News

Policy-makers are increasingly interested in the role of prisons and probation services with regards to de-radicalisation, not only because prisons are considered to be breeding grounds for radicalisation, but also because together with the probation services, they can be effective partners in prevention strategies. In particular, probation is a channel through which convicted individuals can benefit from programmes and interventions aimed at strengthening their resilience against extremist influences or supporting them in the process of disengagement from extremist groups or environments. Whether focused on de-radicalisation, disengagement, rehabilitation or resettlement, such programmes require multi-agency coordination in order to maximise the chances for radicalised individuals to reintegrate society and also minimise the risk of re-offending.

Some EU countries, such as Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden, have recognised the key role of cities as coordinators of all relevant stakeholders within these multi-agency programmes.

This central role played by cities has already been highlighted by the European Forum for Urban Security in its work on the prevention of re-offending*.

* EU-funded FALPREV project led by Efus (2010-2012), with the following partner cities: Brasov (Romania), Göttingen (Germany), Le Havre (France), and Valencia (Spain), as well as the Belfast-based Northern Ireland Housing Executive, and the Turin-based Institute for Research and Training.

Objectives

PREPARE’s general objective is to contribute to prevent radicalisation through de-radicalisation, disengagement and rehabilitation programmes in release and probation, notably through multi-agency partnerships that include local authorities.

Specific objectives:

◾to develop a state of the art of multi-agency de-radicalisation, disengagement and rehabilitation programmes in release and probation that involve local authorities;

◾to identify the needs in this field in order to draw up tailor made recommendations on the development of multi-agency initiatives in release and probation;

◾to strengthen local authorities’ capacities on multi-agency tertiary prevention of radicalisation in release and probation;

◾to bring together European local authorities willing to address radicalisation through release and probation.

The standards act as a framework by which to assess the quality of prison mental health services via a process of self and peer review. The first edition of the standards was published in June 2015 following an extensive process of consultation with stakeholder groups, including prison mental health staff, patients and commissioners. Information was collated from a wide range of sources and a review of key literature and documents was undertaken.

The second edition of the standards was produced in order to acknowledge feedback collated from member services that participated in the pilot year of the Quality Network for Prison Mental Health Services, and also to account for new developments within the field of prison mental health.

Following the first full year of the Network following the pilot year, a third edition was published to recognise feedback from a greater membership base. NICE guidance published in 2016 on the physical health of people in prison and further guidelines published in 2017 on the mental health of people in the criminal justice system was also considered during this revision.

The specialist standards also incorporate the CCQI standards for community-based mental health services (Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2015). All core standards have been marked adjacent to the standard number in brackets, followed by the letter ‘C’ and the core standard number as it appears in the CCQI standards for community-based mental health services publication [e.g. (C3.4)].

All criteria are rated as Type 1, 2 or 3

Type 1: Essential standards. Failure to meet these would result in a significant threat to patient safety, rights or dignity and/or would breach the law. These standards also include the fundamentals of care, including the provision of evidence based care and treatment.

Type 2: Expected standards that all services should meet.

Type 3: Desirable standards that high performing services should meet.

Author: UNICEF 

Publication date:November 2017

This report presents the most current data on four specific forms of violence – violent discipline and exposure to domestic abuse during early childhood; violence at school; violent deaths among adolescents; and sexual violence in childhood and adolescence. The statistics reveal that children experience violence across all stages of childhood, in diverse settings, and often at the hands of the trusted individuals with whom they interact daily. The report concludes with specific national actions and strategies that UNICEF has embraced to prevent and respond to violence against children.

Citation: Hayward RA, Honegger L, Hammock AC. Soc. Work 2017; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation: School of Social Welfare, Health Sciences Center, Stony Brook University, HSC Level 2 Room 093-E, Stony Brook, NY 11794. University of St. Francis, Joliet, IL. School of Social Welfare, and Program in Public Health, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY.

