The Centre for Criminal Justice Studies has been established since 1987. Its object, as set out in its Constitution (see Appendix 1), is the pursuit of research and study into all aspects of criminal justice systems. This remit, as undertaken by the Executive Committee (see Appendix 2), has in practice included the encouragement of postgraduate students and research projects, and the arrangement of seminars and conferences. The Centre's members comprise both lawyers and non-lawyers, and its work is generously assisted by an Advisory Committee, which consists of academics and practitioners in relevant fields of experience (see Appendix 2).

The activities of the Centre have continued to expand every year, and an important innovation during this year has been the development of an undergraduate teaching programme. Added to pre-existing modules in "Criminology" and "Policing", we have two new courses "Crime and Criminal Justice" and "Victims, Crime Prevention and the Media". These will be launched fully in session 1997-98, and we hope to attract a wide variety of undergraduates from within the University as well as part-time, occasional students. Our more established Criminal Justice postgraduate taught course programmes has been further strengthened with a new module in "Victimology" in 1996-97 and a further module in "Gender, Race and Crime" for 1997-98. The quality of our MA scheme has now been validated and confirmed by ESRC recognition and the award of a scholarship from October 1997. As well as taught schemes, we are striving in difficult financial circumstances to maintain our substantial complement of research student numbers.

As ever, the core role for staff within the Centre has been research. This is reflected in a diverse and extensive range of scholarly published output, and every member of the Centre has been engaged in funded project work. I am again pleased to report that our efforts have been reflected in the 4 rating of the Faculty of Law in the 1996 Research Assessment Exercise.

Professor Clive Walker
 

Director
Centre for Criminal Justice Studies
University of Leeds
Leeds LS2 9JT

Tel: +0044 (0)113 233 5033
Fax: +0044 (0)113 233 5056
E-m: law6cw@Leeds.ac.uk
www: http://www.leeds.ac.uk/law/staff/law6cw/law6cw.htm

1 October 1997

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A Research projects

The following substantial research projects are currently in progress:

Chief Constables

David Wall was funded by the Nuffield Foundation to conduct further analysis of chief constables which he began in 1986 and concluded in 1997. This is the final stage of a long term survey of every appointment of chief constable in England and Wales since 1835 which will be incorporated into a social history of the chief constables which will be published by Dartmouth in 1998.

Commercial Victims and Political Violence

Following the IRA bombings of the City of London in 1992 and 1993, action was taken by the Government to stabilise the insurance market so as to ensure that cover remained available for commercial properties. Clive Walker received a grant from the Airey Neave Trust to research into the working of the arrangements. A full-time research student has been appointed in connection with this project Martina McGuinness. Martina has been mainly researching the reinsurance aspects of the project. Clive Walker has concentrated on the security aspects. The final report of this research has now been submitted to the complete satisfaction of the funding body and we then wish to explore the possibility of a monograph on the subject once the literature research is wholly finished by the end of 1997.

Committals for Trial - An Evaluation in the Magistrates' Courts

The Home Office funded project evaluating the impact of the changes to the system for committals for trial continued. With Clare Furniss we completed the first stage of the fieldwork by visiting a number of Crown Court Centres across the country to gather data relating to those cases previously identified in our survey of Magistrates' courts. This data was collated and analyses during the months October to December 1996 and an interim report was prepared, based on this analysis. the report was submitted to the Home Office RSD in December 1996. An article, "Committed to Committals" co-authored by Ian Brownlee and Clare Furniss based on the early parts of this research was published by the Criminal Law Review in January 1997 ( [1997] Crim LR 3-16). In view of the abandonment of the original radical proposals for transfers for trials, no further fieldwork is now anticipated.

Comparative Crime Prevention and Community Safety

Adam Crawford is currently researching the contemporary state of crime prevention and community safety in a number of countries. To this end he spent part of 1996/7 in New Zealand and France, the former at the invitation of the New Zealand Ministry of Justice, for whom he produced a report assessing their Safer Community Councils and Crime Prevention Strategy. The research seeks to consider the interconnection between crime prevention strategies and differences in culture and develops upon issues discussed in a book to be published in 1998 as part of the Longman's Criminology series, entitled Crime Prevention and Community Safety: Politics, Policies and Practices (Addison, Wesley Longman).

