Criminology Commons^™

Transitioning From Youth To Adulthood: Mapping The Impact Of Systems & Places On Youth Pathways, Danielle Layton, Erica King Msw, Jillian Foley Mppm, Sophia Mcmullan, Mara Sanchez Mppm

Justice Policy

This report seeks to lift up the voices of Maine’s youth and place their lived experiences with homelessness, educational pushout, child-welfare and juvenile justice system involvement, and interactions with the healthcare system at the center of public discourse and decision making. This study collected life stories from 35 youth (age 14-24) using arts-based narrative inquiry methods to map their journeys from childhood to adulthood. The report offers a deeper look at the firsthand experiences of Maine’s systems-involved youth and recommends creating more opportunities for young people to be involved with decisions made by the organizations and systems that serve them, …

Raw, Roast Or Half-Baked? Hogarth’S Beef In Calais Gate, Piers Beirne Phd

Department of Criminology

Scholars of human–animal studies, literary criticism and art history have paid considerable attention of late to how the visual representation of nonhuman animals has often and sometimes to great effect been used in the imagining of national identity. It is from the scrutinies of these several disciplines that the broad backcloth of this article is woven. Its focus is the neglected coupling of patriotism and carnism, instantiated here by its deployment in William Hogarth’s painting Calais Gate (1749). A pro-animal reading is offered of the English artist’s exhortation that it is in the nature of ‘true-born Britons’ to consume a …

Gender-Responsive Policy Development In Corrections: What We Know And Roadmaps For Change, Erica King Msw, Jillian Foley Mppm

Justice Policy

Lack of gender-informed policy creates challenges for correctional practitioners. When there is a gap between training that is evidence-based and gender-informed and what is written in policy, staff may find themselves hindered in their attempts to work toward establishing a gender-responsive environment. This policy bulletin, released in February 2015 and based on survey data and focus groups with women, is an initial step to determine the existence of gender-informed policy within correctional agencies. The findings of this bulletin provide an overview of the current state of gender-responsive policies for women and define a focus for future research, training and technical …

Recidivism Rates Of Committed Youth, 2006 - 2009, Becky Noreus, Robyn Dumont

Justice Policy

The Maine Department of Corrections (MDOC) Division of Juvenile Services (DJS) collaborates with the Muskie School of Public Service in a state‐university partnership to analyze juvenile recidivism rates. DJS measures juvenile justice outcomes to guide policy and program development geared toward recidivism reduction. Reduction of youth recidivism in Maine increases public safety.

This report uses multiple recidivism measures: re‐arrest, re‐adjudication/conviction, and recommitment. To be consistent with other reports, most analysis focuses on re‐adjudication/conviction.

This report measures DJS impact on youth who have been committed to a MDOC facility by examining rates of recidivism.

Recidivism Rates Of Youth Discharged From Supervision 2006 - 2009, Becky Noréus, Jillian Foley Mppm

Justice Policy

The Maine Department of Corrections (MDOC) Division of Juvenile Services (DJS) collaborates with the Muskie School of Public Service in a state‐university partnership to analyze juvenile recidivism rates. DJS measures juvenile justice outcomes to guide policy and program development geared toward recidivism reduction. Reduction of youth recidivism in Maine increases public safety.

Recidivism in this report is defined as a re‐adjudication (juvenile system) or conviction (adult system) for a new offense committed by a youth in Maine within three years after release from DJS supervision. This report measures DJS impact on youth who have been released from DJS supervision by …

Maine's Women Offenders: What Do We Know?, Erica King Msw, Jillian Foley Mppm, Mark Rubin

Justice Policy

Although Maine has one of the lowest incarceration rates of any state for both men and women, between 1999 and 2004 the state experienced an increase of 114 percent in incarceration of women, the largest increase in the nation. This study provides a descriptive analysis of the characteristics of women entering Maine's probation system in 2004, 2005 and 2006, and examines the factors contributing to recidivism, defined as an arrest for a new crime (misdemeanor or felony) while under probation supervision. The study finds that recidivism rates of Maine's women offenders vary considerably by county and by offense type. The …

Disproportionate Minority Contact In Maine: Dmc Assessment And Identification, Becky Noréus, Teresa A. Hubley, Michael Rocque

Justice Policy

Executive Summary:

Since 1998, the Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention (JJDP) Act has required all states that receive formula grant program funding to determine whether the proportion of minority youth in confinement exceeds their proportion of the population, and, if so, to develop corrective strategies. In 1992, Congress elevated this issue to a “core requirement” of the JJDP Act. In 2002, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention expanded the requirement to include the proportion of minorities at each key decision point, and not just at confinement. This allows a broader examination of how minority groups are treated in the …

Immigrants As The Enemy: Psychoanalysis And The Balkans' Self-Orientalization, Dušan I. Bjelić Phd

Department of Criminology

Maria Todorova claims that Edward Said's orientalism differs from balkanism since the Balkans were never colonized in the traditional (political and economic) sense. Yet the colonial politics of representation and colonial psychology have been fully operational there. This article interprets the work of two world-renowned psychoanalysts from the Balkans, Julia Kristeva and Slavoj Zizek, as part of a continuum of centre-to-periphery representation predicated upon the West/East geopolitical split. Their respective work thus becomes relevant not only to Said's orientalism but, more specifically, to Todorova's concept of balkanism, as elucidated in her seminal work, Imagining the Balkans.

Targeted Interventions Could Ease Maine's Prison And Jail Populations, Mark Rubin

Justice Policy

Overcrowding and rising costs in Maine’s corrections system have become a serious problem. In the past twenty years, the average daily population in state prisons has grown 74 percent, while county jails have grown 193 percent. To accommodate this growth, Maine, in 2004, spent $127,343,971, not including debt service, to operate the prisons and county jails. This brief examines state prison, county jail, and probation population trends since 2004 and identifies key factors driving the number of prisoners

From Animal Abuse To Interhuman Violence? A Critical Review Of The Progression Thesis, Piers Beirne

Department of Criminology

This paper reviews evidence of a progression from animal abuse to interhuman violence. It finds that the ''progression thesis" is supported not by a coherent research program but by disparate studies often lacking methodological and conceptual clarity. Set in the context of a debate about the theoretical adequacy of concepts like "animal abuse" and ''animal cruelty," it suggests that the link between animal abuse and interhuman violence should be sought not only in the personal biographies of those individuals who abuse animals but also in those institutionalized social practices where animal abuse is routine, widespread, and socially acceptable.

Criminology And Animal Studies: A Sociological View, Piers Beirne

Department of Criminology

No abstract provided.

Horse Maiming In The English Countryside: Moral Panic, Human Deviance, And The Social Construction Of Victimhood, Roger Yates, Chris Powell, Piers Beirne

Department of Criminology

The societal reaction to a series of horse assaults in rural Hampshire during the 1990s was a rare example of a moral panic about crime and deviance in which animals other than humans occupy, or seemed to occupy the central role of victim. This paper explores how the nature of the relationships between humans and animals is revealed through authoritative utterances about offenders and victims by the mass media, the police, and the humans who felt they had a stake in the horses' well-being. Analysis of how and when victimhood is ascribed to animals helps to uncover the invisible assaults …