A conceptual replication of the Strategic Training Initiative in Community Supervision (STICS)

Objectives

This study was an attempt to replicate the findings from an earlier experimental evaluation of a probation officer training program by Bonta et al. (Criminal Justice and Behavior, 38: 1127–1148, 2011). An experimental design was used with an improvement in the random assignment of clients and was tested with a sample of probation officers from a new jurisdiction.

Methods

Probation officers from the Canadian province of Alberta were randomly assigned to training or probation-as-usual. Officer behavior was measured by audio recordings of supervision sessions and recidivism was defined as a new conviction within 2 years of the initial recording. Attrition resulted in 27 probation officers submitting audio recordings of supervision sessions over a 6-month period (15 in the experimental group and 12 in the control). There were 160 recordings of 81 probationers submitted.

Results

The audio recordings showed inconsistent changes in officer behavior and no differences in recidivism between the clients of the experimental and control probation officers. However, the use of cognitive techniques by the probation officers was associated with a longer time to recidivism. In addition, by 10 months, more than half of the trained officers stopped their involvement in ongoing professional development activities.

Conclusion

Although the study failed to replicate the major findings reported by Bonta et al., it did highlight the importance of cognitive techniques in officer training. The results are interpreted with respect to the replication literature and the difficulties inherent in direct and conceptual replications especially in real-world settings.

     

Unmasking the Crimes of the Powerful

Even in formally open, liberal, democratic states, a series of barriers exist as obstacles to critical criminologists who wish to conduct research that scrutinises the activities of powerful states and corporations. Much evidence suggests that in the current political climate, the barring of access to sources of data, neo-liberal re-configurations in the funding of research, and the narrowing of publishing and dissemination opportunities to counter-hegemonic voices are severely limiting the ability to conduct critical research. This article reports on recent experiences of researchers concerned with unmasking the crimes of the powerful and argues that, despite the obstacles power sources use to obscure and mystify the illegal and violent practices engaged in by states and corporations, there remains fertile space around research agendas, and in universities, for critical researchers to exploit. To gain insight from the ways in which researchers can, and do, establish alternative agendas, this article seeks to explore some of the principles that might inform and encourage those forms of resistance, and to establish how critical criminologists might continue to subject the powerful to scrutiny. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Boris Annenkoff: A central Asian bayard

Far East

The Origins of the Cultural Revolution. Vol. 1: Contradictions among the People, 1956–1957. By Roderick MacFarquhar. London, Oxford University Press for the Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1974. Pp. 439. Illus. Index. £5.50.

Capital Formation in Mainland China, 1952–1965. By Kang Chao. Berkeley, Los Angeles and London, University of California Press, 1974. Pp. 178. Statistics. Bibliog. Index. £6.00.

Land Reform in the People's Republic of China. By John Wong. New York, Praeger; London, Pall Mall Press, 1974. Pp. 319. £9.50.

The Nine Sacred Mountains of China: An Illustrated Record of Pilgrimages made in the years 1935–1936. By Mary A. Mullikin and Anna M. Hotchkis. Hong Kong, Vetch and Lee, 1973. Pp. 156. Map. Illus. Index. HK $75.00.

Economic Institutional Change in Tokugawa Japan: Osaka and the Kinai Cotton Trade. By William B. Hauser. Cambridge University Press, 1974. Pp. 239. Maps. Tables. Bibliog. Index. £6.00.

South‐East Asia

Twenty Years Indonesian Foreign Policy 1945–65. By Ide Anak Agung Gde Agung. The Hague, Mouton, 1974. Pp. 640. Bibliog. Index. 69 guilders.

Indonesia After the 1971 Elections. Edited by Oey Hong Lee. London, Oxford University Press for the University of Hull (Hull Monographs on South‐East Asia No. 5), 1974. Pp. 116. Index. £2.00.

A Nation in the Making: The Philippines and the United States, 1899–1921. By Peter W. Stanley. Cambridge, Mass., and London, Harvard University Press, 1974. Pp. 340. Bibliog. Index. £7.00.

Central Asia

Travels into Bokhara, together with a Narrative of a Voyage on the Indus. By Sir Alexander Burnes, FRS, with a new introduction by Major‐General James Lunt, CBE. Karachi, Oxford University Press, 1973. 3 vols. Map. Illus. Index. £14.95 the set (Vol. 3 £4.25).

Central Asian Review 1953–1971: Complete Contents. Subject Index to accompany the 35 mm. microfilm edition of Central Asian Review. London, Central Asian Research Centre, 1973. Pp. 49.

Afghanistan. By Louis Dupree. Princeton University Press, 1973. Pp. 760. Maps. Illus. Appendices. Bibliog. Index. $22.50.

South Asia

Radical Politics in South Asia. Edited by Paul R. Brass and Marcus F. Franda. Cambridge, Mass., MIT Press, 1973. Pp. 449. Index. £6.75.

Population, Politics and the Future of Southern Asia. Edited by W. Howard Wriggins and James F. Guyot. New York and London, Columbia University Press, 1974. Pp. 402. Index. £4.25.

The Transfer of Power 1942–7. Vol. IV: The Bengal Famine and the New Viceroyalty, 15 June 1943–31 August 1944. Edited by Nicholas Mansergh and E. W. R. Lumby. London, HMSO, 1973. Pp. 1,295. Appendix. Glossary. Index. £13.00.

