Criminal justice

Short-term field trips enable learners to bridge the pedagogical gap between academic knowledge (theory) and the practicalities of their discipline in a real-world setting. In Ireland, there has been a dearth of empirical research into the essence of short-term field trips as a teaching and learning strategy for criminal justice students. The purpose of this article is to bridge that pedagogical gap through thematic analysis of qualitative data of student learning experiences in the context of a short-term field trip to an operational prison. Research findings based on semi-structured interviews with students who participated in the active learning experience show evidence of the essence of experiential learning activities which could not be achieved to the same level in academic seminars alone. In essence, students contextualise their academic (theory) knowledge, which is a catalyst for gaining a deep and flexible understanding. In consequence of the sensitive nature of the operational prison, and compliance with security protocols, some limitations were also reported by participants, notably the short-term duration of the field trip and the use of conventional methods of documenting active learning experiences was not possible. Keywords: higher education, participatory action research, experiential learning, short-term field trip, operational prison, reflection in action, reflection on action, thematic analysis of qualitative data

Background Cumulative exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) is associated with an increased risk of substance use, overdose, and suicide. Rural children are more likely to experience most ACEs. There is limited literature contextualizing rural individuals’ experiences with ACEs. Public Health 3.0 calls for multisector partner engagement to generate collective impact. The purpose of this study was to evaluate rural providers’ perspectives on challenges and recommendations for ACEs mitigation in their community from a cross-sector context. Participants and setting Participants were 74 providers enrolled in an online ACEs training. Participants lived and/or worked in five rural Missouri counties with high drug overdose death rates. Methods This was a conventional content analysis of written responses to structured discussion prompts from three training modules. Analysis included familiarization, inductive identification of major codes, and refinement of codes, followed by independent coding by two authors until consensus, and reporting major patterns. Artificial intelligence supported preliminary code development. An adapted Sequential Intercept Model (SIM) framework organized challenges and recommendations by setting. Results Results included personal stories about how ACEs impacted their communities through overdose, suicide, homelessness, unemployment, and adverse health effects. Settings included schools, government, healthcare, daycares, criminal justice, Extension, fire departments, libraries, and nonprofits. Participants recommended expanding the ACEs definition to include satanic abuse, bullying, incest, war, genocide, military family stressors, and death of a loved one. Intervention recommendations included whole-family interventions, community-wide training, trauma-informed training, expanded access to treatment, classes in prison/jails, and fostering positive childhood experiences. Conclusion Community voice is necessary to contextualize setting-specific insights that inform development of upstream interventions appropriate for and tailored to the community. Participants identified both strategies that could be incorporated into everyday practice—including empathy, listening, providing judgment-free and safe spaces, providing food for children experiencing hunger, encouraging positive childhood experiences, mentoring, and connecting individuals with resources for food, shelter, clothing, and mental health—and broader structural changes that may require policy-level action. The adapted SIM organizes these concepts.

Background The first period of life shapes later life chances, but the economic consequences accumulate across later childhood, adolescence and adulthood and fall across several policy sectors. Existing reviews typically address one risk factor at a time, or focus on a restricted outcome domain, leaving the relevant evidence scattered. This umbrella review collates review-level evidence on how early childhood exposures affect later economic outcomes. Methods The review was registered on Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/szpx5/overview). Medline, APA PsycArticles, APA PsycINFO, CINAHL Plus with Full Text, Education Research Complete & Psychology and Behavioural Sciences Collection databases were searched in November 2025. Systematic, rapid, scoping, narrative and umbrella reviews were eligible if they examined early childhood exposures and later outcomes with measurable consequences for education, employment, income, criminal justice involvement, quality of life, wellbeing or service costs. Reviews reporting only health status outcomes, and those focused on low- and middle-income countries, were excluded. Two authors screened and extracted independently, and quality was appraised. Findings were synthesised narratively. Results Seventy-two reviews were included, published between 2001 and 2025 and increasingly since 2021. Adverse childhood experiences and related adversity were the most frequently examined exposures, followed by childhood physical health conditions, birth and perinatal factors, and neurodevelopmental and behavioural difficulties. Early years risk factors were consistently associated with poorer later education and employment, lower income and greater criminal justice involvement. Evidence on quality of life was mixed, and service use and costs were seldom reported. Few reviews addressed publication bias. Conclusion Difficulties experienced in the early years have consequences across several later life domains and public sectors. The evidence is most consistent for education and criminal justice involvement, and thinner for quality of life, service use and costs. Reviews rarely address correlations between risk factors or the pathways connecting them to later outcomes. Modelling these pathways and evaluating interventions to address early years risks are priorities. Limitations of the review were the inclusion of studies that covered a wide range of age groups and the exclusion of health outcomes.

