Processes for disciplining nurses for unprofessional conduct of a serious nature : a critique

Aims: This paper critiques the deliberative processes used by the discipline panels of an Australian statutory nurse regulating authority when appraising the alleged unprofessional conduct of nurses and determining appropriate remedies.

Background: Little is known about the nature and effectiveness of the deliberative processes used by nurse regulating authorities (NRAs) disciplinary panels established to appraise and make determinations in response to allegations of unprofessional conduct by nurses.

Methods: A qualitative exploratory descriptive/pragmatic research approach was used. Data were obtained from two case-orientated sampling units: (1) 84 Reasons for Determination made between 1994 and 2000 and (2) a purposeful sample of 12 former and current nurse regulating authority members, nurse regulating authority staff and a nurse regulating authority representative who had experience of disciplinary proceedings and/or who had served on a formal hearing panel. Data were analysed using content and thematic analysis strategies.

Results: Attitudinal considerations (e.g. whether a nurse understood the 'wrongness' of his or her conduct; accepted responsibility for his or her conduct; exhibited contrition/shame during the hearing; was candid in his or her demeanour) emerged as the singularly most significant factor influencing discipline panel determinations. Disciplinary action is taken appropriately against nurses who have committed acts of deliberate malfeasance. NRAs may not, however, be dealing appropriately with nurses when disciplining them for making honest mistakes/genuine practice errors.

Conclusion: Traditional processes used for appraising and disciplining nurses who have made honest mistakes in the course of their work need to be substantially modified as they are at odds with the models of human error management that are currently being advocated and adopted globally to improve patient safety and quality of care in health care domains.

The Carey 'king hit' : journalists and the coverage of domestic violence

In recent years Australia’s football codes have been rocked by allegations that star players, both past and present, have acted inappropriately off-field. In some instances these allegations have involved violence towards partners. This paper explores one such case, involving former AFL great Wayne Carey. In so doing, it explores the so-called ‘cult of celebrity’ and the impact this has both on the players and the media who cover such stories. People caught up in traumatic situations labelled as domestic violence have been vulnerable to media misunderstanding and misinterpretation. Coverage of these events and issues surrounding such violence has undergone change in line with social change. Work by community groups has produced calls for further shifts in thinking and suggestions for a name change to family violence. The so‑called ‘Wayne Carey Affair’ has demonstrated that journalists have their own vulnerabilities to the cult of celebrity, with extended interviews and coverage often centred on possible explanations/ “excuses” for the behaviour patterns of this one individual avoiding the wider social policy implications. By examining coverage surrounding Wayne Carey, this paper will explore the issues surrounding this major social problem and will question the role of journalists vis a vis the particularly vulnerable individuals caught up in family violence.

Shared parenting

The thesis addresses shared parenting, an arrangement which emphasises the equal responsibility of both parents for children after separation, which is often assumed to ameliorate the supposed negative effects of parental separation. This study found that from children's perspective, the most important consideration was not the type of family they lived in but rather the quality of their relationship with each parent that impacted on their emotional adjustment. The portfolio focuses on the challenge of dealing with allegations of child sexual abuse in the context of the Family Court. The comples issues involved in these types of cases are illustrated by four case studies.

An analysis of police officers decisions about whether to refer cases of child abuse for prosecution

In many jurisdictions, police officers are responsible for deciding whether cases of child abuse are referred for potential prosecution. Such discretion justifies the need to scrutinise these professionals' decisions to determine if they are consistent with the scientific eyewitness memory literature. Prior research has shown that interviewer questioning is one of the most critical factors impacting the reliability of child witness statements. Hence, we asked: 'To what degree do officers' consider the quality of interviewer questions when making case authorisation decisions?'. In order to answer this question, we conducted a thematic analysis to identify issues referred to in a sample of documented police correspondence (n=33) about potential prosecution of child abuse cases. Two key themes emerged: the existence of corroborative evidence and whether the suspect denied the allegations. Questioning technique, however, was not considered. All but one decision that referred to interview process focused on the presentation of the witness, even though the witness interviews (as a whole) did not adhere to recommended best-practice guidelines. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Improving the legal aspects of police interviewing of suspects

The purpose of this paper is to provide some guidance to police interviewers and trainers in relation to improving the legal aspects of police questioning of suspects. The paper is written with reference to Victorian legislation. Sixteen professionals (defence barristers, academics, prosecutors, and detectives), all with extensive knowledge of the law and experience evaluating police interviews with suspects, took part in individual indepth interviews (M ¼ 100 minutes). The aim of the interviews was to discuss the limitations of police interviews with suspects and to provide exemplars of concerns from a set of de-identified transcripts that had been provided to the professionals prior to their interviews with us. Overall, four key limitations were raised: (a) inadequate particularisation of offences, (b) inappropriate phrasing of questions, (c) poor introduction of allegations, and (d) questions that unfairly ask the suspect to comment on the victim’s perspective. These concerns and their practical implications are discussed.

