Institute of Criminology

This paper uses autoethnographic analysis of my journey through higher education and a decade on the tenure track to examine the structural barriers that hinder the Scholarvist approach to criminology. Drawing on personal journals, email exchanges, and a longitudinal incident log, I identify recurring themes of fear of retaliation, denial of opportunity, personal and professional insult, and the devaluation of scholarvism, alongside moments of institutional support. Together, these experiences demonstrate how criminology’s entanglement with state power, grant funding, and rigid definitions of rigor has constrained the criminological imagination. Situating these patterns within broader disciplinary shifts from humanistic to positivist approaches, this paper illustrates how scholarvism is routinely dismissed as “just activism.” I conclude that scholarvism is necessary to restore humanity in our research, expand methodological legitimacy, and reengage with the criminological imagination.

Children and young people with a parent in contact with the justice system rarely receive the support they need; many are judged and stigmatised. Child Impact Assessments were developed by the Prison Reform Trust in collaboration with 28 children and young people from across the United Kingdom with experience of parental imprisonment, who said in interviews, focus groups, and an online survey that they want to be seen, listened to, and considered at all stages of a parent’s journey through the justice system: arrest, court, and sentencing, prison or community sentence, and prior to a parent’s release. They want to be supported, and they want to be included in decisions about that support. This paper lays out why Child Impact Assessments are needed; what they are; and crucially how they can be used in practice to ensure the right support is offered to meet a child’s needs at the earliest opportunity. The paper will provide evidence of how Child Impact Assessments can improve children’s wellbeing and will give an overview of recent developments to the resources. The authors will also explore future developments, including adapting the resources to understand the impact on unborn babies, babies, and very young children (the first 1001 days) when a pregnant woman or mother is in contact with the justice system.

This paper presents a theory of continuity and change in foreign policy developed through a plausibility probe of two cases: U.S. foreign policy in multilateral development banks (MDBs) and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Analyzing data of U.S. votes on 29,000+ individual development projects in MDBs from 2004 to 2023, we found remarkable policy continuity, demonstrating a (mostly) business-as-usual approach. In contrast, UNESCO is an example of foreign policy change under Trump. We explain our theoretical model starting with a bureaucratic lens, asserting that standard operating procedures (SOPs) in key agencies (i.e., Treasury) and bureaucratic inertia are key determinants of foreign policy continuity or change, followed by Congressional constraints, presidential salience, and American leadership and embedded liberalism. We calculate the probability of change for scenarios using estimated values, establishing the most likely conditions for continuity or change, and evaluating the plausibility of our theory through our cases.

Postmortem reports can be considered as very important tools in the investigation of crimes because they make biological evidence intelligible in terms of legal account of death. Nonetheless, according to its central position, very little research investigated the role of such reports as a tool of forensic power especially in cross-jurisdictional situations. This study fills this gap by applying a comparative criminological approach to the study of postmortem reporting related to Pakistan and Kenya to examine the way in which the procedures, the institutional power and the narration process influences the construction and the contestation of the forensic truth. A publically available postmortem reports were reviewed, coded and themed using a qualitative document analysis technique. The study uses an excellent conceptual framework involving social constructionism, state crime theory, procedural justice and critical criminology to explain results. Findings indicate consistency in deciding firearm wounds on the head and chest as the cause of death, and disparity in reporting patterns: Kenyan reports focus on internal organ trauma, gun track, and the general assessment, whereas Pakistani reports focus on the external form of wounds, sewage documentation, and wound categories. These variations show that forensic truth is socially and institutionally produced (via jurisdictional norms, medico-legal practices, and procedural priorities). The study becomes significant in the body of criminology by demonstrating that the postmortem report can be utilized as an instrument of institutional legitimacy and investigative authority. These policy suggestions are that there is a necessity to have standardized forensic procedures, capacity building of the investigators and judicial actors, independent examination of the forensic postmortem documentation and knowledge exchange with other states to increase the level of transparency and responsibility and accountability of the contested death investigations.

Purpose This paper aims to address two key challenges in identifying nonfatal strangulation in rape reports: (1) siloed research, which has largely focused on lethal strangulation in sexual homicides, strangulation as a sexual fetish or strangulation within consensual intimate relationships to improve sexual satisfaction, and (2) difficulty identifying the presence of nonfatal strangulation from rape report narratives. The study has two corresponding key aims: (1) to merge key studies from various disciplines on nonfatal strangulation research from separate disciplines and (2) to elucidate the methodological difficulties of identifying victims who experienced nonfatal strangulation during a rape from police incident report narratives. Design/methodology/approach Data were extracted from case files from two U.S. jurisdictions awarded Bureau of Justice Assistance funding from the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative, including incident and initial investigative reports. Nonfatal strangulation was measured in two ways: (1) a dichotomous variable derived from reading police report narratives and (2) a keyword search of researchers' textual summaries. Findings We detail the processes undertaken and the outcomes in identifying nonfatal strangulation in rape reports, including two key methodological obstacles encountered when seeking to classify cases as nonfatal strangulation present or not: (1) issues with recall and (2) lack of specificity in incident reports (broken down further into three subthemes). Our findings support policy recommendations that seek to improve the documentation of nonfatal strangulation in reports by law enforcement and other professionals. Originality/value Little research exists on criminal nonfatal strangulation in rape or the challenges of using police reports to identify patterns unique to these offenses.

Classified personnel, particularly those working for intelligence and security organisations, are subjected to high psychological and operational pressures that influence their well-being and performance. This study investigates the role of job satisfaction as a mediating factor in the interaction between work environment, job demand, transactional stress, and social support on performance outcomes in Nigeria's classified sector. 344 respondents were chosen by random sampling, and Likert-scale 1 – 7 questionnaires were used to gather data. SmartPLS v4.1.0.1 and SPSS v25 were used for descriptive and inferential analysis. Results show that the impacts of all four exogenous variables on performance are considerably mediated by job satisfaction. Supportive work environments improved performance and satisfaction, and high job demand also had a beneficial impact, suggesting that employees are resilient. Through satisfaction, social support and transactional stress also affected results. At the 5% level, every hypothesis was accepted. The study emphasises the necessity for emotionally helpful work environments and incorporates the Job Demand-Control-Support and Social Support theories within Nigeria's classified agencies. To prevent burnout and maintain high performance, institutional changes including planned rest, psychological support, and compassionate leadership are suggested. Despite data restrictions brought on by confidentiality requirements, the results provide a distinctive perspective on the psychological makeup of classified personnel, with ramifications for human resource planning and national security management.