Political marketing in untraditional campaigns: the case of David Cameron's Conservative Party leadership victory

• This study investigates the concept of political market orientation (PMO) in an untraditional setting, namely the 2005 contest for the leadership of the British Conservative Party. Based on a collective case‐study method, a content analysis of candidates' speeches and manifestos is provided. We operationalize four attitudinal constructs of a conceptual PMO model and adapt them to suit the novel campaign context. Our findings show further evidence for the existance of a ‘gravitational centre’ effect hypothesized in earlier studies. Furthermore, we qualify the concept of PMO through a long‐term focus and a context‐specific evaluation of the merits of alternative PMO profiles. Thus, the generic conceptual model of political market orientatation, which previously has only been used in the content of parties contesting a general election campaign, can be adapted to alternative campaign situations without a reduction in its explanatory power.

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Offender military enlistment as an emotionally intelligent justice system intervention

Military enlistment programs offer offenders opportunities to serve in the armed forces as alternatives to traditional criminal sanctioning both prior and post adjudication. Offender enlistment as a form of diversion embodies a rehabilitative ideal but faces formidable cultural and institutional implementation barriers, including recruiting regulations, security clearance requirements, public relations considerations, and military distrust. This study explored the utility of offender enlistment as an emotionally intelligent justice system intervention. It is argued that offender enlistment addresses internal and external offender control deficits while avoiding the expense and stigma of incarceration. The policy implications of offender enlistment as normative practice are considered.     

Enhancing judicial skills in domestic violence cases: the development,implementation, and preliminary evaluation of a model US programme

ABSTRACT

The overwhelming number and complexity of domestic violence cases in criminal and family courts has resulted in the development of education programmes to assist judges. There is limited research on judicial education in this area. This paper reviews one such initiative entitled ‘Enhancing Judicial Skills in Domestic Violence Cases’ (EJS) that has been developed and implemented over the last 20 years by the National Judicial Institute on Domestic Violence, a partnership of the US Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women, National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges and Futures Without Violence. We present findings of a preliminary evaluation of the programme based on the self-reports of 480 judges who had taken the four-day workshop between 2006 and 2010. Overall, judges reported the programme to be engaging and effective. At a six-month follow‐up, most of the judges identified specific benefits and behavior changes in the areas of access to justice, judicial leadership, victim safety, and abuser accountability as a result of participating in the programme. Critical issues in judicial education are highlighted based on the authors’ experiences in the development and implementation of this programme.     

Gender differences in the evaluation of aggravating and mitigating circumstances: the mediating role of attributional complexity*

At the penalty phase of a capital trial, jurors endorse and weigh aggravators and mitigators. The purpose of the current studies was to examine how gender differences in attributional complexity relate to endorsements of aggravators and mitigators. In Study 1, undergraduate participants read definitions of aggravators and mitigators and rated the extent to which circumstances were aggravating or mitigating. In Study 2, a death qualified community sample read a trial summary, rated the extent to which aggravators and mitigators were present in the case, reported whether mitigators outweighed aggravators, and rendered a sentence. Results indicated that gender differences in mitigator endorsement were mediated by attributional complexity, and that gender differences in sentencing decisions were serially mediated by attributional complexity, mitigator endorsement, and aggravator and mitigator weighing.     

Navigating the Legal System After a Motor Vehicle Collision

More often than not, individuals involved in motor vehicle collisions (MVCs) do not sustain physical injuries. When individuals are involved in serious, injury-causing MVCs, the consequences may be devastating. Injured persons sometimes elect to pursue legal action to address the medical costs incurred and earning losses experienced in association with their injuries and the resulting impairments in function. This article presents a comprehensive review of the requirements of MVC-related litigation and the laws that govern this process, with emphasis placed on Ontario law in effect at the time of writing. Information considered germane to the decision to pursue legal action is reviewed, including the likely settlement amount, length of the legal process, costs associated with legal services and fee agreements that govern remuneration paid to the lawyer. Also described are no-fault regime and civil lawsuit, the two avenues of compensation that injured persons can pursue in an effort to recover losses and obtain the assistance they need to recover from their MVC-related injuries.     

