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1 – 10 of over 2000Shannon Harper, Angela Gover, Samara McPhedran and Paul Mazerolle
Comparative research provides a mechanism to understand how justice systems throughout the world operate. McPhedran et al. (2017) conducted a comparative examination of police…
Abstract
Purpose
Comparative research provides a mechanism to understand how justice systems throughout the world operate. McPhedran et al. (2017) conducted a comparative examination of police officer attitudes about domestic violence (DV) in the USA and Australia and reported fairly high levels of agreement among male and female officers within each country. The current study builds on these findings by examining officer attitudes toward DV among male and female officers cross-nationally. This was accomplished by examining whether American and Australian male and female officers agree with one another on a number of DV issues.
Design/methodology/approach
Two-way ANOVA was used to examine the effect of two factors (gender and country) on law enforcement officer attitudes about DV.
Findings
The results suggest that male and female officers from the USA and Australia significantly differ on 14 of 24 attitudes about DV with the greatest number of attitudinal differences found between American and Australian male officers.
Research limitations/implications
Scholars who conduct future research examining police officer attitudes about DV should use the instrument from this study as a springboard to develop an updated survey in terms of content and one that would be applicable to cross-national analyses. Methodological study limitations are described in depth in McPhedran et al. (2017).
Originality/value
While gender differences in attitudes have received scholarly attention, questions remain regarding the degree to which attitudes align among male and female officers across different countries. The current study seeks to fill these gaps in knowledge by examining attitudes about DV between American and Australian law enforcement officers.
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Samara McPhedran, Angela R. Gover and Paul Mazerolle
The purpose of this paper is twofold. The first goal is to conduct a cross-national examination of law enforcement officer attitudes about domestic violence (DV) by comparing…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is twofold. The first goal is to conduct a cross-national examination of law enforcement officer attitudes about domestic violence (DV) by comparing officer attitudes in the USA to officer attitudes in Australia. The second goal is to examine law enforcement officer attitudes about DV using a gender lens to identify whether patterns in attitudes among male and female officers in the USA are similar to those among Australian male and female law enforcement officers.
Design/methodology/approach
The current study involves a comparative analysis of DV attitudes in two different countries (the USA and Australia). Officers in the USA were asked to indicate their level agreement with 28 attitudinal statements about DV. The Australian survey adapted the Gover et al. (2011) instrument by including 24 of the 28 attitudinal statements. The survey followed a mixed-methods design with both quantitative and qualitative components. Bivariate analyses were conducted to determine whether attitudes varied by country and gender of the responding officers. Analyses of attitudinal questions and categorical variables (e.g. gender) were conducted using t-tests.
Findings
According to survey data gathered from police officers in Colorado (USA) and Queensland (Australia), male and female officer attitudes within each country are more similar than different. When comparing the overall sample of American officer attitudes to Australian officer attitudes, they significantly differ about half the time.
Research limitations/implications
The Australian survey had a considerably low response rate, and therefore it cannot be stated with certainty whether the responses given are truly representative of the views of Australian officers as a whole, although the demographic characteristics of the sample were comparable with the overall police population demographics. Another limitation is that not all demographic and background variables were collected by both surveys. For example, the US survey asked about officers’ ethnicity, while the Australian survey did not, and the Australian survey asked about how many DV jobs officers attended per month, while the US survey did not.
Practical implications
Improving knowledge about police attitudes towards DV can help to inform future policy or practice implementation, as well as training programmes and better overall responses to the pervasive and ongoing problem of DV internationally.
Originality/value
This is a unique and original piece of research as it is a partial cross-national replication of an existing survey. This work does have the potential for great impact in understanding and developing innovative law enforcement responses to DV. In developing such responses officer attitudes need to be considered and integrated into the response, as their opinions will guide the support of future interventions.
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Effective ethical leadership is crucial for law enforcement leaders. Ultimately the presence or absence of ethical leadership has significant implications for society. Yet Western…
Abstract
Purpose
Effective ethical leadership is crucial for law enforcement leaders. Ultimately the presence or absence of ethical leadership has significant implications for society. Yet Western law enforcement agencies (LEAs) invest little by way of time, effort or understanding into how law enforcement leaders interpret and develop a sense of ethical competence for leadership. This is a significantly under-researched area within law enforcement anywhere in the world. The purpose of this paper is to assess, measure and more fully understand how social constructivism, problem-based learning (PBL) and self-reflection assist front-line leaders to learn and internalise ethical reasoning for leadership within a law enforcement environment.