Family Contact Centres and Parents in Conflict

Clare Furniss is engaged in a three year project, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, which aims to evaluate the services provided by different types of family contact centres in England, Wales and Scotland. There are now well over 200 contact centres in this country, run by different organisations in different ways. The main aim of contact centres is to "provide a place where parents can have contact with their parent(s) in a safe, neutral place where no other viable option exists" (NACCC, 1994). In brief, the objectives of this project are: (a) to assess the parents' views of the facilities provided at different types of centre; (b) to examine the reasons for the families' referral to the centre and to reflect upon whether the contact centre's services can help to address or minimise problems lying behind the referral, and which required the attention of other support services; (c) to moniter the changes in contact arrangements following referral to the centre, both in the short term and on a longer term basis, and to ask parents to reflect upon whether the services provided by the centre had any effect on these arrangements; (d) to examine the referral process, looking at referral guidelines, screening policies, and family preparation; (e) to explore resource implications of referral of families to a contact centre and to highlight improvements which could be made in the provision of this service; and (f) to compare the provision of services in England with that in other countries. The project's methodology incorporates both quantitatave and qualitative methods. As well as a literature survey, there will also be a postal / telephone data collection to look briefly at the sorts of other services, if any, provided for families with similar problems to those who commonly attend a contact centre.

Female Prison Officers in Men's Prisons

Dr. Jill Enterkin has been working on developing her Ph.D. thesis for publication. The thesis examines the English Prison Service's cross-posting policy that has integrated the previously sex-segregated work of prison officers and whose implementation and progress have remained largely unexamined by researchers. The research consisted of three major components: an analysis of the legal basis of equal opportunities in England and the means by which this has been translated into operational policies by senior Prison Service management; a review of the literature concerning women in previously male-dominated occupations; and an empirical study of English cross-postings in men's prisons. The empirical study conducted in seven contrasting prisons focused on male and female prison officers' motivations and perceptions of themselves and their workplace, relationships between male and female officers, and between inmates and officers, and how such matters combine with operational practices to structure the performance of an integrated officer staff. Analysis revealed that the inappropriately vague direction of the national cross-posting policy, as established in 1988, has resulted in the local and informal implementation of cross-postings, with variation between different institutions. In turn, integration has been strongly influenced by the officer subculture and stereotypes of women, in ways which often contradict the intent of the law. Attempts by the Prison Service to implement and monitor equal opportunities have thus been largely ineffective. Jill is currently writing two articles for submission for publication to a British and an America academic journal.

Police National Legal Database Consortium

A team from the West Yorkshire Police has established a wide-ranging database of legal information for police officers. The Centre for Criminal Justice Studies acts as auditors of the data, and Clive Walker is the principal grant holder, the co-ordinator and the primary researcher. The success of our work has encouraged interest from other police forces, and a similar agreement to provide advice was made in late 1995 with the British Transport Police. Income of over Ł5000 has been generated. A number of academic papers have arisen from the research for the police, for example, "Internal cross-border policing" (1997) 56 Cambridge Law Journal 114-146.

Quality Performance Indicators for Legal Aid Delivery: Client and Practitioner Perceptions of Need

David Wall in collaboration with Hilary Sommerlad and Adrian Wood of Leeds Metropolitan University is conducting research into client and practitioner perceptions of need in relation to quality performance indicators for legal aid delivery. This project is being funded by the Law Society of England and Wales and seeks to compare differences and similarities between practitioner and client perceptions of quality legal services.

Reporting of Criminal Proceedings in Scotland and the Contempt of Court Act 1981

This project was funded by the Leverhulme Trust. The study was directed by Professor Walker with the assistance of a full-time research officer. The aim was to investigate the frequency and nature of orders under sections 4 and 11 of the Contempt of Court Act 1981 which in some way restrict or postpone the reporting of Crown Court proceedings. A survey of 8 courts was undertaken. A report was prepared, and a full version of the findings has been published. Further fieldwork research is now being carried out in Scotland (where the courts have agreed to keep a record of relevant cases). More recent work has involved study of the new audio-visual media (satellite and internet) and their possible impact on court reporting, and some papers have been published. Wider publication in the form of a book together with Ian Cram has been agreed with Oxford University Press.

The Impact of IT upon the Legal Profession

Since 1995 David Wall and Jennifer Johnstone have been conducting empirical research into the impact of information technology upon the legal profession and the provision of legal services. The research was initially funded by the University of Leeds, Academic Development Fund. The findings of the project have been published in a number of journals including the International Journal of the Sociology of Law and the International Review of Law Computers and Technology.