India's Revolution: Gandhi and the Quit India Movement. By Francis G. Hutchins. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, Oxford University Press, 1974. Pp. ix+326. Bibliog. Index. £8.00.

A New System of Slavery. The Export of Indian Labour Overseas. 1830–1920. By Hugh Tinker. London, Oxford University Press for the Institute of Race Relations, 1974. Pp. 432. Maps. Illus. Bibliog. Index. £5.75.

A Matter of Honour: an account of the Indian Army, its officers and men. By Philip Mason. London, Jonathan Cape, 1974. Pp. 580. Maps. Bibliog. Index. £5.75.

Sind: Before the Muslim Conquest (History of Sind Series, Volume II). By H. T. Lambrick. Hyderabad, Oxford University Press, 1974. Pp. 217. Maps. Notes. Indices. £3.90.

Politics in Sri Lanka 1947–1973. By A. Jeyaratnam Wilson. London, Macmillan, 1974. Pp. 347. Index. £7.50.

Middle East

Information and the Arab Cause. By M. Abdel‐Kadir Hatem. London, Longman, 1974. Pp. 320. Index. £4.75.

Survival or Hegemony? The Foundations of Israeli Foreign Policy. By Samuel J. Roberts. Baltimore and London, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1974. Pp. 162. Bibliog. Index. £1.40.

The United Arab Emirates. An Economic and Social Survey. By K. G. Fenelon. London, Longman, 1973. Pp. 145. Appendices Bibliog. Index. £3.00.

Muscat and Oman: the End of an Era. By Ian Skeet. London, Faber &; Faber, 1974. Pp. 224. Illus. Bibliog. Appendices. Index. £3.95.

Modernization Without Revolution: Lebanon's Experience. By Elie Adib Salem. Bloomington and London, Indiana University Press, 1973. Pp. 174. Index. £4.20.

The Economic Development of Iran. A Recent Survey with Projections to 1981. By Robert E. Looney. New York, Praeger; London, Pall Mall Press, 1974. Pp. 199. Bibliog. £6.50.

Among the Dervishes. By O. M. Burke. London, Octagon Press, 1973. Pp. 203. Bibliog. £1.75.

Philosophy

Teachings of Rumi: the Masnavi. Abridged and translated by E. H. Whinfield. London, Octagon Press, 1973. Pp. 330. £4.00.

The Spirit of the East. By the Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah. London, Octagon Press, 1973. Pp. 277. £3.50.

Memoirs

With Great Truth and Respect. By Paul Gore‐Booth. London, Constable, 1974. Pp. 440. Illus. Index. £5.00.     

Citizen Involvement and Performance Management in Special-Purpose Governments

Performance management and citizen participation are being used by local governments to improve government accountability and responsiveness. In some cases, local governments are integrating these two trends. One area of local government in which this trend has not been assessed is special districts. This paper uses data from a study of nine special districts in the state of Texas to fill this void. To assess citizen participation in performance management among the districts, we interviewed district managers, analyzed minutes from governing board meetings, and conducted citizen focus groups in three regions of the state. Our findings suggest that although districts may not yet be in tune with the latest performance management trends, they are making efforts to engage citizens in other ways. We recommend ways that districts can build on these experiences and more effectively incorporate citizens in the development, analysis, and reporting of performance measures.     

Adolescent self-poisoning: a cohort study of subsequent suicide and premature deaths

Previous self-harm has been identified as a risk factor for subsequent suicide by adolescents. The objective of the study was to identify further risk factors for subsequent premature death and suicide in a population of adolescents presenting with self-poisoning. A longitudinal cohort design using data-linkage of consecutive adolescent patients presenting to the Hunter Area Toxicology Service, a regional toxicology service for Newcastle, Australia, with the National Death Index of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare was used. A total of 441 adolescents aged 10 to 19 years presented with self-poisoning over 5 years from January 1991 to December 1995, with follow-up to March 2001. There were 14 deaths total, eight of which were likely suicides. There was a 22-fold increase in suicide rate for males and a 14-fold increase for females compared with age-normalized population rates. Adjusted hazard ratios (95% CI) forpremature death were male gender 3.77 (1.11-12.78), nonaffective psychotic disorders 16.3 (3.83-69.34) and the mental illnesses of childhood 6.12 (1.68-22.23). There was a similar pattern for suicide: Male gender, nonaffective psychotic disorders, and the mental illnesses of childhood confer greater risk for subsequent suicide or premature death in this population.     

Re-imagining crime prevention: controlling corporate crime?

While the discourses and practices of crime prevention are of increasing salience, few criminologists have sought the inclusion of corporate illegalities on such agendas. Relatedly, within criminology, there has been a diminished tendency to think in idealistic, utopian and emancipatory terms. This paper is one small attempt to think in precisely such terms.¹ But it is not an exercise in pure imagination. In particular, the paper makes extended reference to Finland, where recent experience suggests that corporate crime prevention may be feasible, under certain conditions, albeit subject to certain limitations. Thus we consider both the desirability and the feasibility of corporate crime prevention intruding upon the generally narrowly constructed terrain of ‘crime prevention’. We begin with a critique of some of the key aspects of crime prevention discourses – at both theoretical and practical levels – with a particular emphasis upon the extent to which these are both more appropriately and usefully applied to corporate crime prevention, before going on to discuss corporate crime prevention ‘in action’, through a focus upon recent developments in Finland. In a concluding section, we consider various aspects of both the desirability and feasibility of corporate crime prevention.