Design/methodology/approach
The research was designed to assess, measure and more fully understand how social constructivism, PBL and self-reflection assist front-line leaders to learn and internalise ethical reasoning for leadership within a law enforcement environment. Data were collected during a two-day ethical leadership workshop delivered to 13 leaders in supervisory positions from the Australian Border Force and the Australian Federal Police. The pedagogical approach was to blend PBL and self-reflection within a social constructivist centred learning experience and measure changes in the ethical efficacy of the research participants through qualitative and quantitative measures.
Findings
The research suggests that blending PBL and self-reflection within a social constructivist learning environment can contribute towards law enforcement leaders’ learning and internalising of ethical reasoning. This is demonstrated through the measurement of ethical efficacy both before and after the learning experience, with particular growth evident towards understanding ethical perspectives and concepts.
Research limitations/implications
Limitations include the fact that results cannot be generalised due to the size of the case study. This is compounded by the fact that much of the data are self-reported and responses offered by the participants are subjective. As a result, much of the data were subject to the attitudes and personal perceptions of the participants thus making the information subjective. Aside from demonstrating an impactful learning approach, this research has highlighted that amongst contemporary Australian LEAs there has been little effort or progress towards finding meaningful and effective pathways to encourage or grow ethical efficacy.
Practical implications
Given challenges faced by LEAs, both Australian and international, the critical need for investment in learning for ethical leadership is both clear and emergent. Law enforcement ethical leadership learning cannot be satisfied through online learning and other cost-efficient means alone. A face-to-face problem-based and reflective learning environment that combines trust, tools and tension in equal measure offers promise for enhanced ethical efficacy. Achieving this requires significant investment in face-to-face learning utilising high-level facilitation skills.
Social implications
There is a deep and disturbing malaise within Australian LEAs in relation to ethical leadership development, exacerbated by the dearth of investment directed towards learning for front-line ethical leadership. Australian LEAs sit at the crossroads in relation to their application of ethical leadership learning. Given the recent challenges, if these agencies fail to fully engage with this opportunity, the cost will be unfortunately borne by all citizens.
Originality/value
The implication is a clear need to understand and establish the most effective way for law enforcement officers to grasp the importance of ethics and in doing so, learn ethical leadership. Understanding how law enforcement leaders interpret and develop a sense of ethical competence for leadership is a significantly under-researched area within adult learning and there is little evidence of similar effort within law enforcement anywhere in the world. The overarching objective of this research therefore was to identify pathways that strengthen and enhance ethical leadership as an enabler towards achieving just and corruption-free law enforcement services for the communities.
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The Howard Shuttering Contractors case throws considerable light on the importance which the tribunals attach to warnings before dismissing an employee. In this case the tribunal…
Abstract
The Howard Shuttering Contractors case throws considerable light on the importance which the tribunals attach to warnings before dismissing an employee. In this case the tribunal took great pains to interpret the intention of the parties to the different site agreements, and it came to the conclusion that the agreed procedure was not followed. One other matter, which must be particularly noted by employers, is that where a final warning is required, this final warning must be “a warning”, and not the actual dismissal. So that where, for example, three warnings are to be given, the third must be a “warning”. It is after the employee has misconducted himself thereafter that the employer may dismiss.
The purpose for this paper is to share jurisdictional knowledge on local law-making theory and praxis, an area of law not well represented in the literature despite its…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose for this paper is to share jurisdictional knowledge on local law-making theory and praxis, an area of law not well represented in the literature despite its involvement in day-to-day life.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper not only shares knowledge about the local law-making process in Melbourne, Australia, but also explores attitudes to local law-making gathered through semi-structured interviews from a sample of relevant stakeholders.
Findings
The paper reports on findings from a study undertaken in Melbourne, Australia. Stakeholder perceptions and attitudes were canvassed regarding local law-making in the areas of land use planning and waste management. Overall, stakeholders were satisfied that Melbourne is a robust jurisdiction offering a fair and transparent local law-making system, but they see scope for more public participation.
Research limitations/implications
The findings suggest that even though the state of Victoria offers a fair and transparent system of local law-making, there is still significant scope for more meaningful involvement from the community, as well as space for more effective enforcement of local laws. The stage is set for greater cross-jurisdictional reciprocal learning about local law-making between cities.
