Functional policy actions: Agency activities subsequent to budgeting

This study considers numerous non-budgetary measures of policy activity (called functional actions) that are conducted by agencies as they seek to implement their programs. Relationships found in earlier research among maturity, coalitions, and budgetary variables with the functional actions of agencies are extended here through a subsample test of the data and through the utilization of functional actions as independent as well as dependent variables. These functional actions are considered important because they directly affect the lives of citizens, seem manipulable by agencies, and represent a crucial first step in evaluating both the governmental and societal impact of agency programs. Data for eight federal agencies from fiscal years 1960 through 1971 were usedincorporating percentages and simple bivariate correlation coefficients. While the findings remain tentative,numerous implications are suggested for agency behavior and for the empirical study of public policy.     

China, Nuclear Security and Terrorism: Implications for the United States

This article outlines Chinese strategic nuclear forces and the Chinese philosophical approach to nuclear security. It then focuses on the domestic conditions in China which could precipitate vulnerabilities to its nuclear forces. From information about internal security conditions in China, specific internal threats to Chinese nuclear security will be derived. Based on these threats, several outsider and insider scenarios will be outlined involving a variety of terrorist or terrorist related behaviors. These notional scenarios will include everything from overrun or attack, to diversion, to cyber terrorism, to sabotage. The article will then cover what these scenarios and the possible Chinese reaction to them may mean for the security, military and diplomatic strategies of the United States.     

Factors Influencing the Higher Education Decisions of Criminal Justice Professionals

Criminal justice professionals are a potential source of students for many criminal justice programs, especially those in metropolitan areas. This study explored factors that influenced the higher education decisions of 480 Northwestern Ohio criminal justice employees (e.g., municipal police officers, sheriff deputies, jail staff, and prison staff). Most indicated a desire to pursue higher education. Among those indicating an interest in earning a degree, cost and convenience were the most significant factors in their choice. The availability of evening and weekend classes, availability of a part-time curriculum, availability of financial aid/tuition reimbursement, total credit hours required for the degree, the field experience of faculty, and flexibility in admission requirements were all significant factors. Location was also very significant. Most respondents indicated that they would not travel more than thirty minutes to attend classes.     

THE LIMITED ROLE OF CHANGING AGE STRUCTURE IN EXPLAINING AGGREGATE CRIME RATES*

Changes in the age structure are shown to have a limited impact on aggregate crime rates. Even the dramatic transformation of the age distribution accompanying the baby boom shifted crime rates by no more than 1 % per year. Projected changes in the age distribution between 1995 and 2010 will lead to slight declines in per capita crime rates. These results are at odds with recent predictions of an impending demographically driven crime wave. Such predictions have focused exclusively on a rise in juvenile crime and ignored the offsetting decreases among adults.     

Reviews

Jean‐Paul Deléage: Histoire de l'écologie — Une science de l'homme et de la natura. La Découverte, Paris, 1991.     

Toward a comprehensive homelessness‐prevention strategy

Abstract

Because of the misery and deprivation suffered by homeless persons, the initial response to homelessness in the United States focused first on quickly addressing the dire need for emergency food and shelter, and then on providing additional assistance to already homeless persons—ideally to help them move out of homelessness. New preventive measures to help people avoid becoming homeless were largely ignored or put off.¹ But now that efforts to provide emergency food and shelter are well under way throughout the country, many more experts, policymakers, and service organizations have begun focusing on homelessness prevention.² Nevertheless, actual prevention efforts are still tentative and somewhat haphazard. In support of a more rapid expansion of effective homelessness‐prevention activities, this paper discusses the benefits of prevention, develops an initial framework for a comprehensive homelessness‐prevention strategy, and, using this framework, evaluates existing prevention efforts and suggests new initiatives.     

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Current Concepts and Controversies

The diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) sometimes is raised in compensation claims, in tort settings, and in other medical–legal settings. Accordingly, health-care and legal professionals working in these areas need to be familiar with the current findings and controversies concerning the disorder. The purpose of this article is twofold. First, we review the most important findings concerning the clinical features, etiology, and treatment of PTSD. Second, we examine six major controversies concerning the disorder that are relevant to psychologists and other medical–legal practitioners: (a) the issue of what qualifies as a traumatic stressor, (b) the question of whether traumatic stress causes brain damage, (c) the validity of the concept of delayed-onset PTSD, (d) the recovered memory controversy, (e) the question of whether PTSD can arise when the person has no memory of the trauma (e.g., due to concussion), and (f) issues concerning PTSD malingering. Throughout this article we offer recommendations for psychological and other medical–legal practice in relation to the evaluation of PTSD claims.