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Copyright of Urban Studies (Sage Publications, Ltd.) is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper examines the hypothesis that Waun Mawn in West Wales provided the bluestone monoliths that were used at Stonehenge. Some archaeologists believe that the site supports the last remains of a giant stone circle or 'Proto Stonehenge' which was dismantled and transported to Salisbury Plain around 5000 years ago. It was claimed, after three excavation seasons at Waun Mawn in 2017, 2018 and 2021, that there is firm evidence of some standing stones which were later removed or broken up, but it has still not been demonstrated that there ever was a small stone circle here, let alone a 'giant' one. Furthermore, there have been no control studies in the neighbourhood which might demonstrate that the speculative feature has any unique characteristics. There is nothing at Waun Mawn to link this site in any way to Stonehenge, and this is confirmed by recent cited research. No evidence has been brought forward in support of the claim that 'this was one of the great religious and political centres of Neolithic Britain'. It is concluded that at Waun Mawn and elsewhere in West Wales there has been substantial 'interpretative inflation' driven by the desire to demonstrate a Stonehenge connection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Police recruitment across the UK is under intense political and social pressure to increase representation and legitimacy. This layered in to a quest to raise the number of police officers in England and Wales by 20,000. However, despite decades of reform initiatives, police recruitment continues to be a challenging and potentially exclusionary process for candidates from ethnic minority backgrounds. Research in this area mainly comprises macro-level process evaluation and subsequent extrapolation of the results into positive action initiatives. There is a paucity of research at the micro-interaction level among social actors. In this paper, we present a case study of police recruitment in a large English Police Constabulary over four recruitment cohorts in 2018. We conducted 26 long-form, in-depth interviews with new police recruits. Utilising the embeddedness theoretical framework based on sociological studies of the labour market, we attempt to understand police recruitment at the micro-social interaction level. We demonstrate that police recruitment has a high level of social embeddedness within the Constabulary. Candidates utilise social connections throughout the recruitment process to develop competence in the recruitment stages, while also building their respective police social identities. Although positive action recipients also receive significant organisational and instrumental support, they build a relationship with the abstract organisation and not existing police officers. This creates an imbalance in social identity development and may have implications for how positive action initiative recipients may struggle within the policing environment. Further implications exist for positive action design and implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UK charity Crimestoppers supports the police by taking and passing on information about crime. However, its service has been subject to little examination. This paper explores how Crimestoppers acts as an enabler to reporting crime and assists the police in solving crime. A small-scale qualitative study, using semi-structured interviews, was conducted with participants drawn from Crimestoppers' contact centre and two Welsh police forces. Following a thematic analysis, the overarching finding submits that 'anonymity' is the golden thread which preserves Crimestoppers existence. The charity has a strong relationship with the police and exists in a network of plural policing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The project on which this paper is grounded is the first in-depth empirical study of the impacts of COVID-19 on each stage of the English and Welsh Youth Justice System. We take the notion of a child's right to a fair trial as the lens by which we detail the findings from our research. The paper documents the experiences of professionals working in the courts and children who had contact with the courts during the pandemic. While we concentrate on processes in England and Wales as an exemplar of the impact of COVID-19, recognising that globally, courts were experiencing similar challenges, initiates a discourse about how to re-envision their role in wider criminal justice systems in a COVID-19 world. Our research demonstrates an urgent need for renewed consideration of what support children need to effectively participate in court, and where and how children's cases should be heard. The pandemic demonstrated that creativity is possible and creates a timely opportunity to review the evidence and think more radically about a welfare-based, trauma-informed court process for children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the role of the police in mental health work. It explores whether the calls to 'defund the police' can be the basis for fundamental reforms of mental health services and the police role. The paper outlines the roots of the calls to ' defund the police' situating the perspective in the wider Black Lives Matter movement (BLM). The wider BLM movement seeks to overturn long standing racial and social injustices, including the disproportionate use of force against black citizens and racial biases within the Criminal Justice System. It goes further in that BLM calls for a shift in funding from policing towards an investment in welfare and community services. These calls are captured in the phrase 'defund the police'. These calls have highlighted the police role in mental health, particularly, the police response to citizens in mental health crisis. The paper examines the police role in mental health work, highlighting the historic impact of policies of deinstutionalisation and more recently austerity and welfare retrenchment. In calling for this policy shift, campaigners have highlighted the need to significant investment in mental health