Criminology assignments

2014-01-21T09:42:00.001-08:00

Hello.

If anybody would like to share or upload their assignments for perusal of other Criminology students, please leave me a message. For your sake, please ensure that you have been graded for that assignment before sharing it with us.

You can reach me at yevetteho at gmail.com (replace at with @ - this is for me to filter spams).

All the best people!

Graduate

2009-09-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

It's almost exciting even if it was only my second degree. I pass... yay.

I have to admit, this was the hardest semester for me but it was probably due to the fact that I had 2 jobs, full time and part time; plus trying to do freelance website and production work was a little too much. Also probably because it was the final semester... last leg of race and it really tried my patience... Few points away from a credit. Was indeed frustrating but at least I made it.

Both unit's had issues with textbooks although I did order them 2.5 weeks in advance. They didn't arrive till almost week 8 and 9. Apparently I can finish reading and make sense out of 95% of the textbooks within a few weeks sitting one mid term and two finals. Amazing. I didn't think that was possible. >.< Plus the third year unit lecturer kinda left us in the dark quite a bit because he claims that it's a third year unit and we should be more independent. He doesn't even do discussion boards. Only emails and probably reply like after every 2 emails i sent.

Can't help thinking if this was the ANU, I would have gotten high credits and more distinctions. Oh well.. I'm not in ANU, I studied with Griffith and it's not Arts... it's CRIMINOLOGY. There are differences =D

ahhhh...... it's over... for me at least. So... hmmm.... what am I going to do now? Everybody is asking. I don't know... Probably keep hunting for the right job while working the other jobs to earn a living.

On this side of the fence... I've got Cert 2 and 3 in Security operations, Cert 4 in Security Risk Management and a Bachelors of Criminology (in a few months time).

And on the other side of the fence... I've got Bachelors of Communications, Media Management, Multimedia, Advertising, Marketing ...3 years in Media/technical

And in the middle somewhere... I have been doing I.T. support for the past 3 years as full time job.

Ahhhh.... still can't get a job that pays enough... Surprise surprise... Any advise?

Shouldn't be too hard right? I hope it gets easier soon. I like to think that there's always light at the end of the Tunnel.

OH well.. enough said. I'll sign off now wishing everybody all the best and hope it goes well. Don't quit.. keep going... You'll be at the end of the tunnel soon. Perseverance cultivates hope.

I'll put the last two assignments on later after receiving the grades officially.

Books to sell

2009-09-07T04:11:00.000-07:00

1. Crime and Justice: a guide to criminology third edition by Goldsmith

2. Theoretical criminology Fifth edition by Void, Benard, Snipes

3. Politics One third edition by ian ward and randal

4. Social sciences in Australia second edition by CHilla Bulbeck

5. Ethical dilemmas and decisions in criminal justice firth edition by pollock

6. Principles of criminal law second edition by bronitt and mcsherry

7. Criminal justice and criminology fifth edition by maxfield and babbie

8. Measures of legal Attitudes

9. Research methods and statistics in criminal justice third edition by fitzgerald and cox

10. crime and social control second edition by rob white and santina perrona

11. Australian criminal justice third edition by findlay, odgers and yeo

12. Police Reform by Tim prenzler and Janet Ransley

13. Understanding law 6th edition by Chisholm and Netthelm

email me at admin@notsotech.com or support@bottlecapservices.com

Welcome

2009-09-01T23:50:00.000-07:00

Hey ppl... feel free to browse through... If you think it helped, please click on a few banners and check out the ads to help me out. RewardCentral is a good program to join, they pay for surveys and webclicks. Methods of payment is through check or paypal from RewardCentral. pretty awesome!

If you need somebody to bounce ideas or talk about your study issues, you can reach me at:

admin@notsotech.com or support@bottlecapservices.com

More then willing to help.

All the best People!

Social Research SGY 14

2009-08-30T09:11:00.002-07:00

Aim of research

This research addresses the challenges that gender performance expectations create within the government servant and public workforce. An investigation of government servant and public workforce perceptions of the essential characteristics that define the successful professional and labourer, and the gender differences within these definitions, (is) will be described. Whether it is likely that males or females possess different career expectations and definitions of career success will be discussed and the ramifications of these differences will be explored.

Introduction
Males and females are different in many ways. History tells us that males are more aggressive, more courageous, more competitive, more intelligent and adventuresome, more self-confident (even proud) and exhibit better leadership skills than females in workplace. However, the domination of the workforce by males is long gone. The female’s duties and roles in the family no longer belong indoors; at home as just home makers where they cook, wash or baby sit. Young women no longer aspire only to get married and become housewives. We have reached an era where woman have to start making ends meet and play a role in supporting the family with their extra source of income. The trend of the current generation is to see the importance of building wealth before family. The culture cultivated now sees issues and challenges arising from responsible parties involved in the process of recruitments and employments. Through a combination of economic changes and the efforts of the feminist movement in recent decades, men in some societies now compete with women for jobs that traditionally excluded women. Some larger corporations have instituted tracking systems to try to ensure that jobs are filled based on merit and not just on traditional gender selection as depicted in the graph on the following page.

Labour force participation rates, persons aged 15 years and over

Source
Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census of Population and Housing: Ageing in Australia 2001 (Catalogue No. 2048.0) 2003, p. 52.

Females have gone through a journey of work placements and work developments. The expectations of females in the work force began low. The question now is if there is if there is such a thing as female inequalities in the working world?

Gender difference in work culture
In the law enforcement, females are told that they are welcome to join the force. Females are also told that they can expect to face the same challenges as their male counterparts; but many times, we find the segregation of gender for different duties.

A local security company will not employ female patrol officers. When asked for their reason, they mentioned that females are not capable in handling situations that would impede on their safety as the weaker sex. The company weights its pros and cons in accordance to their Occupational Health and Safety standards and make its decisions on the basis of not putting females in danger.

In the police force, there is a resistance to the recruitment of female police officers. According to Fleming and Lafferty, Industrial laws, union and the current era:
‘This position has been expressed most forcefully in 1981, when Commissioner Avery responded to the anti-discrimination lobby and what he called ‘a TV stimulating imagination’ about the role of women in policing. He argued that women were neither aggressive nor muscular enough to be ‘effective or… helpful in various areas of police work’. Although women had a role in ‘pacifying’ individuals and in ‘welfare’ type situations, there was no place for them where ‘violent confrontation’ might be an issue or where ‘heavy lifting’ was required. Avery espoused the view that the employment of women police officers should be tempered by decisions based on solid experience’ rather then ‘anti-discrimination philosophy’’ (Fleming and Lafferty 2002:7)

The Australian army employs females broadly in the defence force. It sounds like an equal employment opportunity for both male and female, but in actual fact it is not. In the Australian Army, females are not allow to participate in certain combat roles, such as; the ground (infantry) defence of operational airbases, the fighting sub-units of infantry battalions, armoured regiments (both tank and cavalry), artillery regiments and combat engineer regiments. The reason being, most modern battle space involves abnormal and often prolonged conditions of physical effort, psychological trauma, destruction, death, injury and general mayhem that females are assumed to not be capable of handling. The males in the army apparently might be distracted with the extra burden to protect the females.
We note that, although women are recruited to serve in the military in most countries, only a few countries permit women to fill active combat roles. Countries that allow this include Germany, Canada, Denmark and Norway. Only Canada has fully integrated women into the infantry, and currently has only six women in that role.
Outside of the law enforcement; females are not encouraged to work in wards where high risk patients (i.e. mental wards) are placed. In other field of employments where the establishments are open 24 hours, females are preferred to be available to work during the day only.

The society still sees females as the weaker gender that needs to be protected. It is hard to break a culture that has been around for such a long time. In saying that, employers still lean towards the cultivated culture and prefer males to females while employing. A male employed gives them the belief that there are flexibilities in rostering shift work. A female employee can sometimes be seen as a burden and less cost effective compared to the male counterparts.

The difference between the two
Males have higher IQ but females have higher EQ. The Emotional Intelligence Quotient (EQ), describes an ability, capacity, or skill to perceive, assess, and manage the emotions of one's self, of others, and of groups. An intelligence quotient or (IQ) is a score derived from a one of several different standardized tests attempting to measure intelligence.
“A study of 100,000 17- to 18-year-olds on the Scholastic Assessment Test published in the September 2006 issue of the journal Intelligence, has confirmed a surprising new finding -- that men have a 4- to 5-point IQ advantage over women by adulthood.” (Jackson, D. N., & Rushton, J. P., 2006).

“After administering EQ assessments to 4,500 men and 3,200 women, his organization found that women score higher than men on measures of empathy and social responsibility, but men outperform women on stress tolerance and self-confidence measures. In other words, says Stein, women and men are equally as intelligent emotionally, but they’re strong in different areas.” (Murray B., 1998)

Females when placed in a higher position of leadership tend to perform better than most males. There is no doubt that the males have the higher IQ and are said to be smarter but females manage and communicate better to individuals or groups, manage stress and has higher capability to manage conflicts.

Sexual harassment and gender discrimination
Article 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
All persons are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to the equal protection of the law. In this respect, the law shall prohibit any discrimination and guarantee to all persons equal and effective protection against discrimination on any ground such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

Sex discrimination in the workplace comes with many different faces. In its most basic form, it involves outright exclusion of women, solely by reason of their gender. However, even where women have gained access to the workplace, sex discrimination may persist in other ways. Examples include identification of particular jobs as “men
only” or “women only” or through the existence of a “glass ceiling” that ensures women will only go so far on the corporate ladder. Another biased practice is to have two unwritten sets of rules for success: for men, based on performance, and for women, based on appearance.

There is a current issue for females in a male dominated industry or workplace. In Information Technology, females haved recently came on-board to join their male counterparts in the growth of the industry. The work culture in such places, where it has been male cultivated through the past does not invite females into the workplace. Females still struggle with workplace perks such as male egos, unwelcomed sexist jokes or remarks and gender discriminations where all females are known to be dumb or computer illiterate.

Social scientist, scholar Jane Margolis, computer scientist and educator Allan Fisher explore, why only a small fraction of high school and university computer science students are female, even though women make up a growing portion of computer and Internet users. The finding is, unfortunately, that the expectations in the field, the culture of the field, and the curriculum in the field are very much oriented toward the appetites and the learning styles of a narrow slice of males.

It is fair to say that some males were threatened by the presence of females in their ‘territories’, where they believe they know all and are in control. There is a slight but noticeable difference in the treatment of genders in the working world. Some workplaces or employers refuse to pay the full amount of wages or give females less working hours for reasons such as females are not capable of heavy physical activities required in the job. There is also the domination of males in the higher managerial positions as proved by the chart below.

Gender Imbalance
According to Australian Institute of Criminology’s reports compile, here is a data generated. There is clearly a gender imbalance in the police forces around the world.

Country Sworn Female Officers Sources
Australia 20.9% Australian Institute of Criminology, 2004
US 11.2% National Centre for Women and Policing, 2002
Royal Canadian Mounted Police 17.5% Pharand, R.2004. pers.comm., 24 July
UK – Metropolitan Police Services 17% The Job 2003
Singapore 13.8% Wee, C.N. 2004, pers.comm., 3 July
Hong Kong 13% Hong Kong Police, 2004
Phillipines National Police 7.6% Philippines National Police Public Information 2004, pers.comm., 14 July
Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency 2.7% Foreign Affairs Division 2004, pers.comm, 24 July

It is mentioned that gender imbalances affect the work culture of acceptance towards females in workforces. This imbalance causes unreported problems such as workplace harassment, sexual discrimination, sexual assaults and etc. This is due to the fact that females lack the support from other female work colleagues and, fear is instilled in them that without the numbers for support it is a wrong thing to do in the workplace.

The workplace unions and industrial laws that are getting stronger these days and they play a role in Equal Employment Opportunity. We have groups such as the ‘Women Mentoring Program’ which has been setup in different industries operating on the local level of the workplaces to assist females in the working environment. There is also the ‘Equal Employment Opportunity’ campaign that was launched by the workers unions. This campaign is to lobby the fairness of the employment system where people with disabilities or the special groups such as different races, genders and culture are given the opportunity to be employed by employers and not to be discriminated. These groups are established to provide some sort of support such as mentoring, counselling, third party negotiations, legal services and protection at workplace by being in a union.

Conclusion
As we consider all the above factors, there is a need for a balance between males and females in the workplace. Culture played a part in cultivating equal employment opportunity and gender discriminations. The current support for work groups in work places such as unions, has given a big push to drive home the idea of equal opportunity. This would help different workplace tremendously as they recognised that male and females have their roles to play in organisations; particularly in law enforcement. As we push forward with the ideology that males and females are able to provide different contribution to industry, we are creating a new social culture of equal opportunities for different genders.

References
• Fleming, J., & Lafferty, G. (2002). Equity Confounded? New Managerialism, Organisational Restructuring and Women in Australian Police Services. Paper to the Australian Institute of Criminology Conference: Third Australasian Women and Policing Conference: Women and Policing Globally: Canberra 20-23 October 2002.
• Jackson, D. N., & Rushton, J. P. (2006). Males have greater g: Sex differences in general mental ability from 100,000 17- to 18-year-olds on the Scholastic Assessment Test. Intelligence, 34, 479-486.
• Australian Institute of Criminology, http://www.aic.gov.au/conferences/policewomen3/fleming.pdf, viewed 3rd January 2007
• Parliament of Australia , http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/ewrwp/paidwork/chapter2.htm, viewed 3rd January 2007
• Australian Defence Association, http://www.ada.asn.au/LatestComment_files/Comment.Women&Combat.htm, viewed 3rd January 2007
• Murray B. July 1998, Volume 29 , Number 7, American Psychological Association, http://www.apa.org/monitor/jul98/emot.html, viewed 4th January 2007
• The United Nations International Covenant on civil and political Rights, http://www.hrweb.org/legal/cpr.html, viewed 16th January 2007

Class is no longer relevant in Australia - SGY 14

2009-08-30T09:11:00.001-07:00

Discuss the following statement:

Class is no longer relevant in Australia.
The class factor still exists in Australia. Class is almost always referred to as hierarchy in the society. It is the division of the society into different status. There is no denying that class factors do exist and that a normal workplace comprises of two groups; the ‘management’ and the ‘employees’. There used to be distinction of classes in job status’, for example the blue collar or the white collar worker. Now it has been replaced by the title tradesman or the office personnel.

The days where everybody worked side by side and hand in hand is long over. Capitalism is widely practiced in Australia. Employers who used to rely on expertise while they shared their capital with their employees have had to move on to new technologies to cope with the increased demand of consumers. As technology improves, the gap between classes will grow even further apart. By moving on to sophisticated equipments we notice how employees get replaced by technology. As a result, the need for employment diminishes and leads to retrenchments. The capitalist has to find means to increase productivity at a lower cost. Labor powers cost more money in the long run when compared to the one-off cost of purchasing equipments that have a longer lifespan.

We see how the rich gets richer and more influential while the poor gets poorer. Many times the only way businesses or individuals get more is by investing capital that they already own or through social relations (e.g. contact with other established businesses or business tycoons).
In Australia, big organisations including the government constantly pride themselves in the amount of employees or offices (i.e. buildings) they have through mass employment and wealth, claim to make a difference in the community. This subliminally divided the community into classes (i.e. the people who own the organisation and the employees). As stated by Connell and Irving, ‘These organisations jointly control the country’(Connell and Irving, 1992) through their status in the eye of the society.

In conclusion, class itself is inevitable anywhere especially in a developed country. As Weber focus on how property ownership, commerce and social status influence the inequalities of classes (Weber, 1968), workers have no choice but to rely on their labor power to earn a living, while capitalist enjoys the fruit of the employees’ labor (Engels, 1950). Capitalism is here to stay.

Reference list
CONNELL, R. W. & IRVING, T. H. (1992) Yes Virginia, there is a ruling class', in T. Jagenberg and P.D' Alton (eds.) Four Dimensional Social Space, , Artarmon Harper Educational.

ENGELS, F. (1950) 'Wage labour and capital: Introduction' in K. Marx and F.Engels Selected Works in Two Volumes (Volume 1), Moscow, Foreign Languages Publishing House.

WEBER, M. (1968) 'Status goups and classes' in G. Ross and C. Wittch (eds) Economy and Society, Berkeley, Univeristy of California Press.

SGY 14

2009-08-30T09:10:00.001-07:00

Citizenship and capitalism are inevitably opposed to one another

Citizenship is a membership in a community. They share certain values and believes that has to be adopted to be part of the community. They are expected to perform certain duties in accordance to the law of the community. Being a citizen makes you liable as contributors to the development of the country in the aspect of political, economical and social status. Their personal choices as a consumer to products and services influences the drive to the making for citizenship in the society. Citizens are also given rights and privileges to social and working life for example only people with citizenship are allowed in government jobs and social welfares.
Capitalism is an economic system where the exchange of wealth, investment, production and distribution is maintained by corporations or private individuals. It is a system that encourages class in the society. It creates wealth in the country but defines the rich and the poor. Many people accept the system because it works for the well being of the country. It is fair because individuals can work their way up the class based on their abilities and achievements or fall in status due to circumstances. It is said that ‘Capitalism is the only social system that rewards virtue and punishes vice’ (C. Bradley, 1993).
The concept of capitalism involves a system that can change lives of individuals drastically. The impact could be either negative or positive due to the market fluctuations beyond individual’s control.
Capitalism is system involves individual citizen’s life chances can be changed radically for the better or the worse as a result of market fluctuations entirely beyond their control. Pricing system that doesn't reflect real costs but billions citizens of every country requirements system, and therefore are left to no choice and inevitability oppose to this system.

1. Firstly, Citizen’s wages are determined by the fierce struggle between capitalist and worker. The capitalist inevitably wins. The capitalist can live longer without the worker than the worker can live without him.
2. Secondly, According to economist Adam Smith, the normal wage is the lowest which is compatible with common humanity -- i.e., with a bestial existence. [Smith, 1776, Vol. I, p. 61) therefore, to prevent the race of workers dying out the capitalist keep to the lowest and the only necessary rate that is required for the subsistence of the worker during work and enough extra to support a family

Capitalist affect the working class citizen and the non working class. Citizens enjoy prosperity while the capitals and revenue of the country grows. Individuals will find working or harbouring labour not a chore but rewarding. The rise of wages leads to overworking among the labourers. They sacrifice more time, freedom, and social life to work for the sake of more income. In doing so, they sacrificed their health, neglect their families, lost their dignity which ending with problematic kids and family breaking ups. This phenomenon creates a renewed demand; thus the working class must always sacrifice a part of itself for the good of its class as a whole.
On another hand, capitalist only operates on its capitals. Their power purchases other powers, which nothing could resist. As society become increasingly prosperous, only the richest can continue to be richer from the return of investment with money. The banks require a substantial amount if we would want to gain substantial return in amount from interest in term deposits. Some other capitalist is required to put their businesses on the market as a deposit or guarantee in capitals acquire. As a result, the competition among the capitalists increases.
“The person who acquires, or succeeds to a great fortune, does not necessarily acquire or succeed to any political power.... The power which that possession immediately and directly conveys to him, is the power of purchasing; a certain command over all the labour, or over all the produce of labour, which is then in the market." (Smith, pp. 26-7)
Therefore, capitalist acquired power and wealth through command labour and its products because he is the owner of capital, not only that he also has the purchasing power and the citizens depend on these capitalist for the possibility and the means of realizing their activity.
In conclusion, we see here that capitalism and citizenship are interdependent and they are also inevitably opposed to one another. Without capitalist, the citizen would not realise their activities and without the citizens capitalist would not be able to acquire their wealth and status.

Reference list
• Bradley, C. (1993) Socialism vs. Capitalism: Which is the Moral System On Principle, v1n3, Retrieved 23 January 2007 http://www.ashbrook.org/publicat/onprin/v1n3/thompson.html

• National Archive Australia, http://www.naa.gov.au, Viewed 24 January 2007

• Smith, A. (1776) An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Everyman's Library (London: Dent & Sons, 1904)

• Bulbeck, C. (1998) Social Sciences in Australia, Victoria, Thomson Learning, Australia

Sample research proposal

2009-08-30T09:08:00.000-07:00

Abstract - 100
This is a research proposal seeks to establish the contributing factor to the onset of delinquency in adolescent. It aims at the criminal justice system to assist with possible intervention of young offenders before they graduate into the criminal justice system. It focuses on three particular issues which are childhood maltreatment, neighbourhood disadvantage and lack of monitoring in adolescents. Preventing the onset of delinquency in adolescent has to be birth from understanding what causes juvenile delinquency. Through this research, we know what causes delinquency, when and how to This would help the removal of such causes which can result in better community awareness and services. This research and analysis time frame is set for 18 months and a final propose recommendation for community service intervention report to follow suit.

