Legislative Professionalism and Budget Punctuations in State Government Sub‐Functional Expenditures

Contrary to budgetary incrementalism, disproportionate information processing theory revealed that budget outcomes show episodic but dramatic changes as well as stabilized ones. A relatively less explored question is why such budget punctuations occur. Disproportionate information processing theory suggests that decision‐makers' lack of information processing capacity and institutional frictions are the main reasons for budget punctuations. Empirical analyses imply that governmental expenditures are exposed to varying levels of available information and institutional frictions and patterns of budget punctuations differ across the different types of governmental expenditures. The findings in this paper reveal that whether enhanced staff assistance for individual legislators can increase or decrease budget punctuations highly depend on the programmatic and institutional nature of state government sub‐functional expenditures.     

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF A DEFINITE SENTENCE PAROLE PROGRAM

With the currently available evidence suggesting the failure of the treatment modality in corrections. parole systems throughout the United States have been the object of increasing criticism. This criticism is usually focused primarily at the indeterminate sentence and discretionary release to parole supervision, often considered integral components of a parole system. In this study, a parole system was examined that operates with definite sentencing and relatively less emphasis on discretionary release decision-making. The parole supervision aspect of this system was found to reduce markedly the post-release criminal activity of parolees as compared with a control group of discharges released from the same institutions, but not to parole supervision.     

THE VIOLENT WEST REEXAMINED: A RESEARCH NOTE ON REGIONAL HOMICIDE RATES*

Studies by O'Carroll and Mercy and by Kowalski and Petee challenge the long-held view that the South leads the nation in homicide rates. Specifically, O'Carroll and Mercy find that when killings by state are disaggregated by race, the West has the highest levels of homicide for whites, blacks, and other races. Kowalski and Petee conclude that homicide rates in the South and the West have converged. We extend their research by examining the effect, on levels of killing, of metropolitan concentration of black and white populations within states and of the percentage of the white population of Hispanic origin within SMSAs. Results of these analyses show that the homicide rate for non-Hispanic whites remains highest in the South; no clear regional pattern exists for blacks.