs, Ukraine)

Tyler (2012) argues that legitimacy is a ‘highly desirable feature of social systems’. However, during times of national emergency, ‘the government both most needs the public’s support and is least able to either provide incentives or effectively enforce sanctions’ (Ibid.). Tyler further argues that it is important that ‘public order flows from a shared commitment to the law and the legitimacy of legal authorities’. In this presentation we discuss the issues of police legitimacy in the context of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. During the first year of the full-scale invasion the Ukrainian public afforded the authorities an exceptional degree of trust. For example, KIIS (2023) recorded that in December 2022, 58% of the population trusted the police (compared with 30% in December 2021), with such a high level of trust being unprecedented. It is against the challenging background of war, ongoing police reforms and higher public expectations that we considered the concept of police legitimacy and trust in Ukraine. Employing a cross-sectional sample (N = 15,127) of the residents of Kharkiv region (Eastern Ukraine), we analyse police legitimacy in pre-war and war-torn Ukraine using the four pillars of procedural justice (Tyler, 2011) and the Bottoms-Tankebe (2012) legitimacy model. We discuss both quantitative and qualitative indicators to understand the local crime and order problems as well as public expectations of police in pre-war and war-torn Ukraine.

Co-author: Irit Aizik Inbar (MJB Research Institute, Israel)

Background: As part of the desire to increase trust and legitimacy police organizations have been concerned with the question of how public participation processes can be made part of police work. Is it desirable and feasible to enable communities to take part in shaping the police’s goals and means? What is the most effective way of creating partnerships? This research aims to inform the design and implementation of such processes.

Methodology: (1) A review of the literature to identify relevant studies was carried out. A systematic search of articles in online databases was conducted. In addition, experts from academia and government worldwide were contacted to identify additional materials; (2) based on the data collected, public participation practices arising from robust studies were mapped and divided into categories.

Findings: Based on the review we present the conceptual foundations of public participation in police organizations. We then identify, for the first time in the professional literature, a typology of ten categories of such interventions, noting the relevant levels of the ‘public participation ladder’ to each category as well as its potential and challenges.

Conclusions and Policy Implications: First, public participation processes have considerable normative value in the context of establishing democratic policing and increasing police legitimacy. Second, the review indicates that it is possible to implement these processes even in the context of low trust in the police and profound social crises. Some studies indicate they may be effective in increasing public trust and cooperation with the police and in reducing crime. Third, without appropriate investment of time and resources, these processes do not ensure certain success and may even be damaging in terms of reduced public trust and future collaboration. We identify the organizational and social context variables that should be considered when designing a public participation strategy.

Former military service personal comprise approximately 5% of the total prison population of England and Wales. When imprisoned, they are in the unusual position of having already experienced life within a Total Institution and may find familiarity in the male-dominated, structured, hierarchical and regimented regime of the prison.Drawing on in-depth qualitative interviews conducted in five prison establishments, the study on which this paper is based explores the views, attitudes and experiences of approximately 40 former military service personnel serving prison sentences in England. In particular, it analyses how former military prisoners cope with imprisonment, how they build and maintain relationships with other prisoners and staff and how they perceive the power, authority and legitimacy of the state, all as they negotiate diminished social status and conflicting identities.This paper will present findings from this study which suggest that ex-military prisoners often retain a military identity, carried from the military through to civilian and eventually prison life. This includes a set of cultural norms, values and beliefs, or a “military mind-set”, that tends to promote self-control, self-restraint and an ability to cope with physical and mental hardships, thereby promoting compliance with the prison regime and assisting prisoners to cope with prison life. The findings discussed in this paper could have important implications for the management and rehabilitation of ex-military prisoners.

Co-author: Britte van Tiem (University of Pennsylvania, USA)

Prison climate is a multidimensional construct that incorporates elements of the built environment and the social, relational, and organizational dynamics that play out within prison walls. Recent efforts suggest that these measures have a particular utility in capturing shared, often unobserved, experiences that become meaningful at the prison or unit level. In this analysis, we rely on an administration of the Prison Climate Questionnaire (PCQ) in an American prison located in a large, American state. The facility houses approximately 1,200 men in 14 housing units that differ in terms of staffing, population, and design. We first compare the psychometric qualities of the Prison Climate Questionnaire (PCQ) based on its administration in this prison to previously published psychometric analyses from in 28 prisons in the Netherlands. Results show that the PCQ’s factor structure, reliability, and validity are strikingly similar across the two countries. We next turn our attention to the unit-level variation within the American correctional facility. Employing a single panel analysis, we compare the general population units to four specialized units: Therapeutic Community units, with mandatory, full-time drug treatment programmming; the honor block, that offers additional privileges that must be earned through a history free of misconduct; Little Scandinavia, a Scandinavian-inspired unit that also offers additional privileges but where program participants are drawn from the general population; and the Restrictive Housing Unit (RHU), which is a unit specifically used as a sanction or during an active investigation for serious rule violations. Meaningful differences emerge in this comparison, as in the international comparison, and the implications for both carceral policy and for the experience of living and working in the carceral environment are explored.

Co-authors: Jordan Hyatt (Drexel University, USA) and Steven L. Chanenson (Villanova University, USA)

Prison misconduct includes many behaviors that violate the rules of the correctional facilities in which incarcerated people are confined, and the nature and rates of misconduct are typically used as a proxy measure for institutional safety and the ability of staff to maintain order. In this analysis, we focus on a unique, Scandinavian-inspired living unit in a Pennsylvania prison in which several recent, structural changes – including access to single cells, groceries, stoves, cooking utensils, and unbolted furniture – are typically considered to be safety risks in prisons. Leveraging a causal research design, we assess the impact of these changes on the rate and nature of misconduct in the unit. Prison misconduct is typically explained using three theoretical perspectives: Deprivation theory, which highlights misconduct as manifestations of how incarcerated people respond to the “pains of imprisonment”; Importation theory, which emphasizes pre-institution characteristics, beliefs, and experiences; and Management perspectives, which emphasize prison administrative practices. Here, we consider these perspectives in more detail, with a focus on deprivation and management perspectives in particular. Analyses rely on administrative data from the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections on adjudicated misconducts related to behaviors including violence and contraband. Preliminary results suggest that misconduct rates are down, relative to baseline, despite the potentially increased risk introduced to the in-prison environment. We employ qualitative interview data from the residents and staff on the unit to shed light on potential mechanisms behind this pattern.

The use of community sentences has declined considerably over the last decade in England and Wales. Over the same period, the use of immediate prison sentences has increased. This is concerning because community sentences used well can reduce the number of short prison sentences and have consistently been found to be better than short prison sentences in preventing reconviction. Recent research by the author indicates that, within England and Wales, men and women from ethnic minority groups receive short prison sentences with fewer previous convictions compared to those who are white. One of the reasons for the decline in community sentences could be a loss of confidence by sentencers that they are an effective alternative to prison. There is a lack of information on the relationships between ethnicity, gender and the requirements and effectiveness of community sentences. Better understanding of these relationships has been identified as crucial by HM Inspectorate of Probation. This paper presents findings from administrative data analysis examining differences between ethnic groups and men and women in the number and type of requirements that make up community sentences. It also examines the relationship between gender, ethnicity and whether the community order is successfully completed.

Co-authors: Ulla-Britt Lilleaas (Center for Gender Research, University of Oslo, Norway)

Three quantitative surveys and one qualitative field study leave little doubt. Young policewomen in particular run and have run a rather high risk of being harassed or being the target of sexual abuse of power by older policemen. Female students at the Norwegian Police University College run the highest risk, along with temporary employed policewomen and women in the operative forces. Police officers will at times be in situations at the crime scene where trust in their close colleague is of vital importance. The situation is most complicated for those who work alongside colleagues that have harassed them or even abused their senior power in order to try to get a sexual relation. The situation is also complicated when your close colleague has witnessed the harassment or abuse of power without interfering; the so-called bystander syndrome. In Norway there has been a similar situation and discussion of harassment and abuse in the Armed Forces. Both categories of security personnel are relying on trust and cohesion in situations where your closest colleague is the one who can save your health or life. This discussion has often been about physical strength; is my female colleague able to carry my body out of the risk zone? Should the discussion also be about motivation and trust? In the Police, the harassment and abuse of power has also proved to be directed towards victims, witnesses and other persons in contact with the police. Needless to say, this also raises questions about trust.

Augusta Zadow was a 19th Century factory inspector who investigated complaints about women's wages, work safety, and sanitary conditions and established the Working Women's Trades Union. In this paper we describe the work of the Magnolia Project, an unincorporated community organisation formed around the values of compassionate justice, to progress the work of Augusta Zadow in a project to support young women who are entering the criminal justice workforce in South Australia. Based on an analysis of the experiences of both prospective professionals and those who already experienced in the sector, this paper examines how people will often seek careers in justice to promote the well-being of others and yet may also experience adversity themselves. We focus on how stress and vicarious trauma may occur because of exposure to workplace hostility, work-related discrimination, and misogyny as part of the everyday role, as well as the impacts of a lack of support from supervisors and alienation from the wider community. These concerns are particularly salient for women in workplaces that are characterised by institutionalised and (hyper-) masculine cultural norms and practices.Our paper aligns with the conference theme in that it is concerned with trust and legitimacy in the criminal justice system – although our focus is on the ways in which new and prospective employees experience trust and legitimacy in their employers. It speaks to the need to ‘step up’ efforts to support young women to have successful and sustainable careers, as well as to develop the systems, policies, and structures that are needed to achieve this. It is only by supporting those who provide services to incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people that substantive cultural change within criminal justice agencies can be achieved.

Co-author: Esther Flanagan (College of Policing, UK)

This article presents the development of an intervention designed to address sexism and misogyny within policing by leveraging a behavioral science approach. The intervention, known as the "pulse check," employs short, frequent surveys administered to police officers and staff to systematically feedback organizational culture. Team-specific results are provided to supervisors with the aim to empower supervisors to address cultural issues within their teams. Grounded in the COM-B model, the pulse check intervention focuses on enhancing supervisors' capacity, motivation, and opportunity to address cultural problems. It achieves this by increasing awareness of cultural dynamics, both negative and positive, on their teams. Additionally, it seeks to elevate motivation by instilling a heightened sense of responsibility and accountability in supervisors for addressing cultural challenges. Moreover, the intervention aims to augment the opportunity to act by providing supervisors with regular reminders and prompts to take action. This article outlines the development process of the pulse check. This includes the careful selection of metrics to assess cultural dynamics, as well as the targeted communication strategies employed to promote sustained utilization of the pulse check, emphasizing the importance of creating a culture of continuous feedback while ensuring user anonymity. We also discuss the logistical and IT considerations required for effective implementation of the intervention. This article concludes with insights gleaned from a feasibility test, shedding light on the acceptability and practicality of implementation of the pulse check. The results offer valuable implications for the broader application of behavioural science interventions to address and mitigate issues of sexism and misogyny within law enforcement agencies.

Co-author: Theodore Wilson (University at Albany/SUNY, USA)

Recent research has unpacked important within-individual variation in perceptions of police legitimacy throughout the life-course, with particular emphasis upon the critical periods of adolescence and early adulthood (Fine et al., 2020, 2021). This work has both revealed a general decline in perceptions of police legitimacy during adolescence and strong racial variation in both levels and patterns of change in police legitimacy perceptions. What’s yet to be established is how perceptions of police legitimacy update in the wake of both positive and negative experiences with the police during these key developmental periods. We address this gap using data from the Pathways to Desistance Study, a longitudinal study of justice-involved youth in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Phoenix, Arizona. Leveraging a racially diverse sample, we evaluate how legitimacy updates within-individual in response to no police contact, negative police contact, or positive police contact. We also consider to what extent do birth year cohorts moderate the effects of (un)just police experience on legitimacy updating. Preliminary results and implications for future longitudinal assessments of police legitimacy will be discussed.

Recent research shows that there has been a marked increase in crime victims’ mistrust of the police in the United States since the mid-2000s and a progressive decline in police notification. This study uses the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) data from 2000 to 2015 to investigate whether places with different political environments and policing strategies may see a different pattern of victim reporting and victims’ perceptions of the police. The study is especially interested in linking the data to the growth of immigrants in local areas, local immigration policies, and the decision to call the police made by Latino victims and Asian victims in comparison to other racial/ethnic groups.

Co-author: Amy K. Cook (Virgina Commonwealth University, USA)

There is a large literature examining perceptions of procedural justice and legitimacy of correctional officers, treatment staff, judges, and municipal and campus police. Far less studied has been perceptions of procedural justice and legitimacy of peer recovery specialists within the criminal justice system. The peer recovery specialist program implements peer-driven support and mentorship to individuals recovering from substance use disorders, and offers reentry and recovery services provided by individuals that also have experience with substance use and are in the process of recovery. The PRS program has been widely administered in clinical and correctional settings, and preliminary qualitative evidence suggests individuals with substance use disorders and/or involved in the criminal justice system may benefit from the program, in large part because of their perceptions of the legitimacy of the peer recovery specialist. The current study uses semi-structured interviews and focus groups with individuals in reentry and recovery from substance use to examine perceptions of procedural justice and legitimacy of peer recovery specialists, and the extent to which these perceptions are similar or different from perceptions of other actors in the criminal justice system. Specifically, we examine similarities and differences in perceptions of procedural justice and legitimacy of various criminal justice actors, and the extent to which positive or negative perceptions of various encounters impact other perceptions of other criminal justice actors.

Co-author: Inmaculada Marín-López (Universidad de Cordoba, Spain)

Child sexual abuse is an extremely harmful problem for individuals and societies including short and long-term detrimental consequences that negatively impact children´s mental, physical, and social outcomes. Nevertheless, there are pressing gaps in knowledge that need to be addressed. Among them, it is still necessary to synthesize knowledge on risk and protective factors for child sexual abuse and to understand which interventions and intervention components are effective to prevent or reduce child sexual abuse. Currently available systematic reviews and meta-analyses are valuable to understand different parts of the problem, but it is still necessary to synthesize knowledge using a more comprehensive and broader approach to provide a global panorama of the field. This umbrella review aims to synthesize published and unpublished systematic reviews focused on risk and protective factors for child sexual abuse and effectiveness of interventions against child sexual abuse perpetration and victimization. Specific research questions are: i. What are the risk and protective factors for child sexual abuse victimization and offending? ii. Are the interventions aimed at reducing child sexual abuse and exploitation effective? ii. What are the most effective components of interventions against child sexual abuse? This will be the first umbrella review that includes comprehensive findings of the previous systematic reviews which all focus on some specific aspects related to risk and protective factors and interventions against child sexual abuse. Thus, policymakers will have the opportunity to design new prevention and intervention strategies based on a global panorama that has not been available before.

Co-author: James Lewis (University of St Andrews, UK)

This paper sets out the findings of a Campbell systematic review into case management tools and approaches used to counter radicalisation to violence. The implementation and effectiveness of these tools and approaches remains poorly understood. Nevertheless, a range of factors were found that support the effective implementation of case management interventions including strong multi-agency working arrangements; the availability of relevant knowledge and expertise within intervention teams; and adequate resourcing. In contrast, the absence of these factors can inhibit implementation, as can reliance on overly risk-oriented logics; public and political pressure; and legislative contexts. The paper concludes by outlining the implications of this review, and by identifying avenues for future research.

Why do young people embark on criminal careers and how can this be explained? This session introduces key theoretical arguments and central findings from a UK study of a random sample of young people followed from age 12 to 24 presented in a new book - Character, Circumstances, and Criminal Careers by Per-Olof H Wikström, Kyle Treiber and Gabriela D. Roman – published by the Oxford University Press (Character, Circumstances, and Criminal Careers - Per-Olof H. Wikstrom, Kyle Treiber, Gabriela Roman - Oxford University Press (oup.com)).

In the book, (a) we argue, among other things, for a more dynamic developmental and life-course criminology; (b) theorise the dynamics of the causes and drivers of individual crime trajectories from a Situational Action Theory (SAT) perspective and its Developmental Ecological Action Model (DEA model); (c) test key hypotheses of SAT and the DEA model through advanced statistical analysis of crime trajectory groups and the relationship between patterns of development of young people’s crime propensities, criminogenic exposure and crime involvement through adolescence and into young adulthood; (d) explore the role of the contexts of social disadvantage and social adversity in childhood and their links to future trajectories of crime.

Youth gangs represent a complex social phenomenon, exhibiting diverse manifestations across different regions and contexts. They engage in a broad spectrum of activities ranging from territorial disputes and organised crime to cultural identity formation. In many parts of the world, these gangs typically emerge as a response to social exclusion, limited opportunities and systemic inequalities, providing marginalised youth with a sense of belonging and solidarity. Their influence extends beyond local communities as their involvement in transnational criminal enterprises poses significant challenges to law enforcement and public safety, perpetuating cycles of violence and instability. In South Africa, gang activity predates the country's transition to democracy and has persisted as a pervasive social issue in the post-apartheid era. Moreover, certain gangs allegedly incorporate elements of the occult and African witchcraft into their practices, generating fear within affected communities. These so-called "devil-worshipping" gangs are believed to engage in spiritually motivated crimes, including blood sacrifices, ritualistic animal slaughter and purported communication with demonic entities. Departing from conventional understandings of youth gang behaviour, this paper delves into the unique intersection of spirituality, rebellion, vulnerability and subcultural identity within these groups. Drawing on qualitative data obtained from interviews with a sample of detained offenders and service providers within the criminal justice system, the paper aims to elucidate the enigmatic nature of these subcultural formations. Specifically, the paper will explore the risk factors motivating membership, the unconventional modus operandi of these groups, and their ritualistic practices. The paper seeks to contribute to a deeper understanding of the complexities surrounding "devil-worshipping" youth gangs, shedding light on their underlying motivations and operational dynamics.

Since the 1920s, scholars have studied gangs in America as a large-city phenomenon. The study seeks to address a significant gap in the field of gang studies by focusing on gangs and gang activity in rural areas. Based on in-depth interviews of 96 active youth gang members and gang associates in the three rural counties of California’s Central Valley, coupled with field research and data from agency records, this study investigates youths' socialization into street gangs: the pathways lead to gang life, the various rituals of gang initiation, and the impacts of gang membership on gang-related illegal activities. The study sheds light on the youths’ family lives, school experiences, and the ecology of the neighborhoods they live in. Youth gang affiliation escalates gang-related activity to the next level, and there are significant gender differences in gang initiation practices. The study also highlights the features that set rural gangs apart from those in urban areas. Limited social support resources in rural counties are major obstacles to youths' desistance from gangs and pose significant challenges to effective gang prevention programs. While the Central Valley of California serves as the research site for this work, the findings of this study and the implications of these findings in shaping policy are equally relevant to other rural areas in the U.S. and the larger global context.

Scholarship in New York City and, slowly, in other cities has been documenting evidence that empirically demonstrates that children who grow up in cities experiencing rapid gentrification undergo documentable harm psychologically, physically, socially, and culturally. As such, cities, like the local Catholic diocese across the world, may find themselves held liable for these harms. Governance entities in cities undergoing rapid gentrification appreciate the vast increases in revenue. But how much of this bounty goes to youth in under-resourced areas? This paper examines these processes in the District of Columbia from the vantage point of a small, youth-focused non profit and a criminologist. While quite a small city where patterns show up quickly, DC also houses one of the most powerful seats of government in the world. The paper concludes with some suggestions for how to better honor and Empower the young people most negatively impacted by the forces of gentrification and the concentration of violence it drives.

Co-authors: Evelyn Sá Barreto, Roger Sousa, Clarisse Lima and Rui Aguiar (Violence Prevention Committee of Ceará State, Brazil)

According to UNODC, in 2021, Brazil recorded a homicide rate of 21.25, ranking as the 12th country with the highest homicide rate in the world. Amidst a context of high homicide rates, Brazil has experienced changes in the dynamics of victimization, with numbers decreasing in major urban centers and increasing in rural cities. In this scenario, this study aims to explore the dynamics of homicide rates in Ceará, understanding the processes of violence's spread to rural areas and the linking between the increase in deaths of young people. Data on homicides that occurred between 2010 and 2023 were extracted from the Public Security Department's website. The data were analyzed using R software, conducting descriptive analyses, rate calculations, and geospatial analyses. In total, 50,784 homicide cases were recorded, with the majority of victims being male (92.46%), aged between 20 and 29 years old (37.60%), killed by firearms (83.52%). From 2014, homicide rates among people aged between 10 and 19 years old began to increase in rural cities within the state, while receding in the Fortaleza Metropolitan Region by 2019. This dynamic is related to the agreements established between the criminal groups operating in the state, described in the literature as pacification. In 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic, homicide rates resumed their increase, showing spatial concentrations in regions that had become routes to drug trafficking, as a result of interventions in the Southeast of the country that blocked access to certain drug export routes. New arrangements in drug trafficking routes lead to an increase in territorial control, especially in rural cities that are crossed by crucial routes. This has led to a substantial increase of violence, with these areas becoming points of conflict. The vulnerability of young people to being recruited by criminal groups further amplifies the risk of homicides for this segment of the population.

Co-authors: Emily Gray and Stephen Farrall (University of Nottingham, UK)

Homicide is undoubtedly the most serious form of violence, resulting in substantial and widespread social, financial, and economic harm. Not only does it result in the physical loss of life, but also in problems for surviving families and friends, the neighbourhoods and communities where the crime was committed, and broader society. Homicide rate in England and Wales had been on the rise since early 1970s (the beginning of the Home Office Homicide Index data). This trend was reversed between the early 2000s and 2014, after which it rose again till 2017 (ONS 2024).

The current presentation examines the patterns in rising and falling homicide rates in England and Wales across homicide subtypes over a period of four decades (1977-2019) to detect any leading subtypes that drive the overall trend and inform future homicide prevention. To this end, the aggregate homicide rate trends are disentangled across homicide subtypes defined by the following individual level characteristics: (i) demographic characteristics of victims and offenders involved in homicides (e.g. age, sex, and ethnicity); (ii) circumstantial characteristics of homicide incidents (e.g. location, weapon use, alcohol and substance abuse); and (iii) victim-offender relationship and motive. The analysis employs the Homicide Index dataset.

The study is part of a larger Economic and Social Research Council Secondary Data Analysis Initiative (ESRC SDAI) funded project examining “Contemporary Long-Term Homicide Trends in England and Wales in the Period 1977-2019 and a Comparison with Non- Lethal Violence Trends”.

Co-author: Andy Newton (Nottingham Trent University, UK)

Crime is spatially concentrated at the street segment level and in micro places. This can be explained by specific characteristics of these places at specific time points such as the built environment, pedestrian movement, levels of social cohesion and the greater presence of individuals/premises with enhanced victimisation risk characteristics. This type of spatio-temporal analysis has been applied to explain the crime context of, for example, specific neighbourhoods within cities, transport hubs, retail centres, schools, and the night-time economy. Whilst there is an extensive crime and place literature analysing the spatial patterning and drivers of violent and sexual offences, residential burglary, criminal damage, and vehicle crime, less attention has been paid to an exploration of the spatial dynamics of homicide and near-miss homicide (NMH).This paper seeks to address this relative gap in the literature by providing an analysis of homicide NMH across street segments in Nottinghamshire between 2018 and 2023. Drawing on police-recorded crime data, the paper identifies hot spot locations based on the volume and over-representation of homicide/NMH incidents. The spatial concentration of the homicide/NMH hot spots is then compared to other types of violent offence hot spot to determine the extent to which homicide/NMH incidents are in the same or different parts of cities and towns compared to other types of violent offence. Drawing on a range of open data sources, the paper then utilises elements of routine activities theory, geometric crime patterning, crime generators and crime attractors, and social disorganisation theory to identify the significant factors driving the presence or absence of homicides/NMH within different types of street segment.

Co-authors: Maiju Tanskanen, Sofia Malinen, Anna Raeste, Janne Kivivuori (University of Helsinki, Finland) and Karoliina Karjalainen (Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Finland)

Despite the established notion of Finland as a country with a relatively high homicide rate largely attributed to alcohol-related killings, it is possible that the current Finnish homicide scene is shifting. Recent research findings suggest that the conventional idea of a “typical Finnish homicide” as drinking-group violence between marginalized men may not fully apply to youth homicides. However, these findings, along with international research literature, demonstrate the significance of drug use in lethal violence involving young people. In order to effectively prevent youth homicide and to mitigate drug-related harms in the society, more research is needed on substance use patterns among young homicide offenders. The current study uses date from the Finnish Homicide Monitor (FHM) to examine patterns of substance use in lethal violence involving young (aged 15 to 29) offenders in Finland during the time frame of two decades, 2002–2022. We describe the use of various types of substances at the time of the offense, observe trends in the prevalence of different substances, and describe co-use of different substances among young homicide offenders. In particular, we create a data-driven classification of substance use patterns among homicide offenders, comprising also information on substance use of the victim, to describe the general view of the role of substance use in youth-perpetrated homicides in Finland, also in comparison to adult-perpetrated lethal violence. Due to the relative lack of prior research on the role of diverse types of substance use in Finnish homicides, the findings are of critical value in term of development of both crime prevention and drug harm reduction policies.

Co-authors: Darrell Steffensmeier (The Pennsylvania State University, USA) and Gloria Yuxuan Gu, (The Chinese University of Hong Kong, China)

Age is a complex social marker that has long intrigued social scientists due to its association with crime. Western scholars have observed a relatively stable age-crime relationship, where criminal activity tends to peak during adolescence or early adulthood and then decline throughout the life course. However, there are ongoing debates regarding the extent to which this relationship varies across historical periods, geographic locations, and crime types. While some argue for universality and invariancy, others contend that significant variation exists. Central to this debate is the impact of industrialization and development on the age-crime relationship. It is theorized that preindustrial societies facilitate a smoother transition from youth to adulthood, resulting in a smaller proportion of crime committed by young individuals. In contrast, industrialization and post-industrialization processes may exacerbate the stresses and ambiguities of youth, leading to increased juvenile criminality in developed nations. Unfortunately, there is a scarcity of research examining the age-crime relationship across population groups and historical periods, primarily due to the lack of appropriate data. This study aims to address this gap by investigating the age-crime relationship in both the United States and China. China offers a unique research site to do cross-cultural comparisons due to its distinct Eastern culture and ongoing development/modernization. Utilizing the national court judgements database from 2016 to 2018, including reliable homicide statistics, this study examined the age-homicide distribution in China and compared it with Hirschi and Gottfredson's inverted J-shaped curve observed in the United States (using FBI homicide statistics from 2016 to 2018). Through data mining techniques applied to large-scale textual data, this project first provides descriptive age-homicide curves. Further disparity tests revealed significant age-crime variations between the two societies: the age-homicide curve in China exhibits a greater dispersion compared to that of the United States; in China, middle-aged men are more likely to commit homicide, which contrasts with the higher prevalence of youth involvement in homicide observed in the United States. This study provides solid empirical evidence to support the theoretical argument against the universality and invariancy of the inverted J age-crime distribution.

