Toward a Methodology for the Science of Administration

1. The need for a "systems approach" to study of the machinery of state administration. It is no longer news to anyone that study and discovery of optimal variants for the organization and functioning of the system of agencies of state administration in the USSR are a pressing, paramount task of the science of administration.     

Screening for Malingering in a Correctional Setting

This study outlines the development of the Screening SIRS, an abbreviated version of the Structured Interview of Reported Symptoms (SIRS), for use as a screening measure of malingering in a correctional setting. Seventy-five inmates complaining of psychological impairment were tested for malingering. A subset of the participants was given both the original SIRS and the Screening SIRS as a separate test with the test order counterbalanced; the remainder were given the original SIRS and a derived classification was determined by extracting the Screening SIRS scale scores. Using Receiver Operating Characteristic analyses, classification based on the Screening SIRS was significantly better than chance. With a sensitivity of 87% and specificity of 73%, the Screening SIRS was highly predictive of classifications based on the original SIRS. These findings have instrumental implications in correctional settings where identification of possible malingerers through a screening procedure may facilitate optimal allocation of resources.     

建立未成年犯区别矫正制度的思考

未成年犯在生理、心理、认知模式上都与成年犯有很大的区别,导致未成年犯社区矫正除具有社区矫正的共性之外,还具有区别于成年犯社区矫正的特点。为此,许多国家已采取了专门适用于未成年犯的社区矫正管理制度和模式,有专门的未成年犯社区矫正管理机构和不同于成年人的专业化管理人员。但是,目前我国试点省市中基本上没有确立适合未成年犯特点的社区矫正管理制度。这样不加选择地与成年犯混同操作,既不利于提高对未成年犯的矫正质量,又影响了社区矫正工作的效率。因此,针对未成年人的心理和生理特点,完善未成年犯社区矫正措施,建立适合未成年…     

Science, politics, and crime prevention: Toward a new crime policy

Objective

Crime prevention has entered a new, more robust phase of research activity and holds greater relevance to policy and practice today than ever before. It stands as an important component of an overall strategy to reduce crime. This paper sets out a modest proposal for a new crime policy to help build a safer, more sustainable society.

Materials and methods

Narrative meta-review of the crime prevention literature.

Results

The central features include: ensuring that the highest quality scientific research is at center stage in the policy-making process; overcoming the “short-termism” politics of the day; and striking a greater balance between crime prevention and crime control. Both simulation studies and experiences in Washington State show that early prevention can reduce crime, save money, and reduce the need for costly incarceration.

Conclusions

Quality criminological research should be used to strike a policy balance between crime prevention and crime control.     

A study of female robbers in a Southern Correctional Institution

A stratified random sample of thirty-three female robbers incarcerated at the Florida Correctional Institute at Lowell was selected and interviewed. The findings indicated that the majority of the sample was black, under thirty, of average intelligence, and single. The female robber was typically found to operate with an accomplice, use a firearm, and be motivated by a desire for financial gain. A preliminary typology that included two major categories, situational robbers and career robbers, was developed.     

Assessing the Effectiveness of Correctional Sanctions

Objectives

Despite the dramatic expansion of the US correctional system in recent decades, little is known about the relative effectiveness of commonly used sanctions on recidivism. The goal of this paper is to address this research gap, and systematically examine the relative impacts on recidivism of four main types of sanctions: probation, intensive probation, jail, and prison.

Methods

Data on convicted felons in Florida were analyzed and propensity score matching analyses were used to estimate relative effects of each sanction type on 3-year reconviction rates.

Results

Estimated effects suggest that less severe sanctions are more likely to reduce recidivism.

Conclusions

The findings raise questions about the effectiveness of tougher sanctioning policies for reducing future criminal behavior. Implications for future research, theory, and policy are also discussed.     

修正的事实说：诉讼视野中的证据概念新解

证据的概念,是证据法和证据法学理论大厦的基石,然而,理论和立法表述都还存在着问题。就此而言,需要强调的是,诉讼意义上的证据概念,不仅应当反映出诉讼证明区别于其他认识或证明活动的特殊性原理,而且,应当能够承载特定法律对诉讼证明原理的独特要求。一个具有完整逻辑结构的一般性证据概念可以界定为：与待证事实（主张、判定）具有法律相关性、可直接观察认识的外在事实。由此观之,中国三大诉讼法的有关条文都需要修改。     

Attitude and Behavior Change of Correctional Clientele

Fifty offenders incarcerated in a minimum security provincial institution participated in a variety of group programs with community volunteers. Inmates were randomly assigned to one of four treatment regimes or to a control group condition. The experiment subjects participated in community group discussions with either trained or untrained volunteers, and a concurrent activity, either a self-control program or a recreational group. A test battery was administered in a pre/post fashion and follow-up recidivism was monitored. Two-by-two factorial analyses of the treatment programs revealed a significant interaction between activities. Inmates who had participated in discussion groups with trained volunteers and in a self-control program showed the most improvement on the test battery variables. This treatment effect generalized to inmates'institutional behavior, as measured by staff ratings and disciplinary offences. However, program participation was not related to postrelease success. Nonetheless, correlations between attitude change during the period of incarceration and recidivism were found. Among offenders who increased in their identification with the delinquent subculture, those who also increased in self-esteem experienced less follow-up success than those who decreased in self-esteem. These results are discussed in terms of the complex relation between client characteristics, treatment, and other program services that must be considered in evaluating correctional programs.     

Inmate sues the Correctional Service of Canada

This article summarizes a lawsuit commenced recently in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice by an HIV-positive inmate in the federal penitentiary system against the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC). This action is an important part of the ongoing struggle to hold government and public officials accountable for failing to address the HIV/AIDS crisis in prisons. The suit contends that CSC must be held liable for the seroconversion of an inmate while in CSC's care and custody, and that it must also be held liable for the alleged negligent provision of medical care to HIV-positive inmates.     

Correctional outcomes of offenders with mental disorders

While there is now a considerable literature on the extent of mental disorder (MD) within correctional settings, there is much less research on the correctional outcomes of offenders with a mental disorder (OMDs). This study contributes to that knowledge base by comparing the profiles and institutional and community outcomes of federally-sentenced Canadian offenders with, and without, a MD and examines the correctional response to their management. Results showed that OMDs had higher risk and need ratings and were more likely to be serving their current sentence for a violent offense. Outcomes for OMDs were poorer as reflected by higher rates of institutional charges and transfers to segregation, and higher rates of recidivism on release. This difference holds for the recidivism analysis, even when variables related to risk are controlled. The results demonstrate the complex needs of OMDs and points to the requirement for correctional agencies to provide specialized interventions that address both their mental health and criminogenic needs. Future research is required to examine whether type of diagnosis, particularly the degree of antisocial orientation, contribute to these poorer outcomes.     

社会管理创新视域下教育矫治工作改革与发展的几点思考

劳教机关作为政法机关的组成部分,既是和谐社会的保障者,也是和谐社会的建设者,在推进三项重点工作、维护社会和谐稳定中肩负着重要使命。确保场所安全稳定,提高教育挽救质量,减少重新违法犯罪,既是劳教工作科学发展最本质的体现,     

监狱警察工资法定性探析——写在《公务员法》颁布之后

监狱警察的工资问题,不仅关系警察的切身利益,关系对警察履职的警务保障,关系对警察队伍的依法管理,还关系当前监狱工作的改革成效和发展进程,因此,必须予以高度重视。本文拟围绕《公务员法》等有关法律法规,对警察工资的法定性谈一些个人见解。一、关于警察工资的法律保障警察     

Toward a theory of reproduction

Summary In this article I have attempted to theorize the relations of reproduction in a manner that makes their operation in history more apparent. Using an historical materialist analysis, I have diverged from previous analysis by situating reproduction in the base and positing a co-determinative relation between production and reproduction. I have argued that due to the distinctly different dynamic of reproduction, its longer completion time and its political subordination in class societies, we must pursue different research strategies than those used to illustrate the impact of production on reproduction. This article serves only to give the broadest outline of concerns and questions to focus upon in developing new strategies. As such it suggests that the ubiquity of patriarchy and its preservation, even in the face of structural contradictions with production, provide a starting place for such inquiry. To this end I have developed a model of the modes of reproduction in order to rediscover reproduction in history, its dynamic and its interaction with production.This perspective permits us to reanalyze old rules and customs previously understood exclusively as rules of production (e.g., rules of inheritance and property, certain labour and welfare laws), and discover within them the impact of the reproductive as well as the productive imperative. The model emphasizes the inextricable connection between production and reproduction at the same time that it calls attention to the distinctiveness of their dynamics. Dynamics which, because of their distinctiveness, do not automatically guarantee balance between the two spheres. Hence the continuous necessity for socially engineering this balance, a necessity requiring even more intervention as the two spheres become structurally more alienated.     

Psycho-semantic Spheres of the Personality Among Correctional Facility Employees

In this study, we describe the theoretical and methodological bases of research of psycho-semantic spheres of the psyche of correctional facility employees (CFE’S). We define psycho-semantic spheres of the personality of CFE’S represented by the most important components forming a self-image “I,” an image of work/activity, a group of affective components and groups of components concerning destructive motives. We describe specific structures, contents and relations of the psycho-semantic spheres of the personality of CFE’S in the optimized and mismatched states, which could predict behavior of CFE’S in the different correctional emergency situations.     

Correctional officers and prevention of HIV transmission among prisoners

The problem of HIV transmission in prisons in Québec and elsewhere is increasingly urgent and requires the attention of federal and provincial authorities. Prison officers are among the key players who should be kept in mind when preventive measures are being developed. We reprint the executive summary of a study conducted in federal and provincial prisons in Québec. The goal of the study was to identify the factors influencing prison officers, with respect to whether they would agree or refuse to make accessible the tools needed for the prevention of HIV transmission among inmates (i.e., condoms, bleach, tattooing equipment, and needles). Among the factors studied are officers' perceptions and beliefs as well as their attitudes, perceived social norms, emotions, and perceived barriers with respect to making preventive tools accessible.