Jaimie Zander

Social media (SM) platforms such as Facebook and Twitter (now ‘X’) have become primary sources of crime news information for many, with SM being used by both news organisations and police agencies as a means of information dissemination. As such, the sentiment of comments made on SM posts can provide a useful snapshot of attitudes about crime and justice. The present study examines whether sentiment on crime and policing-related posts differs between information sources. A sentiment analysis of comments made in response to crime and policing-related posts on Facebook and Twitter (X) from January to May 2022 was conducted. Sentiment scores of comments made on Australian news publishers’ posts were compared with comments made on the Western Australian Police Force’s posts. Overall, comments made on news posts were negative in sentiment whilst comments made on police posts were positive. This finding was true for all crime-related posts, as well as across subcategories of violent crime, non-violent crime and policing-focused comments. The distinct differences in sentiment expressed between the two information sources highlight how news and police audiences respond differently to crime and policing-related content on SM. Such differences in sentiment between the two groups pose implications for how SM users perceive issues of crime, justice and police legitimacy. Further research may examine other state police SM pages as sentiment is likely to differ across jurisdictions and socio-cultural contexts.

Critics of restorative justice claim that its popularity is based on 'humanistic sentiment' and suggest that the process is incapable of achieving its aim of restoring victims and offenders. The current study sought to establish if restorative justice is capable of restoring victims and offenders in a meaningful manner, or if the process simply results in a superficial renovation of the impact of crime. Seventy-two victims and offenders participated in a community group conference model of restorative justice and were compared on outcome variables with a control group of victims and offenders who underwent a conventional court process. Results demonstrate that the process is capable of impacting upon variables associated with the criminal act. Furthenmore, it is argued that a reduction in offending behaviour and victimisation impact are realistic outcomes of the restorative justice processes. Finally, regression analysis indicated that victims were satisfied with the restorative justice process as a resutt oftheir greater participation rather than their satisfaction with reparation or restitution.

The tragic death of Adelaide AFL coach Phil Walsh has once again brought the issue of family violence to the forefront of the nation’s consciousness. Family homicides account for 41% of murders in Australia, with the majority of those being intimate partner homicides. Parricide, or an individual killing their parent(s), accounted for 4.8% of homicides in the ten years to June 30, 2012. It is our third-most-common form of family homicide. Australia’s rate of parricide is comparable to that reported for other Western nations, which range from 2-6% of homicides. Averaging out to around one death a month, parricide causes significant shock and confusion within the community. With a private memorial service for Walsh being held at Adelaide Oval on Wednesday, the question for the community is what can be done to reduce the number of such tragedies. Current research indicates that offenders tend to fall into one of two basic categories: younger offenders, often in their late teens, who appear to have been victims of ongoing abuse; and older offenders, typically in their mid-20s, who are found to have been suffering from a psychotic episode. As a result of these two issues of abuse and mental illness, many families suffer in silence and shame, but their suffering is often a consequence of a broader failure of society to face up to and act on these social problems.

Existing models of forgiveness do not easily accommodate victims of crime. Therefore, this article presents an examination of the meaning of forgiveness from the perspective of crime victims. A grounded theory approach was adopted to analyse the data from a series of semi-structured interviews carried out with victims of serious violent offences. Results indicated that victims generally thought forgiveness was both positive and beneficial. Whereas major models of forgiveness emphasize the interpersonal nature of forgiveness, victims of crime conceived of the construct as strongly intrapersonal. Forgiveness was comprised of four parts: self-awareness, letting go, perspective-taking and moving on. Each of these aspects was examined in light of the data and contrasted with existing literature. This study establishes a new area of forgiveness research and provides further insight into the psychological experience of victims of crime.

Criminogenic needs are now well established in the fields of psychology and criminology as factors that identify risk of criminal behaviour and recidivism. We propose that an inflated sense of entitlement may also be identified as a criminogenic need. An examination of the literature revealed an extensive variety of descriptions pertaining to an inflated sense of entitlement from character excesses to character deficits. However, whilst the wide variety of notions may be correct, there has been no mention, nor acknowledgement, of the origin of the concept of a sense of entitlement. In this article we will illustrate how an inflated sense of entitlement underpins criminal behaviour in general and violent behaviour in particular by using the framework proposed by Plato. An inflated sense of entitlement is then is discussed in response to each of the criteria required to be classified as a criminogenic need. This notion is purely theoretical and will benefit from qualitative exploration and quantitative investigation.

The recognition of child maltreatment arguably began with the unusual case of Mary Ellen in 1874. When a New York parishioner went to visit a dying woman, the woman told about a child's screams for help that she could hear from another apartment. After some persuasion, the parishioner agreed to find help for the child. The police, local pastor, charitable agencies and the District Attorney all turned the parishioner away since the view at the time was that no one had the right to interfere in the private sphere of the family. It was not until the parishioner approached the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), that help was forthcoming. The parishioner managed to convince the ASPCA that children should be afforded the same protections as animals. Subsequently, the ASPCA conducted an investigation of the treatment of Mary Ellen, uncovering evidence of both physical and emotional abuse as well as neglect. Mary Ellen was eventually removed from her foster parents and placed in the care of the helpful parishioner.