The senseless murders of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and countless other Black Americans in 2020 brought unprecedented and polarized attention to the mandate to “defund the police.” Despite the centrality of this debate to discussions of community safety in recent years, few studies document the nuanced perspectives that undergird Black Americans’ evaluations of this mandate. Drawing on interviews and surveys with an age-diverse sample of 83 Black people living in Cincinnati, OH, this article shows that there are generational differences in participants’ evaluations of “defunding the police” as an outcome or process of change that do not neatly transfer to universal support or opposition for the mandate. While respondents of all ages generally agree that policing is needed to co-produce safety in Black communities, I find that they also believe that policing’s operational structure and daily practices must evolve to better meet unmet local needs, supporting calls for institutional divestment.

Co-authors: Maria Jung (Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada) and Carolyn Greene (Athabasca University, Canada)

Existing research has found procedural justice to be an important predictor of trust, legitimacy, and cooperation with police across a number of contexts. However, research to date has not explored whether preconceived, non-normative expectations of police treatment prior to an encounter, or anticipatory justice, relate to procedural justice assessments. These expectations of justice are important to consider as they may shape how people interpret police treatment, depending on whether they anticipate fair or poor treatment. Drawing on a sample of 698 immigrants to Canada, we employ a vignette study to examine whether anticipatory justice moderates the effect of officer treatment (procedurally just or unjust) on assessments of specific procedural justice. We find that those who enter a hypothetical encounter with police anticipating greater injustice are more likely to rate the officer as less procedurally just than those who anticipate greater justice, even when they are randomly assigned to a scenario where the officer is described in a procedurally just manner. We further find that anticipatory justice moderates the effect of officer treatment (just or unjust) on perceptions of specific procedural justice. In this way, anticipatory justice appears to serve as a lens through which people view their encounters with police. As the first experimental test of anticipatory justice, the results of this study suggest that we need to better understand how differing expectations of treatment may impact on whether procedural justice, even when given, can be received.

Co-authors: Ben Bradford (University College London, UK) and Clifford Stott (Keele University, UK)

In policing large-scale demonstrations, maintaining trust and legitimacy is paramount for law enforcement agencies to encourage compliance from the crowd. Failure to adequately justify the use of force could eventually escalate tensions and lead to more violent confrontations with protestors. Embedded within the recent Israel-Palestine conflict that has triggered various mass demonstrations in London, this study aims to explore the impact of social identity on individual’s perceptions of police actions and government response. By conducting an online survey with 150 participants in the UK, we seek to understand how social identification with the protestors can shape individuals' perception of procedural justice and legitimacy of the police actions, as well as satisfaction regarding the government’s response to the issue. Our findings show that social identification significantly influences how individuals perceive both police actions and government responses, with participants identified with the pro-Palestine side viewing police actions as less procedural fair and less legitimate, compared to their pro-Israel and neutral counterparts. Moreover, our path analysis suggests that police legitimacy is a significant factor in predicting and mediating the effect of their satisfaction with the government’s response. Not only do our findings support the Group Engagement Model that the relational identification with the police mediates the effect of procedural justice on legitimacy, but it also extends the theoretical framework to include individuals' perceptions of the government. While most policing research on procedural justice and legitimacy focuses on interpersonal interaction between the police and those being policed, this research contends that studying the wider socio-political context is critical for a comprehensive understanding of how contextual intergroup relations can influence individuals' perception of fairness and legitimacy.

In the early 1970s, US prisons largely abandoned their rehabilitative focus and entered an era of mass incarceration. Increasingly overcrowded prisons were transformed into dehumanized, punishment-oriented regimes plagued with violence. Facilities increasingly relied on long-term isolation (“solitary confinement”) for all manners of disruption in the general prison population despite its adverse health impact on both incarcerated people and prison staff. US correctional officers now have the lowest average life expectancy of all U.S. professions (~59 years) and are experiencing an epidemic of poor health, substance use disorders, and suicide. Amend, launched in 2015, is a public health and human rights partnership between the medical school at the University of California San Francisco and the Norwegian Correctional Service designed to adapt public health principles and international best practices for use in US prisons from maximum security through reentry units. We draw on public health, medical ethics, occupational health, and international best practices to inspire and train U.S. prison staff, leaders, and policy makers to transform US prisons for the better health and well-being of staff and incarcerated people. This presentation will describe Amend’s success in disrupting the use of long-term solitary confinement for people with histories of violence in 14 maximum security US prisons across 3 states using the “Resource Team” model, an approach adapted from the Norwegian Correctional service. We will (1) introduce the partnership between the Norwegian Correctional Service and Amend to reduce harm in US prisons; (2) describe the Resource Team approach to dramatically reducing isolation in restrictive housing units; (3) present the impact of the Resource team model on the health of incarcerated people and staff in 14 prisons across 3 states; and (4) discuss the importance of international collaboration in the transformation of prison cultures and our plans for adding new international partners.

Restoring Promise, an initiative of The Vera Institute of Justice, creates housing units grounded in dignity for young adults in US prisons. During this presentation, you will learn about Restoring Promise's approach to building evidence for human dignity inside US prisons using collaborative research (Inspired by participatory action research), including their randomized control trial that found Restoring Promise’s approach to culture change in prisons significantly reduces violence and the use of solitary confinement.

As U.S. prison conditions worsen, policymakers, practitioners, and the public have called for greater accountability and evidence-based policies to enhance safety in prisons. Unfortunately, few empirical assessments comprehensively explore the full nature of prison safety, including the sources and consequences of violence and how various forms of prison contact shape safety and security within institutions. With the support of Arnold Ventures, researchers are collaborating with the Prison Violence Consortium to better understand prison safety by: (1) Creating a framework for reducing and preventing prison violence and (2) identifying a model of family engagement in prisons that enhances the safety for those who live and work in prisons. The Consortium is a partnership between multiple state prison systems and correctional experts dedicated to investigating the causes and consequences of prison violence among incarcerated persons and correctional staff. Consortium members include the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry, Colorado Department of Corrections, Massachusetts Department of Correction, Nebraska Department of Correctional Services, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, Oregon Department Corrections, Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Researchers are pursuing multiple methodologies, including analyses of administrative data, interviews with incarcerated persons, staff, and behavioral health professionals, and a systematic review of policy and training material. This presentation draws on select findings from this collaboration.

Seeking and incorporating the participation of those being studied is essential to research that authentically understands and addresses the needs of those directly impacted. The Prison Research and Innovation Initiative (PRII) aims to both engage incarcerated people, staff, prison administration, state and local actors as partners in the research process and subsequently study the successes and challenges of this approach. This paper examines the structure, activities, and lessons learned when implementing participatory research within prisons. For example, how did incarcerated people and correctional staff develop climate survey questions? How did staff and incarcerated people differ in their perceptions of the same prison conditions? How did research partners work with these populations to develop data-driven innovations to improve wellness for both correctional staff and incarcerated people? This study reports on findings from three waves of climate surveys and stakeholder interviews with representatives from five sites. We share insights from correctional staff and leadership, incarcerated people, research partners, state and local advocates and legislators. The results from this study can be used to understand a participatory approach to research in prisons while also identifying strategies that can yield more credible findings and more impactful engagement with stakeholder partners when conducting research in correctional settings.

Co-authors: Tom Wines, Bobur Rakhmatullaev and Brenda Russell (all The Pennsylvania State University, USA)

This qualitative research study investigates the persistent challenges and discrimination faced by sexual minority individuals within U.S. law enforcement agencies. Utilizing the Life Course Theory as a theoretical framework, the study examines how LGBT+ officers navigate a profession traditionally dominated by heteronormative values and hegemonic masculinity. The research highlights the chronological age, relationships, life events, cultural context, common life transitions, and social change as significant influencers on the lives of LGBT+ individuals within the police force. The historical context of the study outlines the evolution of the relationship between the LGBT+ community and law enforcement, marked by significant events such as the Stonewall riots and legislative milestones. Despite these societal shifts, the present research reveals that LGBT+ officers still encounter substantial barriers, including harassment, ostracization, promotional difficulties, and even wrongful termination. The study draws on semi-structured interviews conducted with 27 law enforcement officers to highlight these experiences, which are further complicated by factors such as location, department culture, and individual supervisors. The findings show that many LGBT+ officers choose law enforcement careers for the same reasons as their heterosexual counterparts, yet they must often conceal their sexual identity to avoid discrimination, leading to increased stress and disengagement. The police culture is highlighted for its entrenched masculine norms that marginalize and penalize those who deviate from heterosexuality, thus reinforcing the cycle of exclusion and prejudice. This study contributes to the understanding of minority experiences in law enforcement, suggesting that while societal attitudes towards the LGBT+ community have evolved, the policing institution lags behind in inclusivity. This study encourages law enforcement agencies to foster an environment of genuine equality.

Experiencing sexual harassment at the workplace can have a variety of effects. Besides direct ones (e.g. job satisfaction or performance), the mental health can be influenced as well. Although it is known that certain organizational characteristics, which are typical for the police (e.g. toxic, hegemonic or military masculinity norms, gender ratio, power structures and (inadequate) handling of suspected cases of sexual harassment), increase the likelihood of the occurrence of sexual harassment, studies on these issues are still rare in police organizations in Europe. Using data from a quantitative study of 138 police officers of a German metropolitan police organization, hypotheses on the prevalence of sexual harassment in the police force and on the burden of psychological stress and burnout are examined. The descriptive statistics show that both female and male officers are strongly affected by sexual boundary violations (94.7%; 90.0%) within the scope of the one-year prevalence. Verbal forms were frequent (91.3%), but non-verbal (26.1%) and physical harassment (20.3%) also occurred. Female officers scored higher than male officers for every form of sexual transgression recorded. Incidents occurred primarily during daily work and at celebrations and were mostly committed by colleagues of equal hierarchical status. The burnout screening revealed high to very high values for 10% of respondents. Multiple regressions showed moderate positive effects of sexual harassment at work on indicators of psychological strain, with gender only explaining a significant amount of variance with regard to psychosomatic complaints. Sexual harassment at the workplace can therefore be discussed as part of the causal complex for burnout and mental health impairments. Despite the limitations of this study, the high prevalence of sexual harassment at the workplace found in this police organization suggests that this topic is a relevant problem for police officers.

The presence of construction and demolition waste in peripheral areas, fields, roads, forests and rivers, is common in many regions of Spain. In fact, several international organizations continue to denounce the chronic and regrettable situation of many European countries to manage and locate illegal dumping. In this context, the VIEX Project (Project for remote sensing and environmental analysis of illegal dumping IB20050) was promoted in order to analyze illegal dumping in Extremadura (Spain) from an holistic point of view (engineering, legal and criminological). Its main goals are: to detect illegal waste, to analyze its incidence, causes and modus operandi, and to propose prevention measures. This paper presents the results of the analysis of police data, the location of waste in the field and the questionnaires and interviews handed to stakeholders involved (security forces, political agents, third sector, private companies, etc.). The main findings show a high incidence of solid waste in the region which are occasionally dumped and that there is a climate of impunity and permissiveness regarding these behaviors.

Family or intimate visits in prison affect the physical and mental well-being of prisoners, the maintenance of family and social ties and, ultimately, their opportunities for social reintegration. Despite the importance of this practice in the well-being of prisoners, there are contrasts between the penitentiary authorities of the countries regarding their levels of permissiveness. The study goals are three: (1) to carry out a systematic literature review to understand the visit impacts on the well-being of prisoners and their social reintegration; (2) to do a comparative analysis of this practice in a sample of countries (Spain, Germany, Finland, the United Kingdom, Italy, Poland and the United States -California, New York, Texas and Florida) in order to identify whether: the visits take place at intervals of over one month and their requirements and execution conditions and; (3) to place the mentioned countries on a scale of social exclusion in the theoretical framework of the AP-RIMES+ project. The method used is based on a secondary sources review and an expert consultation. The main result findings show that most countries allow for family visits but not intimate visits, making it necessary to improve prison policies and programs favor visits given their positive effect on reintegration.

Background Substance Use Disorder (SUD) service-users are a particularly vulnerable group because they demonstrate low attrition rates, transitioning several times around Prochaska and DiClemente’s (1982) Cycle of Change, before attaining successful treatment outcomes. Perceived absence of relational trust found in Criminal Justice-related SUD services, where inequitable relationships are often experienced, have featured as being important to outcomes. Cooley’s (1902) Looking Glass Self purports that one’s social interactions, shape, modify and develop the self, by aligning one’s identity with the interpretations and performances of others. The perception of trustful therapeutic alliances (TA) between service-provider and service-user, can potentially contribute to positive treatment outcomes. The study aimed to gain insight into the perception of relational trust within the dyadic TA and the influence it has on recovery success. Methods: A reflexive thematic analysis approach was utilised, allowing participants to voice lived-experiences of features of the TA that were perceived to have a positive influence on successful treatment outcomes. Participants were purposely chosen, as they currently attended treatment for SUD. Data was collated from four service-users, using semi-structured interviews and analysed by Braun and Clarke’s (2006) method of thematic analysis. Results: The analysis of SUD service-user's lived-experiences revealed four areas of focus within the TA, relating to trust, which were potentially impactful on successful treatment outcomes for service-users; (1) practitioners’ attitude; (2) continuity of practitioner; (3) feeling ‘trust’; (4) the TA relationship. Conclusions: The study utilised direct input from SUD service-users and demonstrated the importance of building a positive dyadic TA, to build trust and subsequently improve treatment outcomes. Further, a crucial aspect of treatment is to facilitate feelings of empowerment for service-users.

This study aimed to examine Japanese citizens’ attitudes toward sexual offenders and the measures pertaining to such perpetrators. Despite the presence of various policies in other developed countries, there is still no national policy in Japan regarding individuals convicted of sexual crimes. The draft of the Disclosure and Barring Service Act garnered attention in 2023; however, it was postponed until the next Diet session. At the local government level, a limited number of cities, including Osaka and Fukuoka, implemented measures for individuals with criminal records for sexual offenses. These laws require former sex offenders to register with local government offices to receive support for rehabilitation and re-entry, not for community notification purposes. In this study, 431 citizens were surveyed regarding their attitudes toward former sexual offenders in Japan. Participants were recruited via the internet, and demographic variables such as education, age, and family structure were collected. Additionally, participants were asked about their attitudes toward various aspects related to sex offenders, including awareness and agreement with the ordinances in Osaka and Fukuoka, opinions on sentence length, effectiveness of support, potential introduction of GPS monitoring, necessity of registering addresses for support, and necessity of making addresses public for citizens. A multiple regression analysis was conducted to explore the impact of each demographic variable on attitudes toward the measures of former sexual offenders. As results, awareness of measures already in place in Osaka and Fukuoka, specifically for sexual offenders, was found to be very low. Less than 20% of the respondents were aware of these issues. Gender, age, and educational status were found to influence attitudes toward each of the policies studied. The details are reported in the presentation.

Co-authors: Mariano Núñez-Flores and Francisco Yuste-Hidalgo (University of Cordoba, Spain)

Cyberhate encompasses any expression on the Internet that deliberately damages the reputation of or instigates violence against a collective identity and its members, often targeting minorities. Cyberhate is present and prevalent globally among adolescents and has negative repercussions for individuals and societies. Therefore, there is an urgent need for empirical evidence regarding predictive factors for cyberhate (risk and protective factors). Recent studies have shown that adolescents’ social and emotional competencies can protect them against cyberhate. The development of these competencies can be influenced by attitudes towards inclusive education of their schoolteachers. The current study focused on both the indirect effects (via adolescents’ social and emotional competencies) and the direct effects of attitudes toward inclusive education of teachers on adolescents’ cyberhate. These relations were examined at the school level. The sample comprised 269 teachers at Wave 1 (Mage = 43.39, SD = 10.10, age range = 24-64 years; 58.70% female) and 1,619 of their students one year later, at Wave 2 (Mage = 12.99, SD = 0.53, age range = 12-15 years; 50.20% female). The participants were selected by convenience and accessibility from 37 schools of Spanish compulsory secondary education. This study was carried out with self-report surveys. A mediation model for each cyberhate dimension (perpetration and victimization) was developed with PROCESS macro (Model 4). The association between positive attitudes towards inclusive education of schoolteachers and low levels of cyberhate perpetration by adolescents was mediated by high adolescents’ social and emotional competencies. In addition, attitudes towards the inclusive education of teachers were directly and negatively related to the adolescents’ cyberhate victimization one year later. This work presents relevant implications for both educational policy and practice. The findings underscore the importance of teacher training.

Co-authors: Stefan Hopf (Vienna Centre for Societal Security, Austria), Emanuel Tananau Blumenschein (Vienna Centre for Societal Security, Austria), Norbert Leonhardmair (Vienna Centre for Societal Security, Austria), Joachim Kersten (Deutsche Hochschule der Polizei, Germany), Natalie Köpsel (Deutsche Hochschule der Polizei, Germany), Sandra González Cabezas (Asociación Askabide Liberación, Spain), Hilde Hellbernd (S.I.G.N.A.L. e.V., Germany), Jarmo Houtsonen (Poliisiammattikorkeakoulu, Finland), Ainhoa Izaguirre Choperena (Universidad De La Iglesia De Deusto Entidad Religiosa, Spain), María Lopez Belloso (Universidad De La Iglesia De Deusto Entidad Religiosa, Spain), Angelika May (S.I.G.N.A.L. e.V., Germany), Marianne Mela (Poliisiammattikorkeakoulu, Finland), Suvi Nipuli (Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), Finland), Seija (Parekh Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), Finland), Lorea Romero Gutierrez (Universidad De La Iglesia De Deusto Entidad Religiosa, Spain) and Margarita Vassileva (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France)

Research on the epidemic of domestic abuse reveals lack of overlap between police crime statistics and victim surveys indicating that although domestic abuse is widespread only a minor part of victims are served by the help system. Moreover, only 30% of the victim-survivors of domestic violence turn to the various care structures, while the majority turns to their networks of family and friends. In order to identify determinants of successful pathways, we interviewed 108 victim-survivors from vulnerable groups (i.e. migration background, LGBTIQ+ identification, health impairments, rural/remote areas) from Austria, Finland, France, Germany, and Spain on their search for help, asking for enabling and hindering factors in contact with various institutions of the help system. Regarding the pathways, results of the interviews indicated that approaches to help are various, but they can be dissected into different steps that might take place. Firstly, respondents often reported a preparatory step, this includes seeking out information, planning contingencies, and acknowledging one’s own victimisation. Secondly, direct support seeking measures can be undertaken, often reaching out to informal networks, where available. Support seeking steps often included the use of formal support structures as well, whether general or dedicated support services. These range from LEAs and shelters, to general practitioners and therapists. Lastly, instances where reporting was done externally, i.e., without the go ahead of respondents, can play an important role within the support seeking process, as it might serve as a starting point or a first negative experience with support services, either motivating or hampering further activities by victims. The interviews highlighted the experiences of vulnerable victims, which further illustrate the weaknesses of the support system and the accumulated difficulties that both victims and frontline responders have to overcome.

Co-authors: Joaquín Rodríguez-Ruiz (Universidad de Cordoba, Spain) and Bryan Lee Miller (Clemson University, USA)

Previous systematic reviews have focused on the relation between some problematic technology-related behaviours (e.g. social media addiction) and the use of some substances (e.g. alcohol or cannabis), but the overall association between Problematic Technology Use and substance use has not been analysed yet. Thus, this study aimed to systematically review and meta-analyse the existing evidence relating Problematic Technology Use and substance use. Searches were conducted in six different databases in September 2022. A total of 153 studies were included. Meta-analytic results showed a powerful link between Problematic Technology Use and substance use. The association was stronger in females and adolescents. Licit substances were more strongly related to Problematic Technology Use; and online gambling and social media were the most robustly associated with substance use. Given that Problematic Technology use and substance use are highly interrelated, exploring common underlying factors could be useful for treatment from a transdiagnostic perspective. Keywords: Problematic Technology Use, substance use, systematic review, meta-analysis. Acknowledgement: this research project was funded by a Fulbright grant for predoctoral research 2022/2023 and PID2019-109770RB-I00 grant.

Co-authors: Joaquín Rodríguez-Ruiz and Raquel Espejo-Siles (Universidad de Cordoba, Spain)

Adolescent substance use is a global health threat. Thus, the identification of risk and protective factors is essential to prevent or decrease substance use. Although diverse factors have been linked with substance use in adolescence, little is known about the relation between moral disengagement and substance use. Specifically, no studies to date examined the impact of parental moral disengagement on substance use. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to explore its prospective impact on adolescent substance use and analyse if this relation is mediated by adolescents´ moral disengagement. This was a prospective longitudinal study in which 533 students (48.1% female, 51.9% male) were followed up annually in three consecutive school years. The mean age of participants at T1 was 12.46 (SD = 0.71). Data were collected using validated self-reported questionnaires. We found that parental moral disengagement at T1 was significantly related to more licit substance use at T3, but the correlation with illicit substance use was not significant. According to the mediation analysis, there was no significant direct prospective association between parental moral disengagement and licit substance use, but there was an indirect relation between the two through higher levels of adolescents´ moral disengagement. These findings are noteworthy as parental moral disengagement only predicted substance use through adolescents´ moral disengagement. Fostering moral competency in adolescents could be an effective element for preventing substance use even when moral disengagement is induced by parents.

Religiously motivated hate crimes wield profound consequences, particularly affecting the mental well-being of young victims, heightening the risks of depression and suicide. The considerable underreporting of such incidents underscores the imperative for thorough investigations, employing methodologies such as self-reported surveys, interviews, and experimental approaches. While prevailing literature predominantly concentrates on victims, offenders, and law enforcement, religiously motivated hate crimes frequently unfold in public spaces, necessitating an intricate exploration of bystander dynamics. This comprehensive study, featuring surveys and vignette experiments conducted across four countries with 1000 respondents each (N=4000), embarks on a threefold mission: unravelling respondents' attitudes toward hate crime sanctions, dissecting the nuances of bystander behaviour in simulated hate crime scenarios, and scrutinising the impact of victim characteristics on individuals' inclination to intervene. The victim's religious identity emerges as a focal point in our vignettes, aiming to elucidate the 'who, why, and for whom' in hate crime scenarios. The presentation will disclose preliminary results, deliberate on unexpected findings, and delineate implications for future research. By delving into attitudes, bystander dynamics, and victim characteristics, this study seeks to make meaningful contributions to the prevention of hate crime victimisation and offer insights into the transformative processes guiding bystanders toward becoming upstanders.

Co-authors: Gary LaFree and Tyler Yates (University of Maryland, USA)

The COVID-19 pandemic is a global event with far-reaching consequences that continue to reverberate. Its impact is not confined to the aftermath of the illness itself, but also to the policy choices and changes in human behavior made in response to the disease. Here we specifically examine the impact of COVID-19 on terrorism worldwide. Shortly after the onset of the pandemic, researchers and policy experts began to speculate on the likely effects of COVID-19 on terrorism through a variety of mechanisms. Making inferences from applying existing understanding of patterns of terrorism to the context of the pandemic, experts made plausible arguments that COVID-19 increased terrorism, decreased terrorism, or had no impact. However, to our knowledge there is at present no published research which uses comprehensive empirical data to explicitly examine the connection between terrorist attacks and COVID-19.

In the present study we investigate the impact of the pandemic on country-level terrorist attacks in 2020. During this period attacks increased in some countries and decreased in others—there is no evidence of a uniform, decisive, global change in the frequency or lethality of terrorism coinciding with the COVID-19 pandemic. The timing and intensity of the pandemic varied from place to place, and the diverse theories of how pandemic-related social change might impact terrorism suggest that the effects might be more subtle. There is evidence for possible effects on motivations, strategies, and tactics for isolated attacks. We also find that data on COVID-19 infections from many countries—especially those suffering from long-entrenched violent conflicts—make precise conclusions about the effect of the pandemic on terrorism challenging. We consider the results for future research and policy.

Co-author: Gary LaFree (University of Maryland, USA)

The Tamil Tigers (LTTE) were one of the most active and deadliest terrorist organizations of the twentieth century. After their violent elimination by government forces in 2009, the Sri Lankan government struggled to restore political stability, reduce ethnic tensions and stimulate economic growth. Recent research shows that individuals affiliated with the Sinhalese political majority still report much higher trust in government and political institutions than Tamils and other minority groups do. In 2023, Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court ruled that government officials breached public trust in their management of the economy. Despite continuous ethnic and religious tension and political corruption, the number of terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka has remained low since 2009. Although there have been a few high-profile attacks in the past ten years (e.g., the Easter Sunday attacks carried out by Islamist extremists in 2019), overall the number and lethality of terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka has remained far below the period when the LTTE was active. In this study, we examine why terrorism in Sri Lanka has remained relatively uncommon despite ongoing conditions that would seem to provide favorable conditions for political violence. We look especially at the impact of globalization on Sri Lanka after 2009. We also examine a variety of other potential factors to help explain the rapid reduction in terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka, including crime rates, elections, and demographic changes.

Most individuals reject violence as a means to pursue political goals, but some people still choose to engage in it. One explanation for this phenomenon points to the role of social context in facilitating commitment to either violent or peaceful political actions. For instance, the philosophy of a political group may explicitly reject the use of violence as inconsistent with achieving group goals, or it can prescribe violence as the most effective means. However, the question of whether there are systematic differences between different ideological groups in the use of violence remains unresolved. Additionally, the specific psychological differences between political groups committed to the same ideology, but varying in their level of extremism, are also unclear. To address these gaps, I will first present research comparing the use of political violence by left-wing, right-wing, and Islamist extremists in both the United States and worldwide. I will also address the second question by describing differences in social relationships occurring within radical and moderate religious groups in Indonesia.

