Kevin O’Sullivan, Chana Levin, David Bright and Richard Kemp
The purpose of this paper is to test the relationship between the belief in redeemability – Version 2 (BIR-2) Scale and desistance from crime. It also seeks to explore how…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to test the relationship between the belief in redeemability – Version 2 (BIR-2) Scale and desistance from crime. It also seeks to explore how patterns of responding on the BIR-2 with offenders compare to previous patterns of responding in the general public.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors report the results of a study of offenders using the belief in redeemability – Version 2 (BiR-2) scale. In total, 180 offenders under the supervision of the Community Corrections Service (formerly the Probation and Parole Service) of New South Wales completed the ten-item questionnaire and when these data were combined with demographic and reoffending data collected by Corrective Services New South Wales, 168 sets of useable data were collected. Scores on the BIR-2 scale were compared to Level of Service Inventory – Revised (LSI-R) score, Most Serious Offence category, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status, number of custodial sentences in previous five years, age, gender and reoffending.
Findings
Results showed that the sample overall was closely representative of the caseload from which the study sample was drawn (a metropolitan community corrections office) and that BIR-2 scores showed a small, significant, negative correlation with LSI-R scores. Analysis of re-offending data indicated a small, positive, but non-significant correlation with BIR-2. Implications of this are discussed and future research outlined.
Practical implications
The paper suggests that it is worth attempting to measure belief in redeemability in the broader context of a narrative approach to desistance.
Originality/value
This is the first time that a scale has been used to test the importance of a belief in redeemability quantitatively and to permit the use of multivariate analysis.
Details
Keywords
Vanessa Rose Spiteri, Glenn Porter and Richard Kemp
Passport photographs are routinely incorporated onto official travel documentation to ascertain an individual’s identity. In Australia, passport photographs may be provided by a…
Abstract
Purpose
Passport photographs are routinely incorporated onto official travel documentation to ascertain an individual’s identity. In Australia, passport photographs may be provided by a range of retail suppliers and photographed to a set of standards developed by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Whether these standards can provide consistency between craniofacial representation and other parameters throughout individual subjects is unknown. The paper aims to discuss this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
This study tests the consistency of passport images with regard to parameters that are likely to affect suitability for use as passport documents. These parameters include, space and dimensionality, craniofacial representation, image sharpness, exposure and colour rendition.
Findings
The examination found there was a significant degree of variation among the test results despite being completed using the same instructional guidelines designed to produce uniformity.
Originality/value
The paper identifies a significant degree of variation among test results and suggests further review.
Details
Keywords
The selection and evaluation of CD‐ROM disks are important steps in the planning of a CD‐ROM facility. The choice of databases depends upon, among other factors, the objectives of…
Abstract
The selection and evaluation of CD‐ROM disks are important steps in the planning of a CD‐ROM facility. The choice of databases depends upon, among other factors, the objectives of the library, the projected use of each disk, and financial considerations. In this article we review the literature that deals with these matters. We begin with what is available on disk selection, via both printed directories and in the journals. We next discuss reported methods of disk evaluation. Finally, we cover existing reviews of various CD‐ROM products.
Kevin O'Sullivan, Richard Kemp and David Bright
– The purpose of this paper is to lay the groundwork for a narrative study of desistance that is both qualitative and quantitative.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to lay the groundwork for a narrative study of desistance that is both qualitative and quantitative.
Design/methodology/approach
The review traces the strands of research that have made self-story an important theme in the study of desistance with particular reference to work since 2001.
Findings
The importance of an agentic self-story in the process of desistance from crime came to prominence in the work of Shadd Maruna (1997, 2001). Since then authors have attempted to formulate: first, an integrated theoretical view of desistance incorporating agency; and second, a clinically useful understanding of how self-story is important. The clinical studies have almost always been qualitative, relying on extensive life history interviews which yield great richness of detail but few, if any, testable hypotheses. To date, such studies have not provided the empirical foundation on which to develop policy in correctional environments.
Practical implications
If it is found that a measure of self-belief correlates with desistance from crime, it may be possible to devise psychological interventions to enhance and change self-belief.
Originality/value
The paper proposes adding a quantitative approach to the measurement of self-concept in order to estimate the likelihood of desistance.
Details
Keywords
Charlie D. Frowd, David White, Richard I. Kemp, Rob Jenkins, Kamran Nawaz and Kate Herold
Research suggests that memory for unfamiliar faces is pictorial in nature, with recognition negatively affected by changes to image-specific information such as head pose…
Abstract
Purpose
Research suggests that memory for unfamiliar faces is pictorial in nature, with recognition negatively affected by changes to image-specific information such as head pose, lighting and facial expression. Further, within-person variation causes some images to resemble a subject more than others. Here, the purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of target-image choice on face construction using a modern evolving type of composite system, EvoFIT.
Design/methodology/approach
Participants saw an unfamiliar target identity and then created a single composite of it the following day with EvoFIT by repeatedly selecting from arrays of faces with “breeding”, to “evolve” a face. Targets were images that had been previously categorised as low, medium or high likeness, or a face prototype comprising averaged photographs of the same individual.
Findings
Identification of composites of low likeness targets was inferior but increased as a significant linear trend from low to medium to high likeness. Also, identification scores decreased when targets changed by pose and expression, but not by lighting. Similarly, composite identification from prototypes was more accurate than those from low likeness targets, providing some support that image averages generally produce more robust memory traces.
Practical implications
The results emphasise the potential importance of matching a target's pose and expression at face construction; also, for obtaining image-specific information for construction of facial-composite images, a result that would appear to be useful to developers and researchers of composite software.
Originality/value
This current project is the first of its kind to formally explore the potential impact of pictorial properties of a target face on identifiability of faces created from memory. The design followed forensic practices as far as is practicable, to allow good generalisation of results.
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Under this heading are published regularly abstracts of all Reports and Memoranda of the Aeronautical Research Council, Reports and Technical Notes of the United States National…
Abstract
Under this heading are published regularly abstracts of all Reports and Memoranda of the Aeronautical Research Council, Reports and Technical Notes of the United States National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics and publications of other similar Research Bodies as issued
In order to succeed in an action under the Equal Pay Act 1970, should the woman and the man be employed by the same employer on like work at the same time or would the woman still…
Abstract
In order to succeed in an action under the Equal Pay Act 1970, should the woman and the man be employed by the same employer on like work at the same time or would the woman still be covered by the Act if she were employed on like work in succession to the man? This is the question which had to be solved in Macarthys Ltd v. Smith. Unfortunately it was not. Their Lordships interpreted the relevant section in different ways and since Article 119 of the Treaty of Rome was also subject to different interpretations, the case has been referred to the European Court of Justice.
Nobody has ever liked paying taxes, but individual grumbling is growing to a loud chorus of complaints. The system of federal income taxes has become so complex that few…
Abstract
Nobody has ever liked paying taxes, but individual grumbling is growing to a loud chorus of complaints. The system of federal income taxes has become so complex that few individuals can compute for themselves what they owe and both personal and corporate financial decisions are often based more on their tax consequences than on their soundness from either a production or consumption point of view. All this leads to a perceived unfairness, with some better able than others to take advantage of preferences and loopholes in the system.