Hegelian restorative justice

In the Philosophy of Right, Hegel claims that crime is a negation of right and punishment is the “negation of the negation.” Punishment, for Hegel, “annuls” the criminal act. Many take it that Hegel endorses a form of retributivism—the theory that criminal offenders should be subject to harsh treatment in response and in proportion to their wrongdoing. Here I argue that restorative criminal justice is consistent with Hegel's remarks on punishment and his overall philosophical system. This is true, in part, because restorative justice integrates Hegel's instructive discussion of confession and forgiveness in the Phenomenology of Spirit. Hegel claims that true moral relationships allow space for persons to confess their moral shortcomings and forgive the shortcomings of others. Restorative criminal justice brings the perpetrators and victims of crime together to offer confessions and forgiveness and to work to heal the various wounds caused by crime. I do not claim that Hegel must be read as advocating restorative justice. While Hegel tells us what punishment does, he does not commit himself to any form of punishment. What I offer here is a rational, progressive reconstruction and extension of Hegel's conception of crime and punishment.     

Killing kids: The juvenile death penalty and community sentiment

In the Supreme Court's Eighth Amendment jurisprudence, “community sentiment” plays a central if not dispositive role in determining if a punishment is disproportionate. To gauge sentiment on the death penalty for juveniles, two experiments with death-qualified subjects were run, where age (a 15–25 age range) and case (heinousness) were varied in the first, and type of defendant (principal, accessory, or felony-murder accessory) and an extended age range (13–25) varied in the second. Significant age effects occur in both experiments, with approximately 75% and 65% refusing to give the death penalty for the youngest (13–15) and next youngest (16–18) groups, whereas 60% give the death penalty for the 25-year-old. In their reasons for their decisions, the killing kid was judged less blameworthy and death-worthy. Although politicians have called for “a man-sized punishment for a man-sized crime,” this community does not see that “man-sized” punishment fitting the kid.     

Terrorism's Toll on Civil Liberties

Summary

The toll that terrorism takes on civil liberties has become clear in the United States in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. Horrendous as those attacks were, they were hardly unique in the fear that they spurred on the part of the politicians and the public, resulting in a counterattack on civil liberties in the name of preventing terrorism. The cost to civil liberties is thus imposed not directly by terrorism itself, but rather by unjustified policies that are labeled “counter-terrorist.” In that sense, this chapter would more aptly be entitled, “Counter-Terrorism's Toll on Civil Liberties.”     

Posttraumatic growth following pregnancy termination for fetal abnormality: the predictive role of coping strategies and perinatal grief

Background: Research about termination for fetal abnormality (TFA) suggests that it is a traumatic event with potential negative psychological consequences. However, evidence also indicates that following traumatic events individuals may experience growth. Although TFA’s negative psychological outcomes are well documented, little is known of the potential for growth following this event. Therefore, the study’s objectives were to measure posttraumatic growth (PTG) post-TFA, examine the relationship between PTG, perinatal grief and coping, and determine the predictors of PTG.

Design: An online, retrospective survey was conducted with 161 women.

Methods: Eligible participants were women over 18 who had undergone TFA. Participants were recruited from a support organisation. They completed the Brief COPE, Short Perinatal Grief Scale and Posttraumatic Growth Inventory. Data were analysed using regression analyses.

Results: Moderate levels of PTG were observed for “relating to others,” “personal strengths” and “appreciation of life.” “Positive reframing” was a significant predictor of PTG. Despite using mainly “adaptive” coping strategies, women’s grief levels were high.

Conclusions: “Adaptive” coping strategies such as, “positive reframing” are relevant to TFA. They may act as protective factors against distress and as foundations for growth, implicating that interventions such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, which aim to reframe women’s experience, may be beneficial.     

Measuring the Evolution of Radical Right-Wing Posting Behaviors Online

ABSTRACT

Researchers have previously explored how right-wing extremists build a collective identity online by targeting their perceived “threat,” but little is known about how this “us” versus “them” dynamic evolves over time. This study uses a sentiment analysis-based algorithm that adapts criminal career measures, as well as semi-parametric group-based modeling, to evaluate how users’ anti-Semitic, anti-Black, and anti-LGBTQ posting behaviors develop on a sub-forum of the most conspicuous white supremacy forum. The results highlight the extent to which authors target their key adversaries over time, as well as the applicability of a criminal career approach in measuring radical posting trajectories online.     

