Criminal Recidivism After Forensic Psychiatric Treatment. A Multicenter Study on the Role of Pretreatment,Treatment-Related,and Follow-Up Variables

This study examined associations between criminal recidivism after discharge from forensic treatment and variables related to either the time before the current forensic treatment, or the current forensic treatment, or the follow-up after discharge. Participants were treated in 12 forensic clinics according to section 63 of the German penal code. A patient was classified as a criminal recidivist when the patient or the aftercare reported that the patient was delinquent at follow-up. Patients without criminal recidivism were patients for which both perspectives (patient and aftercare) reported no delinquency at follow-up. Mann–Whitney U-tests and Fisher's exact tests were performed. Data to classify patients were available for N = 249 patients. Fifteen patients (6%) were classified as criminal recidivists. The follow-up was M = 12.58 (SD = 1.84) months, and the criminal acts occurred M = 6.00 (SD = 5.55) months after discharge. Differences between patients with and without criminal recidivism were found in pretreatment (young age at first crime, early onset of mental disorder, previous forensic treatments), treatment-related (disorder due to psychoactive substance use, gradual release abuses, outbreaks, assaults against staff, criminal act during treatment, type of discharge, outcome ratings), as well as follow-up variables (no specified housing situation, not being abstinent from psychoactive substances, inpatient readmission, course of outpatient treatment, course of mental disorder) (all p < 0.05). To conclude, it is important to consider variables related to the time before the current treatment, treatment-related variables, and variables related to the follow-up to identify the patients at risk of criminal recidivism after discharge from forensic treatment.     

Phasing out nuclear energy in Germany

The German Red‐Green government decided to phase out all nuclear power stations and stop the reprocessing of German nuclear fuel in Britain and France. The coalition agreement between the Greens and SPD set out a well‐defined timetable for the implementation of this policy, involving new legislation within the first 100 days and the negotiation of a consensus with the electricity utilities to be achieved within 12 months. While these deadlines passed without political results, an agreement between the government and the nuclear utilities was reached in mid‐June 2000. This analysis of the genesis and development of the policy of phasing out nuclear power focuses in particular on the difficulties of the Green Environment Minister, Jürgen Trittin, to put the anti‐nuclear policies of his party into practice. It is argued that the Greens faced a ‘no win’ situation in their attempt to design a constitutionally and politically viable phasing out policy. The party remains caught in the middle between the radical anti‐nuclear movement that continues its protest against all nuclear operations and an intransigent electricity industry fighting for its commercial self‐interest to keep nuclear stations running as long as possible. A range of theoretical approaches that could help the understanding of these processes is discussed, with an ‘advocacy coalition’ approach appearing to be the most promising option.     

Germany in Europe: return of the nightmare or towards an engaged Germany in a new Europe?

Especially since (re-)unification, perceptions of Germany alternate between the fear of the return of the German hegemon and – at the same time – the diametrically opposed call for more German leadership based on Germany's outstanding pro-European engagement. Nonetheless, Germany's foreign policy has changed little since 1989: it is still cautious rather than assertive. Due to Germany's experience with the two world wars, German foreign policy places great value on the enlargement as well as the deepening of the EU. In sum, Germany can best be characterised as a normal and engaged European state.     

A Crime Against Humanity

The German Red-Green coalition has declared unlimited solidarity with the US government in its response to the attack on the World Trade Center in New York City. Yet, very few questions have been raised by the mainstream media, and any 'inopportune' comments that have worked their way into the press, questioning the legitimacy of the response, have been declared scandalous. This article argues that the time may have come to deal with long-term developments and potential consequences of today's politics and policies and perhaps it may even be possible for us to begin to understand what is going on--a possibility that should not be ignored out of an archaic thirst for revenge.     

Justifying the Lindahl solution as an outcome of fair cooperation

The motivation for the Lindahl equilibrium is mostly a rather artificial price mechanism. Even though the analogy to a competitive market was emphasised by Lindahl himself, his approach does not directly explain the normative ideas behind his concept. In the present paper we therefore show how the Lindahl equilibrium can be deduced from some simple equity axioms. These normative assumptions are the benefit principle on the one hand and the equal sacrifice principle (or, equivalently, a non-envy condition) as a postulate for distributional equity on the other. Fairness among agents with different preferences and incomes is taken into account by considering their marginal willingness to pay as shadow prices. In this way, the reason why the Lindahl solution can be perceived as an outcome of fair cooperation might become more understandable.