Search

Abstract This study aimed to determine whether punitive state alcohol policies targeting pregnant women who drink alcohol are associated with decreased alcohol consumption among pregnant women over time. This study used data from the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (15 states) between 1990 and 2015. A difference-in-difference (DiD) approach was employed to determine whether passage of state laws changed alcohol consumption rates among pregnant women, while controlling for state and time fixed effects. The study specifically examined punitive state alcohol policies that clarify the admissibility of evidence in child welfare proceedings related to prenatal alcohol exposure, focusing on allegations of child abuse, child neglect, child deprivation, or child dependence, as well as proceedings seeking termination of parental rights. Punitive state alcohol policies were not significantly associated with decreased rates of alcohol consumption among pregnant women (+ 1.54%, 95% CI, -1.47-4.55), within 3 years of implementation. State alcohol policies that adopted a punitive stance toward pregnant women who drink alcohol did not result in the reduction of drinking during pregnancy. Given that punitive policies may not effectively reduce alcohol consumption during pregnancy, our findings highlight the need for reevaluation and potential reform to better address maternal/child health outcomes.

Evangelicalism's role in the history of modern discipline can be seen through two genealogical threads: the reforming and the punitive. Michel Foucault's account of the modern self aligns with the reforming thread, where self-examination is central, aiming to transform society by preventing future disruptions through individual self-reflection and narration. This discipline is evident in carceral and therapeutic institutions, and evangelical conversion plays an important historical role in the development of this disciplinary structure. The punitive thread is also deeply connected to evangelical history. Punitive evangelical punishment was practiced through intimate, mutual surveillance, notably in interracial Baptist churches of the antebellum South. Unlike Foucault's narrative of self-narration in discipline, Baptist discipline was verbally limited and face-to-face, emphasizing humiliation and maintaining patriarchal structures. The history of Baptist discipline, or "watch-care," is useful for thinking through the relationship of religion and policing in American history as both developed out of the patriarchal rights of the father and the desire to manage populations on the move. Resumen: El papel del evangelismo en la historia de la disciplina moderna puede verse a través de dos hilos genealógicos: el reformista y el punitivo. La explicación de Michel Foucault sobre el yo moderno se alinea con el hilo reformista, donde el autoexamen es central, con el objetivo de transformar la sociedad evitando futuras perturbaciones a través de la autorreflexión y la narración individuales. Esta disciplina es evidente en instituciones carcelarias y terapéuticas, y la conversión evangélica juega un papel histórico importante en el desarrollo de esta estructura disciplinaria. El hilo punitivo también está profundamente conectado con la historia evangélica. El castigo evangélico punitivo se practicaba mediante una vigilancia íntima y mutua, especialmente en las iglesias bautistas interraciales del sur anterior a la guerra. A diferencia de la narrativa de Foucault sobre la auto narración en la disciplina, la disciplina bautista era verbalmente limitada y cara a cara, enfatizando la humillación y manteniendo estructuras patriarcales. La historia de la disciplina bautista, o "vigilancia", es útil para reflexionar sobre la relación entre religión y vigilancia en la historia estadounidense, tal como ambas se desarrollaron a partir de los derechos patriarcales del padre y el deseo de gestionar las poblaciones en movimiento. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although inclusive education policies conflict with punitive discipline measures, inclusion in mainstream schools may coexist with or allow such exclusionary punitive discipline. In Latin America, however, there is scarce research on how punitive measures are distributed, and if and how they affect students with disabilities enrolled in regular school settings. The purpose of this study was to characterize the occurrence of punitive exclusionary practices among students with disabilities enrolled in mainstream schools. We analysed reports from a national sample of Chilean students (N = 447,697) and parents on the frequency of punitive exclusionary discipline practices to identify the contribution of individual, classroom and school factors to student exclusion from general education settings. Individual characteristics included different disability groups. Multilevel logistic regression results consistently showed that students with ADHD were more likely to receive disciplinary exclusions, both in primary and in high school, with an odds‐ratio increase from 30% to nearly 150%, with higher rates for low‐SES students with ADHD. These findings suggest that in Chile, student‐level factors of gender, class and disability are strongly associated with exclusionary punitive discipline in schools. We discuss the