services. The police role in mental health services increased because of the failings of community care (Cummins, 2020a). Police officers have increasingly become first responders in mental health crises. The paper, focusing on England and Wales, uses 'defund the police' perspective as a lens to examine long standing areas of concern. Police involvement in mental health emergencies is inevitably stigmatizing. There are also concerns from the police. This is an area of police demand that has grown of austerity and the wider retrenchment in public services. Police officers often feel that they lack the skills and knowledge required to undertake their role in mental health work. In addition, there is frustration generated by poor interprofessional working. Police officers on an organizational and individual level feel that they are often left ' picking up the pieces '. There is a wide recognition that mental health services are failing to provide appropriate responses to those in crisis (Wessley, 2018). As well as being an issue of human rights and social justice, these failures place vulnerable people at increased risk. All aspects of police work involve contact with people experiencing mental health problems. People with mental health problems are first and foremost human beings who should be treated with dignity and respect. They are also citizens, family members, carers and work colleagues. Having acknowledged that core value perspective, if we accept that police officers will be involved in mental health work, we should seek to limit their role as far as is possible. The paper concludes that it is likely that there will be always be some form of police involvement in mental health–related work. However, there is a need to limit this as far as possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A stand-alone strangulation offence was introduced in Queensland, Australia in 2016. One of the elements of the Queensland strangulation offence is that the victim did not consent to the strangulation. This paper reviews the harms and dangers associated with strangulation before overviewing the debates about the use of strangulation during sex. Drawing on focus group discussions conducted with domestic violence support workers and men's behaviour change workers, we discuss four overlapping themes identified in the discussions. These were perceptions that: strangulation during sex is normalised; consent is not informed; it happens in the context of coercive control; and the requirement of consent opens a loophole in the strangulation offence. Considering the issues raised, and the clear risks and harms, we suggest that consideration should be given to whether it is ever possible to consent to strangulation and we consider possible reforms such as following the two-tiered approaches to consent used in the England and Wales law and elsewhere in Australia. We also conclude that law reforms such as these are partial solutions and there is significant need for more community education about the risks and harms of strangulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Scottish Law Commission has recently confirmed in its Eleventh Programme of Reform, published in May 2023, the continuation of its medium-term project to examine the law of homicide. This includes a review of sexual infidelity killings and provocation as a partial defence to murder, or otherwise. It embraces a critique of whether and, if so, how any necessary proposals for modernising the law in this sensitive and important area should be made. A Discussion Paper has previously been published for examination. Against this backdrop, we analyse whether sexual infidelity ought to be retained in extant Scots law, as one of only two relationally relevant qualifying triggers. In November 2023, the Law Commission in England and Wales announced its forthcoming review of domestic homicide given contemporary understandings of the impact of domestic abuse. We provide novel insights into Anglo-Scottish law to seek to recalibrate the understanding of coercive/controlling behaviour in the contextualisation of sexual infidelity killings. Our review highlights the ways in which allegations of (actual or perceived) sexual infidelity may be symptomatic of coercive control through consideration of recent case law, and via the lens of Monckton-Smith's eight stages to femicide. A risk assessment is utilised to demonstrate the extent to which victims of coercive controlling behaviour have their capacity for action delimited, and how this should inform deliberations in cases where the coercively controlled individual kills in response. A novel and original new template is promulgated for provocation reform predicated de novo on qualifying triggers of domestic abuse and gross breach of trust and with a part-justificatory – part excusatory standardisation. It is suggested that a new nomenclature and typology is required as extant Scottish law on provocation is out of step with contemporary social mores, and the law in England and Wales does not adequately address contextual factors, such as, ethnicity, culture, religion, sexuality, disability, and migrant status, which impact on a domestic abuse victim's capacity for action. It is further propounded that a social entrapment lens, drawing on initiatives crystallised from New Zealand and Australian academician perspectives, ought to be enacted as part of urgently needed effective remedial legislation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The old common law defence of provocation has been abolished in many jurisdictions, including England and Wales and Northern Ireland, but it is still part of the law south of the Irish border. Up to now the Irish law of provocation has been built up solely by the courts, and has developed a number of peculiarities, not least the apparent rejection of the objective test by the Court of Criminal Appeal in the 1978 case of MacEoin. However, it is not until recently that the defence has come to the attention to the Supreme Court, in the 2020 case of McNamara. In this case the court set out to clarify the law, but the case has been criticised by commentators for its failure to clear up some of the existing