http://hdl.handle.net/1842/1900 2013-05-20T12:48:04Z 2013-05-20T12:48:04Z Fohring, Stephanie Jane http://hdl.handle.net/1842/6436 2012-09-24T15:55:13Z 2012-06-26T00:00:00Z

Title: Process of victimisation: investigating risk, reporting and service use Authors: Fohring, Stephanie Jane Abstract: Much current research on victimisation focuses primarily on demographic risk factors associated with those who have experienced crime and how these factors affect the likelihood of a person breaching the so called ‘first hurdle’. That is, the probability of moving from a state of non-victim to one of victim. In contrast, this thesis will argue that in order to achieve a more comprehensive understanding of victimisation, it is not only desirable but necessary to move beyond the study of the causes of criminal victimisation and examine the consequences for victims as well as the criminal justice system as a whole. Thus, it seeks to explain the experience of victimisation not just as an isolated incident, but as a process consisting of a number of steps or stages of progression through the criminal justice system, each one building on the last. As such, in addition to considering risk factors, this thesis also examines the decision to report a crime to the police, the use of victim services, as well as the perceived satisfaction with services received. In so doing it explores not only the causes and consequences of crime, but the longer term impact of criminal victimisation. The results presented here are based on the secondary analysis of data from the 2008/9 Scottish Crime and Justice Survey complimented by a data set acquired through in-depth interviews with victims of crime from the Edinburgh Local Authority. Interview data is used to provide a greater depth of meaning to the patterns which emerged from the survey data; lending insight into the psychological processes driving victim decision making and behaviour. This thesis thus provides an example of how a combination of techniques including multi-level modelling and interview analysis, provide a clearer understanding of how victims experience crime. Findings suggest that factors associated with each step of the process are related and may represent a more general underlying pattern of victimisation. It is also argued that by employing multi-level analysis, the thesis provides a more accurate explanation of how respondent’s experiences may differ according to the context in which they live. Finally, the analysis highlights the ongoing importance of emotion in victim decision making and the severity of long term impact. The analysis presented offers new insights into how we understand victimisation as an ongoing experience, as well as demonstrating the necessity of the analytic techniques employed. It is however somewhat confined by the coverage of survey questions and the limited generalizability of the data collected in interviews due to the small sample size. These concerns will be discussed, along with recommendations for victim policy and future research.

2012-06-26T00:00:00Z Morrison, Katrina Munsterhjelm http://hdl.handle.net/1842/6435 2012-09-24T15:45:56Z 2012-06-26T00:00:00Z

Title: Penal transformation in post-devolution Scotland: change and resistance Authors: Morrison, Katrina Munsterhjelm Abstract: This thesis seeks to understand and theorise the process of penal transformation, using changes in penal policy within post-devolution Scotland as a case study. It is based on an in-depth analysis of the evolution, passage and implementation of the Management of Offenders etc. (Scotland) Act 2005, including interviews with key players at each stage of the process (politicians, civil servants, practitioner groups) and documentary analysis. The thesis draws on Kingdon’s multiple streams framework to explain how rapid changes in policy can occur. Kingdon argued that the greatest changes occur when a policy window is opened which allows three independent streams which run through policy at any one time, politics, problems and policies, to become joined (1995). However the thesis argues that to account fully for transformation, this framework needs to be developed to incorporate analysis of institutional structures which provide the most compelling explanation for the factors which lead to, escalate and impede change. Although structures are central in this analysis however, this thesis shows how both structure and agency are important in penal change: institutional structure forms the parameters in which political choice is made. Pre-devolution policy-making was carried out in partnership between civil servants and agencies and the rate of change was incremental. Post-devolution criminal justice policy-making has been thrust into a volatile and politicised environment, although this has varied under the different administrations thus far. The primary reason for the accelerated rate of change that occurred following devolution was because of the creation of new democratic structures which provided the means and the incentives to create rapid change but it also involved explicitly political choices by key members of the Scottish Executive. Somewhat paradoxically, once change was instigated, the structure of post-devolution political institutions became critical in mitigating the pace and rate of change. The existence of PR electoral arrangements together with the relative decentralisation of power (in relation to the ownership of criminal justice services) meant that change had to be achieved through negotiation and compromise. Institutional structure is also important in the extent of the Parliament’s ability to form any meaningful veto point on executive power. Overall it was new democratic structures combined with a political capacitybuilding project and the availability of a politicised approach to law and order from England and Wales which could be easily translated to Scotland, which together, explain the period of rapid change in Scotland during this time.

