Journal of Criminology

A sensational offence by a recently released prisoner with a long history of sexual offending led to the scope of preventive detention being extended in 1987 prompting a dramatic increase in use of this sentence by the New Zealand courts. A committee of inquiry had previously criticised this sentence, which provides for the indefinite detention of dangerous offenders, as ‘arbitrary, selective and inequitable’ and recommended its abolition. In the 1987–93 period, a total of 48 persons received this sentence compared with 28 during the previous 19 years. The revival of preventive detention is seen as a case study of law and order politics as this previously little used sentence became a central feature of the efforts of successive governments to respond to increasing levels of violent crime. The principal deficiencies of this sentence are identified as (1) inconsistency in its use; (2) its lack of focus and the Court of Appeal's failure to provide meaningful guidance to judges; and (3) the severity of the sentence which involves detention for a minimum term of 10 years.

Limited statistics make for difficulties in producing a clear picture of the impact of equal employment opportunity policies in Australian police services. Available figures indicate that pre-entry physical ability tests are a significant source of attrition of aspiring policewomen. Women also appear to be disproportionately more likely to separate as a result of maternal obligations, and report higher incidents of sexual harassment and sex discrimination in promotion and deployment. Considering the historical marginalisation of women in policing, Australian police services have made large steps forward in reducing discrimination in a relatively short period of time. Improvements can nonetheless be made in making policing a more viable career option for women, and recruiting appears to be the main area where proactive measures are needed.

This study investigates the recent large-scale entry of women into policing in one Australian state following a period of supposed major organisational and philosophical reform in the Queensland Police Service It focuses upon the early experiences of women recruits and their thoughts about their futures The research literature shows that women have usually encountered considerable resistance when trying to establish themselves in police organisations both locally and overseas

In view of this, an important aim of the study is to try to determine whether there are any signs of fundamental change for women entering policing in the 1990s The evidence suggests that while men and women entrants have much in common, there are some significant biographical and anticipatory differences The study concludes that continuity rather than change is likely to charactense the experiences of women entering policing, obstacles to full integration persist The situations of women recruits are discussed under five themes which encompass continuity of experiences, physicality, exclusion, ambivalence and coping strategies.

This paper presents the findings of a study which investigated the extent to which female lawbreaking was attributed to psychological disturbance in written comments made by Tasmanian Criminal Court judges in passing sentence and in pre-sentence reports prepared for the Tasmanian Criminal Court. It was found that female deviance was viewed predominantly as a function of psychological disturbance and that while other factors were also relied upon to explain women's criminal conduct those factors tended to be discounted or subsumed into psychological explanations. It was also found that the evidence in support of psychological dysfunction in the cases examined was often weak or questionable. The implications of these findings are considered, in particular, the possibility that other significant aspects of the case may be ignored and that over-emphasis upon psychodynamic explanatory factors may produce a distorted view of the offenders and their behaviour.