Introduction and Research question - 400
Juvenile delinquency is a most discussed about topic. The need for juvenile delinquency prevention is noted as young offenders do not necessary cope well with the criminal justice system (NSW Law Reform Commission, 2005). As part of the community, we should be seeking ways and looking into methods which can assist in the intervention of preventing juvenile delinquency. This would mean that we must know what and at which stage of their life causes the onset of criminal lifestyle which would result in young offenders graduating into the criminal justice system which will label for the rest of their life.
This research proposal’s idea is based on a few topic of research already looked at but I would be exploring a more refine area of the study. The research question I would be researching on is: ‘The contributing factor to the onset of delinquency in adolescent – childhood maltreatment, neighbourhood disadvantage and lack of monitoring in adolescents’. The Element of the research proposal would be focusing on juvenile delinquency. The potential significance of this study is for us to develop our understanding to the prevention according to the factors which cause the onset of juvenile delinquencies. This is relevant for our public agencies, youth mentoring programs and criminal justice studies in improving general policies for provision of community services for youth and independent units such as family members in their involvement of before and after an onset of delinquency. I would only hope that the results of this research would reach the relevant party who would see to implementing community awareness campaign, policies to assist family members and adolescents, and youth services which runs mentoring programs for young people. With the combination of community and government involvement in preventing onset of young offenders, juvenile delinquency could be minimized for good.

The objective of this research is to provide an indication to the factors of childhood maltreatment, neighborhood disadvantage and lack of monitoring in adolescent for prevention and intervention measures to the onset of juvenile delinquencies which can be taken, studied and developed. It is noted that the prevention of juvenile delinquencies involve a range of policies which is provisioned for community services, youth and family units (Seymour, 1979). With this said prevention studies are equally as important. The criminal justice system, although provides reformation for juvenile delinquent, is unpleasant. This study of juvenile delinquent onset prevention might assist youth before they need the criminal justice system.

Literature review - 1000
According to research, childhood maltreatment is link or influence to the development of delinquencies (Crooks, Scott, Wolfe, Chiodo, Killip, 2007; Stuewig, McCloskey, 2005). In the article; ‘Understanding the Link between Chilhood Maltreatment and Violent Delinquency: What does Schools Have to Add?’ (Crooks, Scoot, Wolfe, Chiodo, Killip, 2007), their research concentrated on the research of child maltreatment and the development of delinquent behavior. In the research on child maltreatment, the adolescents who experienced maltreatment were assessed using The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire and additional questions were added for those who were involve in some sort of domestic violence. Other topics that were explored include community and school connectedness which interprets if violent activities originated from the student and school characteristics and engagement in violent delinquency, parenting methods and academic success. Their research methods were a combination of qualitative and quantitative using interview methods and questionnaires. The findings that they came up with mentioned that male subjects who went through maltreatment in their childhood are more prone to delinquency but parenting involvement plays a significant role. Another result of findings state that schools played a role in the influence of violent delinquency. They also looked into the relationship between childhood maltreatment and adolescent delinquency which potentially been affected by all school-level factor. This was the cause of their research limitation as it is hard to distinguish if the adolescent were affected by their primary school years instead in the onset of delinquency (Crooks, Scoot, Wolfe, Chiodo, Killip, 2007).

Another journal titled ‘The Relation of Child Maltreatment to Shame and Guild among Adolescents: Psychological Routes to Depression and Delinquency’ by Stuewig and McCloskey researched into different forms of maltreatment in childhood and parenting during adolescent influenced their psychology which leads to delinquency. The purpose of their research is to find the relationship of abused children to psychological problems which links to the onset of delinquencies. The research methodology adopted was mainly interviews with both mother and child on separate occasions. Their research produced findings on two broad questions. One of which is the shame and guilt emotional style originated from the family and second is how these emotions related to depression and delinquency. Stuewig and McCloskey concluded that emotions do not relate directly to delinquency instead to depression which inhibits the onset of delinquency (Stuewig, McCloskey, 2005).

Youth who grow up in disadvantage neighborhood where gangs reside tend to be more prone to the opportunity of delinquency (Dupere, Lacourse, Willms, Vitaro, Tremblay, 2007). In their journal Affiliation to youth Gangs During Adolescence: Tendencies and Neighborhood Disadvantage, they studied on the affiliation of youth in gangs which comprises of samples in a Canadian neighborhood. The purpose of the study was to find out if there was considerable likelihood for youth in such neighborhood to join a gang also if group membership to such gangs contributes to the onset of delinquencies. The method of conducting the research for this case was mainly survey of potential gang members in targeted neighborhood. The respondents measured were 14-15 years old. The findings from the research indicated that youth who grow up in residential area which is unstable has a higher tendency of gang affiliation (Dupere, Lacourse, Willms, Vitaro, Tremblay, 2007). Another finding in this journal mentioned that single parent families are of importance in parent-to-child ratio especially in the case unstable neighborhood. Youth with less guardianship is found to be more prone to gang affiliation (Dupere, Lacourse, Willms, Vitaro, Tremblay, 2007). This research finding contributes to the moulding of my research hypothesis: neighborhood disadvantage causes onset of juvenile delinquency. Community level strategies to discourage youth involvement with gangs seem to reduce juvenile delinquencies (Dupere, Lacourse, Willms, Vitaro, Tremblay, 2007).

Research question(s) and research hypotheses - 400
This research is based on the topic: ‘The contributing factor to the onset of delinquency in adolescent – childhood maltreatment, neighbourhood disadvantage and lack of monitoring in adolescents’
As the topic includes a wide range of factors which could have contributed to the onset of delinquency in adolescent, I have had to narrow the research down into three specific areas. These areas are then developed into three hypotheses which would be analyzed in the course of this research.
Hypotheses one: Childhood maltreatment contributes to violent delinquent.
Abusive background or victims of crime in an adolescent childhood might be cause of the onset of juvenile delinquency. The research on this hypothesis will present questions in regards to history and relationship of family violence, abuse by one or both parent, history of victimization or witness of a violent crime than compare them with the age, sex, race and the approximate social class. These questions will take place in form of focus group and random sampling from different clusters targeted. The clusters would be made up of educators, youth and community workers, public and adolescent. Unit of measure will be based on how abusive background is presented against the different age group to onset of delinquency. Based on the history of juveniles to their present tendency toward delinquency, the research data could be cross reference for contribution of childhood violence to current delinquency.
Hypotheses two: Neighborhood disadvantage causes onset of juvenile delinquency. The research on this hypothesis will seek to provide data based on observations of disadvantage neighborhood. Quantitative research on juvenile detainee’s neighborhood background will be part of analysis. Based on the qualitative research data on disadvantage neighborhood and quantitative research on juvenile detainee’s childhood, the data would be cross reference for contribution of disadvantage neighborhood to the onset of delinquency in adolescent.
Hypotheses three: Lack of monitoring of adolescent contributes to the onset of juvenile delinquency. This part of the research will be divided into age clusters ranging from childhood to adolescent. The clusters will contribute to the unit of analysis where the amount of lack of monitoring is classified into stages. The research will seek out who is the primary care givers to the clusters and who is their primary influencer based on the units teachers, parents, siblings, extended family members or other non family related person. It will include a control group of children on the basics of age, race/ethnicity, gender, and approximate family social class too.

Research site and/or research subjects – 600

In 2003, there were reports that juvenile delinquency in Canberra is on the rise (Murray, 2003). This report gave rise to cause for this research to be conducted in the Australian Capital Territory instead of the other states.

This research would concentrate solely on the juvenile in the Australian Capital Territory, Canberra. The reason for this is so that the research can be focused and through instead of collecting data from samples across many states which would be spread too thin. It is important to realised that culture differences in different clusters from every neighbourhood, thus the need to focus only on selected clusters with in this circumstance we study the juvenile in one particular state.
The research sites are chosen not based on the effort to obtain single or multiple representation or unbiased samples instead it focuses on a diverse range of respondents from different backgrounds to provide impartial results. The diversified range comprises from different area, culture, society and believes which is sampled across Canberra.
Visits to high schools will be first up on the list where surveys and focus groups will be conducted. Based on the sampling specified earlier, students will be handed questionnaires to be filled in during break time and be offered a small incentive such some lollies and souvenirs as a token of appreciation. This would encourage the student to participate in the research but at the same time might incur a negative outcome which would be link back to the ethics of research. Due to the fear of Students might be participating in the research due to peer pressure instead of it being a volunteer which will cause the inaccurate outcome of the result produced. This is where the researcher must emphasis to the students that the participation of this research is totally voluntary and they are free to not participate at all. This will guarantee that the students will be true to the answer and not making them up.

The educators, parents and youth workers will be invited to attend one of the focus group sessions which would be held in the community centres at Woden and Belconnen. Three to five sessions for each area would suffice. The reason for the few sessions planned is first to allow the students and the teacher to be familiarise with the setting and to allow sampling error or data collection error that might occur in any of the sessions. This would render the results useless and new data would have to be collected from a different cluster of samples. To minimise or prevent the errors from occurring, the researcher will have to be trained to handle a discussion group without influencing them to any specific ideas.
The youth centres will also be visited for a few respondents, youth and social workers. At this place, interviews will potentially be conducted unless the respondents prefers filling in questionnaires on their own. The interviews will be word for word using the questionnaires prepared to allow consistency of data analysis. Interviews allow the researcher to be more personal to the respondent and this can make the filling in of questionnaires less boring of a task but more interactive.
The malls and skate parks will be visited by researches to gain more samples. These sites are warranted as these will be places adolescents will visit to spend time at. The methods used for these samples will be the same where interviews using questionnaires will be posed. Informal focus group will also be held for the adolescents with some incentive to volunteer. Researcher must make sure that the respondents understand that they are free to not participate in the focus group as it is a voluntary act. The focus group will mainly discuss about respondents family backgrounds and life experiences with gangs, violence, abuse, neglect and expectations from the society.

Research design and sample -700
The sampling would be taken from two clusters, the north side and south side of Canberra. Canberra has three cluster of what is known as neighbourhood to Canberrans. The three are the Southsiders, City Folks and Northsiders. This research would be based solely on the Southsiders and Northsiders because it is where the preschool, primary and the secondary schools are located and families units resides and they are the prime clusters required for sampling purposes.

Stratified sampling would be considered as a prime method for questionnaire, interviews, surveys and observations. The target audience sampled would comprise of educators, social workers, family members and students. The variable in sampling the population would vary for each factor which is discussed from the topic. For example in the factor of ‘childhood maltreatment’, the bulk of the population would be social workers. The factor of ‘neighbourhood disadvantage’ would attract the population of family members. The factor ‘lack of monitoring in adolescents’ will find bulk of its data coming from the educators. Permission would have to be sought from the education and training department of the state prior to the research conducted onsite in schools where the samples are educators and trainers.

The sample required for this research is setup to be precise and unbiased. To do so, the sampling is specified and the acceptance of response results will be monitored to minimise error in sampling. The sample is as follow:
Age Location Percentages
under 18 North side 20%
under 18 South side 20%
19-25 North side 10%
19-25 South side 10%
26-35 North side 5%
26-35 South side 5%
36 - 45 North side 10%
36 - 45 South side 10%
46 and above North side 5%
46 and above South side 5%
Total = 100%
Table: Sample breakdown from cluster
The age groups targeted is deduced from the profession intended. The majority sample from the under 18 would be comprise of adolescents. The 19 to 25 years old would mostly be youth workers, the 26 to 35 years old would be usually being social workers and the educator would be mostly above 35 of age although some will not fall into that category. This deduction is just a rough guide to the reason of this sampling breakdown. Snowball sampling will happen and these samples will be used in case of error in response exceeds beyond expectation.
Questionnaire would be the first approach in this research. The questionnaire would be designed to be given to participants for self-administering. This method saves time and money if well design questions were formatted in the questionnaires (Maxfield and Babbie, 2005). Self-administering questionnaires also allow the participants to complete it on their own with little or no involvement from the researches providing a comfortable environment which would affect the quality of the data received. The disadvantage of this method is that questionnaires might be distributed to non relevant participants which might affect the data collection. In order to prevent this from happening, questionnaires would only be hand delivered or distributed to appropriate individuals and groups which are targeted from the cluster of samples. Surveys would take place using the questionnaires if participants prefer researcher’s involvement. The informed consent form would also be included in the questionnaires as part of the required response in this method.

Besides questionnaire and surveys, focus group would be part of the method used as it allows free flow of points and discussion in a relax environment and it is usually as real as it can get when people discussing an issue with another person which might be of acquaintance. This method would allow more in-depth point of views which would satisfy the generation of qualitative data collection. The participants would be gathered in a comfortable setting and a few small issues would be presented to the group for discussion while the researcher will be given straight order to maintain a passive role in the discussion except to facilitate the issues presented. The issue which the group would mainly focus on would be to hear what they have to say about the three possible onset of delinquency.

Data collection methods and variables – 600
Quantitative methods are used in this research to generate precise data to ensure the specific details and requirements are met as a baseline standard for the data reporting. Certain details such as age, gender, place of residence and etcetera are used as standard variables.
Questions that would be asked in the quantitative surveys would be overlapping in some areas in hopes to gain consistency of the response give by each respondent. The questions design would be covering a range of details which would encompass the following:
Characteristics – i.e. what is your age range?
Self classification – i.e. what social class would you categories yourself in?
Behavioural – i.e. what is your favourite past time?
Attitudes, belief and opinions – i.e. what is the biggest problem facing the young people these days?
Expectations – i.e. how much time should a parent spend with their children each week?
Knowledge – i.e. what percentage of the students in your school are brought up with single parenting?

These details are variables which would be used in the data analysis.
Sample Question: Have you witness a gang fight before?
Age Yes No
under 18 xxx numbers xxx numbers
19-25 xxx numbers xxx numbers
26-35 xxx numbers xxx numbers
36 - 45 xxx numbers xxx numbers
46 and above xxx numbers xxx numbers

Sample Question: Do you know someone who belongs to a gang?
Age Yes No
under 18 xxx numbers xxx numbers
19-25 xxx numbers xxx numbers
26-35 xxx numbers xxx numbers
36 - 45 xxx numbers xxx numbers
46 and above xxx numbers xxx numbers

Note: xxx numbers = numbers of respondent
Table: Measure of variables
As qualitative methods are more flexible which allows researchers to change, adapt and develop the methods used, it is used more frequently in all the surveys, discussion and observation conducted across the board (Alson & Bowles, 1998). The incorporation of qualitative methods in this research allows wide range of responses to the topic of research which generate significant amount of data for analysis and collection.
Focus group is essentially assumed as the most useful method of data collection. This would allow the researcher to obtain massive information quickly. The questions planned to be thrown to the focus group for discussion are:
1. Does childhood maltreatment contribute to violent delinquent? What constitute maltreatment towards a child?
2. Does neighbourhood disadvantage causes onset of juvenile delinquency? What constitute a neighbourhood disadvantages?
3. Does the lack of monitoring of adolescent contribute to the onset of juvenile delinquency?
This method allows the most responses from focus group generating a huge amount of data which would need to be process and deemed relevant for collection. The sample where focus group would be a useful method of data collection is from the educators and workers from the community centres. The data collected will mainly be from the specified sample intended to maximise effectiveness of the sampling protocol.
Qualitative research is different to quantitative approach in terms of not having a specific method which is repeated for each data to achieve results. The research method is subjected to change as needed to adapt to situations and circumstances out in the field (Maxfield and Babbie, 2005). In any case, the design or manipulation of appropriate and ethical questions used in questionnaires and surveys is necessary.
A properly planned research would achieve a far greater result in the planned time frame. These planning would include design of research questions, methods and administration which include prior communication and obtaining permission from appropriate authorities.

A section that describes how the investigator intends to analyse their data – 600
Reliability and validity of the data measurement methods and tools are important. The analysis of data will be done separately for the quantitative research and qualitative research.
After the completion of quantitative data collections, researchers will analyse their raw data and assemble them into data matrix where it contains details which information is sorted into columns, variable and values. The data matrix then is subsequently used for statistical and percentage calculations which is prepared for the analysis of the data.
Based on the research data, the most basic characteristic of the samples would be mapped out via distribution of the variables such as age, gender and location of the respondents.
Age Total Percentages (estimate)
under 18 x 40%
19-25 x 20%
26-35 x 10%
36 – 45 x 20%
46 and above x 10%
Total = 100%
Table: Response transformed into data for the age of respondents

The variables will be coded accordingly to allow the computer to produce results. This would require mass data entry by the researchers and research assistants.
Sample Question: Have witness a gang fight

Response Code
Yes 1
No 2
No response 0

Sample Question: Know someone who belongs to a gang

Response Code
Yes 1
No 2
No response 0
Table: Example of data coding

The quantitative data analysis will be done using the statistical package software SPSS. The statistical package software would be handy for cleaning and transformation of the data which would allow simpler interpretation of the data.
Qualitative data would yield a few other methods of data analyses from the investigator. The analysis of qualitative data should usually occur simultaneously while it is being collected (Alson & Bowles, 1998). This is especially essential when conducting the research as Methods planned to be used are analytic induction and subsequently grounded theory. The reason for analytic induction is to seek out data collected which can be interpreted quickly and resolved. This approach is adapted to seek out the collection of data until no cases of that are inconsistent with a hypothetical explation of occurrence is found (Bryman 2004).
Grounded theory which is developed by Glaser and Strauss is widely used by most researchers.

A section that describes who will conduct the research, how the research will be managed, how the project will be organised as well as a schedule for getting the research completed – 300
I will personally conduct this research with the of an experience supervisor. Most questionnaires will be discussed with my supervisor before putting into words. My supervisor will sit in most of my discussions with the educators and the students concern. After the research data collected, it will be analyse, compare the ration, the probabilities, and differences in risk of certain outcome for different groups. The research will study the timing, frequency and types of maltreatment, negligent and types of maltreatment and outcomes for the children, including the question of whether clusters of children with similar maltreatment experiences ended with the same path into adolescence. The study is to confirm the link between child maltreatment and juvenile offences and repeating offences. Race, sex, timing, frequency and types of maltreatment will be taken into consideration because it is significant predictors of whether maltreated children offended in adolescence.

Research budget and budget narrative – 300
Budget summary
The budget breakdown is summarised as follow:
Item Description Cost
Salary 2 researchers x $40 000 80 000
4 research assistant x (100 hours x $25) 10 000
I.T. supplies 2 Desktops x $3000 6000
2 Laptops or PDA x $2000 4000
Software licensing 7000
Storage devices 3000
Office supplies Paper, stationeries, and etc. 1000
Travel 6000
Publishing 1000
Total = 118 000

a. Personnel:
Funding in the amount of $XXXX is requested to defray the cost of Dr. X's salary for X months. The cruise requires X sea days plus several days travel and preparation. Dr. X will organize and participate in the cruise, submit the requisite NOAA and Ocean Exploration reports, direct the analysis of imagery and samples, and prepare all final manuscripts.

Funding in the amount of $X is request for graduate student salary for X months. The student is critical to the project and will assist Dr. X in the analysis of imagery and samples.

b. Fringe Benefits:
Fringe benefits for the salaries of the personnel listed above equal $XXXX and were calculated at a rate of XX%.

c. Travel:
Two one-way tickets (Dr. X and student) to city X ($XXX x 2 = $XXX) and return tickets from city Y
($XXX x 2 = $XXX), plus X days housing and per diem for each traveler. An additional $X is requested for renting a vehicle for transporting supplies and equipment to and from the ship. Travel costs for Dr. X to travel to city X for presenting preliminary results after the cruise is over are estimated at $XXX (round-trip airfare and X days per diem).

d. Equipment (provide description and estimated cost per unit (if appropriate) for items >= $5000):
Funding in the amount of $XXXX is requested for two laptop computers ($XXXX each), one printer ($XXX), and a digital audio recorder ($XXX).

e. Supplies:
Funding in the amount of $XXXX are requested to cover chemicals ($XXXX); sampling jars and labels ($XXX); specialized collection traps ($XXXX); mini-DV tapes ($XXX); instruments for dissecting organisms ($XXX); and miscellaneous supplies ($XXX).

f. Contractual:
Funding in the amount of $XXXXX is requested for a subcontract with ZZZ Company for lease of a portable multibeam unit and crew to operate the system for a period of XX days during the cruise, and for post-processing the data collected (provide separate sole-source justification if necessary).