A Minister's Information-Handling

ABSTRACT

One of the roles which ministers perform is that of “caregiver.” Caregiving functions include such activities as visiting parishioners, hearing confessions, and counselling people. These functions are carried out within a legal context. In this paper, two aspects of the parish minister's information handling in respect to his/her role as caregiver are examined. Specific attention is given to the pastor's vulnerability, while carrying out pastoral duties, to civil lawsuits for malpractice and to her/his expectation of privilege against testifying in criminal proceedings. It is observed that in North America, considerable confusion exists over who actually owns and who can control the information a minister acquires and disseminates.     

The perception of crime and criminality: The violent criminal and swindler as social types

Part of the findings of a study carried out in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, in 1976, on the perception of crime and criminals are reported. Clear and distinct social types of the violent criminal and swindler were found, which were reasonably close to, or at least not discordant with, criminological‐sociological literature. A very negative assessment of the violent criminal was held by respondents, which contrasted with the more positive assessment of the swindler. Differences were also found in respondents’ perceptions of the aetiology of violent crime and fraud. However, respondents were punitive toward both types of criminals, though more punitive toward the violent criminal. The analysis is presented within a framework of emphasizing social typing, the audience and social control. It is argued that the repertoire of social types held by individuals and groups, and the process of social typing, play a central part in the functioning of criminal justice systems and the social construction of social control.     

What Makes a Lengthy Article Brief?

ABSTRACT

Evidence continues to accumulate supporting an innate basis of human sexual identity as male or female. Selective mustering of these particles of data can congeal into a compelling argument.

Plyers of the law trade present one side of an argument in their legal brief. The reader is overwhelmed by its forceful logic and inevitable conclusions. The reader is dumbfounded that there is an opposition. Until reading the opponent's brief.

That is law. This is science. A peer-reviewed journal is a vehicle for balanced presentation of data with conclusions not outstripping the evidence.

This lengthy article on gender identity is a brief cross-dressed as science. It set out to “pass” but it was “read.”     

The seriousness of crime: A study of popular morality

This article reports the findings from a study that explored how lay people determine the seriousness of criminal offenses. While previous research on this topic has assumed that the perceived seriousness of crimes was primarily determined by differences in physical injury and economic loss, the results of this study indicate that offense seriousness is also affected by judgments subjects make about intent, motive, purpose, “fair play”, and “real harm”.     

Punishment and Blame for Culpable Indifference

Abstract

In criminal law, the mental state of the defendant is a crucial determinant of the grade of crime that the defendant has committed and of whether the conduct is criminal at all. Under the widely accepted modern hierarchy of mental states, an actor is most culpable for causing harm purposely and progressively less culpable for doing so knowingly, recklessly, or negligently. Notably, this hierarchy emphasizes cognitive rather than conative mental states. But this emphasis, I argue, is often unjustified. When we punish and blame for wrongful acts, we should look beyond the cognitive dimensions of the actor’s culpability and should consider affective and volitional dimensions as well, including the actor’s intentions, motives, and attitudes. One promising alternative mental state is the attitude of culpable indifference. However, we must proceed carefully when permitting criminal liability to turn on culpable indifference and similar attitudes, lest we punish vicious or unvirtuous feelings that are not sufficiently connected to wrongful acts, and lest we punish disproportionately for attitudes that reflect only a very modest degree of culpability.     

