ON THE ASSOCIATION AMONG SELF-CONTROL, CRIME, AND ANALOGOUS BEHAVIORS

In a paper previously published in Criminology (Paternoster and Brame, 1998), we used data from the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development to investigate the association between criminal activity and a set of so-called "analogous behaviors" (i.e., excessive drinking, smoking, gambling, involvement in accidents, etc.). Our reading of Gottfredson and Hirschi's (1990) self-control theory led us to hypothesize that both of these outcomes should depend on self-control. It seemed to us that the implication of this position is that self-control should explain any association that exists between involvement in criminal activity and involvement in analogous behaviors. Our analysis suggested that the association between criminal activity and analogous behaviors persisted even after conditioning on our measure of self-control. We drew the qualified conclusion that this result constitutes negative evidence for Gottfredson and Hirschi's self-control theory. In this paper, we reexamine the analytic framework on which we relied in our earlier work.     

Internal markets in the public sector: the case of the British National Health Service

This article discusses the application of internal markets to the publicly financed British National Health Service (NHS). The objective of internal markets is to obtain, through the stimulus of competition, greater efficiency, effectiveness, and responsiveness to consumer needs than would be obtained through continued direct government provision. There have been real advances in the NHS attributable to the internal market, not the least of which is a growth of debate, dynamism, experimentation, and entrepreneurial attitudes that contrasts sharply with the glacial pace of change prior to 1990. However, there is also a sense in which the reforms have, thus far, failed to achieve all their promoters hoped for. It is far from clear that efficiency gains exceed the high transaction costs associated with the reform. Competition remains restricted, information is inadequate, and the regulatory and legal framework is flawed. Lack of transparency and a clear publicly stated ‘end vision’ of the reform process, together with a refusal to evaluate it systematically, have heightened already intense controversy. This has blurred the fact that the internal market is not a panacea and cannot alone be expected to solve the problems of a health service where demand is accelerating faster than the resources available through taxation. (© 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)     

China Challenges Unipolar Naval Power in Asia

The recurrent crises emanating from North Korea, and the response to them, is testing US‐China relations and drawing the new boundaries of power in East Asia. The head of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff and the former South Korean national security advisor address this development.     

THE PLACE OF CONTEXT: A THEORY AND STRATEGY FOR CRIMINOLOGY'S HARD PROBLEMS

I present a theoretical framework and analytic strategy for the study of place as a fundamental context in criminology, with a focus on neighborhood effects. My approach builds on the past 15 years of research from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods and from a recent book unifying the results. I argue that “ecometrics” can be applied at multiple scales, and I elaborate core principles and guiding hypotheses for five problems: 1) legacies of inequality and developmental neighborhood effects; 2) race, crime, and the new diversity; 3) cognition and context, above all the social meaning of disorder; 4) the measurement and sources of collective efficacy in a cosmopolitan world; and 5) higher order structures beyond the neighborhood that arise in complex urban systems. Although conceptually distinct, these hard problems are interdependent and ultimately linked to a frontier in criminology: contextual causality.     

Sanctioning Traditional Crimes with Fines: A Comparative Analysis

Rising crime rates within traditional sanctioning patterns have resulted in a search for alternatives to incarceration in order to control both the economic and the social (humanitarian) costs of punishment. The paper explores this response in four countries: England, Germany, Sweden, and the United States—all modern, industrial democracies. The paper focuses upon the response in terms of the role accorded monetary penalties as an alternative to incarceration. This role is analyzed in terms of the actual use of fines relative to incarceration, as a sentencing disposition for traditional crimes. The major finding is that among the four countries the United States accords fines a very minor role. The reasons for this difference are explored and it is concluded that the use of fines in the United States—when compared to European experience—appears to be far below the level that would minimize the economic and social cost of punishment.