LABORATORY ORGANIZATIONAL EXPERIMENTS FOR CORRECTIONS An Alternative Method

The methodology of laboratory organizational experiments has seldom been applied to corrections. Its advantages of flexibility, experimental control, ability to replicate theoretically important but naturally rare occurrences, and its potential for cross-validation of other research are shown to be of both practical and theoretical relevance to corrections. The problems of realism, generalizability, practicality, and ethics are examined and a remedy proposed: the sociodramatic simulation of correctional organizations to contrast the effects of theoretically important structural properties and correctional approaches, This remedy synthesizes the realistic and the symbolic approaches to organizational simulation. It is practical, and it resolves many of the ethical problems.     

INTIMACY AND HOMICIDE: COMPENSATING FOR MISSING DATA IN THE SHR*

The Supplementary Homicide Report (SHR) of the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting Program remains the most accessible and widely used database on lethal violence in the United States. However, researchers using this database must address the problem of missing data, which typically is the result of the failure to file, inconsistent filing of reports to the FBI by local police agencies, or incomplete records about the characteristics of specific incidents of homicide (particularly, missing information about perpetrators), even when reports are filed. Williams and Flewelling (1987) proposed methods of compensating for missing information, and this paper revisits their assessment by again determining the extent of the problem and the consequences of adjusting for it. Alternative methods are proposed and analyzed, with a focus on relationship‐specific rates (i.e., rates of family, intimate nonfamily, acquaintance, and stranger homicide). The implications of the results for further use of the SHR are discussed.     

A REGIONAL ANALYSIS OF HOMICIDE RATES IN THE UNITED STATES

Variations in regional homicide rates are examined in order to determine whether or not these areas are homogeneous An analysis of varbnce repeatedly isolates southern regions as having pronounced homicide rates. Intraregional varintions are noted. They indicate a need for a revision of Gastil's “Index of Southernness.” Finally, varktions are interpreted within a subcultural context.     

性被害人司法精神鉴定有关问题探讨

性被害人司法精神鉴定有关问题探讨李孝福，郑瞻培（１．安徽省黄山市第二人民医院；黄山２４５０２１；２．上海市精神卫生中心；上海２０００３０）ＡＰＲＯＢＥＯＦＳＯＭＥＰＲＯＢＬＥＭＳＲＥＧＡＲＤＩＮＧＰＳＹＣＨＩＡＴＲＩＣＥＸＰＥＲＴＩＳＥＦＯＲＳＥＸＵ...     

THE MEDICAL MODEL IN CORRECTIONS Requiescat in Pace Requiescat in Pace

The medical model for corrections, confidently espoused by several generations of behavioral scientists although never empirically validated, is now reeling under attacks from an interdisciplinary (though unorganized) army of critics. Attacking its basic premise (that the offender is “sick” and con be “cured”). the new penologists advocate a justice model based on individual responsibility with uniform penalties consistently imposed for like crimes. Out would go the indeterminate sentence, virtually unlimited judicial discretion, parole, and coerced participation in rehabilitation programs. Deterrence, retribution, and incapacitation would be restored as respectable rationalizations for imprisonment; but in general long prison terms would be reserved only for the habitually violent.     

TREND AND DEVIATION IN CRIME RATES: A COMPARISON OF UCR AND NCS DATA FOR BURGLARY AND ROBBERY*

Trends and year-to-year deviations in UCR and NCS data on burglary and robbery are examined for the period 1973 to 1985. We find strong correspondence between year-to-year deviations in UCR crime rates and NCS victimization rates for both crime types. The difference between the two data series lies primarily in their contrasting trends, although there is some evidence that trends in UCR and NCS crime rates have been converging in recent years. Ex post forecasts reveal that the UCR/NCS relationships estimated from the 1973–1985 data continued through 1986 and 1987. Although the UCR rates in 1986 were somewhat influenced by unusual increases in the proportion of crimes reported to the police that year, changes in crime reporting for the period as a whole have had little effect on UCR burglary and robbery rates. We conclude that, within the two serious crime types examined in this study, there is strong consistency between the alternative data sources on variations in crime rates over time.     

A CASE FOR REFORM OF THE CHILD WELFARE SYSTEM

There are more than half a million children in our nation's foster care system. While foster care is intended to provide a temporary safe harbor for abused and neglected children, too many of these youth spend years in foster care limbo—experiencing a turbulent life in motion as they move from placement to placement, community to community, and school to school. Youth in foster care commonly fail to receive basic health and psychological care, and nearly 20,000 youth age out of foster care every year to an adult path of homelessness, unemployment, and despair. Our entire community must work together to more responsibly parent these youth. This article will address how lawyers and child advocates can advocate for new approaches and enhanced support on behalf of the voiceless and most vulnerable members of our community. It will address existing hurdles and systemic challenges that have helped to create the current disheartening status quo. The article will then discuss strategies that advocates can employ to turn the corner on behalf of these youth at risk.     

USING RETAIL DATA FOR UPSTREAM MERGER ANALYSIS

The typical situation that antitrust authorities face is toanalyze a proposed manufacturer merger using scanner data atretail level. I start with a benchmark model of manufacturers'and retailers' sequential pricing behavior. Then I perform counterfactualexperiments to explore the relationship between downstream retailerpricing models and the resulting estimates of upstream mergers,in the absence of wholesale prices. Looking at scanner datafor the ground coffee category sold at several retail chainsin Germany, I find that not considering retail pricing explicitlywhen analyzing the potential consequences of an upstream mergerresults in simulated changes in welfare that are significantlydifferent given the underlying model of retail pricing behavior.These findings are relevant for competition policy, and authoritiesshould consider incorporating the role of retailers in upstreammerger analyses, especially in the presence of increasinglyconsolidated retail food markets.     

THE PLACE OF CONTEXT: A THEORY AND STRATEGY FOR CRIMINOLOGY'S HARD PROBLEMS

I present a theoretical framework and analytic strategy for the study of place as a fundamental context in criminology, with a focus on neighborhood effects. My approach builds on the past 15 years of research from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods and from a recent book unifying the results. I argue that “ecometrics” can be applied at multiple scales, and I elaborate core principles and guiding hypotheses for five problems: 1) legacies of inequality and developmental neighborhood effects; 2) race, crime, and the new diversity; 3) cognition and context, above all the social meaning of disorder; 4) the measurement and sources of collective efficacy in a cosmopolitan world; and 5) higher order structures beyond the neighborhood that arise in complex urban systems. Although conceptually distinct, these hard problems are interdependent and ultimately linked to a frontier in criminology: contextual causality.     

DESIGN PROBLEMS IN PUBLIC POLICY DEVELOPMENT

This essay explores the issues involved in designing public policies. It suggests that those programs not well designed will generate inappropriate expectations for success. This lack of design sophistication may not lead well-conceived methods .for achieving stated objectives. Taking the Low Enforcement Assistance Administration's Cornmunit. Anti-Crime Program as an example, the paper analyzes the implicit sociological theory which guided the development of this new and important program. The essay concludes by highlighting some of the important contributions the Community Anti-Crime Program can make in the criminal justice policy arena despite its conceptual shortcomings. While design problems may hinder the implementation of programs, they do not necessarily have to cripple them.