After rationality

where he teaches planning theory. His research explores decision making, plan implementation, and organizations. His books include Evaluating Plan Implementationand Approaches to Planning.     

State Legislators and State Auditors: Is There an Inherent Role Conflict?

Traditionally, one of the functions of state legislatures has been that of oversight. However, because it is the least rewarding, legislatures have paid it the least attention. This has led to increased responsibilities for state auditors. In many cases, their role has expanded from an examination of financial transactions and internal control to include the oversight functions previously performed by the legislatures. The result has been considerable auditor-legislative tensions. This study surveyed state auditors to determine potential areas of conflict between auditors and legislatures. It found the major areas of conflict include inaction by legislators on the findings and recommendations of auditors and attempts at inappropriate control over the audit function by legislatures.     

Retributivism and the inadvertent punishment of the innocent

Retributivism is generally thought to forbid the punishment of the innocent, even if such punishment would produce otherwise good results, such as deterrence. It has recently been argued that because capital punishment always entails the risk of executing an innocent person, instituting capital punishment is tantamount to intentionally taking innocent lives and therefore cannot be justified on retributive grounds. I argue that there are several versions of retributivism, only one of which might categorically forbid risking punishing innocent persons. I also argue that our moral practices reveal either that we do not hold this particular version of retributivism, or that we reject equating risking punishing the innocent with intentionally doing so. *** DIRECT SUPPORT *** A9102008 00005     

Clinical Assessment of Parents in Child Protection Cases: An Empirical Analysis

We investigated the content and legal relevance of clinical evaluations of parents conducted in child abuse and neglect cases. The sample consisted of 190 mental health evaluation reports, randomly selected from major providers, that had been completed on parents involved in a large, urban juvenile court system. We coded evaluations on 170 objective and qualitative characteristics in order to assess for criteria recommended in the forensic literature. We compared evaluations across groups categorized by type (e.g., psychological, psychiatric, bonding/parenting, substance abuse) and where the assessments were performed (outside or inside the court). We found numerous substantive failures to meet those criteria for forensic relevance. Evaluations of parents typically were completed in a single session, rarely included a home visit, used few if any sources of information other than the parent, often cited no previous written reports, rarely used behavioral methods, stated purposes in general rather than specific terms, emphasized weaknesses over strengths in reporting results, and often neglected to describe the parent's caregiving qualities or the child's relationship with the parent. Some relevant differences were evident across assessment groups, pointing to examples of more thorough, parenting-specific evaluation practices. We recommend ways to improve current practices in forensic parenting assessment.     

Reducing Maltreated Children's Reluctance to Answer Hypothetical Oath-Taking Competency Questions

Before allowing child witnesses to testify, courts routinely require children to describe what would happen to them if they lied. However, young children often refuse to reason hypothetically if they view the premises as implausible or undesirable, and might be more willing to discuss the consequences of lying if they are asked about another child rather than themselves. On the other hand, children might view themselves as invulnerable to punishment, and therefore believe that whereas other children will be punished for lying, they will not be. In this study, 64 maltreated 5- and 6-year-old children were asked to describe the consequences of lying to three professionals (a judge, a social worker, and a doctor). Participants in the self condition were asked what would happen to them if they lied, whereas participants in the other condition were asked to describe what would happen to a story child if he or she lied. Asking children about other children increased responsiveness, and did not reveal perceptions of invulnerability. The results suggest that young children's understanding that they will be punished for lying may make them reluctant to discuss the consequences of lying, leading to underestimation of their oath-taking competency.     

The random presence of glass and paint on the clothing and footwear of members of the general population: A US baseline survey at various seasons

This study assists the interpretation of glass and paint evidence by filling an existing gap in the background occurrence that reflects the socioeconomic and demographic circumstances in the United States. The collection was performed in a college US city (Morgantown, West Virginia) to determine the effect of the type of clothing worn at different seasons on the presence of glass and paint. Tape lifts and sole scrapings (1038) were collected from 210 participants and up to six clothing and footwear areas per individual. Glass fragments were analyzed via polarized light microscopy (PLM), refractive index (RI), micro-X-Ray fluorescence (μXRF), and scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), while paint specimens were examined by light microscopy and infrared spectroscopy (μFTIR). Higher occurrences of glass and paint were found in the winter season. The winter collection yielded 10 glass fragments and 68 paint particles, whereas the summer collection resulted in one glass fragment and 23 paint particles. The percentage of individuals with traces varied between seasons; 7% of individuals in the winter and 0.9% in the summer had glass, whereas 36% of individuals in the winter and 19% in the summer bore paint. Lastly, when considering the overall garment and footwear areas, glass was detected in 1.4% of the winter set, compared to 0.2% in the summer collection; paint was found in 9.2% of the winter collection, whereas only 4.2% was found in the summer set. There were no instances where both glass and paint were detected on the clothing and footwear of the same individual.     

