This paper shares lessons learnt through a partnership project, the Blue Light Programme, by presenting a discussion of key themes inherent in building collaborations between academia and policing. With a focus on sharing experiences with the partnership project, where the academics took the role of a critical friend as part of the project team, the paper explores the balances with meeting both academic and practical considerations. The article explores connecting cultures within the research project and provides insights into partnership approaches with policing and other emergency services. The article purposely does not present results of the partnership project but explores the balance and relationships built between organisations. Presenting wider contextual references on policing culture, the reality of insider and outsider perspectives, the benefits and challenges arising through the role of critical friends in collaboration projects are explored. As critical friends, there was an acknowledgement of the dynamism between the services in the project, its collectiveness in practice, where the project team were able to use the critical friends as a supporting role, one which placed integrity and good methodological practice as the forefront in project evaluation between academia and policing. The paper concludes with observations on moving forward with partnership roles, and the ways to achieve shared goals, where paths enhancing collaborative working can align despite often coming from two different directions.

ABSTRACT This study examined duty-related stress among police officers in Trinidad and Tobago (T&T). Qualitative interview data collected from 12 male senior police officers were analyzed for themes regarding experiences with stressors and emotional and behavioral reactions to stress. The officers indicated that obstacles to effective policing—the power and resources of offenders, officers’ lack of resources and support, and the threat of corruption—are major sources of stress. Also, cynicism and pessimism about achieving crime control and justice, aggressive policing, and avoidance of some duties were revealed as emotional and behavioral reactions to stress. These results imply that T&T officers do not believe they are adequately resourced to address public and personal safety needs. This study contributes to Southern criminological dialogue about policing stress by emphasizing the experiences of officers in a post-colonial developing country.

This article examines police perceptions of residents of a marginalized community in Trinidad and Tobago. The discourses of 40 members of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service are examined to determine how they define residents of the community and situate them within specific interactive contexts. Results show that the officers typically have extremely negative views of the community and its residents, which amplify their perceptions of policing as difficult and dangerous. The potential impact of these perceptions upon police practices, officer well-being and police–community relations are discussed. The study contributes to the emerging scholarly dialogue on policing in the global South and highlights the benefits of discourse analysis within country case studies to elucidate country-specific nuances in police–community relations.

Research shows that U.S. college students are at risk for a variety of victimization types. College students in Canada also experience similar types of victimization compared to U.S students, yet recent research shows that Canadian students are at a greater risk than U.S. college students of being victimized. Little is known, however, as to whether college-level factors influence victimization risk and how these risks may be different for U.S. and Canadian college students. Using the American College Health Association's National College Health Assessment data (ACHA-NCHA II), the current study builds upon past research by exploring the role of both individual and school characteristics and whether they are similarly related to risk of victimization in the two populations. The findings show that Canadian students are at higher risk for victimization and that some school-level factors play a role in predicting this risk for all students, with some variation in ones that matter for each country.

Research on fear of crime usually examines perceptions of civilians. Little has been said about police officers’ fear of crime, particularly in developing countries of the Global South, despite their occupational high risk of victimisation. The current study is an analysis of qualitative interview data collected from 12 male senior police officers in Trinidad and Tobago, with a focus on how they are affected by crime and navigate their roles as officers. The goal here is to contribute to Southern criminological dialogue about subjective appraisals of, and reactions to, crime by emphasising the experiences of civil servants mandated to address crime in the context of a postcolonial developing country. Analyses found that officers perceived that they and their family members were at high risk of criminal victimisation, were significantly worried or fearful about themselves or family members becoming victimised and often engaged in avoidance behavioural strategies to reduce risk of victimisation.

Religiosity and attitudes regarding the criminal justice system have remained largely unstudied to date, despite the centrality of religion as an aspect of one’s identity formation. This study tests the hypothesis that perceptions of the effectiveness of police and the courts vary according to religious identity (affiliation, membership, and self-described religiosity or spirituality). A self-administered questionnaire was completed by 342 undergraduate students in introductory social science courses at a mid-sized university in the Southeastern US. Multiple Ordinary Least Squares regression analyses were performed on predictors of two outcome variables: perceived police effectiveness and perceived court effectiveness. Results offer partial support for a religious identity-based explanation of public perceptions of criminal justice system effectiveness. Membership of a local congregation, in general, was associated with higher ratings of police and court effectiveness. In addition, African Americans rated criminal justice effectiveness lower than non-African Americans. Once interactions between race and religious identity were incorporated, race itself became non-significant for both views on court and police effectiveness. However, these results showed that among African Americans, being a congregation member significantly reduced rather than increased ratings of police effectiveness. Religion thus continues to be complex and even paradoxical in shaping perceptions in the US.

