Serious about Change: A Gendered Examination of the Impact of Offense Type on Parole Success

Female offender populations are growing at an unprecedented rate. The present study examines gender differences among a large sample of male and female offenders as related to seriousness of their offense and success on parole. Data analyzed were originally collected from a random sample of parole case files in California. Results revealed that although gender does significantly impact parole success, seriousness of the offense does not. Other significant factors include age at release on parole, criminal history, and measures of stability upon release. The need for wrap-around services, comprehensive treatment models, and funding for gender-specific services are discussed.     

Doing family

This paper draws on how constructions of ‘the migrant family’ in political discourse influence migrants' and their families' lives. In specific national contexts, ‘the migrant family’ is determined according to the national and European debates and expressed by their respective rules and regulations. By ‘doing family’, migrants and their families develop strategies in order to fit these requirements of living a certain family life. Fulfilling specific norms and perceptions which are not necessarily required for the majority of society is a precondition to succeed. Who is and who is not part of the family, who holds responsibility — such aspects have to be proved and repeatedly reproduced by migrants and their families. This not only affects their position in society, but also has strong implications on their lives as a couple and family, since it requires the continuous adaptation and reconstructions of their everyday reality.     

Book reviews

Elites, Parties and Democracy: Festschrift for Professor Mogens N. Pedersen edited by Erik Beukel, Kurt Klaudi Klausen and Poul Erik Mouritzen. Odense: Odense University Press, 1999. Pp.xii + 341. DKK 350 hb ISBN 87 7838 506 7.

Horses in Midstream: U.S. Midterm Elections and their Consequences 1894–1998 by Andrew E. Busch. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburg Press, 1999. Pp.ix + 254. $45 hb ISBN 0 8229 4105 8; $19.95 pb ISBN 0 8229 5705 1.

Race, Redistricting, and Representation: The Unintended Consequences of Black Majority Districts by David T. Canon. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1999. Pp.xiv + 324. £35 hb ISBN 0 226 09270 4, £13 pb ISBN 0 226 09271 2.

Rulemaking: How Government Agencies Write Law and Make Policy by Cornelius M. Kerwin. Washington DC: CQ Press, 1998 Second Edition. Pp.x + 294. $28.95 pb. ISBN 156802 418 5.

The Republican Takeover of Congress edited by Dean McSweeney and John E. Owens. Basingstoke: Macmillan Press Ltd, 1998. Pp.xii + 202. £42.50 hb ISBN 0 333 66965 7.

When Women Lead: Integrative Leadership in State Legislatures by Cindy Simon Rosenthal. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. Pp.xiv + 240. £35 hb ISBN 0 19 511540 6.

Reforming the House of Lords: Lessons from Overseas by Meg Russell. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. Pp.xi + 368. £18.99 hb ISBN 0 19 829831 5.

EU Committees as Influential Policymakers edited by M.P.C.M. Van Schendelen. Aldershot: Ashgate, 1998. Pp.xiv + 294 £42.50 hb ISBN 1 84014 724 5.

The Dignity of Legislation by Jeremy Waldron. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Pp.xiii + 206. £35 hb ISBN 0 521 65092 5, £12.95 pb ISBN 0 521 65883 7.     

Transparency in the EU Council of Ministers: An Institutional Analysis

The development of access to documents and open meetings provisions by the Council of Ministers of the European Union shows an interesting pattern: before 1992 no formal transparency provisions existed, between 1992 and 2006 formal transparency provisions dramatically increased, and since 2006 this increase has come to a halt. This paper aims to enhance our understanding of these shifts by conducting a historical institutional analysis of policy change. As explanatory factors, we consider the preferences and power resources of Member States, as well as external catalysts and social structures. We conclude that the current revision deadlock is more stable than the situation before 1992 because now the pro‐transparency coalition and transparency‐sceptic Council majority have entrenched their positions. Nevertheless, and in spite of Council entrenchment, we expect that Council transparency will continue to develop in the longer term, under the pressure of increasingly influential outside actors, particularly the European Parliament.     

Changing household patterns of young couples in low- and middle-income countries

While young couples in Western societies generally form a new household, in low-income societies new unions are often incorporated into existing households. However, there is a growing tendency in the nuclearization of households as intergenerational co-residence is undermined by growing wage labour opportunities that provide incentives for rural–urban migration and because small nuclear families adapt better to urban societies characterized by high geographic and social mobility. The objective of this paper is therefore to jointly study for a selection of low- to middle-income countries the socioeconomic and demographic conditions of women aged 15–34 and their partners in relation to their household patterns with particular interest in the comparison of nuclear and extended households. The analysis will mainly rely on data from the Integrated Public Use of Microdata Series International database (https://international.ipums.org/international/) from which census samples for the last two or latest available census rounds for 18 countries have been extracted. Results showed that women being of older age (within the 15–34 range) and at the same time having attained at least primary school education, having a husband who does not work in the primary sector and who is neither much older nor much younger were all associated with living in a nuclear household. However, individual factors explained only a small part of the overall variation in the household arrangements of young couples, suggesting that differences between countries in these dimensions do not explain much of the difference in household structure. Rather, societal indicators like economic development and the average age at marriage – that were significant in our models – may explain better the overall slow transition towards the nuclear family.