Custody and Visitation in Families With Three (or More) Parents

New technological and legal developments have enabled the formation of three‐parent families. Now that these families have arrived, families—and family law—must adapt to allocate responsibilities among the responsible adults.     

Delivering effective therapeutic interventions for men with severe personality disorder within a high secure prison

Abstract

The Fens Unit is a government-initiated facility for male prisoners reaching criteria for Dangerous and Severe Personality Disorder (DSPD). Prisoners are assessed using a standardised process; those meeting criteria engage in a five-year treatment programme using a cognitive interpersonal model. Personality disorder is seen as a combination of coping strategies, developed in response to experience, which results in dysfunctions of thinking, feeling, behaviour and interpersonal relationships. These dysfunctions are linked to offending. Therefore, in order to reduce risk, multiphasic interventions – individual and group therapies – specifically target each dysfunction area, focusing on the developmental experiences that generated them. Each man's individual risk factors become treatment targets that are addressed in every aspect of the programme. All staff on the unit, clinical and operational, attempt to improve the quality of interpersonal relationships the prisoner has access to in order to create remedial experiences that are necessary to attain the capacity to develop socially adaptive cognitive, emotional and behavioural responses. This paper describes the treatment provided to these prisoners and the outcomes for the first cohort to have completed treatment (n=18). Results indicate that there is a reduction in violent behaviour, a higher than expected attendance at therapy, a decrease in actuarial risk measures and the majority of men are successfully managed in lower security after programme completion.     

Working from strengths to assess changes in gender equality

This paper describes an empirical application of a strengths-based approach (SBA) to assess changes in gender equality, and draws out implications for research, evaluation, and wider development practice. We outline what constitutes a strengths-based approach and present a case study where a participatory methodology informed by appreciative inquiry was used to investigate gender outcomes of two water, sanitation, and hygiene-focused development initiatives. We consider the value and limitations of taking an explicitly strengths-based approach to assessing gender outcomes, and also propose that there are important arguments for why SBAs might be usefully applied in addressing (not just assessing) gender equality.

Travailler à partir des forces pour évaluer les changements sur le plan de l'égalité entre les sexes

Ce document décrit une application empirique d'une approche fondée sur les forces (AFF) pour évaluer les changements sur le plan de l'égalité entre les sexes, et en tire les implications pour les recherches, l'évaluation et les pratiques plus générales en matière de développement. Nous décrivons ce qui constitue une approche fondée sur les forces et présentons une étude de cas dans laquelle une méthodologie participative éclairée par une enquête appréciative a été utilisée pour examiner les résultats sur le plan du genre de deux initiatives portant sur l'eau, l'assainissement et l'hygiène. Nous considérons la valeur et les limites de l'adoption d'une approche expressément fondée sur les forces pour évaluer les résultats sur le plan du genre, et avançons par ailleurs qu'il y a des arguments importants concernant les raisons pour lesquelles les ABS pourraient être utilement appliquées au moment de tenter d'obtenir (et pas seulement d'évaluer) l'égalité entre les sexes.

Evaluando cambios en la igualdad de género a partir de las fortalezas

El presente artículo examina la aplicación empírica de un enfoque basado en fortalezas (SBA por sus siglas en inglés), destinado a valorar cambios en la igualdad de género y a analizar sus implicaciones en la investigación, la evaluación y las prácticas más generales relacionadas con el desarrollo. Las autoras hacen un bosquejo de lo que constituye un SBA. Presentan un estudio de caso en el que se utilizó una metodología participativa a partir de una investigación apreciativa, con el objetivo de realizar una pesquisa en torno a los resultados vinculados al género obtenidos en dos iniciativas de desarrollo enfocadas en agua, saneamiento e higiene. Asimismo, examinan el valor y las limitaciones implicadas en el uso explícito de un SBA para valorar los resultados relacionados con el género, sosteniendo que existen razones importantes para defender la utilización del SBA con el fin de obtener (y no sólo valorar) la igualdad de género.

Trabalhando a partir dos pontos fortes para avaliar mudanças na igualdade de gênero

Este artigo descreve uma aplicação empírica de uma abordagem baseada nos pontos fortes (SBA) para avaliar mudanças na igualdade de gênero e extrai as implicações para a pesquisa, avaliação e prática de desenvolvimento mais geral. Esboçamos o que constitui uma abordagem baseada nos pontos fortes e apresentamos um estudo de caso onde uma metodologia participativa com informações de uma investigação apreciativa foi utilizada para examinar os resultados de gênero de duas iniciativas de desenvolvimento focalizadas no fornecimento de água, saneamento e higiene. Consideramos o valor e as limitações de se adotar uma abordagem explicitamente baseada nos pontos fortes para avaliar os resultados de gênero e também propomos que há argumentos importantes que explicam por que as SBAs podem ser utilmente aplicadas na abordagem da igualdade de gênero (não apenas avaliando).     