An attribution model was used to explore whether a male offender’s ethnicity impacted on how responsible he was judged to be for his offending behaviour in a sample drawn from the Perth metropolitan community in Western Australia and how severe the imposed sentence was perceived to be. While an offender’s ethnicity had no direct effect on judgements of responsibility and sentence severity, the causal factors for an offence were attributed as more stable when the offender was identified as an Indigenous Australian. Responsibility was predicted by attributions of controllability for both Anglo-Australian and Indigenous offenders, and locus of control for Indigenous offenders only. Severity of sentence was predicted by locus of control for both Anglo-Australian and Indigenous offenders; stability for Indigenous offenders; and being male and responding to a violent offence for Anglo-Australian offenders. A number of theoretical and practical implications arising from these findings are discussed.

The study of empathy has had a long history in both psychology and philosophy; however, debate has continued in relation to the exact nature of the construct. Several distinct variants of empathy have evolved over time, with some researchers viewing the construct as cognitive, while others emphasise the affective nature of empathy. An examination of the history of the construct reveals evidence which supports both positions. Multidimensional models of empathy, such as that posed by Davis (1994), encompass both cognitive and affective accounts of empathy, as well as their interaction. Despite the apparent acceptance of multidimensional models of empathy, confusion still remains as to the definition of empathy. This has restrained theories of the relationship between empathy and constructs such as aggression. The current program of study sought to clarify the relationship between aggression and empathy, focusing on a multidimensional approach. It was argued that previous research relied on the assumed inhibitory nature of empathy on aggression, and although intuitive, had failed to acknowledge alternative explanations for a relationship between empathy and aggression. Three possible explanations to account for a possible relationship between empathy and aggression were therefore examined. Firstly, that the distress cues of another produce distress in the observer (personal distress) and that distress is interpreted as aversive. Personal distress produces a drive to reduce the aversive state which may result in the use of violence by some individuals. (Empathic arousal functioning as a facilitator of aggression); secondly, that the distress cues of another fail to produce an affective reaction in some observers. (Empathic arousal failing to function as an inhibitor of aggression); and thirdly, that the distress cues of another produce an affective reaction in some observers, which is interpreted as an excitation (contrast empathy), and functions to reinforce the use of violence. (Empathic arousal functioning as a facilitator of aggression). During phase 1 of the research the psychometric properties of the empathy measure, currently used with offenders, were examined in an offender sample. Results from 88 violent offenders indicated that the measure was not suitable for use with offender samples, and therefore new scales needed to be produced before research could continue. Two scales were constructed; the Negative Affect Intolerance Scale (NAIS) assessed offenders' level of intolerance toward distress cues of others, while the Offender Contrast Affect Scale (OCAS) assessed offenders' level of excitation and enjoyment of the distress cues of others. Once scale construction had been complete, the psychometric properties of the scales were examined using sample of 166 university students. These preliminary results indicated that both scales were reliable and valid. Phase 2 of the research program began with a pilot study to examine the psychometric properties of the two newly constructed scales with sample of 49 incarcerated male offenders. Both scales once again produced results which supported their reliability and validity. A larger study was then conducted to examine the three theorised roles that empathy may play in either the production or maintenance of aggression. Cluster analysis identified 5 clusters in a sample of 106 sentenced male offenders, based on their responses to a set of scales (including the NAIS and OCAS). Each of these clusters was compared to a Western Australian community sample (43 low SES males). Results supported all three explanations of a relationship between empathy and aggression, within different clusters of offenders. The final phase of research involved postulating a theoretical role for cognitive aspects of empathy (perspective taking) in the production or inhibition of aggression. It was argued that, despite the apparent simplicity with which the construct has been dealt with in the literature, perspective taking should be considered a two dimensional construct (frequency and accuracy). When considered in this way, perspective taking may provide additional guidance in the study and treatment of human aggression.

Critics of restorative justice claim that its popularity is based on 'humanistic sentiment' and suggest that the process is incapable of achieving its aim of restoring victims and offenders. The current study sought to establish if restorative justice is capable of restoring victims and offenders in a meaningful manner, or if the process simply results in a superficial renovation of the impact of crime. Seventy-two victims and offenders participated in a community group conference model of restorative justice and were compared on outcome variables with a control group of victims and offenders who underwent a conventional court process. Results demonstrate that the process is capable of impacting upon variables associated with the criminal act. Furthermore, it is argued that a reduction in offending behaviour and victimisation impact are realistic outcomes of the restorative justice processes. Finally, regression analysis indicated that victims were satisfied with the restorative justice process as a result of their greater participation rather than their satisfaction with reparation or restitution.

The Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), developed by Davis (1980), provides an excellent multidimensional measure of empathy for the general adult population, the domain for which it was developed. Its use has subsequently expanded into other areas, for example criminal psychology. In this domain empathy is a critical variable in theoretical accounts of criminality and particularly of violence. For many researchers within the field of criminal psychology, the IRI has become the instrument of choice for the assessment of empathy. However, the psychometric properties of the scale, when used with a criminal population, have not been investigated. This paper reports the results of an investigation into the reliability and component structure of the IRI using a sample of violent offenders. The Personal Distress subscale was found not to be reliable when used in an offender population. Furthermore, when used to assess offenders, principle components analysis did not confirm the four-subscale structure of the IRI. Possible explanations for these findings are discussed in relation to offender assessment in general.