Detection and confirmation of fentanyls in high clay-content soil by electron ionization gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

Detection of illicit drugs in the environment, particularly in soils, often suggests the present or past location of a clandestine production center for these substances. Thus, development of efficient methods for the analysis and detection of these chemicals is of paramount importance in the field of chemical forensics. In this work, a method involving the extraction and retrospective confirmation of fentanyl, acetylfentanyl, thiofentanyl, and acetylthiofentanyl using trichloroethoxycarbonylation chemistry in a high clay-content soil is presented. The soil was spiked separately with each fentanyl at two concentrations (1 and 10 μg/g) and their extraction accomplished using ethyl acetate and aqueous NH₄OH (pH ~ 11.4) with extraction recoveries ranging from ~56% to 82% for the high-concentration (10 μg/g) samples while ranging from ~68% to 83% for the low-concentration (1 μg/g) samples. After their extraction, residues containing each fentanyl were reacted with 2,2,2-trichloroethoxycarbonyl chloride (Troc-Cl) to generate two unique and predictable products from each opioid that can be used to retrospectively confirm their presence and identity using EI-GC-MS. The method's limit of detection (MDL/LOD) for Troc-norfentanyl and Troc-noracetylfentanyl were estimated to be 29.4 and 31.8 ng/mL in the organic extracts. In addition, the method's limit of quantitation for Troc-norfentanyl and Troc-noracetylfentanyl were determined to be 88.2 and 95.5 ng/mL, respectively. Collectively, the results presented herein strengthen the use of chloroformate chemistry as an additional chemical tool to confirm the presence of these highly toxic and lethal substances in the environment.     

Motivating and Retaining Government Employees: The Role of Organizational Social Capital

While a great deal of attention has been given to the role of performance pay and extrinsic rewards in understanding how to motivate and retain employees, this study points towards the importance of organizational social capital, defined as the sum of collaboration, trust, and value congruence among employees. Using a four-year panel data set of 170 federal agencies, we find a positive effect of social capital on intrinsic motivation but contradicting effects on turnover. Changes in social capital across time mitigate turnover intention but are unrelated to turnover behavior. A cross-sectional analysis shows, however, that the relationship between social capital and turnover behavior is curvilinear and has an inverted u-shape. The findings suggest that social capital can be a double-edged sword, as it is harmful in lower doses but beneficial if a critical mass of employees can participate in the social network, thereby avoiding conflict-laden in- and out-group constellations.     

The Effects of Changing Test‐Based Policies for Reclassifying English Learners

When students labeled English Learners (ELs) are reclassified as Fluent English Proficient, changes often occur in services and settings (e.g., changes in teachers, peers, and ancillary services). Policymakers play an important role in the reclassification process because they establish test‐based criteria that an EL must attain in order to become reclassified. If the criteria established by policymakers are incongruent with the instructional changes that result from reclassification, then services and settings may be denied to students who would otherwise benefit from them. In response to teachers’ and administrators’ concerns that some ELs who were reclassified were not succeeding without additional supports, California policymakers in 2006 to 2007 changed the reclassification criteria. In this paper, we examine the effects of changing these criteria using data on Latino/a students from the Los Angeles Unified School District, the U.S. district serving the largest number of ELs. Using “difference‐in‐regression‐discontinuities” approaches, we find consistent evidence that this policy change, which increased the difficulty of attaining the test‐based criteria for EL reclassification eligibility, had significant effects on high‐school students’ subsequent English language arts achievement (0.18 SDs) and graduation outcomes (11 percentage points). Specifically, when the criteria for reclassification were lower, students experienced negative effects of reclassification; but when the criteria were raised, students no longer experienced these negative effects. Highlighting the complex interplay between assessments, instruction, and policy, these findings demonstrate the important role policymakers play in the academic success of ELs and speak to policymaker considerations when implementing assessment and accountability systems.