Answering the rationale and modality of punishment in Islam is one of the most significant concerns within Islamic ethical philosophy. However, since answering this question depends on a precise understanding of human essence, capabilities, and real needs, addressing the anthropological foundations governing the rationale and modality of punishment is necessary. This study argues that understanding these foundations is crucial for developing a robust ethical framework that justifies the rationale and modality of punishment within the Islamic penal system. Using a descriptive-analytical method, this article extracts the anthropological foundations governing punishment from religious texts and illustrates their ethical implications. The extracted foundations include: 1. Humanity’s divine nature (Fitrah); 2. Man as a God-seeking being; 3. Man possessing physical and spiritual dimensions; 4. Man having positive and negative tendencies; 5. Man as the divine vicegerent (Khalifat Allah); and 6. Man possessing inherent dignity as a fundamental moral value. Each is examined separately. A key achievement of this research is establishing a connection between these foundations and the ethical justification of punishment. Furthermore, this research highlights the distinctive ethical and normative character of Islamic laws, particularly their guiding and salvific dimensions, which differentiate the Islamic legal system from purely humanistic and secular approaches to criminal justice.

پاسخ به چرایی و چگونگی مجازات در اسلام یکی از مهم‌ترین دغدغه‌ها در فلسفه اخلاق اسلامی است. با این حال، از آنجا که پاسخ به این پرسش مستلزم درک دقیق از ماهیت، توانایی‌ها و نیازهای واقعی انسان است، پرداختن به مبانی انسان‌شناختی حاکم بر چرایی و چگونگی مجازات ضروری می‌باشد. این مطالعه استدلال می‌کند که فهم این مبانی برای توسعه چارچوب اخلاقی مستحکمی که چرایی و چگونگی مجازات را در نظام کیفری اسلامی توجیه کند، حیاتی است. با استفاده از روش توصیفی‌تحلیلی، این مقاله مبانی انسان‌شناختی حاکم بر مجازات را از متون دینی استخراج کرده و پیامدهای اخلاقی آن‌ها را تبیین می‌کند. مبانی استخراج‌شده عبارت‌اند از: ۱. فطرت الهی انسان؛ ۲. انسان به‌عنوان موجودی خداجو؛ ۳. برخورداری انسان از ابعاد مادی و معنوی؛ ۴. وجود گرایش‌های مثبت و منفی در انسان؛ ۵. انسان به‌عنوان خلیفه‌الله؛ و ۶. برخورداری انسان از کرامت ذاتی به‌عنوان یک ارزش اخلاقی بنیادین. هر یک از این مبانی به‌طور جداگانه بررسی می‌شود. دستاورد کلیدی این پژوهش، برقرار ساختن ارتباط میان این مبانی و توجیه اخلاقی مجازات است. افزون بر این، پژوهش حاضر بر ویژگی متمایز اخلاقی و هنجاری قوانین اسلامی، به‌ویژه ابعاد هدایتی و نجات‌بخش آن‌ها که نظام حقوقی اسلام را از رویکردهای صرفاً انسان‌محور و سکولار به عدالت کیفری متمایز می‌سازد، تأکید می‌کند.

We conduct a large-scale, randomized controlled trial of a six-month intervention combining intensive mentoring and group cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for youth in Chicago, following study participants for up to five years. The program was designed to engage young people at higher risk of involvement with the criminal justice system, and successfully did so with a take-up rate of 62%. Participants averaged 177 hours with mentors and nine hours of group CBT. After 24 months, youth offered the program experienced a 19% reduction in the probability of being arrested. Notably, this impact persists into adulthood, as effects remain stable through five years post-randomization. A reduction in arrests for violent offenses is driving this overall arrest reduction, with a 23% reduction in the probability of a violent-crime arrest after 24 months. The program does not impact school enrollment persistence (graduation or being enrolled), but shows suggestive improvements in school behavior and school mobility. We conclude that programs that combine mentoring and CBT can serve as a model for engaging a harder-to-reach population of youth, and can be effective in reducing criminal justice contact in the longer run.

