Public safety in private hands: A Study of Ontario's Technical Standards and Safety Authority

Abstract: This article examines the experience of Ontario's Technical Standards and Safety Authority (tssa), a not‐for‐profit corporation to which the public‐safety regulation functions of the province's Ministry of Consumer and Commercial Relations (now the Ministry of Consumer and Business Services) were transferred in 1997. The authors place the tssa in the larger context of the restructuring of government functions and responsibilities and the transferring of these activities to non‐governmental actors, as part of what has become known around the world as the “new public management.” The history, rationale, mandate, structure and functions of the tssa are described. In addition, an assessment of the tssa as a model for the delivery of public services against criteria related to governance, political and legal accountability and performance relative to its predecessor is provided. The article concludes that significant gaps remain in the Ministry of Consumer and Business Services' capacity to adequately oversee the tssa and in the accountability framework for the tssa relative to that applicable to a conventionally structured government agency. Improvements in public safety outcomes in Ontario over the past decade are noted, although many of these trends pre‐date the creation of the tssa and may be attributable to factors other than the mccr/tssa transition. Sommaire: Le présent article passe en revue I'expérience de la Technical Standards and Safety Authority (tssa) de I'Ontario, organisme à but non lucratif auquel furent transférées en 1997 les fonctions relatives à la réglementation de la sécurité publique du ministère de la Consommation et du Commerce de la province (devenu le ministère des Services aux consommateurs et aux entreprises). Les auteurs placent la Esa dans le contexte plus vaste de la restructuration des fonctions et responsabilités gouvernementales et du transfert de ces activités à des organismes non gouvemementaux, dans le cadre de ce qui est maintenant connu mondialement sous le nom de « nouvelle gestion publique ». 11s décrivent l'historique, la justification, le mandat, la structure et les fonctions de la tssa. Ils foumissent en outre me évaluation de la Esa en tant que modèle de prestation de services publics selon des critères de gouvemance, d'imputabilité politique et légale et de rendement par rapport à son prédécesseur. L'article conclut qu'il existe encore d'importantes lacunes en ce qui concerne la capacité du ministère des Services aux consommateurs et aux entreprises à superviser adéquatement la tssa et en ce qui concerne le cadre de responsabilité de la tssa par rapport à ce qui s'applique à un organisme gouvernemental de structure conventionnelle. L'article mentionne les améliorations concernant la sécurité publique survenues en Ontario au cours de la dernière décennie, quoique nombre de ces tendances datent d'avant la création de la tssa et pourraient tre attribuables à des facteurs autres que la transition du mcc à la tssa.     

DSM-5 and Malingering: a Modest Proposal

The DSM criteria for identifying malingering are reviewed and found to be flawed on both conceptual and practical grounds. Alternative models for diagnosing feigned psychiatric, physical, and neuropsychological symptoms are presented. A number of useful features of these systems are highlighted for potential contributions to modified DSM criteria. It is recommended that the present DSM text on malingering be replaced with feigned psychiatric, physical, or neuropsychological symptoms and suggestions for developing criteria for this condition are made.     

US 11th Circuit rules that a mark must be likely to be seen to cause confusion

The 11th Circuit upheld the District Court's ruling that therewas no likelihood of confusion when a company's trade name wasimproperly used on component parts in a water-meter readingsystem, manufactured and sold by other companies. The 11th Circuitfound that the plaintiff had not shown that it was likely thatrelevant consumers would ever see its trade name used on componentparts within the larger meter system. Where relevant consumerswere not likely to encounter the use of the plaintiff's tradename, there could be no likelihood of confusion.     

The prevalence of violence and relation to depression and illicit drug use among incarcerated women in Recife, Brazil