Reference

Alan bryman (2004) Social research methods 2nd edition, oxford university press, new york

The Napster’s case study

2009-08-30T09:07:00.001-07:00

Napster’s copyright infringement is an interesting case study. The technological possibilities that it provided is the biggest revolution in the music industry. Instead of going to the shops to buy a record, users could download any MP3 file that anybody from another end of the world had acquired and stored on their computer. Its peer-to-peer file exchange concept was brilliant except for issues of unauthorised distribution and reproduction. It became a legal issue when someone or an industry losses profit from the revolution. It was mentioned that “Napster was just an easy target instead of going after each and every one of its users around the world” (Wired). Regulation on Intellectual Property (IP) such as copyrights of online material seemed to have failed even after Napster was made an example of in a lawsuit and made to shut down. There are still no controls on wide spread online piracy, copyright infringements and illegal file sharing.

In December 1999, Napster became the first ever file sharing business to be held accountable for its user’s copyright infringements. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on behalf of its members filed a lawsuit against Napster for the following reasons:

(1) That its users were directly infringing the plaintiff's copyright;
(2) That Napster was liable for contributory infringement of the plaintiff's copyright; and
(3) That Napster was liable for vicarious infringement of the plaintiff's copyright.

Napster was created by Shawn Fanning in 1999 to allow users to exchange and share MP3 files across the net (McManus, 2003). This service facilitated a peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing service which saw its users directly infringing the copyright status of music that belongs to artistes and performers through illegal reproduction and distribution of copyrighted music. The lawsuit was welcomed by the music industry as Napster was accused for the drop in CD sales (King, 2000). However, this in actual fact was cause by the recession and booming market of video games and DVDs (Forrester Research in August, 2002). RIAA was also accusing Napster for the loss of millions of dollars in the sales of royalty as most of the public were using Napster’s services to download songs instead of buying the original CD.

In defence to the allegations made, Napster brought up a few arguments. One of which is the Betamax Defence precedent from Sony’s Beta tapes. The case stated that new technology such as the video cassette recorder made by Sony should not bear the burden of copyright infringements where it is capable of considerable non-infringing use (Murdoch law journal, Austlii 2004). The court ruled that Betamax Defence does not apply to Napster who had actual knowledge of the infringement of copyright by the users as compared to Sony.

In the case of Napster, the court ordered RIAA to prove that they own copyrights to millions of music files they seek compensation to. There is the other matter for complication where RIAA represented its members only in this lawsuit. It’s like unionism in an industry. Not all artistes and performers are part of the union.
The question persist, who exactly broke which law? Napster could probably be guilty of contributory infringement and vicarious infringement while its users are the infringers of copyright with unauthorised distribution and reproduction for music files. The complication of cyber world such as impracticality and cost has prevented RIAA from going after the users individually.

Napster was directed to monitor the network activity and to stop or prevent any illegal activity that takes place on its servers. Failing to do so, Napster decided to terminate its services and filed for bankruptcy. Napster cessation of its services failed to prevent the other such similar illegal activities that still takes place in the virtual world. New successors such as Kazaa, Limewire, Morpheous, BitComet and other providers stepped up to the platform that Napster left. They are considered illegal as they allow users to share music and movies at no cost. There were no exact regulations or laws enacted after Napster’s case to prevent the similar activities practised by the virtual communities, making Napster’s case a ‘lost cause’ (Johnson, 2006). In reality, the court order given for Napster to stop or prevent illegal activities were not realistic considering the jurisdictional issue between different countries in the virtual world (Douglas, 2004). Take for example, a country such as Malaysia has the ability to stop an infringement of copyright but allows the breach of copyright. Compare this with other countries like the United States that offers greater copyright protection of material that streams through their internet gateways. In Napster’s case, it is inevitable that a company who offers P2P cannot impose complete control over the activities of individuals around the world.

At the recent Society of Motion Picture Television Engineers (SMPTE) meeting, the subject of copyright monitoring was raised when the engineers promoted the idea of time shifting to satisfy the consumer’s demand of such service in the modern day and age. There was clearly no solution to the issue at this present point of time. Intellectual property agenda in the digital millennium has not found its footing worldwide as yet in contrast to the cyberspace and virtual world that has no boundaries which is fully develop. So, where does intellectual property in relation to the virtual world stand?

Technology in the media industry has evolved so much such that interested parties: the recording and film industries, media providers and the government should look into new ways of protecting the industry. The fact that pictures and music are going to be made available to the public whenever they want it in the form of time-shifting and format they need would cause problems such as duplications of media which involves copyright infringements. This would be hard to monitor.

In a journal review by Schonberger and Crowley, regulation between the real world and virtual world might find it hard to seek a common ground. It is difficult to place control over the intellectual property rights between both worlds that overlap. Schonberger and Crowley claim that the most obvious target of the real world regulators would be the providers of the virtual world such as Napster (Schönberger & Crowley, 2006). This would be seen as a massive regulatory failure as it would not only cost in economic grounds such as lawsuits but also impede on creativity and freedom of development in the virtual world.

In recent debates about the Hew Griffiths case, where an Australian resident and a British citizen who never stepped foot in the America was extradited on February 2007 for his involvement in the international software piracy group named Drink or Die. The article from a well circulated industry magazine, Computerworld, has highlighted a few points where it is believed that Intellectual Property (IP) prosecution might have gone borderless in this case. Hew Griffith is the first ever case in which extradition was involved to seek justice for IP rights.

Gary McKinnon, the hacker who entered various U.S. military and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) computers in 2001 and 2002¡í faces a similar verdict - extradition to the US for computer crimes he committed in another country. The U.S government claimed that Gary McKinnon caused $700 000 in damages; which was probably just the cost of setting up the security system that was breached even if nothing was touched or stolen.

So whether the accused is a ‘foreign terrorist’ or merely a copyright infringer, the issue of how we hit upon virtual crime remains the same as it is purely based on location of victimisation. It may be a matter of degree of the crime which perhaps was a right decision for the extradition of someone for the ‘greatest military computer hack of all time’, but not for ‘cracking softwares’. In reference to the two cases mentioned, it looks like the United States might be looking into extraditing even more criminals in the future since most owners of IP rights are based there. There is the cost issue of which country would bear it? Will all the IP criminals end up in the United States prison funded by their tax payers? Regulations for IP in the virtual world might need some lines drawn to bring in parties who should take responsibility for the crimes of their own citizens.

Regulations cannot always prevent infringement of copyrights in the cyberspace or contribute to white collar crime prevention as much as others would like to think.. Regulations cannot do so because there is no direct identification of who owns which item to enforce IP laws in the virtual world. It would be too time consuming and costly for any organisation to track down hackers or illegal activities. This would happen in Napster where most users if charged with illegal downloading, can use the defence of ignorance as they do not know which copyright whose it belong to. Thus, it makes it hard for the copyright infringers to be persecuted. This is an example of the failure of regulation which involves Intellectual Property Rights.

Cyberspace is a big black hole where it contains everything everybody has; and unless users are alerted in their face to the owners of each site and which media is copyrighted, it will be assumed that it is free for grabs. Take for example, if Billy searched for ‘free ringtones’ via search engines and it yielded a few results which then allowed him to download them; Billy wouldn’t know that the ringtones he downloaded came from somebody else in China who extracted it from a CD and placed it online for public access. That said, the cyberspace and its items are almost impossible to manage, allowing people to access what is legal and what is not. This is a result of having certain countries that have no proper law and management of internet procedures. The cyberspace has to have more defined arrangements and management by the virtual community. If and when this happens, that the cyberspace is more managed and regulated by its own community, laws and regulations can be enacted to protect IP rights where piracy, illegal downloading and distribution can be controlled.

Countries such as China, Indonesia and Thailand have very lax rules on copyright infringements which some scholars believe that is the reason for major development in China at this present time. Thailand is in the process of liaising with Malaysia and big corporations such as Microsoft to curb piracy with shared agreements and regulations which has been an issue for a long time in both neighbouring countries (ZD Net Asia, 2007). Thailand is in a dilemma on how to due with this issue when copyrighting and piracy has become a norm embedded in their culture which would be hard to alter.

Countries such as the United States would find it difficult to call for standardisation of law for cyberspace usage as it needs countries across-the-board to be convinced of the need for law enforcement in virtual world.

In conclusion, every individual who uses and benefits from the power of the internet in this new technology world has an interest in preventing cyber crime such as infringing copyrights. The digital age has created a borderless world for large cyber crimes. So, our law enforcement should be synchronized and borderless as well. Every software creator and artiste has a responsibility to protect their copyright and every individual has the right to obtained affordable software to prevent illegal free downloading using peer-to-peer networks. Napster is an example of how the United States government would not tolerate white collar crime in the area of technology. Yet, it seems that there was little benefit from this precedent. Regulations on virtual crime around the world have not really developed to synchronise the laws or usage of the virtual world. There is no governance in this particular world that helps regulators in the real world enforce laws. This proves that the Napster’s case did not impact us at all with the ongoing of other P2P providers.

References
• Attorney General’s Department, http://www.ag.gov.au , viewed 31 January 2008.
• Computer world magazine, http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;317400561 , viewed on 30 January 2008
• Douglas, G BA (Hon), LLB (Hon), Phd (March 2004); Copyright and Peer-To-Peer Music File Sharing: The Napster Case and the Argument Against Legislative Reform, Volume 11
• Borland, J (2000), Court adjourns without decision in Napster case, http://www.news.com/2100-1023-246416.html , CNET News.com
• BBC News, Hacker fears ‘UFO cover-up (2006) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/4977134.stm , BBC News, International version, viewed 6 February 2008
• Johnson, A. (2006) After Napster: Illegal downloads continue, http://media.www.mtsusidelines.com/media/storage/paper202/news/2006/09/28/Features/After.Napster.Illegal.Downloads.Continue-2313711.shtml , viewed 2 February 2008.
• King, B. (2000) Enapster: Musics Friend or Foe?, http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,36961,00.html , viewed 30 January, 2008
• McManus, S (2003) "Napster: A History," http://www.sean.co.uk/a/musicjournalism/var/historyoffilesharing.shtm , viewed 2 February 2008.
• Schönberger, V & Crowley, J (2006) Napster’s Second Life?: The Regulatory Challenges of Virtual Worlds, Northwestern University School of Law, Northwestern University Law Review, Vol. 100, No.4, U.S.A.
• ZD Net Asia (2007), http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/business/0,39044229,62009847,00.htm , viewed 20 February 2008

Sykes and Matza’s techniques of neutralisation – Domestic violence

2009-08-30T09:05:00.001-07:00

Sykes and Matza’s techniques of neutralisation – Domestic violence

Domestic violence is a complex social problem. Often we noticed how abusive individuals sink into denial, externalise blame and play down abusive situation or injuries. Society often sees these actions as excuses but these actions could also be known as the neutralisation theory proposed by these offenders.

The neutralisation theory or drift theory by Matza and Sykes explains how individuals or delinquents go back and forth between legitimate and illegitimate behaviours. The delinquents see abiding to the law from a different perspective and are able to justify their illegitimate behaviour when going against the norm of society. The delinquents ultimately set forth the argument about choice which they did not have in committing illegitimate behaviours thus in some cases, are able to avoid punishment. There are five Techniques of Neutralisation which was classified by Matza and Sykes.

The first technique is the denial of responsibility where the delinquents propose that they are the true victim of the situation and externalised the blame to someone else who caused them to be forced into the circumstances beyond their control (Sykes and Matza, 1957). There are a few cases in law which provocation is used as a source of defence although not all as cases are screened through case by case basis by the trial judge (Bronitt and McSherry, 2005). A drunk husband came home and repeatedly strikes his wife, when arrested for domestic violence explains that his wife had always looked down on him and calls him names to humiliate (emasculate) him in front of their friends. This caused him to be depressed and upset which lead him to drinking, becoming drunk and abusing his wife. The husband claims that he was provoked by his wife to such rage and anger which caused him to drink, become drunk and consequently taking out the rage and anger from humiliation back on her.

The second technique is the denial of injury where the delinquents assume that their act did not cause any harm whatsoever or permanent damage. They are normally very certain that there is no permanent loss or suffering which would impede on the victim (Sykes and Matza, 1957). This is normally seen in cases of child abuse where the parents ‘discipline’ the child which includes verbal abuse and threats. These delinquents when questioned normally motion that the child is not physically hurt and they will eventually ‘grow out of it’ (Sykes and Matza, 1957). The delinquents would usually disagree with the norm of the society or opinion on child abuse as they believe otherwise on child abuse. They tend to react in a way to question ‘what is the big deal? Nobody is hurt anyway!’ This is a grey area in law and it’s normally impossible to be charged as the action can be seen as morally wrong but not legally wrong. It is also a task itself to gain physical evidence for child abuse.

The third technique would be the denial of the victim. The delinquents view this as retribution of the victims action thus claims that there is no real victim as they deserved the circumstances (Sykes and Matza, 1957). A husband brutally raped his wife and repeatedly struck her. In his defence, he stated that she cheated on him with another man and he believes that she enjoys rough sex anyway; thus he was only trying to please her and avenge his marriage. In his believe, the husband made his wife who was a victim appear to be the guilty party instead. In this technique, the delinquent either denies the existence of a victim or convert the victim to the guilty party instead to neutralise the situation.

Condemnation of the condemners is the fourth technique mentioned by Sykes and Matza. In this technique, the delinquent tries shifting the centre of attention from them towards others (Sykes and Matza, 1957). Despite the fault, the condemners are seen as hypocrite instead. For example; a child being severely beaten repeatedly for misbehaving by the mother is caught up for child abuse after the teachers reported her in upon discovering massive bruises on the child’s body. In her defence to neutralise the situation, she launches into a speech about every parent would have beaten their child at least once in their lifetime and claims that the bible said to ‘spare the rod, spoil the child’. She claims that by her disciplining her child, at least he would turn out a better citizen then the rest of the street junkies which their parents would probably avoided stern discipline at home. In her action, instead of focusing solely on her wrong doing, she blames the rest of the society and parents who does not practise discipline at home causing social issues such as homeless people and drug addicts.

The last technique is appealing to higher loyalties. In this technique, the rules and laws of the larger society are normally masked by the demands and allegiance from other in their action (Sykes and Matza, 1957). Examples of the mother of the abused child seeking the support from her husband in her believe to discipline their child as they wish to produce a good citizen. In this scenario, she is appealing to her husband whom she seeks loyalty from. She believes that he, as her husband must always take side with her and her actions. There is a conflict here where relationships and law are seen as two separate matters and by having her husband siding her, it does not mean that she will be spared from the criminal justice process for child abuse charges.

In these techniques of neutralisation, the delinquents are trying to justify their actions which defy the norms of the society. The society demands conformity and the delinquents are not immune from it. The justification of their actions which includes denial, externalise blame and playing down of situation or injuries doesn’t excuse them from domestic violence and being dealt with by the criminal justice system. However these techniques are frequently seen in domestic violence case and widely practise throughout society not just in domestic issues.

In summary, the neutralization theory is the homeostasis of personal belief and morality conflict between conventional behaviour and illegitimate behaviour. There is the occasionally drift between illegal and conventional behaviour by the delinquents (Sykes and Matza, 1957). The techniques and justification used by the delinquents includes denial; both of injury and of the victim, condemnation of the condemners, and the appeal to higher loyalties. However, the society demand conformity and promotes criminal justice system to deal with these delinquents.

References

Reading 9.2 from the book of Readings CCJ27; Sykes, Gresham M. and David Matza (1957) “Techniques of Neutralisation: A Theory of Delinquency,” American Sociological Review, 22 (December): 664-70

Bronitt, Simon and McSherry, Bernadette (2005) Principles of Criminal Law 2nd edition, Lawbook Co. Riverwood, New South Wales.

Viewed on the 11 October 2007; Sykes and Matza’s Techniques of Neutralisation, http://www.hewett.norfolk.sch.uk/CURRIC/soc/crime/sykes_ma.htm

Viewed on the 11 October 2007; Learning Theories of Crime, http://faculty.ncwc.edu/TOConnor/301/301lect10.htm

The debate

2009-08-30T09:04:00.000-07:00

Assessment item 1:

A discussion between 3 theorists in regards to Macquarie Fields Riot 2005 in the Workaholic Lounge located at Heaven Street.

In the present time, it is noted how different parties react differently to social disorders. The Macquarie Fields Riots is a perfect case to be debated by the three theorists who strives in different perspectives in crime and punishment for social disorders. We have Beccaria who believes fully in social contract and the need for criminal justice system and the government, Durkheim whose specialty is the anomie and strain theory and Lombroso the author of the book The Criminal Man.

Let us be enlightened by their opinions on the Macquarie Fields Riot which took place in February 2005.

Lombroso: According to the theory of evolution, these people in Macquarie Fields could have their genealogy traced back to history of violence and criminality, although there is the possibility that because of their disadvantage and lack of nutrition and chemical imbalances which influences their mind causes them to be violent. Their disadvantages did not help with their moulding of characteristic which fit into society, what more if they inherited the criminal genes from their family line.

Beccaria: Pardon me, but their disadvantages mention has nothing to do with violence.

Lombroso: But Mr. Beccaria, if a bear were made to live like a rat, it is almost impossible… It is in the genes and chemical changes that people behave the way they are. If they have criminality or violent genes in them, they will manifest themselves under the appropriate conditioning such as what happened in Macquarie Fields.

Beccaria: In this day and age, individuals choose to live in places or country by their own accord. In Australia, there are rules and regulations that help the society to feel safe and comfortable. There are social contracts in placed for a country such as Australia. If they want to live there, they would have to abide by the laws as pledged by their citizens.

Durkheim: Could this whole situation just be a theory of anomie and strain where deregulation took placed when the law and the society did not agree on matters. The boys in Macquarie Fields are blaming the police for intrusion of their personal liberty for years where they are harassed by authorities for living being at disadvantage.

Beccaria: It is not about disadvantages! Like Mr. Carr said that there are lots of people who were brought up at disadvantage but they do not go around attacking police or starting riots. They choose to live in this society therefore they have to agree upon the laws and regulations determined by the society for the society. They could move to countries such as Iraq or some other places where violence is accepted as a cause of action but not in Australia.

Durkheim: You can’t deny that the authorities are partly to be blamed for causing this situation to flair up. It probably doesn’t involve the government as a whole but the law itself for example of how the police officers stereotyping the residences thus harassing them in unapproved methods by the law. And because they authorities are breaking their own law, the residences are just fighting for survival by their own understanding of ways to revenge or fight back to survive.

Beccaria: The police are doing their job by making sure that the public is safe. They are always allegations and rumours on the authorities.

Durkheim: Does it mean achieving public safety by harassing the residences at Macquarie Fields or having a car chase resulting death of a teenager?

Beccaria: The car chase was an accident resulted in the death of teenagers who failed to comply with the police orders after committing a crime. We definitely cannot assume that the authorities harass the residence as that is just an allegation. But we are certain that the police would have reacted to prevent further crime that would harm the society and residences by arresting suspects and offenders. Deterrence is certainly more effective than trying to patch things up after a crime occurrence.

Lombroso: I have to agree with you as there is definitely no reason for punishing certain people as it is the genes that are affecting them to criminality. To deter them from criminal acts, there is a need for education and reformation in their society which the government and authority should adopt instead of violence.

Beccaria: Genes should not be part of any influence to a person’s criminal activity or it is impossible to use that as a defence in court of law.

Lombroso: If a child should have criminality genes in them; they would be succumb to negative forces. If they have a strong positive character gene, no matter where they are brought up even in a crime spree neighbourhood, they will not be influenced. This is proven through the twin studies.

Beccaria: The external factors such as bad parenting or social influence should be the one to be blame for a person’s violent or criminal behaviour. With that said, a person is made to be able to make choices between the good and bad.

Durkheim: Individuals may commit crimes to protect a group they belong to sometimes. It is factors like the fall of societal norms or corruption in society which forces an individual to commit the crime.

Lombroso: Yes, but that does not discount the theory where genetics play as a major role in the criminal act. The external factors are considered as a trigger which activates the bad gene.

