Designing Programming and Interventions for Women in the Criminal Justice System

Women are the fastest growing segment of the criminal justice population, yet the majority of research on criminal justice populations has been focused on men. Programming and interventions that reduce women’s involvement in the criminal justice system and ameliorate the negative consequences associated with criminal justice involvement are urgently needed. The overall aim of this paper is to provide a comprehensive framework for developing evidence-based, gender-specific programming and interventions to reduce criminal justice involvement and its associated consequences among women in the criminal justice system. The first section of the paper offers a conceptually guided review of the three primary factors that facilitate and complicate women’s involvement in the criminal justice system: victimization; mental disorders; and substance use. In the second section of the paper, findings from focus groups conducted with women on probation or parole identify strategies to engage this population in psychosocial interventions. The third and final section of the paper provides comprehensive recommendations for designing programming and interventions for women in the criminal justice system.     

Cambodia: “Operation total victory no. 43”

Abstract

Rising high above the lush Cambodian jungle, the spiraled gray towers of Angkor Wat mark the cosmological center of one of the most brillant ancient civilizations of Southeast Asia. Today, all that remains of this vast Khmer kingdom is a nation about the size of Washington state, a nation inhabited by nearly seven million people; most of whom spend their lives in the verdant paddy fields surrounding their village. Although proud of their heritage, they do not aspire to new glories of conquest and empire. Rather the Cambodians have long sought one-thing: peace.     

The measurement of institutional characteristics of nations: Methodological considerations

A major barrier to the quantitative investigation of interactions between economic and non‐economic influences in economic development is the lack of adequate indicators of institutional traits of nations. Our purpose in this paper is to consider the methodological procedures involved in the development of qualitative sociopolitical and economic indicators.

The first sections of the paper deal with various aspects related to the subject of measurement. This is necessary because misconceptions regarding the nature of ‘qualitative measurement’ are common, and misleading contrasts between qualitative and quantitative measurement are frequently made. The last four sections illustrate the procedures for the measurement of institutional indicators by applying them to the quantification of the concept of political participation in developing countries.     

Binary decision analysis: An empirical approach to predicting and understanding organizational decisions

Binary decision analysis is an alternative approach to the analysis of organizational decisions that lends itself well to mathematic analysis. The purpose of this paper is to present and test the application of the binary approach to decision analysis and its subsequent mathematical testing using logit regression. Binary decision analysis focuses on each decision as a single choice between two distinct alternatives or a step in a sequence of such binary choices in more complex organizational decisions. Logit regression is a type of regression especially developed to deal with binary dependent variables in the context of inferential statistical testing. By successfully combining these two approaches, and adhering to the theoretical and statistical assumptions upon which they are based, a potentially useful tool of organizational decision analysis results. An applied example of this approach tests its utility. Appropriate conclusions about the method are made based on that test.     

The exclusion of Roma claimants in Canadian refugee policy

The arrival of thousands of European Roma seeking refugee status in Canada elicited a range of legislative and policy instruments that severely restrict their acceptance and create conditions antagonistic to further admissions. Interventions have included visa restrictions, actions by Immigration and Refugee Board, the Balanced Refugee Reform Act followed by the Protecting Canada's Immigration System Act, and ministerial rhetoric about the illegitimacy of Roma as refugees. Other factors have involved interpretations of persecution in relation to the Geneva Convention and Protocol, and the implications of the conditions required for membership to the European Union. These political circumstances in large part determine Canadian acceptance rates for the Roma. Their systematic exclusion is reminiscent of the historical treatment of other groups due to institutional racism. In the new racism, however, refugee law and policy is racist in effect while evading the language of race.     

Filtering speed in a Continental European reorganization procedure

Recent studies of US Chapter 11 show it to be a relatively efficient procedure. We examine reorganization cases in a Continental European, creditor-oriented bankruptcy system, viz. Belgium, and report very different findings. Using hazard and cure regression models to determine what drives the length of time spent in reorganizations, we find evidence suggesting that courts have little impact on the screening and filtering process. In fact, many drivers of procedure length prove to have the opposite sign of what one would expect if the procedure would efficiently realise its goals. Instead, the procedure appears to be mainly creditor or owner-driven.     

The relationship between job status,interviewing experience,gender, and police officers' adherence to open‐ended questions

Purpose. The current study examined whether several factors related to the job and demographic profile of police officers are associated with adherence to best‐practice guidelines when interviewing children. Method. One hundred and seventy‐eight police officers completed a standardized (simulated) interview regarding an allegation of abuse by a 5‐year‐old child. Immediately prior to this interview, details were obtained from the officers' regarding their job status, gender, interview experience, the timing and nature of prior training/supervision, and experience outside the policing profession with young children. Results. The results showed that timing of training was the only factor that related to interview performance. The proportion of open‐ended questions among participants who completed their interviewer training course less than 1 month prior to the simulated interview was better than those who completed the training earlier. Interestingly, the performance of the latter group was identical to that of a group of participants who had not yet received any formal interview training. The implications of the findings are discussed, along with directions for future research.     

Physical victimization in prison: the role of mental illness

This study compares prison physical victimization rates (inmate-on-inmate and staff-on-inmate) for people with mental disorder to those without mental disorder in a state prison system. Inmate subjects were drawn from 14 adult prisons operated by a single mid-Atlantic State. A sample of 7,528 subjects aged 18 or older (7,221 men and 564 women) completed an audio-computer administered survey instrument. Mental disorder was based on self-reported mental health treatment ever for particular mental disorders. Approximately one-quarter of the sample reported some prior treatment for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, PTSD, or anxiety disorder. Rates of physical victimization for males with any mental disorder were 1.6 times (inmate-on-inmate) and 1.2 times (staff-on-inmate) higher than that of males with no mental disorder. Female inmates with mental disorder were 1.7 times more likely to report being physically victimized by another inmate than did their counterparts with no mental disorder. Overall, both males and females with mental disorder are disproportionately represented among victims of physical violence inside prison.