The Impact of Race and Racism on Boys' Fear of Crime

Dr. Goodey has successfully completed her Nuffield funded project on "The Impact of Race and Racism on Boys' Fear of Crime". A report was submitted to Nuffield in April 1997. A published paper is forthcoming on the theoretical and methodological problems of doing research in this area. Three other papers, which stem from the Nuffield project, are currently under review with academic journals; these papers were originally presented at the British Criminology Conference in Belfast, the International Symposium on Victimology in Amsterdam and the Law and Masculinities conference in Bristol during the summer of 1997.

The Introduction of CCTV Cameras into Several Areas of Leeds

Nick Taylor is conducting a project considering the introduction of CCTV cameras into public spaces in certain locations in the Leeds area. As part of a postgraduate degree scheme at the University of Hull, Nick Taylor is carrying out research into the installation of Closed Circuit Television Cameras in the Leeds communities of Chapeltown and Harehills. The research will consider the design and operation of these schemes and the question of why such areas have been chosen as sites for CCTV.

The Role and Appointment of Stipendiary Magistrates'

A working party (Chaired by Roger Venne) set up by the Lord Chancellor's Department to consider the relationship between lay and stipendiary magistrates and the number of appointments of stipendiary magistrates outside of the Metropolitan area, invited the Centre for Criminal Justice Studies to research into the role and appointment of stipendiary magistrates. The research was undertaken by Peter Seago, Clive Walker and David Wall at both sample courts and with all permanent, visiting and acting stipendiaries. The report to the Lord Chancellor's Department has now been published as Seago, P., Walker, C.P., and Wall, D.S., The Role and Appointment of Stipendiary Magistrates, (1996). This research is referred to in The role of the Stipendiary Magistracy: A report prepared by a working party established by the Lord Chancellor, February 1996.. The full report contains an historical perspective of the development of the magistrates' courts, an analysis of the reasons why stipendiaries have been appointed in the provinces, an analysis of the work they do in court and their relationship with the lay magistrates. It concludes with a discussion of issues which will need to be considered in the future. The LCD have expressed their full satisfaction with our report. For the longer term we have two aims: to publish this very original and extensive research; to extend the research to comparable jurisdictions, especially Northern Ireland and Canada. Clive Walker has presented two papers on this research, one at a very prestigious conference in British Columbia.

Urban Crime Fund

Clive Walker acted as principal grant holder in this project (worth Ł115,000) which also involved colleagues from the Centre for Criminal Justice Studies, the Department of Geography at Leeds University, the Management Centre at Bradford University and the Institute of Environmental and Policy Analysis at Huddersfield University, evaluated for the West Yorkshire Police Authority the 43 projects which were set up pursuant to the Urban Crime Fund in this area. The study commenced in August 1992, and a full-time research officer, Christina Hart, was appointed. Clive Walker acted as the chair of the team and as chief negotiator with the police. Clive Walker was also the direct supervisor of the full-time research officer. The project team reported in January 1994, when the 13 volumes of findings were delivered to the police. The team is now moving towards the wider dissemination of its findings - Ian Brownlee and Clive Walker delivered a paper at the British Criminology Conference in July 1995, "Towards Community Policing". We have now written a substantial paper which has been accepted for publication in Policing and Society.

UK Law Online: The UK Legal System on the Internet

This project has been recently funded by the Hamlyn Trust (Ł12000). It was conceived by me, but the work is to be undertaken by myself and an assistant (Yaman Akdeniz, who is a PhD student). The main object is the raising of public awareness, appreciation and understanding of the English, Scots and Northern Ireland Legal Systems ("UK Legal System") by use of the medium of the Internet. The project will involve the creation of a world wide web page, initially at the Leeds Law Faculty, and this web site will promote the UK Legal System on the Internet. We will try to educate the public as to the nature and availability of their legal system by providing complex legal information in a comprehensible way. The users will have direct access to our team by electronic mail, but the project is not intended for individual legal advice. Rather we intend to offer generalised education and the improvement of knowledge on important legal issues.

Victims of Crime, the Probation Service and the Impact of Victim Enquiry Reports

Adam Crawford is managing a research project funded by the Nuffield Foundation, Dr Jill Enterkin is employed as the Research Officer. The research team also includes Peter Johnston of West Yorkshire Probation Service and Jean Wynne of Leeds Victim/Offender Unit. The research began on 1 June 1997 and will run for 18 months, until 31 December 1998. The research is seeking to assess the impact of the requirements under the Victim's Charter and Probation Circular 61/95 for the Probation service to contact victims of life sentenced and serious or violent offenders to keep them informed during the custodial process and to get information from victims as to any anxieties that they may have about the offender's release. In satisfying this new requirement a Victim Contact work is conducted and an enquiry report is compiled. The research will involve interviews with victims, enquirers, throughcare probation officers and other relevant criminal justice personnel The fieldwork will be based in Northumbria and West Yorkshire Probation services. Both services operate slightly different models of victim contact work. They have given their full co-operation and backing to the research. It is anticipated that the findings from the research will inform future good practice.