Beccaria: Look, a child doesn’t just inherit genes and be born as criminals. It is their upbringing by their family which shape their character. There is also the factor in society that shape the child’s mind and attitude.

Lombroso: I still stand by my genetics theory and as I said, external factors are just trigger for the manifestation of the violent or criminal acts.

Beccaria: I’m sure you do. Then again the only way to suppress or minimise criminal activities is to impose appropriate punishments. This method act as a prevention for crime as it plays on the human instinct to avoid pain, suffering, humiliation or discomfort.

Durkheim: It really doesn’t work if there is a weakness in the criminal justice system such as what happened at Macquarie Fields.

Lombroso: What weakness are you referring to?

Durkheim: The individualism of the authorities. I’m sure the power of discretion played a large role in the law enforcement which resulted in actions taken being one that reflect on individuals from the authority that might not be compliant to the laws and regulation of the state. This causes strain in the society which believes in the law that protects them.

Beccaria: The criminal justice system is created to maintain social control, deter and control crime. It also administers punishment to those who violate the law. Individualism has no place in the criminal justice system as it is created by the government for the people.

Durkheim: But I am sure that the criminal justice system is operated by individuals.

Beccaria: Do not forget then that the individuals are controlled by the law and legislations put in place for proper procedures and enforcement methods.

Durkheim: How then does the criminal justice system deter violence and criminal activities?

Beccaria: The government put up more laws and legislations and stringent punishment but reasonable as a measure to deter criminal activities. No person is willing to sacrifice their freedom in place of others (Beccaria, Original 1767, Reprint 1994).

Lombroso: Punishment doesn’t necessary stop crime activities. Criminals need to be identified and be stopped before they strike.

Durkheim: Prevention?

Lombroso: Yes. They can be identified. Their actions can be predicted and prevention can be in place to stop crime and violence. Criminals can be identified by their appearances such as facial features, tattoo, love sex or orgies and etcetera. By knowing that, we can stop criminals from roaming in the society.

Beccaria: I would hardly think that as an effective way of prevention of crime as we might be seeing over crowded prisons around the world with that hypothesis. Moreover, nobody can be labelled a criminal until they are proven guilty of a crime committed.

Durkheim: What do you both think about this Professor Homel critic? He is saying that rigid law and order would not make a difference in this instant.

Beccaria: Law and order is everything. An established Criminal Justice System is the key to safety and comfort in a society. I think what Professor Homel citing was just about how the community in Macquarie Fields have to establish trust with the police. They have to accept that the law and government are interested in their welfare, safety and comfort.

Durkheim: If you noticed, most of these people in Macquarie Fields were brought up at disadvantage. Most of them were raised in a home with only one parent. Their violent behaviour could be assumed to be an accepted norm in their environment for survival.

Lombroso: There is definitely the pretence of criminal gene for an individual to conform to the negative environment that easily.

Durkheim: That could be true but it is easier to understand how the society the dwell in influence and mould their characteristics.

Lombroso: In the twin study, they took a pair of twins and separate them. One of a twin who is from a criminal background was placed in a good home but grew up committing crime which proves that social influence almost has nothing to do with creating a criminal.

Durkheim: But the twin study is not an accurate reflection of the population of the world. It is just a hypothesis made with a specific sample of studies performed in a specific area. A child brought up in a run down society where being part of a clan or group is vital for survival would inherit all the negative influence in this case of Macquarie Fields. The child would accept that it is a norm to be violent in expressing fear and anger towards the authorities.

Beccaria: I guess that the majority rules in a society settings but there is also a cost for such norm accepted thus the society which is the country in a bigger picture despises such violent activities which laws against it to ensure comfort and safety. The law which is backed by the country would try to put a stop to their violence.

Durkheim: But as Professor Homel mentioned that “capital punishment is a very harsh penalty for stupid kids who do stupid things”.

Beccaria: That is true as said. In a sense, I’m sure the government has tried helping these kids. They have financial support with tax payer’s money, community support from community centres, government housing, employment assistance and etcetera. Yet, they have proven their ungratefulness and lack of regards for their society in having the ‘pity party’ on their ‘disadvantages’. With that I’m sure any government or country would be frustrated and impose harsher lessons on them especially if they threaten the safety and comfort of a society.

Lombroso: Putting the criminals and violent people away is definitely a positive step in ensuring public safety.

Beccaria: It is not just putting them away. It is making sure that they understand the social contract of their society and the consequences of breaking the contract.

Durkheim: This is done through punishments?

Beccaria: Yes. The Criminal Justice System caters for reformation of an offender. This includes the application of laws and regulations that imposes punishment which serves as a reinforcement of the social contract of a country in which the offenders live in.

Fear of crime stats

2009-08-30T09:02:00.000-07:00

Abstract
The fear of crime is a widely discussed topic among criminal justice researchers. Fear of crime can be related to many variables such as education level, gender, environment, age, believes, culture and so forth. This report presents research on some of the variables that affect the fear of crime. Fear of crime presents itself in two genders on different levels. This is due to the fact that fear of crime is affected by variables such as environment, prior victimisation and age. With a set of preset questions, researchers conducted face to face interviews using a sample of volunteers to explore the relationship between variables to the fear of crime. The outcome provided some useful results to support the study on how males and females experience the fear of crime at different levels and prove how the variables affect the fear of crime in individuals.

Introduction
The hypothesis such as fear is related to gender has been discussed freely by many researches. Male ego and masculine machismo prevents male from being intimidated by the fear of crime. They are more likely to believe that they are invincible and are able to intimidate attackers when assaulted (Baur 2007; Stanko 1994; Sutton & Farrall 2005). Females tend to view themselves as more vulnerable to sexual assaults because of the perception that they are physically incapable to defend themselves (Baur 2007; Sutton & Farrall 2005).

Fear of crime affects society in many ways with some potentially severe fearfulness which result in self imprisonment in their own home or paranoia which cause other health issues. Research shows that variables such as gender, age, prior victimisations, environment, cultures and many others may have contributed in some way or another to the fear of crime in society. True or false, empirical research such as this current report helps in accepting or rejecting hypothesises. Thus the aim of this research focuses on proving that variables such as gender, age and prior victimisation does contributes to the fear of crime. The research uses sample of residents mostly from the Mt. Gravatt in Brisbane.

Literature review
The gender relationship with fear of crime
Many researches have found those females are more prone to the fear of crime (Baur 2007; Schafe, Huebner, Bynum 2006; Sutton & Farrall 2005). Females view themselves as physically more vulnerable compare to males and are afraid towards certain conditioning of situations (Baur 2007; Sutton & Farrall 2005). Being alone in their home and walking on the street during the day or night seems to agitate them. Males however seems to be less fearful in terms of crime at most times except for being out at night on the streets as their perceive safety showed a significant amount of anxiousness (Baur 2007; Sutton & Farrall 2005).

The debate on if female are more prone to fear of crime then male still goes on as the two different genders react to things differently. Females tend to flee from crime and prevent the opportunity for a criminal act to occur; whereas, males have the tendency to challenge danger thus more prone to criminal activities and put themselves in harms way (Sutton & Farrall 2005). The fear or vulnerability of female towards sexual assaults and robberies are on the high of the scale; whereas males tend to portray their masculine ego which pushes them to be less fearful toward criminal activities directed at them with the belief that they are capable to protect themselves (Baur 2007; Stanko 1994; Sutton & Farrall 2005).

The association of age with the fear of crime
It is argued that senior people are usually the less prone to crime compared to a younger people (Fattah 1993; Sanderson 2006). The actual criminal act upon them is far from the frequent fear of victimisation expressed by those ages above 65 years (Fattah 1993). Older people who encounter crime, generally suffer from some sort of domestic violence or assault. This is due to the fact that most seniors are financially dependent on others or living with family members who might see them as burden resulting in financial or career abuse that sometimes result in assault as well from their carers (Keys & Brown 2006; Marianne 1992). Older people live alone and this contributes to the fear they perceived. The fear of crime tends to spike high in their perception towards being vulnerability and susceptible to crime acts (Fattah 1993).

Another discussion that is raised is how older females are more prone to fear of crime. It could be the result of prior victimisation or cultural upbringing of fear of crime reinforced; and in this day and age where crime is everyday news (Sanderson 2006). The older generation do then to lack faith in the society and the criminal justice system to protect them and this contributes to their fear for safety (Fattah 1993; Sanderson 2006). With that said, this doesn’t mean that all the older people are prone to fear of crime. The influence of community based activities and groups cultivate trust and allow the elderly to build social networks which abandon the isolation they might be in (Fattah 1993).

Prior victimisation victims
Prior victimisation causes people to be more paranoid and prone to fear of crime (Robinson 1999, Baur 2007). Individuals who experienced crime would be more careful or take precautions such as installing dead locks on their home doors. Victims of sexual assault would be more fearful in walking the streets of their neighbourhood alone. This fear is justifiable but unhealthy. Steps such as Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) taken is intended to curb crimes from happening and improving public perception of safety in areas of high risk towards crimes (Lawlink NSW 1999).

Vicarious victimisation where people finding out or hear about a crime that happened to somebody they know is the biggest culprit in inhibiting fear beyond rational most times (Baur 2007). Fear of such might sometimes causes certain people to lock themselves in their property, cut of networks with neighbourhood as a result of paranoia and causing health issues (Baur 2007, Grabosky 1995). Media plays a role in contributing to vicarious victimisation where frequent report of crime activities being blown into proportion causing panic and unnecessary chaos in certain neighbourhoods or society (Grabosky 1995).

Research methodology
We classify research methods in various ways; however one of the most common distinctions is between qualitative and quantitative research methods. Quantitative methods involve science and experiment but qualitative method involve observation and question survey. Qualitative research methods are designed to help researchers understand people and the social and cultural contexts within which they live. Certain qualitative method example filling in questionnaire and interviews is not lie proof thus result yield is not accurate.

This research is designed to explore hypothesis of if gender, age and prior victimisation are related to the fear of crime. There are numerous methods for this research to be conducted. The most popular method which most researchers normally use is filling in of questionnaires by volunteers. Although this method helps the prevention of probing from surveyor and allows privacy to the participants, it causes issues such as surveys not completed appropriately, giving false answers or voided by less serious participants.

Another method would be mail surveys which would achieve a larger sample size from bigger geographical area. This method as well has its down side as the responses are usually slow or non-existent and time consuming. Most times, questionnaires are often misinterpreted which would cause the results to be highly inaccurate. The anonymity of respondent would pose other issues such as the accurateness of sample involved in the survey. Phone interview are costly and time consuming. Potential participants are usually more reluctant to discuss such sensitive topic over the phone and the potential of inappropriate responses are higher as participants could be disturbed by the issue raised in the surveys.

Indeed, there is many ways for this research to be conducted, but face to face interviews were preferred over other methods of interview for this particular research. Reasons for the method include the sensitivity of the topic which the surveyor could monitor the participant’s reaction and also have higher success rate in gaining completed surveys in a shorter amount of time.

The Griffith University research student conducted interviews, where the participants comprised of adults over the age of 18 who were mostly family members and friends of researchers. These were mostly face to face approach with a random sampling group. The probability of random sampling allows most potential participants to be involved.

The research yields the largest frequency for participants age less than or equal to 24 years old. This sample which is made up of friends and family members were expected from the researchers when the method of random sampling was adopted. The majority of respondent has an education level of at least a year 12 high school as well. This helped in the intellectual level for participants understanding the survey technicality of the survey.

As potential participants are approached, they are presented with an ‘information sheet’ which supplies information and reason for the survey. They are explained to that participation to the fear of crime survey is voluntary, thus consent is indicated by the completion of the form.

Most of the questions on the questionnaire were fixed-alternative form to allow easy coding of results. This method also minimises potential errors from participants.

Results / findings

Hypothesis 1: Is gender associated to fear of crime?

Group Statistics

Gender N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean
Fear scale Female 486 12.6667 3.86045 .17511
Male 427 9.9813 3.82905 .18530

The empirical research has given the results of gender is associated with the fear of crime. It rejects the null hypothesis as the std. mean is less then ∑=1.

Independent Samples Test

Levene's Test for Equality of Variances t-test for Equality of Means
F Sig. t df Sig.
(2-tailed) Mean Difference Std. Error
Difference 95% Confidence Interval of the Difference
Lower Upper
Fear scale Equal variances assumed .156 .693 10.527 911 .000 2.68540 .25509 2.18477 3.18603
Equal variances not assumed 10.533 897.746 .000 2.68540 .25495 2.18503 3.18578

The probability of type 1 error in this case is less than .05 which signifies females are significantly more afraid of crime than their male counterparts. The probability of type 1 error rejects the null hypothesis where gender is not associated with the fear of crime. We find that female are more worried about personal safety and feels that crime these days are more serious than the television. The chi-square test below shows the error of .000 committed in column ‘Asymp.Sig (2-sided)’.

Chi-Square Tests

Value df Asymp. Sig. (2-sided) Exact Sig. (2-sided) Exact Sig. (1-sided)
Pearson Chi-Square 79.024(b) 1 .000
Continuity Correction(a) 77.591 1 .000
Likelihood Ratio 81.177 1 .000
Fisher's Exact Test .000 .000
Linear-by-Linear Association 78.937 1 .000
N of Valid Cases 912

• Computed only for a 2x2 table
• 0 cells (.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 91.09.
Hypothesis 2: Is age associated to the fear of crime?

Correlations

Age Fear scale
Age Pearson Correlation 1 .190(**)
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 896 896
Fear scale Pearson Correlation .190(**) 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 896 922
** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

The hypothesis of age is associated to fear of crime is accepted according to the pearson correlation ∑=1. This rejects the null hypothesis of age is associated to the fear of crime.

Hypothesis 3: Is prior victimisation associated with fear of crime?

Correlations

Victim of crime ever in lifetime? Fear scale
Victim of crime ever in lifetime? Pearson Correlation 1 .119(**)
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 909 908
Fear scale Pearson Correlation .119(**) 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 908 922
** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

From this result above, prior victimisation is associated to the fear of crime according to the pearson correlation ∑=1. This rejects null hypothesis of is prior victimisation associated with the fear of crime.

worry about property collapse * Gender Crosstabulation

Gender Total
Female Male
worry about property collapse 1.00 Count 216 200 416
% within Gender 44.4% 47.6% 45.9%
2.00 Count 270 220 490
% within Gender 55.6% 52.4% 54.1%
Total Count 486 420 906
% within Gender 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%

Conclusion
From the research, the results concluded from the empirical research rejects the entire null hypothesis. This means that fear of crime is related to the factors of gender, age and prior victimisation. However, the research sample is mostly confined to a suburb in Brisbane. The survey if expended to other regions could gain more significant result as groups of people are usually influence socially. Example of influences being a factor in successful survey sampling is that if a few household in a neighbourhood is fearful of burglary, the neighbourhood would normally be more prone to the fear of crime in that nature as well as influenced by the few household.

Research such as how fear of crime is related to different gender would be a useful study however, the question of socially desirable response or truth is a debate on if research data are reliable seems to still come around. Do respondents tell the truth or let their ego of a ‘socially desirable response’ (Sutton & Farrall 2005) impair (skew) the research results.

But, the reason as to fear of crime is related to variables such as gender, age and prior victimisation has much implication. Reviews from other researcher’s literatures shows that explanation for the connection between the stated variables tested in this research and fear of crime is related to human behaviour, influences and experiences in life. Humans are governed by their thought process which varies as they reach different ages and classical conditioning of events that happened to individuals. The gender different as well causes individuals to be brought up in different ways where male is always the physically stronger species compared to female contributes to the fear of crime.

Reference
Baur J. (2007) Fear of crime: The impact of age, victimisation, perceived vulnerability to victimisation and neighbourhood characteristics; Australasian Centre for Policing Research 2007

Dr Sanderson J. (2006) Fear of crime; Literature review for the Queensland Government Seniors Task Force; Research and Prevention Division, Crime and Misconduct Commission

Professor Fattah E.; Victimisation and Fear of Crime among the Elderly: A possible link? [Unedited. Paper as presented at Conference of 23-25 February 1993]; School of Criminology; Simon Fraser University

Robinson B. (1999) What You Don't Know Can Hurt You: Perceptions and Misconceptions of Harmful Behaviors Among Criminology and Criminal Justice Students. Western Criminology Review 2(1). [Online]. Available: http://wcr.sonoma.edu/v2n1/robinson.html.

Schafer J., Huebner B. & Bynum T. (2006) Fear of crime and criminal victimisation: Gender-based contrasts, Journal of Criminal Justice 34 (2006) 285-301, Elsevier

Stanko E. (1994) The commercialism of women's fear of crime; Beunel University, United Kingdom; International victimology : selected papers from the 8th International Symposium : proceedings of a symposium held 21-26 August 1994; Sumner C., Israel M., O'Connell M. and Rick Sarre (eds.); Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology, 1996

Sutton M. & Farrall S. (2005) Gender, socially desirable responding and the rear of crime; Are women really more anxious about crime? , British Journal of Criminology

Lawlink NSW (2007) Retrieved 2 August 2007, from http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au

Debate whether judges make new laws & whether they should have the power to do so.

2009-08-30T09:01:00.001-07:00

Judges are able to make new laws thanks to the common law system. The common law is a system of law in which the courts decision forms a binding statement and represents how statutory law is represented. The system is heavily based on the idea of “precedent” or “case law”, that is, judgments from previous cases constitutes a source of legal and therefore binding rules. As time passes and new cases are brought to court, judges are thus in a position to not only interpret the law to suit the situation but also refer to previous similar cases for judgments so as to come to a ruling.

Although this means that courts should base decisions of current cases based on previous decisions of similar cases, there may still be a situation in which no similar case has ever been brought up before (Chisholm and Nettheim, 2002). A judge would then be required to interpret any available statute and then make a judgment. His judgment would then be the precedent for similar cases that might come in future. In effect, his judgment constitutes a new legal rule.

In the case of Mabo and Others v. Queensland (No. 2) (1992) 175 CLR, the judges decided that the Meriam people, who were here before the English settlement in Australia had native title over the disputed land and rejected the notion of terra nullias. The judgment gave the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 a proper standing in the Mabo case. As a result, the Native Title Act of 1993 was passed. In this instance, we can see how the judges threw out a long held legal view that contradicted with the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 and finally culminated in the making new laws.

Should judges be given the power to make new laws in accordance with their rulings? In my opinion, the power of interpreting laws should still be left to the judges. There are many instances where statutory law is so ambiguous that the right interpretation by a learned authority is imperative to solve disputes or effect public and private sanctions. Furthermore, the system of common law allows for situations where the law is ambiguous be met with precedent so that future cases can be resolved in the same manner as previous similar cases.

Judges therefore, do make new laws and we have seen how the system has worked so far and justice served for all. Each case in the court needs to be heard on its own merits. This is where judges are put on the spot and will have to be discerning as every case is different and every outcome should be relevant to the case. More importantly, the ruling on each case constitutes a binding legal rule that is applicable to all future similar cases.

In conclusion, I agree that the role of a judge is to interpret laws, but in the process they make relevant laws and judgement to individual cases heard. This is particularly important to accommodate the constantly evolving common law in regards to the current era.

Reference List

CHISHOLM, R. & NETTHEIM, G. (2002) Understanding Law Australia, LexisNexis.

WARD, I. & STEWART, R. G. (2006) Politics One, Australia, Palgrave Macmillan.

Did Australia become legally and politically independent on 1 January 1901?

2009-08-30T08:56:00.000-07:00

CCJ 13 Essay Question: Did Australia become legally and politically independent on 1 January 1901? If not, why was this the case – what factors continued to tie Australia to Britain, and when was independence actually achieved (or when will it be achieved)? In your answer address any important steps in the process from colonization toward an independent legal system (such as particular legislation or cases, or changes in the application of precedent) affecting this process.

Introduction
The question of whether Australia became legally and politically independent on 1 January 1901 is unclear and requires a close consideration of factors that continued to tie Australia to Britain, and steps in the process of colonization toward what can now be called Australia’s independent political system. In assessing this question, one must turn first to the British arrival on Australia’s shores in 1787. The doctrine of terra nullius was applied almost immediately since the Aboriginals did not have written laws or hierarchy or ruling in their ways of living, and with that, the English law was brought to settle in Australia. This paper argues that the year 1901 ought to be considered the year when Australia started its journey to independence. However, history proves somewhat confusing, and whilst Australia underwent minimal political and legislative changes, it incurred massive side effects in the process of attaining independence. One may even go so far as to suggest that the British seemingly ‘baby-sat’ Australia from its toddler through to teenage years – Britain slowly releasing different areas to the Australian government’s control throughout an extended period – until finally, Australia reached adult-hood.