Originality/value
This paper offers meaningful and utilitarian insight for policy and law makers, academics and built environment professionals from relevant stakeholders on the operation and transparency of local law-making.
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This chapter argues that the Americanisation of online policing has questionable impacts in Australian prosecutions involving drugs obtained and distributed through dark web…
Abstract
This chapter argues that the Americanisation of online policing has questionable impacts in Australian prosecutions involving drugs obtained and distributed through dark web cryptomarkets. The authors describe several Australian prosecutions of mid- and low-level dealers who have accessed drugs through the dark web and contrast these with the United States (US) case against the cryptomarket, AlphaBay. The discussion in this study emphasises how Australian police and courts view the relative weight of dark web activity associated with the domestic and transnational supply of illicit drugs that result in formal prosecutions. The authors suggest that large-scale forms of online and dark web police surveillance undertaken by US enforcement agencies reflect Ethan Nadelmann’s (Cops across borders: the internationalization of US criminal law enforcement, University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1993) thesis on the Americanisation of global policing through transnational communications networks. The authors then explain how key elements of transnational dark web drug supply appear to have a marginal bearing on criminal investigations into low- and mid-level traffickers in Australia, which rely on conventional surveillance tactics to identify clandestine mail pickups, physical distribution methods, and irregular money trails. However, the authors then illustrate how the Americanisation of online policing that targets high-level entrepreneurs and seeks to dismantle or eliminate dark web cryptomarkets has important implications on Australian reforms aimed at enhancing online surveillance powers to target a range of crimes that are often wrongly associated with illicit drug cryptomarkets. The authors conclude by demonstrating how intensive dark web surveillance has limited direct impact on routine drug policing in Australia, with dark web communications simply another medium for facilitating the physical detection of illicit transnational drug transactions.
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The purpose of this article is to explore the role that different structures of socially embedded networks themselves play in tax non‐compliance or evasion, and the contribution…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to explore the role that different structures of socially embedded networks themselves play in tax non‐compliance or evasion, and the contribution that an application of network analysis can make to the study of tax compliance regulation.
Design/methodology/approach
This exploratory study applies a network approach and uses focus‐group interviewing to unveil tax evasive behaviours that are deeply embedded in specifically selected and structurally different trading networks.
Findings
Indicate the kinds of difficulties that tax regulators may face in their attempts to deal with a range of law‐defying practices, which operate both within and among some structurally diversified (social) trading networks of a multicultural nation. The data confirm convincingly that tax evasive behaviours are not solely peculiar to immigrant (NESB) business networks, but are mirroring many beliefs, norms and informal practices that also exist strongly in non‐immigrant networks.
Practical implications
A mixed‐embedded network approach that grasps the rich contexts and complexities involved in the informal behaviours of “networked” small‐business entrepreneurs is to be regarded as a powerful tool in the governance of modern taxation systems.
Originality/value
Fills a gap in the research (literature) on the tax‐compliance behaviours among citizens of a multicultural nation and may have potential for a wider application.
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This study compares leadership behaviors of senior Australian police officers with leadership norms established by Bass and Avolio (1990). A sample of 480 senior officers recorded…
Abstract
This study compares leadership behaviors of senior Australian police officers with leadership norms established by Bass and Avolio (1990). A sample of 480 senior officers recorded the frequency of transformational leadership, transactional leadership, and non‐leadership behaviors of their leaders, using the multifactor leadership questionnaire. The leadership outcomes of extra effort, effectiveness, and satisfaction were also recorded. Comparisons of leadership behavior mean scores identified that leaders of senior Australian law enforcement officers used significantly less transformational leadership in comparison with the norm. The transactional leadership behavior of management‐by‐exception was the most frequently observed and was used significantly more than the norm. Management‐by‐exception represents leadership behavior that occurs only when the status quo has been broken. As a type of transactional leadership, management‐by‐exception relies on motivating followers by highlighting follower self‐interest, rather than developing followers. Implications for law enforcement organizations and leadership development are discussed.
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Examines different approaches to the challenge of Australian corporate law enforcement and governance, and discusses success in this area and how it might be determined. Describes…
Abstract
Examines different approaches to the challenge of Australian corporate law enforcement and governance, and discusses success in this area and how it might be determined. Describes barriers to measuring success of regulatory action, and debates what level of law enforcement is appropriate and cost‐effective. Concludes that a more broadly based approach to regulatory action and assessment is of prime importance.
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