Law,social science and the “brainwashing” exception to the first amendment

Litigation in the “cult wars” has shifted from “deprograming” cases to civil suits by ex-converts based on “brainwashing” claims, and to criminal defenses claiming incapacity due to cultic brainwashing. Early cases were decided on the basis of first amendment derivations barring judicial inquiries into conversion processes and religious authenticity. In 1988 the California Supreme Court carved out a narrow exception to this doctrine to be applied to circumstances where “coercive persuasion” is combined with concealment of a group's identity. The Court's opinion entailed characterizations of the process and consequences of brainwashing which are problematic from the standpoint of social science. Several key questions must be resolved before brainwashing theories can make a constructive contribution to litigation involving religious groups. These questions relate to broader issues involving the nature, causes and indicators of involuntariness, and the closely related problem of drawing the line or identifying the exact point on a continuum beyond which the means or intensity of indoctrination becomes incapacitating. Although the 1988 California decision did not resolve these issues, they were considered from 1988-91 by several courts making procedural rulings on the admissibility of “expert” testimony on brainwashing/psychologicd coercion. A concluding section relates this legal to the duality of ‘soft’ vs. ‘hard’ determinism in social science.     

Defendant's Attractiveness as a Factor in the Outcome of Criminal Trials: An Observational Study1

Observers rated the physical attractiveness of 74 defendants in criminal court, covering a broad range of offenses. Seventy-three usable cases were obtained. For 67 defendants (excluding those who had drawn “flat sentences” of 99–199 years), attractiveness was predictive of both minimum and maximum sentences (p <.001)-the more attractive the defendant, the less severe the sentence imposed. No significant relationship was found between attractiveness and conviction/acquittal, although seriousness of the crime was found to correlate negatively with attractiveness (p <.01)). Race of the defendant showed a systematic relationship to punishment, with nonwhites drawing consistently more severe sentences than whites; a multiple regression analysis using attractiveness, race, and seriousness of crime as predictors of punishment yielded results which implied that this finding was largely due to a confounding of race and seriousness of the crime.     

“For We ascend in holiness and do not descend.” Jewish ultra-Orthodox women’s agency through their discourse about media

ABSTRACT

“Permission” and “prohibition” are key terms in Jewish religious discourse. For generations they have dominated as part of the primarily male, rabbinic discourse in talmudic literature. This paper will show that men no longer hold the monopoly on these terms because contemporary Israeli ultra-Orthodox women include them in their daily conversation in multiple and varied ways. The study examines exposure patterns and perceptions of 42 ultra-Orthodox women toward sectarian and general mass media. In responses to detailed questionnaires, the words “prohibited,” “forbidden” and “a boundary” constantly recur along with a variety of negatives, such as “not permitted,” “not allowed” and “not kosher”.

This paper argues that in describing their uses of and perceptions toward mass media, ultra-Orthodox women have adopted terminology borrowed from what was previously a primarily male-dominated conversation. Some might argue that these women are simply working within the bounds of ultra-Orthodox law which they accept as universally applicable; or perhaps that these women are simply reflecting words used by their husbands or rabbis. However, this study argues that their adoption of these terms indicates they are exercising their own agency. With a combined religious and secular education, and work that is primarily outside the house, many of them are the principal breadwinners in their homes. I suggest that this discourse is a part of their highly intelligent navigation of their simultaneous roles as both gatekeepers and change agents.     

Military and Crime: A Systematic Review of the Literature

ABSTRACT

This study systematically analyzed the literature on the effects of military participation on later criminal behavior. When all studies were analyzed as a whole, the findings did not indicate a clear effect. However, a focus upon specific offense types revealed that the military experience decreased non-violent crime but increased violent crime. Active military personnel tended to be less likely to commit crime. Some evidence demonstrated that male and non-white veterans committed more crime than their civilian counterparts, but future research is needed to replicate these subgroup differences. Theoretical implications and future research directions are also discussed.     

Fire & Language: The Two-Faced Process of Progress in Deep-Structural Sociocultural Evolution

Abstract

This paper attempts to show how the inherent structure of human becoming is evolutionarily determined to work toward a “meta-system transition” to a higher order of control with a growing risk of extinction as humanity approaches the “event horizon.” The “double helix” of progress technological and social caused manifold cultural surface structures according to the law of increasing entropy, which, however, are mechanically determined to reunite following the same law. Separate individual centers of cybernetic processing thus gradually turn themselves into discursive (“neural”) units, possibly collapsing into a super-conscious single will once information transmission in the network reaches a certain density and noise decreases below a certain threshold.     