Copyright (Copyright © 2017, National Association of Social Workers)

Abstract

Over the last decade there has been an increased focus on improving father engagement to improve child and family outcomes. Recent research suggests that child and family outcomes improve with increased fatherhood engagement. This exploratory study examined risk and protective factors associated with approval of family violence among a sample of low-income fathers (N = 686) enrolled in a responsible fatherhood program. The program goals include increasing father involvement and economic stability and encouraging healthy relationships-with a focus on preventing intimate partner violence. Toward these aims, this study explored factors associated with fathers' self-reported approval of family violence. Understanding the prevalence of risk and protective factors in this population and factors associated with fathers' potential for family violence is important in developing programs to address responsible fatherhood and healthy relationships.

© 2017 National Association of Social Workers.

Strasbourg, 12 December 2017

Today, the European Commission has proposed to close information gaps by upgrading EU information systems for security, border and migration management and making them work together in a smarter and more efficient way.

The measures will enable information exchange and data sharing between the different systems and ensure that border guards and police officers have access to the right information exactly when and where they need it to perform their duties, whilst ensuring the highest data protection standards and full respect of fundamental rights. In the context of recent security and migratory challenges, the proposal will ensure greater safety of EU citizens by facilitating the management of the EU's external borders and increasing internal security.

First Vice-President Frans Timmermans said: "Speed counts when it comes to protecting our citizens against terrorism and saving lives. At this moment our EU information systems for security and border management are working separately which slows down law enforcement. With our proposal they will become fully interoperable. That means that law enforcement anywhere in the EU will be able to work directly and instantly with all the available information."

Commissioner for Migration, Citizenship and Home Affairs Dimitris Avramopoulos said: "Today we are delivering the final and most important element of our work to close gaps and remove blind spots in our information systems for security, borders and migration. From now onwards, border guards, immigration and police officers should have the right information at the right time to do their job. This is a flagship initiative for this Commission, and I urge the co-legislators to also make it their priority and complete their work within 2018."

Commissioner for the Security Union Julian King said: "Terrorists and serious criminals should not be able to slip through the net or under the radar. This is an ambitious new approach to managing and using existing information: more intelligent and targeted; clamping down on multiple identities and reinforcing effective police checks; connecting the dots to protect EU citizens while also protecting data by design and by default."

Currently, EU information systems do not talk to each other – information is stored separately in unconnected systems, making them fragmented, complex and difficult to operate. This risks pieces of information slipping through the net and terrorists and criminals escaping detection by using multiple or fraudulent identities, endangering the EU's internal security and making border and migration management more challenging. The measures proposed today will plug those gaps and make sure that information provided to border guards and police is complete, accurate and reliable. The new tools will help better detect people who pose a threat not only when crossing EU borders, but also when travelling within Schengen. By simultaneously cross-checking information in different databases and streamlining access by law enforcement, the new tools will quickly alert border guards or police if a person is using multiple or fraudulent identities. It will also help to better identify vulnerable people such as unaccompanied minors, while making sure that fundamental rights and data protection are fully respected.

An interview with Annie Devos.

On the 24th of May 2014, Belgium was confronted with a terrorist attack for the first time. The attack on the Jewish Museum was carried out by a Foreign Terrorist Fighter and four people died. Unfortunately this was not the last terrorist attack in the country. Radicalisation is an important issue for the Houses of Justice nowadays. We talked to Annie Devos, CEP Vice President and Director of Maison de Justice, about the problems the Houses of Justice have faced and about how they deal with this new issues.

An article by Orla Lynch

In an effort to understand terrorism, particularly for those individuals who work with the perpetrators of political violence, it is vital that we separate the notion of terrorism from the terrorist. Terrorism is a highly politicised term, a pejorative label applied unevenly across groups. However, for criminal justice, counseling and security professionals acting within the confines of particular legal or social services systems, the terrorist actor must be understood and considered in his/her local context in conjunction with the entirety of their social network, personal background, ideological affiliations and offending history.