Oral language competence, young speakers and the Law

Purpose: This paper highlights the forensic implications of language impairment in 2 key (and overlapping) groups of young people: identified victims of maltreatment (abuse and/or neglect) and young offenders.

Method: Two lines of research pertaining to oral language competence and young people's interface with the law are considered: 1 regarding investigative interviewing with children as victims or witnesses in the context of serious allegations of sexual abuse, and the other pertaining to adolescent offenders as suspects, witnesses, or victims. The linguistic demands that forensic interviewing places on these young people are also considered. Literature concerning the impact of early maltreatment on early language acquisition is briefly reviewed, as is the role of theory of mind in relation to the requirements of investigative interviewing of children and adolescents.

Implications: High-risk young people (i.e., those who are subject to child protection orders because of suspected or confirmed maltreatment, and those who are engaged with the youth justice system) face an elevated risk for suboptimal language development but may need to draw on their language skills in high-stakes forensic interviews. Implications for early intervention policy and practice are identified, and the need for greater speech-language pathology advocacy and engagement in forensic interviewing research is emphasized.

Slipper saga begs the question – do we need a speaker at all?

Speaker of the House of Representatives Peter Slipper has stepped aside following allegations of sexual harassment and the misuse of cab-charge vouchers.

Rape in Victoria as a crime of absolute liability : a departure from both precedent and progressivism

In recent decades, a disturbing trend has emerged in Victoria and elsewhere that has witnessed the emergence of statutory rules that accord preferential treatment to prosecutors and complainants in instances where allegations of rape are made. This article examines not only the manifestations of such treatment in the form of Victorian crime legislation, but the means by which the statutory crime of rape in Victoria has been transformed into an offence which, though technically one of mens rea, can effectively be prosecuted as an offence of absolute liability. The piece concludes with a discussion of the likely reasons for this trend as well as the implications of allowing such a serious offence to be prosecuted as one of absolute liability.

Evaluating police interviewing practices with suspects in child-sexual abuse cases

This article examined adherence to current best practice recommendations for police interviewing of individuals suspected of committing child-sexual offences. We analysed 81 police records of interviews (electronically recorded and then transcribed) with suspects in child-sexual abuse cases in England and Australia. Overall we found areas of skilled practice, indicating that police interviewing in Australia and England is in a far better place than 20 years ago. However, this study also demonstrated that there is still a gap between the recommended guidelines for interviewing and what actually happens in practice. Specifically, limitations were found in the following areas: transparency of the interview process; introduction of allegations; disclosure of evidence; questioning techniques; and the interviewing approach or manner adopted. The practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Surveillance, Governance and Professional Sport

The surveillance capacities of professional sports clubs and Leagues are directly related to their modes of governance. This paper identifies how private sports clubs enact surveillance through processes of inclusion and exclusion. Using three examples to demonstrate these processes, we argue that the surveillance mechanisms associated with sports governance at times replicate, at other times contradict, and at other times influence those associated with broader law enforcement and security developments. These examples also suggest potential increases in surveillance activities that emerge in club governance often flow from external concerns regarding allegations of crime, national security breaches and corruption. These context-specific case studies (Flyvbjerg 2001) demonstrate how surveillance and identity authentication are closely tied to the complex, multi-tiered governance structures and practices in three distinct sports. We then explore how these patterns can be interpreted as either connected to or distinct from equivalent developments involving the surveillance surge (Murakami Wood 2009) and concepts of inclusion and exclusion under the criminal law. We conclude by discussing how both internal and external regulatory forces can shape interrelated facets of surveillance, governance and exclusion in elite sports.

The Gülen movement and the case of a secret agenda: putting the debate in perspective

The Gülen movement, a charity-based Turkish Muslim educational activist network, went global in the 1990s and has established approximately 1,000 secular educational institutions in more than 100 countries. The movement has an estimated worth of $25 billion, making it perhaps the largest faith-based transnational organization in the world today. However, in the wake of 9/11 and increased global anxiety about terrorism, mistrust regarding Muslims and Islam has grown. Suspicion is not only confined to stereotypes about jihadists, with some commentators arguing that Islam itself is the problem, and that any deeply religious Muslim should be viewed with distrust. The Gülen movement has not escaped this analysis and this outwardly secular educational organization has been accused of secretly proselytizing and indoctrinating students in its schools. This article analyses the popular discourse around the movement in Turkey and abroad and weighs the evidence for and against the allegations. It contends not only that they are baseless, and fail to furnish any evidence, but also that they appear to be part of a broader double standard vis-à-vis reporting and commentary on Christian missionary groups and their activities. In particular, the religious philosophy and activities of the Gülen movement are juxtaposed with those of World Vision.