Nisbett and Cohen’s (1996) culture of honor (COH) theory, a perspective based on the premise of a white Southern male subculture, has recently been extended to the context of targeted violence (Barnes, Brown, Osterman 2012; Tschantret, 2019). A related trajectory of research has suggested that this type of subculture may be especially relevant to explaining the etiology of racially or ethnically motivated (REVE) and anti-government/anti-authority (AGAAVE) violent extremists (Mills et al., 2020). Nonetheless, the majority of existing studies have examined the theory using macro-level indicators (Corcoran & Stark, 2018; Gul, Cross, Uskul, 2020) and the few important individual-level exceptions (Barnes et al., 2012; Bjarnegard, Broneus, Melander, 2017; Leung & Cohen, 2011) still have yet to replicate the original “experimental ethnography.” With all this in mind, we inquire, Does the COH explain support for ideologically-motivated violence? We explore this question through two randomized experiments using virtual reality technology: (1) a partial replication of Cohen and colleagues’ (1996) original “bump” and “chicken” experiments, and (2) an extension of Barnes et al.’s (2012) Statue of Liberty vignette. Initial findings will be presented.

Background: In 2021 there were 95,844 registered sex offenders in England and Wales, and a total of 917,771 in the United States of America. Those who have been or are about to be released from prison will potentially need treatment, interventions, mental health support, accommodation, and employment to reduce the risk of recidivism and promote safe community reintegration. There is a need to fully identify and explore what can help or hinder the reintegration process to reduce reoffending rates and make recommendations to support men convicted of sexual offences through this process that is based on evidence and the needs of this offender group. This is particularly important when considering the high number of sexual offenses committed across the world and the impact this certain crime has upon individuals, communities, and society as a whole. Methods: A search of 16 electronic databases produced 14,218 potential sources, which after screening resulted in 79 articles for inclusion. Papers were included if they used qualitative research methods about the barriers, facilitators, perceptions, experiences, and attitudes toward community reintegration from prison or secure care for men convicted of sexual offenses. Included papers were critically appraised and the findings were thematically synthesized. Key findings: The findings identified that formal and cultural aspects of reintegration, such as probation services, stigmatization, and registration were the three largest barriers that men faced upon their release, with stability aspects, such as positive relationships, religion, and support groups being key facilitators to their successful reintegration. The implications for future research, and policy and practice, including prioritizing risk assessment and management, offering appropriate and timely treatment and rehabilitation, educating the community, better access to housing and employment, and services adopting a collaborative approach will be discussed.

Multiple perpetrator rape (MPR) is an international problem but remains an under-researched area of sexual violence. One such gap involves those cases where not every group member rapes the victims. This limits theoretical understanding and ability to design effective prevention programmes. This research presents the findings of a quantitative survey with those involved in an MPR but who did not sexually penetrate the victims. Descriptive analyses, cluster analyses and ordinal logistic regressions were used to investigate a) the MPRs; b) the interest individual’s characteristics and actions; c) what situational, contextual and individual factors influenced their behavioural decisions. The sample consisted of 439 community adults residing in UK. The rapes took place in social contexts in inside locations. They involved groups of men and women consisting of two/three perpetrators known to one another against two/three victims known to the offenders. The groups and victims were homogeneous in terms of ages and ethnicities. Over 80% of the interest individuals were involved in more than one MPR; the largest proportion were heterosexual, White men, who were part of MPRs between the ages of 19 and 25. Over 60% engaged in faciliatory actions (e.g. holding the victim, cheering the others on) and in non-penetrative sexual acts (e.g. masturbating, kissing the victim). Sexual interest and excitement were the most common reasons provided. Nearly 20% watched the rape without getting involved or alternated between engagement and passive presence. Less than 10% helped the victim. Situational and group elements and psychological profiles impacted actions. Type and degree of engagement were influenced by perceptions of consent, relationship with the victim and group, number of victims and locations, MPR’s context and one’s level of moral disengagement and MPR proclivity. A taxonomy of engagement is presented. Theoretical, legal and practical implications are discussed.

Co-authors: Viviana Andreescu (University of Louisville, USA), Kirsten Spears (Western Kentucky University, USA) and Emily Johns (Western Kentucky University, USA)

The sexual victimization of children and adolescents continues to be a widespread phenomenon in the United States. Using data from the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), the present study provides an analysis of sexual assault cases reported to the police in 2022. The analysis is based on a subsample of cases with one victim and one offender (N = 83,742) that involved minors who have been subjected to sexual violence, such as rape, sodomy, sexual assault with an object, and fondling (indecent liberties or child molestation). The main objective of the analysis is to identify individual-level factors (e.g., victim and offender characteristics), victim-offender relationship, and circumstances of the offense more likely to be associated with an increased risk of sexual victimization at different stages of child development (i.e., early childhood, pre-adolescence, and adolescence), when cases involving female and male victims are compared. The limitations of the analysis and the policy implications of the study will be also discussed.

Co-authors: Shaun McLaws (University of Melbourne, Australia), Ben Matthews (University of Queensland, Autralia), Troy Allard and Dominique De Andrade (Griffith University, Australia)

The prevalence of youth offending has declined notably in the two decades across a large number of Western countries, including the U.S., U.K., a number of European countries and Australia. The modest body of work examining the causes of the youth crime decline has indicated a number of contributory factors, including changes to youth routine activities which have reduced young peoples’ exposure to high-risk settings for offending (Svensson & Oberwittler, 2021; Van der Laan et al., 2021), and increased property securitization which has reduced opportunistic property crime (Farrell et al., 2015). More recent research has also suggested a role for policing responses to young people, with a number of studies suggesting an association between reductions in aggressive crime control responses and increases in diversion, and declines in youth offending (McVie & McAra,2019; Neil & Sampson, 2021), however the empirical evidence for this remains limited. It is important to understand the potential role of criminal justice policies in the youth crime decline, as these comprise a key lever for governments to reduce contact of young people with the criminal justice system. The current study explores specifically the role of police-led diversionary responses in the youth crime decline in Australia, as police-led diversion (including cautions, drug diversion and restorative justice conferencing) comprises the earliest and most frequently applied diversion opportunities for young people who have contact with the criminal justice system. Changes in access to police-led diversion and changes in the effectiveness of police-led diversion on youth re-offending are examined using a multi-jurisdictional and multi-cohort administrative records of youth offending and police actions in Australia. Findings will be discussed with reference to the role of policing responses in the youth crime decline in Australia, and the policy implications for policing responses to youth offending.

By drawing on Pierre Bourdieu’s view on the State, particularly the idea of the left hand and the right hand of the State, statutory reforms and policy in Sweden targeting youths committing crime will be analysed. While the left hand is constituted by, e.g., social welfare, education and health care, the right hand is constituted by, e.g., the justice system, the police and prisons. As will be discussed, one might argue that the handling of underage children committing crime have shifted from the left hand to the right hand of the State. In the Swedish context, it should be stressed that it is a continual development. One need to acknowledge that until the 1980s and 1990s, crime was generally framed as social problem with social causes. Since then, crime has been portrayed as a threat to the democratic society. More recently, on the policy level, crime is framed as a threat to the society and its functions. Consequently, criminal law policy is no longer viewed as a part of social policy. Instead, social policy has emerged as criminal law policy – but with other means. In other words, policies previously adopted within social law has shifted toward becoming criminal law. This particularly appears to be the case in adopted policy and statutory reforms concerning underage children. An illustrative example is the introduction of juvenile prisons for children between 15-17 years. The rationale behind the reform is that underage children committing crimes are a threat to us all, i.e., motivated by the “need to protect society”. This threat is deemed so severe that underaged children should be imprisoned. This marks a shift, since underage children committing crime previously have been handled within the Social Services, not the Swedish criminal justice system. Aside from elaborating the development outlined here, some tentative thoughts on possibilities and risks connected to the policies targeting underaged children will be discussed.

Since Sweden opened its borders in 2016 to full immigration, it has experienced a historic amount of violent juvenile and gang activity. Each year, the extent of such violence breaks the reported records of the preceding year. Due to massive public outcry, Sweden began in early 2023 to implement many new “get tough” initiatives to combat this issue. The initiatives include non-Sweden-born individuals who commit crimes (regardless of age) being deported, increasing documentation of the nationality of offenders being publicly released, and doubling the sentences and penalties on offenders from other countries. Most recently, there has been a call for “military involvement” in helping police combat these crime problems, which will continue to be a massive debate in Sweden. Many of these proposed measures resemble actions taken by the US government in the 1980s and 1990s during its “get tough” period to fight juvenile crime. This presentation will examine the results of these actions in Sweden and compare them to “lessons learned” in America from similar actions.

Co-author: Mikaela Starke (University of Gothenburg, Sweden)

Organized crime such as gang and group-involved violence is a systemic threat. The Swedish society's resistance to network- and group-involved violence must be fundamentally strengthened. Group Violence Intervention (GVI) is a strategic approach aimed at reducing group-related violence within communities. By combining safety-creating measures with social efforts and targeted police action, GVI aims to reduce violence, improve society's safety and offer a way out of the spiral of violence for those involved. In the proposed presentation the process evaluation of the implementation of GVI in Gothenburg, Sweden will be presented. The evaluation aimed at answering to what extent professionals from the police, the prison and probation services, and the social services perceive GVI as reasonable and relevant, if they have accepted adapted and followed the strategy. To follow the process, interviews were conducted on two occasions with key personnel in the GVI organization – at the beginning and at the end of the implementation process. Web surveys were sent out and answered on three occasions and observations were done during GVI-trainings and various meetings. Results showed that the professionals accepted GVI and considered it more reasonable and relevant over time. At a later stage in the implementation process, the strategy gained an increased foothold through deepened cooperation between the police, the prison and probation services, and the social services. During the process evaluation, collaboration with civil society had not yet been fully established. In order to be able to follow the strategy, various forms of adaptation of GVI were carried out. Recommendations such as that the established GVI-organization should be maintained and that those working with the strategy should be given good conditions to do so through resources and continuous support, will be discussed.

Co-authors: Quinzel Tomoney (Cure Violence Philadelphia, USA), ShaKia Fudge (Cure Violence Philadelphia, USA), Caterina Roman (Temple University, USA) and Shadd Maruna (Queens University Belfast, UK)

Community Violence Interventions (CVIs) are popular in the US in response to the gun-violence epidemic and demonstrate success in reducing rates of gun violence. One reason for this is the use of “credible messengers” – formerly incarcerated people with lived experience - as outreach workers (OWs). OWs have natural legitimacy in vulnerable communities and use this position to engage those at high-risk for perpetrating gun violence. Still, some questions arise. How do OWs use their status to assess and engage high-risk individuals? How do they determine who is at elevated risk for perpetrating violence? Are there high-risk individuals who OWs deem unsuitable candidates for participation? This study used a Participatory-Action Research (PAR) design, created with 3 senior OWs in Philadelphia, PA. We interviewed 18 OWs, using semi-structured individual interviews and focus groups. We later trained OWs in these methods, who interviewed high-risk individuals enrolled in a local CVI (n=20). Further, we used RDS to reach high-risk individuals not engaged in a CVI (n=12) who were subsequently interviewed by the OWs and the PI. We used a mix of deductive and inductive strategies. Analysis revealed that OWs use their own histories to establish legitimacy and trust. Several OWs stressed that it is not enough to “be black and from the hood”, but that you “need cred and skills” to engage. CVI participants discussed benefitting from messages shared by credible messengers. Non-engaged high-risk individuals reported seeing no benefits of CVI programming and discussed “fame” and the thrills of “street life.” Results suggest that there are specific characteristics that make someone an appropriate CVI candidate and that OWs evaluate high-risk individuals before formally engaging them. Findings also indicate that some high-risk individuals with antisocial and other characteristics makes them unsuitable for CVIs.

Cuckooing is named after the parasitic nest stealing practices of wild cuckoos. It is a situation where heroin and crack cocaine dealers associated with the so-called County Lines supply methodology ‘take over’ (acquire) the homes of local residents to create a closed market drug dealing base. Cuckooing is an inherently exploitative and predatory practice, with evidence indicating that victims are typically vulnerable and in some instances socially excluded. Cuckooing presents a wicked problem for operational policing, and had attracted significant political and professional attention in the United Kingdom. Despite this, academic research dedicated to exploring, understanding and scrutinising this evolving phenomenon has remained in its infancy. This paper will present findings from an N8 PRP funded study that has been designed to close gaps in our existing cuckooing knowledge. Drawing on documentary and interview data collected from experts, victims and perpetrators in the north of England, the following three questions will be addressed: 1) how, when and why are cuckoo victims targeted? 2) how is cuckooing experienced by victims and perpetrators? and, 3) how can ‘cuckooing’ be prevented, or disrupted once instigated?

Co-authors: Estelle Clayton (Edinburgh Napier, UK), Will Andrews (Keele University, UK), Liz Aston (Edinburgh Napier, UK), Helen Wells (Keele University, UK) and Ben Bradford (University College London, UK)

Recently, UK police forces have introduced various technologies that alter the methods by which they interact with the public. Many forces have also begun to embrace the concept of procedural justice to secure legitimacy and (in turn) public compliance and cooperation. What has not received sufficient attention is the extent to which these two trends are compatible. The effect of technologically mediating police/public contacts and, in turn, the consequences for the British policing principle of ‘policing by consent’, are unknown. Using data from in-depth ethnographic observations of response, community and traffic policing units in three UK police forces, as well as interviews with the public, we will demonstrate how digital technologies are perceived and navigated during in-person encounters. This includes devices such as body-worn video (BWV), mobile data terminals (MDT) and smart phones. We find that officers display several techniques, not all of which are compliant with policy, to mitigate the effects of the technology in the encounter, often whilst members of the public are engaging with their own devices. We will discuss how the public use methods of interaction to mitigate or comply with officers’ data collection. We will explore the implications of this for conceptions of procedural justice.

This presentation offers numerous practical methods proven to be effective in enhancing community-police relations, including improving officers’ person-to-person communication skills, the law enforcement agencies’ purposeful employment of traditional as well as digital media, and launching a series of collaborative events created jointly between local law enforcement personnel, and the citizens that they serve. Such steps have also been proven to help significantly reduce crime. The presentation will provide clear guidance for law enforcement leadership, supervisory personnel, and public information officers (PIOs) from departments of any size, along with interested community leaders and members of the public, describing evidence-based, hands-on, pragmatic steps gathered from years of research provided by the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the US Department of Justice Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), and the (US) President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, among many other authoritative sources, all of which have been shown to improve relations between local law enforcement and minorities, youth-at-risk, the merchant population, and the entire community in general. Participants will come away with a clear and practical understanding of how to begin improving relations between their local police department and the citizens that they serve, along with a list of helpful resources to help them begin the process.

The abstract derives from the master degree study, Online Policing – An Exploratory Analysis Searching for Guiding Principles on Engagement and Interaction with the Public. Understanding the paramount importance of police-public relations in fostering trust and legitimacy, the study delving into the dynamic realm of online policing, aiming to identify key principles that guide effective police-public engagement in the digital environment. In a world swiftly embracing digitalization, where individuals spend a significant portion of their lives online, law enforcement faces new challenges in establishing meaningful public connections. The research sheds light on emerging challenges and opportunities, contributing to the ongoing discourse on fostering trust and legitimacy in our increasingly interconnected world. This qualitative exploratory analysis scrutinizes police organizations in eight democratic countries globally. The comprehensive approach examines police internal documents within and conducting interviews with internal experts in the field. Additionally, interviews with external experts provide invaluable perspectives, enriching the study with broader insights. Through this, a diverse array of online policing activities within police organizations is uncovered, highlighting both developmental potential and significant challenges. Notably, disparities emerge between internal and external perspectives, shedding light on the complexities inherent in online policing. However, identifying guiding principles proved challenging due to unclear objectives within police organizations and uncertainties surrounding metrics in digital environments. Additionally, the absence in addressing public perceptions of online policing in the context of engagement became evident. The study findings emphasizing the need for a nuanced approach to address the multifaceted aspects influencing the effectiveness of online policing strategies in the context of public engagement.

Eric Maes (NICC, Belgium), Luc Robert (NICC, Belgium), Tom Daems (KU Leuven, Belgium), Anouk Mertens (NICC, Belgium)

In contemporary prison research, scholars increasingly recognise the utility of community crime theories in explaining occurrences of victimisation among incarcerated individuals. These theories explain violence within correctional facilities through the convergence of incarcerated individuals' characteristics, their lifestyle or daily routines with contextual features within the prison environment. A substantial body of empirical research has explored risk factors categorised under the concepts of target suitability and antagonism, as well as individual lifestyles. However, when considering contextual risk factors of prison victimisation, deprivation theory - the impact of a depriving prison environment – and the more recent concept of prison climate become relevant. Prison climate encompasses a broad range of dimensions relating to the prison building, facilities, relationships with people, safety, and so on. This presentation highlights the findings of a Belgian cross-sectional study completed in 2021. Utilising the Prison Climate Questionnaire - an instrument developed in the Netherlands - the study measures the quality of prison life and experiences of victimisation among 1006 individuals in detention. Specifically, the study examined victimisation rates of physical and verbal incidents caused by staff and fellow incarcerated individuals. Through multivariate regression analyses, the research investigated individual risk factors alongside the impact of three dimensions of prison climate: detainees' perceptions of their internal relationships, safety, and autonomy. The paper underscores the substantial role played by dimensions of prison climate in understanding physical and verbal victimisation among incarcerated individuals. Furthermore, it highlights the association between victimisation in prison and the well-being of those detained.

Prisons are complex work environments that involve a variety of stressors – the sources of which can be derived from social, legal, moral, cultural, spatial, emotional and political factors. Furthermore, interpersonal violence and aggression is widely recognised as a reality in prisons across the world which poses a ready-made ‘problem’ that demands ‘solving’. Major theoretical perspectives of violence in prisons have emphasised internal (‘bad apple’), external (‘bad barrel’), or situational (‘bad luck’) attributions as causal explanations, and while these theories speak to institutional priorities about assessment and intervention of disruption, they are also incomplete. Violence in carceral settings has multiple drivers that relate to its causes and control, which means that simple solutions at one level (e.g., policy) or another (e.g., individual treatment) are likely to be ineffective in and of themselves. Indeed, the pervasiveness and seeming inevitability of violent incidents in prison spaces suggests that prison violence constitutes a ‘wicked problem’. This presentation considers prisons as ecosystems, where we argue that the conceptual lens needs to zoom-out beyond assessing individual characteristics or site conditions and should include local knowledge (cultural and historical), whanau (family) and the wider community as important elements in redefining violence in these spaces. Drawing from clinical experience and applied research in Australian and New Zealand prisons, this presentation focuses on correctional practices and highlights the importance of a culturally-accountable philosophy of care, Indigenous ways of being, and especially the priorities of Indigenous stakeholders in promoting safety and wellbeing for those who reside and work in our prisons.

Background: Whilst it is well evidenced that the prevalence of alcohol misuse is high in the criminal justice system, and it can be shown it is for women on their own also, it is important to investigate the differences between men and women, in order to tailor interventions to this specific population. More females are found to be risky drinkers when they arrive in prison (24%) compared to males (18%) and there are established gendered pains of imprisonment. Early PhD work by JF explored this unmet need, this work further explores this with a particular focus on prison staff delivering the intervention. Methods: Two systematic reviews as well as in depth qualitative interviews with women in an open prison and relevant staff and stakeholders were carried out. Thematic analysis of the transcripts was undertaken and triangulated with the reviews and recommendations for a future pilot study were made. Results: The findings of the qualitative work aligned with the already evidenced pains of imprisonment. The research highlighted the importance of using the 10 question AUDIT to establish rapport as well as its main purpose of screening. However, whilst participants discussed pragmatic issues but one of the main findings was the element of staff rapport within the setting. It was surprisingly a uniformed officer who was most favoured for delivery of the intervention. Conclusions: SBI with women in an open prison setting is both feasible and acceptable but the importance is around who delivers the SBI, with existing staff being favourable to the women.

Quinn-Hogan (2021) states “Deficient societal acceptance” after prison as the biggest barrier to successful rehabilitation. When a citizen with carceral experience identifies as a member of a particular community, how simple is the transition back, which could, in many cases may provide greater opportunities for support than traditional family ties. Consideration will be given to two instances based on experiential evidence of the Orthodox Jewish Community and will also draw on epistemological research done within the deaf community, (Kelly-Corless and McCulloch 2023). How do people maintain their commitment to desistance whilst being rejected from the place they once called home and what is the effect on recidivism?The answer lies in preparation. The first step of preparation being taking ownership, the next steps being education, education and education. Education must inform the practical courses which are provided and should be delivered by practitioners with Lived Experience. In this way, an offender can prepare their rehabilitative imago with tools and experience which are tried and tested. Resilience, is a critical part of the rehabilitative imago, as described by Warr (2020), it is almost a pathway to move on, and gives a feeling of acceptance in society – in families, in work environments, in social communities.But what is the effect, when it transpires that the forgiveness is conditional, that the freedom carries terms and conditions.

Human beings are inherently mobile, manifesting individually, in the forms of commuters and tourists, and collectively, as seen in gatherings and crowds. Despite the intricate and diverse individual travel histories, discernible and replicable collective patterns emerge, shedding light on various activities, including criminal victimization. Understanding the spatiotemporal patterns of collective mobility during people’s daily routines has proven helpful in multiple aspects, including criminological research and policy practice. Unpacking human mobility patterns can contribute to a better understanding of the temporal and spatial distribution of criminal behaviors and foster social justice. This study explores whether a substantial connection exists between collective human mobility patterns and the number of crime incidents in Baltimore City and whether such a connection varies across different neighborhoods. With dynamic population flows based on mobile device location data, and other information on crime, community characteristics, and land use at the census-tract level in Baltimore City from 2014 to 2019, the study examines the potential mobility-crime association through spatial Poisson regression and Geographically Weighted Poisson regression. The results of this research strive to offer valuable insights that can inform specific strategies for law enforcement agencies. Additionally, the study explores the feasibility of utilizing mobile device location data as an alternative hotspot identification strategy, aiming to guide targeted police tactics based on collective human mobility patterns in diverse neighborhoods.

Living among high concentrations of socioeconomic disadvantage emerges as among the most powerful determinant of numerous deleterious outcomes for individuals, including the risk of victimization and the adoption of normative frameworks that encourage crime and violence. Yet, this picture of disadvantaged communities does not align neatly with work on Latino immigrant communities and the prominent revitalization thesis, which highlights the relatively vibrant street life and public spaces in Latino immigrant communities that encourage sociability despite high levels of socioeconomic disadvantage. We explore how Latino immigrant concentration coupled with high disadvantage – what we call concentrated Latino disadvantage– shape individual level responses to neighborhood conditions in El Paso, Texas, a predominantly Latino area with a sizeable immigrant population that sits along the Southern border with Mexico. In light of the revitalization thesis, we expect a curvilinear relationship between racialized disadvantage and several individual level responses to neighborhood conditions including code of the street, perceptions of neighborhood disorder and crime, and victimization risk. We employ the El Paso Neighborhood Study, which provides detailed indicators of community conditions for more than 1000 individuals across 46 neighborhood clusters in 2014. Preliminary findings show a significant curvilinear relationship between concentrated Latino disadvantage and adoption of the code of the street, legal cynicism, perceptions of increased crime and disorder, and victimization risk. At relatively low levels, disadvantage increases these outcomes, yet the risk reduces notably at higher levels of concentrated Latino disadvantage. We argue residents in concentrated Latino disadvantage are embedded in practices and routines of sociability with co-ethnics that help to mitigate the toll of living in a community that is economically marginalized. Findings thus yield further insight on the protective influence of Latino immigrant concentration for residents’ experiences, perceptions, and attitudes related to crime.

Co-authors: Vijay F. Chillar (University of Central Florida, USA), Malcolm D. Holmes (University of Wyoming, USA), Jessica Trapassi (Northeastern University, USA), and Demi Pirrone (Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, USA)

Black protest events have been characterized by police use of violence against protestors during periods, such as the urban riots of the 1960s, when many white people and the police see black people as posing a special danger to the status quo. It appears that the aftermath of the police murder of George Floyd, which triggered widespread Black Lives Matter protests, is another such time. However, social scientific evidence that addresses the question of whether police responded with unnecessary violence to these black-led protests remains in short supply. In this study, we conducted a conceptual content analysis of protest participants’ federal court statements about their lived experience with police violence during Chicago, IL, protests. Their accounts suggest that police, rather than protestors, initiated violence and relied on it to control protestors in ways that violate Chicago Police Department policies and constitutional protections afforded citizens. Despite efforts to reform police management of protests over the last half century, our findings suggest that the historical pattern of police use of gratuitous violence to control black-led protest events persists today. We consider the implications of the findings for relations between the police and black community.

According to procedural justice [PJ] theory, when police treat people in a fair, respectful, and neutral manner, individuals are more likely to perceive the police as legitimate, comply with directives, and in turn obey the law. One key mechanism is based on normative expectations about authorities, whereby PJ communicates that police authority is valid, unbiased and entitled to be obeyed. This project aims to evaluate these causal mechanisms and unpack how certain police behaviors during a routine interaction can influence people’s attitudes. This study fielded a between-subjects vignette with a 3x2x2 factorial design using a nationally representative sample of respondents in the US. The content of the vignette aims to replicate similar interactions as reported in previous research (i.e., a traffic stop by police). Follow-up placebo questions asked respondents about the likelihood of certain background attributes within the scenario. Respondents were asked to what extent they would rate the interaction in terms of PJ elements as well as questions about encounter-specific legitimacy (e.g., compliance, trust in the officer). Legitimacy items were followed by open-ended questions, which allowed participants to mention reasons that led to their selections, including those that have not been explicitly prompted in the follow-up questions. Responses were analysed using computational linguistic methods, including structural topic models, which are commonly used to analyse open-ended survey responses. The design, questions, and analytical plan were pre-registered on OSF. The results shed light on whether and to what extent respondents update their beliefs about background attributes, and what mechanisms are driving the relationship between PJ and encounter-specific legitimacy and intentions to obey the law.