intersectional dynamics of gender, class, race and disability in disciplinary processes of exclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A substantial body of literature documenting the "school-to-prison-pipeline" identifies the adverse effects of punitive school discipline policies and how they have increased the contact students have with the juvenile justice system. This literature tends to position school policies and the broader education system as a significant contributor – both directly and indirectly – to incarceration. Relying on data from California, our paper first argues that there is little evidence of a direct "school-to-prison pipeline," as school discipline policies are rarely directly responsible for juvenile incarceration. Drawing from an extensive secondary literature on mass incarceration and data on incarceration and crime rates, the paper then argues that there is little reason to believe that school policy is a substantive indirect driver of incarceration rates. Finally, we show that activists and policymakers have adopted the STPP framework in ways that incorrectly suggest that changes in school policy are key to addressing incarceration. While the metaphor has proven to be morally evocative and catchy, attracting the attention of activists and politicians across the political spectrum, it ultimately obfuscates the complex realities of what drives punitiveness in schools and in society writ large. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-government organisations (NGOs) have emerged in Mexico to support migrants while also cooperating with governmental institutions. Based on nine months of fieldwork, this paper explores the ambivalences within humanitarian organisations that aid migrants from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. First, this article suggests that organisations engage in practices of mistrust and policing of migrants that do not align with their intention to safeguard them. Second, it argues that NGOs facilitate instances of paternalism to control migrants in their shelters and further subordinate them. Finally, it addresses how local organisations and shelters resolved the duality of care and control by punishing migrants. NGOs are drawn to reinforce the power structures that govern global migration. This is often in contradiction to their caring and supportive roles. As a result, NGOs replicate entrenched racialising discourse, power inequalities and control over mobile subjects.

Traditional in-school approaches focus on using consequences for managing pupil behaviour. Within published literature, concerns have been raised about the effectiveness and negative impact of punitive approaches. This systematic synthesis explores the perspectives of children and young people (CYP) in secondary schools on in-school punitive behaviour management policies and practices. Papers are evaluated using an adapted version of the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (2019) and study findings are analysed using thematic synthesis. The findings highlight CYP's thoughts on the fairness and consistency of punitive consequences, the impact of these on academic development and emotional wellbeing, and the limited long-term effectiveness of such approaches. CYP explain their need to feel listened to, understood and supported with their behaviour and emotions. Implications of these views for school staff, educational professionals and education policy makers are outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-government organisations (NGOs) have emerged in Mexico to support migrants while also cooperating with governmental institutions. Based on nine months of fieldwork, this paper explores the ambivalences within humanitarian organisations that aid migrants from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. First, this article suggests that organisations engage in practices of mistrust and policing of migrants that do not align with their intention to safeguard them. Second, it argues that NGOs facilitate instances of paternalism to control migrants in their shelters and further subordinate them. Finally, it addresses how local organisations and shelters resolved the duality of care and control by punishing migrants. NGOs are drawn to reinforce the power structures that govern global migration. This is often in contradiction to their caring and supportive roles. As a result, NGOs replicate entrenched racialising discourse, power inequalities and control over mobile subjects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Themyth that restorative justice is the opposite of retributive justice persists, despite a long history of rhetorical challenges. Only empirical evidence can advance the debate, so this article investigates the relationship between punishment and victim-offender communication from the victim's perspective. Interviews with 40 victims of crime established that some victims saw victim-offender communication and punishment as alternatives, and others saw them as independent. However, more than half the participants expected that communicating with the offenderwould increase their satisfactionwith the offender's punishment or reported afterwards that this was in fact the case, suggesting that some victims fulfil punishment objectives through communication with