'The police are rottenly corrupt': Policing, scandal, and the regulation of illegal betting in Depression-era Sydney

One groundbreaking aspect of the Wood Royal Commission into police corruption in New South Wales was to recognize the importance of the historical dimension of corruption. The historical consensus is that systemic police corruption emerged in NSW only after the Second World War but, as Wood acknowledged, there has been little detailed research into earlier periods. One window into policing in the 1930s is provided by the Markell Royal Commission, which investigated allegations of police misconduct in relation to illegal bookmaking in 1936. This article explores the evidence gathered by Markell, and argues that his inquiry uncovered a system of entrenched police corruption at a level of complexity previously thought not to have appeared for another decade. It is argued that poor management contributed to the growth of systemic corruption from the early 1930s, and that a defensive and negative reaction to the exposure of this corruption caused an historic opportunity for
reform to be lost.

Domestic violence in Brazil: social problems and legislative interventions

Recent statistical data confirms that domestic violence is a structural problem of exceptional gravity. We analyze the frequent legislative changes in Brazil since 2000 as a result of social pressure for protection of abused women. Only the Law 11.340 of 2006 was well received by lawyers, judges and the public opinion. We present the innovations and peculiarities of this statute and the allegations on unconstitutionality. We discuss cases of judicial review of this law and reject the arguments of unconstitutionality. That notwithstanding, we argue that penalization decisions is the wrong way from a criminological point of view because they do not take into consideration the desires and needs of the victims.

Aquaculture Research and Development as an Entry-Point and Contributor to Natural Resources and Coastal Management

Recent, fervent international dialogue concerning the existence and magnitude of impacts associated with aquaculture has had both positive and negative outcomes. Aquaculture stakeholders have become sensitized to requirements for improved environmental management of aquaculture. on the other hand, in some cases aquaculture development has been negatively affected by some of the unwarranted and unproved allegations to the detriment of the stakeholders most in need of aquaculture development (i.e., resource users, particularly the poor, who are dependent on natural resources). These resource users are targeted by, and directly influence biodiversity and conservation agendas; hence the need to understand how to gain their active participation. This discussion focuses on examples of how aquaculture research and development can be a useful tool or strategy for resource management initiatives and provide tangible positive including increased stakeholder participation and cooperation, offering alternatives to resource extraction and use in otherwise difficult or intransigent resource management conflicts.

A argumentação como elemento discursivo na mídia digital: um estudo sobre o blog fatos e dados

This thesis studies the use of argumentation as a discursive element in digital media, particularly blogs. We analyzed the Blog "Fatos e Dados" [Facts and Data], created by Petrobras in the context of allegations of corruption that culminated in the installation of a Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry to investigate the company within the Congress. We intend to understand the influence that the discursive elements triggered by argumentation exercise in blogs and about themes scheduling. To this end, we work with notions of argumentation in dialogue with questions of language and discourse from the work of Charaudeau (2006), Citelli (2007), Perelman & Olbrechts-Tyteca (2005), Foucault (2007, 2008a), Bakhtin (2006) and Breton (2003). We also observe our subject from the perspective of social representations, where we seek to clarify concepts such as public image and the use of representations as argumentative elements, considering the work of Moscovici (2007). We also consider reflections about hypertext and the context of cyberculture, with authors such as Levy (1993, 1999, 2003), Castells (2003) and Chartier (1999 and 2002), and issues of discourse analysis, especially in Orlandi (1988, 1989, 1996 and 2001), as well as Foucault (2008b). We analyzed 118 posts published in the first 30 days of existence of the blog "Fatos e Dados" (between 2 June and 1 July 2009), and analyzed in detail the top ten. A corporate blog aims to defend the points of view and public image of the organization, and, therefore, uses elements of social representations to build their arguments. It goes beyond the blog, as the main news criteria, including the posts we reviewed, the credibility of Petrobras as the source of information. In the posts analyzed, the news values of innovation and relevance also arise. The controversy between the Blog and the press resulted from an inadequacy and lack of preparation of media to deal with a corporate blog that was able to explore the characteristics of liberation of the emission pole in cyberculture. The Blog is a discursive manifestation in a concrete historical situation, whose understanding and attribution of meaning takes place from the social relations between subjects that, most of the time, place themselves in discursive and ideological dispute between each other - this dispute also affects the movements of reading and reading production. We conclude that intersubjective relationships that occur in blogs change, in the form of argumentative techniques used, the notions of news criteria, interfering with scheduling of news and organization of information in digital media outlets. It is also clear the influence that the discursive elements triggered by argumentation exercise in digital media, trying to resize and reframe frames of reality conveyed by it in relation to the subject-readers. Blogs have become part of the scenario information with the emergence of the Internet and are able to interfere in a more effective way to organize the scheduling of media from the conscious utilization of argumentative elements in their posts