Note on a Training Program for Brief Decision Making for Frontline Police Officers

Purpose

The present paper describes the theoretical basis for a brief decision-making training program for frontline police officers as well as an outline of the training program, officers’ evaluation of perceived relevance and perceived learning effects.

Design

A between group design was used in order to test for differences in evaluation between officers at different training levels.

Results

High scores were obtained on all four items related to the evaluation (>84% scored in the highest category). When separating the subjects into groups based on their previous training (regular police response personnel vs. SWAT-type personnel), regular police response personnel obtained higher scores on perceived learning. However, both groups showed high scores on perceived learning. Both groups scored high on their evaluation of perceived relevance of the training program and no difference was found between the two groups.

Practical implications

The brief decision making training program that expands ordinary tactical training was highly appreciated by police officers and was seen as complementary to ordinary training.

     

Estimating Mean Length of Stay in Prison: Methods and Applications

This paper examines various approaches to studying the mean length of stay in prison. The literature contains a wide range of estimates of this quantity. The discrepancies that appear in these estimates and in the conclusions reached from them have been the subject of several reviews. We build upon that work, using the life table as the gold standard, to demonstrate the inaccuracy of common measures such as the ratio of the population size to the annual number of entrances or the mean length of time served by those exiting in a particular period. This demonstration is conducted in two parts. One part uses model populations with constant growth rates; the second part relies upon simulated prison populations with time-varying rates of entrance and exit. In addition, we introduce two new indirect measures that are more accurate than several existing indirect measures and that are relatively easy to use. The new measures are based on the entrance rate or the exit rate and adjust for the growth rate of the prison population.

The Zero-sum Game of Governing Together? Effects of Merkel's Grand Coalition on the Results of the 2009 German Federal Election

Grand coalitions are highly debated in Germany, where large parts of the media and the political world expect negative effects of grand coalitions on parliamentary party systems. This did not happen either with Merkel's grand coalition resulting from the 2005 election or with other grand coalitions in the German Länder. On the contrary, only the SPD suffered heavy losses in 2009. Most experts agree that those losses were caused by the SPD's participation in the grand coalition. Still, it remains largely unclear how Merkel's grand coalition affected the 2009 federal election. To close that gap, this paper thoroughly analyses the effects of Merkel's grand coalition by looking at a crucial but mostly neglected factor in that regard, the evaluation of the grand coalition by voters. It can be shown that the CDU/CSU was mostly unaffected whereas the SPD suffered from being perceived as the less influential party in Merkel's grand coalition.     

Off-farm work and food security status of farming households in Ghana

This study assessed the effect of participation in off-farm work on the food security status of farming households in the Northern Region of Ghana. Primary data were solicited from 324 farming households in the Tamale metropolis and Tolon district using semi-structured questionnaires. The treatment effects of both income and food security status were estimated using propensity score matching and double-robust methods. The empirical results suggest that participation in off-farm activities increased household daily calorie consumption. These results have implications for the development of off-farm ventures for the benefit of the farming households.     

Forms of Communication between Large-scale Farms and Local Administrative Authorities in Russian Villages: About Benefactors and Sponsors

This article investigates the forms of communication emerging between local administrative authorities and large-scale agricultural enterprises with regard to public service provision in two Russian villages. Using a systems theory approach and conceptualising Soviet society as an organisational society, privatisation and local government reform may be observed as attempts to disentangle former collective farms and local authorities and adjust them to the logics of functional differentiation. Empirical evidence from a former kolkhoz and an agro-holding shows that both react to the contradiction between global transformation imperatives and local expectations, using a specific combination of formality and informality as a condition of their reproduction in the villages.     

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP): the Chinese perspective

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) was accepted by the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) as one among other pathfinders, for a comprehensive Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific (FTAAP). Though the TPP negotiations do not include China at the moment, she has declared her interest in the TPP and is paying close attention to it. In fact, many question the likely success of the TPP with China's exclusion from it, given her prominence in the region. To provide insights for leveraging trade opportunities with the TPP economies, China's export potentials with the TPP are empirically tested and compared with those of alternative economic configurations in East Asia which China is a party to, namely the ASEAN+1, ASEAN+3 and ASEAN+6. The empirical findings suggest that China's participation in the TPP will offer better market access for final goods, an important trade opportunity that is somewhat limited in partnerships through regional initiatives. Even then, the paper contends that the payoffs to China following the TPP deal remain intangible and at best speculative given the coverage (or substance) and depth of the agreement.     

Book reviews

American Journal of Criminal Justice -     

The Survivor Network: The Role of Shared Experiences in Mass Shootings Recovery

ABSTRACT

Social support from others with shared experiences can be an invaluable resource for individuals impacted by traumatic events, like school and mass shootings. While a growing body of literature explores the psychological impacts of these events on those who survive them, these studies predominantly focus on shootings at two universities, do not assess the effects beyond three years post-shooting, and rely almost exclusively on quantitative methodologies. To extend this body of literature, the present study relies on in-depth interviews with 16 survivors of the April 20, 1999 shooting at Columbine High School to explore the way in which they viewed various forms of social support during their trauma recovery process in both the short- and long-term. The findings indicate that the most effective support came from “similar others,” or those who had experienced the shooting in an analogous manner. Social support from the outside, even when well-intended, was viewed as unhelpful, while mixed perspectives were found related to community-level support. Based on these findings, broader consideration is given to the benefits of informal survivor networks.