PurposeTo assess the prevalence and different types of violence experienced by women prisoners in Brazil and the effects of violence on women's depression and illicit drug use.MethodsParticipants (N = 377) were incarcerated women from a state prison in a northeastern city of Brazil. Multivariate logistic regression models (adjusted for age, education, partner status, prison history, drug related offense, and sentencing status) were used to assess associations between each type of violence (physical abuse, sexual abuse, and life threats) and each outcome variable: recent depression and illicit drug use.ResultsThe majority of participants (87%) reported experiencing some type of violence in their lifetime, including physical violence (83%), sexual victimization (36%), and threats on their life (29%.) Sexual violence was significantly related to both recent depression (Odds Ratio (OR) = 2.8; 95% Confidence Interval (CI) = 1.4–5.3) and recent substance use (OR = 2.7; 95% CI = 1.6–4.4) in adjusted models. Experiences of life threats were also significantly associated with illicit drug use (OR = 2.2; 95% CI: 1.3–3.7), as was physical violence (OR = 2.4; 95% CI: 1.2–4.9); however, neither of these latter two violence variables were significantly associated with depression.ConclusionReports of lifetime violence victimization among this incarcerated sample of women were extremely prevalent and relevant to women's depression and illicit drug use. Prison efforts to address women's depression and illicit drug use may be most effective by incorporating aspects related to women's history of victimization, especially given the high rates of violence experienced by women in this sample.     

Bureaucrats and Indians in a Contemporary Colonial Encounter

This article investigates the effects of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 in structuring an encounter over a decision about building a dam in central Arizona. From the vantage point of three groups with deepinvestments in the outcome of this decision, it analyzes how the interests and identities of these parties were transformed as a result of this encounter. In defining standing and the terms of relevance, in providing a political forum, and in requiring these groups to explain themselves to others, this law powerfully mediated the politics surrounding this controversial decision.     

Fear of crime and criminal victimization: Gender-based contrasts

Extant research on the fear of crime and criminal victimization had generally found that women express greater levels of fear than men. Using survey data, this study contrasted perceptions of safety and the fear of personal and property victimization among male and female respondents. Specifically considered was the relationship between demographic characteristics, fear facilitators, fear inhibitors, neighborhood context, and crime-related fear. Results indicated some gender differences in the influence explanatory variables had on fear, although not all achieved statistical significance. For both gender groups, respondents' perceptions of their neighborhood as orderly and satisfactory had the largest effect on perceptions. Gender-based differences in the outcome of the analyses further supported that males and females experienced fear based upon different factors.     

Integration of Pre-Employment Polygraph Screening into the Police Selection Process

The authors provide a polygraph primer for police psychologists involved in law enforcement personnel selection. Law-enforcement pre-employment polygraph examinations are a decision-support tool intended to add incremental validity to the personnel selection process. Problems stemming from the use of the polygraph may be related to misunderstanding of the polygraph test and to field practices surrounding the use of polygraphy in the police selection process. Potential problems can result from ineffective selection of test issues, poorly constructed test questions and misguided policies surrounding the use of the polygraph. The authors review the history of polygraph screening, research, and field practices, and suggest that using polygraph results alone to disqualify a candidate from employment is a misguided field practice. Suggestions are offered for maximizing the decision-support value of the polygraph. Polygraph examination targets are discussed, with emphasis on selecting actuarially derived predictors associated with increased success in law enforcement training and job performance. The authors provide recommendations for field practice, and propose that police psychologists may be most suited to effectively integrate the polygraph results and information into the hiring recommendation process.     

Evaluation of a Teen Dating Violence Prevention Intervention among Urban Middle-School Youth Using Youth Participatory Action Research: Lessons Learned from <Emphasis Type="Italic">Start Strong Boston</Emphasis>

Almost half of adolescents aged 11 to 14 have dated and between 10 and 30% report experiencing Teen Dating Violence (TDV). However, there are no evidence-based TDV prevention interventions designed for afterschool, community-based settings with middle-school youth, in high-risk neighborhoods. Start Strong Boston (SSB) is a model that fills all three gaps, founded on partnerships between the Boston Public Health Commission, community afterschool sites, academic experts and evaluators, and youth. Here, we describe the SSB program and discuss how this collaboration built upon successes of this peer-engaged intervention, by developing and implementing a youth participatory action research (YPAR) evaluation study of SSB. Use of the YPAR framework tested the feasibility of employing Peer Researchers in an interdisciplinary evaluation team. We describe how through participation in evaluation research, Peer Researchers improve professional and leadership skills while informing measurement and conceptualization of a program affecting their own neighborhoods. Lessons learned are presented.     

Incidental findings in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain research

The use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to investigate brain structure ("structural MRI") and function (so-called "functional MRI") has become increasingly common among neuroscientists, psychologists, and even economists in recent years. Yet, despite this increase in use, relatively little attention has been paid to the issue of incidental findings. The current paper discusses these issues, and anticipates the future of incidental findings in the context of other neuroimaging tools currently being used to investigate the living brain.