ambiguities; indeed, it has been said that it has even introduced further ambiguities into the law that did not exist before. Be that as it may, this paper argues that McNamara is to be welcomed, in so far as it promotes a flexible approach and one which recognises the essentially normative nature of the provocation defence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores senior and strategic perspectives on the volunteer Special Constabulary in England and Wales, based on 38 interviews with senior police leaders. The strategic context and leadership of Special Constabularies represents an overlooked element of police leadership, given the scale and potential of volunteer officers to impact upon policing delivery and reform. The paper identifies tension between a traditional strategic paradigm that frames bounded expectations of the role of Special Constables, emphasising differences between them and their paid counterparts, and considerations of police reform which prompt different thinking in respect of practice, identity and integration of volunteer officers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Occupation orders are the dedicated legal remedy through which victims of domestic abuse can be supported to remain in the family home following a relationship breakdown. Case law indicates, however, that victims experience barriers to securing orders due to the high threshold criteria and because concerns about protecting the rights of perpetrators has led to judicial reluctance to grant extensive protection to victims. The options for providing protection to victims of abuse in respect of the family home are shortly set to be reformed by the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, which creates a new Domestic Abuse Protection Order (DAPO). It is anticipated that DAPOs will be easier to secure because they will have a lower threshold criteria, they will be available in family, civil and criminal proceedings, and both victims and third parties will be able to make an application thereby alleviating the burden on victims who feel unable to take any action. Whilst there is no intention at this point to repeal occupation orders, the Home Office has acknowledged that 'DAPOs will become the 'go to' protective order in cases of domestic abuse' suggesting that occupation orders will be replaced by DAPOs in most cases. By drawing on data obtained from an analysis of court statistics, a questionnaire of legal practitioners and domestic abuse specialists, and in-depth interviews with victims of domestic abuse, this paper offers original empirical insights into where the current law fails victims of domestic abuse. The analysis reveals three key barriers to securing occupation orders. Firstly, despite the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 making efforts to preserve legal aid for victims of domestic abuse, the means test is difficult for victims to satisfy, resulting in increases both to the number of victims taking no action to pursue protection and who act as litigants in person in occupation order proceedings. Secondly, the prospects of a victim securing protection can be adversely affected by their unrepresented status. Thirdly, despite case law indicating a less restrictive approach to granting occupation orders, many victims continue to struggle to satisfy the strict threshold criteria. Some judges are seemingly willing to bypass this by granting alternative remedies which may offer victims a weaker form of protection in respect of the family home. Where orders are granted, the data suggest this is on restricted terms and for limited durations which reduce their effectiveness at preventing post-separation abuse and supporting victims to regulate their short and longer-term housing situation. These empirical findings are then situated within a discussion of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021. The authors analyse whether forthcoming DAPOs are likely to offer a more accessible and effective form of protection than occupation orders. The analysis suggests that by increasing the scope of applicants, the breadth and flexibility of available protection and the sanctions for breach, DAPOs have the potential to remedy many of the existing barriers to securing protection over the family home. As is always the case with new legislation however, the key will be in its implementation, to ensure that existing issues are not simply transferred across to the new regime. The findings are novel because academic commentaries on protective injunctions typically focus on 'personal protection' offered by non-molestation orders, domestic violence protection orders, and restraining orders, meaning that both occupation orders and protection for victims in respect of the family home are under-researched areas of domestic abuse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The Draft Mental Health Bill proposes removal of both intellectual disability and autism from Section 3 of the Mental Health Act for England and Wales (MHA). This would lead to people with intellectual disability (PwID) and/or autism could not be detained beyond 28 days, in the absence of diagnosed co-occurring mental illness. Aim: To obtain views of psychiatrists working with PwID in England and Wales regarding the proposed MHA changes. This study focusses specifically on the impact on PwID. Methods: A cross-sectional online mixed methodology survey of Likert and free-text response questions was developed, to ascertain perceptions of proposed legislative changes to the MHA. A non-discriminatory exponential snowballing technique leading to non-probability sampling was used to disseminate the survey. Quantitative data was analysed using descriptive statistics, Mann-Whitney and Fisher's exact tests. Thematic analysis was conducted on free text responses. Results: A total of 82 psychiatrists (33%) from approximately 250 eligible completed the survey. Nearly two-thirds (64%) reported good awareness of the proposed changes, with over half (55%) reporting disagreement with the changes. Psychiatrists working in inpatient settings for PwID reported increased awareness of the changes, less agreement with the reforms, and increased