News items related to the SCCJR http://www.sccjr.ac.uk (C) SCCJR It is often said that contemporary liberal democracies such as Britain and the USA face a crisis of over-criminalization: too much conduct is criminalized, too hastily, without adequate thought about the aims it should serve. The result is a disorganized, unprincipled criminal law, which subjects too many people to the threat of arrest and punishment. But normative theorists of criminal law, who have made major advances in systematic work on such issues as punishment and criminal responsibility, have made comparatively little systematic progress on this problem. The Criminalization Project, an AHRC-funded project involving researchers from the Universities of Stirling, Glasgow, Warwick and York aims to remedy this lack, by bringing together philosophers, lawyers and political scientists to discuss the various dimensions of the problem of criminalization. For details of the project, which runs from 2008—2012, see http://www.philosophy.stir.ac.uk/criminalization/crim-homepage.php. The project will culminate in a major international conference at the University of Stirling on 7-9 September 2011, with plenary papers from— •    Tony Bottoms (Cambridge) •    Jeremy Horder (King’s College London) •    Douglas Husak (Rutgers) •    Michael Moore (Illinois) •    Philip Pettit (Princeton) •    Loïc Wacquant (Berkeley) Proposals are now invited for submitted papers on aspects of the general conference theme. Possible topics include, but are not limited to— •    principles of criminalization; •    the relationship between criminal law and non-criminal modes of regulation; •    the structure of crime; •    the relationship between criminal law and political theory; •    criminal law and human rights; •    international and transnational criminal law; •    conceptions of criminal responsibility; Those who wish to submit a paper should send an abstract of no more than 500 words by email to Criminalization@stir.ac.uk by 17 September 2010. Decisions about which proposals to accept should be communicated to authors by 1 December 2010. Some of the submitted papers from the conference may be collected in a volume with Oxford University Press or in a special issue of a journal. Those submitting proposals should indicate whether they wish their papers to be considered for publication. It is possible, but by no means certain, that some financial assistance towards the costs of accommodation and travel will be available to those whose papers are accepted. All inquiries should be directed to: Criminalization@stir.ac.uk. http://www.sccjr.ac.uk/view_news.php?id=496 Mon, 26 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMT SCCJR's Andrew Millie was runner up in the British Society of Criminology's Annual Book Prize for his book "Anti-Social Behaviour" published by Open University Press (2009).  For further information about the work click here.   http://www.sccjr.ac.uk/view_news.php?id=495 Mon, 19 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMT SCCJR's Simon Mackenzie talks about his work in this research soundbite, click here to watch.  In it he discusses that corporate negative externalities occur when corporations place some of the costs of their profit-seeking activity onto society. The research he discusses suggests that the current global problem of intellectual property crime is such an externality, and that it has not been recognised as such because corporations present product counterfeiting and piracy as crimes which reduce their revenue, rather than as predictable side effects of corporate production and merchandising, including branding activity, which have considerable socially deleterious consequences. Here Simon Mackenzie argues that corporate actors are responsible for the socially harmful effects of the global counterfeiting problem in a range of respects. The article on which this soundbite clip is based is 'Counterfeiting as corporate externality: intellectual property crime and global insecurity' which is available in the Crime, Law and Social Change Journal, initially as on-line only content and then it will be published in Vol.53, No.6. To access the article visit springerlink.com/content/102868/?v=editorial. http://www.sccjr.ac.uk/view_news.php?id=494 Thu, 15 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMT This month the SCCJR update contains information about publications on community payback orders, desistance and offender management research, reconviction among drug court participants, youth crime and youth justice.  It also includes links to video and audio clips by Fergus McNeill and Shadd Maruna.  To subscribe to our newsletter click here. http://www.sccjr.ac.uk/view_news.php?id=493 Thu, 08 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMT The Scottish Consortium on Crime and Criminal Justice and the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research held a seminar in the Thistle Hotel, Glasgow on Tuesday 23rd February 2010 to discuss the community payback order which has been proposed by the Scottish Government in the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Bill. The purpose of the seminar was to clarify the intentions behind the proposed new Scottish Order; how its success would be judged; and how it could be made both effective and acceptable, to sentencers, to the press and to the public. The report from this event is available here. http://www.sccjr.ac.uk/view_news.php?id=488 Mon, 05 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMT SCCJR's Michele Burman’s article entitled “Evidencing Sexual Assault: Women in the Witness Box” has won the Probation Journal Best Article Prize for 2009.  