A review of domestic violence arrest statistics in a police department using a pro-arrest policy: Are pro-arrest policies enough?

This study examined domestic violence arrest statistics in a sheriff's department that does not utilize a community approach and provides little police training on domestic violence. In reviewing all domestic violence reports (n=1870) over a 12-month period, less than one-third (28.8%) of the domestic violence cases ended in arrest. Even the most serious charges (aggravated batteries) were more likely to end without an arrest (62.6%) than with an arrest (37.4%). Although results showed that more men were identified (88.4%) and arrested (91.6%) as batterers than women (11.6% and 8.4%, respectively), closer analyses revealed that arrested women were more often charged with more serious charges (60%) than arrested men (26.0%). Finally, gender and race data indicated that while four-fifths (84.6%) of black females were arrested on felony charges, less than one-fifth (19.5%) of white males were arrested on the same charge. These findings demonstrate a need for further research on factors that may affect pro-arrest policy effectiveness.Forensic psychological resident in private practice in Miami and Fort Lauderdale, Florida.     

Wiltshire Council v Cooper Estates Strategic Land Ltd: Development Plans and the Restriction of Town and Village Green Applications

The Court of Appeal has, for the first time, considered the scheme of ‘trigger events’ introduced in the Growth and Infrastructure Act 2013 which preclude the registration of land as a town or village green (or TVG). The event in question concerned identification for potential development in a development plan document. The court was required to determine what constitutes ‘identification for potential development’ for the purposes of the statute. This note suggests that the court's interpretation of ‘identification for potential development’ is unconvincing, and was motivated primarily by policy: to render it more difficult to register land as a TVG. It argues that the judgment constitutes a further and significant restriction on the future viability of TVG applications, rendering entire settlements liable to lose the application of TVG law.     

Fiscal Crisis and Community Development: The Great Recession,Support Networks,and Community Development Corporation Capacity

Community development corporations (CDC) are a cornerstone of neighborhood improvement in legacy cities. Yet they face challenges that threaten their financial sustainability, challenges that grew exponentially with the Great Recession. This article examines the impact of the Great Recession on the revenue and survival of CDC in Baltimore, Maryland; Cleveland, Ohio; and Detroit, Michigan. An analysis of financial data from the National Center for Charitable Statistics from 2004 to 2011 highlights issues of industry contraction, revenue concentration and loss, and CDC survival. Interviews and examination of multiple secondary sources of information on CDC activity and support networks in each city further our understanding of the financial results. We find that the CDC industry in all three cities was severely impacted by the Great Recession and that the CDC support networks in each city had a significant intervening effect on the ability of CDC to adapt to the fiscal and service pressures created by the recession. We discuss the implications of the shared trends and the city-specific dynamics for the role of CDC in neighborhood improvement in legacy cities.     

L'analyse stratégique de Crozier et le déplacement des buts: une tentative d'intégration

Abstract. Since the early part of this century, we have been trying to explain the ‘conduct’ of organizations, and of individuals within organizations and/ or bureaucracies. Weber suggested an ‘ideal-type’ form of bureaucracy. Various authors (Merton, Gouldner, Selznick, Crozier) following him have studied certain dysfunctions of bureaucracy in relation to the ‘ideal type.’ One of these dysfunctions is goal displacement, which Selznick suggests can be attributed to decentralization (delegation of decision-making authority). In this article, we shall attempt to integrate Selznick's goal displacement model with Michel Crozier's ‘strategic behaviour’ model. The main idea behind this type of analyse stratégique is that organizational actors can be considered to have a more or less rational strategy for the maximization (or, at least, the enlargement) of their power or influence.     

Detection of deception in law enforcement applicants

Using the MMPI and the IPI, the present study examined the differences in psychometric defensiveness between two groups of law enforcement applicants: applicants identified as being deceptive and a comparison group of candidates for whom no deception was indicated. Significant differences were found on the traditional validity (minimization) scales for both instruments as well as several supplemental scales and indexes from the MMPI. A new index (Es-K) from the MMPI showed a highly significant difference between groups and good classification accuracy. The results suggest that deceptive applicants show more defensiveness on psychometric testing and that test results may assist in raising the index of suspicion for detecting deception in law enforcement applicants.     

Food for Thought: Reflections on a Counter-hegemonic Food-related Intervention in a South African University

Currently the Academy operates primarily as a space that helps to create and cement neoliberal hegemony in the Gramscian sense. However, since hegemony is never complete, universities are a site of struggle and the opportunity exists to engage in a “war of position” within them. This must necessarily involve allowing space for counter-hegemonic discourses to emerge through critical reflection on “common sense” discourses, as well as the deliberate inclusion of counter-hegemonic thinking and theory from below. This article reflects on an attempt to do this in a South African university, the University of KwaZulu-Natal, in relation to the issue of food. The Food Festival was an attempt to subvert interlocking hegemonic discourses, including that of food security, by “reading the world” (à la Freire) in order to understand the actual nature of existing food systems as inherently oppressive, and “inserting” the concept of food sovereignty as developed by the global peasants’ movement La Via Campesina. After considering the counter-hegemonic intentions of the Festival, the article reflects on its uneven success.     

International Cougar Management Guidelines: Processes for Collaboration and Implementation

This article briefly describes the development of international cougar management guidelines for use in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Release of the guidelines in mid-2005 is intended as the prelude to a further round of redrafting and revision, based on the experience of managers in the field, new scientific developments, and comments from various stakeholders. The guidelines are notable as the outcome of extensive scientific collaboration and careful consultation with wildlife agency administrators. The guidelines draw on the work and experience of cougar specialists in western North America through the regular meetings of the Mountain Lion Workshop.