the offender. The changes occurred when victims received information about the offender's punishment, received feedback from the offender or used communication with the offender to impose a mild punishment of their own. Victims were not excessively punitive, but this study demonstrates the existence of an association between punishment and victim-offender communication from at least some victims' perspectives. This article argues that we should not ignore or attempt to eliminate this relationship. Rather, acknowledging and examining the existence of punishment within victim-offender communication would improve practice and generate better outcomes for victims, offenders and society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academic integrity lies 'at the core of the reputation of Australia's world class higher education sector' (Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA), 2020). This pilot study analyses the dominant approach (punitive or educative) of academic integrity policies by selected institutions within the Australian state of Victoria who offer a Foundation Studies Programme (FSP). This pilot study indicates a punitive approach is most commonly adopted. There is a scarcity of research within this field. An increasing prevalence of academic integrity breaches has been reported in the Australian and global education sector. It is therefore of paramount importance that we focus on supporting learners to understand and act with academic integrity. A literature review of qualitative data enabled patterns, or 'themes', to be identified. A deductive thematic analysis was conducted at the semantic (explicit) level to compare the approach taken at different institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the challenges of school climate policies has been to promote dialogical conflict resolution by reducing punitive practices and encouraging student participation. However, exclusionary punitive practices are still being used, and in Chile, they are considered acceptable forms of conflict resolution. In this study, we analyzed the association between students' reports of punitive and democratic school climate in a sample of 2459 eighth graders (mean age = 13.56, SD = 0.84) from 128 Chilean schools. Multilevel analyses showed that a higher perception of punitive practices and higher academic performance were associated with a higher perception of an inclusive, democratic, and peaceful school climate. The perception of a higher school‐level frequency of punishment was associated with a higher perception of an inclusive and democratic school climate. We discuss the implications of these findings for an authoritarian school culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessment tools are pivotal for the work of frontline community services providers, shaping client relationships, access to supports and producing evidence for agencies that need to allocate resources, demonstrate outcomes and secure funding. These tools are combined and used cumulatively, as marginalized individuals are cared for – but also controlled and punished - within these systems (e.g. in shelters, street outreach, mental health or re entry supports). Punishment literature has clarified that risk tools are impactful but also contested and resisted. Still, we know little about how the process is experienced and negotiated by frontline by practitioners working with people pushed through the 'revolving doors'. Drawing from two years of ethnographic fieldwork and 105 interviews with community practitioners, I examine tools and practices used to 'assess' criminalized and marginalized individuals. I show that practitioners are producing evidence about problems occurring outside legal institutions while relying on criminal justice logics and engaging with criminal justice spaces and paces. I highlight the challenges service providers face and negotiate, focusing on three themes: the composition of tools, the process of using them, and the service context in which they are used. I argue that despite discretionary efforts and adaptations, community practitioners remain frustrated by assessment tools and practices, and particularly by their inability to meet the needs they are assessing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ideology behind the Finnish criminal policy is described as humane and rational. In line with this policy, efforts are made to reduce the use of the criminal justice system to solve societal problems. One of the internationally celebrated landmarks of this policy is the success in keeping the imprisonment rate at a low level. In this article we argue, that while this policy has been sensitive towards the needs of the offenders, it has failed to recognize the needs of victims, especially the vulnerabilities related to the victimisation of violence and sexual violence. International critical analyses on the appraisal of the victim rights have raised fears among the criminal policy planners in Finland and prevented analytical discussion. Furthermore, the reluctance to involve the victim perspective in the criminal political discussions is based on mistaken ideas of what the victims really want. In the article, we will consider how to strengthen the position of the victim without making the criminal policy more punitive in general.