2012-06-26T00:00:00Z He, Peng http://hdl.handle.net/1842/6421 2012-09-14T15:00:07Z 2012-06-26T00:00:00Z

Title: Chinese lawmaking: from non-communicative to communicative Authors: He, Peng Abstract: In this thesis I will discuss and criticize different legitimation for lawmaking, including ancient and contemporary Chinese theories, and Western representative perspectives on lawmaking. I will disclose disadvantages of Chinese lawmaking system. As a new research project of Chinese law, I argue that both the traditional and contemporary Chinese lawmaking lacked elements of communication. The top-down lawmaking mode was the reality as well as the dominant theoretical justifications of legislation in China. I believe that the top-down lawmaking mode in China was insufficient in its justifications for legitimacy; neither was it beneficial for increasing the degree of individual freedom and rights. Therefore it is better to absorb positive Western lawmaking elements, especial taking a shift from a non-communicative mode to a more interactive and cooperative mode. Western theories of lawmaking could contribute to Chinese future legal reform. Theories of disagreement and individual freedom have positive contributions to this proposed change. After my introduction and analysis of Western theories, I attempted to escape from pure theoretic discussion about law and legality, and try to provide a practical application of communicative lawmaking in China. Relying on the contributions of Western lawmaking theories, but at the same time realizing their difficulties in their application in Chinese contexts, I believe that Confucianism, a Chinese philosophy of love and law could contribute to a discourse theory of lawmaking. The core of Confucianism, Ren (‘仁’ , loving the people, humanism) provided a possible theoretical background for a discourse theory. Professor Bankowski’s argument for the interplay of law and love, the inside and the outside systems, also initiated a debate for the communicative decision-making, and is thus employed to solve the difficulty of applying Western theories into Chinese contexts. The ‘appropriate’ lawmaking in this thesis refers to a communicative lawmaking mode, in contrast to the non-communicative mode that defended by Chinese legalism and contemporary justifications of lawmaking. I attempt to introduce this interactive and cooperative lawmaking structure to balance individual rights and state interests. This structure would go against the grain of the traditional top-down legislation. In this new structure individuals’ voice could be heard and paid attention to, which is a system of achieving Ren ( humanism).

2012-06-26T00:00:00Z Baston, Karen Grudzien http://hdl.handle.net/1842/6417 2012-09-14T14:43:33Z 2012-06-26T00:00:00Z

Title: Library of Charles Areskine (1680-1763): Scottish lawyers and book collecting, 1700-1760 Authors: Baston, Karen Grudzien Abstract: The thesis uses the study of an individual’s book collection to examine wider themes in eighteenth century Scottish legal, social, political, and intellectual history. Charles Areskine’s library was made up of the books he needed as an advocate and judge, the texts he wanted to use to better understand the law and its history, and the books he used to enhance his ability to participate in the intellectual milieu of early eighteenth century Britain. Charles Areskine of Alva, Lord Tinwald (1680-1763) was an important Scottish lawyer and judge. Following a legal education in the Netherlands, he became an advocate and was called to the Bar in 1711. Areskine’s legal career was very successful and he attained high positions in the Scottish legal establishment becoming Lord Advocate (1737-1742) and Lord Justice Clerk (1748-1763). He was appointed to the bench as Lord Tinwald in1744. He served in parliament and developed his country estates at Tinwald in Dumfriesshire and at Alva in Clackmannanshire. Areskine is an interesting figure in the early Scottish Enlightenment not least because he began his career not in legal but in academic circles. He was a regent at the University of Edinburgh when he was barely out of his teens and from 1707 to 1734 he was the first Professor of the Law of Nature and Nations at Edinburgh. Areskine was also a traveller, a client of the earl of Ilay, a friend to philosophers, a patron of the arts, and a book collector. A manuscript which lists of the contents of Areskine’s library survives in the National Library of Scotland as NLS MS 3283. ‘Catalogŭs Librorŭm D. Dni. Caroli Areskine de Barjarg, Regiarŭm Causarum Procŭratoris. 1731’ lists 1290 titles divided into books on legal topics, which are not given any specific headings, and ‘Libri Miscellanei’. Although it is clearly dated as 1731, the manuscript was continuously added to and acted as a library catalogue throughout Areskine’s life. The list provides important evidence about Areskine’s participation in the legal, intellectual, and cultural concerns of the early Scottish Enlightenment. Areskine’s law books provide evidence for his scholarly interest in the history of law while showing the types of books lawyers turned to in order to fashion their arguments in the courts. His ‘miscellaneous’ books demonstrate his engagement with the wider cultural concerns of the first half of the eighteenth century. The books that eighteenth century Scottish lawyers owned provide evidence for their interests and influence. Areskine was not unique: his book collecting was part of a wider tradition among Scottish lawyers. Areskine’s legally educated patron, Archibald Campbell, had one of the largest private libraries in Britain and his colleagues on the Bench, Lord Arniston and Lord Hailes, created collections which they stored in specially built rooms in their houses. Because so many of them survive in the Alva Collections of the Advocates Library and the National Library of Scotland, it has been possible to examine Areskine’s books for clues about who owned them before he did and what happened to them after his death. Several inscriptions and bookplates survive in the Alva books which give evidence for a lively book market which was centred on the Scottish legal community. Advocates bought and sold many of their books at auctions. This study shows that books on topics of interest to Scottish lawyers changed hands and stayed in use for decades.

2012-06-26T00:00:00Z