Victim/Offender Mediation in Comparative Legal Cultures: England and France

Adam Crawford is conducting ESRC funded comparative research which has also benefited from the support of the Institut des Hautes Etudes sur la Justice, Paris, the Maison Rhône-Alpes des Sciences de l'Homme, Lyon and the Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, Paris. This project is seeking to locate the growth and practice of victim/offender mediation and reparation within a wider cultural framework. It will trace the comparative recent histories, reception, development and prospects of victim/offender mediation in France and England. This it will do through extensive fieldwork including observations and interviews in the two research sites in the different countries under consideration. The French sites are the greater Lyon and Paris areas and include the operation of a number of "Maison de Justice et du Droit" as well as a number of "delegated" associations offering mediation. The English sites are in West Yorkshire involving Victim/Offender Mediation Units and in Northamptonshire, involving the Diversion Units based in Kettering and Northampton. The sites have been chosen in order to reflect a degree of the diversity of the development of mediation in the two countries, as well as for the national recognition that each of the sites has acquired. The fieldwork will be completed by the end of 1997 and a final report will be prepared for March 1998.

B Postgraduate students

(a) Study facilities

There are three postgraduate student annexes (one for taught course students and two for research students, all with computing and social facilities. Within the Law Library, there is a special Criminal Justice Studies Room (including most of the Kenneth Elliott collection), as well as three computer clusters.

(b) Postgraduate research degree schemes.

The Centre wishes to encourage applications from anyone wishing to pursue research into the criminal justice system. This subject may be taken to include, for example, the judiciary, the prosecution system, the police and policing authorities, the prison and probation services, the courts and the judiciary, criminology and penology, criminal law and terrorism, victims and mediation. Any relevant research topic in these or related areas will be considered. A number of possible areas of research have been considered with our Advisers and can be suggested on request, but applicants are not precluded from devising their own proposals. Comparative studies will be considered. The work of students may be assisted by practitioners in our Advisory Committee or by other contacts in the field. Formal instruction in research methodology is provided as a standard training package, and joint supervisions in interdisciplinary subjects can be arranged. Scholarships may be available, and the Centre has been recognised as a Mode B institution for the receipt of E.S.R.C. scholarships (Mode A application pending).

The relevant degree schemes on offer (all by research and thesis only) are as follows:

Master of Arts (M.A.) - one year full-time or two years part-time;

Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.) - two years full-time or three years part-time;

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D) - three years full-time or four years part-time.

The entrance requirements common to all three schemes are that applicants must normally possess a good honours degree, but those with professional qualifications or substantial professional experience will be considered. The detailed regulations governing the above degree schemes are available on request.

(c) Current postgraduate research students

The students expected to graduate in December 1997, from the 1996-97 courses will be as follows:

M.A. (Criminal Justice Studies)

C. Papers and publications

(a) Courts, Court Procedure and Court Personnel

D. Seminars, Conferences and Continuing Education

Wednesday 30th October 1996 - 1.00 p.m.:

"Reflections on Recent Trends Towards the Punishment of Persistence", John Pratt, Institute of Criminology, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.

This paper provides an overview of an emerging and important trend in modern penality, the punishment of persistent offending. It argues that what lies behind this new development is a merger of the right to protection (itself and overarching theme of penal policy) and the implications for risk management of shifting political rationalities in the last two decades.

Wednesday 20th November 1996 - 1.00 p.m.:

"What's the Use of Committals?", Clare Furniss, Centre for Criminal Justice Studies, University of Leeds.

Committal proceedings, by which defendants are committed to the Crown Court, have been castigated in the past on the basis that they serve no useful, legitimate purpose in the criminal process (see e.g. Runciman Commission, 1993, chapter 6, para. 24 & 25). This widely held view has resulted in calls for their abolition, a step which would have been carried out had the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 provisions been implemented. This paper, drawing upon data collected as part of a project, Modified Committal Proceedings, commissioned by the Home Office, sought to re-examine this criticism and see whether there were indeed legitimate and useful ends served by committal proceedings in their present form.

