European Journal of Criminology

West European societies have become increasingly culturally diverse. In this article we discuss two issues that arise when conducting criminological research in diverse contexts, namely threats to study validity as a result of (a) ethnic differences in participation rates and (b) lack of cross-cultural equivalence of questionnaires in multi-language contexts. We demonstrate how these problems were handled in the z-proso study, a prospective longitudinal criminological study involving 1240 families in Zurich, Switzerland. Results suggest that recruitment efforts can significantly increase participation rates, particularly among minority members. As expected, higher participation rates are associated with a qualitative improvement in the sample: parents who needed to be personally motivated to participate tend to have children with higher rates of problem behaviour than do parents who participated spontaneously. Highest rates of problem behaviour were found for those children whose parents did not participate. Finally, the multi-method analysis reveals significant discrepancies in parent rating of child problem behaviour among migrant parents compared with teacher and interviewer rating. Closer scrutiny indicates that such differences are likely to be a result of socially desirable response behaviour among low-education parents.

Probation services throughout the world have difficulty in assessing the risks and needs presented by offenders, in evaluating the effectiveness of supervision, and in enabling practitioners to assess the impact of their work with individual offenders. This paper describes how these problems are addressed by the comprehensive and relatively successful approach to evidence-based probation that has been developed since 1996 in the small Probation and After-Care Service of the British Channel Island of Jersey. In conclusion, the authors discuss whether such approaches could work in other jurisdictions, and suggest that this depends partly on context. In particular, the example of England and Wales shows how potentially successful approaches can be frustrated by over-centralization, managerialism and the politicization of criminal justice.

This article assesses the effectiveness of the Scottish model of youth justice in the context of a growing body of international research that is challenging the `evidence base' of policy in many western jurisdictions. Drawing on findings from the Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime, it shows how labelling processes within agency working cultures serve to recycle certain categories of children into the youth justice system, whereas other serious offenders escape the tutelage of the formal system altogether. The deeper a child penetrates the formal system, the less likely he or she is to desist from offending. The article concludes that the key to reducing offending lies in minimal intervention and maximum diversion. Although the Scottish system should be better placed than most other western systems at delivering such an agenda (owing to its founding commitment to decriminalization and destigmatization), as currently implemented it appears to be failing many young people.