The impact of governmental structure and expenditures on the quality of life in urban areas

Despite the obvious complementarity in their objectives, public policy and quality of life or social indicators research have been done in mutual isolation. The integration of these streams of research offers policy analysts an alternate method for measuring impacts. Using this approach, the current study focuses on two questions: 1) Are variations in municipal structure related to policy outputs, i.e., municipal expenditures? 2) Are variations in municipal structures and overall targeted municipal expenditures related to the general quality of life in municipalities and the quality of specific services?

The sample for this study includes the central cities of the sixty-five most populated SMSAs in the United States. Pearson Product Moment correlational and crosstabulational techniques were used to examine these relationships. The results indicate that council manager systems tend to spend less than mayor council systems, yet, in some ways, offer a better quality of life. Differences in size and regional location were investigated by factor analysis as possible influences in this regard.     

Managerialism Meets Regime: A Distinctively Singaporean Marriage?

Managerial reforms were once assumed to be apolitical, and hence universally applied to various political settings. This assumption has been widely contested; some argue that managerial reforms are not applicable to countries outside what are termed Western liberal democracies, due to differing political contexts. The case of Singapore offers a counter-argument to these claims—managerial reforms were well-received in the state and its bureaucracy; both of which were vastly different from those of liberal democracies. The article further argues that this was not a coincidence; there seem to be salient reasons why managerial reforms were able to ‘marry’ Singapore's regime. This case study offers insights vis-à-vis a broader question: whether and how managerial reforms can be justified within and received in differing political contexts. It seems imperative to address this question, given the implications for future scholarship and how managerialism is a significant matter of concern to many governments worldwide.     

Suspect burial excavation procedure: A cautionary tale

Geographic location, time of reporting and need for rapid evaluation contributed to a lack of intelligence concerning a suspect burial site in scrub woodland (～15 km from the last known location of a missing person) in Northern Ireland. Police received reports of a subsiding ‘grave’, which was evaluated positively using GPR and victim recovery dogs (VRD). After 24 h work, archaeological excavation showed a vertical-sided, stepped excavation on undisturbed clay with no inhumation. Subsequent research showed the feature to be an engineering trial pit. The GPR response was a water table and rocks, VRD were possibly reacting to disturbed ground. The work serves as a demonstration of good archaeological practice in suspect burial excavation, following a lack of landscape evaluation and poor overall intelligence.     

Anatomy of creeping authoritarianism in Bangladesh: a historical analysis of some events that shaped the present state of Bangladesh’s culture and politics

ABSTRACT

This paper offers a critical analysis of creeping authoritarianism in Bangladesh’s culture and politics. Political events since the 1940s that have shaped the presently unstable state of Bangladesh’s society are interpreted specifically in terms of their cultural and political significance. One important aspect of this unstable political state is the ongoing search for Bangladeshi national identity. Accordingly, the paper seeks to answer the questions of why and how the present sociocultural and political divisions in Bangladesh have emerged from the fundamental debate over whether (1) Bengali ethnicity, language, culture, and secularism, (2) Muslim nationalism or (3) a combination of both should become the marker of Bangladesh’s national identity to secure social and political stability. Furthermore, recent social, religious and political developments across the Muslim world suggest that attempts to introduce ultra-secularism in some Muslim-majority countries since the 1950s have led to authoritarianism, a movement which has ultimately ended or will soon end through popular Islamic upsurges. Bangladesh seems to be moving toward such social and political change, as the people have become restless in their desire to remove creeping authoritarian, the mark of a repressive regime that has emerged since the early 1970s. The key lesson that can be drawn from the extant literature on this issue in the context of Bangladesh is that the extreme form of secularism or ultra-secularism, which the present ruling Awami League and its left-communist allies continue to advance and impose from above, is neither desirable nor acceptable to Bangladeshi Muslims whilst there is clear movement away from ultra-secularism by other Muslim-majority countries. This paper draws the conclusion that since neither assertive secularism nor theocratic Islamism can flourish in Bangladesh, a competitive democratic political order that accommodates aspects of both secularism and Islamic ethical-moral codes could be a feasible model for the achievement of social, cultural and political stability that is so fundamental to the promotion of steady economic growth and social justice.     

Conformance to Attorney Performance Standards

Legal representation of clients facing involuntary commitment to a maximum security hospital was investigated. Eighty-nine hearings were observed during a 5-week period immediately following implementation of Attorney Performance Standards, which define minimally adequate representation. The 10 participating attorneys reported their preparation for each case, and a summary measure of advocacy was derived. Generally, attorneys engaged in all required activities that could be accomplished in a single preparatory visit to the hospital. The level of advocacy in cases where clients faced civil commitment was compared to cases where the client faced criminal commitment. The unexpected finding that the level of advocacy for civil clients was significantly lower than that for clients facing commitment under any other legal category, was discussed in light of the degree of dangerousness presented by civil clients, the effects of deinstitutionalization, and emerging social policy.