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Prior to 9/11 criminologists paid relatively little attention to the study of terrorism. In 2004, the authors argued that criminologists had much to offer to advance our understanding of terrorism and urged scholars to conduct such research. This chapter accounts the theoretical and methodological contributions by the field of criminology to terrorist research.

This chapter demonstrates how the study of terrorism has begun to get more attention in various professional settings of criminology. It then reviews applications of criminological theory and methodological advances by criminologist to terrorism research. It ends by describing efforts to build terrorism event databases.

Terrorism-related research has become common at both of the major criminological professional association meetings. Funding for research on terrorism, especially a large program on domestic extremism sponsored by the National Institute of Justice, has contributed to a growing research literature. Academic courses on terrorism have also been added to criminology programs around the country. While the criminological literature on terrorism has expanded greatly more progress has been made in applying criminological methods than theories to the study of terrorism. To date the most common theoretical perspective from criminology applied to terrorism studies has been rational choice and deterrence.

This chapter takes inventory on how criminology has contributed to terrorism research. It serves to validate current efforts while encouraging continued progress.

We examine the question of whether peer-mentoring programs in higher education develop leadership skills in student mentors.

The various forms of peer mentoring are discussed, as well as the benefits that these programs can bestow on mentors. We then turn to a discussion of the relationship between peer mentoring and leadership, and place particular emphasis on implicit leadership theories and the research in this area. A case study of a large peer-mentoring program at an Australian university is undertaken and the various aspects of implicit leadership theory are examined in the light of comments collected from both mentees and mentors.

Evidence of implicit leadership skills of mentors was seen in the responses of mentees. However, the explicit treatment of leadership skills in the peer-mentoring program needs to be approached in a more deliberate manner if students are to benefit fully from the experience of mentoring.

While the results of this study were inconclusive, it does provide a basis for further inspection of leadership development within peer-mentoring communities.

The integrity of audited financial statements has been widely criticized, especially over the last decade. Arthur Levitt, then chairman of the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), brought widespread attention to the practice of earnings management in a speech he delivered in 1998 (Levitt, 1998). His successors in the SEC have also focused on the issue. The business media has also devoted much coverage to the topic and criticized the creative accounting practices of many well-known companies. These factors, in conjunction with the collapse of Enron and WorldCom, have probably engendered a loss of confidence in the credibility and transparency of audited financial statements. Two months after the Enron accounting irregularities became public, a Wall Street Journal article attributed a 250-point decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Average to concerns over widespread accounting misconduct (Browning & Weil, 2002). These same concerns were cited as a significant factor for the downward trends in the equity markets almost a year later (Browning & Dugan, 2002). The business media has offered numerous opinions such as these as to how investor confidence in audited financial statements has declined. However, a review of the literature found no corresponding empirical study conducted subsequent to the Enron and WorldCom revelations. Accordingly, this study examines the extent to which individual investors’ perceive that their attitudes involving the quality and usefulness of the information in audited financial statements have changed as a result of these events. The results indicate that investors perceive that a notable decrease of confidence in various dimensions of the quality and usefulness of this information has occurred. The findings indicate that accounting regulators and other parties should undertake actions to help restore investor confidence.

In this chapter, we explore gender equity issues in relation to the governance of sport in Wales. Our focus is primarily on Sport Wales (SW), the national agency responsible for developing and promoting sport and physical activity in Wales and for distributing National Lottery and Welsh Government funding. As a public authority, SW has a statutory responsibility to promote equality and eliminate direct and indirect discrimination. Their recent policy commitments express a desire to advance equality and promote inclusion and diversity within sports organisations in Wales. They also set the agenda for National Governing Bodies (NGBs) in Wales, in terms of providing a policy framework for understanding and pursuing gender equity in sport and sport governance. In this chapter, we present a snapshot of the governance and leadership policy landscape for Welsh sport, with a specific focus on gender equity. We present data collected from publicly available online policy documents relating to SW, and their NGB partners, relevant to gender equity provision. Based on the data, we suggest that there is evidence of progress in terms of the numbers of women on boards in Wales as well as the creation of gender equity policies within NGBs in Wales. We argue, however, that progress is inconsistent across the different NGBs in Wales, and it is less clear whether sport governing bodies can implement policies to effectively challenge organisational culture and ethos. We concluded by suggesting future Wales specific research priorities on this topic.