The paper concluded that committal proceedings did fulfil their primary purpose: that of filtering out weak cases, but only to a limited extent. Reform which increased the evidential standard required to satisfy the Magistrates that the case should be transferred, and also which made the lawyers for the defence and the prosecution more accountable for the thorough examination of their case before the matter was committed, could improve the effectiveness of the filter. The modified committals procedure though (Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996), would appear to have the effect of weakening the filter still further, something which the ongoing research would investigate.

Wednesday 27th November 1997 - 1.00 p.m.:

"The Impact of Information Technology on Legal Practice", David Wall and Jennifer Johnstone, Centre for Criminal Justice Studies, University of Leeds.

As we enter the age of the new electric lawyer, information technology is clearly shaping both legal practice and also the legal profession. The rapid commercial, development of the internet and other information technologies is providing a vehicle for lawyers to trade legal services and to even deliver some services in their entirety. Importantly, this capability also provides clients with the facility to seek the best advice wherever it is located. Moreover, in the not-so-distant future, it is possible that the internet may even provide a forum for the determination of some types of justice, say through, through mediated dispute resolution. Our paper draws upon empirical research to explore the impact of information technology upon legal professionalism. It demonstrates that information technology is not the benign force that we are frequently led to believe it is: it does not introduce itself, rather, it is the product of commercial policies that are driven by ideology and pragmatism. Furthermore, by assisting firms to achieve gains in economy, effectiveness and efficiency, information technology accelerates the deskilling of the "intellectual craftwork" of legal practice by dividing, and then sub-dividing, tasks until they eventually become automated. Whilst the enskilling of some tasks, for example, to operate the technologies which perform the newly automated tasks, appear to contradict this view, the stark reality is that all work tasks are eventually broken down into their component parts and are therefore vulnerable to automation. Such an understanding is important for both the future development of legal information technology, the management of legal practice and also legal education. Our findings also contribute to the ongoing debate over the legal profession by suggesting that our conceptualisations of legal professionalism will constantly undergo change and that we should therefore perceive the changes, not as the decline of legal professionalism but, rather, a re-negotiation of the legal profession's relationship with the institutions around it.

Thursday 5th December 1996 - 2.00 p.m.:

"Firearms Theft in New Zealand: Issues for Crime and Injury Prevention", Reece Walters, Institute of Criminology, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.

In New Zealand, 250,000 licensed shooters (7% of the population) own an estimated 1.2 million firearms, 16 times more guns per capita than England and Wales. Based on a study of firearm theft in New Zealand, this seminar will discuss the links between insecure storage of weaponry by licensed owners and theft, and the extent to which stolen guns are subsequently used in acts of crime. Furthermore, this seminar argues that tight controls over legal firearms and public education regarding gun security are central to the prevention of gun theft and violence. Finally, this seminar addresses the existing failure of the police to enforce New Zealand gun security laws, and the government's hesitancy to develop firearm education and regulation policies.

Wednesday 11th December 1996 - 1.00 p.m.:

" Policing, Postmodernism and Transnationalisation", James Sheptycki, Centre for Law and Society, University of Edinburgh.

The Paper defines the notion of the postmodern by reference to notions of deep historical fissure, as found in the work of Arnold Toynbee and C. Wright Mills. It develops this notion by reference to current and ongoing processes of transnationalisation, with specific reference to the police organisation. Four postulates of postmodern police are identified and described in detail. These are the marketisation of insecurity and social control and the transnationalisation of clandestine markets and policing. These postulates are used to illuminate broad changes to the transnational-state-system, which policing is embedded in. The paper ends in an open-ended manner with reference to the role of academic criminology in these processes which are seemingly beyond "dirigiste" rationalism.

Tuesday 4th February 1997 - 5.30 p.m.:

"Debating the Status of Financial Management Reforms in the Police Service in England and Wales", Chris Humphrey, Department of Accountancy and Finance, University of Sheffield.

This paper reviews the application of financial management reforms in the police service in England and Wales. Its analysis reveals a more complex and active history than that suggested by traditional images of the police as the long-standing "dinosaurs" of public sector financial management. The paper questions whether management change in the police should be being led by the Audit Commission and, through a critique of relevant papers published by the Commission and a comparison with earlier initiatives in the 1970s, seeks to encourage more analysis and discussion of the practices and effects of local financial management (LFM) systems in the police service. In particular, it is argued that LFM is raising issues which go the very heart of what is policing, the ways in which policing services should be provided and controlled, and the relationships between the police and other criminal justice and social agencies.

Tuesday 11th February 1997 - 5.30 p.m.:

"Restorative Justice", Martin Wright, Department of Legal Studies, University of Sussex and Executive Member of Mediation UK.