Pre-court diversion managed by the police is an important component of the criminal justice system in England and Wales. Since 2011, three large-scale randomised controlled trials have tested a “deferred prosecution model” for diversion. Offenders are offered the opportunity to agree to a “contract” with conditions. In return, if they comply with the conditions and do not reoffend during the contract period, their case is deemed resolved and no formal criminal justice charges are laid. The process, including the interaction with victims, has been modelled using the principles of procedural justice: for example, fair process, giving voice to offenders and victims, equitable and effective. The paper will primarily focus on the Turning Point (Birmingham) experiment but will also seek to draw lessons from all three experiments in Birmingham, Durham and London.

In the life-course of any police organisation, it will experience unexpected negative events. Some of the events will have a disproportionate impact on organisational legitimacy. Thus, the murder of George Floyd in the US and of Sarah Everard in the UK attracted public anger and demands for police reforms. The ‘inevitable fallibility’ (Newburn 2022) demands a systems analytical approach that considers the uneven effects of unexpected events on legitimacy. Drawing on insights from Taleb (2012), a distinction is made between police systems with fragile legitimacy and those with anti-fragile legitimacy. Misconduct and mistakes harm a fragile system, but an anti-fragile system gains from them. In this paper, I outline principles that are crucial to building police systems with anti-fragile legitimacy.

Co-authors: Eva Groß (University of Applied Police Sciences Hamburg, Germany), Joachim Häfele, (Police Academy of Lower Saxony, Germany), Jasper Bendler (University of Münster, Germany)

In 2022, net immigration to Germany reached its highest level since 1950. Recent surveys show that immigration is seen as the most important political problem and that fears of the state being overwhelmed by refugees are on the rise. At the same time, xenophobic attitudes and crime-related feelings of insecurity increase. The group of immigrants, mainly young men, triggers a massive sense of threat, which leads to fear of crime and a call for harsh punishments. Empirical evidence has shown a connection between xenophobic attitudes, feelings of insecurity related to crime and a strong need for punishment (e.g. Hirtenlehner et al. 2016). Robert (2005, p. 73) describes this relationship as the triad of "fear of crime, punitiveness and xenophobia". However, there is still a need to clarify the causal relationships between these constructs. Is xenophobia the result of previous fear of crime? Or are xenophobic attitudes the cause of increased fears? Does increased need for punishment follow or cause xenophobic attitudes? Using data from two waves (1st wave in spring 2022 and 4th wave from autumn 2023) of the Panel on Perceptions of Crime and Offenders (PaWaKS) of the Center for Criminological Research Saxony, the causal structure between the constructs is examined for the first time. Punitiveness is measured with four items; the affective component of fear of crime with nine items. Xenophobia is measured by prejudices against refugees and by threat perception. A crossed-lagged panel model is used to investigate the causality in the effect structure at the individual level. The results are discussed.

The contribution deals with the challenge of creating author profiles of hate speech spreaders. The focus is on the language used by the authors and whether specific statements can be made about individuals or groups. Not only physical violence can trigger great fear but also verbal (cf. Havryliv 2017: 44). Hate speech poses a problem at a societal level, as racism, homophobia and sexism can be perpetuated or even reinforced. This must be counteracted, as otherwise it can lead to more inequality and an increase in acts of violence (cf. Unger 2017: 265). A big issue is the definition of hate speech because the context and framework of a statement play a decisive role (cf. Marx 2020: 715). The self-generated dataset (in German) on which the analyses are based consists of data from the messenger service Telegram. Groups were selected according to certain criteria and chat histories were downloaded. The data was manually annotated and individually evaluated according to whether it is hate speech or not. In addition, the messages were divided into different categories, such as racism or anti-semitism. The group members all share a similar ideology and support each other in their conspiracy theories. As a result, a clear verbal radicalization can be observed. Also, the legal perspective must always be included, as freedom of expression is of great importance to our society (cf. Brings-Wiesen 2017: 37). But many authors deny other groups of people their equality and thus violate our human rights. An initial finding is that the analysis of language shows that the form of hate speech differs among different groupings and authors. The goal of this work is to show which group-specific structures can be observed from a linguistic perspective in relation to hate speech and how different verbal hatred is expressed.

Antisemitism is directed in word and deed against Jewish and non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish institutions or religious facilities (IHRA 2016) and is a growing problem worldwide (e.g. Beyer & Liebe 2020). In Germany, too, the number of officially registered antisemitic incidents has risen steadily in recent years. In particular, the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on 7 October 2023 led to an extreme increase in the number of cases. However, these figures hardly give a valid picture of the reality of antisemitic crimes. On the one hand, dark field findings on victim perspectives on group-focused enmity in Germany indicate high numbers of unreported cases in the field of antisemitic discrimination (e.g. Häfele & Groß 2023). On the other hand, the officially reported cases do not allow conclusions to be drawn about the extent to which people are affected by antisemitic acts that are not (or not yet) punishable by law. However, antisemitism is widespread in everyday social life, whether in the form of stereotypes, general devaluation of Jews and Judaism, overt and subtle antisemitic prejudice, or media portrayals (Zick et al. 2017). The growing risk for Jews living in Germany is reflected in a significantly increased perception of threat and corresponding protective and avoidance behavior (e.g. Zick et al. 2017; FRA 2018). To date, there is little and incomplete knowledge about the forms and prevalence of Antisemitism in Germany, especially from a victims perspective. The talk will present and discuss initial findings from the ongoing research project "Jüdisches Leben und Alltag in Hamburg (LeAH)". The study investigates the subjective burden of antisemitic crimes and antisemitic discrimination on Jewish people in Hamburg. The data is based on a comprehensive survey of the Jewish community in Hamburg.

Homelessness has been a pressing social issue for several years, with increasing homeless populations in nearly every country, worldwide. Coupled with varying degrees of structural and socioeconomic challenges. The United Nations predicts an exponential growth in homelessness numbers, with particular concern for the African continent. Apart from their daily struggles on the street, the homeless are also particularly vulnerable to victimisation due to their at-risk lifestyles and exposure to criminal elements. With population sizes of this magnitude, one would expect the homeless to be a top priority in terms of the provision of services and protection. This is unfortunately not the case in South Africa, which is yet to align with similar advances made internationally in respect to homelessness and protective legislation, including hate crime laws. The homeless experience significant barriers when attempting to access healthcare and other constitutional provisions. Although there are considerable similarities between the homeless and other recognised hate crime victim categories, the homeless, as a vulnerable group in South Africa, continuously fall outside of the scope of protective laws and policy responses. Even policy directives at provincial and municipal levels, appear out of reach and inaccessible to the homeless. This paper will explore 1) the challenges associated with policy responses to homeless victimisation, 2) the arguments for its inclusion under the South African Hate Crime and Hate Speech Bill, and 3) present a way forward to ensure inclusivity and the acknowledgment of their rights and services needs as victims of crime.

As this presentation explores, those who are convicted of sexually-based offenses are likely to be treated quite differently by the correctional system than other types of criminals. This includes the generally ubiquitous requirements for such offenders to undergo intensive psycho-therapeutic and behavioral interventions, generally not mandated for other offenders. However, the research literature in this matter indicates that such interventions are mostly driven by the demands of the correctional system, informed by political persuasions and public misconceptions about such offenders, often derived from media myths, rather than being based upon the realities of the individual offender or the standards of care for professional counseling practices, which require Evidence-Based Practices (EBP), defined as the combination of the practitioner's expertise, scientifically sound therapy techniques, and the individual characteristics of the client. This presentation is designed to identify improvements that Sex Offender Management Programs (SOMP) could adopt to better support EBP in the treatment of those who have been convicted of sexually based offenses, and will provide substantial evidence describing how many of the standard therapeutic approaches, practices, and methods applied to such clients in correctional systems throughout the world could be enhanced by including an expanded understanding of and adherence to EBP, which is universally accepted as the standards of care for mental and behavioral health interventions by the world's professional organizations who represent psychotherapists, and also those representing social work and the correctional professionals as well. Participants will come away with a better understanding of EBP, and how it may improve the efficacy of therapy for those convicted of sexually based offenses.

The cohort of sex offenders targeting children exhibits considerable diversity. Studies estimate that 30 to 60 percent of convicted sex offenders against children meet the diagnostic criteria for paedophilic disorder. Within this subset, two distinct types can be differentiated exclusive and non-exclusive paedophilic disorder. However, prospective studies on risk for sexual reoffending found little to no differences between those who meet the diagnostic criteria for paedophilic disorder and those who do not.This exploratory field study aims to scrutinize clinical and criminological variations among convicted sex offenders against children (N = 106) undergoing community treatment in Germany. The study categorizes participants into three groups: non-paedophilic (n = 30), exclusive-paedophilic (n = 29), and non-exclusive paedophilic (n = 47) individuals. In examining clinical factors, we explore own personal experiences of child maltreatment, prior psychiatric treatments, suicide attempts, and comorbid disorders. Criminological differences are described for the type of sexual offenses (hands-on vs. hands-off), previous convictions, self-reported undetected sexual delinquency before and during treatment, standardized risk assessment and reconvictions during time at risk (M ˜ 10 years) based on official criminal records. The practical implications of these findings will be discussed, examining potential avenues for refining community treatment and secondary prevention strategies to reduce sexual violence against children.

Co-authors: Taina Laajasalo (Finnish Inistitute for Health and Welfare, Finland), Mikko Aaltonen (University of Eastern-Finland, Finland), Joonas Pitkänen and Pekka Martikainen (University of Helsinki, Finland).

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) typically refer to a set of physical, sexual or emotional abuse, neglect, and exposure to a dysfunctional household environment, such as parental substance abuse, domestic violence, or the presence of mental health issues. Research indicates that ACEs increase the risk of several short- and long-term negative life outcomes. One of those negative outcomes is involvement in criminal behaviour. According to literature ACEs are associated with both initiation of a criminal career and its chronicity and severity. Some studies suggest that the disparity in problem behaviors between those with the most and least adversities has widened in time. It has been proposed that this reflects a Western societal trend of social polarization of the overall well-being of youth. However, one could also argue that the association between ACEs and violent crime may have just evolved or intensified over time. Although, longitudinal studies have significantly increased in the field of ACE-studies, these hypotheses remain untested. Existing longitudinal ACE research are mainly single-cohort designs, which are unable to capture the impact of history and societal change. In this research the aim is to examine whether the association between ACEs and violent juvenile delinquency has remained stable or changed over time, across multiple successive birth cohorts. We examine changes in police reported violent crime and its relations to ACEs among Finnish adolescents born between 1986-2003, followed until 2020.

Co-author: Kate Fitz-Gibbon (Monash University, Australia)

Drawing on national survey data from over 5,000 young people living in Australia, this presentation examines children’s experiences of domestic and family violence and other forms of maltreatment along with related impacts on children's social and emotional wellbeing. Findings highlight the overlap of childhood experiences of domestic and family violence and other forms of maltreatment, the intergenerational transmission of violence and other adverse outcomes. Recognising children as victims in their own right with their own, unique recovery needs is critical in generating better outcomes for children and families affected by domestic and family violence and disrupting the intergenerational transmission of violence in domestic settings.

Public shootings, as well as firearm-related fatalities, have increased in Sweden in the last few years. While not all shootings have lethal consequences, fatalities climbed to an unprecedented level in 2022. Recent academic work has afforded insight into certain dimensions of shootings, such as when and where they occur; less is known about the offenders who commit them. There is an urgent need to increase the knowledge regarding who the lethal shooters are so interventions can be designed and applied to reduce these crimes that now have taken a firm grip on Sweden. This research aims to contribute towards improved knowledge of suspects of lethal shootings (SLS) who also are Cylinder nominees (CN) as identified with the Cylinder Method and arguably could constitute members of street gangs. This research adopts an exploratory retrospective case-control design. All SLS between 2018-2022 will be collected and cross-referenced with all individuals who ever have been CN. Comparisons will be identified and randomly selected among CN that are not SLS using a “criminal career code” that is generated with the Cylinder Method. It is generated every time a CN has been nationally assessed. Four types of data will be gathered: crime codes, dates, gender and country of birth. The research questions will be answered by analysing the data using calculations of proportions, central tendencies (mean, standard deviation, median and range), Odds Ratios, and their confidence intervals. The thesis primarily has two main findings relating to future targeting potential. Firstly, targeting cannot be based on demographic characteristics as the two CN cohorts, the SLS and non-SLS, are nearly identical. Secondly, better targeting is possible by scanning 11 crime codes in the CN history of offending. Almost all these crime codes could be combined, supporting a more refined approach to assessing future risk than the singular unique crime codes.

To the author’s knowledge this research constitutes the first evaluation of CN who also are SLS. As such, the findings present a unique insight into several aspects of the escalating lethal shootings. It provides the first knowledge relating to who the suspects of lethal shooters are and how many have been identified as CN using the Cylinder Method. The findings also present an interesting comparison of how the onset of victimisation and offending differ between the two cohorts. Finally, it delivers much-needed clarity that targeting to reduce shootings cannot be based on demographic characteristics but must instead build on a select set of experiences of prior offending. This actualises the usefulness of evidence-based and data-driven targeting. The findings actualise the need to analyse criminality with as much level of precision as possible. The findings must, however, be viewed considering their many limitations. For example, in terms of the cohort featured within this study, there is a high level of arbitrariness relating to both registrations of suspicion and nomination as a CN. The data is also analysed close to the crime occurrences, meaning that it could be extracted from open cases where accounts of victimisations and offendings could change as investigations develop. This introduces the need to view the findings with caution and also actualises the need for further research.

Serious violence causes widespread concern in societies. At its worst, serious violence leads to premature death, causing both suffering to the victims' loved ones and fear in wider communities. Based on statistics we know quite a lot about the characteristics of homicide in Finland. For instance, the Finnish Homicide Monitoring System (FHMS) in-forms for example the sex composition of homicide, the instruments of crime, locations, substance use, motives as well as information on the victim-offender relations. Never-theless, more information is needed on the sequence of the crime commission in order for the societies’ to enhance prevention of serious violence. Furthermore, profound analysis about the commission of homicide involving young adults as victims and offend-ers is longed-for addition to the information gained from statistics and registers. By ap-plying the terminology of crime script analysis, this study aims to contribute to this much-needed body of knowledge. The study strives to obtain understanding of the pro-cedural aspects and procedural requirements of crime commission. It develops and breaks down the script of homicide by young adults. The data consists of homicide sen-tences of Finnish District Courts where the perpetrator was 18-29 and the homicide took place 2012-2022. In addition to presenting the script of homicide by young adults, the study contributes to the academic discussion on situational crime prevention and routine activity theory. Study is part of research project Out of Despair, which is funded by The Strategic Research Council (SRC) in the Academy of Finland.

Gun homicides and explosions related to organized crime have increased significantly during the past few years in Sweden. Simultaneously, no other European country has experienced a corresponding development, and the Swedish government has declared organized crime as a serious national threat. The individuals carrying out the murders are often underaged, but few studies have examined the mechanisms (e.g. motives and incentives) behind the shootings. Gang homicides are calculated crimes – linked with the organizational structure of the gang and affected by internal rules, geographical variables, and the prospect of criminal careers within the network. Therefore, the aim of this research is to understand the organizing mechanisms in Swedish street gangs through their co-offending network’s clustering – and the correlation between the network dynamics and gun homicides. Methodologically, the study combines qualitative and quantitative data through network analysis. The empirical material consists of 1) register-based individual data on criminal suspicion, 2) police records of wiretapped conversations between gang members, and 3) transcribed chat dialogues, containing the planning of several gun homicides on encrypted platforms (from the preliminary investigation reports). Methodological and ethical implications will be discussed throughout the process. This presentation is an ongoing research project, which seeks to make a valuable contribution to the research field of organized crime whilst providing insights on crime prevention and gang homicides to law-enforcement agencies and policy makers.

Co-authors: Lars Lewenhagen, Emma Patel and Sara Jonsson (all Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention, Sweden)

In October 2023 Brå published a study on the police’s work with profiling and equal treatment. The study has a particular focus on discriminatory ethnic profiling, which involves the police relying solely or primarily on an individual’s ethnic origin when assessing who they check or suspect of crimes. The main focus in this presentation will be to give an in -depth look into how police officers on patrol duty using the method of profiling, and how the Police Authority can work further to promote equal treatment and counteract discriminatory ethnic profiling. This is closely associated to the question of legitimacy among individuals and groups with immigrant backgrounds and the use of procedural justice within the police force. To address the questions in the study Brå used several different types of data and methodological approaches. One important contribution is the large number of field observations in selected local police districts and interviews held with managers and police officers on patrol duty. Together with a review of preliminary investigations related to drug crime this provides an insight into aspects such as how police officers deal with people they meet, how different types of checks and enforcement measures are carried out, and on what grounds. Another important contribution is a case study of the police’s registered drug offence suspicions for 2019–2021 in Sweden. These suspicions relate to the drug offences of possession, personal use and transfer. Brå has analysed the number of suspicions per inhabitant, and how often the police are correct in their suspicions against different individuals or groups. Finally, Brå has analysed characterises of reports and complaints made against the police in relation to checks and discrimination on the basis of ethnicity received by the Swedish Police Authority’s Special Investigations Department and the Equality Ombudsman.

Police stop and search in England and Wales is governed by a well-established legal framework that seeks to ensure the powers are used fairly and without unlawful discrimination. But failure to deliver on these promises has given rise to an ongoing cycle of crisis and reform amid concerns about the legitimacy of the police service and claims that existing regulations are a ‘paper tiger’ and ‘legal fiction’. An outbreak of serious public disorder during the summer of 2011 highlighted the enduring costs of stop and search, prompting a “comprehensive package” of reform aimed at improving regulatory oversight. This paper assesses the impact of these reforms and pays particular attention to the Northamptonshire Reasonable Grounds Panel (RGP) – a mechanism for community oversight that has been described as “impressive” by the national inspectorate of policing and a “model of governance”’ by the influential Lammy Review. Drawing on a range of quantitative indicators, as well as depth interviews and group discussions with police officers, the analysis identifies some striking improvements in the use of stop and search alongside evidence of ongoing reform-resistance and enduring problems relating to concerns about racism. Overall, the analysis indicates that (i) front-line policing is responsive to regulation and oversight; and (ii) the post-riots reforms marked a significant, but partial, interruption in the history of regulatory failure. Associated improvements in the use of stop and search proved highly contingent and have been subject to challenge and reversal during the subsequent policy cycle. Broader lessons for the regulation and reform of police powers will be discussed, highlighting the importance of political leadership; a focus on organisational drivers; and robust data-collection.

In most Western countries, police stops have become the object of political controversies on what the objectives and targets of police activities should be. By using the examples of several European countries (on the basis of a COST project “PolStops”) where the issue has been highly politicised over the last fifteen years, we conduct a comparative analysis to show how it has led to significant change in legislation, policy and police practice in some countries (such as Scotland), to a policy blockage (such as France) or to incremental changes in others (such as Norway). In the different cases, police stops have been politicised through the combination of three interlinked axes: the production of critical scientific evidence, intense media coverage and forceful political attention. We will underline how institutions, understood as stable sets of formal and informal rules, favour certain policy developments rather than others. Moreover, each political context has shaped the balance of constraints and opportunities for reform and the importance of the respective dynamics of reforms had their own importance.

Incarceration and its consequences is a subject that has been long debated in both politics and research. In the political field arguments are often raised of harsher and longer sentences that are supposed to reduce crime, but in the field of research there is greater dissensus. There are plenty of criminological studies that investigate how incarceration affects several different outcomes, but the results have not been unanimous. Even though the effects of incarceration have been discussed for a long time, there is still no consensus on how the length of a sentence affects outcomes such as recidivism and health among those who receive a sentence. This study examines how the length of a prison sentence affects recidivism and mortality among those who are sentenced for drug offences of at least moderate degree in Sweden. To examine this, a natural experiment is used in combination with the quasi-experimental method “difference-in-difference”. The results show no significant effects of sentence length on mortality. Regarding the sentence length effect on recidivism, the results show a marginal but statistically significant decrease in recidivism for longer sentences. There is however a risk that confounding factors affect these results. There are changes in the demographic composition of the examined groups over time, which poses a risk to the validity of the results. In order to examine both the validity and the underlying mechanisms concerning the results, more research is needed.

This study considers the effects of concentrated disadvantage on the prevalence of intimate partner violence (IPV) in Sweden. The purpose is to quantitatively study the relationship between rates of reported IPV to police. Multiple regression analysis is used to examine the relationship between socioeconomic factors and differences in crime rates among municipalities. Geographical analysis is used to examine variations in crime rates between municipalities. The results seemingly confirm the hypothesis that concentrated disadvantage significantly increases intimate partner violence, as expected from social disorganization and strain theory. However, we can not rule out the possibility of mediating and/or moderating factors as indicated from previous studies abroad. For that, further research needs to be done. Based on the results, municipality representatives should consider crime prevention strategies aimed at decreasing the effects of concentrated disadvantage among residential areas.

The overarching goal with the present study was to examine the association between internalizing and externalizing behavior problems in middle adolescence and psychopathic personality traits in early adulthood, as well as potential differences between males and females. Previous studies have examined the relationship between these constructs, but few have examined whether internalizing and externalizing behavior problems predict psychopathic personality traits. Early personality traits are related to later behavioral outcomes including externalizing and internalizing behaviors. Thus, internalizing and externalizing behaviors could in turn act as risk factors for psychopathic personality traits. The current study used data from The University of Southern California (USC) Longitudinal Twin Study of Risk Factors for Antisocial Behavior (RFAB) (N = 1569). Internalizing and externalizing behavior were assessed via the Youth Self-Report (YSR) at age 14-15 and 16-18, and psychopathic personality traits were assessed via the Triarchic Psychopathy Measure (TriPM) at age 19-20. Results revealed that internalizing behavior predict psychopathic personality traits in the TriPM subscales disinhibition and boldness, whereas externalizing behavior predict psychopathic personality traits in all three subscales, i.e., disinhibition, boldness, and meanness. The association did not differ significantly between males and females. This finding indicates that internalizing and externalizing behavior may be perceived as risk factors in the development of psychopathic personality traits. Future research focusing on intervention and prevention studies towards psychopathic personality traits need to consider internalizing and externalizing behavior as potential risk factors.

Co-authors: Elina Ragnerby, Gabriella Fröslev, Minna Li and Selma Södergren (Malmö University, Sweden)

Camera surveillance is highly discussed in terms of crime prevention and reducing fear of crime. Hyllie citysamverkan is an association who among other things aims to create a safer neighborhood in Hyllie, Malmö, and for that reason there is need of research in regards to the opinions of camera surveillance amongst the residents in the area. Therefore, this study investigated people's perception of camera surveillance at shopping centers and public areas in residential buildings followed by suggested improvements within the Hyllie citysamverkan. The data consists of survey data from residents in two residential buildings (N=234) and visitors in the shopping center Emporia (N=217) together with nine interviews with individuals working and living in Hyllie. The results of the study showed that a majority of the participants thought that camera surveillance reduces the fear of crime, can prevent crime and that they wanted more surveillance. However, some participants also mentioned false security and the lack of a deterrent effect. The results also showed that most participants thought camera surveillance is not a violation to their privacy, and that the positive effects of camera surveillance outweighed the possible infringement on integrity. However, it was notable that the younger participants were more likely to view camera surveillance as a violation to their privacy. The importance of handling the material ethically was also highlighted. Based on the results the following three actions are suggested; (1) secure properties (2) create a policy document for a mutual framework and (3) develop a cooperation with an extended network.

Place-based interventions have been found to achieve crime reduction effects (Braga, et al. 2019b; Telep et al. 2014) and hot spot policing has particularly been in the focus of professionals and the public for its visibility and impacts. However, studies on the effects of hot spot policing have mostly been conducted in the core Anglo-American sphere of influence. Although it is also a common practice in continental Europe, there has not been much empirical evidence behind it. The current study evaluates the effects of the hot spots policing initiative in the municipality of Kristianstad (Sweden), conducted during the summer of 2023. Police management determined hot spots in the municipality and deployed police officers to patrol with a focus on problems in each hot spot (vandalism, drugs-related issues, traffic, nightlife, violence, etc.) and instructions on how to solve each of those. Using crime data for the period from 2019 to 2023, regression modelling has been applied to test if intervention has achieved any effect on crime levels net of area, week and year fixed effects compared with the rest of the municipality. Significant crime reductions are identified, although it varies by types of crime and frequency of the intervention (police visits). Results align with previous findings that hot-spot policing works best when it is focused on problems within those hot spots (Braga et al. 2019a). The study is limited in its control and displacement effects.

Police-led desistance programs have become established as a pivotal political strategy in Sweden. Within policing research, however, few studies have examined how the police can facilitate pathways to desistance for offenders. Similarly, desistance research has paid little attention to policing and how the police might assist offenders’ desistance transitions. The presentation includes an overview of a three-year research project that brings together the two fields of policing and desistance research to analyse police-led gang desistance programs. Specifically, by applying a nodal governance perspective on policing, and the perspective of assisted desistance, the project will explore the foundations and operationalization of police-led gang desistance programs. By means of qualitative interviews and micro-ethnography, the project aims to explore on the one hand how gang desistance is understood, facilitated or counteracted by the police and practitioners, and on the other how gang desistance is perceived and experienced by gang members who participate, or have participated, in such programs. In short, the project is expected to provide new insights for practitioners into potential pitfalls and best practices with regard to policing desistance, and will develop a theoretical understanding of what these programs can tell us about the potential of desistance policing in contemporary society.