The Journey
Although it is difficult to pinpoint precisely the time at which independence took place, it is certain that Australia became independent. However, there is not one day or date that anybody could point to. There was no declaration of independence. There was no constitutional amendment that established Australia's independence and national sovereignty.
Many believed Australia achieved independence and sovereignty gradually and not immediately following federation in 1901. From 1901 to 1926 Australia was a self-governing colony within the nation of the British Empire. Britain still had control over Australia's international relations, and Australian parliaments could not make laws repugnant to Britain. Australians at that time considered themselves to be British citizens.

The Governor-General and State Governors were agents of the British government. In respect of Australia, the Queen only acted on the advice of the British government. Neither the Australian Prime Minister, nor State Premiers, could offer direct advice to the Queen.

The following factors contributed to Australia’s legal independence:
• Independence for the executive arm of the Commonwealth Government was achieved through the Imperial Conferences of 1926 and 1930 and confirmed by the Imperial Statute of Westminster 1931.

• Independence for the Commonwealth Parliament was largely achieved through the Imperial Statute of Westminster 1931; however, it was only adopted formally in Australia in 1942, backdated to 3 September 1939, via the Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1942.

• Although the precise date is unclear, Australia became recognised by the international community as a nation apart from the British Empire some time between the end of World War I and the end of World War II.

• Independence for the judiciary in respect of Federal matters was largely achieved in 1968 through the Privy Council Act 1968.

• In 1975, all appeals from the High Court to the Privy Council were abolished, with one very minor exception, via the Privy Council (Appeals from the High Court) Act 1975. Although appeals to the Privy Council from State Supreme Courts continued until 1986, since 1978 the decisions of the Privy Council in these matters were not binding on the High Court of Australia.

• 3 March 1986 Independence for the six State governments was achieved with the Australia Act 1986. Ironically, the Australian Federation ceased to be a colony decades before the States as a result of the Statute of Westminster.
Following these events, it could be suggested that Australia has attained complete sovereignty. While there is some argument about the actual date of Australia's complete sovereignty, there can be no doubt that it has been fully achieved since 3 March 1986 when Royal Assent was given to the Australia Acts.

Furthermore, Australia is now recognised by other nations in the international community and is a party to many international treaties. For example, Australia is party to the ‘United Nations Human Rights Council’, ‘Convention on the Rights of the Child’ and many other treaties. This reaffirms Australia’s independent status within the international community and this is important as Australia reign in sovereignty with other nations.

Australia is fully capable of running its own internal affairs through its own governments operating under its own Constitution. In the Constitution, it gives power to the Parliament to make laws for the peace, order and good government of the Commonwealth. This is important as Australia inherit powers for the protection of its own and to control the finances, external and internal affairs, military, trade and commerce, powers of judiciary, immigration and etc. Whereas in another section of the constitution, the High Court of Australia is given the judicial powers.

The Constitution was an important step; symbolically and legally making Australia independent from England. Australia has proven its capability so far in since the legal and political independence achieved in 1986.

Factors continued to tie Australia to Britain
Despite the fundamental changes to the Australian government and legal institutions described above, the fact is that Australia is still subject to the British monarchy. The head of Australia is still the Queen - who is from Britain - and her representative who is appointed in Australia has powers to pull a double dissolution anytime with our parliaments.
Although Australia gained independence from the Britain in 1901, Australia is still a Constitutional Monarchy State. The Queen, Australia’s monarch or sovereign, is also the head of state. In keeping with the Westminster tradition, the Constitution provides that the Queen shall be represented in Australia by the Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia and the Governors of the six States, who exercise the constitutional powers of the Sovereign. The Governor-General corresponds to the Governor of a State and the Prime Minister corresponds to the Premier. According to convention amongst the Governors, the Governor-General is treated as the first among equals, but has no duties or powers to control or supervise.
Constitutional conventions which evolved for hundred years in England and which are accepted or evolved further in Australia have developed to ensure that, in practice, the system works as a representative democracy which responds to the will of the community as expressed through elections. Due to its nature, the established constitutional conventions are not set out in the Constitution or other acts of Parliament but they are so uniformly followed and expected to be followed that they are binding in practise, even though the courts will not generally enforce them directly.

Independence
Through the enactment of the Australia Act, the commonwealth parliament and Australian law clearly acknowledged that there is no lack of independence. The states were given full power to make laws for their own following the responsible government ways even when those laws had extra- territorial operations.

The Australia Act completed the move of the states from colonies to sovereign independent political entities that were part of a federation, subject only to the commonwealth constitution and to having no international functions or status.

Commonwealth of Australia is technically a creation of the British Imperial Parliament through the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900 (IMP) applied by paramount force to Australia even though Federation in 1901 is often assumed as the moment of “independence”. There was uncertainty as to the applicability of British Imperial laws on the Commonwealth of Australia.

In 1865, the Colonial Law Validity Act (CLVA) was passed to eliminate limitations that were placed on the law-making powers of the early governors and Legislative Councils. The purpose of CLVA was to remove inconsistency between the Colonial and Imperial legislation at that time. It was to counter act the issue of repugnancy where any colonial law contradictory to the provisions of imperial statute of the British colony was override. The Act nullified several judgment of a South Australian judge was known for his notorious judgments on repugnancy of South Australian laws against English laws. But instead of having the CLVA to give opportunity to Australia for independence in the legal sense, the CLVA seemed to have proved that the British government more supreme.

The Statute of Westminster which was passed in1931 overrode the Colonial Law Validity Act. This is in result of the Imperial Conference of 1930 pursuing the abolishment of the supremacy of British parliament over the Dominions legislatures. As a recommendation, the Statute of Westminster 1931 repealed the CLVA 1865 in its application to the Dominions. The statute established a legislative equality between Australia and the United Kingdom. It marked the road to independence of Australia and the other Dominions.

The imperial laws continued to be paramount in Australia until the Australian Act 1986 came about. The Act eliminates the remaining ties between the legislature and judiciary of Australia and the United Kingdom. One of the significance of the act was the removal of the Privy Council from the remaining appeals in the Australian legal system. This allows the High Court of Australia to substitute as the highest power in the final court appeal in Australian law. To mark the significance of the Australian Act 1986, Queen Elizabeth II traveled to Australia for the signing of the proclamation for the law.

As a result of these laws, Australia became a fully independent country. The text of the Constitution is considered now as fully separated from the text in the original Act. Even if the United Kingdom Parliament were to repeal the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900, it would have no effect on Australia since only the Australian people can amend the Constitution, by referendum.

Conclusion
Clearly, the arrival of British colonies on Australian soil established a fundamental bond between Australian and English law and politics. However, over the passage of time this bond has deteriorated, and following significant events such as Constitutional changes, proclamation of the Australian Act in 1986 and Australia’s Status as an independent State within the international community; it seems now evident that Australia is an independent nation.

Whilst questions still arise as to Australia’s continuing acknowledgement of the monarchy and its status as a Commonwealth country, it can be argued that the bond between British and Australia is almost like a mentor and mentee. This bond should always be maintained as Australia could always use another counterpart in international relations or even just for continual support from Britain. Thus in conclusion, it is clear that Australia can liaise with Britain and any other independent country on the same level of sovereignty.

References

• Blackshield T. & Williams G. 2002, Australian Constitutional Law and Theory; commentary and materials, The Federation Press, NSW.

• Cook C., Creyke R., Geddes R. & Holloway I. 2001, Laying Down the Law, LexisNexis Butterworths, Australia.

• Hudson W.& Sharp M., 1988, Australian Independence Colony to Reluctant Kingdom, Melbourne Univeristy Press, Carlton, Victoria, Australia.

• Attorney-General’s Department, http://www.ag.gov.au/ , viewed 6 September 2006

• Australia’s Prime Ministers, http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/ , viewed 6 September 2006

• Mark Leeming, 'The liabilities of Commonwealth and State governments under the Constitution' (2006) 2 Australian Bar Review 27

Why do we need a criminal justice system?

2009-08-30T08:48:00.000-07:00

Introduction

The basic formation of the criminal justice system comprises of law enforcement, courts and correction. However, the pivotal role of the Criminal Justice System is to deter and investigate crime.

A criminal justice system is the backbone to the law and order of a society. Therefore,

a strong, impartial and accountable criminal justice system, which protects the human rights of accused and victims, rich and poor, young and old alike, is the cornerstone of a just and impartial society.

The criminal justice system implemented decades ago to control the lower classes of society. Throughout the years, this system had improved to accommodate different classes, those of different status or groups of society. This implementation extends equality across all the society.

The criminal justice system is a crucial part of our society and we know that comprehensive, effective, and nondiscriminatory implementation of criminal justice system powers is essential to ending violence, both for freeing individual and for ending the worldwide epidemic of violence against one another in this human race.

According to Goldsmith, ‘the criminal justice system has served two purposes. The first is instrumental or utilitarian: the state responds to crime to secure benefits to the wider society such as crime prevention and crime reduction. A second is symbolic or non utilitarian: the state must redress imbalances caused by those people who take illegal advantage of another or diminish their human dignity’ (Goldsmith, 2006, pg 266).

The need for a criminal justice system

The public knows that the police cannot prevent every crime, nor apprehend every criminal. However, they expect a criminal justice system, which is reliable, effective, and respected. It must deal with cases efficiently; fight crime in each state and each town in this country. Thus, the society needs criminal justices system to protect, to deter and to prevent crime. Obviously, the idea of having a system is to ensure fairness and equality throughout a social setting.

The criminal justice system is a system that requires management by different organisations accordingly. This system consists of the police, courts and corrections. Each organisation takes responsibility of and facilitates different parts of the system to set rules or to procedures laid down by the government according to the needs of the society.

The criminal justice system is designed for a coherent administrative system for offenders. Without the threat of a punishment for wrong doing, the crime level in a society would be high. This threat that comprises of a functioning criminal justice system is a healthy threat as it brings about social order. The trauma of going through a high and complex criminal justice system turns people away from a causative culture to one of wrong doings. Punishments for crimes serve as a deterrent to criminals.

The goals of the previous criminal justice systems were mainly action based (e.g. apprehending offenders, punishing offenders and etc.). In the present era, our criminal justice system seems to be focusing on education for the public regarding crime and rehabilitation of offenders. This method is implemented to deter offenders or prevent crime from spreading. It emphasises on protecting the citizens and maintaining peace and order.

The development in the criminal justice system.

Criminal justice system expenditure

Government expenditure by sector, 2004-05

Emergency Management 3%

Housing 4%

Justice 9%

Community services 16%

Education 37%

Reference 1: Note: Data for 2004-05 were not available for all services. Community service expenditure excludes juvenile justice

SOURCE: Australian Institute of Criminology 2006. Expenditure on justice by Australian governments. Crime facts info no. 117, 28 February.

From the data above, we can see how the criminal justice system has changed to meet and prioritise needs in different areas. This proves that the system is no longer re-active but pro-active by preventing crime through education to the community before a misdemeanour occurs. Education also serves the purpose of informing the citizens of a standard or code in the society of what is acceptable and what is not in their community.

The health expenditure that comes second of all the other sectors seems to indicate that there is a high need for health services for people who comes in contact with the criminal justice system. Issues such as intoxication and suicide are no longer looked at solely as a crime where offenders are arrested and put through the magistrate court the very next day but as an illness of an individual that requires medical attention. This method has significantly reduced the number of offenders being put on trial and convicted which contribute to the prison populations in the country. It is also provides a better management of individual health needs as intoxicated people need rehabilitation and suicidal people need medical attention instead of being punished for their illness.

Another area that is addressed in the chart is community services. These services are access by both victims and offenders of crime before, during and after going through the criminal justice system. These services include health, housing, financial services, legal, education, etc. The community services are a crucial arm of the criminal justice system. This is because the police, courts and corrective services duties only focus on controlling crime and reinforcing law compared to community services that provide the additional support needed by the victims, offenders, individuals and the families who are affected.

The system has seen to the recent change in form of punishments from prison terms to parole, community services and probations. These sentences seem to benefit the community and the offenders. For example if a juvenile is sentenced to help clean up the walls he or she vandalised, the juvenile would learn not to do it again and the community would benefit from that clean up exercise. This method has also reduced the cost of crime that has taken its toll on society. There is no need to build more prisons to house every single offender and more so when it is a small offense.

Composition of government expenditure on criminal justice, 2003-04

Corrective Services 22%

Police Services 72%

Criminal Courts administration 6%

Reference 2: Steering Committee for the Review of Commonwealth/State Service Provision 2004. Report on government services, volume 1: education, justice, emergency management. Melbourne: Productivity Commission

At a quick glance, this pie chart reflects the composition of expenditure on the criminal justice system. The police are the forefront in the criminal justice system. They are the ones going out to address and redress the social problems in the community. With that said, the government is aware of the need to allocate the bulk of cost in police service. The police objectives have drastically advanced to not just ‘policing’ but ‘community policing’(Graycar, pg 65-67). Community policing focuses on the community where the focus is on maintaining the order and protecting the society. By allocating the bulk of expenditure towards the police services, the police will be able to function effectively in providing services to the community such as creating public awareness or neighborhood watch and etc. to prevent crime and protect citizens.

Conclusion

The purpose of the Criminal Justice System is to deliver justice for all, by convicting and punishing the guilty and helping them to stop offending, while protecting the innocent. It is responsible for detecting crime and bringing it to justice; and carrying out the orders of court, such as collecting fines, and supervising community and custodial punishment.

The key goals for criminal justice are to help reduce crime by bringing more offences to justice, and to raise public confidence. Together with other partners, the criminal justice system works to prevent crime from happening in the first place, to meet the wider needs of victims, and to help turn offenders away from crime.

As a result, in the absence of a criminal justices system there would be chaos in crime control and management. Thus, maintenance of the system is crucial. This would not only provide a coherent administrative system but promote the importance of social order and crime control.

References

Goldsmith, A., Israel, M. and Daly, K. (eds), (2006), Crime and Justice: An Australian Textbook in Criminology (3^rdEdition) Sydney: Lawbook Company

Graycar, A. and Grabosky, P. (eds), (2002) The Cambridge Handbook of Australian Criminology. Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.

White, R. and Perrone, S. (2005) 2nd edition, Crime and Social Control: An Introduction. Melbourne: Oxford University Press.

Sheley, J (2000), Criminology (3^rd Edition), Wadsworth: Thomson Learning

Felkenes, G. (1973), The Criminal Justice System, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall

Hale, C.D. (1994). Police Patrol: Operations and Management (2^nd Edition). Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall Career and Technology

Cook C., Creyke R., Geddes R. & Holloway I. (2001), Laying Down the Law, LexisNexis Butterworths, Australia.

Sales, B. (1977), The Criminal Justice System Volume 1, New York: Plenum Publishing Corporation.

Australia’s Prime Ministers, http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/ , viewed 6 September 2006

Renaissance University: New Renaissance Magazine, http://www.ru.org/artseven.html, viewed 16 March 2007

Australian Institute of Criminal Justice, http://www.aic.gov.au/stats/cjs/expenditure.html, viewed 17 March 2007

Office of Justice Programs, http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov, viewed 17 March 2007

Court Report One

2007-11-01T23:11:00.000-07:00

Court Report One

Date: September 2007
Court: Magistrate Court, Court 8
Magistrate: Mr L
Accused: Accused A
Accused B
Accused C
Prosecution: BLANK
Defence: BLANK

Charges: Assault occasioning actual bodily harm

The accused were served with the charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm on the 8 July 8007at 10.20pm (section 24 of the Crimes ACT 1900)

The hearing began at 10.10am with the Prosecution and Defence counsels introducing themselves to the Magistrate. Right after the introduction, the Prosecutor, Mr. D apologised profusely to the court for the missing informant: a constable who served the charges. The Magistrate inquired immediately as to where the informant might be and asked the prosecutor to locate her in the next 15 mins. Court was adjourned at 10.15am as the Mr. D hastily searched for the informant who was supposed to be present.

The hearing resumed at 10:40am with the informant and accused A and B present. The Defence counsel then apologised for the missing accused C stating that under section 89A of the Magistrates Court ACT 1930, the court is able to excuse a person from attendance of the court. The Magistrate argued that under in section 89A of the Magistrates Court ACT 1930 subsection (3) the court has to be notified. The Defence counsel for accused C reasoned that the accused was severely beaten by her husband last night and went to the hospital. The Magistrate stressed that the Accused had to be present anyway unless she obtained a medical leave from the hospital which did not reach the court prior to the hearing. The Defence counsel apologised but supported the prevalence of section 89A of the Magistrates Court Act 1930 and informed the court that the counsel’s doctor will provide them with a medical certificate to confirm her medical leave. The matter was adjourned till next week for Accused C by the magistrate.

The Magistrate then motioned for the Prosecution to call on the informant. The informant was called forth to the witness stand. The Prosecution cross-examined the informant to clarify details of the event on which the charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm were served on the 8 July 2007 at 10.20pm for accused A and B. Mr. D proceeded to explain upon the documents, statements, evidence and photographs presented to the court. The Magistrate then went through the items and for future reference, the items were labelled with alphabets A to H. The Magistrate asked if the Defence counsel had any questions for the informant. The informant was excused after the Defence counsel confirmed that they did not have any questions.

The Magistrate addressed the Accused A and Accused B formally charging them with assault occasioning actual bodily harm under section 24 of the Crimes ACT 1900. While the accused were being charged, the Defence counsel stood along side them. The Magistrate then asked the accused if they had anything to say informing them that they could choose to remain silent but whatever they said can and will be used against them in other proceedings. The accused were advised by their counsel to decline the opportunity to speak given to them.

The Magistrate directed the informant and prosecutor to serve a notice requiring the Accused C for appearance at court on the 12 Sept 2007 at 10am Wednesday. He then directed Accused A and Accused B to sign a bail immediately which would be continued until the 20 Sept 2007 when they are to appear before the Supreme Court. The matter was adjourned at 11.10am.

At the hearing, the individuals present were highly and technically competent in their roles which led to the efficient undertaking of the procedures in court. This facilitated the committal hearing and allowed other cases to receive the courts’ attention on the same day. This of course causes other attendees such as the accused who are not educated in law or court settings to feel rather intimidated and confused. However, it is difficult to change the way the court operates or slow the pace down for other individuals who are inexperienced in law to understand the happenings due to time restraints faced by the court. It is most comforting to see the Defence counsel constantly instructing the accused in customs of the court despite all the happenings in the court room which can appear frightening and stressful.

Throughout the hearing, the Magistrate was observed to be pursuing a fair hearing. This was concluded from the case involving Accused C who was not present which led the Magistrate to adjourn the matter to a later date with a notice served to the accused instead of pursuing the charges immediately. In Mr. L’s notion, ‘a person cannot be charged without being present for the charge of an offence’. Also with the instructions for the Prosecution to search for the informant immediately indicated that the Magistrate in his discretion tried to prevent a delay in court (Findlay, Odgers & Yeo, 2005, pg 119).

While observing the committal hearing, it appears that a pre-trial session took place to gather the participants i.e. the Prosecution, the Defence counsels, the informants and the accused for the presentation of the Prosecution to facet the charges pertaining the case. This hearing served the purpose of clarifying the issues of the case presented (Findlay, Odgers & Yeo, 2005 pg133). The activities that took place in the hearing seemed to be only between the Prosecution, Informant and the Magistrate. In the span of half an hour in that court room, it was mostly spent going through the housekeeping of documents and evidence.

Reference

Fidlay, M., Odgers, S. & Yeo, S. (2005), Australian Criminal Justice (3rd edition). Melbourne: Oxford University Press.

Summary of an individual's NEO-PIR test

2007-11-01T23:04:00.000-07:00

Summary of how an individual scored on the sub-components of the test

This score for this individual corresponds to the average scale of the five domains of the NEO PI-R. ascores represent what most females’ personality is like except for a few of the facets where the results were skewed towards the upper scales of the test.

From the data shown, this individual had an above average score for Neuroticism. This suggests that the individual gets anxious easily and has a tendency towards depression. Although the individual demonstrates low levels of impulsiveness, she scored above average on vulnerability. This indicates that she might have trouble coping with stress.