An article by researchers from the University of Nantes

The International Center for the prevention of Crime literature review identifies two models (McCauley & Moskalenko [4] (2008) and Stahelski [5] (2005)), out of six trajectories of homegrown radicalism in the West, involving dehumanisation as a stage before any violent action ideologically motivated. Dehumanisation, which is the act of perceiving or treating people as if they are less than human, might constitute the “individual change” that occurs for violent individual in a context of Muslim radicalisation, even if transitions mechanisms are not very clear. Dehumanisation has emerged as a major research issue on intergroup relations in the last sixty years, especially on racial and ethnic discriminations and violence, but also more recently on intergroup relations with immigrants, asylum seekers and psychiatric patients.

SUMMARY OF PANEL DISCUSSIONS

The prevention of radicalization and violent extremism ranks high on the international political agenda, but our understanding about the impact of preventive programs and measures is still limited.

To reduce the threat of terrorism and political violence effectively and through proven practices, policy makers and practitioners need a reliable evidence base. Rigorous evaluation is also crucial for political accountability as public spending grows together with concerns about the effectiveness of these programs. Consequently, we need to know whether the actions taken have the desired effect because it consumes precious times of various professional groups to implement and deliver preventive measures. We therefore need a better evidence base to see whether social interventions - may it be in school, in the community or in prison - are worth our efforts.

30 November 2017

Does social media lead vulnerable individuals to resort to violence? Many people believe it does. And they respond with online censorship, surveillance and counter-speech. But what do we really know about the Internet as a cause, and what do we know about the impact of these reactions?

Violent extremism is becoming a major challenge for many societies today and is threatening the security and fundamental rights of citizens all over the world. Violent extremism is an affront to the principles of the United Nations, embodied in universal human rights and fundamental freedoms. With a mandate to foster cooperation and solidarity through communication and information, UNESCO supports its Member States and civil society actors in responding to extremism and radicalization on the Internet.

All over the world, governments and Internet companies are making reactive decisions on the basis of assumptions about the causes and remedies to violent attacks. The challenge is for analysis and responses to be firmly grounded. The need is for policy constructed on the basis of facts and evidence, and not founded on hunches or driven by panic and fearmongering.

It is in this context that UNESCO releases the study titled Youth and violent extremism on social media. This work provides a global mapping of research (mainly during 2012-16) into the assumed roles played by social media in violent radicalization processes, especially as they affect youth and women across all the regions of the world.

Reviewing more than 550 published studies from scientific and “grey literature” covering titles in English, French, Arabic and Chinese languages, the research finds that violent extremists are indeed heavily spread throughout the Internet and that there is a growing body of knowledge about how terrorists use cyberspace. Less clear, however; is the impact of this use, and even more opaque is the extent to which counter-measures are effective.

The study concludes that research on the subject is still at a budding stage, and it urges caution about the results and interpretations. The literature reviewed in the study provides no definitive evidence on a direct link between the specificities of social media and violent radicalization outcomes on youth. Likewise, there is no definitive evidence about the impact of counter-measures. Nevertheless, as a whole, the literature does point towards some possible understandings. Indeed, rather than being initiators or causes of violent behaviors, the Internet and social media specifically can be facilitators within wider processes of violent radicalization. The literature shows that violent extremists use characteristics of social media to attract younger audiences, to disseminate extremist, violent and criminal content, to identify potential participants, and foster one-on-one dialogue with young people. However, as pointed out by this study, actual violent radicalization is not reducible to Internet exposure, but generally entails the mediation of several complex processes, including complex social-psychological processes and person-to-person communication in conjunction with other offline factors.

A major output of the study is a 16-point recommendation list for Member States, the private sector, Internet intermediaries, social media, civil society, and Internet users. It recommends for instance that those actors could consider to encourage the participation of youth in decision-making processes, deepen engagement between Member States, civil society organizations and local communities, promote Media and Information Literacy (MIL) strategies, support research on the subject, ensure professional and conflict-sensitive journalistic coverage, manage expressions of hate online without compromising rights to freedom of expression, or educate Internet users about ethical online behavior and privacy issues.