This article explores the extent to which the European Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime (EUGHRSR) should be deemed to contain punitive elements, and if such elements do exist, how the principle of presumption of innocence should be applied to the targeted entity. Taking into account the Engel-criteria, literature research and existing national human rights sanctions regimes, we claim that under specific circumstances the Regime could be considered punitive, and argue that in such situations, certain safeguards with regard to the burden of proof require additional attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Context: In the wake of the 1994 national call for zero tolerance and the growth of school policing programs in the United States throughout the 1990s and 2000s, an abundance of research has demonstrated that Black and Latinx students are disproportionately targeted for suspension and expulsion from school, and students of color, particularly those attending racially segregated schools in high-poverty neighborhoods, are substantially more likely to be subjected to daily policing and arrests. In addition, there is a significant body of critical scholarly work that examines the larger social–historical context of punitive school discipline and policing. Such studies illuminate the historical and structural underpinnings that give rise to punitive school discipline and reveal how school discipline policies have become an extension of the societal project of mass incarceration and aggressive policing in high poverty, racially segregated neighborhoods in the United States and elsewhere. Existing critical studies of school discipline and policing generally acknowledge both the race and class dimensions of punitive discipline. However, most critical studies tend to situate punitive school discipline and policing in either a political economic or a critical race analysis, so they do not necessarily provide insight into the specific ways students' class positions and racial identities work together to shape their experiences of punitive discipline, schooling, and a racialized political economy. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: This article offers an analysis of ways that students in a racially segregated urban high school with punitive disciplinary practices narrate their understandings of the impact of race and political economy on their experiences of schooling, the labor market, and policing in and out of school. The author, building on the political economic analyses of Jean Anyon, argues that the students' "critical race–class narratives" offer important theoretical and practical insights into the ways social class and race intersect to shape students' experiences of schooling and policing in urban schools. Research Design: This analysis draws on a previously published critical ethnographic study of school policing in a racially segregated high school in a high-poverty Bronx, New York, neighborhood. The larger study examined students' lived experiences of school policing and the ways that order-maintenance-style street-policing tactics inside the school worked to funnel students into the criminal justice system, often for minor school infractions. The investigation also revealed a disinvestment in educational interventions and counseling services in favor of a social-control approach in the school. For this study, the author revisits the interview data with four key research participants to gain insight into the interconnectedness of race and class oppression within the students' lived experience of schooling, policing, and the labor market. In addition, drawing on critical (Marxian) education theory, critical race theory, and historical analyses in the Black radical tradition, the author analyzes the students' critical race–class narratives with the aim of contributing to a more integrated theory of race and political economy in educational research. Findings: The author identifies two interrelated narrative strategies used by the students as they discussed their experiences of racial oppression and economic exclusion. Specifically, students provided an integrated critical race–class analysis through the use of a collective frame and the use of spatial terms to describe their experiences. As they spoke in collective and spatialized terms about their local and immediate lived experiences of education, discipline, and the labor market, the students' conceptualizations of race and class became fused. Their use of the word "ghetto," for example, signified both a racialized and a social class experience. The author argues that the students' narrative strategies reflect historical analyses within the Black radical tradition that reveal how race and racism are constructed to support the rise of capitalism. Conclusion: First, the critical race–class narratives of young people living in ghettoized neighborhoods and attending racially segregated schools can serve as an important starting point for examinations of contemporary mechanisms of social reproduction as well as the resistance practices, resilience, cultural resources, and lived experiences of students of color in urban schools. The narratives can hold urban education scholars who tend to dismiss the centrality of race or skirt around the dire impact of neoliberal capitalist political economy accountable to the lived realities of the students they study. Second, critical urban education researchers must recognize the tremendous significance of penal control and what it signifies in the lives of racialized youth in urban areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theatre and its appurtenances can project events, problems and issues of society. Its hegemony consists in performances and varied possibilities of expression with great propensity to awaken social consciousness stimulate emotions, and provide certain 'experiences' to invent a 'new' future. This paper takes a look at one of such experiences through a critical appraisal of the stage performance of Ahmed Yerima's Trials of Oba Ovonramwen as presented at the Chinua Achebe Arts Theatre, University of Calabar. Invoking Elizabeth Wessling’s Writing History as a Prophet, this paper argues that the political perspective of the narrator or writer conditions the many versions of history. The politics and poetics of performance as established by Augusto Boal in many of his works suggest that history need not be written by the oppressor alone but can be subject to the re-writing and re-interpretation of the “vanquished”. In the case of Ahmed Yerima’s Trials of Oba Ovonramwen, the interpretation of history is both a creative and critical process in which the act of narration itself becomes a “symbolic” one through which past misrepresentations can be subject to critiques and re-readings. In addition to revisiting the version of this episode of “British Punitive Expedition” to the Benin Kingdom in 1897, this paper submits that through performance the oppressed can not only recuperate his/her history but also re-inscribe the correct(ed) version into the annals of global politics and archival repository.