CCTV is a common tool in contemporary policing. The effects of closed-circuit television (CCTV) on crime deterrence has received significant attention the past decades. However, attempts to measure the impacts on fear of crime remain scarce and inconclusive. The most recent review on CCTV and fear of crime were published more than ten years ago and include few studies from a narrow geographical scope. This systematic literature review was aimed at closing these gaps by providing an up-to-date and comprehensive review of the existing experimented research on CCTV and fear of crime. By using the updated PRISMA-framework, this review identified records from a number of databases and organisations. Studies that used both pre- and post-tests, evaluated experience rather than anticipation of fear, had a defined study area and measured CCTV-effects separately, constituted the eligible criteria. Both peer-reviewed studies and grey literature were included. Fifteen studies (n=15) met all eligible criteria and constituted the final results. The pooled effects were not conclusive. About half of the final records (n=7) showed decreases in fear of crime post intervention. However, only some of these positive results were statistically significant and only two compared the change with controls. Six (n=6) of the studies showed marginal, mixed or no effects. And finally, two studies (n=2) even found negative effects. More people experienced fear of crime affectively and behaviourally post-intervention in these two studies. On top of the inconclusive results, several methodological issues were revealed. Small samples and lack of controls were reoccurring limitations. The difficulty of operationalising fear of crime was another issue. The absence of a universal definition was noted in the diverging items of the surveys in each study. To reach a better understanding of the actual effects of CCTV on fear of crime, larger and better-designed studies are needed.

Co-authors: Niklas Jakobsson (Karlstad University, Sweden), Alberto Chrysoulakis (Malmö University, Sweden)

In Sweden municipalities have increasingly relied on security guards to patrol public spaces. Municipalities and other actors can apply to the police for permission to have security guards patrol an area (LOV-3 area). The security guards are trained by the police, led by the police and audited by the police. Presence of security guards as capable guardians at a location should lead to reduced crime, but only a few small case studies on the topic exist in Sweden. The present study assesses the impact of areas being designated as LOV-3 areas in southern Sweden across 35 different locations. The effect is analyzed using regression discontinuity and staggered difference in difference models on daily crime from January 2021 to October 2023. On average, crime goes down after an area is declared a LOV-3 area compared to crime rates just before implementation. The results are however sensitive to modelling choices.

Co-authors: Rick Trinkner (Arizona State University, USA), Alex Gillespie (London School of Economics and Political Science; Oslo New University College, UK) and Emilie Komnæs (London School of Economics and Political Science; Oslo New University College, UK)

Subjective procedural justice (PJ) refers to a cognitive judgment that the police behave in a fair manner during interactions. Objective PJ refers to specific police behaviors that increase the likelihood people will judge officers as subjectively procedurally just. To date, few empirical studies have examined the relationship between subjective and objective PJ during police interactions. As a result, there is little understanding of what specific behaviors officers can adopt to increase the likelihood they will be judged as procedurally just when interacting with community members. We explored this issue using data collected from 75 Norwegian police trainees participating in a police training simulation. The scenario involved an ambiguous multi-party conflict between paid actors and police-trainees and simulated a typical public order disturbance between two people in a public park without an immediately obvious solution. Body camera footage was used to collect data on trainees’ behavior during the simulation, while the actors completed self-report measures of subjective PJ immediately afterwards. Subjective PJ was higher when trainees gave the actor a chance to express their view during the interaction, listened to the actor’s story, and acted in a way that conveyed respect to the actor. In addition, actors were also more likely to rate officers as subjectively procedurally just to the extent that the trainees engaged in “perspective-integrating” communicative behaviors—that is they made utterances in which they understood, evaluated, and creatively coordinated multiple perspectives. While preliminary, these results identify multiple behaviors officers can do to increase the likelihood they will be judged as procedurally just by community members during their interactions. In addition, the results highlight the utility of using research outside of PJ theory (e.g., communication) to understand how individuals make judgments about police procedural justice.

Co-authors: Allison Cross (Arizona State University, USA) Kwan-Lamar Blount-Hill (Arizona State University, USA)

To solve crime, police rely on the public’s willingness to cooperate (WTC). While scholarship has focused on how people’s current perceptions of police might impact their willingness to cooperate with police, it is likely that their views on police procedural justice in the future might also matter. Specifically, this study tests the hypothesis that people’s hope in future police procedural justice (HFPPJ) may affect and even overpower the association between how they currently view police and their current WTC. Within two samples, 311 adolescents and 578 adults, with two related measurement strategies, the results consistently indicated that while people’s current perceptions of police are associated with their WTC, HFPPJ conditions moderate and may even overpower that association. Hope in the future of policing may not blind people to current biases within policing, but it appears to impact their willingness to cooperate with police.

Gun violence is a massive problem, and one disproportionately committed by repeat offenders. Given the toll these crimes take on a community, much attention has been paid to how to prevent them before they happen. One of the more successful approaches is known as ‘focused deterrence’ (FD), where repeat gun offenders are identified and informed that they will be given assistance to desist from these offenses, or if they commit another crime the sanctions will be more severe than before. This approach is believed to have a positive impact on violent crime, but the impact on participants’ perceptions of legitimacy and procedural justice among police is unclear. This study aims to address these issues using data from a federal research project in central Florida. Study participants included 101 repeat gun offenders that received the FD intervention, and 29 were surveyed before and after police notified them of their FD options. A control group of 29 inmates that were primarily low-level offenders served as controls and were surveyed at the same waves. Results indicate that there was no statistical difference in the re-arrest rate of the high risk repeat gun offenders (treatment) and inmates (control) after one year, despite the gun offenders having a substantially higher number of crimes and offending risk at the start of the intervention. Concurrently, the gun offenders felt that positive interactions with police more than tripled after the FD intervention, and their perceptions of fairness of policy also increased. This suggests the potential for perceived procedural justice to be a mechanism underlying the efficacy of this approach.

Co-authors: Anna Clesle (Centre for Criminology and Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Germany) and Jonas Knäble (Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Germany)

Front-line law enforcement, police and security personnel of various backgrounds have the challenging task to identify extremists who have a high risk for committing violent acts, describe driving risk trajectories, prioritize the use of scarce resources, and develop individualized risk management plans. In this line of work, risk and threat assessment instruments are frequently used to standardize the development of individual risk profiles and guide decision-making processes. The scope of this article is to provide an overview of the current state-of-the-art risk and threat assessment instruments for violent extremism by conducting a systematic literature research. Comparisons of the following instruments’ characteristics, development, application and validation are reported: VERA-2R, TRAP-18, ERG 22+, MLG Version 2, IR-46, SAVE, RAN CoE Returnee 45, RADAR and INSiGHT. Most instruments are applied to violent extremism in general without specification of ideological phenomena; however, some are specifically developed for Islamism or right-wing extremism or certain subtypes of extremists like returnees. The number of factors, factor structures and final risk evaluation varied substantially between instruments. The development of the instruments was regularly based on scientific theories and empirical data analysis approach. However, data about the predictive validity was seldom available. Finally, future challenges and existing uncertainties within the approaches were discussed.

Co-authors: Jonas Knäble, Lisanne Breiling (Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Germany), Anne Brodführer, Friederike Sadowski and Lutz Heil (Federal Criminal Police Office, Germany)

Right-wing extremism is regarded as one of the greatest threats to democratic societies and values by many western countries. The frequency of violent acts conducted by far-right extremists is increasing and sets a challenge for threat and risk management agencies. In this review, we summarize 1,206 risk and protective factors reported in 130 empirical and theoretical articles about violent right-wing extremism. Risk and protective factors were clustered and reported in thematic categories of individual, social, and environmental influences. Furthermore, the inclusion and comparison of risk factors identified in samples of violent right-wing extremism and mixed samples of violent extremists indicates that the majority of the reviewed risk factors can be applied on the phenomenon of violent extremism in general and are not specific for violent right-wing extremism. Albeit the comprehensive accumulation of risk factors for violent extremism, scientific comparison between violent right-wing extremists and other forms of violent extremism is still scarce. Research about the comparisons between different phenomena of violent extremism indicates promising results to identify specific risk factors as well as changes in risk, and differences between violent right-wing extremists and other kinds of violent extremisms.

Co-authors: Lutz Heil, Friederike Sadowski, Anne Brodführer (Federal Criminal Police Office, Germany), Jonas Knäble and Martin Rettenberger (Centre for Criminology and Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Germany)

In the prevention and countering of far-right violent extremism, the German police is facing an increasing number of individuals to be assessed in terms of their risk for committing politically motivated life-threatening violence, thereby posing a threat to national security. Against this backdrop, a combination of an actuarial risk assessment approach (RADAR-rechts) as prioritization tool and an in-depth individual case analysis has been installed in order to ensure most effective threat management. RADAR-rechts is aiming at differentiating the group of far-right extremists into individuals that pose a higher risk and therefore need to be individually assessed with priority and into individuals who exhibit merely moderate risk levels. Drawing from a systematic literature review and expert input (semi-structured interviews, Delphi method of expert ratings), the assessment tool consisting of 38 items has been developed for the use by state police officers. Besides the developmental process, we present the validation on a representative sample (n = 121) as well as the implementation within state police agencies. Not only does RADAR-rechts serve as a scientifically sound tool to prioritize potential far-right terrorists, it also enables nationwide systematization and improves case overview, handling, and assessment practices at the state police level.

Co-authors: Martin Rettenberger (Centre for Criminology and Johannes Gutenberg-University, Germany) and Jonas Knäble (Johannes Gutenberg-University, Germany)

Imprisonment is associated with substantial losses in personal freedom, abandonment of previous lifestyles, and uncertainty and challenge to adjust to the new environment. Many of these changes and challenges are also considered to trigger and accelerate radicalization processes. Taken together with the observation that (recent) prison stays can be found in the biographies in some individual cases of terrorist offenders, a closer look at the shaping processes and developments taking place in prison (especially among imprisoned extremists) seems essential. We conducted a systematic review as well as interviews with experts to explore the relevant factors for radicalization processes during imprisonment. In addition, we sought to find out indicators that identify violent, radicalized prisoners and finally which aspects rehabilitation programs should take into account. We summarize our findings and discuss how detention could be linked to the dynamics of radicalization processes and ideologically motivated violence after release from prison.

Victims and perpetrators encounter the police more frequently than any other element of the criminal justice system, causing the police to act as a gateway to justice. In England and Wales, risk levels are applied to domestic abuse incidents to determine the severity of violence experienced by victims and the risk of future abuse. This enables prioritisation of limited police resources, influencing whether prosecution is pursued and victim support. It is therefore important to understand how officer’s attribute risk and the impact if risk on police responses. This paper seeks to investigate which risk factors police officers in England and Wales focus on when evaluating risk in response to Intimate Partner Violence (IPV). Thematic analysis is used to review 34 IPV case files from an English police force, to identify key factors affecting risk level allocation, how these are weighted and contextualised. These findings are supplemented by interviews with 12 officers, across 5 different ranks, about the relevance of risk. It is hoped that by identifying key factors that police focus on in evaluating risk that police decision-making in instances of IPV can be better understood. This understanding could help to improve police training, by combatting misunderstandings and encouraging positive approaches to risk assessment, which in turn could help to implement a more consistent and efficient response to IPV. Overall, the main factors affecting police identification of risk have been found to include prior reporting of IPV to the police, abuse escalation, suspect predictability, whether physical violence (and specifically injuries) have occurred, and if the couple cohabit.

Co-author: Kate Fitz-Gibbon (Monash University, Australia)

Femicide – the killing of women and girls - has gained increasing prominence on global and national agendas since the United Nations and the World Health Organisation embraced it as a worldwide issue. The term femicide, whilst contested, was first deployed by Diana Russell in 1976 drew attention to the killing of women simply because they are women. Since that time the killing of women and girls in a wide range of different contexts (from intimate partner femicide to war related femicide), has grown in significance. At the same time as femicide has become an issue of prescient concern, definitional and measurement contestations remain, as do questions of prevention and appropriate justice responses. Indeed in the absence of an accurate understanding of the nature and extent of femicide addressing prevention and justice responses are be considered as relatively meaningless. Nevertheless claims for justice responses have been developed largely in the form of domestic homicide reviews and/or fatality reviews. These make procedural justice claims on the grounds of at least two of its tenets; respect and voice. Yet questions remain concerning the possibilities of such justice claims when these processes rely on the voices of, and afford respect to, those involved in these processes assuming these voices equate with giving voice and respect to the victim. The purpose of this paper is to reflect on this conundrum and to consider the extent to which such justice tenets are at all possible in the absence of an appreciation of the problems of measurement in making women’s lives count.

To better understand the needs of survivors of domestic violence (DV), the Urban Institute in partnership with Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, was funded by the DOJ-OVW, to conduct a multi-site study on the perceptions of justice and healing held by diverse survivors of DV and whether there is alignment with practitioners’ perspectives. The goal was to answer what do survivors want and need to address harm done to them? From April 2023 to September 2023 we conducted practitioner and survivor interviews, and fielded surveys with the support of four organizations from across the United States who work with survivors of various identities. We then conducted a round table with survivors and practitioners to develop guiding principles for best practices in responding to domestic violence. We will share findings on what traditional or alternative responses were the most utilized, what was the most helpful, and what responses survivors were the most interested in using, compared to practitioner perceptions of responses. Findings from this study support building the knowledge-base around the most appealing resources for survivors, using methods that bring the voices of survivors to the forefront. Our findings are further contextualized with the lens of practitioners, offering views from professionals who often have witnessed experiences both in the traditional legal system as well as alternative approaches.

Co-author: Lena Posch (University of Applied Science of the Police Academy Hamburg, Germany)

Stalking is characterised by a series of legally and socially appropriate, single behaviours (e.g., text messages, phone calls or sending gifts). However, these single actions turn out to be unlawful when they occur together and persist over time with high frequency and intensity. The complex and ambiguous nature of stalking challenges legislation in terms of finding an all-embracing legal definition, which in turn, also impedes the criminal investigation and prosecution. The fact that significantly fewer cases are prosecuted or result in convictions than are reported requires understanding the decision-making process of police and legal professionals in stalking cases. This is one of the first experimental studies that evaluates the assessment of specific police measures and legal consequences in stalking cases. A German sample of n = 212 police students and n = 149 law students was presented with four vignettes in which the relationship between victim and perpetrator (stranger, acquaintance, ex-partner with/without violence during previous relationship) and their gender was varied. Participants rated the appropriateness of police measures (e.g., criminal complaints, detention, police warnings) and legal consequences (e.g., conviction, fine, imprisonment, victim-offender mediation), as well as the sufficiency of existing legislation. The results imply that in both samples participant gender was of little importance. However, the relationship between victim and perpetrator and their gender influenced the ratings of appropriate police measures and legal outcomes. In particular, law students considered most legal measures more appropriate than police students. Police students, on the other hand, perceived the stalking legislation as less sufficient than law students did. The findings are discussed with regard to previous research on the perception of stalking and their practical implications for relevant professions within the criminal justice system.

When children and youths commit crime or are at risk of doing so, a much used preventive measures by the Norwegian police is the Police conversation intervention («Politiets bekymringssamtale»), sometimes also referred to as «police empowerment conversations». This is a measure regulated in law and aims to be a dialogue of- and response to unwanted behaviour, and to map risks and needs. Meanwhile, a variety of informal conversations are also frequently used. Drawing on interviews and observations in Oslo police district, this presentation will look into when and why police conversations are formalized (or not).

Juvenile delinquency in Japan has steadily declined since World War 2. This decline is true for both male and female juveniles. Although juvenile delinquency rates have declined overall, delinquents still have various problems. These problems are especially seen in the high rates of the abused experiences which have been pointed out by practitioners in juvenile training schools for girls, as well as, previous studies. The high rates of the abused experiences are also true for juvenile training schools in Japan, which amplifies the importance of providing the trauma-informed practices. This study looks at the abused experiences, which is one of the backgrounds of juveniles’ delinquent involvements, and attempts to overview the trends between 2017 and 2022. The study also examines the prevalence of abused experiences by gender and types of delinquency, specifically in the views of the gender differences. The data is mainly collected from Kyosei Tokei Nempo (Annual Report of Statistics on Correction). Lastly, this study examines the association between trauma and juvenile delinquency, especially among girls. This study will also share some of Japan’s current efforts regarding treatment and education in juvenile training schools, especially for girls. The challenges and the future prospects of introducing trauma-informed care in Japan are also addressed.

The "Initiative Sicherer Landkreis Rems-Murr e.V." association launched the "Kita 2020" pilot project for sustainable violence prevention in the Rems-Murr district's primary school sector. Offers for advice, support and training on the topic of violence prevention for daycare center teams and parents were developed together with the specialists. The KITA 2020 project went beyond a traditional prevention program and focused on socio-spatial networking. It took into account children's rights and the culture of peace set out in UN Resolution A/RES/53/243, tied in with the orientation plan for education and upbringing in kindergartens in Baden-Württemberg and focused on teaching values and interculturally and interreligiously sensitive education. Due to the increase in different nationalities and cultures in kindergartens, this is becoming more important and the state-wide program "interculturally interreligiously sensitive education" was taken into account. The "Kita 2020" project addressed all levels of the educational process: In the interaction with individual children, in the children's group, the direct work with parents, in the qualification of the educational staff and the improvement of the framework conditions. In addition, the pedagogical concept was further developed with regard to the prevention of violence. The social environment of the daycare center and the networking and embedding in the social space formed an important field of action for the prevention of violence. At the end of the 5-year pilot phase, an impact and process evaluation was carried out by the Institute for Applied Social Sciences Stuttgart of the Baden-Württemberg Cooperative State University, Faculty of Social Sciences. The foundations of the project have been incorporated into the training of students specializing in "social work in elementary education" and the prevention program for daycare centers/kindergartens has been adopted and continued as a regular program by the district.

A research team have been coding and analyzing Swedish court data on organized crime groups. The material consists of police investigation protocols, encrypted chats excerpts, and convictions. This presentation will introduce the methodology of the coding process. We have currently coded more than 140 criminal cases, mapped 60 organised criminal groups and developed more than 100 variables. The dataset is divided into several code sheets each with a different structure and aim. For example, one code sheet is intended to examine the organizational structure of the groups, while another describes the characteristics of drug trafficking. The data provides information on dates, places, illicit activities, and illicit goods, for every criminal case. Most cases involve more than one type of crime. Following the first round of coding, we are currently undertaking a critical evaluation of our work and will initiate a major restructuring and recoding to achieve a workable and reliable dataset. The aim of this is to improve logic of our main- and sub-categories of variables to better follow a logical sequence of traceable values. Other than improving reliability of the coding it is important to be able to intuitively trace categories like narcotics, weapons, vehicles, as well as individuals across the whole data set.

As organized criminal groups continue to produce an increasingly devastating effect on Swedish society at large, a more extensive amount of public policy and research is aimed at tackling this growing issue. However, the historical trend within criminology of excluding women from research is unfortunately reflected in the organized crime literature, as a very small percentage of the research is focused on the role of women in organized crime. The research that does exist shows rather inconclusive results regarding the roles of women. Therefore, the current essay aims to investigate what role women play in organized criminal acts and, utilizing a feminist framework, investigate the social roles they inhabit within organized criminal groups. The data material consists of court judgements as well as police investigation protocols related to organized crime in which encrypted chats have been utilized to various degrees as evidence. This data set provides a unique resource to be able to study the demographic variables of the women involved in organized crime as well as investigate their specific roles within the organized criminal groups by looking at variables such as their relationship to other actors, criminal involvement and contacts within the network. The results will provide information which can be used to better understand women’s involvement in organized crime and hence aid law enforcement strategies in combating this, as well as inform specialized rehabilitation efforts aimed towards women.

This presentation explores the phenomenon of enablers in organized crime. The data consists of a large sample of Swedish court documents that contain the verdicts that derived from the encrypted chat services Anom, Encrochat and SkyCC. The aim of this presentation is to investigate the connections between individuals involved in organized crime and legitimate parts of society. These connections are, for example, companies operating in transportation, storage or moving. In the presentation, I will give an overview of the types of connections and assess how common they are based on the convictions. I will also describe how they operate together and what role the legitimate connections had in the cases.

Intelligence-led policing is integral part of law-enforcement. Compared to a traditional reactive approach, intelligence-led policing improves law enforcement ability to supress organized criminal groups. Conversely, organised criminal groups also adapt to intelligence-led policing. They aim to reduce their risk of apprehension and to locate vulnerabilities in policing that may enable them to commit their offenses more effectively. This counterintelligence perspective is relevant for understanding the behaviour of contemporary organised criminal groups. The OMEGA-Material provides a unique chance to glimpse the counterintelligence of Swedish organised criminal groups. The OMEGA-Material provides an extraordinary opportunity to examine organized criminal groups use of counter-active measures against Intelligence-led policing. This presentation uses the encrypted chats, included in more than 140 court cases, to study counterintelligence deliberations and strategies as conversations with a focus on roles, setting and organizational implementation. The aim of the presentation is to assess the degree of sophistication in this counterintelligence. In turn, this may improve the effectiveness of intelligence-led policing.

Co-author: Lida Maslinovska (Riga Municipal police, Latvia)

Public order and collaboration between residents and police agencies depend on trust in law enforcement. Distrust towards the police remains in many neighborhoods, hindering efficient policing and civic collaboration. The study explores the intricate relationship between police culture and citizen distrust, revealing the origins of this problem. This study investigates how elements of police culture influence citizen distrust through thorough research and 10 semi-structured interviews with police personnel. Qualitative data coding techniques were used with NVivo14 software to analyze and discover patterns and themes. The research uncovers a detailed comprehension of police culture, including communication patterns, appearance norms, and common values. New recruits typically find it challenging to integrate into the existing police culture, resulting in a sense of cynicism and distrust towards the public. Black humor is used as a coping method by veteran cops and is considered crucial for dealing with the difficulties of police service. Respondents recognize cynicism as a protection strategy against negativity rather than a personal trait. The study reveals an intricate connection between police personnel and the public, marked by mutual suspicion and skepticism. Despite cops hiding their skepticism from the public, negative attitudes towards civilians are common, indicating a wider distrust inside law enforcement. Some veteran police officers show apathy towards public opinions, worsening burnout among staff despite the significance of upholding society trust. The study highlights the importance of gaining a deeper understanding of police culture and how it affects attempts to create trust. Eventually, this presentation provides significant perspectives on the complex nature of police culture, including humor, cynicism, and trust within the law enforcement profession. It attempts to promote methods for developing more trust and collaboration between police and the communities they serve by addressing these complicated concerns.

Nation states all over the World, for the better part of more than half a century, have invested substantial resources to counter traits of police subculture that accentuate the cynicism of and isolation from the public. Anthropologists, as of late, have parleyed that new developments in police and policing have dramatically changed police subculture, and that conventional characterisations have not reflected the complex particulars of the police character, and as such, are outdated, illogical and useless. The presentation reports on the empirical measurement of the presence or not of police subcultural coping theme attitudes of solidarity, isolation and cynicism amongst representative samples of police officers from Canada, China, Kenya, Malawi, South Africa and Sweden. The findings provide not only substantive clarity responses to the debates mentioned above, but also establishes integrated police subculture theory, and makes meaningful and practical recommendations for police policy makers, strategists, practitioners, and researchers, amongst others.

This conference paper presents results of an ongoing evaluation of the use of private security guards (ordningsvakter) in Gothenburg, funded by the City of Gothenburg. City center patrolling by private security officers, in accordance with the paragraph allowing exceptions to the normally restrictive rules, so-called LOV3 operations, has increased dramatically in Sweden during recent years. In the city's policy document, the presence of private security guards is assumed to increase safety and decease fear or crime in the urban city center. By conducting short qualitative interviews in direct connection with patrolling private security guards, we have investigated how people perceive the presence of private security guards in the urban space. Reactions to the presence of private security guards can be described as polarizing. Those who perceive the presence of security guards as security-enhancing and positive often refer to the fact that private security guards have a responsibility to intervene, and that the city can be perceived as unsafe mainly during nighttime. One group states that security guards can be good for the feelings of safety for others, but do not affect their own. Others share discriminatory and sometimes violent experiences of contact with private security guards. Many express concern and doubts about the security guards' competence and training in relation to their duties and discretionary powers. The results generally support understanding safety as something highly subjective. The discrepancy that exists between what is perceived as safe and unsafe, both between different individuals and between different demographic groups is considerable. The presentation presents theoretical and policy implications of the study's results.

Co-authors: Inês Guedes (University of Porto, Portugal), Carla Cardoso (University of Porto, Portugal)

Private security guards hold control over policing in contexts where much of young people’s life takes place and that are important spaces of youth socialization, especially in contemporary urban areas. In governing these places, they implement a social order and enforce norms, that often go beyond legal norms. As such, security guards exercise power, control and regulate conduct, mostly of young people. However, little is known about youths’ trust and perceived legitimacy towards these policing agents. Drawing on a survey, this study examines young people's trust and perceived legitimacy towards security guards and which factors predict that. Moreover, this study tests the procedural justice theory, which has been applied to a wide range of authorities, but scarcely tested in security guards. Findings from a sample of 631 high school students from the Metropolitan Areas of Lisbon and Porto (Portugal) show that procedural justice is the strongest predictor of both trust and legitimacy. Perceptions of security guards’ role as important for the security of society and legality of action are also robust predictors of trust and legitimacy. In turn, performance judgments (perceived risk of detection and effectiveness) only marginally predict trust and legitimacy. The implications of these findings for policing research and for the private security sector practice will be discussed.

The purpose of the current study was to examine the association between neighborhood disadvantage in childhood and aggressive behavior, both proactive and reactive, in early adulthood and whether hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis responsivity in mid-adolescence mediated this potential association. Aggressive behavior can lead to several negative consequences for the aggressor, the target and society and has been linked to neighborhood disadvantage. In addition, HPA-axis responsivity was associated with both neighborhood disadvantage and aggressive behavior and therefore might explain the association between neighborhood disadvantage and aggressive behavior. The current study used a sample from the general population (N=209), which was drawn from a longitudinal twin study called Risk Factors for Antisocial Behavior (RFAB). The data for neighborhood disadvantage was collected when the participants were 9-10 years old, HPA-axis responsivity was collected at age 11-15 years and aggressive behavior was collected at age 19-20 years. Proactive aggressive behavior was excluded due to an unreliable measurement. Results showed that there were no direct or indirect associations between any of the variables. The findings suggest that neighborhood disadvantage during childhood did not predict reactive aggressive behavior in early adulthood. In addition, HPA-axis responsivity in mid-adolescence was not a biological marker that explained the associations between neighborhood disadvantage and reactive aggressive behavior in this general population sample. Limitations and strengths of the study and implications of future research are discussed.

