FISCAL FEDERALISM, PROFESSIONALISM AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF AMERICAN STATE GOVERNMENT

A combination of political and economic forces have helped to return the states to the centre of the political stage. Whether measured by objective indicators (employment, share of government expenditure, elasticity of state revenues) or political institutional changes (the rise of career governors, the increasing influence of the intergovernmental lobby and the spread of state responsibilities), the states have become increasingly important in the formulation and implementation of American domestic policies. However, these changes have by no means reduced the level of intergovernmental conflict. On the contrary, cuts in federal expenditure, the introduction of block grants and public opposition to increases in state and local taxation are likely to intensify debate on distributional questions at the state level.     

THE FACTUAL FOUNDATION FOR CERTAIN KEY ASSUMPTIONS OF GUN CONTROL

The case for legal restrictions on gun ownership and use as a strategy for reducing criminal violence relies on factual assumptions about the nature of gun ownership and violent behavior. Five of the most crucial ones are identified and subjected to a comparison with the available empirical evidence. All of the following assumptions were found to be substantially at variance with the evidence: (1) Guns are five times deadlier than the weapons most likely to be substituted for them in assaults in which guns are not available. (2) The sight of a gun can elicit aggression, due to the learned association between guns and violence. (3) If guns are made more expensive, more difficult to obtain, or legally risky to own, people will do without them. (4) Guns are useless for self-defense or protection of one's family, home, or business, and have no deterrent effect on criminals. (5) Homicides are largely "crimes of passion" committed by otherwise law-abiding citizens not distinguishable from other people. Therefore, control must be directed at all gun owners rather than select criminal subgroups.     

MANAGERIAL RESPONSES TO PERCEIVED LABOR SHORTAGES The Case of Police

This paper challenges the popular claim that police labor shortages existed in large American cities during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Empirical tests of a police salary determination model reveal that police managers and public officials possess only limited direct control over police wges. Hence, manipulation of police manpower utilization practices (and, more basically, labor supply to police departments) is the principal way of overcoming “labor shortages.” In recent years, this has included substitution of clerical for sworn personnel, elimination of non-job-related entry requirements, and expansion of auxilhry police forces.     

SOCIAL INTEGRATION, VICTIMIZATION, AND ANOMIA

Durkheim argues that anomie occurs as a result of some temporary or longterm crisis that disturbs the collective order. Yet, at the individual level an event or events must be perceived as affecting immediate social relationships before anomia occurs. Previous victimization research reports suggest that crimes may cause interaction problems for the victims. This passibility was analyzed using two notional samples collected by the Notional Opinion Research Center in 1973 and 1974. Using regression to analyze the impact of robbery and burglary on anomia scores no significant relations were found. Bath are usually non-recurrent experiences that either do not have long-term effects on individuls, or anomia as measured here is too far removed to serve as an adequate measure.