Persons with disabilities

In 1990, the United States Congress enacted legislation protecting the civil rights of persons with disabilities. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) (1990) has been termed the most significant civil rights legislation since the 1960s (Rothstein, 1992/1994; see also Drimmer, 1993; Gostin & Beyer, 1993). The intent of the ADA is to provide “not only equal treatment [for persons with disabilities], but also equal opportunity” (Rothstein, 1992, p. 19, emphasis in original). The purpose of the ADA is not only to eliminate intentional discrimintion, but also to change “policies and practices that have a discriminatory impact” on persons with disabilities (p. 19). The ADA was implemented in the wake of decades of growing awareness of and responses to the numerous societal barriers confronted by persons with disabilities. The civil rights movement for persons with disabilities was spawned by grass roots movements (Scotch, 1984). Over time, this civil rights movement has been aided by behavioral science research as well as by legal actions (see, e.g., Scotch, 1984, 1988; see also Ainlay, Becker, & Coleman, 1986; Asch & Fine, 1988; Rothstein, 1992/1994; Shapiro, 1993). It is still too early to assess the ultimate success of the specific ADA legislation, much less the general disability-rights, advocacy movement. Nevertheless, as the articles in this special issue of Behavioral Sciences and the Law reflect, the behavioral-science-and-law community has much to contribute to the elimination of the marginalization of persons with disabilities in modern society. As shown in the articles in this issue, these efforts can include a) assessing progress in light of legislation and policy reforms, b) identifying on-going barriers, and c) offering ideas for different ways to conceptualize not only the problems, but also the solutions to problems confronting persons with disabilities. Ultimately, these and the other efforts being undertaken in the legal, social, and political arenas should help in the fight to fully integrate persons with disabilities into every part of the social fabric. The issue begins with two articles that report on empirical research. First, Professor Peter Blanck presents results from his longitudinal study of the ADA. Specifically, Professor Blanck has been examining employment integration and economic opportunity. His article summarizes the findings from his program of research: There are seven core findings, indicating both successes in employment (e.g., an increase of employment in integrated work settings) as well as continuing concerns (e.g., wage disparities as a function of gender; a leveling off of economic opportunities). The other empirical study is presented by Professor Delbert Rounds. Professor Rounds interviewed individuals with legal blindness in order to learn about their experiences of criminal victimization. One of only a handful of studies on the impact of crime on persons with disabilities, the research indicates that although individuals with legal blindness may not be victimized at rates different than sighted persons, the legally-blind appear to be vulnerable to specific kinds of victimization and their victimization experiences may differ from other crime victims' experiences. The remaining five articles assess different issues related to persons with disabilities. All draw, to some degree, on behavioral science research to argue for the elimination of barriers to persons with disabilities so that they can share the same social and legal rights and responsibilities as non-disabled persons. Professor Harlan Hahn offers a sociopolitical definition of disability. Instead of conceptualizing disability as a functional impairment, Professor Hahn advocates the use of a minority model that stresses attitudinal discrimination as the principal problem facing disabled persons. Professor Hahn suggests that the reconceptualization of disability could benefit persons with disabilities in both social scientific and legal contexts. For example, it would focus social scientific investigations on such issues as the concept of aesthetic anxiety. Research undertaken in light of the minority/attitudinal model, Professor Hahn argues, could have the same positive consequences in aiding persons with disabilities in their fight for legal and social equality as did social scientific research regarding race issues. Professor Michael Perlin presents a different twist on sociopolitical implications of disability issues. He shows how a seemingly “minor” decision by the United States Supreme Court in the mental disability case of Godinez v. Moran (establishing a unitary standard for the determinations of competence to stand trial, competence to plead guilty, and competence to waive counsel) had a substantial influence on the way in which the courts recently handled the high-visibility case of Colin Ferguson. Ferguson, a very bright but mentally disabled Black man, was the defendant charged with the murder of six people and the wounding of 19 others. Professor Perlin uses the filters of sanism and pretextuality to examine the Ferguson trial and to provide insight into how the American criminal justice system reacts to defendants with mental disabilities. Whereas Professor Perlin analyzed criminal law issues that disenabled persons with mental disabilities rather than enabled them, Professor Roger Levesque analyzes recent civil law reforms that have the same consequence. Professor Levesque's focus is on the way in which laws (statutes and case decisions) have intruded on the rights to engage in sexual, marital, and parental relationships. His analyses are very similar to Professor Perlin's in the demonstration of sanist and pretextual approaches to these issues taken by the law. Professor Levesque advocates that the law adopt the approach taken by many (but not all) social scientists — viz., the examination of behavior in context without preconceived, moralistic positions, resulting in individual assessments of competency — in order to provide a better understanding of rights and abilities for persons with mental disabilities, and, ultimately, an end to restrictive legal rules. Professor Donald Hantula and Ms. Noreen Reilly also focus on persons with mental disabilities. They contend that under the reasonable accommodation provisions of the ADA, persons with mental disabilities should and could have successful employment opportunities if only the social and managerial environments were to be modified. Professor Hantula and Ms. Reilly suggest the use of behavior analysis and performance management perspectives as bases for analyzing, developing, implementing, and evaluating reasonable accommodation for persons with mental disabilities. They also argue that the changes needed for persons with disabilities would actually benefit non-disabled employees as well. Finally, Dr. McCay Vernon, Dr. Lawrence Raifman, and Professor Sheldon Greenberg analyze the problems associated with providing Miranda Warnings to deaf suspects. They provide caselaw, empirical, and analytical evidence demonstrating that present law enforcement practices fail to inform deaf suspects of their legal rights, resulting in adverse consequences for both law enforcement and the suspects. Dr. Vernon and his colleagues identify techniques that not only promote an awareness of the problems, but also help to address the problems for criminal justice officials and for deaf suspects.     