The aim of the study was to highlight potential collaborations between companies in the assistance industry, and between companies in the assistance industry and other companies, as well as what these possible collaborations were like at the industry level. The purpose of the exercise was to gain a deeper understanding of what organised crime can look like when crime is facilitated by using companies as criminal tools. The research was based on register data from the Swedish Health and Social Care Inspectorate, concerning companies that have had their licences to provide personal assistance withdrawn, and on information concerning the management boards and actual directors of these companies.The social network analysis method was used to study these collaborations. Furthermore, a descriptive analysis of the assistance companies' cooperation at the industry level was made. The results indicated a low degree of cooperation between the assistance companies that had their licences withdrawn. However, board involvement in other companies was common among representatives of these companies, especially in other assistance companies, but also in companies that provide legal and financial advice. Based on theory and previous research, there were good reasons to assume the existence of cross-industry criminal co-operation.

Research on fear of crime has grown substantially in recent decades. As a result, fear of crime has become a subject for national criminal policies measures as well transnational crime prevention networks. It in turn raises the question of the underlying mechanisms of the fear as previous research is mainly based on a number of individual countries outside of Europe which in turn makes it difficult to generalize the results. Furthermore, previous research primarily examines factors on an individual level to explain the causes for fear of crime without sufficiently considering structural factors. For that reason, it is important to examine the phenomenon in a European context and based on a more structural explanatory model. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between institutional trust and fear of crime among residents of 29 European countries using aggregated data from the 9th round of the European Social Survey (ESS9-2018) as well as Eurostat. Thereby, the study contributes a partial explanation to national level differences regarding crime-related fear. Based on Rothstein's perspective on the theory of social capital, this study examines how people’s trust in political institutions develops a general trust in society that reduces the fear of being exposed to crime. The result shows that institutional trust has a significant negative effect on the proportion who experience fear of crime in the European countries. It indicates the importance of well-functioning democratic institutions for residents' perceived security, even if its causal effect cannot be demonstrated empirically. Furthermore, the author discusses how institutions that act to reduce fear, have a tendency to reinforce it. The study thereby sheds light on the need to improve the quality of national governance in order to increase people's trust and reduce fear of crime in Europe.

The Local Safety Measurement System (LSMS) was introduced in The Swedish Police late 1990`s. The overall political goals set for the Swedish police service – to reduce crime and increase public safety – are central. Due to LSMS, the ideas and opinions of the people living or working in an area served will become a crucial element in the planning of everyday policing. In Sweden, the Local Governments now has a statutory responsibility for crime prevention and is the main cooperation partner to the local police. Dialogue and collaboration are facilitated by the results from the measurement.

By 2024, more than 1.3 million respondents have responded to police surveys since 1998 in most of the Swedish Local Governments. 2000 municipalities, divided into 5000 geographical parts. have been surveyed when each occasion counts over the years. The Police have conducted most of the studies. Data has been collected with the same questions, sequencing, data collection methods, and where the only changes have been a couple of new questions, when introduced, they are always placed last in the survey. The response rate is high, around 60 percent on average.

The responses are considered intelligence obtained by the best experts – the individuals who spend daily time in their neighbourhoods. The results were from the beginning compared nationally via percentages to obtain a relative assessment of severity.

In 2022, it was decided to move to an extensive innovative model of what was good, less good and what was a directly bad percentage for an indicator in a residential area. In addition, it is possible to use as summary of the assessments on each indicator to an overall assessment of the severity of the current problem picture in a national context.

This is a unique model about analysis using algorithms, The Clopper Pearson interval, confidence interval, forecasting science and police experience. For the safety and best interests of the residents.

Our recurrent local safety surveys have given the local police a respectable picture of the level of crime victimisation, what the residents see as the extreme problems, how worried they are about being exposed to crime and whether there are concrete unsafety issues in the area. In addition, the surveys contain questions eliciting the public’s opinions about the willingness and ability of the police to deal with local problems. The answers to these questions are a significant help in the planning of local police work and in the setting of priorities.

During the session, three police regions working together with 121 Local Governments - Central, East, and South - will present their experiences of The Local Safety Measurement System. There will be reviews of how this is done in practice, what kind of analyses can be done and examples of results.

Co-author: Gabriel Sahin (Stockholm Police headquarters, Sweden)

As in many cities around the world, Stockholm inner-city is struggling with the effects of late night open bars and restaurants. Intoxicated people at meeting points after closing time are found to create effects such as fights, vandalism, injuries and unsafety. Hot spots of violent crimes are found in several parts of the city of Stockholm especially at weekend nights. These hots pots are used by the police to direct resources for crime prevention, detection and harm reduction. In this presentation several techniques to create hots pots are explored based on different units of analysis such as street segment and points. The results show both similarities and differences in the pattern of violent crime. These findings could be argued to add dimensions to crime prevention strategies and help the police and other authorities to target violent hot spots.

Co-authors: Ioannis Ioannidis (KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden) and Marcus Felson (Texas State University, USA)

Tunnels are enclosed spaces with limited entry and exit points. They provide an environment where people may feel more concealed, thus facilitating acts of vandalism or criminal activities. According to a recent Swedish study, tunnels rank among the locations where individuals feel the most fear en route to public transportation, but are tunnels criminogenic? We analyze the safety conditions of tunnels (footways, cycleways, and stairways) in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, using Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and multinomial logit models. Findings show that tunnels are risky facilities whose crime concentration varies by tunnel type and across time and space. The environment and social context surrounding a tunnel can influence what happens inside it. The relationship between tunnels and crime is multifaceted, requiring tailored strategies for their maintenance; including careful consideration of their functionality, design, and context.

Co-authors: Vania Ceccato and Andrea Nascetti (KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden) and Robert Haining (University of Cambridge, UK)

Understanding the specific locations and timings of criminal activities can help combat crime in public spaces. In this presentation, we examine how the occurrences of rape are associated with a city's environmental and temporal factors, including levels of light and weather conditions, as determined through remote sensing data. We employ space-time methods and regression models for pattern identification. Our study area is the municipality of Stockholm, Sweden. Preliminary results show that outdoor rapes concentrate in different places across the city at different times. We conclude the presentation by reflecting on the implications of using remote sensing data for understanding crime patterns and outlining future research directions.

Co-authors: Vania Ceccato (KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden) and Lukas Ljungkvist (Stockholm municipality, Sweden)

“When assessing people’s perceptions of safety, both “who” and “where” are questions that matter. In this presentation we share the current stage in our study of safety perceptions in the Stockholm city district of Järva, using both an intra-city and city-wide perspective. As part of a larger project, we present initial findings from an online map-based survey of both residents and non-residents of Järva. Through the survey, we investigate the places in Järva where the respondents feel safe or may avoid, their fear of crime, neighborhood perceived safety, routine activities and how fear may impact them, history and locations of crime victimization, as well as their general perception of the city district and how to improve it. The survey sheds light both on the significance of the socio-spatial context for safety perceptions, as well as how deep local knowledge versus temporary/rare experiences shape our perceptions of neighborhoods.

Co-authors: Jessica Asscher (Utrecht University, the Netherlands) and Friedrich Lösel (Cambridge University and University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, UK and Germany)

Conspiracy theories threaten Western society’s cohesion and democracy (AIVD, 2023). Yet, little is known about who’s vulnerable for conspiracy-motivated violent radicalization, which is essential for effective prevention. Most people who believe in conspiracy theories, never support violence in any way (Roberts-Ingleson & McCann, 2023). Yet, conspiracy theories frequently play a role in the narratives to support radicalization and terrorism. The current study aimed to 1) identify who might be vulnerable for violent radicalization in the context of conspiracy exposure and belief, and 2) identify risk factors contributing to these differing levels of vulnerability. Recruitment occurred in educational settings, online, and during specific events (e.g., anti-government demonstrations). Dutch participants (N = 709) filled out a digital survey; most were younger than 26-years-old (83.6%, M = 24.4. years-old). Latent Profile Analyses were conducted to examine whether meaningful subgroups could be identified based on conspiracy exposure, belief, and violent radicalization (attitudes and behavior); the focus was on COVID-19 conspiracy theories. Five profiles were unveiled, with most people belonging to the ‘general population’ group (82%, low levels of all indicator variables). A smaller group had higher levels of conspiracy exposure, belief, and radical attitudes (10%); three very small profiles consisted of people with more elevated levels of violently radical behavior (1-5%). Overall, criminogenic risk factors differentiated the more violently radical behavior profiles, while social risks factors also played a role for the ‘conspiracists’. Findings suggest that evidence-based anti-crime interventions may be helpful to address conspiracy-motivated radical behavior (Jugl et al., 2021). Study limitations and implications will be discussed.

Co-authors: Hanne Duindam, Utrecht University, the Netherlands) & Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge (England) and Friedrich Lösel (Cambridge University and University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, UK and Germany)

Worldwide there are concerns about the deterioration of people’s trust in social institutions and democratic structures (AIVD, 2022), as well as increases in violent demonstrations (Global Peace Index, 2022), which may increase risk for extremism and violent radicalization (e.g., LaFree, 2023). Although important risk factors have been identified for extremism and violent radicalization, there is less information about protective factors, even though they may be crucial for increasing the accuracy of risk assessment and improving prevention. Moreover, an overview of protective factors for (violent) radicalization in youth was not yet available, while youth are most prone for violent radicalization (Siegel et al., 2019). This meta-analysis builds on previous systemic work (Lösel et al., 2018) by summarizing the overall impact of protective factors against extremism and violent radicalization for the age group of 25 years or younger and conducting moderator analyses. A total of 41 studies were included, reporting on 49 independent samples, yielding 194 effect sizes (N = 55.563). Overall, a small negative impact of protective factors on (violent) radicalization was found (r = -0.096). Twelve domains of potential protective factors were classified, based on similarity. Results showed a protective impact of six domains: school achievement (r = -0.20), female gender (r = 0.16), (pro)social behavior (r = -0.14), positive parental involvement (r = -0.13), procedural justice (r = -0.11), and non-extremist intergroup contact (r = -0.10). Results of the moderator analyses revealed that some study, sample, and outcome characteristics significantly moderated the effects. For instance, school achievement factors were more protective for right-wing and religious ideologies compared to left-wing ideologies and positive life outlook factors were more protective in samples with more girls. Limitations and implications of this meta-analysis will be discussed.

Co-authors: Irina Jugl (Ministry of the Interior, Baden-Württemberg, Germany), Sonja King (German Federal Police Department, Germany) and Doris Bender (University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany)

Politically, religiously and otherwise motivated forms of extremism, radicalization and terrorism are high priority topics in many countries that led to numerous prevention programs. In addition to repressive measures, psychosocial preventions programs are rather frequent. However, there is not yet sound knowledge on their effectiveness. Therefore, we carried out two studies: an international survey of prevention programs and updated our previous systematic review and meta-analysis of outcome evaluations (Jugl et al., 2021). In the survey, we interviewed experts from 32 countries. Most practiced programs had a universal or universal-selective approach and addressed extremism in general. We got detailed information on these programs, but only few had controlled outcome evaluations that could be included in our updated meta-analysis. After screening of about 15,000 reports we found 29 (quasi-)experimental outcome evaluations that met our (lenient) eligibility criteria. We analyzed design characteristics, program contents, samples, and effect sizes. Most programs targeted religiously motivated or right wing extremism and had a quasi-experimental design. Compared to our previous review there was a recent increase of sound studies (including some RCTs). Overall, the findings were rather heterogeneous. There was a mean positive effect and more specifically on measures of attitudes and critical thinking, but not on behavior. Despite promising results, the low internal validity of most evaluations and small number of eligible studies limit generalization. More high-quality evaluations are necessary.

Co-author: Andy Myhill (The College of Policing, UK)

This paper describes findings from the first phase of a European Social Research Council (ESRC)-funded UK Research Innovation (UKRI) Policy Fellowship examining how to measure ‘harm’ in relation to domestic abuse.The use of police data to measure outcomes related to domestic abuse is limited by inconsistent practice relating to crime and incident recording. Increasingly, researchers in the UK are applying severity scores to evaluate interventions and assess police performance in relation to domestic abuse. Current methods, such as the ONS Crime Severity Score and the Cambridge Crime Harm Index, use sentencing data to produce a sliding scale of ‘harm’ for discrete criminal offences. Application of these scales to domestic abuse-related offending has been debated as much of the harm suffered by victim-survivors is not represented in traditional crime codes, such as assaults, and would be impacted by the under-recording of course of conduct crimes (e.g., coercive controlling behaviour). Additionally, some associated offences, such as breaches of protective orders, do not attract a length of sentence commensurate with their potential impact on victims. This research focuses on whether ‘harm’ can be better measured and operationalized using police data beyond aggregated crime codes. The paper presents the findings from interviews with third-sector practitioners involved in supporting victim-survivors of domestic abuse. The results discuss their conceptualization of harm in this context, the impact of the abuse on victim-survivors, and their perspectives about whether (and how) wider police-held data could be applied to better reflect the lived experience of victim-survivors. The paper also shares the proposed methods, potential benefits, and challenges of analyzing data from open-text sources within police case files, such as victim/witness statements and risk assessments, using techniques like Natural Language Processing (NLP)

Co-authors: Stefanie Horn, Emily Sophie Müller and Thomas Görgen (Deutsche Hochschule der Polizei, Germany)

With the ratification of the Istanbul Convention, there is a transnational consensus on the need for political action to prevent intimate partner violence. Part of the Convention is the obligation to carry out risk assessments and take preventive measures in cases of intimate partner violence. Standardized risk assessment tools based on risk factor analyses are often used for this purpose. More recent approaches also address the leaking behaviour of perpetrators, i.e. various forms of announcing and hinting at impending offenses, as a significant warning signal. In research on killing sprees and terrorism, leaking has been shown to be a regularly occurring and relevant early indicator of serious targeted violence. Initial research shows that leaking also occurs in the run-up to intimate partner homicides; findings on the prevalence, characteristics and seriousness of leaking can therefore strengthen high-risk management in the case of domestic violence. The presented research is based on the analysis of around 60 criminal prosecution files of attempted and completed homicides in ex-partnerships or separation (Germany, 2012- 2020). The focus is on the phenomenology of leaking in the run-up to homicide as well as on indicators of the seriousness of leaking. Probabilities of occurrence and modalities are critically discussed and placed in a practical context.

Stalking has long been an experience many, especially, younger women have endured, and in our Post-Covid era, the means of stalking have markedly changed to include virtual spaces. How has this impacted who is stalked and how "stalking" is effected and experienced? Using over 7000 reports to the Safecity.in/Red Dot Foundation Global platform, which includes reports largely from India but increasingly from many nations across the world, I examine the prevalence and experience of stalking as it is described by, in many cases, young women who have been the targets of this behavior.

Co-authors: Cristina Sobrino (Institut Metropoli, Spain) and Riccardo Valente (Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain)

From the mid-90s there has been an interest in trying to understand the spatial dynamics and community-level risk factors associated with intimate partner violence against women, what in Spain is often called “gender violence” (in a reductionist use of this term). Some of this work has been replicated and taken forward in Spain by the research group led by Prof. Enrique Gracia (with data from Valencia that combines police data and more recently community surveys and using sophisticated Bayesian models). Our goal is to contribute to this line of enquiry as part of the broader VIPOLIS project, funded by the AEI, and that is using survey data gathered by the Institut Metropoli and police recorded data from Mossos dÉsquadra, to understand the geography of crime in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona. In this paper, we will use cartographic and various spatial statistics tool to characterise the geographical distribution of “gender violence” in this metropolitan area and explore the association of this phenomenon with various measures of the socio-economic attributes of spatial areas (e.g., census tracts) that compose this area. We will show the distribution of this form violence is not uniform and random, but rather that is concentrated areas of the city and correlates with community level risk factors that have been explored in the specialised literature.

Co-authors: German Marquez Alcala (University of Michigan, USA), J.J. Prescott (University of Michigan, USA) and Orna Rabinovich-Einy (University of Haifa, Israel)

Research on the experiences of minorities with law enforcement authorities shows that minorities view the justice system as less legitimate compared to non-minorities. This legitimacy gap is rooted in minorities’ perception of the procedural (un)fairness of the processes conducted under the justice system. Specifically, research shows that while minorities attach greater significance to procedural justice elements they often view legal proceedings as lacking in respect, voice, and neutrality. The recent expansion of online courts raises the question whether such dynamic will persist in this new arena. Previous research shows that (a) online proceedings may decrease disparities in outcomes between minorities and members of dominant groups, and (b) that in online proceedings perceptions of access-to-justice serve as an antecedent of legitimacy, alongside procedural justice. These findings suggest that online proceedings may have an equalizing effect on how minorities experience online proceedings, and beg the question of what role access-to-justice and procedural justice concerns play in minorities’ evaluations of legitimacy in online settings. We present initial findings on these questions drawing on users of online traffic proceeding in the U.S. (N=426). We find that minorities experience the process as less fair, yielding less favorable outcomes, and the system as less legitimate compared with non-minority parties. Interestingly, we do not find disparities in perceptions of access-to-justice. Furthermore, we find that minorities attach greater significance to procedural justice concerns and lower significance to access-to-justice concerns in evaluations of legitimacy. These findings indicate that the gaps in perceptions of fairness and legitimacy between minorities and non-minorities persist in online proceedings, and that procedural justice continues to play a symbolic role of status restoration even in online settings.

Co-author: Rok Hacin (University of Maribor, Slovenia)

Legitimacy Research in SloveniaGorazd Meško, Rok HacinResearch on legitimacy in Slovenian criminal justice began more than twenty years ago. The theoretical work of the first studies was quickly followed by empirical testing in 2009 that focused on the applicability of Western models for studying legitimacy in the former socialist cultural environment of Slovenia. Empirical research progressed significantly in the following 15 years, encompassing quantitative and qualitative studies, predominately based on representative samples of Slovenian residents, police officers, prisoners, and prison staff. Researchers implemented comprehensive (using mixed methods), comparative and longitudinal studies, in which they tested the dual nature of legitimacy, (un)stability of legitimacy, self-legitimacy, various antecedents of legitimacy, similarities and differences in the perception of legitimacy of multiple actors in criminal justice, as well as developed new models for studying legitimacy that presented a better fit for Slovenian cultural environment. In addition, studies revealed essential correlations between the perception of legitimacy and self-legitimacy and individuals’ behaviour (e.g., willingness to use force, pro-organisational behaviour, support for community policing, etc.). Slovenian research on legitimacy in criminal justice has significantly contributed to the existing knowledge of legitimacy due to various studies and by testing the theoretical premises in a non-western cultural environment.

Co-authors: Ben Bradford and Krisztian Posch (University College London, UK)

This study analyses an empirical model of legitimacy based on citizens' perceptions of policing using big data. Procedural justice-based legitimacy theory has established the importance of procedural justice in face-to-face interactions between police and citizens. However, the use of the latest technologies by the police in the name of effectiveness has raised grave concerns about invasion of privacy, excessive concentration of data power, and the possibility of using algorithms to justify discrimination against certain groups in these days. Furthermore, the use of such technology in policing may lead to a decrease in direct interaction between law enforcement officials and civilians. In the past, police officers would gather intelligence and plan their policing strategies through face-to-face contact with individuals and field works. However, with the rise of algorithmic policing, law enforcement now collects data remotely and uses it to inform their decisions. Therefore, it is important to investigate whether the current procedural justice-based model, which relies on face-to-face interactions between citizens and police, remains applicable. Additionally, variables related to data-driven policing, such as effectiveness (as claimed by the police) and distributive justice (a concern for civil society), should be validated through an empirical police legitimacy model.This study employs the latest survey data collected in 2023 to investigate the variables that influence citizen support for big data-driven policing through an empirical police legitimacy model. The findings have implications for the future research presented.

Several issues currently plague academic publishing, hindering the progress of science and threatening the integrity of many fields and disciplines, including criminology. These include recent trends, such as the growing prevalence of predatory journals, a culture of publication bias where small, exclusive groups of researchers game the system to own a particular subfield, the recent crisis in securing peer-review for papers, a hypercompetitive environment fostering practices like selective reporting and publication bias (where only positive results are highlighted, neglecting negative findings crucial for scientific progress), and the proliferation of AI generated manuscripts. Addressing these challenges requires concerted efforts from stakeholders to uphold rigorous publishing standards, promote transparency, and prioritize the integrity of scientific inquiry, thereby facilitating genuine advancements in scientific knowledge. Our field, criminology, has been plagued by all the above issues and others. The Editors of the journal, Criminology, here assess these challenges and present multiple solutions to remedy and anticipate these challenges and others, some of which require changes in editorial processing and others that demand a fundamental change in the relationship between editorial gatekeepers of criminological knowledge and publishing houses.

Embracing diversity and fostering inclusion in the editorial process of scholarly journal publishing brings forth a myriad of benefits to the academic, policy, and community-based constituencies. This is particularly true of scholarly research in criminology, where our field’s research frequently touches on issues of human rights, social justice, and notions of democratic governance. The notion of representation in criminology extends beyond simple categorizations of racial and ethnic identity to diversity of political, cultural, and methodological outlooks. Diverse editorial boards encompassing individuals from varied backgrounds, cultures, and perspectives can offer unique insights and expertise, enriching the quality and breadth of published research and help criminology journal avoid the trap of repetitive or confirmatory science. This diversity of thought can lead to more innovative approaches to problem-solving and a broader representation of research topics and methodologies. By actively involving diverse voices in editorial decision-making, criminology journals can enhance the credibility, relevance, and scientific impact of their publications, ultimately advancing knowledge while contributing to a more equitable and just society.

Data transparency, reproducibility, and replicability are indispensable pillars for advancing the legitimacy and value of research in many disciplines and fields but has not received sufficient attention in criminology. Data transparency may involve sharing either the data, coding or both publicly to allow for a more in-depth interrogation of a paper’s results and conclusions. Transparent reporting of data collection methods, analytical techniques, and results not only fosters accountability but also allows for scrutiny and validation by peers, promoting the robustness of research outcomes that will play an important role in determining criminal justice policy. Reproducibility ensures that findings can be independently verified, strengthening the confidence in the validity of conclusions drawn. Moreover, replicability facilitates the generalizability of findings across different contexts, thus broadening the applicability and relevance of criminological research. We argue that incorporating these principles into criminological publishing is a necessary to bolster the credibility and reliability of our findings and situating our work front-and-center with the public and policymakers’ discourse of crime and its consequences, thereby enhancing the trustworthiness of the field as a whole. We argue that. We outline examples of how to achieve these principles in ways that specifically address the unique issues and characteristics of the criminological enterprise.

We combine administrative and survey data to provide an estimation of the cost of fraud against individuals in France from 2016 to 2022. On one hand, data from the French Ministry of Interior grants us information about 1.8 million fraud cases recorded by law enforcement during the period, though some missing data concerning the amount defrauded had to be imputed. We thus obtain a rather accurate estimate of the cost of fraud against individuals for those of them who did report the incident to the police. It is however well known that a large part of fraud cases are not reported.On the other hand, victimization surveys give us a picture of all crime that occurred in a given place and time period, though they have their own limitations, among which their relatively low accuracy. This issue is particularly acute when measuring the cost of crime since a substantial part of it comes from a low number of very high amounts that are most likely missing from survey samples.We therefore combine both types of data to provide a more precise estimate of the cost of fraud that what could be obtained with survey data only. According to our findings, both the volume and the amount of fraud are rapidly increasing: in 2016, our estimation for the cost of fraud against individuals in France is 2.2 billion euros, whereas it us nearly 4.3 billion euros for 2022.

Co-author: Ben Stickle (Middle Tennessee State University, USA)

Patterns in property crime have been studied for many years, focusing on a variety of dimensions such as the nature of the items stolen, location characteristics and time elements such as time of day, day of week, and seasonality. Often in research, studies use relatively aggregated categories as the dependent variable such as property crime or theft or burglary. Using detailed incident information over a six-year period in the city of Louisville, Kentucky, on a frequently occurring modern property crime—metal theft—we explore whether such aggregation is advisable. Our results suggest that metal theft varies substantially by the nature of the items taken, spatial and time elements. We discuss the implications of these findings for theorizing and practical crime prevention strategies around property crime.

Co-author: Teresa Silva (Mid Sweden University; Sweden)

Crimes committed against small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) endanger their operations, resulting in serious economic losses that negatively impact local communities. To protect SMEs from crime, collaboration between the public and the private sectors is recommended, and the Swedish law prescribes it to be taken at the local level. To be efficient, collaborative actions must rely on relations of trust between the stakeholders. In this study, we examined the impact of crime on SMEs in Sweden and the level of trust entrepreneurs have in law enforcement and the local administration. An online questionnaire was distributed among entrepreneurs in the 21 Swedish regions, obtaining 1552 valid answers. All regions and business sectors were represented; 46% of enterprises employed less than five persons. Forty-nine per cent of the entrepreneurs indicated that they (or their businesses) had been victims of crime on at least one occasion in the prior five years. The crime most often committed against the SMEs was theft/robbery, followed by vandalism and invoice fraud. While 22.5% of participants considered the region unsafe for doing business, 30.6% affirmed they thought they would likely be victimized in the 12 months following the survey, and 86.3% believed that nowadays, no business is secure against crime. Furthermore, 24.7% of the entrepreneurs who were victimized did not report the crimes to the police, and of those who reported the crimes, prosecution actions were taken only in 7.6% of cases. Consistently, 68.7% agreed with the assertion that most crimes committed against businesses reported to the police are never solved, and 63.7% disagreed with the assertion that the local administration’s strategy to prevent crime against entrepreneurs was good. We concluded that the entrepreneurs seem not to trust the police and the local administration in their efforts to combat crime, which may compromise eventual collaborations for crime prevention work.

This paper examines the sentencing of serious sex offenders and the factors that influence judges in their assessment of seriousness. Sentencing practice in Ireland is notable for its highly discretionary nature and, until relatively recently, could be described as adopting a fairly unstructured approach to imposing punishment. Addressing a lack of high-quality sentencing information in Ireland, this paper combines legal and criminological methodologies in analysing 106 serious sexual offences cases. More specifically, it looks at sentencing outcomes of 15 years imprisonment up to, and including, life imprisonment. The analysis provides an opportunity to explore judicial perspectives on the assessment of seriousness at trial level as well as examining the influence of appellate decisions. The findings indicate that there are specific fact patterns and aggravating factors that result in the imposition of long-term imprisonment. Defendants were often being sentenced for multiple offences and in some instances, there were also multiple victims. In addition to the assessment of the offending itself, factors such as previous criminal history and the risk of reoffending played a significant role in the imposition of long-term imprisonment.