This case-study investigates the educator and school-level factors that maintained discipline disparities in a school implementing restorative practices. Using ecological systems theory and critical race theory, we ask, how does Meadowbrook High School use restorative practices to address discipline? Also, what factors influence the way restorative practices were implemented? Data were derived from observations, interviews, suspension data, and artifacts at an urban public high school in Pennsylvania. Findings suggest that there was a pervasive punitive discipline ethos, that a chaotic discipline system created a pipeline to suspension, and discipline inequities maintained the discipline gap. Ultimately, we describe how punitive policies disrupted the core relationship development tenets of restorative practices and sustained racially disproportional suspensions. We suggest that school leaders must reject color-blind discipline practices and instead engage in culturally responsive leadership. School leadership plays a vital role in the success of restorative practices. However, the transformative elements of restorative practices cannot be realized when punitive and inequitable practices persist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 1980s decade of diversion in UK youth justice consolidated critiques of iatrogenic systemic contact and generated an abolitionist momentum that was significantly reversed by the 1990s punitive turn and 'new youth justice' strategies of modernisation, expansionism, interventionism and risk management. However, the tentative rejection of risk management and the rebirth of diversion in contemporary youth justice offer new hope for abolitionist arguments. This article critically evaluates contemporary abolitionist arguments, asserting that Children First definitions and diversionary, Bureau model responses could coalesce to form an innovative paradigm to replace traditional, formal conceptions of youth justice 'systems'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transition from 'child' to 'offender' status can be fast‐tracked when offending is formally recognised through formal disposal, with children treated increasing punitively as they progress through the Youth Justice System. The status and 'offenderising' transitions of children who offend is socio‐historically contingent, not only on their behaviour, but on political, socio‐economic, societal, systemic and demography. We support this perspective through a periodised re‐examination of four socio‐historical trajectories in the construction of the 'youth offender': Conflict, ambivalence and bifurcation (1908‐1979); depenalising diversion and back to justice (1980‐1992), fast‐tracking the child to offender transition (1993‐2007) and tentative depenalisation (2008 to present). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last two decades and across a number of jurisdictions, new measures enshrined in criminal law and administrative codes have empowered authorities to exclude unwelcome groups and individuals from public spaces. Focusing particular attention on recent reform in Britain, this paper traces the evolution of contemporary exclusionary practices, from their initial concern with proscribed behaviour to the penalisation of mere presence. The latter part of the paper offers a critical assessment of what has driven these innovations in control of the public realm. Here consideration is given to two possibilities. First, such policy is the outcome of punitive and revanchist logics. Second, their intentions are essentially benign, reflecting concerns about risk, liveability and failures of traditional order-maintenance mechanisms. While acknowledging concerns about the over-eagerness of scholars to brand new policy as punitive, the paper concludes that any benign intentions are overshadowed by the regressive and marginalising consequences of preferred solutions.

Though criminological literature shows that the manifestation of punitiveness in the criminal justice system is complex, it rarely differentiates between responses to different kinds of crimes. This constitutes a significant gap in knowledge, as it is widely believed that white-collar crimes are treated leniently. In light of the "heating up" of political rhetoric, the expansion of federal criminal law, and the increased maximum punishments on conviction, the article aims to explore whether prosecutorial and judicial responses to white-collar crimes have become more punitive, employing rarely used datasets from the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) between 1996 and 2014. It is demonstrated that these responses are more complex and less consistently punitive than the rhetoric and policies advanced by politicians. It endeavors to capture the complexity of punitiveness in practice by measuring numerous variables and multiple points in the criminal justice process, studying punitiveness from multiple angles, using prosecution and sentencing data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

School culture and violence have garnered much public and scholarly attention in recent years. Research in the area has focused on the extent to which strict enforcement of school policies and the law results in safer schools. Other research focuses on providing more supportive, less enforcement-oriented environments for students. We advance this work by using a sample of 2092 respondents from public schools in the United States from the 2015–2016 school survey on crime and safety from the Department of Education. There were several statistically significant supportive practices that reduced violent incidents and disciplinary actions for violence, and the findings generally suggest that punitive policies were not effective in increasing campus safety while controlling for relevant security practices and school contextual variables.