The higher scores for gregariousness and activity indicate that this individual enjoys being in a crowd of people or parties and prefers energetic activities. On the total score for Extraversion, this person recorded an above-borderline low score on the scale. For experiencing positive emotions such as feeling good about the subject, she scores an average as well.

This person recorded a high score on Openness. According to the results obtained, she has a great mind of imaginations that creates a different world for her to escape into at times. However, her scores do not lean towards the artistic side of things. Her score for feelings is reasonably high and this indicates that she often portrays her emotions outwardly, and is easily recognised. Although she is least likely to be involved in discussions or arguments, she still cares about the principles of life, religious matters and the society in general.

This individual believes in saying what is on her mind. She seems to score on the borderline between the average and high scores for being empathetic about others. Her compliance level in personal communication with others seems to be above average. This means she is able to control her tempers and avoid arguments. She definitely cares for the well-being of others compared to how others would by scoring high for tender-mindedness.

According to the total score for Conscientiousness facet, she is at the higher end. Her high competence level regards her as a person who is reliable and confident in both her work and personal life. She is good at keeping things well organised as she scored highly on the order facet while her dutifulness scores suggests that she is one who follows the rules set by authorities. She also places high expectations on herself is on as she works hard and finds all means to be at the top of the crop. According to the final facet of deliberation, the high score suggests that she is a well prepared person and pays close attention to details before taking any actions..

An interpretation of the individual’s scores on the test
Neuroticism
This individual is prone to anxiousness and depression. She struggles to cope with stress, is very dependent, and has low self-esteem and suffers from panic attacks when faced with emergencies. According to the results, she has a high tendency towards depression and is almost incapable to cope with stressful circumstances.

Extraversion
This individual prefers being in the company of others rather than being alone. She keeps herself busy and prefers a high-paced lifestyle.

Openness
This person has vivid imaginations, fantasizes and daydreams to make her inner world more interesting. She experiences a deeper and more intense level of happiness and unhappiness compared to others. Furthermore, this individual has highly receptive to values to politics, religious and social norms, tends to accept authority, honour traditions, and is generally more conservative regardless of her political party affiliation.

Agreeableness
This individual was rated to be frank, sincere and ingenuous. She leans towards the side of a more compliant person and is able to hold back aggression and forgive and forget. She scores high on the tender-mindedness side of attitudes. She sympathises and cares for others, and emphasizes the human side of social policies. This person would consider herself as a realist who makes rational decisions based on cold logic.

Conscientiousness
Overall, this person has a high conscientiousness level. She is capable, sensible, prudent, and effective. Her scores show that she is well prepared to deal with life’s challenges. She is also neat and well organised as her high score in order suggests. This person has high aspiration and strives to achieve her goals. She is diligent and purposeful in life. This individual might have the tendency to focus too much at their careers and risks becoming a workaholic. Finally, her score in deliberation suggests that she has tends to think carefully before acting. She is known to be cautious and deliberate.

Is the person an adequate candidate for the police force
In my opinion, this individual is an adequate candidate for the police force. This opinion is derived from the individual meeting the personalities requirements based on the roles and function of the police force. The police force requires its members to be able to relate and communicate with people. Her high interpersonal skills allow her to deal with diverse range of people, as faced by the police force everyday. This includes the public ranging from individuals, families, criminals, victims, etc. and the workplace with other colleagues.

Another reason for my recommendation of this individual to the police force is that she is a person who would gain job satisfaction from being in this job. It is a requirement that the members of the community police exercise an active lifestyle. This individual enjoys high loads of activities in everyday life. The police force would benefit in a long term through employee’s job satisfaction, as it would lead to a better performance from its staff.

This individual cares a lot about others and is genuinely concern about the social and political issues in her society. Such qualities would boost her work performance and eagerness in assisting in community policing. She would be a good subordinate as her personality indicates that she is highly competent and submit to authorities or person of a higher status. This is a crucial attitude to adapt in a disciplined organisation such as the police force.

Despite her interest in high activities and the need for adrenaline rush, the tests suggest that this individual suffers from high stress levels and anxiety attacks. Thus, I would suggest that she be put into a stress management course to help her curb the high stress levels and anxiety attacks. Nevertheless, results from personality tests should never be dealt in absolute, as there are different situations that augment the salience of each trait in combination.

Reference

Costa, Paul T. & McCrae, Robert R. (1992) Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO (PI-R) and NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI), Florida, Psychological Assessment Resources,Inc.

Applying a police strategy to a crime problem

2007-11-01T23:02:00.000-07:00

Apply a police strategy to a crime problem

Select a crime or disorder in neighbourhood
Required to select a strategy lecture 6-10 define describe how it work
Provide explanation of how n why it might be implemented n useful in dealing with the particular crime or disorder problem…

This paper will analyse the level of ** crime in the neighbourhood of **( Charnwood, Northwest Canberra). In this particular neighbourhood, the above mentioned crimes are prevalent, and in addition, armed robberies have also taken place.

Anti-social behaviour in neighbourhoods can cause numerous issues and disruptions in society. There is a strong association between alcohol and anti-social behaviour in our society. Within the local neighbourhoods, this may include drunkenness, clubs serving alcohol after hours, inappropriate use of public space, graffiti, abandoned vehicles that may have been stolen, excessive noise coming from business and organisations, inconsiderate and violent behaviour, as well as malicious communication and verbal abuse.

Problem oriented policing (POP) would be a good strategy to counter anti-social behaviour in this neighbourhood. This strategy would be particularly useful in cases where such issues are already present and a long term solution is required, such as is the case here. Community policing in the neighbourhood could do better with the supplement of problem oriented policing. POP is also the problem solving approach adopted by the police. This approach is widely practised in many policing communities.

The POP model

The SARA model is the key to the problem solving process. This four stage model serves as a guide for the problem solving approach adopted by the Newport News Police Department.**(why Newport – say what’s significant about this police dept) . The SARA model involves the following elements:

1. Scanning: This - refers to how the officers identify the cause of a crime or issue in the community.

2. Analysis: This process includes how officers investigate and identify all key members who are part of the problem. It also involves analysing actions taken to solve the problems.

3. Response: This is a process of an officer developing a proactive solution according to the results of a careful analysis of the issues that were the source of the problems. The solution will be more effective in eliminating or reducing the problem. It could reduce or eradicate harm, hence dealing with the problem more effectively.

4. Assessment – This action is to evaluate the process the officer has gone through in scanning, analysis and responding. It is an important step to evaluate if the intervention of the problem solving has resulted in a success. This ensures time and resources used are accounted for by the police to the community.

The Case:
Reason for POP
As iIt would not be cost effective to provide this suburb with additional random or directed patrols. Therefore, the POP approach is highly recommended. The appointed beat officer would be able to implement the four-stage problem-solving process of the SARA model. The POP approach requires police officers to take ownership of an issue to intervene, manage and solve (Dr. Mazerolle, L. 2001). It requires an objective outlook at the issues in the patrol beat and addressing the root causes of the problems.

Scanning
The Charnwood residence complained that the groups of youth and young adults loitering in the neighbourhood are a nuisance. Residents of the town houses surrounding the main shopping area started complaining about their mails being stolen from mailboxes earlier last year, in 2006. Mails that were targeted were those that looked like they particularly those containeding cheques or money orders were often targeted. As the issue was not addressed, more serious crimes started surfacing.

From 2006 until this present moment, there werehave been at least 3 arm robberies reported by the media at the Charnwood shops. Gangs of youths have started to instil fear into shop owners and residences by hurling verbal abuse and threats.

The goal of POP is to prevent/deterremove these groups of children and young adults or gangs loitering around residences and Charnwood shops who are contributing to the fear of anti-social behaviour in the area from loitering around residences and Charnwood shops. It also aims to educate shop owners and the labour club on how to avoid armed hold ups.

Analysis

Mail box crime occurs in the afternoon when most residents are not home and are usually still at work. By observation, the school children start loitering at the hotspots after school hours, which is around 3pm. The older youths and gangs normally start to appear in the evenings and loiter around the shopping areas until late. In the evenings, the Charnwood shops are normally quiet and most shops are closed by 7pm. The only open businesses are Woolworths, Video Ezy and the labour club. There are normally not many visitors to the area after 8pm. Charnwood shops are extremely deserted with poor lighting, making it easy for crime to take place.

Response

By holding meetings with the residents, the residents are encouraged to keep an eye out on those who loiter around the area. They are also encouraged to make their presence known to the children and youths during the evenings between 4pm and 6pm. Random patrols are still conducted on a frequent basis. The police officers will also visit homes of children and youths caught in the act of stealing mail or in fights and serve them a warning in front of their parents. In addition, the police officers will meet with business owners who were victims of armed robberies and encourage them to hire security officers and have security companies patrol the Charnwood shops after hours to provide a presence to deter any criminal intent. Police officers have also encouraged residences and business owners to call crime stoppers if they notice any suspicious activities or individuals around.

Assessment

As a result of the police guiding the business owners through ways of crime prevention, security companies were contracted by the businesses. The security companies were mainly present during after hours at business premises which had later trading hours and random patrols were carried out by the security companies, between 12 midnight and 7am. This move has seen promising results in previous months where no robberies occurred. Residents have noticed a decline in mail box theft. Residence and business owners are also more alert to any anti-social behaviour and have contacted the police in the instance of such cases.

Conclusion

The reason POP worked in Charnwood is because as the police provided sufficient support to the community in identifying issues and their root causes. Residents and business owners were proactive, open to suggestions, and were keen to eliminate the fear of crime threats of robbery and anti-social behaviour. However, common citizens are not experts in the criminal field. Hence, they sometimes require guidance or suggestions which are what the police could provide. Crime prevention requires the participation of all parties. Third party policing is commonly used in POP. In this instance, security companies were contracted as observers, reporters and to provide a uniform presence to deter of criminal activities. POP is specific and targeted towards problem solving. POP is proactive, rather than reactive policing strategy and as such, would be the recommended approach that police should use where possible.

References

Bennett T. (1990) Evaluating Neighbourhood Watch, Gower Publishing Company Limited, England.

Rosenbaum D. (1994) The Challenge of Community Policing, Sage Publication, London.

Dr. Mazerolle, L. Policing in the 21st century: What works and what doesn’t, (2001) 4th National Outlook Symposium on Crime in Australia, New Crimes or New Responses, convened by the Australian Institute of Criminology

Australian Institute of Criminology, http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/other/2004-03-policingt.html, viewed 1 May 2007

Australian Federal Police, http://www.afp.gov.au/act, viewed 3 May 2007

Belconnen Community, http://www.belconnen.org.au/chs.htm, viewed 9 May 2007

A Case study on Daren - psychoanalytic theory

2007-11-01T22:57:00.000-07:00

A Case study on Daren - psychoanalytic theory

In Darren’s case, the psychoanalytical theory is used. This is because Freud’s (1901) psychoanalytical theory seems to allow the explanation of usual behaviour of Darren’s criminal behaviour. This theory also allows the dealing with personality, developmental stages of Darren and his ego defence mechanism, which lead to his perception of his criminal activity as ‘not that bad of a crime’. In this report, we will look at a few theories explaining Darren’s behaviour and actions.

Freud's (1923) notion that the child's relationship to the parent is responsible for everything from psychiatric diseases to criminal behavior speaks right through Darren’s life. Darren, a child ignored and isolated by siblings, consistently neglected by his parents, ignoring his needs and concerns, lost trust in her maternal mother, received no appropriate levels of supervision nor discipline from a parent, found no figure to model his life. All these devastating effects on him resulting in injury emotionally and psychologically, permanently alter the psychological well-being of Daren and contribute to the nowadays rebellious, low self-esteem, problem youth.

In Freud’s (1923) theory, personal growth attributes many of our human problems, from depression to drug abuse, sexual disorders, eating disorders, to early childhood experience. Darren’s problems arise from dysfunctional parenting, a form of abuse leading to adult co-dependency, and an inability to lead a full and meaningful life. Added to that Darren is the youngest of the sibling but due to the large age gap he become the only child as in terms in Adler’s’ (1964) birth order: a spoilt child. The only child is more likely than others to be pampered; after all the parents have put all effort into the child so to speak. They are more likely to take special care of their pride and joy. However, if the parents were abusive the only child would have to put up with the abuse alone. The youngest child syndrome like Darren’s is almost like the only child and is more likely to be pampered by the parents and family members since they would never have to be dethrone from that position. Because of that, they are more prone to be the source of problem. They may also feel incredible inferiority with everyone older and more superior. In Darren’s case, it is not only the factor of birth order; his early childhood memory plays a very important part. He was also neglected by his parents who caused him to be emotionally unbalanced. He is only able to relate with materialism not emotional ability and physical abilities due to his parents traveling and constantly leaving him home alone and showering him with extravagant gifts to compensate for the time alone.

Freud (1915) believed that every child normally progressed from the oral to the anal and to the phallic phase, unless some negative influence interfered with this development. However, if the particular needs of any one of these phases were either unfulfilled or gratified to excess, the child could become "fixated" and thus hampered in its psychosexual growth. In Darren’s, case the resentment, the harsh rejection and the neglect from the parents, especially the extended overseas trips left young Darren in the care of a nanny. Darren suffered Oral fixation and phallic personality for lacking in sucking the mother’s breast and the needs of phallic phases were unfulfilled. This results in Darren to have multiple sex partners to satisfy his unconscious ID pleasure.

Darren has unresolved anal fixation at the age of five. He constantly looks for approval or attention from his family. Darren missed the important stage of building trust with his family as an accidental birth. This proceeded to self-doubting as he grew with a nanny at home alone and felt a sense of being disowned. He is forced to the locomotor stage where he becomes more forceful and assertive to achieve anything he desired. This is seen when Daren started showing signs of behavioural disorder where he threw tantrums, engaged in petty theft and lied effortlessly and persistently. His obsessiveness in turning to mischievous and criminal acts caused his relationship with his siblings to fall apart making him unable to gain approval and attention from those he looked up to as he grew up. Nobody actually helped him with his development at this stage which caused him to be stunted in this area.

In the phallic stage of his childhood, the Oedipus complex is clearly seen in Darren’s case. Darren at the third stage experiences when Freud (1915) term as phallic fixation which involves unconscious wishes to have sexual intercourse with one parent and replace the other parent. If this stage is not resolved, the child suffers Oedipus complex. This is caused by the absence of a father figure at home and the failures to gain closeness with his mother. According to Freud (1915), failure to pass through these earlier stages successfully leads to unresolved conflicts throughout adulthood. Thus, Darren looks to other females to satisfy his unconscious desire for pleasure. During his Genital, stage the onset of puberty where the main concentration of feeling is focus on the genital. Darren, a child without proper parental care and guidance, began exploring his primary school classmates by sexually touching girls in the class, which might mean nothing to him, if whatever he does was out of his unconscious mind.

Darren’s role confusion was demonstrated when he was in secondary school. He starts to connect to local gangsters and truanted frequently. Without parental love and support, Darren was confused over his status, role at home, and in society. In the eight stages of development of Erikson’s (1980) social theory, during the fifth psychosocial crisis 13 or 14 years old to about 20 years, the child, now an adolescent, learns to answer satisfactorily and happily the question of "Who am I?" Nevertheless, even the best - adjusted of adolescents experiences some role identity diffusion: most boys experiment with minor delinquency; rebellion flourishes; self-doubts flood the youngster, and so on. Darren with no exception connects himself with the local gangs, as there is no modeling figure for him at home. Erikson believes that during successful early adolescence, mature time perspective is developed; the young person acquires self-certainty as opposed to self-consciousness and self-doubt. However, Darren could not understand and doubted his own abilities. Truancy is the clear sign of him not being accepted and acknowledged in his school which leads to his thinking of why he is ostracized by his schoolmate and being constantly ridiculed by the teachers.

Erikson (1980) believed a psychologically healthy adolescence normally anticipates achievement, and achieves, rather than being "paralysed" by feelings of inferiority or by an inadequate time perspective. The adolescent seeks leadership (someone to inspire him), and gradually develops a set of ideals (socially congruent and desirable, in the case of the successful adolescent). Darren is no exception, he too want to be an achiever but rejected by parents and the academic world left him no choice but to turn to the local gang and to being identified with them. This proving Maslow’s (1998 Maslow & Lowery) Hierarchy of Needs where human beings must fulfill the more basic needs, such as physical, security, and belonging needs before being able to fulfill the higher need of self actualization. Subtlety, Darren has the desire to be like his father, to be successful, to be a Mr. Nice in everybody’s eye, but he needed to belong, needs to find security which his family and friends can not provide. Unfortunately, he ended up with the wrong company, wrong belonging, wrong security and wrong motivator.

Other complications resulting from these three stages also cause Darren to have difficulty in maintaining friendship due to his basic selfishness and dishonesty. With his rich family background and his intelligent mind, he seemed to be a self-sufficient child who did not seek or need close relationships but his inability to concentrate and lack of commitment resulting from the anal stage causes his academic performance to slip downhill.

According to Skinner’s (?) operant conditioning theory; a behavior no longer followed by the reinforcing stimulus results in a decreased probability of that behavior occurring in the future. However, a behavior followed by a reinforcing stimulus results in an increased probability of that behavior occurring in the future.

In Darren case, the first reconditioning comes along when he was in primary school. His parent knowing his naughty acts did not punish the boy but protected him by making a donation to the school. This recondition fits Skinner’s (?) operant conditioning a behavior (stealing) followed by a reinforcing stimulus (donation) results in an increased probability of that behavior (stealing) again occurring in the future. At the young age, Darren felt that stealing is right because there is no punishment and perhaps he believes this is the only way to catch his father’s attention and have more naughty acts for the father to attend to. In other words, he found pleasure (thanatos) in what he is doing.

According to Bandura (1965), one of the major sources of self efficacy is through mastery experiences. In Darren’s case, whenever he does something mischievous or bad, he gets away with it when his father donates a large sum to the school. The action of Darren’s father put a positive reinforcement to giving him the attention he desires thus he keeps repeating his mischief and bad behaviour at school. According to Bandura (1965), a person’s behaviour is affected by 3 factors. These 3 factors are cognitive learning, behavioural learning and environmental influences. Darren feels good for doing bad. This cognitive learning causes him to have the perception that he gets attention from playing truant, using drugs recreationally, underage drinking and shoplifting. This was reinforced since he was little as he finds that that is the only way to get his father’s attention.

Darren has a high intelligence and through the external influences from peer pressure and observational learning from other the prison inmates he mingled with, he figures out methods to make better plans such as fraud of a bigger scale. To Darren, he sees the plan as an opportunity for an improved way of living. Through Badura’s (1965) theory of self efficacy, Darren unconsciously always falls back to bad or criminal activities from enactive learning since childhood as he was rewarded by his parent’s attention when he was naughty at school.

In his teenage years, Darren wants same pleasures of richness but refuses to rely on his parent’s provision as he gets older. This is explained through Erikson’s (1980) theory of the adolescence stage where the conflict between identity versus role confusion where like every teenager and young adult, he is tempted by his ego to be independent. Through this, he finds ways and means for earning an income including impersonating a registered charity collector or stealing an expensive suit from an exclusive menswear shop; and because his enactive learning causes him to always fall back on criminal activities. He finds himself returning to his family home when he gets desperate but not staying for long as he still tries to establish his independent status in the society. Darren is searching for his identity but is confused between the right and the wrong. He turns to drugs and alcoholism for temporary relief as he finds it as a way to liberate him from decision making.

Through his adolescent stage, being ignored by his parents where he developed no bond with any family members in his upbringing forces him to grow strong in his ego where his self defence mechanism is developed to protect himself from being ignored.

The Freudian belief that we are governed in our actions by powerful unconscious forces has shifted modern perspectives away from personal responsibility. In Darren unconscious self-argued: I am who I am and I do what I do not because of me but because of early experiences over which I had no control. I am not responsible for my actions, my father or my mother is. This is a defence mechanism of ‘projection’ which Darren developed throughout his stages of development when neglected by his family. He unconsciously denied responsibility for his actions because he believes that he has to be the way he is to survive.This belief too has done damage in Darren’s attitude towards women. Women, his mothers and as the primary caregiver, have had enormous anger directed towards him as architects and perpetrators of misdirected early childhood experience. Darren’s relationships with other women seem to reflect his parent’s relationship with him. His inability to long term commitment and care for other people is lacking as his parents were not always there or caring about him constantly as other parents do for their child. Adding to that, his mother only showered him with gifts but never developed a close relationship with him. His abnormal childhood rendered him unable to sustain any long term relationship with the other sex.

