The benefits and costs of the Section 8 housing subsidy program: A framework and estimates of first‐year effects

This paper provides estimates for a comprehensive set of social benefits and costs associated with the federal Housing Choice Voucher ( Section 8 ) program. The impact categories for which we provide empirical estimates include the value of the voucher to recipients; additional services and public benefits induced by voucher receipt; improvements in children's health, education, and criminal behaviors; the costs of voucher provision; the labor supply impacts on voucher recipients; and community effects. These estimates rest largely on empirical analyses of the effect of voucher receipt on several recipient and taxpayer behaviors and outcomes that occur in the first year of voucher receipt. The analysis distinguishes benefits and costs accruing to program participants, nonparticipants—including taxpayers and property owners—and society as a whole. Our analysis suggests that the program is likely to meet the efficiency standard of positive net social benefits. © 2011 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.     

Reducing intimate and paying partner violence against women who exchange sex in Mongolia: results from a randomized clinical trial

Women who exchange sex for money or other goods, that is, female sex workers, are at increased risk of experiencing physical and sexual violence from both paying and intimate partners. Exposure to violence can be exacerbated by alcohol use and HIV/STI risk. The purpose of this study is to examine the efficacy of a HIV/STI risk reduction and enhanced HIV/STI risk reduction intervention at decreasing paying and intimate partner violence against Mongolian women who exchange sex and engage in harmful alcohol use. Women are recruited and randomized to either (a) four sessions of a relationship-based HIV/STI risk reduction intervention (n = 49), (b) the same HIV/STI risk reduction intervention plus two additional motivational interviewing sessions (n = 58), or (c) a four session control condition focused on wellness promotion (n = 59). All the respondents complete assessments at baseline (preintervention) as well as at immediate posttest, 3 and 6 months postintervention. A multilevel logistic model finds that women who participated in the HIV/STI risk reduction group (OR = 0.14, p < .00), HIV/STI risk reduction and motivational interview group (OR = 0.46, p = .02), and wellness (OR = 0.20, p < .00) group reduced their exposure to physical and sexual violence in the past 90 days. No significant differences in effects are observed between conditions. This study demonstrates the efficacy of a relationship-based HIV/STI risk reduction intervention, a relationship-based HIV/STI risk reduction intervention combined with motivational interviewing, and a wellness promotion intervention in reducing intimate and paying partner violence against women who exchange sex in Mongolia. The findings have significant implications for the impact of minimal intervention and the potential role of peer networks and social support in reducing women's experiences of violence in resource poor settings.     

THE STATE EMPLOYMENT AGENCY AND ECONOMIC ADJUSTMENT

The State Employment Security Agency is examined in relation to local economic adjustment. An effort is made to set forth the sort of activities that take place at the local level when economic adjustment becomes necessary; suggest those things the Employment Service (ES) might do to support such activities; identify the constraints under which the ES labors in this regard; and suggest the changes that might be required if the ES is to be seen and used as a labor market adjustment tool. A substantial redesign of the ES is proposed, including a redefinition of role, reexamination of its financing structure, reassessment of the specific functions it might take up and the way those services might be packaged, and a look taken at the issue of competition between ES and private employment agencies.     

Expanding a community's justice response to sex crimes through advocacy, prosecutorial, and public health collaboration: introducing the RESTORE program

Problems in criminal justice system response to date-acquaintance rape and nonpenetration sexual offenses include (a) they are markers of a sexual offending career, yet are viewed as minor; (b) perpetrators are not held accountable in ways that reduce reoffense; and (c) criminal justice response disappoints and traumatizes victims. To address these problems, a collaboration of victim services, prosecutors, legal scholars, and public health professionals are implementing and evaluating RESTORE, a victim-driven, community-based restorative justice program for selected sex crimes. RESTORE prepares survivors, responsible persons (offenders), and both parties' families and friends for face-to-face dialogue to identify the harm and develop a redress plan. The program then monitors the offender's compliance for 12 months. The article summarizes empirical data on problems in criminal justice response, defines restorative justice models, and examines outcome. Then the RESTORE program processes and goals are described. The article highlights community collaboration in building and sustaining this program.     

Standardisation of nomenclature for dog mtDNA D-loop: a prerequisite for launching a Canis familiaris database

Domestic dogs are increasingly involved, often as protagonists, in the forensic scene. Acknowledging this fact and benefiting from the accumulated experience on human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analyses, we propose a standard for Canis familiaris mtDNA sequences as a prerequisite for the launching of the corresponding database.     

A new criminologic procedure: study of L-cystine-aminopeptidase activity for the detection of seminal stains

L-Cystine-aminopeptidase (CAP) enzyme cleaves L-cystine-di-beta-naphthylamide substrate to beta-naphthylamine. The final product of this process is a violet azostain. CAP enzyme determination was developed for criminological procedures. CAP shows almost 100 times greater activity in human semen than in other body fluids. Samples taken at different time intervals (1 week, 1-3-6 months, 1 year, and 5-10 years) were investigated; they were dried on cloth and filter paper and then stored at room temperature for various time periods. The enzyme was also shown to be specific in the comparative studies performed with other human secretions (nasal discharge, saliva, vaginal secretion, feces, urine, breast milk) and fruit juices (raspberry, strawberry, apple, pear, plum, tomato, etc.).     

Recontextualizing racism and segregation by ways of “cozification” in a TV sports broadcast

This paper qualitatively examines a Swedish case where a TV broadcaster takes it upon itself to confront discriminatory practices in sports by addressing issues of segregation and racism in relation to the practice of cross-country skiing in a seven-part series called Stephan, Gliding. It is argued that racism and segregation are addressed through processes of cozification of both form and content. This means that the producers use semiotic resources and strategies of narration that strip the subject matter of any threatening and confrontative components, and instead embed it within a cosy story frame that will not alienate those watching. At a denotative level, Stephan, Gliding tells the story of a beginner who takes on the challenge of skiing in the 90-kilometre cross-country ski competition The Vasa Race. On an ideological level, the programme can be read critically as the narrative of a foreigner deciding to undertake the mission of his own integration into Swedish society by ways of learning to ski. It is argued that the existence of these simultaneous, competing discourses may be a better strategy to maintain a successful “communicative relationship” with audiences than to not address the topic at all.