This study examines how those wrongfully convicted and punished experience life after exoneration. Using data from intensive individual, in-person interviews with 55 exonerees, we measure both the short-and long-term psychological effects associated with wrongful conviction. The results of this research demonstrate that a substantial portion of the study participants were suffering from clinical anxiety, depression, PTSD or a combination of the three disorders at the time of the interviews. Finally, we call for more integrated approaches for addressing a wide range of often interrelated social, psychological and mental health issues experienced by those who were wrongfully convicted.

This article examines whether and in what ways punitive attitudes toward criminals can be understood as having roots in two hypothesized sources of anxiety in western society. The first is the danger of crime and its salience and the second is economic insecurity. Both have been seen as sources of growing perceptions that the State is failing in its responsibility to provide for citizen's physical safety and economic security. Punitiveness toward criminals is hypothesized by some to be a way to act decisively in a time of relative uncertainty. It also serves to distinguish between the `undeserving poor' and those who are economically insecure. Interviews with 2250 randomly selected Florida residents provide the data for this study. Our results indicate that crime salience, especially fear and concern about crime consistently predict punitiveness. When economic insecurity is measured in terms of expected circumstances in the near future, it is significantly linked to punitive attitudes among white males, particularly those who are less well educated and earn less income. The results are consistent with some aspects of an `angry white male' phenomenon, particularly to the extent that those negative sentiments have a racial focus.

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Noncooperative game theory has been proposed as a research tool to be used in the study of criminal decision-making processes. Despite this offering, game theory has enjoyed very little attention from criminologists. In this study, game theory is applied to a specific crime, drug smuggling, in order to determine if fluctuations in key policy variables have the potential to diminish the expected utility of smuggling drugs, thus encouraging lawful behavior. The simulation proposed herein indicates that decreasing the expected utility of smuggling drugs to a level where lawful behavior is likely to be chosen is an infeasible mission from a policy perspective. Additionally, a recent drug smuggling innovation, known as "black powder," is likely to only increase the expected utility of smuggling drugs. Black powder is a simple industrial cloaking method that renders many surveillance strategies and chemical tests futile. The consequences of black powder and the exchange between drug control agents and drug smugglers are discussed.

Marijuana is the most frequently used illicit drug in the world (Erickson, Van Der Maas, and Hathaway, 2013:428). Here in the United States, public support for the legalization of marijuana for recreational use is substantial. With public support, both Colorado and Washington passed state initiatives in 2012 to legalize recreational use of marijuana for individuals aged 21 years and older. Even the federal government has recently reversed their initial position to continue to enforce federal drug laws within these states. With what appears to be increasingly liberal attitudes toward marijuana use and even toward legalization, some are concerned about what this may mean for drug use in America. To many, it appears obvious that with changing attitudes and more lenient policies, use of marijuana will increase and in turn exacerbate a host of individual and societal problems that marijuana use is thought to cause. The primary focus of this study examines the first part of these concerns: to what extent will marijuana use increase with these policy changes? Specifically, this research looks at what extent current abstainers of marijuana might use if it were legalized.

The relationship between social class and crime has long been a source of contention among criminologists. Many of the early criminological theories were founded on the unquestioned belief that people in the lower classes were more prone to criminal behavior than are those who are economically better off. While today this assumption is not as universally accepted, it still has many proponents. This entry examines the link between social class and criminality and considers the possibility that the assumption that the poor are more criminal than those in higher social classes may not be a valid one, yet it has had real consequences for those who are targeted by policies derived from theories that are predicated on this belief.

Sahul (the supercontinent formed by New Guinea and Australia at times of lower sea level) was peopled by 65,000 ± 5,700 years ago, but secure archaeological evidence for occupation before ~25,000 years ago on the eastern seaboard of Australia has proven elusive. This has prompted some researchers to argue that the coastal margins remained uninhabited prior to 25 ka. Here we show evidence for human occupation beginning between 30 ± 6 and 49 ± 8 ka at Wallen Wallen Creek (WWC), and at Middle Canalpin Creek (MCA20) between 38 ± 8 and 41 ± 8 ka. Both sites are located on the western side of Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island), the second largest sand island in the world, isolated by rising sea levels in the early Holocene. The earliest occupation phase at both sites consists of charcoal and heavily retouched stone artefacts made from exotic raw materials. Heat-treatment of imported silcrete artefacts first appeared in sediment dated to ~30,000 years ago, making these amongst Australia’s oldest dated heat-treated artefacts. An early human presence on Minjerribah is further suggested by palaeoenvironmental records of anthropogenic burning beginning by 45,000 years ago. These new chronologies from sites on a remnant portion of the continental margin confirm early human occupation along Sahul’s now-drowned eastern continental shelf.

This article identifies, describes, and analyzes the changes within the Prague Police during the post-Communist period. The Prague Police are the primary law enforcement entity in the capital, which is the largest city in the Czech Republic, one of two countries that constituted the fonner state of Czechoslovakia. The article focuses on the movement of the Prague Police toward a democratic policing organizational structure, stressing the successes and failures that they have encountered. Interviews with 12 key informants, supplemented by media accounts and a variety of other sources, are utilized to explore the unique experiences encountered by that agency. Results indicate that a great deal has been accomplished by the Prague Police in their efforts to move toward what is commonly defined as a democratic style of policing.