For his current offence, Darren realised that he needed a status in society to be trusted and a solid plan to build a business. With that in mind he invested a substantial amount of time in planning and researches with shows his seriousness in attaining success. As he is intelligent, he manages to start up the whole scheme without much trouble and for status, he uses his family name for trading. He somehow believes that his parents would support his business activities by using the family name for his plans. This might be due to the fact that they were always there to assist him at all times even in criminal activities when caught. He seemed to be confident in success as he seemed to be at ease with his actions during the interview with the psychologist. Darren seems to have the idea in his head and thinks that his parents would have done the same thing to achieve the status and richness through fraudulent activities. Being brought up in a house where he couldn’t have seen how his parents achieved status in society developed his ego defence mechanism of rationalising. His father also reinforced this by ‘bribing’ the school with donations, so that they kept Darren in their education system and the police, even when he was involved in illegal activities. Through the action of his father, he rationalized that everybody who is in business or rich could have been involved in some illegal or fraudulent activities to achieve their accepted status in society. We can clearly see this in his seriousness in putting a lot of effort planning and organizing his fraudulent activity. He is doing it to gain acceptance to the society, fulfilling his ego needs.

In conclusion, according to Freud (1915), Darren has a personality complex, which causes him to fall back to his criminal activities. In the youngest child syndrome according to Adler’s (1954) theory, Darren is driven to exceed his siblings who are well established with families and society. To achieve that, he tries hard to gain wealth status and recognition from society. From another perspective, Erickson’s (1980) explanation on psychosocial theories explained Darren’s inability to communicate or establish his own identity, which causes him to feel isolated, and the need to prove he is able to survive in the society by clinging on to gangs. He is trying to survive the social and wealth status through criminal acts which he believes is not wrong according to his unconscious mind.

(require more percise intext references)

References
Adler, A (1954) Understanding Human Nature, New York; Greenburg Publisher
Adler, A (1964). The structure of neurosis. In H.L Ansbacher & R.R. Ansbacher (Eds), Superiority and social interest (pp. 83-95). New Yiork:Viking press. (Original work published 1932) (13)
Bandura, A (1965). Influence of the models' reinforcement contigencies on the acquisition of imitative responses. Jornal of Social Psychology. 1, 589-595
Role cofussion
Erikson, E. (1980). Elements of psychoanalytic theory of psychosocial development. In S. Greenspan, & G. Pollock, (Eds.), The Course of life, Vol 1 (pp. 11-61). Washington, DC: US Dept. of Health and Human Services.
Erikson, E.H (1950). Childhood and society. New York: Norton.
Erikson, E.H. (1959). Grow and Crisis of the healthy personality. Psychological Issues,1, 50-100
Freud, A. (1946). The ego and the mechanisms of defense. American Edition, New York, A: I.U.P.
Freud, S. (1901). The psychology of everyday life, S.E., 6, 1-290.
Freud, S. (1915). Repression, S.E., 14,146-158.
Freud, S. (1915). Repression, The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Vol. 14. Edited by James Strachey. Lodon: The Hogart Press and the Institute of Psychoanalysis, 1974.
Freud, S. (1923). The ego and the id, S.E. 19, 12-66Freud, S. (1940). Spliting of the ego in the process of defence. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 22, 65 (1938), S.E., 23:275-278
Maslow, A & Lowery, R. (ED). (1998). Toward a psychology of being, 3rd edition , New York: Wiley & Sons.

Are criminals born or made?

2007-11-01T22:54:00.001-07:00

Nature vs Nurture

Does an “evil gene” exist, a hereditary disorder that causes crime? There are numerous debates about what causes crime. Some people assume that criminal behavior is due to a person’s upbringing and life experiences (“nurture”). Others suggest that criminal behavior is more complex and involves a person’s genetic makeup (“nature”). Are people just born that way? Is criminal behavior pre-determined at some point in people’s lives? This paper will present how crime behaviors can be hereditary but most criminals are shaped by their environment factors instead. As the theories of genetic influences in crimes are undeniable; it should only be seen as an inclination of crime rather then the cause of crime (Raine, A. 1993 pg50). Hence, a criminal can be born but shaped and influenced by the society to cultivate the criminal traits in them.

Social scientists have argued the nature-nurture debate for many years, both in the popular press and professional literature. Nature proponents argue that biological factors and genetic composition explain much of human behavior. Nurture proponents contend that environmental factors, such as family, school, church and community, are paramount in the development of behavior patterns. Besides, some traits, such as human intelligence, depend upon a complex combination of both hereditary and environmental influences. According to Pollak, that there is a new way of looking at these different experiences that turn different genes on or off (Pollak S. 2002). New research reveals that life experiences can alter the biochemistry of many genes- our moral development later in life changes our genes and is this could be hereditary.

Cesare Lombroso, a 19th century Italian physician, reminded students that nurture, not nature, is responsible for criminal behavior. In contrast, Freudian psychoanalysis and the depth psychologies of Alfred Adler, Erik Erikson, Erich Fromm, Karen Horney, Carl Jung, Melanie Klein, Otto Rank and Harry Stack Sullivan focused on the dynamic unconscious (the natural instinct of a human), theorizing that the depths of human psyche integrates with the conscious mind to produce a healthy human personality.

Nevertheless, many researchers show that criminal behaviors can be hereditary. Human genes carry many personality traits inherited from their ancestors and even from their parents. Lombroso, regarded by many as the father of criminology, is convinced that people are born criminals as it is in an individual’s nature to commit crime. Criminals have been found to carry a few certain features and personality traits. According to Darwin and him, we evolved from animals. In this theory, genes mutate and get passed on to each descendant, concluding that some people are predisposed to criminality and they are not the same species as humans (AllAboutScience.org, 2005).

According to Sigmund Freud, all humans have criminal tendencies. However, the process of socialization curbs these tendencies by the developing of inner controls that are learned through childhood experience. Freud hypothesized that the most common element that contributed to criminal behavior was faulty identification by children with their parents. Improperly socialized children may develop personality disturbances that causes them to direct antisocial impulses inward or outward. The child who directs them outward becomes a criminal, and the child that directs them inward becomes a neurotic.
In Freud’s theory of the Defense Mechanisms, he finds the cause of individual behavior in the unconscious mind (Freud, S. 1930). Sociobiology attributes “genetics as the only factor of behavior”. The mankind uses each one of them in everyday life. One clear example of man being biological is that at sometimes man can have animal drives and desires. This drive is driven by the idea and of free will that is taken for granted.

Another theory Freud developed included the Id, Ego, and Superego (Freud, S. 1923). Here, personality has a definable structure with three basic components. The most primitive part of the personality, present in the infant is the Id, meaning “it” in Latin. The Id is an unconscious, irrational and immoral part of the personality that exists at birth (by nature), containing all the basic biological drives: hunger, thirst, self-protection, and sex. A component of personality, the id seeks immediate satisfaction of natural urges through primary process, without concern for the morals and norms of society. Ego and Superego deals with how the mind works conscientiously and unconsciously. It describes the behavior of the human body and motives of our actions. Freud was a pessimist when it came to human nature. He identified man’s weaknesses in saying that man is a biological creature with biological drives. He reflected these ideas from Darwin’s original ideas.

In Freud’s views, the three parts of the psychic structure – id, ego, and superego are always in dynamic conflict. We are always unaware of the conflicts between the id, ego, and superego. According to psychodynamic theory, when a threat becomes especially serious, it may lead to intense inhibitions and defenses. These may be expressed as violence and aggression- inhibiting reaction. According to Freud, humans are defensive. This defensive mechanism is part of everyday speech and action. The lack of basic need stimulates the unconscious id and impels a person toward aggression which may later express itself in a tendency toward criminal behavior.

If moral and social values are instilled from day one, an individual is given ‘will power’ as a tool for survival as well as the ability to practise self control. For example, Socrates, a Greek philosopher was analysed as brutal, sensuous and inclined to being a drunkard by a physiognomist. By admitting that the examination revealed his inner self, and learning to control it, he managed to overcome the negative side (Vold, B., Bernard, J. & Snipes, B. 2002, pg32). The ability to control negative desires or mens rea is a natural thing.

If we said that criminals are made by their surroundings and their social factors, we could safely say that criminals are shaped by bad influences or social status. According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, when the basic need for an individual is not met or self esteem is threatened, the individual will turn on his or her defensive mechanism as reaction to this perceived threat (Maslow, H. 1943). Some resort to robbing and stealing food and necessities as a way of survival. Another basic need of humankind is the need for belonging and acceptance by others. Some might feel forced into criminal activities to enable them to live certain lifestyles that will achieve this aim.

Because defensive mechanisms are unconscious, they are difficult to control. However, the psychologists of the 1950s and 1960s rejected this theory. Nevertheless, in recent years, the cognitive revolution has again made defensive mechanisms the subject of scientific investigation, and cognitive, developmental, and personality psychologists have found some evidence for their existence (Cramer,P. 2000).

Carl Jung and Freud shared the same ideas and even theoretical concepts, including psyche, ego, consciousness, and unconsciousness (Somerfield, R. & McCrae, R. 2000). But Jung greatly expanded the concept of the unconscious. Jung argued that the mind of the newborn infant is not blank slate, but is imprinted with forms from the past experiences that are common to all humans in the universe.

One major challenge of our time is to discover the underlying causes of crime and to develop new techniques for preventing it. Although we should not ignore poverty, racism, joblessness, and other environmental factors which do influence criminals, biological and genetic factors may prove to be powerful predictors of criminal behavior. It is hoped that genetic tendencies toward crime, if they do prove to exist, can be modified by early intervention with such methods as psychotherapy, classes in effective parenting, and improved preschool education. Additional research on both genetic and environmental factors is necessary if we are to prevent the emergence of criminals like the serial killer Ivan Milat – “the backpacker murderer” in future generations.

According to Lombroso and Ferri, there are four basic types of criminals. The first type is those who are born criminals. According to Ferri, this group constitute a third of all criminals. They are morally underdeveloped and epileptic. The second type is the insane criminals. This insanity is caused by a defect in their brains which causes them to be incapable from differentiating right from wrong. Intoxicated people are included in this group, since over consumption of alcohol has a similar effect on the brain. The criminal by passion is the third type, where according to Lombroso, these criminals are more likely to be females then male. They are usually urged by emotions or the need for revenge because of something or someone. For example, a mother who murders her husband who was found out to be the serial rapist of daughter. The strong emotions of betrayal and revenge for the overwhelming hurt done to her daughter would have driven her to the murder of her spouse. The fourth type of criminal is the occasional criminal. They comprise of a few categories. Firstly, the pseudocriminal who kills in self defense. Secondly, the criminaloid who are influenced by situations and circumstances to commit crime. Thirdly, the habitual criminals who are normally offenders of the petty crimes such as white collar criminals and last but not the least harmless, the epileptoid criminal who suffers from epilepsy.

In conclusion, theories of genetic influences in crimes are reliable, but are only factors influencing crime, rather than its cause. Environment and parent care, peer pressure and human needs play a large part unearthing the underlying motives and causes of crime, because humans are intelligent creatures that learn from experience. Hence, crime is a human act that can develop as a reaction to one’s surroundings and nurture.

References
Maslow, H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review 50, 370-396

Freud, S. (1923). The ego and the id, S.E., 19, 12-66

Freud, S. (1930). Civilization and its discontents. New York : Jonathon Cape and Co.

Erikson, E (1980) Element of a psychoanalytic theory of psychosocial development. Greespan, S. & Pollock, G. (Eds.), The course of life Vol 1

Erikson, H. (1959). Growth and crises of the healthy personality. Psychological Issues 1, 50-100

Cramer, P, (2000). Defense mechanisms in psychology today. American psychologist, 55(6), 637-646.

Somerfield, R., & McCrae, R. (2000). Stress and coping research: Methodological challenges, theoretical advances, and clinical applications. American Psychologist, 55(6), 620-625.

Vold, B., Bernard, J. & Snipes, B. (2002). Theoretical criminology. (5th ed). New York: Oxford University Press
Pollak S. (2002). Experience alters how we perceive emotion, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Viewed on 16th June 2007, 2007 by AAAS, the science society.
< http://www.eurekalert.org/ >

Viewed on 16th June 2007, AllAboutScience.org < http://www.darwins-theory-of-evolution.com/ >

Raine, A. (1993). The psychopathology of crime: Criminal behavior as a clinical disorder

Judge made law

2007-11-01T22:53:00.000-07:00

Debate whether judges make new laws & whether they should have the power to do so.

Judges are able to make new laws thanks to the common law system. The common law is a system of law in which the courts decision forms a binding statement and represents how statutory law is represented. The system is heavily based on the idea of “precedent” or “case law”, that is, judgments from previous cases constitutes a source of legal and therefore binding rules. As time passes and new cases are brought to court, judges are thus in a position to not only interpret the law to suit the situation but also refer to previous similar cases for judgments so as to come to a ruling.

Although this means that courts should base decisions of current cases based on previous decisions of similar cases, there may still be a situation in which no similar case has ever been brought up before (Chisholm and Nettheim, 2002). A judge would then be required to interpret any available statute and then make a judgment. His judgment would then be the precedent for similar cases that might come in future. In effect, his judgment constitutes a new legal rule.

In the case of Mabo and Others v. Queensland (No. 2) (1992) 175 CLR, the judges decided that the Meriam people, who were here before the English settlement in Australia had native title over the disputed land and rejected the notion of terra nullias. The judgment gave the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 a proper standing in the Mabo case. As a result, the Native Title Act of 1993 was passed. In this instance, we can see how the judges threw out a long held legal view that contradicted with the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 and finally culminated in the making new laws.

Should judges be given the power to make new laws in accordance with their rulings? In my opinion, the power of interpreting laws should still be left to the judges. There are many instances where statutory law is so ambiguous that the right interpretation by a learned authority is imperative to solve disputes or effect public and private sanctions. Furthermore, the system of common law allows for situations where the law is ambiguous be met with precedent so that future cases can be resolved in the same manner as previous similar cases.

Judges therefore, do make new laws and we have seen how the system has worked so far and justice served for all. Each case in the court needs to be heard on its own merits. This is where judges are put on the spot and will have to be discerning as every case is different and every outcome should be relevant to the case. More importantly, the ruling on each case constitutes a binding legal rule that is applicable to all future similar cases.

In conclusion, I agree that the role of a judge is to interpret laws, but in the process they make relevant laws and judgement to individual cases heard. This is particularly important to accommodate the constantly evolving common law in regards to the current era.

Reference List

CHISHOLM, R. & NETTHEIM, G. (2002) Understanding Law Australia, LexisNexis.

WARD, I. & STEWART, R. G. (2006) Politics One, Australia, Palgrave Macmillan.

Uniform Criminal Laws for all Australian Jurisdictions

2007-11-01T22:48:00.000-07:00

Discuss whether or not there should be uniform criminal laws for all Australian Jurisdictions (i.e. State, Territory and Commonwealth jurisdictions)

Should there be uniform criminal laws for all Australian Jurisdictions as we see much confusion between jurisdictions in Australia’s history of criminal proceedings? The situation which exists now is that there are different criminal laws for each State and Territory. There are nine different systems of criminal law in six states, two territories and the federal jurisdiction; each with its own criminal laws to follow in Australia, and keep in mind Australia is large country consist of a relatively small population of 18 million only. Added to that each state in this country have different set of traffic codes, road rules, different property laws, tax laws, family laws and etc. These different laws lead to inequalities, complications, and unnecessary duplication of time, people, money and other resources. The question in many cross border crime between states that has always been the debate is: whose jurisdiction is it or in which state will the accused be trial?

Police statistics indicate that, on a per capital basis, violent crimes tend to be more prevalent in the Northern Territory while Western Australia had the highest crime rates for property-related offences. The statistics show that most habitual offenders in most cross border crimes between states would pick the less tough sentencing state to commit the crime. For example: the age to consent for any sexual act in different states varies and the penalty for sexual penetration of a young child varies significantly in different states too. A punishment for crime of sexual penetration of a young child (under the age of 10) in Victoria carries a maximum penalty of 25 years imprisonment but in ACT, the same crime only carries a prison term of 17 years. In this case, the intelligent serial rapist will know where to commit the act. The person will definitely choose the lesser punishment between the 2 states in case of being caught.

The Australian Institute of Criminology has collected data on homicides in Australia since 1989. The latest figures indicate that there were 288 incidents and 305 victims of homicide in Australia during 2003-04 {http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/cfi/cfi108.html} , an average of about one a day. A number of homicide incidents in Australia have involved multiple (two or more people are murdered) killings. This multiple killing crimes could be a result of Criminals knows that, every state in Australia has their independence laws. If they are found committing a crime in a different state to where they previously committed a crime in; they will probably not be sent back for prosecution or the state they are currently in won’t be able to prosecute them as the offence did not take place in that state.

Firearm has become a common weapon for arm robbery while robbing financial institute, corporate and shops which contain large amount of cash. Bear in mind that a propelled bullet can travel a long distance to reach a target. It can cross borders too. If bullet can travel across border, shouldn’t there be a uniform criminal law for all state? In another scenario in Ward v The Queen (1980) 142 CLR 308 where the accused was standing on the Victorian bank of the Murray River, shot and killed the victim who as on the opposite bank in New South Wales. In such case, which state will trial the accused and persecute the convicted criminal? With the territorial theory, each states has obligation to not interfere with the affairs of other states but to control crimes taking place within its own borders (McSherry and Naylor, 2004). But, as long as crime involve firearms is concern there is no border.

The ‘Roads Policing Strategy’ to accompany the National Policing Plan clearly stated that road policing is “an important and visible element in the police’s commitment to protect the public” It includes: excessive and inappropriate speeding; drink and drug driving; failure to wear seat belts; and careless, dangerous or threatening driving. However, this plan can never be effective as long as there are still different laws in every state and territories. We see how New South Wales issued traffic infringements for exceeding the speed limit but in Australian Capital Territory’s, Drivers with ‘P’ plates who exceed the speed limit brought to court and the case was thrown out in the ACT magistrate courts. It is confusing for the citizens and residences of Australia to have different laws applied to them in different states while staying in the same country. Knowing the differences of laws in different states, intelligent habitual criminal will choose the state with the least penalty terms to commit their wrong doing. This causes problem for the prosecution at a later stage as the defendant could claim the absence of mens rea where they did not know the laws of New South Wales, as they are residence of the Australian Capital Territory.

In this twentieth century where computer is readily accessible by young and old, cyber crime become a norm for Australia: Internet-initiated Sex Crimes against Minors juveniles became victims of sex crimes committed by people they met through the Internet. Victims in these crimes are usually 13- through 15-year-old teenage girls who met adult offenders in Internet chat rooms. Most victims met and had sex with the offender on more than one occasion. Some of these offenders even use violent to achieve their sexual desires. Another serious cyber crime is fraud, while new technologies allow easier and cheaper access to a much larger pool of prospective victims. In this modern age we see scams of Identity-related Fraud, Internet Fraud, Credit Card Fraud, and Advance Fee Fraud. All these white collar crimes are borderless; all the more we see the need for a uniform criminal law to bring immediate justice without incurring further expenses of legal proceeding pending the jurisdiction of offence committed to decide on the venue of prosecuting the offender. Corporations and businesses are able to move and conceal its activities in different states easily without jeopardize the economy of the country and loosing out foreign investor when large fraud relating to banking institute is concern. But why is the delay and why the hesitation on the implementation of a uniform criminal law?

Some arguments that could be that:
· State government might consider the implementation of a uniform criminal law as a threat to loss their power in governing their own state laws.
· Some states are reluctant to consider new laws as they think the current laws are sufficient.
· It is also probably impossible for the commonwealth government to know exactly what happens in the states and territories to implement laws properly for them.
· The uniform criminal law is still up to interpretation of each state and territory’s law enforcement units.
· In the implementation of a uniform criminal law, the commonwealth government should be making decisions with the states and territories government.

But those arguments shouldn’t stop Australia from implementing a uniform criminal law. One country, one system is much easier and convenient for the citizens and residences of Australia. After the implementation of a uniform criminal law, the governments and law enforcer officers can better educate the people from childhood to adulthood to one single system without confusing them when they travel from state to state while struggling for their living. With this single system the people have no ways to claim that their ignorance of the law.

