GOVERNMENT FUNDING,EMPLOYMENT CONDITIONS,AND WORK ORGANIZATION IN NON‐PROFIT COMMUNITY SERVICES: A COMPARATIVE STUDY

The article provides a comparative exploration of New Public Management (NPM) funding models on the non‐profit sectors in the UK and Australia, and the implications for services, employment conditions, and worker commitment. A degree of convergence exists around the principles of NPM in the two case studies, creating employment regimes of low pay, casualization, and work intensification. Enhanced vulnerability to pay cuts in the UK, and insecurity in Australia are explained by national differences in exposure to recession, industrial relations institutions, and competition, leading to diminishing worker commitment and raising important concerns for policy‐makers as benefits gained from outsourcing to non‐profits are eroded.     

SNAKES AND LADDERS: UPPER‐MIDDLE CLASS MALE OFFENDERS TALK ABOUT ECONOMIC CRIME*

This paper explores the ways in which male offenders in professional‐status occupations prior to conviction construct and justify money‐related crime. We report a detailed analysis, based in grounded theory and critical social‐psychological discourse analysis, of a loosely‐structured group interview with four offenders. The men constructed justifications for their offenses in terms of “breadwinning” for their immediate family and economic responsibility toward their extended “family” of employees and creditors. They represented their post‐conviction decline in social status as being “dragged down” by envious “boys” in the state apparatus. They positioned themselves on moral high ground, despite having been inappropriately sent to the working class world of prison (“Dante's Inferno”). We contrast these accounts with those of less privileged male offenders.     

THE CONTRIBUTION OF GANG MEMBERSHIP TO DELINQUENCY BEYOND DELINQUENT FRIENDS*

Both being involved in a gang and having friends who are delinquent have been shown to contribute to an individual's own delinquency. However, the unique contribution of gang membership to delinquency, above and beyond having delinquent peers, has not been well studied. Increased delinquency among gang members may not be due to gang membership per se, but to the members' association with delinquent peers. Using data from the Seattle Social Development Project, this research compared involvement in delinquency for gang members, nongang youths with delinquent friends, and nongang youths who did not have delinquent friends. MANOVA and follow-up ANOVA were conducted to determine differences on measures of delinquency among the three groups at ages 14 and 15. Gang members were found to have a higher rate of offending in the past year when compared with the other groups. The contribution of gang membership to delinquency above and beyond having delinquent friends was also examined using structural equation modeling. Gang membership was found to independently predict both self-reported and officially recorded delinquency beyond the effects of having delinquent friends and prior delinquency. Implications of the results for delinquency prevention and intervention efforts are discussed.     

IMAGES OF DANGER AND CULPABILITY: RACIAL STEREOTYPING,CASE PROCESSING,AND CRIMINAL SENTENCING*

In this paper we argue that the meaning of race in criminal justice decision making will vary depending on other offender and offense characteristics, and that differences in treatment within races may therefore be as large as differences between races. We find that, among adult drug offenders from Washington State, those white offenders who most closely resemble the stereotype of a dangerous drug offender receive significantly harsher treatment than other white offending groups, while among black offenders, it is the defendants who least resemble a dangerous drug offender who receive substantially different—in this case, less punitive—treatment than other black offenders. That is, the exceptions are made for the most serious and the least serious offenders. We discuss the implications of these findings.     

Having a say or getting your way? Political choice and satisfaction with democracy

Citizen satisfaction with democracy is greater when parties offer choices that are congruent with voter preferences. But are citizens content with simply having a party that represents their views or does their satisfaction depend on whether that party can also be instrumental in implementing policies? We argue that instrumentality moderates the effect of ideological congruence on democratic satisfaction. Combining an analysis of cross-national survey data with an experimental conjoint design, we find that citizens able to vote for a congruent party with a chance of entering government are more satisfied with democracy, whereas congruence without instrumentality has no such effect.     

The mobilising effect of political choice

Political choice is central to citizens’ participation in elections. Nonetheless, little is known about the individual-level mechanisms that link political choice and turnout. It is argued in this article that turnout decisions are shaped not only by the differences between the parties (party polarisation), but also by the closeness of parties to citizens’ own ideological position (congruence), and that congruence matters more in polarised systems where more is at stake. Analysing cross-national survey data from 80 elections, it is found that both polarisation and congruence have a mobilising effect, but that polarisation moderates the effect of congruence on turnout. To further explore the causal effect of political choice, the arrival of a new radical right-wing party in Germany, the Alternative for Germany (AfD), is leveraged and the findings show that the presence of the AfD had a mobilising effect, especially for citizens with congruent views.     

New Ways of Making and Living Politics: The Movimiento de Trabajadores Desocupados de Solano and the 'Movement of Movements'

This article develops a critique of liberal and social democratic conceptualisations of the political that seek to analyse contemporary social movements in Latin America, arguing that they often silence, misinterpret and/or de-legitimise new ways of living and making politics in the region. It develops an alternative conceptualisation, based upon the insights of post-structuralism and heterodox Marxism, which offers the analytic means to engage more fully with territorialised movements that politicise place, subjectivity and everyday social relations. It illustrates the potential use of such a framework with reference to the Movimiento de Trabajadores Desocupados de Solano of Greater Buenos Aires.     

"You Better Shop Around": The Market for Motor Vehicle Inspection

The effectiveness of regulations is reduced by inspector capture. An environment conducive to capture is one in which inspectors must compete for business. This type of competition is found in various regulatory contexts; it is a fundamental characteristic of a decentralized motor vehicle inspection network.
Motor vehicle inspection stations in most localities are numerous, geographically dispersed, private, and hence largely outside the effective purview of state authorities. Motorists can choose their inspection station, and generally prefer quick, superficial and passing inspections. Motor vehicle inspectors therefore tend to be quite lax. Evidence is presented showing that the most lenient ones tend to get more of the inspection business.     

Owning ASFA

As New York and many other jurisdictions struggle to comply with the timelines of the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA), the experiences of the Expedited Permanency Part of the New York City Model Court under the direction of Judge Sara Schechter may provide helpful approaches for overcoming unnecessary delays and obstacles. Despite resistance to change, scarce resources, and a shortage of attorneys for indigent respondents, the New York City Model Court has been able to implement ASFA without sacrificing due process in the handling of child protective and permanency proceedings. Some of these strategies include extensive case conferencing, the use of specially trained conference facilitators, time‐certain appointments, and compliance reviews conducted by a referee. The New York City Model Court has found that integrating these new approaches has markedly improved the permanency outcomes for the children within its jurisdiction. Innovations piloted in the New York City Model Court are being replicated throughout the five boroughs of the city.