Mittuniversitetet

This study investigates restorative justice's role in reintegrating incarcerated individuals in Icelandic prisons. Employing a quantitative approach, it analyses survey data from inmates across Iceland to assess restorative justice's potential in reducing recidivism, enhancing offender accountability, and supporting community reintegration. Regression modeling reveals a partly significant link between participation in restorative justice programs and positive reintegration outcomes. Results suggest that restorative justice may enhance offender empathy, improve victim-offender relationships, and bolster support networks post-release, albeit with constraints. The research recommends expanding these programs in Icelandic correctional settings, offering insights for policymakers, prison administrators, and criminologists pursuing evidence-based restorative and rehabilitative justice strategies.

Domestic violence is a pervasive global issue that transcends geographical, cultural, and socioeconomic boundaries. In the Fiji Islands, domestic violence is a multifaceted problem deeply rooted in cultural traditions, socio-economic factors, and historical influences. This comprehensive essay explores the intricate relationship between domestic violence, law enforcement, and traditional practices in Fiji. It delves into the prevalence of domestic violence, the role of law enforcement, the influence of cultural traditions, and the complexities involved in combating this issue. By examining the cultural and historical context of Fiji, as well as the legal framework in place, support services, and collaborative efforts with traditional practices, this essay seeks to gain a comprehensive understanding of the interplay of these factors in addressing domestic violence in the Fiji Islands.

Although restorative justice in its variety of practices has garnered considerable academic attention, there remains a gap in the research on the interrelationships between restorative justice, religion and imprisonment, especially among women. This article examines the links between restorative justice and religion in a female custodial setting. Exploratory research conducted in Trinidad and Tobago has tested the hypothesis that religion plays a role in the implementation of restorative justice in prisons in that religious inmates are more likely to have encounters with and/or apologise to their victims and perform reparative activities. However, the present empirical findings do not support this claim.

Recent findings suggest that emotional instability and psychological disorder rate in prison is three times higher than in the general population. Prisoners – especially males – are also at increased risk of all-cause victimization including violence and self-harm. This research sought to identify and analyze the emotions that incarcerated males at the Correctional Institutions in St. Vincent and the Grenadines have had and or were encountering, as well as the manner these emotions were being dealt with. It also sets out to ascertain some of the factors that were playing prominent roles in the lives of incarcerated males regarding those emotions. Up to date, there has been no research work done on males and their emotions in St. Vincent and the Grenadines nor any study regarding inmates in the correctional institution. The administration of a short questionnaire formed the quantitative collection instrument, which provided data from 150 inmates. The data analysis was performed via SPSS, and the findings point to a cross-section of relational factors that are relevant to males and their emotions (namely, abuse, crying, bonds, and suicidal thoughts). It was found that males are struggling emotionally with understanding their identity and are inadvertently pressured to adhere to societal directives by restricting their emotional expression.

Cybertechnology has brought benefits to the Caribbean in the form of new regional economic and social growth. In the last years, Caribbean countries have also become attractive targets for cybercrime due to increased economic success and online presence with a low level of cyber resilience. This study examines the online-related activities that affect cybercrime victimization by using the Routine Activity Theory (RAT). The present study seeks to identify activities that contribute to different forms of cybercrime victimization and develop risk models for these crimes, particularly the understudied cyber-dependent crimes of Hacking and Malware. It also aims to explore if there are similarities or differences in factors leading to victimization, which correlate to the classification of crimes as either cyber-dependent or cyber-enabled. The data analysis suggests that there is significant applicability for RAT in explaining Online Harassment victimization, while the usability of the RAT for predicting Malware victimization proved to be minimal, with only two significant variables being identified, with both being associated with Capable Guardianship.

Justice systems around the world are constantly working to balance reform/rehabilitation/re-entry and punishment in response to juvenile delinquency. In recent years, there has been a strong emphasis on the notion of restorative justice as an alternative approach to criminal justice, yet there continues to be a dearth of information on the interrelation between restorative justice, religion and imprisonment, especially among youth. The present research seeks to explore the applicability and possible future implementation of restorative justice programmes for late adolescent and young adult male offenders (18–21 years old) held in the Special Detention Institutions of Greece. It also aims to identify any links between restorative justice and religion in youth custodial settings among the large migrant population hosted in these institutions. A self-administered quantitative study was distributed to achieve this aim. The data analysis provided no statistically significant relationships between the inmates’ willingness to meet with their actual/surrogate victims and ask for forgiveness/restore relationships with them. Equally insignificant was found the inmates’ eagerness to get involved in restorative mediation with their capacity to acknowledge the harm that their illegal actions inflicted on others, and to make amends.

For the last twenty years, there has been an increase in literature on cybercrime due to growing awareness of its impact and economic cost. This literature is filled with debate by authors over the correlation between what has been dubbed cybercrime and ‘terrestrial crime’. Some have claimed that although cybercrime may be a new and distinctive form of crime in principal, it remains essentially like traditional crime. This argument suggests that traditional offenders have merely adjusted their tactics to utilize the advantages that cyberspace offers. However, other scholars argue that the uniqueness of the cyber environment creates key differences between cybercrimes and traditional crimes. These discrepancies can affect the applicability of general criminological theories previously used to explain terrestrial crimes. This research aims to identify the theoretical concerns surrounding the applicability of the Routine Activity Theory (RAT) of crime in cyberspace, highlighting the practical issues related to such application. Prior to this, the present study seeks to define “cybercrime”, as well as provide a comprehensive description of RAT, emphasizing on the correlation between these two concepts.