SPECIFYING THE SES/DELINQUENCY RELATIONSHIP

Theoretical and empirical work concerning socioeconomic status (SES) and delinquency has mainly been devoted, throughout the past decade, to specifying the conditions under which SES and delinquency are likely to be highly related. Three broad categories of conditions, with 12 particular subconditions, have been hypothesized as specifiers of the SES/delinquency relationship. Here, we review the recent empirical literature as it bears on these potential specifications. The results do not support any of the conditional hypotheses about SES and delinquency, and they again challenge the idea that a negative SES/delinquency relationship is general and pervasive. Almost all of the recent research finds some condition under which SES and delinquency are significantly related, however, and several of the specification hypotheses have not been thoroughly enough investigated to permit firm conclusions about their potency. This poses a quandary for scholars trying to understand delinquent behavior. Possible responses to the situation are discussed.     

DOES CORRECTIONAL TREATMENT WORK? A CLINICALLY RELEVANT AND PSYCHOLOGICALLY INFORMED META-ANALYSIS *

Careful reading of the literature on the psychology of criminal conduct and of prior reviews of studies of treatment effects suggests that neither criminal sanctioning without provision of rehabilitative service nor servicing without reference to clinical principles of rehabilitation will succeed in reducing recidivism. What works, in our view, is the delivery of appropriate correctional service, and appropriate service reflects three psychological principles: (1) delivery of service to higher risk cases, (2) targeting of criminogenic needs, and (3) use of styles and modes of treatment (e.g., cognitive and behavioral) that are matched with client need and learning styles. These principles were applied to studies of juvenile and adult correctional treatment, which yielded 154 phi coefficients that summarized the magnitude and direction of the impact of treatment on recidivism. The effect of appropriate correctional service (mean phi = .30) was significantly (p <.05) greater than that of unspecified correctional service (.13), and both were more effective than inappropriate service (?.06) and non-service criminal sanctioning (?.07). Service was effective within juvenile and adult corrections, in studies published before and after 1980, in randomized and nonrandomized designs, and in diversionary, community, and residential programs (albeit, attenuated in residential settings). Clinical sensitivity and a psychologically informed perspective on crime may assist in the renewed service, research, and conceptual efforts that are strongly indicated by our review.     

PRESTIGE OF JOURNALS IN CRIMINOLOGY AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE

The prestige of professional journals is an important element in the academic world because of the relationship of journal prestige to the careers of individuals and to the reputations of academic institutions. This study investigates the system of journal prestige in the field of criminology and criminal justice, using the ratings of professional journals obtained from a sample of respondents who are members of professional associations in criminology and criminal justice. The results show that there is a relatively high degree of agreement about the relative prestige of journals in the field, despite the fact that criminology and criminal justice is a multidisciplinary field involving professionals from a wide variety of occupational settings.     

DIFFERENTIAL RATES OF RURAL-URBAN DELINQUENCY: A Social Control Approach

Official statistics and numerous sociological studies indicate that rural areas generate lower rates of delinquency than do urban areas. This study attempts to explain these differential rates by drawing on the social control theory of Hirschi. Questionnaires were administered to a rural and an urban juvenile detention center population to investigate both extent of delin-quency involvement and degree of commitment to five institutional orders: family, church, school, peers, and formal authority. As hypothesized, the rural sample reported significantly less delinquent activity than the urban sample. Control theory also received support from the data. A strong inverse relationship was found between commitment and delinquency. When intro-duced as a control variable, commitment specified the original relationship between locality and delinquency. The specified relationships were strongest for rural youth with high commitment and for urban youth with low commitment.     

Periodical Prestige in Criminology and Criminal Justice

Journals in criminology and criminal justice have been ranked using subjective techniques to assess journal presitige as well as objective measures intended to assess journal eminence. Two recent studies have resulted in somewhat similar rankings of professional journals although each used distinct methods of data analysis and asked different research questions. This finding suggests that there is a consensus among professionals in the field concerning the importance of particular journals.     

THE FRENCH PRESIDENCY: CONCEPTUALIZING PRESIDENTIAL POWER IN THE FIFTH REPUBLIC

One of the main tasks of those who study French politics is to explain the source of presidential power in the Fifth Republic. In French, two rival explanations have emerged: the state power thesis and the majority power thesis. For the former, presidential power is structural, being derived from the organization of the state. For the latter, it is conjunctural, being dependent on the nature of the parliamentary majority. The aim of this article is twofold. It introduces an English-speaking audience to the two existing explanations of presidential power. It also proposes an alternative explanation drawn from the recent literature of new institutionalism. An institutional explanation combines the strengths of the two existing approaches and provides a future research agenda for the study of presidential power in France.     

DISARMING SOMALIA: THE CONTRASTING FORTUNES OF UNITED STATES AND AUSTRALIAN PEACEKEEPERS DURING UNITED NATIONS INTERVENTION, 1992-1993

This article examines the impact of ‘micro disarmament’during the United States/United Nations humanitarian interventionin Somalia, 1992–93. To this end, it considers the controversialnature of the UNITAF mandate, the disarmament experiences ofAmerican and Australian peacekeepers in Mogadishu and Baidoaand the lessons yielded from a comparative analysis. The argumentthat emerges is that the absence of a consistent strategy linkingdisarmament and political reconciliation, not peace enforcementper se, largely condemned the UN operation to failure. If theUS had positioned itself, like the Australians in Baidoa, abovethe warlords instead of between them, the picture for UN interventionin Somalia may have looked quite different. The integrated Australianapproach revealed that the international community, confrontedwith other Somalias, may yet have a wider choice than impotenceor muscular peace-enforcement.