State boards of pharmacy are generally responsible for the governance of the practice of pharmacy. While the regulatory process and methods for accomplishing this task may vary by state, all boards of pharmacy must address medication errors committed by pharmacists. The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) has recommended that state boards of pharmacy implement best practices and enforcement actions that are aimed to promote patient safety and reduce medication errors. The current study was designed to identify and compare current corrective action practices among boards of pharmacy in response to medication errors. An electronic survey regarding board policies and anticipated board actions in response to hypothetical medication error scenarios was sent to boards of pharmacy for completion. Approximately 45% of pharmacy boards responded. Survey responses demonstrated that corrective actions and consequences were levied against pharmacists inconsistently among state boards. Corrective action plans and process improvement components were lacking in a majority of state board of pharmacy practices. Medication safety education for pharmacists and for members on boards of pharmacy was insufficient in many states. Responses to hypothetical error scenarios indicated that most board actions are educational and punitive in nature, rather than focusing on systems improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compensation is a penalty determined by the law for the civil liability officer in each of them (contract and harm) for the benefit of the person who suffered the damage and cannot be determined before the error occurs but is left to the court to be determined according to the criteria that take into account the seriousness of the fault and behavior of the defendant. States, including Iraq and France, adopt the principle of full compensation, but developments on the economic side as well as the tendency of some courts to apply the idea of punitive damages as a means of deterrence and the method of punishment allow for the possibility of applying punitive damages in Iraqi laws and specifically in recent decisions of the courts in some Libel cases. This research attempts to shed light on the current situation of punitive damages in Iraqi law and its compatibility with the practices of other countries. The research relies on comparative methodology and analysis of legal texts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Inciso is the property of Universidad La Gran Colombia, Seccional Armenia 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.)

Over the last two decades and across a number of jurisdictions, new measures enshrined in criminal law and administrative codes have empowered authorities to exclude unwelcome groups and individuals from public spaces. Focusing particular attention on recent reform in Britain, this paper traces the evolution of contemporary exclusionary practices, from their initial concern with proscribed behaviour to the penalisation of mere presence. The latter part of the paper offers a critical assessment of what has driven these innovations in control of the public realm. Here consideration is given to two possibilities. First, such policy is the outcome of punitive and revanchist logics. Second, their intentions are essentially benign, reflecting concerns about risk, liveability and failures of traditional ordermaintenance mechanisms. While acknowledging concerns about the over-eagerness of scholars to brand new policy as punitive, the paper concludes that any benign intentions are overshadowed by the regressive and marginalising consequences of preferred solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research linking social and penal policy has grown extensively in recent years. Wacquant (2009) suggests that retrenchment of welfare support and expansion of the penal system work together to bear down on marginalised populations in a ‘carceral–assistential net’. Empirical and theoretical examinations of these regimes are often underpinned by gendered assumptions. This article addresses this limitation by foregrounding the experiences of women; qualitative interviews offer an insight into their experiences at the intersection of welfare and criminal justice policy in austerity Britain. Their reflections make visible the complex, heterogeneous raft of social assistance, institutional neglect and intensive intervention that characterises women's experiences of the ‘carceral–assistential net’. The evidence presented suggests that for marginalised women interventions intensify once behaviour becomes problematic or in times of crisis. While some interventions are valued by those engaged there is little significant impact on their socio-economic position. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The penal escalation hypothesis holds that people’s (mis)perception of prisons as being inadequately harsh will influence their punitive attitudes toward other punishments and components of the criminal justice system. In this study, I present the first test of the penal escalation hypothesis with survey data from residents of the United States of America. I find that people’s perceptions of life and conditions in prison are significantly related to their opinions about other punitive and progressive aspects of criminal justice policy and practice. I argue that these findings should lead scholars to reevaluate the importance of instrumental versus symbolic factors when attempting to explain variation in people’s opinions about punishment and justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Every society has its own development based on natural resources, manpower and goods that are available. Sometimes in the efforts for a shorter time to obtain greater profits are forgotten the ecological balance in the environment. Namely, environmental conditions are constantly changing, but most scientists believe that change is for the better. Consider human activities in the last 100 years are the main reason for the extraordinary environmental damage. Some of these damages / changes are so strong that they cannot ever be corrected. Experts on environmental protection indicate the need for intervention at several levels: the removal of harmful consequences caused, change the current solutions for use of natural resources, and developing new