The research was conducted for UNESCO by independent experts Séraphin Alava, Divina Frau-Meigs, Ghayda Hassan (with the collaboration of Hasna Hussein and Yuanyuan Wei) and will be promoted and launched at various UNESCO events. It was prepared with the support of the Information for All Programme (IFAP) of UNESCO.

14 – 16 February, 2018

Venue: Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle an der Saale, Germany

Deadline for abstract submission: 31 December, 2017

Confirmed keynote speaker: Professor John Pratt: “The end of penal populism; the rise of political populism?” Call REMEP is a multidisciplinary research school that examines the concepts of retaliation, mediation and punishment from different theoretical and methodological angles, with a focus on their role on peace and social order. This conference looks at the social context of punishment. We start from the premise that punishment involves not only a handful of actors (i.e., members of the jurisdiction, perpetrators, victims, etc.) but a complex array of actors, including families, kin groups, and other polities that judge and punish; peers; associations; the audience(s) (including the media audience and the (mass) public); the punished (including, group-, surrogate- or proxy-punishment); and executive bodies such as states and private prison managements. We see punishment not only in the context of retaliation, deterrence, prevention, incapacitation and rehabilitation/retribution, but also as a reflection of society and as a constant negotiation of legitimacy, a renegotiation of social order and control. Populism, neoliberalism, misogyny, nationalism, and racism – to name just a few phenomena – are negotiated in the context of punishment. This conference will be anchored around three key issues:

1. Theory, legitimacy and history of punishment

In this section, we propose to concentrate on the development of a coherent framework and theories of punishment in order to elaborate the semantics of punishment. Topics within this include the purposes of punishment in various legal systems and the historical shifts that punishment has undergone. We further seek theoretical contributions related to the informal, micro, local, national, international, and global influences on punishment policies and especially the challenges that emerge when these levels interact. Both historically and in the present, challenges can be observed especially at the fringes of normativities, it is here where legitimation is scrutinized. This occurs, for instance, in cases in which the perpetrator is also a victim, e.g. in the case of (former) child soldiers. A less obvious example are trials that shift venues from local to national or to the International Criminal Court, including changes of prisons and favourable prison conditions. This can culminate in the evasion of mundane punishment, replacing it with divine punishment by shifting the discourse from a legal to a religious one. Secular, domestic, familial, religious, cultural, and human rights discourses interact and demand for a more complex understanding of criminality and punishment. Furthermore, these interactions result in a need to find alternatives to criminal procedures that include restorative justice.

2. Media audiences, mass publics, and group punishment

The contested term “penal populism” is at the centre of a debate that questions the involvement of “the public” in the criminal justice systems, based on the argument that the presence of the public tends to encourage symbolic actions which disregard the proportionality principle in favour of populist gain. Since populism targets political success in elections, it potentially leads to preventive policies that are detrimental to minority groups, increasing the likelihood of punishment becoming a matter of living on the wrong side of the street or having the wrong passport. Such populist measures further reduce the use of risk prevention in the form of social programmes, instead giving preference to repressive measures. We are seeking to unravel the interaction of media, populists, and the public that is said to have weakened the principle of equality before the law; simultaneously, we propose to move away from this approach and analyse the justice system now and in the past as a tool of and for governing and for the creation of social order and the exertion of social control, benefitting some but not necessarily all.