Co-authors: Avital Mentovich and Orna Rabinovich-Einy (University of Haifa, Israel)

A vast body of research in criminology, psychology, and law has extensively demonstrated that the identity features of the participants of legal proceedings (i.e., mainly defendants and judges) play a significant role in shaping criminal judgments, particularly sentencing decisions. Research in this domain mainly examined the effects of gender and race on criminal justice judgments and disparate outcomes. Surprisingly, the potential influence of offenders' socioeconomic status (SES) has been largely overlooked. The current novel study addresses this gap by exploring whether offenders' SES impacts laypeople's sentencing decisions. Employing the stereotype content model (Fiske et al., 2002), the study also explores how stereotypes about people from various SES backgrounds (poor and middle-class) influence and explain these decisions through perceptions of warmth (e.g., nice, friendly, etc.) and competence. Participants (n=133) were randomly assigned to read a vignette depicting a crime committed by either a poor or middle-class offender and were then asked about their sentencing decisions. They were also asked to rate their perceptions of the offender's warmth and competence. Results indicate that offenders' SES impacted sentencing decisions, such that the poor offender received significantly harsher sentences than the middle-class offender. The perceived warmth of the offender mediated the relationship between SES and sentencing decisions; the poor offender was seen as less warm (i.e., less nice, unfriendly), leading to harsher sentences. The results emphasize the need for criminological research to examine further ways in which offenders' SES, not only race and gender, impacts decision-making and leads to biases and discrimination. It also underscores the need to implement psychological models in criminological research to understand where those biases stem from. Explanations and implications of these findings to existing research about bias in sentencing decisions.

Traditional practice bestows powers on judges to make sentencing decisions. In many jurisdictions, however, judicial sentencing has become obsolete and power over punishment is now allocated among different governmental decisionmakers. In this article, I use a structural-functionalist analysis to explicate how the sentencing process in People’s Republic of China (China) has morphed into what I call ‘the sentencing pyramid’ with largely discrete and separate praxis across various law enforcement apparatus. Grappling with competing values, the formal structure of sentencing under this Party-state’s new legal-political ideology manifests itself in three layers of operation, classed by the nature of the crime with each layer individually dominated by police, procuratorates and courts, respectively. In this hierarchical composition, a vast number of infractions sit at the base where police monopolize the sentencing process through primarily administrative procedures. The middle level consists of sizable individuals involved in misdemeanors whose sentences are ordinarily determined by procurators under the scheme of plea leniency in the interests of cost-efficiency and productivity. At the upper level is the punishment of residual serious crimes, which are the main target of “trial centeredness” devised to aspire to judicial authority in sentencing. In many respects, China’s sentencing pyramid is breaking away from a “system” model. This is because the three levels of sentencing practices are very loosely interconnected and independent. Within their particular realms of power, the legal authorities cling to vastly different programs, procedures, and principles to achieve their distinct goals of punishment.

In England and Wales less serious criminal cases are heard in the magistrates’ courts while more serious cases are heard in the Crown Court. In relation to offences known as either-way offences defendants who plead not- guilty have the choice of remaining in the magistrates’ courts for trial or having a jury trial at the Crown Court instead. Ministry of Justice statistics indicate that defendants from minority ethnic backgrounds, particularly Black defendants, are more likely to elect for a jury trial at the Crown Court compared to White defendants. The Lammy Review suggests that this may be due to defendants from minority ethnic backgrounds feeling they will not receive a fair hearing from magistrates (Lammy, 2017). Deciding to take the case to the Crown Court has consequences. Where cases proceed to an actual trial the conviction rate is lower for the Crown Court (Crown Prosecution Service, 2022). However, if the defendant is convicted, having the case heard at the Crown Court could potentially lead to a harsher sentence (Hedderman and Moxon, 1992). This paper uses deidentified magistrates’ and Crown Court data provided through the Data First programme. Focusing on either-way theft offences it investigates the relationship between ethnicity and electing for a Crown Court trial while controlling for other variables which are not controlled for in Ministry of Justice statistics. The paper also compares the outcomes of cases where the defendant elects for a Crown Court trial to those where the case is heard in the magistrates’ courts. Comparisons are made in terms of the likelihood of conviction, the type of sentence imposed and the length of custodial sentences.

This presentation will review the current debates in the field of experimental criminology, highlight several different experimental and meta-analytic studies that have been used to inform criminal justice policy decisions, and conclude with a call for an expanded public criminology.

In June 2024, The Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention, Brå, will report on a government assignment that has involved providing support to a number of municipalities with socially disadvantaged areas. Lisa Pedersen has been responsible for the assignment and will discuss what has been done within the project and how the work will continue when the project is completed.

On behalf of the government, the Swedish Police Authority continuously develops a national overview of the country's socially disadvantaged/vulnerable areas. Vulnerable areas are geographically defined places with low socioeconomic status where criminal elements have an impact on the local community. Johan Kadell will discuss how the Swedish police produces and uses the list of vulnerable areas.

Manne Gerell will discuss, from a criminological perspective, the work involved in compiling lists of socially vulnerable areas. Manne Gerell has also supported the Norwegian police in this work.

Since 2010, the Danish government has published the so-called "Ghetto List" of areas that meet a number of criteria. In 2021, the designated areas were renamed "parallel communities," "transformation areas," and "prevention areas." NN will discuss the efforts to reverse the negative development in these areas, partly carried out within the framework of the Danish strategy Ghetto Package.

Co-authors: Fredrik Sivertsson, Ylva B. Almquist and Lars Brännström (Stockholm University, Sweden)

The current study explores to what extent there is empirical support for the existence of pivotal typologies in developmental and life-course criminology, as well as whether there is any heterogeneity in trajectories among adult-onset offenders. Data were drawn from a population-representative birth cohort of 14,608 males and females, followed prospectively in registers from age nine to 64. Trajectories of antisocial and criminal behavior were identified by means of group-based trajectory modelling. Results show a small group with a high prevalence of crime across the life course, among both males and females. Furthermore, a large proportion of offenders were adult-onset offenders, and there was meaningful heterogeneity in their criminal trajectories. However, the data did not lend much support to the hypothesized phenomenon of late-blooming. In short, there is meaningful heterogeneity in the aggregate age-crime curve, including trajectories that resonate fairly well with predictions derived from Moffitt's taxonomy. Nevertheless, there are firm reasons for theorizing proximate causes for the onset and continuation of crime beyond emerging adulthood.

Co-authors: Fredrik Sivertsson, Olof Bäckman, Anders Nilsson and Christoffer Carlsson (Stockholm University, Sweden)

Traumatic childhood events have increasingly been recognized as a precursor to poor life outcomes. Collectively, these events have come to be known as adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). ACEs have been shown to be associated with poor health, early death, and criminal offending well into adulthood. It would appear that ACEs are so profound that their consequences may be apparent decades later. However, there remains uncertainty regarding mechanisms behind the association of ACEs with later life outcomes. Some believe that adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) cause enduring harm throughout a person's life. However, others contend that while ACEs may not directly have significant long-term effects, they do lead to adolescent criminal behavior, which has lasting consequences. The way in which ACEs are associated with crime has implications for interventions. It has, for example, been suggested that trauma-informed treatment among adult offenders can reduce recidivism. It has also been suggested that preventing ACEs could prevent life-course persistent offending. In this study, we tested associations between ACEs and criminal behavior across life into late adulthood using the Stockholm Birth Cohort Multigenerational Study (SBC Multigen, n = 15,117). SBC Multigen included all individuals born in 1953 and living in the greater metropolitan area of Stockholm in 1963, a total of 15,117 individuals. We used autoregressive latent trajectory (ALT) to empirically assess whether the our data are more reflective of ACEs generating a trajectory or whether it is instead past criminal behavior predicting future criminal behavior.

Co-authors: Anders Nilsson, Felipe Estrada and Fredrik Sivertsson (Stockholm University, Sweden)

We investigate the development of crime and changes with respect to its risk factors, structure and distribution. We use a multi-cohort approach, in which the oldest birth cohort consists of those born in 1975 and the youngest of those born in 2005. These 31 cohorts grew up during different time periods and were thereby subject to partly different sociohistorical conditions. The aim is to analyse changes in the distribution of crime and individual life trajectories, with a particular focus on intra- and inter-cohort differences. We do this by comparing individuals at the same age in different historical periods as they grow up. The overarching research question concerns how cohort membership, i.e. the historical period during which a cohort grew up, is linked to processes of onset, persistence and desistance in crime over the life course and how cohort membership interacts with factors at the individual, family and neighbourhood levels. To reveal potential links between birth cohort membership, socio-geographical context and criminal career parameters may have important implications for both crime policy and criminological theory.

Co-authors: Mikko Aaltonen, Felipe Estrada, Karolina Suonpää, Anders Nilsson, Jonas Pitkänen, Olof Bäckman and Pekka Martikainen (Stockholm University, Sweden)

Homicide is often viewed as “the tip of the iceberg” also reflecting underlying levels of non-lethal violent crime. Finland and Sweden are good examples of countries that, from a long-term historical perspective, have shown a strong association between lethal and non-lethal forms of criminalized violence, which has furthermore been strongly linked to heavy alcohol consumption. However, considering the recent two decades in Finland and Sweden, the co-development between lethal and non-lethal violence has become increasingly diffused, especially in Sweden where the trends during the recent decade or so have gone in opposite directions – juvenile non-lethal violence has decreased whereas lethal violence has increased. In this study, we disaggregate violent conviction trends over the first two decades of the 2000s in Finland and Sweden. We employ full population longitudinal register data on Finnish and Swedish cohorts born between 1986 and 1998 who are followed for convictions for violent crimes between ages 15 and 20, i.e. every individual is followed over a six-year period from the minimum age of criminal responsibility until early adulthood. Has the population of convicted juvenile violent offenders become increasingly serious in terms of their frequency of offending, the age at which they were first convicted for a violent offense, and the types of violent crimes they are convicted of? Are there any sociodemographic gradients to the developments in terms of sex, migration background, social class, and urban residence, and are these the same or different in the two countries?

The issue of the role of Artificial Intelligence (hereinafter: AI) in the contemporary normative system belongs to the current legal, criminological, and overall criminal policy challenges, including the dimension of justice. This is because the noticeable ongoing process of ubiquitous technological and civilizational progress today transforms most traditionally understood solutions into modern alternatives, fundamentally alternatives embedded within modern technologies designed for practical use. The common denominator is the assumption of equipping devices with systems or programs simulating human intelligence to varying degrees of advancement, which are capable of effectively replacing or supporting humans in performing tasks. Due to the significant importance of AI for public security on both internal and external fronts, many highly developed countries have decided to adopt national strategies on AI and engage in research projects in this field.The subject of this presentation is artificial intelligence for justice in Poland, focusing on a specific use case. Attention will be centered on the outcomes of strategic efforts conducted in Poland related to the use of artificial intelligence in law, economy, and technology to prevent the causes of crime (research in cooperation with Harvard Business School, Stanford Research Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, IESE Business School, Ferenc Mádl Institute of Comparative Law, Central European Academy)Presentation will be divided into such areas like: 1. Introduction (objectives of strategic efforts); 2. Conceptualization (research assumptions); 3. Research results in Poland (Law: presentation of normative results; Technology: presentation of applied results; Criminology: presentation of criminological tools based on new technologies); 4. Implementation (examples); 5. Summary (recommendations for the future).

Quantum computing promises groundbreaking capabilities, but introduces complex legal and ethical quandaries requiring nuanced governance, especially for socially impactful applications like behavioral forensics. This paper explores challenges integrating emergent Quantum Artificial Intelligence (QAI) techniques into existing investigative methodologies. Despite quantum algorithms theoretically enabling unprecedented analysis of immense forensic databases to uncover inconspicuous correlations predictive of criminality, contemporary hardware restrictions severely limit real-world functionality. Practical implementations confront acute obstacles including noisy qubits, algorithmic opacity, and cyber vulnerabilities necessitating extensive safeguards before fielding. However, the accelerating research and commercialization of quantum technologies warrant proactive investigations into prospective capabilities, limitations and societal consequences. Through an interdisciplinary literature review and mixed-methods study, this paper examines the technological prospects and normative perils of applying QAI systems within behavioral forensics. It argues responsible innovation frameworks emphasizing transparency, accountability and human rights should steer integration. Holistic perspectives synthesizing engineering, ethics and law are imperative for strategically maximizing QAI's advantages for security while upholding liberty and privacy. Prudence demands rigorous validation and oversight before deploying still largely unproven technologies in socially sensitive contexts.

Co-authors: Klara Källström-Fäldt and Jan Ljungberg (University of Gothenburg, Sweden)

There is currently a strong political pressure to expand and intensify law enforcement agencies' surveillance capabilities, not least in response to ongoing organized gang conflicts. The recent political initiative can be understood as part of an emerging security discourse based on assumptions that surveillance technology will lead to increased efficiency and security in society. In 2020 a new law ‘secret data reading’ was enacted in Sweden, which gave law enforcement agencies legal support to use hacking as a method to hack into a suspect's digital devices, such as computers and mobile phones by exploiting vulnerabilities in the systems, to intercept information in messages and conversations through encrypted applications and programs. The method also makes it possible to activate a camera or a microphone in digital devices. The law was described as important for crime fighting and have recently been evaluated and suggested to be permanent in 2024. In addition, related legal changes were implemented in 2023 allowing secret data reading to be used to both prevent and investigate crime. The new possibility to use the method for preventive purposes, i.e. without criminal suspicion, can be described as a paradigm shift that allows government hacking with far-reaching risks for democratic rights such as privacy. The aim of this paper is therefore to critically explore the political discourse in relation to recent legal changes extending the mandate for law enforcement agencies (where the police is a central actor) to use secret data reading as part of their government work. We have conducted a discourse analysis of policy documents to explore arguments and assumptions expressed by various actors in relation to secret data reading. An important part of the analysis was also to unpack the meaning of privacy in relation to secret data reading allowing government hacking.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought out the best in people, but it also brought out the worst in people. During this public health emergency, authorities had to grapple with the proliferation of misinformation and conspiracy theories, declining legitimacy and trust in institutions, and widespread defiance, violent protest, and non-compliance with COVID restrictions. As the frontline enforcers of unpopular COVID restrictions, police were confronted with these attitudes and behaviours on a daily basis. This study examines whether police could have done more during the pandemic to limit the negative impact that conspiracy theory beliefs and public distrust of police had on defiance and non-compliance. Drawing on survey data from 779 Australians collected during the height of the pandemic, this study identifies some important antecedents and consequences of Australians’ distrust of police during the COVID emergency. It shows how respondents’ perceptions of police trustworthiness (most notably, procedural justice) and propensity to believe in conspiracy theories were both strongly related to their endorsement of COVID-specific conspiracy theories, defiance toward police, and non-compliance with COVID restrictions. Importantly, these relationships were mediated by respondents’ distrust of police. Further, for those most prone to conspiracy beliefs, procedural justice was particularly effective for mitigating conspiracy theorists’ distrust, defiance and non-compliance. These findings suggest that when it comes to policing conspiracy theorists, procedural justice policing is important. The implications of these findings for both theory and how police should best deal with conspiracy extremists in future public emergencies will be discussed.

Co-author: Peter Wetzels (University of Hamburg, Germany)

This article examines the influence of citizens' evaluations of key state institutions in terms of perceived fairness (i.e. confidence in social justice) and legitimacy (i.e. confidence in state institutions) on political radicalisation (in terms of lack of confidence in democracy and the development of extremist attitudes). Tyler's theory of procedural justice (PJ) provides the theoretical background for the analyses and findings presented. In particular, we examine whether the perceived marginalisation of one's own social group promotes democratic disengagement and undermines individuals' trust in state institutions. We also analyse the extent to which these relationships change in times of crisis.The data used come from three waves of a nationally representative survey of the adult population in Germany conducted in 2021, 2022 and 2023. Between these survey waves, several changes occurred that contributed to the worsening of the social and economic crisis that had already begun with the COVID pandemic: the war in Ukraine, the resulting restrictions on gas, oil and petrol supplies, and a drastic rise in inflation. As theoretically expected, the adult population in Germany tends to be more critical of the authorities and less supportive of democracy in times of crisis. Moreover, the relationships between these constructs become stronger in times of crisis. Our findings make two important contributions to the study of radical and extremist attitudes: (1) Developing a theory of political legitimacy to explain antidemocratic attitudes. (2) Examining the impact of global crises on attitudes towards democracy and their relationship with perceptions of fairness and legitimacy.

This paper examines the applicability of Procedural Justice (PJ) theory to the analysis of extremist attitudes, emphasizing the central role of perceptions of fairness in shaping attachment to social groups in a given society and fostering support for extremist ideologies. Departing from traditional paradigms, our study shifts the focus from compliance to extremist attitudes by using a novel measure - the Democracy Distance Scale. This scale assesses deviations from democratic principles across political and/or religious ideologies. We argue that expressing distance from democracy is a form of non-compliance, as it contradicts fundamental norms in modern Western societies.In addition to examining the relationship between fairness perceptions, legitimacy and extremist attitudes, we examine the mediating effects of two forms of group identification: superordinate and subordinate. Superordinate identification involves belonging to the wider local or national community, whereas subordinate identification involves belonging to one's own ethnic group. Based on data from the first wave of the “People in Germany” survey (4,483 respondents), our analysis provides insights into the dynamics of perceptions of fairness, legitimacy, group identification, and extremist attitudes in the German context. By elucidating these relationships, our study contributes to a deeper understanding of the underlying mechanisms driving extremist ideologies.

Since the mid-1970s we have witnessed how a preventive approach towards tackling torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment came to be developed and established. What first started as an idea of Jean-Jacques Gautier, a retired Swiss banker who became interested in the predicament of political prisoners, eventually led to the creation of key institutions such as the European Committee of the Prevention of Torture (CPT) (operational since 1989), the UN Subcommittee for the Prevention of Torture (SPT) (operational since 2007), and so-called National Preventive Mechanisms (NPMs). The methodology of these bodies is more or less the same: independent (international) experts can visit places of detention and can observe and talk freely to detainees, officials, etc. The findings and recommendations of such monitoring bodies are then written down in reports which are sent to the authorities of the visited state and form the basis of an on-going dialogue. In this paper we will reflection upon half a century of torture prevention: what has been achieved and what are the challenges? The paper will engage in particular with Malcolm Evans’ recent book Tackling Torture (Bristol University Press, 2023) and will draw upon our own research on – and involvement in - monitoring prisons and European penology.

Few policy areas are so infused with conviction that policy can be (instrumentally) rational as is crime policy. Consequently, the aim and purpose of Swedish crime policy is the reduction of crime. But how do we measure ensuing success? Governing by objectives has been the standard way of governing the public sector in Sweden since the mid-1990s, and governing crime policy is thus done by appointing general goals to the policy area at large and specific goals to the authorities that make up the legal system. In theory this imply that goal-approvement is possible to assess in some way. However, measuring crime is not an uncomplicated business which dark figures and report rates indicate. Nonetheless, this is a task that politicians put on policy, thus the purpose of this paper is to inquiry into the process of how this is framed and what “failure” and “success” consist of according to policy. This will be done by analyzing the annual Budget Bills from the year 2016 up to the Bill of 2024. In these Bills the goals of the policy area is formulated and it is also in these Bills that the assessment is made concerning wheatear the goals are meet or not. My ambition with the paper is to entangle the process of framing crime policy as something so easily assessed and measured and discuss the implications of this in relation to a post-political understanding of the area, while also considering the impact of new public management upon said policy.

Most academics, practitioners and policymakers agree that current crime prevention practice should be based on the most up-to-date and resounding scientific evidence. Swedish policy, for example, dictates it, and at the European level, the European Crime Prevention Network (EUCPN) has been working since 2013 to facilitate its implementation by the Member States. However, a survey among European practitioners in 2019 revealed they lack the necessary competencies to work effectively based on evidence. For instance, critical appraisal of scientific literature is a skill practitioners and policymakers rarely train, and access to such literature outside universities and research institutions is not guaranteed. Lately, there have been efforts at national and European levels to encourage the evaluation of crime prevention actions, but it is important to consider: 1) evaluation is a methodological process and, therefore, requires at least some level of mastery in the use of the methods, 2) evaluation is part of the problem-solving approach that may be applied to crime problems but, in itself, does not characterize an intervention as evidence-based if scientific knowledge was not applied during the design stage. In this regard, we also found deficiencies in knowledge translation when inappropriate (or non-existent) program theories are established, producing misalignments between the crime problem to be prevented and the objectives and activities the intervention implies. To solve such shortcomings and facilitate knowledge translation, we propose an epistemological framework (problem-solving criminology) that merges knowledge from disciplines such as design, prevention, social, and behavioral sciences. The contribution of each discipline is discussed.

The racist police murder of George Floyd in 2020 reinvigorated calls for the decolonisation of education in order to further anti-racism. Various campaigns in the UK over the past decade have called for a decolonisation of curriculums in the education sector, from Why is my Curriculum White? to Rhodes Must Fall! (Peters, 2015). In this paper, I focus on my discipline of Criminology, because as Agozino (2019) argues, not only was the colonial management of ‘Others’ a key factor in its birth as a discipline of the science of crime, but since then, it has resisted the post-colonial critique more than other allied disciplines. In this paper, I argue that Criminology and criminal justice retains the colonial baggage that was an inspiration for the birth of the discipline, and that this has resulted in a reproduction of its colonial assumptions in higher education, and a politicised application and understanding of Criminology and criminal justice in the twenty first century, to the detriment of our (minoritized) students and communities. In recognising knowledge to reduce crime and injustice the paper shows how decolonisation can enhance an understanding of criminology (specifically criminological theory, criminological research methods, and the criminological study of racism and Islamophobia, state Islamophobia, and punishment and imprisonment). It then outlines a new decolonial course health check tool for criminology programmes that centres a ‘pedagogy of discomfort’ to problematize the coloniality of Criminology and criminal justice and challenge accepted perspectives of crime and criminal justice (Boler, 1999).

Co-authors: José Pedro Martins (University of Porto, Portugal) and Samuel Moreira (Lusíada University, Portugal)

Fear of crime is a hot topic in the criminological field. Nevertheless, little research has examined the extent, nature, and determinants of fear of cybercrime. Even though the existent studies present relevant insights, they tend to rely on specific groups of cybercrimes (e.g., Roberts, 2013; Cook et al., 2023; Abdulai, 2020; Choi et al., 2021), barely comparing different types of cybercrimes and their determinants. Therefore, the present study takes a step further in the field of fear of cybercrime, since it explores whether the determinants of fear of interpersonal cybercrime (fears of cyberbullying and cyberstalking) are different from those that explain the fear of property cybercrime (fears of online consumer fraud, online identity theft, and malware discovery). To do so, it tests the influence of individual and routine activities variables in the explanation of the fears of interpersonal and property cybercrimes. In total, 726 individuals (70% women, M age= 27 years) answered an online self-reported survey. Regarding the fear of property cybercrime, the results showed that older individuals, with higher scores of economic insecurities, greater levels of offline property fear, and adopt more online risky behaviors present higher levels of fear of property cybercrime. The strongest predictor of this dependent variable was fear of offline property crime. Concerning the fear of interpersonal cybercrime, we found that higher levels of economic insecurities, greater offline property and interpersonal fear, capable guardianship, computer skills and risky behaviors predicted this dependent variable. The strongest predictor was offline interpersonal fear. These results contribute to the research in this field, showing that online fear is differently explained according to the types of cybercrimes.

Arrival of digital society and the involvement of entire public in cyberspace brings major changes of the police strategy as the secure of safe in cyberspace have been placed high priority more than ever. Having its background that we are facing issues; like national security, geopolitical tension, enterprises’ technologies and intellectual properties and forthcoming big event ’Expo 2025, Osaka, Kansai’, Japanese National Police Agency (NPA) have been implementing drastic structural changes over recent years to address those threats in cyberspace.· Overview of the situation in cyberspaceIncrease of ransomware attack cases, including the damages at a major hospital system and at a logistics container terminal, and reported phishing cases remain high. It is extremely concerned about the substantial amount of the damages due to unauthorized use of credit card or remittance on the internet caused by phishing. Analyze these reported cases and find out the tendency of the damages. Consideration of the efforts, best practices and challenges. Newly established Cyber Bureau and National Cyber Unit at NPA in 2022 accelerated joint operation with foreign /international organization, as the Unit was authorized to conduct investigation within the NPA for the first time (only prefectural police conduct investigation till then). Further structural evolvement will be seen in coming April. Collaboration with JC3:Japan Cybercrime Control Center, which is non-profit and public private partnership organization, makes it possible to suppress subsequent incidents by sharing knowledge and experience among industries, academic institutions and law enforcement.

People’s routine activities have been greatly influenced by the Covid-19 pandemic. Due to the combined effects of the virus and related restriction policies, physical movement of people between various routine activity types such as workplaces and transit stations has changed. Based on routine activities theory (RAT), changes in mobility can impact the likelihood of interaction among three factors: potential offenders, suitable targets, and capable guardianship. As vaccination rates increase and policies evolve, crime pattern may vary at different stages under the pandemic and people may get used to the new routine activities like online shopping even when the restrictions cancelled. Based on open crime data and mobility data achieved from SafeGraph, this paper shows the change of crime patterns from March, 2019 to February, 2023 and the change of mobility under the pandemic across six cities in the United States. Results show that the pandemic and associated policies had a significant impact on both crime and human mobility patterns. There is a significant increase in motor vehicle theft in all stages while a decrease in sexual offenses in some cities. Other crimes in various cities showed distinct trends across different stages of the pandemic. On the initial stage, the mobility elasticity of crimes indicated that motor vehicle theft is elastic to reduced mobility in all types of locations in some cities. The results can be beneficial for future studies to explore the relationship between crime and mobility under the pandemic.