Profiling Korean sex crimes: Offender characteristics and crime scene actions

The present study aimed to examine the demographic information of sex offenders in South Korea and explore whether a U.K. thematic model of criminal behaviour could be replicated in the Korean context. The 27 variables of crime scene actions derived from 50 Korean sexual offences through a content analysis were analysed with smallest space analysis. Chi‐square was also administered to explore the differences in offender characteristics among behavioural themes. Consequently, three separate action themes, hostility–involvement, theft, and control, were revealed. Next, each case was assigned to one of the dominant or hybrid themes, with 84% of the total cases being classified to the dominant themes. Moreover, there were significant differences in four offender characteristics between the themes: “previous conviction of robbery,” “previous conviction of sexual crime,” “knowing the victim,” and “vehicle use.” These outcomes have implications for the development of the Korean profiling system.     

From Silence to Propagation: Understanding the Relationship between “Stop Snitchin” and “YOLO”

Beginning in the early twenty-first century, “Stop Snitchin”—a technique of not speaking to police—was at the forefront of urban hip-hop culture. With the exponential growth of social media, however, the idiom switched to “YOLO”—You Only Live Once. This phrase has glamorized American values of individualism and exceptionalism, thus contradicting “Stop Snitchin,” as people use social media as a platform to display their exploits and apply “YOLO” to dismiss criminal and deviant behavior. This article examines the intersections of social media, crime, and deviance as well as the influence of the prison industrial complex on social promotion of crime and deviant behavior. Using cultural criminology, this article seeks to identify how power is achieved through different forms of impression management, moving from silence to broadcasting in three ways: (1) chance, (2) announced, and (3) rehearsed performances.     

Juggalos - Whoop! Whoop! A Family or A Gang? A Participant-Observation Study on an FBI Defined ‘Hybrid’ Gang

ABSTRACT

This study examines the Juggalos and their controversial gang designation as defined by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Juggalos are devoted fans of the music group Insane Clown Posse, but law enforcement officials have identified Juggalos as a “hybrid” gang. A participant observation study was conducted in the fall of 2017 during the Juggalo March in Washington D.C. This protest rally was a response to challenge the gang classification and demonstrate to others that Juggalos are “a family and not a gang.” The authors observed Juggalo behaviors that were not consistent with a gang; but rather consistent with the characteristics of identifying a gang, as well as behaviors that were deviant.