Is it possible to remedy the problems of traditional justice by reforming it? Or is a new paradigm needed? Restorative justice is based on assisting victims, holding offenders accountable and requiring them to make reparation, and healing the harm that results from the crime. What are the implications? These are some of the questions considered in an overview and analysis of "restorative justice".

Tuesday 18th February 1997 - 5.15 p.m.:

"The Treatment of Rape and Child Victims as Witnesses of Crime", Helen Reeves, National Director, Victim Support.

Tuesday 4th March 1997 - 5.45 p.m.:

"The Role and Appointment of Stipendiary Magistrates", Peter Seago, Professor Clive Walker and David Wall, Centre for Criminal Justice Studies, University of Leeds.

Having recently conducted commissioned research for the Lord Chancellor's Department into The Role And Appointment of Stipendiary Magistrates, we seek in this paper to give a flavour of some of the policy debates which affect the realignment of judicial services in the summary courts in England and Wales. In contrast to the long-standing tradition of lay and local justice through justices of the peace, stipendiary magistrates reflect legal professionalism, and their growing numbers, especially outside London, are perceived as a threat to judicial independence. We consider three ways in which they can be alleged to be a threat: by their subservience to, and favouritism of, governmental interests; by their professional, lawyerly allegiances; or by their distance from local interests, experiences and concerns. In each case, we cast doubt on the strength of the challenge to their judicial independence. However, the debate draws attention to tensions which do affect summary justice at this level, namely the impact of new public management on the courts service and also the questioning of the value of local justice. These pressures, together with calls for greater judicial accountability, may all be seen to favour the stipendiary, though ultimately as a supporter rather than a supplanter of lay justice.

Tuesday 29th April 1997 - 5.30 p.m.:

"Anxiety, Risk and the Fear of Crime", Wendy Hollway, Department of Psychology, University of Leeds and Professor Tony Jefferson, Department of Criminology, University of Keele.

Professor Jefferson and Dr. Hollway presented a two pronged approach to the well-researched subject of "fear of crime" with an analysis of their Sheffield based research employing quantitative and qualitative insights. The conclusion of their talk was that "anxiety" is a more useful predictor of fear of crime than is "risk". Fear of crime, they argued, is not a unitary concept, for example it has different meanings for men and women, and in different contexts - "inside" and "outside" the home. Risk they suggested needs to be located within the context of any precautions taken by individuals. Furthermore, we need to appreciate that as well as risk averting behaviour some people engage in risk taking behaviour. By contrast, "anxiety" they defined as (a) always somewhat out of proportion with its source - when worry becomes excessive, (b) anxiety mobilises unconscious defences, and (c) these defences may be displaced onto something else or denied. They illustrated these arguments with in-depth case studies.

Tuesday 12 May 1997 - 5.00 p.m.:

"Copyright on the Internet: Are World Wide Web Links Copyrightable? The Recent Developments and Impact of the Shetland Times Case", Yaman Akdeniz, Researcher Centre for Criminal Justice Studies, University of Leeds.

As the Internet grows so does the legal problems surrounding it. This paper discussed the legal issues related to one essential activity on the Internet, World Wide Web ("WWW") linking. The WWW has become so popular because of its open, distributed, and easy-to-use nature. This paper in two parts discussed whether "linking" may create any copyright infringement and also whether the web authors should be liable for the content of pages to which they link their own web pages. A number of recent incidents can illustrate these issues arising. First, a Scottish online news server (Shetland News) has been stopped from linking to the pages of Shetland Times, a daily newspaper, on the grounds of copyright infringement. Secondly, the publishers of German and Dutch Web pages have been subjected to legal investigation for linking to Radikal, a publication banned in Germany. This followed another online German investigation into Holocaust denial pages earlier in 1996. Thirdly, in the Washington Post complaint, where CNN, and Reuters were among other plaintiffs, an online news server called Total News has linked the plaintiffs web pages into its own web page by using framing technology.

These recent stories and their legal implications were discussed following the initial technical description of the WWW and the various existing "linking" techniques on the web. Linking is encouraged on the Internet because it ties different web pages on related topics and provides an effective system for browsing in the information superhighway. There are millions of web pages on the Internet and it would be quite impossible to find anything without the use of WWW links. Therefore, new modes and models of governance for the Internet should be developed.