ما یک کارآزمایی تصادفی‌شده‌ی کنترل‌شده در مقیاس وسیع از یک مداخله شش‌ماهه که ترکیبی از مشاوره‌ی فشرده و درمان شناختی-رفتاری (CBT) گروهی برای نوجوانان در شیکاگو است، انجام دادیم و شرکت‌کنندگان مطالعه را تا پنج سال پیگیری کردیم. این برنامه با هدف جذب جوانانی که در معرض خطر بالاتر درگیر شدن با نظام عدالت کیفری هستند طراحی شد و با نرخ مشارکت ۶۲٪ به طور موفقیت‌آمیزی این هدف را محقق ساخت. شرکت‌کنندگان به طور میانگین ۱۷۷ ساعت با مشاوران و ۹ ساعت در جلسات گروهی درمان شناختی-رفتاری حضور داشتند. پس از ۲۴ ماه، احتمال دستگیری نوجوانانی که برنامه به آن‌ها ارائه شد، ۱۹٪ کاهش یافت. قابل توجه است که این تأثیر تا بزرگسالی پایدار می‌ماند، به طوری که اثرات تا پنج سال پس از تصادفی‌سازی ثابت باقی می‌ماند. کاهش دستگیری به دلیل جرایم خشونت‌آمیز عامل اصلی این کاهش کلی دستگیری است، به طوری که پس از ۲۴ ماه احتمال دستگیری به دلیل جرم خشونت‌آمیز ۲۳٪ کاهش یافته است. این برنامه تأثیری بر تداوم ثبت‌نام در مدرسه (فارغ‌التحصیلی یا ثبت‌نام بودن) ندارد، اما بهبودهای پیشنهادی در رفتار مدرسه‌ای و جابه‌جایی مدرسه‌ای نشان می‌دهد. نتیجه می‌گیریم که برنامه‌هایی که مشاوره و درمان شناختی-رفتاری را ترکیب می‌کنند می‌توانند به عنوان الگویی برای جذب جمعیت نوجوانان سخت‌دسترس‌تر عمل کنند و در کاهش تماس با نظام عدالت کیفری در بلندمدت مؤثر باشند.

As universities respond to global challenges through local partnerships, Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) has become a key strategy for preparing students for complex career landscapes. This comparative study examines community-engaged WIL in criminology and justice sector programmes within Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom (UK). Drawing on key policy frameworks from these three countries, we explore various contexts that shape WIL design, delivery, and sustainability. We begin with a policy landscape analysis of funding mechanisms and regulatory frameworks that enable or constrain WIL. Three case studies illustrate how programmes navigate these contexts: (1) an Australian example showcasing low-cost simulation models such as community surveys; (2) a Canadian case highlighting structured partnerships with criminal justice-related organisations; and (3) a case study from the UK examining WIL integration within policing apprenticeships. Our analysis highlights shared strategies including partnerships in community, common challenges such as risk management, partnership sustainability, and tensions between disciplinary fields. Findings offer a practical framework for implementing community-engaged WIL. We argue that innovation often emerges from the margins through creative pedagogy, cross-sector collaboration, and commitment to student and community voice, alongside policy recommendations to strengthen employability, identity development and sustainable community partnerships.

با توجه به اینکه دانشگاه‌ها در پاسخ به چالش‌های جهانی از طریق مشارکت‌های محلی عمل می‌کنند، یادگیری تلفیقی با کار (WIL) به راهبردی کلیدی برای آماده‌سازی دانشجویان جهت ورود به عرصه‌های شغلی پیچیده تبدیل شده است. این مطالعه مقایسه‌ای به بررسی یادگیری تلفیقی با کار مبتنی بر مشارکت جامعه در برنامه‌های جرم‌شناسی و بخش عدالت در کشورهای استرالیا، کانادا و بریتانیا می‌پردازد. با بهره‌گیری از چارچوب‌های سیاستی کلیدی این سه کشور، زمینه‌های مختلفی که بر طراحی، اجرا و پایداری WIL تأثیرگذارند، مورد بررسی قرار می‌گیرد. ابتدا با تحلیل چشم‌انداز سیاستی شامل سازوکارهای تأمین مالی و چارچوب‌های مقرراتی که موجب تسهیل یا محدودیت WIL می‌شوند، آغاز می‌شود. سه مطالعه موردی نشان می‌دهد که برنامه‌ها چگونه در این زمینه‌ها حرکت می‌کنند: (۱) نمونه‌ای از استرالیا که مدل‌های شبیه‌سازی کم‌هزینه مانند نظرسنجی‌های اجتماعی را به نمایش می‌گذارد؛ (۲) موردی از کانادا که بر مشارکت‌های ساختاریافته با سازمان‌های مرتبط با عدالت کیفری تأکید دارد؛ و (۳) مطالعه‌ای از بریتانیا که به ادغام WIL در کارآموزی‌های پلیس می‌پردازد. تحلیل ما راهبردهای مشترکی مانند مشارکت در جامعه، چالش‌های رایج از جمله مدیریت ریسک، پایداری مشارکت و تنش‌های میان حوزه‌های علمی را برجسته می‌کند. یافته‌ها چارچوبی عملی برای اجرای WIL مبتنی بر مشارکت جامعه ارائه می‌دهد. ما استدلال می‌کنیم که نوآوری اغلب از حاشیه‌ها و از طریق آموزش خلاقانه، همکاری میان‌بخشی و تعهد به صدای دانشجو و جامعه پدید می‌آید و در کنار آن، توصیه‌های سیاستی برای تقویت اشتغال‌پذیری، توسعه هویت و مشارکت‌های پایدار جامعه ارائه می‌شود.