Regulation of Government: Has it Increased,is it Increasing,Should it be Diminished?

This article examines arms-length 'regulation' of UK government – the public-sector analogy to regulation of business firms — and assesses the precepts for public-sector regulation embodied in the Blair Labour government's official vision of public-man-agement reform, its Modernising Government White Paper of 1999. As a background to assessing the recipes for public-sector regulation in Modernising Government, the article shows that such regulation grew markedly both in the two decades up to 1997 and in the plans and activities of the Blair government from 1997 to 1999. Against that background, the design principles for public-sector regulation contained in Modernising Government are assessed. The White Paper was notable for embracing a doctrine of 'enforced self-regulation' for the public sector that involved aspirations to both more and less public-sector regulation in the future. It put its faith in a mixture of oversight and mutuality for 'regulating regulation'. But in spite of the radical-sounding tone of Modernising Government, the measures proposed appeared limited and half-hearted, and two well-known institutional design principles for regulation seemed to be missing altogether from the Blair government's view of administrative 'modernity'.     

Evidence in support of self-declaration as a sampling method for the formation of sub-population DNA databases

Well constructed sub-population databases are fundamental to the application of DNA-based forensic statistics. The size of such databases can affect the ability to examine adequately statistical or population genetic features, and the integrity of both the DNA profile and associated ethnicity information is also of importance. Use of short tandem repeat (STR) DNA profiling technology and the thoughtful construction of the governing legislation has seen large databases of DNA profiles collated for the four major sub-populations of New Zealand. Examination of the data illustrates the suitability of self-declaration as a means of categorizing samples on the basis of ethnicity.     

Families of Homicide Victims: Service Utilization Patterns of Extra- and Intrafamilial Homicide Survivors

Homicides precipitate numerous problems for victims' families that can be eased, in part, by counseling, case management, and court advocacy services. Guided by a crisis theory framework, the records of 112 homicide victims' family members (or survivors) served by a public victims assistance agency were examined to discern typical service utilization patterns and differences for survivors of intrafamilial homicides (i.e., cases in which the perpetrator was a family member of the victim). Results indicated that survivors of intrafamilial homicides utilized services during the initial 8-week crisis period following the homicide more than other survivors, yet used services less during the subsequent 8-week period. The findings substantiated the application of crisis theory to studying the experiences of survivors and underscored the importance of considering survivors' familial relationships to perpetrators in the provision of services.     

Experiencing and witnessing familial aggression and their relationship to physically aggressive behaviors among Filipino adolescents

The effects of family violence on children's aggressive behaviors have been the focus of much research. However, results have been equivocal in at least the following three areas: (a) the specific effects on aggression of child-directed violence versus child-witnessed violence, (b) the salience of family violence as an explanation of aggression when other theoretically relevant explanations of aggression are controlled (i.e., peers, attachments, or moral beliefs), and (c) the gender-specific effects of family violence. Using a probability sample of adolescents from a medium-sized city in the Philippines, this article assesses the effects of child-directed and child-witnessed violence between parents on aggressive behaviors of adolescents while controlling for theoretically relevant explanations of aggression. Results show that child-witnessed and child-directed violence are positively and significantly related to self-reported aggression, that child-witnessed violence accounts for most of the variance in adolescent aggression, and that neither measures of family violence interacts with gender.     

Competency, Bureaucracy, and Public Management Reform: A Comparative Analysis

Competency can be considered a central theme in contemporary public service reforms. This article analyzes the development of competency frameworks for senior public servants at the national–government level in three countries (the U.S., the U.K., and Germany). By tracing the development of competency as an idea, it is shown that competency reforms drew selectively on management ideas, and by tracing the nature and time-patterns of competency reform developments in the three countries, it is shown that competency came onto the reform agenda at different times and by various routes rather than by a simple pattern of international policy transfer or business-to-government transfer. It is argued that the adoption of competency frameworks took place at critical junctures for preexisting public service bargains or agreements in each case and that they were shaped by the particularities of institutional context. However, although competency is arguably central to public service reform, it is far from clear that the competency frameworks in these three cases contributed to the declared aims of many contemporary public service reformers.