This was “a unanimous decision by the editorial board who commented on the impressive depth and quality of the research which underpinned the work.”  The announcement of the prize can be found in the June edition of the Journal - access here. SCCJR's Susan Batchelor’s article “Prove me the bam! : victimisation and agency in the live of young women who commit violent offences”  won the award in 2007. http://www.sccjr.ac.uk/view_news.php?id=489 Mon, 05 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMT Shadd Maruna delivered the SCCJR lecture in Edinburgh in June 2010.  The lecture is available here to watch.  If you want to join a discussion about the lecture please visit our facebook page discussion board here. http://www.sccjr.ac.uk/view_news.php?id=486 Wed, 23 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT The Scottish Institute for Policing Research has recently launched its Research Postgraduate Diploma / MSc in Policing Studies which is delivered via e-learning and attendance at workshops.  For further details click here.   http://www.sccjr.ac.uk/view_news.php?id=485 Tue, 22 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT Fergus McNeill presented the 8th Annual Community Justice Portal Lecture, in association with the Probation Chiefs Association, was held at Sheffield Hallam University on Thursday 20th May 2010.  A video recording of the lecture and the accompanying slides are available to view by clicking here. http://www.sccjr.ac.uk/view_news.php?id=478 Wed, 09 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT Access a video clip here of Fergus McNeill discussing a  recent literature review of the management of change within community justice organisations, conducted with Ros Burnett and Tricia McCulloch. The review explored: 1.   The nature and character of occupational, professional and organisational cultures in community justice.
 2.   How such cultures respond to, accommodate and resist change processes.
 3.   How and why processes of change succeed and fail in criminal justice organisations. 
4.   Effective approaches to the management of change in criminal justice. To access the report visit sccjr.ac.uk/pubs/Culture-Change-and--Community-Justice/251     http://www.sccjr.ac.uk/view_news.php?id=477 Tue, 08 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT Click here to watch a video clip of Fergus discussing his desistance research.  This clip refers to a chapter they co-authored with Beth Weaver entitled 'Traveling Hopefully: Desistance Research and Probation Practice' where the metaphor of a journey is used to depict the process of desistance (. Fergus also refers to a co-authored literature review, called 'Changing Lives?: Desistance Research and Offender Management' which explores desistance from crime and the purposes of offender management . You may also be interested to read the text of a recent talk by Fergus about desistance presented to the National Offender Management Service Conference in March 2010.   http://www.sccjr.ac.uk/view_news.php?id=476 Mon, 07 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT SCCJR has published a report detailing our activities and achievements to date since we were launched, in June 2007.  This report is available here.   If you would like a copy of this report please contact enquiries@sccjr.ac.uk. http://www.sccjr.ac.uk/view_news.php?id=472 Mon, 31 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT Fergus McNeill presented to the NOMS conference in March 2010 about changing lives; exploring how and why people desist from offending.   His talk is available here. You can also view Frances Crook's comments about Fergus's talk (and the rest of the NOMS conference) in her blog here. http://www.sccjr.ac.uk/view_news.php?id=473 Mon, 31 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT SCCJR associate Nancy Lombard presented about her research about 11-12 year olds and their attitudes about male violence against women at a seminar held at Stirling University on the 25 May 2010.  The slides from her presentation are available here.   For details about Nancy's research interests see http://www.sccjr.ac.uk/associates/Ms-Nancy-Lombard/299 http://www.sccjr.ac.uk/view_news.php?id=469 Tue, 25 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT A team of academics, policy makers and practitioners met in May as part of a programme of enquiry on Women, Punishment and Community Sanctions, led by SCCJR's Gill McIvor and Margaret Malloch. This programme will involve further meetings and a range of future research and knowledge exchange activities.  For details see our programme websiteand visit the document library for materials on this topic being shared by programme participants.  http://www.sccjr.ac.uk/view_news.php?id=468 Mon, 24 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT