Evaluation of immunoassay methods for the screening of cocaine metabolites in urine

Immunoassay kits for urine cocaine (and metabolite) screening, obtained from two commercial sources, were examined for correlation of their results, expressed in terms of equivalent benzoylecgonine concentration, with the gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) concentration of benzoylecgonine. The correlation coefficients obtained, based on 62 (out of a total sample population of 3295) highly relevant samples, were 0.467 and 0.766 for Abuscreen (ARIA) and TDx (TDX), respectively. The preliminary screen cutoff values, which correspond to 150 ng/mL benzoylecgonine (as determined by GC/MS), were calculated based on the resulting regression equations and found to be 380 and 190 ng/mL for ARIA and TDX, respectively. With these cutoff values, ARIA generates 5 false negatives and 16 unconfirmed presumptive positives, while TDX results in 3 false negatives and 6 unconfirmed presumptive positives.     

Halfway houses and parole: A national assesment

As part of a 1978 national study of parole, the roles of halfway houses for criminal offenders were examined. It was found that the number of halfway houses began to expand rapidly in the 1960s, and that both services and types of clientele proliferated in the 1970s. Three underlying assumptions of halfway houses were examined, and a topology of houses was developed. It was concluded that halfway houses may be as effective as any other parole program and strategy and may be more cost effective at this time. Future research should further clarify and expand on types of houses and their treatment modalities, linking treatment outcomes to recidivism and reintegration, as well as on including more adequate comparison groups.     

Zero Base Budgeting: The Manager's Budget

This article offers an assessment of zero-base budgeting (ZBB) derived from a field study conducted by the Urban Institute and supported by the National Science Foundation. Four cities and four states participated in the study, and several hundred public officials were interviewed.     

Citizen perceptions of the legitimacy of traffic stops

Lundman and Kaufman (2003) reported that Black drivers were less likely than others to report that police made legitimate stops or that officers acted properly during traffic stops. The present work explored whether these results held when other variables were included in the model. Utilizing data drawn from a convenience sample, results show that being Black is not determinant in an expanded model aiming to better understand citizens’ perceptions of the legitimacy of traffic stops. Rather, size of place, time of day, and the race of the officer appeared to mediate the effect of “driving while Black”. Still, Black drivers had lower odds of reporting police acted properly during the traffic stop in either our basic or expanded model.