3. Interdisciplinary approach to punishment

To ensure different approaches to punishment and critical perspectives on our law- and socialscience-based analysis, we especially invite scholars from other disciplines – for example, neuroscientists who are working on understanding the relation of the brain to punishment and behaviour and investigating changes in the frontal cortex that occur during and before acts of crime. Such research puts questions of free will, social control, deviant behaviour, and crime at the forefront. Further, we invite political economists who are studying the effects, benefits, and disadvantages of private prisons and home-confinement technologies and how these increase the likelihood of mass condemnations; and evolutionary anthropologists who include the evolutionary effects of punishment in their studies. Speakers will be invited by the organizers on the basis of submitted abstracts. PhD students within the REMEP program are encouraged to submit an abstract. Speakers will be invited by the organizers on the basis of submitted abstracts. For invited speakers travel- and acommodation costs will be covered (economy fares). PhD students within the REMEP program are encouraged to submit an abstract. Abstracts should not exceed 500 words and should be submitted to Timm Sureau (sureau@eth.mpg.de) and Günther Schlee (schlee@eth.mpg.de) by December 31, 2017. Further questions should be directed to the coordinator Timm Sureau. A selection from submitted abstracts will be made by early January 2018.

We are pleased to invite you to the 11th edition of the European Electronic Monitoring Conference ‘Blurring boundaries: making and breaking connections’ which will be jointly organised with the Probation Service in the Republic of Croatia. The conference will take place in Zagreb, Croatia from the 16th of April until the 18th of April 2018.

Electronic monitoring (EM) has matured into a commonplace penal tool used widely across Europe and beyond. Its applications appear to be limitless and its purposes diverse.

As a result, it is being viewed increasingly as a panacea for a range of societal challenges within and beyond criminal justice leading to numerous uses including in the areas of mental health, domestic violence; terrorism and immigration and diverse target groups including mental health patients, children and young people, victims of domestic violence as well as offenders.

The expansion of existing and potential target areas and groups and the goals and purposes of EM has contributed to blurring of the normative and operational boundaries within which EM is used.

EM is challenging traditional boundaries including those between:

• Punishment, control, public safety and rehabilitation; • Legal systems (criminal and civil);

• Private and public sectors;

• State agencies (police, probation and prisons);

• Institutions (prisons and secure mental health facilities) and public and domestic spaces;

• Pre- and post-conviction stages of the criminal justice process.

It is also fragmenting long-standing distinctions between the roles of statutory (police and probation) and private workers (monitoring officers); offenders and victims; and, authorities and significant others.

As technologies advance and become more integrated boundaries between what is necessary and mandated oversight by criminal justice agencies and unwarranted interference in private life is increasingly difficult to distinguish.

At the same time, EM is creating new challenges and opportunities. For example, it leads to questions about whether, and in what ways, EM replaces, develops and/or improves the traditional roles of probation services; the extent to which the police and families are and/or should be involved in ‘supervising’ offenders; and the most effective and efficient ways of providing supervision and support for monitored individuals.

It also creates opportunities to join up different areas of public and social policy and to act as a catalyst for meaningful multi-agency and multi-sector working thereby enabling a more holistic view of monitored individuals to be taken.

The use of EM may also facilitate both the punitive and rehabilitative goals via its habit-breaking and habit-making potential but this depends on its SMART deployment.

Daily News 19 / 12 / 2017

Brussels, 19 December 2017

On Wednesday and Thursday, the Commission is organising the first meeting of the EU Operators' Forum, an important deliverable under theAction Plan on protecting public spaces from terrorism, announced by President Juncker in his 2017 State of the Union Address and presented by the Commission in October. The Forum will connect Member State authorities and private operators of public spaces, such as concert venues, sports arenas or shopping malls, to enable them to work together and jointly identify the best ways of keeping those spaces safe from terrorist attacks. Commissioner for the Security Union Julian King will deliver an opening speech to inaugurate the Forum. On Wednesday, participants will discuss guidance, develop recommendations and share good practices in protecting public spaces against terrorist attacks. On Thursday, a first thematic sub-group of the Forum will focus on the car rental sector and discuss possible ways to make it more difficult for terrorists to rent vehicles for attacks. For more information please see the press release on the Anti-Terrorism Package, a factsheet on 'Protecting Public Spaces' and a video on 'Europe that Protects', which are available online.