The paper concluded that the Internet is still at a transitional period and many questions remain unanswered following the convergence of different services, such as those of publishing (e.g. newspapers), broadcasting (e.g. television and cable channels), and telecommunications services (e.g. BT and Mercury) into a new type of interactive information service with hybrid delivery capabilities provided on a global basis rather than on a national level. It should be technical solutions for the technical problems created by the hybrid nature of the Internet but not the enforcement of existing national laws which may be outdated or may be limited to national boundaries without reaching into "cyberspace". The full paper is published as "To Link or Not to Link: Problems with World Wide Web Links on the Internet" [1997] Int. Review of Law, Computers and Technology 11.

Tuesday 3rd June 1997 - 5.00 p.m.:

"The New Golden Rule: Community and Morality in a Democratic Society", Professor Amitai Etzioni, George Washington University, USA.

Professor Amitai Etzioni gave a well received lecture to an audience of over one hundred staff and postgraduate students in University House. His talk drew upon some of the ideas set out in his latest book "The New Golden Rule". Professor Etzioni, a former White House advisor to Jimmy Carter and former President of the American Sociological Association, is a leading exponent of communitarian philosophy and social policy. Professor Etzioni is a founding member of the communitarian movement, which embraces a "Network" and a Journal, of which he is editor, entitled "The Responsive Community". Etzioni's brand of communitarianism advocates a restoration of social responsibilities and a commitment to community. His work has been particularly influential upon some of Bill Clinton's thinking as well as upon the agenda of "New Labour" in Britain. Professor Etzioni argued that neither a market economy nor democratic politics can thrive without the moral values that come from strong communities. He traced the emergence of communitarianism and concluded that communitarian ideas present a new and radical reconceptualisation of the relations between civil society and the state. He put forward the idea of a "golden rule" where order and autonomy are in equilibrium, where freedom can be reconciled with social control. In so doing, he suggested ways in which his ideas could be applied in practice by the newly elected Blair administration. For further information the Communitarian Network can be contacted via their web site, at: http://www.gwu.edu/~ccps

Wednesday June 1997 - 1.00 p.m.:

"Marches In Northern Ireland: Is 'North' The Way Forward?" Martina McGuinness, Researcher Centre for Criminal Justice Studies, University of Leeds.

This paper examined the Report Of The Independent Review Of Parades And Marches (commonly referred to as the "North Report") published in 1997. It focused upon the political and social unrest within Northern Ireland which gave rise to the commission before giving a brief summary of its findings and recommendations. The parades issue has been widely described as encapsulating the problems of the province in microcosm. The paper asked whether this was true and whether the North Report adequately confronted the underlying issues. Did the central recommendation of a Parades Commission point the way towards peaceful resolution for the apparent existing impasse? Finally, a look forward was taken towards the summer and the 1997 marching season to ask what the likelihood was of a recurrence of the civil unrest experienced in 1996.

CENTRE FOR CRIMINAL JUSTICE STUDIES CONFERENCES

Magistrates' training, 1996-97:

Annual Court Clerks Conference, Scarborough, 10/11 January 1997 (residential):

About 80 Magistrates' Clerks from all over the North of England attended the Annual Court Clerks Conference in Scarborough at the beginning of January 1997. The programme included specialist workshops combined with plenary lectures. Highlight of the course was a lecture by David Thomas (Cambridge University) on "Current Trends in Sentencing". The conference was organised and directed by Peter Seago in his capacity of Chair of the University Magistrates' Training Committee.

Annual Conference for Senior Magistrates, Scarborough, 28 February - 1 March 1997:

About 60 Magistrates who have been on the Bench for more than 5 years attended this conference in Scarborough. As with the Court Clerk's conference the format was of a mixture of specialist workshops together with plenary lectures which included "an examination of the relationship between Bench and Court Clerk" by David Chandler (Bradford) and "the treatment of witnesses in court by Oaulk Fuirth (Liverpool, Stipendiary Magistrate). The conference concluded with the ever popular sentencing exercises in which His Honour Judge Kamil gave his thoughts n the deliberations of the Justices.

New Magistrates Conference, Leeds

The University ran the usual basic courses for new magistrates. In West Yorkshire all magistrates attend a two day course at the end of both their first and second years. These courses are fairly tutor intensive and have to be restricted to about 30 magistrates per course. This means that each course has to be run three times a year.

Peter Seago has been appointed Chair of the Yorkshire Regional Training Committee, the body which oversees the training of magistrates in North and West Yorkshire.

Forthcoming Conferences:

This conference will bring together academics, policy-makers and practitioners from around Europe to share experiences, ideas and research findings, in relation to issues concerning the desirability, possibility and appropriate means of integrating a victim perspective into criminal justice. The conference will enable the consideration of comparative European experiences and the dissemination or recent British research findings. The conference will consist of a mixture of keynote speeches, themed workshops and research paper sessions. It will of interest to all those working with and for victims.