technologies - the environmental sign. There are several factors that contribute to mercilessly exploiting natural resources, there are more reasons for concern, energy dependence is one of them. Without it, or significant reduction we cannot live in a modern way, that life will be much harder. Starting from 1789, the number of the world's population is dramatic increased from one billion to more than seven billion people on the planet.206 The required amount of energy to meet the needs of the population is much greater than two centuries ago. There are several ways to cover shortages, among them prominently occupies the use of nuclear energy, which received significant application of mid-50s of the 20th century. Namely, in 2005 through it have been provided 15% of electricity needs in the world.207 The benefits of this source of power have 31 countries in the world, at the end of August 2015208 there were 436 operating reactors.209 However the use of this source of energy is viewed with a great deal of reserve for possible nuclear disaster which can cause long-lasting and very damaging consequences for both man and nature, not only in the country that use this energy, but around the world (well-known consequences of the accident Chernobyl in 1986210 and Fukushima from those of March 2011 is yet to be determined)211. The development of technologies for producing mechanisms for environmental protection is an invention of modern times. Renewable energy sources offer opportunities for such developments and therefore the focus is increasingly placed on them. In today's world action to protect and rescue the planet takes its place and law, especially criminal law, as a system of norms that guide the behavior of people to achieve socially acceptable goals, among which there is an inevitable environmental protection. The strengthening of the criminal legal protection in the field of environment is directly proportional to increase people's awareness of its importance and knowledge of the dependence of humanity living conditions on the planet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A growing body of research recognizes that people's policy opinions are not simply positive or negative, but instead derive from a variety of positive and negative beliefs related to a political issue. This research expands this insight by explaining the variability in support for punitive anti-crime policies among black Americans. Data from a nationally representative survey of black Americans (n = 515) are used to show that a majority of blacks are conflicted between a strong desire to reduce crime and perceptions of widespread racial discrimination within the criminal justice system. Using a heteroskedastic item response theory model, I demonstrate that conflict between these beliefs results in far greater variability around their support for punitive, but not preventative policies. Both the conflict and variability of many black Americans' preferences on punitive anti-crime policies complicates their ability to clearly voice their support for or opposition toward punitive policies and likely limits the ability of elected officials to represent members of this community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While many connections can be drawn with some confidence between neoliberalism and penal policy and practice, it is difficult to support Loïc Wacquant’s attempt to render punitive penality integral to neoliberalism, and to regard both as being strategically exported from the US. Neoliberalism is a fluid and variable political formation, both over time and internationally, and is impossible to reduce to a few primary characteristics such as a specific penal policy. Correspondingly, neoliberal doctrines and regimes appear to be consistent with many forms of penal policy other than punitive imprisonment. This is partly because of neoliberalism’s own variability, but also because of the impact of local conditions and the multiple ways through which penal policy may (or may not) be linked with particular political formations. Not only theoretically but also politically, Wacquant’s thesis remains of questionable strategic utility although evidently valuable in consciousness raising. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Misconceptions about psycho-legal issues are widespread and threaten the fabric of our legal system. The present study examines how misconception endorsement is related to tough-on-crime beliefs and sentencing decisions. Two hundred and fifty-six students completed a 50-item questionnaire assessing misconceptions related to forensic psychology and determined sentences in four mock-jury scenarios at the beginning and end of an introductory forensic psychology course. Misconception endorsement decreased significantly from 32% to 21%, with every subscale (police and interrogations, service provision, mental illness, memory and cognition, tough on crime) experiencing a significant decrease from pre-test to post-test. This drop in endorsement is meaningful, as misconceptions and beliefs are typically very difficult to change. Additionally, misconception endorsement was positively correlated with tough-on-crime beliefs and punitive (mock) sentencing. This study provides a valuable resource for endorsement rates of psycho-legal misconceptions and the propensity of individual misconceptions to change. It also makes a strong argument for the usefulness of psychology and law courses in reducing potentially harmful misconceptions and tough-on-crime beliefs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Athletes' perceptions of coaches' communicative acts of interaction in two key interpersonal situations were examined, and their impact on the athletes: (a) when athletes lose competitions; and, (b) when athletes make mistakes in training. Athletes (N = 324, M age = 20.11) completed an open-ended survey. Data were deductively and inductively analyzed. Athletes perceived coaches' communicative acts to be positive (e.g., performance analysis and feedback) and negative (e.g., hostile reaction), and to impact their motivation, affect, physical self-concept, and learning. The study highlights the salient role of coaches' communication in theses situations and discusses its theoretical and practical implications in the sport performance context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]