expectations of the reforms having negative unintended consequences, compared to their peers working exclusively in the community. Consultants reported greater disagreement with the changes compared to their non-consultant peers. Qualitative analysis identified five main themes: impact on diagnosis and treatment, seeking alternative options, introducing inequities, resources, and meeting holistic care goals through the Care, Education and Treatment Reviews (CETR) process. Conclusion: Psychiatrists working with PwID report widespread disagreement with the proposed changes to the MHA for PwID, with greater levels of disagreement among those working in inpatient services. Caution with respect to the proposed changes, and monitoring of the impact of the changes if implemented, is advised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines adult social care policy in Wales. It argues that successive Welsh Governments have sought to develop policy which rejects the principles of marketisation and individualisation that have characterised the public sector policy of UK governments for decades, and upholds instead a distinctive set of socialist-inclined values. It assesses whether Welsh social care policy and legislation effectively diverge from the Westminster paradigm, and how Welsh Governments have dealt with the narrative of 'personalisation' which dominates social care discussion elsewhere in the UK. It finds that Welsh Governments have to date struggled to craft social care policies that incorporate their stated principles, explores the difficulties inherent in superimposing new principles on inherited policy narratives and mechanisms, and considers the implications for devolved policymaking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers how minoritisation features in Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs) in England and Wales and identifies critical learning in relation to addressing minoritisation. Five themes were identified: i) the invisibility of race, culture and ethnicity; ii) perceptions and experiences of services; iii) use of stereotypes and the culturalisation of domestic violence and abuse (DVA); iv) lack of interpreters; and v) DHR recommendations. Our analysis illustrates that statutory sector services should strengthen their responses to Black and minoritised victims by ensuring proper recording of cultural background is used to inform practice; engage professionally trained interpreters with an awareness of DVA; resist framing DVA as endemic to minoritised cultures; and enhance trust and confidence in public services within minoritised communities. The best examples of DHRs challenged service narratives and usually sought expertise from a specialist Black/minoritised DVA service or community organisation (frequently minoritised women's rights organisations). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores how looked after children and young people experience social media and cyberbullying. Thirty-one young people, aged 13 to 20 from Wales, were recruited primarily via social media. They participated in semi-structured interviews sharing examples from their daily online lives, the types of social media they used and their experiences with cyberbullying. They also provided their opinions on social media and that of the adults in their lives. The analysis showed insights into their online lives but also highlighted the challenges of using social media to recruit interview participants. The findings of this study show that young people with care experience have similar rates of cyberbullying and social media usage as their peers, but questions remain. It is recommended that more research is needed in this area and that adults who engage with vulnerable populations, such as looked after children, should have access to training on social media and how to recognise cyberbullying. Plain Language Summary: Thirty-one young people with care experience in Wales were asked their opinions on social media and the internet, as well as their experiences with cyberbullying. It was found that those with care experience have similar rates of cyberbullying as their peers. They also used and accessed social media in similar ways. The findings gave insight into their online lives but also drew attention to challenges in using social media to recruit young people with care experience. Ways to address this are highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internationally, interpersonal violence places huge burdens on the health, wellbeing and prosperity of society. In response to a notable increase in serious knife crime, in 2019, the UK Government awarded £35 million for the establishment of 18 Violence Reduction Units (VRUs) across England and Wales. There has been limited evaluation of community-level approaches for violence, with almost no published literature on the impact of VRUs. The article presents the approaches and experiences of two interdisciplinary teams of researchers from public health, psychology, criminology, and systems change, working as evaluators of four VRUs in England and Wales. The article describes the value of adopting a whole-system approach to evaluations, outlines good practice in evaluating VRUs, and elicits challenges to developing and embedding evaluation within complex systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Urban Studies (Sage Publications, Ltd.) is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