As numerous academic and political commentators have noted, the implications of introducing a victim's perspective into the delicate balance between state and offender is likely to be a key issue in the future of criminal justice. This conference will seek to address some of the vexed issues posed by the increasing awareness given to a "victim perspective" within criminal justice. It will bring together domestic British and comparative European experiences and lessons in attempting to integrate a victim perspective into criminal justice.

It will also bring together the latest empirical research findings and theoretical insights which relate to the dual questions:

1. how criminal justice systems and processes currently attempt to address the needs and concerns of victims within and around the criminal justice process? and,
2. whether and how victims should be given greater agency and voice in the resolution of their own criminal disputes?

The conference is supported by a University of Leeds Academic Development Fund grant.

Andrew Ashworth, University of Oxford; Jan van Dijk, Lieden University and the Dutch Ministry of Justice; Edna Erez, Kent State University, USA; Joanna Shapland, University of Sheffield; Lode Walgrave, Catholic University of Leuven; and Renée Zauberman, CESDIP, France.

Peter Johnston, West Yorkshire Probation Service; Andrew Sanders, University of Bristol; Leslie Sebba, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Brian Williams, De Montfort University; Richard Young, University of Oxford; as well as representatives of Victim Support, Mediation UK and other relevant organisations.

Interested parties are warmly invited to submit an abstract of a paper or workshop for the consideration of the conference committee. Abstracts of 200-300 words must be received by 27 February 1998. Anyone interested in further information should contact Adam Crawford or Jo Goodey. Or via the internet: http://www.leeds.ac.uk/law/ccjs/vict98.htm

Object of the Centre

1. The object of the Centre shall be to develop, co-ordinate and pursue research and study into, and the dissemination of knowledge about, all aspects of criminal justice systems.

Membership of the Centre

2.1 Any member of the academic staff of the Department of Law may be a full member of the Centre.

2.2 Other individuals may be appointed to full membership of the Centre by the Council on the nomination of the Executive committee. Membership of the University is not a prerequisite of appointment to full membership of the Centre.

2.3 Associate members may be appointed by the Director on nomination of the Executive committee for a fixed term of up to three years. Membership of the University is not a prerequisite of appointment to associate membership of the Centre. Associate members shall normally be concerned with the pursuit of a programme of research and shall be provided with suitable facilities by the Centre. Any further rights or duties (such as in relation to teaching) shall be the subject of specific agreement.

Administration of the Centre

3.1 The Centre shall be administered by a Director, a Deputy Director and an Executive Committee.

3.2 The Director and Deputy Director, who shall be appointed by the Council on the nomination of the Head of the Department of Law after consultation with members of the Centre, shall each normally hold office for a period of five years, and shall be eligible for immediate re-appointment.

Administration of the Centre

3.3 The Director shall be responsible to the Executive Committee for the running of the Centre and the representation of its interests. The Director shall have regard to the views and recommendations of the Executive Committee and the Advisory Committee. The Director shall be assisted by up to two Deputy Directors.

3.4 The Executive Committee shall consist of the Director and the Deputy Director(s) together with the Head of the Department of Law (ex officio), the Chair of the Advisory Committee (ex officio), and up to six others who shall be appointed by the Director, Deputy Director and Head of the Department of Law.

3.5 The Executive Committee shall meet at least twice a year, with the Director acting as convenor. Special meetings may be held at the request of any member of the Executive Committee. All full members shall be entitled to attend meeting of the Executive Committee.

3.6 Minutes of the meetings of the Executive Committee shall be presented by the Director to the following meeting of the Department of Law.

3.7 There shall be an Advisory Committee appointed by the Executive Committee which shall formulate advice and recommendations and which shall consist of:

(i) all members of the Executive Committee;

(ii) up to three persons who shall be members of the teaching staff of the University of Leeds other than the Department of Law whose activities or interests have relevance to criminal justice studies;

(iii) up to twenty persons who shall be practitioners in criminal justice systems (or other appropriate persons).

3.8 The Advisory Committee shall meet once a year, with the Director acting as convenor. Special meetings may be held at the request of the Executive Committee.

Amendment to the constitution

4.1 This constitution may be amended by the Council (or any committee acting with authority delegated by the Council) on the recommendation of the Department of Law and the Executive Committee of the Centre.

1. Executive Committee

Professor Clive Walker (Director)