Co-author: Eduardo Mendoza Montoya (Florida International University, USA)

Research into energy insecurity significantly enhances our understanding of how power is managed, knowledge is distributed, and risks and benefits are allocated. This progress enables a deeper insight into energy challenges, guiding the development of solutions that are equitable and sustainable. However, most existing studies focus primarily on countries in the Global North, overlooking critical factors relevant to the unique contexts of the Global South. These factors, especially violence, are essential for the successful implementation of new energy projects. Based in the environmental criminology and just energy transition literature, this study examines a new Colombian government program launched in 2023, establishing Autonomous Energy Communities (AEC), with 610 participating communities registered until November 15, 2023. Utilizing official municipal data from the Colombian Prosecutor's Office and the Ministry of Energy and Mines, this exploratory study investigates the potential spatial correlation between the future locations of the AECs and the prospective impact of violence at these sites, employing data on serious crimes recorded between 2021 and 2022. Findings indicate a critical need for policymakers and stakeholders to address violence as a pivotal variable risking the consolidation of energy transition for these communities in Colombia. These insights contribute to the ongoing debate on equity, community participation, and the management of natural and energy resources within the framework of a just energy transition, particularly from the context of the Global South.

Anger plays a peculiar role in modern legal systems. On the one hand, anger strongly links with appraisals of wrongdoing and attributions of blame, forming a core rationale for legal decision-making. On the other hand, anger is associated with irrational behaviour and biased decisions, and thus poses an immediate challenge to objectivity and legal professionalism. The main objective of this paper is to explore the situational and relational conditions in which anger works for or against justice by comparing how anger emerges, evolves and is resolved in the work of judges and prosecutors in Italy, Sweden and USA. Drawing on observations, interviews, and shadowing of legal professionals, the analysis demonstrates how anger and other hostile emotions are entangled with legal thought and come into play in legal practices. Three interrelated themes are explored in more depth; morality, temporality and rationality. Theoretically, the study builds on sociological emotion theory and a social interactionist framework in dialogue with the growing socio-legal field of law and emotions. The interplay between anger and legal processes is of particular interest since a well-functioning judicial system depends on people’s trust in objective and rational justice and, as we will show, anger links to the idea of procedural justice in multi-facet ways.

Courts regard criminologists as expert witnesses, especially when presiding officers would be unable to draw an inference due to a lack of specialised knowledge. Criminologists can apply integrated theoretical models to explain the accused’s deviant behaviour. In developing countries such as South Africa, Criminology is yet to be established as a professional field of practice. The discipline continues to seek its legal identity and contribute to the criminal justice system in meaningful ways. The purpose of this paper is to articulate the expectations of presiding officers about the role of criminologists as experts in court. The research used a qualitative approach to gather and analyse data and employed chain sampling to obtain the views and experiences of eleven magistrates and judges. Noteworthy findings include securing criminologists as experts in court, primarily due to time and financial constraints. The limited availability of criminologists is a barrier to achieving justice timely, as emphasised by participants advocating for efficiency and the swift finalisation of cases. Another finding stems from the belief of presiding officers that there is a need for a regulatory body to ensure that criminologists who produce presentencing and victim-impact reports, and who provide testimony in court, adhere to consistent ethical standards. This proposition suggests that presiding officers and other stakeholders within the criminal justice system would approach any criminologist possessing the requisite expertise to aid the court, while being assured that all practitioners are held to uniform ethical standards of practice. The finding holds significance, particularly in the context of South Africa, where criminologists have been actively advocating for the establishment of a professional regulatory body, which the paper will further explore.

Theoretical approaches to veterans treatment courts have predominantly emphasized formal control mechanisms, overlooking the intricate interplay of informal social controls and collaborative partnerships with agencies that traverse the informal-formal social control continuum. Using results from an integrated review of veterans treatment courts literature, we apply a layered theoretical framework to the larger problem-solving court model. This layered framework elucidates the nuanced interplay between formal, informal, and hybrid forms of social control, accounting for the collaborative endeavors between justice system stakeholders and community-based organizations. This approach extends the prevailing theoretical approaches predominantly revolved around rehabilitation and therapeutic jurisprudence. By acknowledging the significance of both formal and informal mechanisms, this approach provides a more holistic understanding of the mechanisms driving problem-solving court effectiveness. Furthermore, our proposed framework is a foundation for refining problem-solving court processes and enhancing outcomes for justice-involved people. By recognizing the diverse array of social control mechanisms at play, practitioners and policymakers can tailor interventions that leverage the strengths of both formal mandates and community support networks and refine process and outcome evaluations to unpack the black box of problem-solving court effectiveness.

Literature on wrongful convictions has shown deep structural, bureaucratic, cultural and administrative sources of these injustices. The literature has focused on factors such as: Police practices; Expert testimony; Forensic Evidence; Eyewitness Testimony; Lack of Corroborating Evidence; Prejudicial Stereotypes, to name a few. Most calls for reform understandably focus on the due process side of the ‘equation’, ie processes, procedures and structures as they relate to accused. However, we rarely see a consideration of these reforms and their impacts on victims of crime. Indeed, some of the reforms which might improve the condition for accused and reduce the likelihood of wrongful convictions may, at the same time, undermine efforts, or at the very least, clash with work to respond more appropriately, fairly and equitably to victims.

Co-authors: Deborah M Capaldi (Oregon Social Learning Center, USA), Joung Yon Choi (University of Houston, USA) and Weiwei Wu (University of Houston, USA)

A considerable body of research has applied semiparametric group-based modeling (Nagin, 2005) to identify distinctive trajectories of crime from early adolescence to young adulthood. However, few studies have extended these analyses to the period of middle adulthood (for a review, see Day & Wiesner, 2019). There is a need to address this limitation of the literature because Eggleston, Laub and Sampson (2004) demonstrated that three important methodological factors (i.e., length of follow-up, inclusion of exposure time to adjust for incarceration periods, controlling for mortality) can alter trajectory attributes in important ways. Using data from 206 at-risk men enrolled in the Oregon Youth Study, the aim of this longitudinal study was to model arrest trajectories from childhood to middle adulthood, encompassing a 27-year span from ages 10-11 to ages 37-38 years. Prior research (Wiesner et al., 2007) with this sample used a much shorter 17-year follow-up period and did not account for mortality. Annual counts of official arrests were derived from juvenile and adult court records. Semiparametric group-based modeling was conducted in Stata version 18 using a zero-inflated Poisson model that accounted for exposure time and mortality of the men. One-, two-, three-, four-, and five-class models were estimated. The three-class model was chosen based on BIC, BIC log Bayes Factor Approximation, absence of small classes, classification quality, and interpretability. The three trajectory classes included 129 (62.8%) rare offenders, 46 (21.6%) low-level chronic offenders, and 31 (15.7%) high-level chronic offenders. Classification quality was high (e.g., entropy: 0.88, OCC: 21.77, 23.27, 130.94). Findings showed that length of follow-up, exposure time, and mortality information altered some trajectory attributes when compared to the prior study, especially for high-rate offenders. The theoretical and policy-making implications of these study findings will be discussed.

Co-authors: Deborah M Capaldi (Oregon Social Learning Center, USA), Joung Yon Choi (University of Houston, USA) and Weiwei Wu (University of Houston, USA)

Across the last 25 years, a growing body of research has examined the economics of crime, in part due to significant methodological advances that have allowed researchers to generate more precise financial cost figures for various domains associated with crime (e.g., Cohen, 2005; Cohen & Bowles, 2011; Cohen, Piquero, & Jennings, 2010; Raffan Gowar, Farrington, & Ttofi, 2023). An interesting question is whether the financial costs of crime are equally distributed across distinctive offender trajectory groups; however, just a handful of crime trajectory studies has estimated the financial burden of crime associated with differing trajectory groups (see Day & Wiesner, 2019). The aim of this longitudinal study was to contribute to this literature by calculating the costs of crime up to ages 37-38 years using data from 206 at-risk men enrolled in the Oregon Youth Study. Juvenile and adult court records provided annual counts of official arrests across a 27-Year span (from ages 10-11 to ages 37-38 years), as well as other relevant information such as dates of arrest and number of charges, type of offense, and disposition (e.g., incarceration, probation, fines). Semiparametric group-based modeling (Nagin, 2005) identified three arrest trajectory classes across the 27-year span using a zero-inflated Poisson model that accounted for exposure time (incarceration spells) and mortality of the men: 129 (62.8%) rare offenders, 46 (21.6%) low-level chronic offenders, and 31 (15.7%) high-level chronic offenders. Classification quality was high (e.g., entropy: 0.88). Preliminary analyses using bottom-up estimates of financial costs revealed that the group of high-rate chronic offenders accounted for a disproportionate amount of the costs of crime incurred by the sample up to ages 37-38 years. The theoretical and policy-making implications of these study findings will be discussed.

This study evaluated the predictive properties of the Youth Level of Service/Case Management Inventory (YLS/CMI) in 646 Norwegian adolescents (63 % males) placed in non-secure, community based residential care for serious behavioral problems. Using Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) and logistic regression, the study explored the YLS/CMI's efficacy in predicting various recidivism outcomes across subgroups. The inventory demonstrated to be a significant predictor for all categories of offending behavior (AUC ranged from .62 to .77). While the YLS/CMI total risk score showed a robust association with offending across subgroups, there were discernible variations in predictive ability between males and females. This pattern extended to analyses of subdomains and have implications for clinical use. Overall, the findings support the YLS/CMI as a useful tool for predicting delinquency in a Norwegian residential setting and contribute to the expanding body of literature supporting the instrument’s utility across various cultures and contexts.

Co-authors: Susett Naranjo-Pou and Izabela Zych (University of Cordoba, Spain)

Expressions of cyberhate motivated by characteristics such as gender, ethnicity, religious beliefs, and sexual orientation are now present and prevalent on social networks. Past research, both in online and offline contexts, has identified that, although there may be an overlap between victims and perpetrators of violence; this is not always the case. Nevertheless, the number of studies focused on variables that moderate the relation between victimization and perpetration is still low. The current study aims at analyzing the relation between cyberhate victimization and perpetration and the potential moderating effect of social dominance on this relation. A prospective longitudinal design was implemented. The study used a representative sample of 1502 Andalusian adolescents enrolled in 21 schools. Results revealed a positive correlation between cyberhate victimization and perpetration. The findings supported the notion that social dominance not only predicted the perpetration of cyberhate several months later, but also its moderator effect on the relation between online hate victimization and perpetration. Cyberhate victims who reported higher levels of social dominance were more likely to become perpetrators several months later. These findings suggest the need to implement preventive programs to promote equality and social inclusion and develop strategies to decrease cyberhate.

Co-authors: Kenneth Lewenhagen (Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sweden), Anton Borg (Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sweden), Karl Kronkvist (Malmö University, Sweden), Manne Gerell (Malmö University, Sweden) and Mona Tykesson (Malmö University, Sweden)

This study introduces and evaluates a data-driven graph-base method for predicting micro-location hot spots of crime, which among other things can be used for CCTV camera placement in cities based on prior crime data. Five year of official crime data (N=125 512) for the Swedish city of Malmö is used for the evaluation. The graph-based method is compared against the following three traditional spatial analysis methods; Grid-based (using KDE), K-mean and DBScan. During the experimental evaluation, each candidate method analyses crime data for one year and suggest high crime locations that also could be suitable CCTV camera placements. These suggested locations are then compared against the actual crime patterns for the following year. For example, camera positions are suggested based on data from 2019, which are then evaluated using the data for 2020. The results show that the graph method significantly outperforms the other candidate methods (p 0.01) in terms of crime counts the predictive accuracy index (PAI). The effect size difference between the graph method and the other candidates is high when quantified using cohen’s d (range between d=1.22 up to d=3.39). The main conclusion is that graph based approaches for predicting crime hot spots appear promising for future use and further study. A novel prototype implementation in Python is also made available under open source license. Future research will involve weighting crime locations based on crime harm indexing, but also to add additional data to the nodes in the graph, e.g., factors from Risk Terrain Modeling.

Co-author: Martin Boldt (Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sweden)

This paper outlines ongoing research within an interdisciplinary project focusing on the analysis and placement of public closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras through data-driven examination of crime data. Law enforcement agencies are using public closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras as an important source of evidence related to criminal incidents. The installation of new cameras as well as moving already existing cameras could be costly both in terms of time and money. This paper proposes a tool that automates the digitalization of a vast number of CCTV camera coverage areas, such as for a large city. Given the positions for each camera, its sector width, and length-of-view, the method automatically identifies each cameras’ capture area represented as a polygon of positions. The tool’s generated capture areas are compared to the ground truth representing the true capture areas for 51 CCTV cameras (in the city of Malmö) provided by the Swedish police. To measure the outcome, and to find to what extent the tool’s proposed coverage area align with the ground truth, Jaccard is used in combination with Prediction and Recall metrics. When compared to the ground truth tool’s generated capture areas matches at 72%. In addition, the time performance of the tool is evaluated when analysing;10, 100, 1000, 5000 and 10000 randomized coordinates. The conclusion is that the execution time does not pose any problem for practical use.

Risk Terrain Modeling (RTM) has become a popular approach for crime forecasting by examining how different place features (e.g., bars, schools, and bus stops) may serve as spatial risk factors for future crime. However, one drawback to this approach, compared to more conventional crime mapping techniques often requiring prior crime only, is the additional need of spatial data on place features which must be gathered. While register data is often used for these purposes, this often includes collecting data from multiple official sources which require extensive work. The current study therefore examines the possibility to use open source volunteered geographic information on place features by means of Open Street Map (OSM) as an alternative to register data when forecasting the distribution of future violent crime in public at micro-places. The study investigates the performance of RTM models using the Predictive Accuracy Index (PAI) when place features from both register data and OSM data are employed, with and without prior violent crime included, in three cities of varying size in the most southern parts of Sweden. The overall results when previous crime is excluded from the RTM models show that the smaller the city the larger the discrepancy in PAI values, in favor of using register data. However, these discrepancies vanish when prior crime is included, showing basically no difference in PAI values between models. Thus, the overall takeaway is that register data seems to produce more accurate predictions of future distribution of violent crime in public than OSM data when previous crime is excluded, but only for the two smaller cities. When previous crime data is available, it does not matter whether register or OSM data is used as input. The results of the study are discussed in relation to future applications of OSM data in research on environmental criminology.

Co-authors: Karl Kronkvist (Malmö University, Sweden), Nicklas Guldåker (Lunds University, Sweden) and Kenneth Lewenhagen (Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sweden)

Fear of crime is often studied in terms of which types of people that are fearful, why that is so and what the characteristics of neighborhoods with high or low levels of fear are. What specific places people are fearful of is rarely studied. Many interventions against fear of crime are however place-based, such as introducing street lighting or installing CCTV cameras. There is therefore both a theoretical/academic interest in the geography of fear and a practical need for better direction of place based interventions against fear. The present study is a pilot study using a web-based application to measure the geography of fear. Residents in the Swedish municipality of Kristianstad were asked to identify locations on a map in a web-application that aroused their fear or related emotions. Respondents were asked why the place was indicated, whether it applied to day-time, night-time or both, and how often they visited the location. A particular focus was directed at two very small towns in Kristianstad municipality, Tollarp (3449 residents) and Åhus (10 487) as most studies of fear of crime have taken place in larger cities. Research assistants and student workers visited the two towns to recruit participants for the study, while the municipality also advertised for residents in the whole municipality to participate through the web-application. Preliminary results from the pilot study will be presented and implications for further research discussed.

Co-authors: Danneile Davis and Talib Hudson (National Network for Safe Communities, USA)

As seen in recent waves of protests and demands for policing reform, many jurisdictions grapple with how to reduce serious violence while addressing deep-seated mistrust and promoting safer interactions between police and marginalized communities. Although such movements have largely originated in the United States, the issues raised about policing harm and questions about potential solutions resonate globally.Particularly over the past few decades, US researchers and practitioners have recognized the importance of strengthening police legitimacy in the eyes of community members as a powerful means of both violence prevention and community trust-building. This has been seen in the proliferation of police trainings on procedural justice and legitimacy; acknowledgements of harm and apologies from police leadership for wrongdoing; and evidence-based, focused deterrence-based strategies to reduce both community and police violence. Ultimately, such strategies aim to explicitly break with past policing practices and harm they have caused in order to create a safer future for all. This presentation explores two of these approaches in depth: police acknowledgements of harm and a focused deterrence strategy that aims to reduce police misconduct. Each approach represents the acknowledgement and repair of policing harm, respectively, with the shared aims of strengthening police legitimacy, building police-community trust, and reducing violence with the public and reinforcing legitimacy standards within police departments. Researchers will speak to the theoretical grounding for each approach, how they have been developed and implemented in specific US contexts, and their impact.

In response to numerous high-profile historical and recent incidents of policing harm, several US police leaders—including police chiefs of New York City, Minneapolis, Chicago, and Tulsa—have increasingly embraced apologies and acknowledgements of harm as the first step in repairing fractured relationships with marginalized communities. Harms being acknowledged have ranged from law enforcement’s historical enforcement of slave patrols and racial segregation, failure to protect civil rights leaders, and harassing LGBTQ+ communities, to more recently failing sexual assault survivors and the June 2020 murder of George Floyd.US leaders have described such acknowledgements as a moral and practical imperative to address policing harms and the mistrust and crisis of legitimacy that they create, which criminologists have demonstrably linked to higher levels of community violence. Such reasoning also lies at the heart of reconciliation: a global transitional justice approach grounded in indigenous practices and increasingly supported worldwide in post-conflict settings by entities like the United Nations, which encourages investigative “truth commissions” and acknowledgements of harm in pursuit of enduring peace. Indeed, NNSC has supported several US cities’ novel efforts to apply a reconciliation framework to their police-community conflicts, with a core element being the acknowledgement of harm.This presentation will explore notable examples of police acknowledgements of harm, with a particular focus on Louisville, KY as a case study: the city where Breonna Taylor was killed by police in March 2020. It will discuss how NNSC engaged with and prepared local city and police leadership to acknowledge harm, its connection to their broader police-community reconciliation and violence prevention efforts, and how this approach can be adapted to any police-community conflict worldwide.

As a result of both historic and recent high profile incidents of police violence and misconduct, the institution of policing in the United States is grappling with historically low levels of legitimacy and public trust. Police misconduct not only harms the community, it also harms police officers and the profession of policing. The need and moral imperative to improve oversight and accountability systems for police misconduct is clear and urgent. Based on what is known about the dynamics of police misconduct, we believe there are clear parallels with the dynamics focused deterrence has been developed to address and that this approach can be adapted and effectively applied to this issue. Focused deterrence is a flexible intervention and prevention framework that has proved effective at reducing a range of problem behaviors, most commonly violence and serious public safety issues. Focused deterrence strategies seek to deter specific problem behaviors by understanding the underlying dynamics that sustain that behavior, identifying the individuals and groups most frequently engaged in that behavior, and responding to this small population with a blend of direct communication, community engagement, support and services, and strategic consequences. The long term aim of this approach is to shift norms around a specific unwanted behavior by leveraging the preventive influence that peers, mentors, and other parties have over a particular individual or group and by providing meaningful supportive resources. With support from Arnold Ventures and in collaboration with a range of subject matter experts, NNSC has designed a focused deterrence-based intervention for police misbehavior and misconduct. This presentation will discuss the proposed model, how it was developed, and how it could be adapted and implemented in a range of jurisdictional contexts.

Co-authors: Pauline Naujoks and Andreas Beelmann (Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Germany)

In this panel we present results from the collaborative research project “Connect – Strengthening the cooperation between police and civil society against right-wing extremism” and discuss policy recommendations to act against right-wing extremism that have been developed within the project. In addressing the contemporary challenge of right-wing extremism, there is a growing recognition of the necessity of a holistic approach to prevention, a perspective increasingly embraced by numerous nations worldwide. This paradigm underscores the imperative for collaboration between law enforcement entities, notably the police, and civil society organizations (CSOs), presenting a plethora of mutually beneficial opportunities for effective prevention and de-radicalization strategies in the context of violent extremism. The international literature reflects this emerging trend, with a substantial body of publications, expert interview studies, and reviews exploring the dynamics of such multi-agency collaborations in the field of preventing radicalization processes and extremism. The presentation aims to contribute to the discourse by presenting a systematic overview synthesizing and structuring the existing international literature on cooperation between law enforcement and CSOs in preventing extremism (N=108 expert interview studies, n=36 and literature reviews, n=72). Our analysis encompasses key findings on the efficacy of collaboration, delineating both constraining and facilitating factors. Additionally, we elucidate significant parameters influencing the design, conceptualization, and implementation of collaborative initiatives, along with an exploration of useful evaluation methods. The presentation further addresses essential developments in the realm of multi-agency approaches to preventing extremism, offering insights into necessary advancements and future directions in this critical field.

Co-authors: Thomas Goergen and Andreas Arnold (German Police University, Germany)

Addressing and preventing right-wing extremism has posed significant challenges for German law enforcement agencies in recent years. Civil society organizations (CSO), alongside law enforcement, are pivotal in addressing this issue, particularly in prevention efforts. Our study within the Connect project includes two distinct methodologies to comprehensively analyze the cooperation between police and civil society in Germany. Firstly, a survey was conducted among police authorities across the 16 German Laender and at the federal level. Furthermore, our study involved conducting 50 in-depth interviews with German experts from law enforcement, civil society organizations, politics and academia. Both approaches provide valuable insights into the ongoing efforts to combat right-wing extremism, current trends and anticipated future developments. They examined past and ongoing cooperation initiatives, including their objectives, methodologies, possible obstacles, success factors and outcomes. The findings highlight the prevalence of cooperation between police and CSOs, primarily focusing on preventive measures rather than on criminal prosecution. Both parties generally regarded this cooperation positively, noting its benefits such as enhanced information sharing and improved access to target groups. However, the analysis also identified various challenges, including insufficient information exchange between state and non-state actors, differing professional roles between police and civil society personnel, and the importance of building trust between cooperation partners. Based on these findings, several recommendations are formulated. These include clarifying data protection regulations, providing support measures to manage expectations on the ground, legally establishing the right to refuse testimony for civil society actors as well as implementing processes and decision-making criteria for selecting civil society partners for cooperation initiatives.

Co-authors: Josephine Gerlach (Hochschule Bremerhaven, Germany)

Dealing with right-wing extremism has developed differently over time across Europe and other countries. This presentation reports about a comparative analysis, investigating on the measures that have been developed in dealing with right-wing extremism in different countries. This study, as part of the project Connect, is based on qualitative interviews with representatives from security authorities, civil society organizations and with people of the scientific community dealing with right-wing extremism. Results show a heterogeneous scene within the various countries with different ideological directions, political aims and approaches. Beside the heterogeneity within the countries, an increasing internationalization of right-wing extremist groups with a shared ideology across country boarders has been reported frequently. Related with the internationalization, it has also been observed in different countries, that the internet has a strong impact for connection of groups and the mobilization – as expected. However, over and above that, it was repeatedly stated that artificial intelligence already plays a decisive selective role in the creation and reception of news in the form of algorithms that brings risks for manipulation and a further polarization. In terms of prevention and counter strategies, general anti-discrimination and anti-racism educational approaches are rated promising. Multi-agency approaches to counter radicalization and reintegration are common in many countries regarding religious extremism. We found less multi-agency projects with a focus on right-wing extremism. However, when we came aware of such projects or programs they have nearly always been rated positive, nevertheless scientific evaluation of such approaches seldom. In correspondence to the observed internationalization, cross-border cooperation has been recommended by several interviewees.

Co-authors: Fredrik Sivertsson, Jonas Landberg and Peter Larm (Stockholm University, Sweden)

There is a co-occurring nature of substance use and crime and these behaviors are often shaped in adolescence. One way to examine the development of these can be to identify different subgroups of these behaviors and its associated risk factors. The aim of this study was to identify latent classes of substance misuse and criminal offending in adolescence and which risk factors are associated with these classes. To examine this, a national representative Swedish birth cohort of 4,013 randomly selected adolescents was used with two time points (T1, T2). Latent class analysis was used to identify classes of substance misuse and criminal offending at both times and logistic regression analysis was used to examine which risk factors was associated with class membership at T2. At T1, “Low/abstainers” (85.10%), “Moderate alcohol and crime” (12.40%), and “High substance use and crime” (2.00%) were classes that were identified. At T2 the identified classes were “Low/abstainers” (75.19%), “High crime” (0.84%), “Alcohol only” (22.94%), and “Polydrug use and crime” (2.15%) . Belonging to a class with higher substance using and criminal offending at T1 increased the probability of belonging to a class at T2 that also had a higher frequency of substance use and criminal offending. Lower parental support, parental supervision, peer problems, higher conduct problems, higher sensation-seeking behavior, higher distrust in society and committing truancy were factors that were associated with belonging to a substance using and criminal offending class at T2. The conclusions were that: (1) Most people did not engage in substance use or criminal offending. (2) A small part of population, about 3%, engages in and display a high frequency of co-occurring substance use and criminal offending. (3) Much of early substance use and criminal activity either ceases or transitions into high alcohol use.

This paper examines the issue of addressing drug abuse in Hong Kong after 1997. Hong Kong, known as one of the most vibrant cities in the world, has been actively involved in combating drug use since its early colonial days. While heroin has traditionally been the most prevalent drug abuse issue in Hong Kong, the number of heroin abusers has been steadily declining in recent years. However, in the late 1990s, a new challenge emerged with the rise of the "dance party" scene and the growing popularity of psychotropic substances like "Ice" and Ketamine among young people.This study examines the drug scene and drug policy in Hong Kong over the past two decades, providing important insights into the challenges and successes of addressing drug abuse. The analysis offers a comprehensive overview of the trends, patterns, and changes in drug abuse during this period. The findings reveal that the use of psychotropic substances, particularly among young individuals, has become a significant concern. The government has responded by implementing various measures to raise public awareness and establish effective control mechanisms. Despite these efforts, the number of young people arrested for drug-related offenses has been on the rise in recent years, highlighting the need for further attention and intervention. The findings can help shape future policies and interventions aimed at reducing drug abuse and ensuring the well-being of the population.