There is significant evidence demonstrating that when done well, problem-oriented policing is associated with meaningful reductions in crime and public safety concerns. And yet, history shows that the implementation and delivery of problem-oriented policing is challenging, and that police organisations have generally not adopted it and even when they try to it is often rejected over time. This article draws on the concept of 'diffusion of innovation' (Rogers, E. (2003) Diffusion of Innovations, 5th edn. New York: Free Press) to unpick aspects of the processes through which problem-oriented policing has been adopted or otherwise among police forces in England and Wales. This article shows how factors related to the nature of problem-oriented policing – notably its incompatibility with prevailing norms and values of the police service, its complexity and unobservability – have influenced its adoption. Implications are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article evaluates the recent history of probation services in England and Wales. The author – currently working as a Practice Teacher Assessor in the Probation Service – considers the politicisation of probation, identified as one outcome of a rhetorical narrative to 'act tough' on crime and the impact of the New Public Management model of organisational accountability, its focus on performance and targets, and, arguably, the diminution of the professional role. Following semi-privatisation, and currently reintegration, of probation services, the article puts forward an argument for a realignment of practice, to focus on the supervisory relationship, professional autonomy, and the reflective practitioner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the relationship between offending and mental health is complex, research findings indicate that those in conflict with the law have higher levels of mental illness and need than the general population. This article considers the findings of a joint thematic inspection of the criminal justice journey for individuals with mental health needs, with a particular focus on the probation stage. Inspectors from across justice and health reviewed cases to establish the extent to which needs were identified and met. Interviews were also undertaken with 67 individuals who had lived experience of mental illness while in the criminal justice system. Findings are considered in relation to the identification of mental health needs; the role of trauma; probation practitioners' skills, knowledge and support; case management; and access to required services. This inspection led to identified effective practice and key agencies agreeing to a number of actions in response to inspectors' recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Meeting goals for 'net zero' emissions may require the removal of previously emitted carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. One proposal, enhanced rock weathering, aims to speed up the weathering processes of rocks by crushing them finely and spreading them on agricultural land. Public perceptions of enhanced rock weathering and its wider social and environmental implications will be a critical factor determining its potential; we use six 2-day deliberative workshops in England, Wales and Illinois to understand public views. Consideration of enhanced rock weathering deployment in tropical countries led participants to frame it from a social justice perspective, which had been much less prevalent when considering Western agricultural contexts, and generated assumptions of increased scale, which heightened concerns about detrimental social and environmental impacts. Risk perceptions relating to 'messing with nature' became amplified when participants considered enhanced rock weathering in relation to 'iconic' environments such as the oceans and rainforest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we explore how participants articulate experiences of emotions during Covid-19 lockdown in the UK. We posit that emotions fulfil experiential and interpersonal functions, which are construed and conveyed through language choices. An online narrative survey was carried out. About 88 responses were analysed. Participants were from England and Wales. The mean age was 48.9 years old (SD = 62). A mixed-method approach was used. This combined quantitative Corpus Linguistics analysis and qualitative Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis with linguistic analysis. The findings show similarities to the public health and medical literature that highlight negative emotions, such as fear, distrust and anger in participants. However, we also found positive emotions not considered elsewhere, including happiness, relaxation, safety, optimism for the future and connectedness arising from the thematic IPA analysis. Emotions were construed using language explicitly labelling emotions and language implicitly signalling emotions. Our study highlights implications for managing risk behaviours associated with transmission in public health practices such as social distancing, as indicated by negative emotions. We also bring to light implications with perceived benefits of engaging in protective behaviours and social support central to public health measures, as suggested by the communication of positive emotions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents preliminary findings from a longitudinal study contributing to the current debate about police education and professionalising the police in England and Wales. The findings in this article are taken from a survey administered in 2016 to third-year students enrolled in a policing degree. Surveys were distributed to police officer students in the last year of their degree programme asking for their perceptions of the degree, their organisation's support for their learning and how they felt that learning was utilised in their workplace. Supplementary to the survey, interviews were conducted with the students after their graduation in 2018. The research findings suggest that students perceived the benefits of obtaining a degree-level qualification as fundamentally important to their professional development and personal decision-making at work. Early support initially received for study leave purposes, rarely extended beyond this practical provision. The extent to which police organisations valued the learning from the degree was perceived to be lacking. Senior-ranked students were more likely to be able to use and promote their newly acquired skills and knowledge in the workplace compared with lower-ranked students. Such findings may inform scholars' and practitioners' continued evaluation of police education reforms in England and Wales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Urban Studies (Sage Publications, Ltd.) is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Urban Studies (Sage Publications, Ltd.) is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)