Background

Research suggests that sports have the capacity to connect youth to positive adult role models and provide positive development opportunities (Mulholland, 2008), as well as promote the learning and application of life skills (Goudas & Giannoudis, 2008; Mulholland, 2008; Holt et al., 2009). Furthermore, in addition to the physical activity and positive health effects it provides, sport is a generator of social capital, helping to mobilize the community by promoting involvement, togetherness and teamwork (Ehsani et al., 2012, Mulholland, 2008), as well as supporting culture within the community (MacIntosh et al., 2016).

Because of their potential for supporting youth development, supervised sports have been used in many countries, as well as by the United Nations, as a programming strategy for addressing social issues, such as youth crime and substance abuse. Although there is wide variability in the way sports-based programs are implemented and structured, these programs generally aim to use sport, either as a means or complementary activity, to achieve youth development and prevent crime. In particular, these initiatives use a safe recreation setting to promote the lessons learned from sports (e.g., cooperation, communication, etc.), and possibly administer other social, individual development-based interventions (e.g., counselling, mentoring and life skills training), while providing youth with a pro-social way to spend their time. Unfortunately, due to research limitations and a lack of standardization in terminology within this emerging field of study, general statements and conclusions on the effectiveness of these programs are difficult to make. The purpose of this document is to provide additional information on crime prevention using sports, including summaries of promising programs and initiatives both in Canada and internationally, the difference in implementation approaches across applications, and lessons learned.

In the Netherlands, the Probation Service is experimenting with virtual reality in relation to domestic violence. The project ‘Don’t forget me’ shows offenders what impact their actions have on their victims, in this case their children.

You are a seven year old child that is standing in his bedroom. There are some toys on the floor and next to you, you see the little crib where your baby sister is sleeping in. Downstairs your father comes home and your mother immediately starts arguing with him. “Why are you so late? You are always late. I have to do everything myself at home.” “Of course I am late from work. I get nothing but bullshit here.” He walks upstairs, past the half open door of your bedroom, followed by your mother. They continue to argue: “I am leaving you and I am taking the children with me.” “If you do that, I will smash your head in.” You hear the sound of breaking glass and your sister starts to cry. Then your mother appears in the door opening and looks at you. “Daddy and mummy are just having a fight, darling.

You get a tap on your shoulder, your real shoulder. The guide helps you to take off your virtual reality glasses. And there you are, standing in the real world again. It was only three minutes ago that the VR experience started. “How did it feel?”, asks Alex Tavassoli, developer and founder of Enliven Media, a Dutch company that develops VR experiences on social topics.

ENISA publishes today two reports on “Tools and Methodologies to Support Cooperation between CSIRTs and law enforcement” and “Improving Cooperation between CSIRTs and law enforcement: Legal and Organisational Aspects”. Published on December 15, 2017

CSG Justice Center

December 19, 2017

This toolkit, developed by the Crime and Justice Institute with support from the San Joaquin County California Probation Department, offers guidance to organizations planning a reentry program for people with co-occurring substance use and mental disorders. The toolkit recommends steps for ensuring successful program implementation using examples from San Joaquin’s Assisting Reentry for Co-Occurring Adults through Collective Support (ARCCS) program, which serves adults returning to the community from the San Joaquin County Jail. The toolkit provides an overview of the many important concepts to consider when developing a reentry program tailored to individuals who have behavioral health needs. Topics in the toolkit include assessing the size of the reentry population, engaging partners and encouraging collaboration, using data, working with research partners, and adjusting the program model based on data and research. The toolkit is designed to be most useful to criminal justice coordinating councils, corrections practitioners, behavioral health specialists, and other criminal justice stakeholders.

14 December 2017

This paper is written by the EUCPN Secretariat following the topic of the Estonian Presidency of the Network, which is Cyber Safety. It gives a theoretical insight in what Cyber Safety is. Furthermore, we take interest in what the exact object is of cybercrime and have a deeper look into two European policy priorities, namely cyber-attacks and payment fraud. Moreover, these priorities are the subject of the European Crime Prevention award. The goal of this paper is to add to the digital awareness of local policy-makers and practitioners on a theoretical level. A toolbox will follow with legislative measures, existing policies and best practices on this topic.