The “thinning” blueline: a Bourdieuian appreciation of police subculture

The notion of a recalcitrant “police subculture” is pervasive in the literature on policing, often invoked to explain many of the ills linked to police misconduct and corruption. This article argues that the failure of reform efforts is the result of interventionist strategies which had sought to change police subculture “head-on” without a corresponding change in the structural conditions in which the policing role is so located, and that these efforts, theoretically, have been informed by a conceptualisation of police subculture as homogenous, monolithic, and static. Using the Bourdieuian concepts of the “habitus” and “field”, the view of a “recalcitrant” subculture will be challenged in this article. Using the Singaporean experience as a case in point, it will be shown how changes in the field of policing can bring about changes, intended or otherwise, in the occupational habitus of the police: refashioning the informal repository of knowledge guiding police work.     

Intergenerational Continuity of Risky Parenting: A Person-Oriented Approach to Assessing Parenting Behaviors

Limited research has investigated the long-term effects of childhood emotional abuse on later forms of parenting. This study utilized a person-centered approach to explore the relation between retrospectively-reported maternal childhood emotional abuse and observed parenting behaviors during a conflict discussion. Data were collected from 53 caregiver-child dyads with children ages 8–11. Results of a model-based clustering procedure (Mclust; Fraley and Raftery 2006) identified three parenting styles (negative, at-risk, positive) that were based on five observed parenting behaviors (emotion regulation, anger, hostility, psychological control, and psychological unavailability). Results indicated that higher levels of childhood emotional abuse were reported by women in the at-risk and negative parenting subgroups. Mothers in the negative parenting and at-risk parenting clusters exhibited greater levels of emotional abuse when compared to the positive parenting cluster. Possible implications are discussed, and results underscore the importance of emotionally abusive developmental experiences in the understanding of risk for maladaptive parenting behaviors.     

Mayors in Seven European Countries: Part I. Selection Procedures and Statutory Position

Abstract

Western European countries differ according to the ways in which they organise local government, not least in the manner in which mayors are selected and in the mayors’ statutory positions and responsibilities. The question is to what extent is mayoral performance affected by selection procedures and the statutory position of the mayoral office? In two exploratory articles, the results of a number of comparative empirical studies will be presented. In this first part the focus will be on the theoretical and methodological framework of the study, and on the variations in selection procedures and statutory positions. In the second part (to be published in the next issue of this journal) we will relate these findings to evidence on mayoral performance.     

As steel goes… A report on Youngstown

This paper analyzes the rhetoric and policy goals of the living wage movement. While the rhetoric focuses on workers in the context of their families, the wage levels demanded by activists and mandated by laws are almost never adequate to support families with children, especially single‐parent families. We contend the problem is a fundamental, conceptual one: focusing only on setting a single hourly wage obscures the diverse needs of poor families. In this context, the needs of the most marginalized families (single‐parent families) become invisible. However, a “living wage” is recently being conceived more broadly by activists, in terms of wage and non‐wage work supports, and is seen as applying to the working poor more generally. We argue that the current transformation of the idea of a living wage must continue if the movement is to represent all poor workers. We explore implications for the policy agenda of the movement.     

What the surrender of extra‐territoriality will mean to us

The paper argues that during the Mandate period the Labor Zionist movement was able to successfully create a Sabra identity based on its ideology that was constructed in opposition to the presumed characteristics of the “exile Jew” and how such an identity played a central role in the formation of a security oriented foreign policy. Labor's creation of the Sabra through the "Hebrew Revolution" can be considered as one of the most successful episodes of the twentieth century in which a new identity was created in order to serve ideological goals. Labor's Zionist ideology, which sought to create a “new Jew” that would form the basis of the Jewish national movement, was translated into an identity that in contrast to the diaspora Jew relied on collectivism, agriculture, secularism, and most important of all physical strength and sacrifice in defence of the Jewish nation. This translated into a security-oriented foreign policy that heavily relied on military force and emphasized internal power and strength, which Labor elites argued could only be achieved through self-reliance and independence particularly in regards to defence issues. Such an orientation would form the basis of Israeli foreign policy for years to come.     

The Lord Chancellor's Advisory Committee

The Qualified Lawyers Transfer Scheme (QLTS) is a comprehensive assessment for lawyers from other jurisdictions and barristers from England and Wales to qualify as solicitors in England and Wales. Three new assessments have been developed which make up the QLTS, in part drawing on testing experience in medicine and in other jurisdictions: the multiple choice test (MCT); the objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) which involves assessment of oral skills (interviewing and advocacy) and which uses Standardised Clients; and the technical legal skills test (TLST) which involves assessment of written skills (legal research, writing and drafting). Some of the assessment methodologies used in the QLTS are discussed, including the use of standardised clients. An explanation is given of how reliability and accuracy of the assessments are calculated and how pass marks are set. The paper presents and reviews the very encouraging statistics from the first major delivery of the three assessments, including success by jurisdiction, ethnic group, gender and disability, and routine quality statistics on reliability and accuracy, as well as a statistical review of the use of standardised clients. QLTS reflects the regulatory aims of the SRA and is a radical departure for assessment of law in England and Wales. It is to be hoped its assessment methodologies will have a substantial influence on the future.     

Exposure to Maternal- and Paternal-Perpetrated Intimate Partner Violence, Emotion Regulation, and Child Outcomes

The current study examined the relationship of maternal- and paternal-perpetrated intimate partner violence (IPV) to children’s internalizing and externalizing symptomatology. Mother-child dyads (N?=?53; child ages 8–11) reported maternal- and paternal-perpetrated IPV exposure and measures of child symptomatology. Results demonstrated that: (a) maternal- and paternal-perpetrated IPV have similar but not identical relations with child outcomes, (b) mothers’ and children’s reports of paternal-perpetrated IPV were positively related, (c) mother and child report of maternal- and paternal-perpetrated IPV related to child emotional and behavior problems, and (d) emotion dysregulation mediated the link between IPV exposure and child outcomes. Notably, findings differed by reporters. Results support emotion dysregulation as one mechanism through which IPV exposure may lead to child behavior problems, with implications for clinical intervention.     

Independence day explosion on lovers key

The display of fireworks is a popular holiday celebration in the United States. Because injuries due to recreational fireworks-related explosions among private consumers are relatively common, the sale of fireworks is regulated by the federal government and is also limited by state and local laws. In contrast, because fireworks display companies are under tight safety regulations, explosions in the professional pyrotechnics industry are uncommon occurrences, and the literature contains rare reports of injuries and fatalities resulting from such explosions. We report the 2003 Fourth of July commercial fireworks explosion on Lovers Key in southwest Florida that resulted in five fatalities. Events occurring during the investigation of the scene of this explosion illustrate the unique considerations and hazards for medicolegal death investigators, law enforcement and other investigative agencies. Additionally, this case demonstrates unusual aspects of the postmortem examinations performed on victims of fireworks-related incidents.