Sexual victimization continues to be a problem on college campuses across the United States. Research on risk focuses on victimization of heterosexual women while that of sexual minority students is under-studied. The current study uses National College Health Assessment data to examine the relationship between sexual identity and four measures of self-reported sexual victimization. Several victimization correlates identified in prior research are included in analyses. Logistic regression results show that gay men and bisexual men and women were more likely compared to heterosexuals to report all four victimization types, and unsure students are more likely to report three types. However, lesbian students are no more likely than heterosexual students to report any sexual victimization. Also, transgendered students were more likely compared to female students to report three victimization types. (C) 2016 Western Social Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The current study utilized focus group interviews to examine use of research evidence by juvenile justice and youth service professionals. It was undertaken to help explain why social research is u...

INTRODUCTION AND AIMS:Although alcohol use has been linked to sexual victimisation among college students , the specific ways in which college students may be able to avoid the negative consequences of excessive drinking as they relate to sexual victimisation have not been fully explored. This study examines whether using protective behavioural strategies attenuates the risk of sexual victimisation for both male and female college students and whether this relationship is moderated by alcohol use.DESIGN AND METHOD:Data were obtained from the Fall 2012 National College Health Assessment Survey. This survey is conducted on college campuses across the USA and institutions that self-selected to participate in the survey. The sample used in the study includes 19 881 students (male and female) across 51 schools.RESULTS:Findings indicate that although women are more likely to use protective behavioural strategies, these strategies work to reduce the likelihood of experiencing sexual victimisation for both sexes among those who are high-frequency drinkers.DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:This study suggests that the frequency of alcohol use is important when considering the risk of sexual victimisation among college students, and protective behavioural strategies can help reduce this risk among frequent drinkers. [Daigle LE, Johnson LM, Napper SL, Azimi AM. Protective behavioural strategies while drinking: do they protect against sexual victimisation and is this protection gendered?. Drug Alcohol Rev 2016;35:573-579].

Although the risk of being violently victimized in college has been established for college students in the United States in general, this risk has not been explored for international college students. Using data from the Fall 2012 National College Health Assessment Survey, the extent to which international college students experience violent victimization is assessed. In addition, the risk factors for violent victimization for international students are compared with those for domestic students. Finally, in multivariate analyses, whether being an international student influences risk of violent victimization is examined and whether this relationship is moderated by gender is considered. Findings indicate that international students in general have lower risk profiles, in that they reported lower rates of drug use, binge drinking, being a first-year undergraduate student, and having a disability. Multivariate analyses, however, revealed that being an international student reduces the odds of violent victimization among only females.

This study was undertaken to test if precautionary drinking behaviors can be associated with reduced risk of violent victimization. Some studies have shown that these behaviors (e.g. limiting alcohol intake, eating before or during drinking, and having friends close by) reduce the negative consequences of drinking, but very few have focused on criminal victimization. National College Health Assessment data from 2012(1) were utilized to examine the association between precautionary drinking behavior and violent victimization (physical assault or verbal threat), controlling for demographic and risky lifestyle factors. Regression analyses found that precautionary drinking behavior reduced the odds of victimization only among men who frequently drink. In this same group being single increased risk. Other variables were consistent predictors: drug use, multiple sex partners, mental health disorder, and first year student status. Binge drinking and having a disability were also frequent predictors. Finally, Black women but not men were more likely to be victimized. These results suggest that the risky or protective nature of types of drinking behaviors is gendered and taking precautions is especially important for men who drink frequently.

This chapter draws from the literature to develop a definition of professional misconduct against youth and describes specific types. Misconduct includes action or inaction directed toward youth as well as that which allows or facilitates harm by others (e.g. other youth). The many behaviors constituting misconduct may be categorized as: sexual misconduct, nonsexual abuse, neglect, property offenses, duplicity, and unprofessionalism or poor role modeling. In conclusion, professional misconduct against juveniles in correctional treatment settings may be defined as: decisions and behaviors enacted by individuals, alone or in concert with others, with either ill regard for, disregard for, or inadequate consideration of rules, laws, practices, or ethical principles that protect the welfare and rights of juveniles and children.

Department heads are unique academic positions which can bridge the worlds of faculty and administration. As such, they are sometimes in the unique position where their perceptions and experiences can have real-world impact in the realm of assessing a colleague's work, tweaking departmental policies of promotion and advancement, and mentoring. While faculty members of all levels have opinions of collaboration, department heads are the leaders who can actually act upon those perceptions, yet these perceptions have not been examined. This study addresses this gap in a survey of Criminal Justice and Criminology department heads (n = 73). The survey varied authorship order, journal prestige, medium of journal, and also examined co-author prestige. In addition, 12 years of 20 criminal justice journals were coded for solo-authored publications. Results demonstrated differential publication trends between top tier and lower tiered journals, and that department heads attributed these trends as a combination of increasing social research networks and more pragmatic concerns. Of particular interest, is the differential value respondents placed on solo-authored work and collaborative work even when taking into consideration prestige of the journal.