Examining the good lives model and antisocial behaviour

This study examined the utility of the Good Lives Model (GLM) (Ward, T., &; Stewart, C. A. (2003). The treatment of sex offenders: Risk management and good lives. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 34(4), 353–360. doi:10.1037/0735-7028.34.4.353) in understanding offending behaviour in students. Two hypotheses were made, consistent with the assumptions of the GLM. First, that participants would endorse the importance of the primary goods set out in the GLM. Second, that reports of antisocial behaviour would relate to a lack of effective strategies, or use of maladaptive strategies, to achieve primary goods. Participants (n?=?340, M age?=?20 years) completed a questionnaire (Measure of Life Priorities) assessing their pursuit, valuation, and achievement of the primary human goods as set out in the GLM and a Self-Report of Offending questionnaire. Results supported our hypotheses, and subsequently the assumptions of the GLM. Our findings support the continued use of the GLM as a theoretical and treatment oriented framework in diverse groups engaged in offending behaviour. Future research should continue to ground the GLM in empirical support.     

Exploring the Link between Mentoring Program Structure & Success Rates: Results from a National Survey

Though mentoring has emerged as a promising and low-cost intervention for at-risk youth in recent years, the scientific knowledge base on the topic remains under-developed. The current study augments the knowledge base on youth mentoring by analyzing programmatic elements of mentoring programs situated in or adjacent to the juvenile justice system that are predictive of participant success. Poisson regression was utilized to analyze data collected through a national mentoring community saturation survey. Findings indicated that mentoring programs that require more frequent interaction and sustain relationships for longer timeframes realize higher success rates. Similarly, the use of formal mentor training was also observed as indicative of the use of evidence based practices and higher success rates, though likely beyond the logistical and fiscal reach of some local mentoring initiatives. The implications for further research and the mentoring community are discussed.     

An exploration of burglary in the criminal histories of sex offenders referred for civil commitment

Commission of nonsexual crimes generally antedates officially recorded sexual offenses. In particular, burglary has been hypothesized to be a potential ‘stepping stone’ in the development of one's sexual criminal career in the same way that marijuana has often been considered a ‘gateway drug’ to more serious drug-related offenses. The present study examined the officially recorded criminal histories of 828 male sex offenders to determine the relevance of burglary in their criminal histories. One third of the men in the sample (n=281, 34%) had been charged at least once for burglary. These 281 men committed a total of 762 separate incidents of burglary. Offenders with at least one officially recorded charge for burglary (BSOs) were compared with those with no such charges (SOs). Next, the characteristics of each burglary were examined and four distinct types of burglary were identified: nonsexual, covertly sexual, overtly sexual, and combination burglary/rape. BSOs accrued twice as many charges as the SOs and were significantly more likely to have an earlier age of onset, a longer criminal career, more employment problems, elementary school problems, antisocial behavior, and substance abuse.     

Homosexuality as Defamation: A Proposal for the Use of the “Right-Thinking Minds” Approach in the Development of Modern Jurisprudence

False imputations of homosexuality have long been considered by courts to be defamatory per se, but many jurisdictions are beginning to revisit the issues surrounding homosexuality and defamation in the wake of a national debate over gay rights. This article examines whether courts should abandon false imputations of homosexuality as per se defamation and concludes that, at a minimum such statements should no longer be defamatory per se and further provides courts with a framework to go a step further and hold that such statements hold no defamatory meaning.     

Order and democracy: Trade‐offs between social control and civil liberties at Lake Parc Place

Abstract

This article applies the classic theories of Thomas Hobbes and John Stuart Mill to the issue of maintaining order, using Chicago's Lake Parc Place public housing project as a case study. I find that public housing residents living in frightening circumstances may be willing to give up some liberties to gain stability and order, but that very order can in turn provide them with the civil space necessary for them to become active participants in their own governance. While Lake Parc Place residents willingly submitted to strict rules to secure a sense of safety, as Hobbes would suggest, once order was established they chose Mill's path, becoming involved in managing their own community. Thus, policies restricting liberties to increase safety have the potential to increase civic participation.