The political debates and arguments between jurisdictions would come to a halt in criminal law matters and proceed to better serve the communities. Crime justice system will also benefit from it as all large organized cross border activities would be able to run smoothly without any hurdles. The instances where convicted criminal (i.e. child molester or rapist) will know that wherever they commit the offence, the penalty are the same, thus deter them from committing the act. Criminals cross state borders after serving their sentences could be monitored and would assist in providing a better crime justice system.
A Model Criminal Code draft release in July 1992 was the first step to conformity of the criminal laws that is much needed in the country. States and territories have the option of adopting the code or use it as a guideline to form their criminal laws although they do not have to take it into consideration. The model code called for adoption by the states and territories. It is not the intention is not to remove the state and territories’ powers in regards to law making that is given to them by the constitution but to unite this country to the one uniform law to curb crime that would harm the nation, confuse the citizen. Sadly, this model has not been adopted across the country since it was released.

With different laws and penalties in different states and territories that causes the unnecessary waste of time for law enforcement officer. When the police were to detain an offender the police has to laid charges before a criminal court, determines the guilt or innocence of the defendant, hearing of the charges, imposed sentences include imprisonment, community service orders of various kinds, fines or bonds, home detention or work outreach camps that are administered by correctional agencies. But with the implementation of one system, the police will be able to charge the offender in court immediately and with a short spent of time the offender will be sentence or imprison. Thus, shorten the time of prosecuting and save resources.

In a recent article on January 9,2007 spelled by The Sydney Morning Herald: ‘The federal Attorney-General, Phillip Ruddock, said yesterday that there was a need for harmonization but the states seemed reluctant to adopt new rules with any degree of urgency’ (Herald, 9 January 2007). The thought of how harmonization would only occur if something really bad had already happen (i.e. terrorism) is almost absurd. Intermittent focus on the aspect of different laws should cease. Every law in Australia should have some sort of uniformity. The idea of having one commonwealth government over the states and territories is to bring forth the one nation and one identity, this includes believes and practices of the country. Either the call for adoption of the model criminal code to conformity of the criminal laws or the implementing of one uniform criminal law, this has to be done for the benefit of the country and the people.

In conclusion, we see the rapid change of the world that we live in. The modern technology that is advancing daily, crimes involving high thecnology are common nowaday. Cross broder is done within second with modern transportation and electronic equipement. Thecnological developments have changed our lives, and criminal activities. Shocking senerios like the shooting across the state and the credit card fraud by hacking the internet is no way to be seen in the old days. We have to move swiftly to keep up to date with the current crime situations. I believe the implementation of uniform criminal laws for all Australian Jurisdictions is inevidable. Cross border and borderless crime is increasing so as the number of cases of hearing piling up because of the different set of laws and penalty imposed by different state. How long can the court hold on to these cases? How much resouces and time we must waste? What are the authority waiting for? I believe it would be a major advantage for Australia to have a uniform law policy in this present era.

Reference list
MCSHERRY, B. & NAYLOR, B. (2004) Australian Criminal Laws: Critical Perspectives, Melbourne, Oxford University Press.

Compare and contrast crime “myths” and “facts”

2007-11-01T22:46:00.000-07:00

Essay title: Compare and contrast crime “myths” and “facts”

There are many definitions of crime. One of the definitions is the legal definition. According to Tappan (1947) , crime is “an international violation of the criminal law committed without excuse and penalised by the state”. There is also a human rights definition of crime where anything that is done to another person in violation of the code of human rights constitutes a crime. But that is a vague and too broad of a definition of crime.

Myth is regarded as a traditional or a half-truth story told of some event or happenings. It distorts our views of crimes, criminals and the criminal justice system set by the government. Graber (1980) stated, “the public lives in a world of unreality when it comes to criminals, victims, and the criminal justice system”.

Who is involved in the myths making of crime?

We find that most of the time, the media is the main culprit in contributing and encouraging the creation of crime myths. Journalists and media stations have responsibilities to update us on the happenings domestically and internationally. They also have an obligation to the media companies to ‘sell’ stories. Stories or reports have to grab attention of viewers. The media’s objective is to obtain and retain viewers; with that the advertising rate is increased when the rate of viewers goes through the roof as well. To achieve that, they use methods such as dramatising and sensationalising of stories. Most often times, journalist would choose and pick topic that is of potential to create a build in interest by public or create responses from the governments. Their opinions and reviews of situations are based on their personal opinions and sometimes bias reviews.

Crime through the mass media has become an entertainment more than just news reports. One of the latest stories on the television was how the neighbourhood of Dubbo is havoc. Crime spree, violent behaviours and looters found themselves on camera as the television presenter discussed crime rates that had heightened. The media was only trying to portray an image on the television for the public to react and the government to pay attention to. In reality, according to a few residences in that area, things in Dubbo were not what it seemed to be on the television at all.

The government plays a significant role in preventing myths. They have responsibilities to uphold the truth, sharing true facts to prevent public fear, culling crime myths, supporting and researching on crime prevention. In Australia, the Australian Institute of Criminology is established to play a role in conducting research on crime and criminology, and disseminating information to the Australian Government and public.

The irony is that the government is also a culprit for creating crime myths. The government itself controls and leads the mass media and is known to be a media entity of it’s own. It even has its very own media, publicity and marketing division. The government is able to suppress and release information when they feel necessary or want to. Take for example the news on a gunman in Canberra recently who shot himself after being intercepted by the Police Special Response and Security group. The newspapers had sketchy reports on the whole incident. The police had little to say about what had happened and only concentrated on how they were only protecting the public; describing that the young gunman killing himself as a tragedy.

The government knows it is able to get the media to focus on stories to be told and the attention of the public on social issues.

As a matter of fact, source of myths are so wide that we are not able to keep track of. This is particularly the reason that the government and media cooperates on a level where they would have selected myths, reports or incidents that they clarify or explained to the public via mass media.

Obtaining facts

A fact is normally derived from statistics and reports obtained by research, surveys and police records. The reliability of statistics, research, reports and police records are often questioned. These data are accumulated over the years by individuals and organisations that might not have proper training or standardized research methods. The reports or records might also be bias and based on individual perception or opinion.

Yet the argument is, how else can we gather data that is turned into facts? Thus, the methods of research have gone through years of improvement. The government setup Australian Institute of Criminology for the very purpose of gathering and reporting information on criminology for their knowledgebase. Law enforcement officers are trained to obtain information and prepare reports in a standardised manner. The Australian Bureau of Statistics is also part of the big scheme of things in the research, statistics, reporting and an influence of decision making of the government. Although the research methodologies are of high quality and standard; it cannot be denied that errors and misinterpretation of data still happens. This is unavoidable in the big scheme of things.

Common Myths

The society has this perception that all criminals will eventually be put in prison. This is often not true. We all know that not all crimes are reported. According to Graycar, A and Grabosky, P (2002), ‘Not all reported crimes are recorded, not all recorded crimes are investigated, not all investigated crimes are solved, not every investigated crime yields a suspect, not all suspect is apprehended, not every apprehended person is charged, not every charged person is brought before the courts, not every person brought before the courts is convicted, and not every convicted person is imprisoned’.

Another one of the most common myth is in regards to the arrest of crime related to drug ring crackdowns is that people who sell drugs are normally arrested. The facts according to the publication ‘Crime & Justice in Australia’ published by the NSW Department of Corrective services “80% of people arrested for drug related matters are classified by the courts as ‘consumers’ and not suppliers of drugs” pg 3.

There is this recent myth that crime is ever increasing and the only way to curb the problem is to increase the number of police in the state. The police force is like any other organisations. They need to prove to the people and the government that they need more funding and more staff. To do that, they will have to arguments and prove that the need exist and without it, people are not safe on the streets or at home as crime is on the wide spread. It is amazing how reports of crimes are low when elections are coming up and high when the budget is up for an allocation for the government sector.

The white collar crimes

The myths about how a criminal should look; and people with day jobs and dress up in suits do not commit crime doesn’t stand. Not all criminals look rugged, sluggish, dirty, and sick. Stereotyping the way criminal look and behave is not possible anymore. As technology is taking over the future, crime is also changing. Crime is no longer being committed just by youth, homeless, drug and alcohol influenced people and immoral people. White collar criminals are becoming more evident these days and they hurt people. Such crimes are committed ‘intelligently’ leaving obvious evidence behind is becoming common. Yet white collar crimes abide by the same principles in criminal law. They are as violent as rape, murder, burglaries, robbing, theft and etc. People lose their jobs; they lose their identities, families break up, they cause emotional and psychological traumas and etc.

The few common white collar crimes we normally hear about are tax evasion, computer and internet fraud, bribery, telemarketing fraud, embezzlement, bankruptcy fraud and insurance claiming fraud. Regulatory agencies cannot prevent white collar crimes and these crimes are normally complicated and have no eyewitnesses. The government has been equipping their law enforcers and employing new personnel with the skills needed in policing and cracking down these white collar crimes. Either way, all the government needs are these resources to apprehend or put a stop to white collar crimes as we could say that ‘there are no smart crimes or intelligent criminals’.

Conclusion

We cannot stop crime myths from surfacing into our everyday lives. But we can choose to believe, not believe, to react or not react to crime myths surrounding us. As much as the government release and holds information from the public on crime justice, they are also trying to curb myths for the public’s sake by setting up research agencies, councils and launch campaigns to get our facts right. As Sir Arthur Conan Doyle once quoted this; ‘Crime is common. Logic is rare.’

In the book titled ‘Myth that causes crime’ Harold E pepinsky and Paul Jesilow mentioned that “Police cannot take care of crime. Crime can be taken care only if we move beyond myth”. This is particularly true if we want to curb the widespread of myth that could affect the social psychology of our community.

References

O’Toole, S., 2005, Crime & justice in Australia : the myths- the facts, Eastwood, N.S.W. : NSW Dept. of Corrective Services.

Hall Williams, J. E., 1969, Crime--myths and reality: four lectures given at an I.S.T.D. autumn weekend conference held at Eastbourne, 8th to 10th November 1968 [by] J. E. Hall Williams [and others], London, Institute for the Study and Treatment of Delinquency.

Rylands, L. G., 1984, Crime, its causes and remedy, New York : Garland Pub.

Howitt, D., 1998, Crime, the media, and the law, Chichester [England] ; New York : Wiley series in the psychology of crime, policing, and law.

Goldsmith, A., Israel, M. and Daly, K., 2006. Crime and Justice : A Guide to Criminology (3rd edition). Sydney: Law Book Company

Gaycar, A. and Grabosky, P., 2002, “Trends in Australian Crime and Criminal Justice”, in A. Graycar and P. Grabosky (eds) The Cambridge Handbook of Australian Criminology. Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, pp 9-13

Kappeler, V., Blumberg, M. and Potter, G., 1993, The Mytholody and Crime and Criminal Justice, Chapter 1, “The Social Construction of Crime Myths”, pp 1-20. Prospect Heights, IL : Waveland Press.

Cowdery, N., 2001, Getting justice wrong : myths, media and crime, Crows Nest, NSW : Allen & Unwin

Senator the Hon Amanda Vanstone, 25-27 February 1998, Paper presented at the conference Partnerships in Crime Prevention, convened jointly by the Australian Institute of Criminology and the National Campaign Against Violence and Crime and held in Hobart.

The real Australia Indepence day...

2007-11-01T22:21:00.000-07:00

The Questions:
CCJ 13 Essay Question: Did Australia become legally and politically independent on 1 January 1901? If not, why was this the case – what factors continued to tie Australia to Britain, and when was independence actually achieved (or when will it be achieved)? In your answer address any important steps in the process from colonization toward an independent legal system (such as particular legislation or cases, or changes in the application of precedent) affecting this process.

Introduction
The question of whether Australia became legally and politically independent on 1 January 1901 is unclear and requires a close consideration of factors that continued to tie Australia to Britain, and steps in the process of colonization toward what can now be called Australia’s independent political system. In assessing this question, one must turn first to the British arrival on Australia’s shores in 1787. The doctrine of terra nullius was applied almost immediately since the Aboriginals did not have written laws or hierarchy or ruling in their ways of living, and with that, the English law was brought to settle in Australia. This paper argues that the year 1901 ought to be considered the year when Australia started its journey to independence. However, history proves somewhat confusing, and whilst Australia underwent minimal political and legislative changes, it incurred massive side effects in the process of attaining independence. One may even go so far as to suggest that the British seemingly ‘baby-sat’ Australia from its toddler through to teenage years – Britain slowly releasing different areas to the Australian government’s control throughout an extended period – until finally, Australia reached adult-hood.

The Journey
Although it is difficult to pinpoint precisely the time at which independence took place, it is certain that Australia became independent. However, there is not one day or date that anybody could point to. There was no declaration of independence. There was no constitutional amendment that established Australia's independence and national sovereignty.

Many believed Australia achieved independence and sovereignty gradually and not immediately following federation in 1901. From 1901 to 1926 Australia was a self-governing colony within the nation of the British Empire. Britain still had control over Australia's international relations, and Australian parliaments could not make laws repugnant to Britain. Australians at that time considered themselves to be British citizens.
The Governor-General and State Governors were agents of the British government. In respect of Australia, the Queen only acted on the advice of the British government. Neither the Australian Prime Minister, nor State Premiers, could offer direct advice to the Queen.

The following factors contributed to Australia’s legal independence:
Independence for the executive arm of the Commonwealth Government was achieved through the Imperial Conferences of 1926 and 1930 and confirmed by the Imperial Statute of Westminster 1931.
Independence for the Commonwealth Parliament was largely achieved through the Imperial Statute of Westminster 1931; however, it was only adopted formally in Australia in 1942, backdated to 3 September 1939, via the Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1942.

Although the precise date is unclear, Australia became recognised by the international community as a nation apart from the British Empire some time between the end of World War I and the end of World War II. Independence for the judiciary in respect of Federal matters was largely achieved in 1968 through the Privy Council Act 1968.

In 1975, all appeals from the High Court to the Privy Council were abolished, with one very minor exception, via the Privy Council (Appeals from the High Court) Act 1975. Although appeals to the Privy Council from State Supreme Courts continued until 1986, since 1978 the decisions of the Privy Council in these matters were not binding on the High Court of Australia.
3 March 1986 Independence for the six State governments was achieved with the Australia Act 1986. Ironically, the Australian Federation ceased to be a colony decades before the States as a result of the Statute of Westminster.

Following these events, it could be suggested that Australia has attained complete sovereignty. While there is some argument about the actual date of Australia's complete sovereignty, there can be no doubt that it has been fully achieved since 3 March 1986 when Royal Assent was given to the Australia Acts.

Furthermore, Australia is now recognised by other nations in the international community and is a party to many international treaties. For example, Australia is party to the ‘United Nations Human Rights Council’, ‘Convention on the Rights of the Child’ and many other treaties. This reaffirms Australia’s independent status within the international community and this is important as Australia reign in sovereignty with other nations.

Australia is fully capable of running its own internal affairs through its own governments operating under its own Constitution. In the Constitution, it gives power to the Parliament to make laws for the peace, order and good government of the Commonwealth. This is important as Australia inherit powers for the protection of its own and to control the finances, external and internal affairs, military, trade and commerce, powers of judiciary, immigration and etc. Whereas in another section of the constitution, the High Court of Australia is given the judicial powers.

The Constitution was an important step; symbolically and legally making Australia independent from England. Australia has proven its capability so far in since the legal and political independence achieved in 1986.

Factors continued to tie Australia to Britain
Despite the fundamental changes to the Australian government and legal institutions described above, the fact is that Australia is still subject to the British monarchy. The head of Australia is still the Queen - who is from Britain - and her representative who is appointed in Australia has powers to pull a double dissolution anytime with our parliaments.

Although Australia gained independence from the Britain in 1901, Australia is still a Constitutional Monarchy State. The Queen, Australia’s monarch or sovereign, is also the head of state. In keeping with the Westminster tradition, the Constitution provides that the Queen shall be represented in Australia by the Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia and the Governors of the six States, who exercise the constitutional powers of the Sovereign. The Governor-General corresponds to the Governor of a State and the Prime Minister corresponds to the Premier. According to convention amongst the Governors, the Governor-General is treated as the first among equals, but has no duties or powers to control or supervise.

Constitutional conventions which evolved for hundred years in England and which are accepted or evolved further in Australia have developed to ensure that, in practice, the system works as a representative democracy which responds to the will of the community as expressed through elections. Due to its nature, the established constitutional conventions are not set out in the Constitution or other acts of Parliament but they are so uniformly followed and expected to be followed that they are binding in practise, even though the courts will not generally enforce them directly.

Independence
Through the enactment of the Australia Act, the commonwealth parliament and Australian law clearly acknowledged that there is no lack of independence. The states were given full power to make laws for their own following the responsible government ways even when those laws had extra- territorial operations.

The Australia Act completed the move of the states from colonies to sovereign independent political entities that were part of a federation, subject only to the commonwealth constitution and to having no international functions or status.

Commonwealth of Australia is technically a creation of the British Imperial Parliament through the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900 (IMP) applied by paramount force to Australia even though Federation in 1901 is often assumed as the moment of “independence”. There was uncertainty as to the applicability of British Imperial laws on the Commonwealth of Australia.

In 1865, the Colonial Law Validity Act (CLVA) was passed to eliminate limitations that were placed on the law-making powers of the early governors and Legislative Councils. The purpose of CLVA was to remove inconsistency between the Colonial and Imperial legislation at that time. It was to counter act the issue of repugnancy where any colonial law contradictory to the provisions of imperial statute of the British colony was override. The Act nullified several judgment of a South Australian judge was known for his notorious judgments on repugnancy of South Australian laws against English laws. But instead of having the CLVA to give opportunity to Australia for independence in the legal sense, the CLVA seemed to have proved that the British government more supreme.

The Statute of Westminster which was passed in1931 overrode the Colonial Law Validity Act. This is in result of the Imperial Conference of 1930 pursuing the abolishment of the supremacy of British parliament over the Dominions legislatures. As a recommendation, the Statute of Westminster 1931 repealed the CLVA 1865 in its application to the Dominions. The statute established a legislative equality between Australia and the United Kingdom. It marked the road to independence of Australia and the other Dominions.

The imperial laws continued to be paramount in Australia until the Australian Act 1986 came about. The Act eliminates the remaining ties between the legislature and judiciary of Australia and the United Kingdom. One of the significance of the act was the removal of the Privy Council from the remaining appeals in the Australian legal system. This allows the High Court of Australia to substitute as the highest power in the final court appeal in Australian law. To mark the significance of the Australian Act 1986, Queen Elizabeth II traveled to Australia for the signing of the proclamation for the law.

As a result of these laws, Australia became a fully independent country. The text of the Constitution is considered now as fully separated from the text in the original Act. Even if the United Kingdom Parliament were to repeal the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900, it would have no effect on Australia since only the Australian people can amend the Constitution, by referendum.

Conclusion
Clearly, the arrival of British colonies on Australian soil established a fundamental bond between Australian and English law and politics. However, over the passage of time this bond has deteriorated, and following significant events such as Constitutional changes, proclamation of the Australian Act in 1986 and Australia’s Status as an independent State within the international community; it seems now evident that Australia is an independent nation.

Whilst questions still arise as to Australia’s continuing acknowledgement of the monarchy and its status as a Commonwealth country, it can be argued that the bond between British and Australia is almost like a mentor and mentee. This bond should always be maintained as Australia could always use another counterpart in international relations or even just for continual support from Britain. Thus in conclusion, it is clear that Australia can liaise with Britain and any other independent country on the same level of sovereignty.

References

Blackshield T. & Williams G. 2002, Australian Constitutional Law and Theory; commentary and materials, The Federation Press, NSW.

Cook C., Creyke R., Geddes R. & Holloway I. 2001, Laying Down the Law, LexisNexis Butterworths, Australia.

Hudson W.& Sharp M., 1988, Australian Independence Colony to Reluctant Kingdom, Melbourne Univeristy Press, Carlton, Victoria, Australia.

Attorney-General’s Department, http://www.ag.gov.au/ , viewed 6 September 2006

Australia’s Prime Ministers, http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/ , viewed 6 September 2006

Mark Leeming, 'The liabilities of Commonwealth and State governments under the Constitution' (2006) 2 Australian Bar Review 27