Editorial
Dear readers!
Present issue of the Journal of Criminal Justice and Security includes three papers, covering various criminal justice and security topics - the identification and treatment of twins in relation to criminality, psycho-educative group programme the treatment of sexual offenders, and police powers to stop and search.
In the first paper, Miha Dvojmoc, Veronika Mrak Klavzar and Vanja Erculj
review the treatment of identical twins in crimes and examine to what extent people notice the switch of identities, to what extent they can distinguish between twins, and what factors are related to the ability to distinguish them. Findings of their survey showed that age, but not gender or length of acquaintance, was related to the ability to distinguish between twins. The ability to distinguish between twins was positively correlated with the observation of confusion between them. The most common indicators for distinguishing between identical twins were found to be facial features, behavior, a distinctive voice, and recognizable accessories. Nusa Crnkovic presented the psycho-educative group therapy, developed at a high-security psychiatric hospital in the United Kingdom, in an attempt to provide a therapeutic input for sex offenders. The results of the study, conducted as a preliminary evaluation of the programme, suggest that there was a decrease in feelings of loneliness for both groups of patients that completed the URI programme, and a limited reduction of interpersonal difficulties. The findings suggest that the evaluated programme might have a limited effect on sex offenders. In their study on police powers to stop and search Mirce Milenkov and Maja Modic examine what attitudes police officers in Slovenia have towards the use of these powers. The findings of their study show that police officers are very well aware of the importance of their attitude when dealing with members of the public in police procedures. As police powers to stop and search are subject to strong criticism because of frequent cases of discriminatory use and links to racism and police violence, the authors suggest further research of this area in Slovenia.
We are thankful to the authors for their contribution to the present issue by sharing the results of their interesting research endeavours. We wish you a pleasant and informative reading.
Maja Modic, PhD Editor of English Issues
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