‘Responsibilty’ as a strategy of governance: regulating people living with AIDS and lesbians and gay men in Ontario

This paper investigates responsibility/irresponsibility as an important regulatory strategy, in two instinct but interrelated social sites – people living with AIDS and HIV, and lesbians and gay men, especially within the Canadian province of Ontario. This responsibility/irresponsibility technique of governance is developing in response to the struggles of people with AIDS and community-based AIDS groups and lesbians and gay men and the alternative strategies of regulation articulated through these struggles. Practices of ‘resistance’ and activism alter the grounds of hegemonic regulation/governance and point towards new techniques of governance. I show how responsibilizing and normalizing strategies in the context of social struggles over AIDS and sexual regulation allows for those constructed as ‘responsible’ to be managed through forms of self-regulation and professional forms of goverance of their live. For those who continue to be constructed as ‘irresponsible’ forms of criminal law, policing and public health governance are called into action.     

The role of the Sandinista revolution in the process of democratization in Nicaragua

This article explores the question of the development of democracy in Nicaragua with emphasis on the period from 1979 to the present. The primary focus is on the role of democracy within the framework of the Sandinista revolution including the 11 years of FSLN state power and the last four years during which the Sandinistas have been the primary opposition party. It is the primary contention of the article that a profound democratization of Nicaragua began with the rise of the FSLN to power in 1979. It also asserts that while democratization has not been definitely reversed during the conservative rule of Chamorro it has been weakened. The paper's primary conclusions run directly against those who argue that Nicaraguan process of democratization began only with the assumption of power of the UNO coalition in April 1990.     

Criminal Social Identity of Recidivistic Prisoners: The Role of Self-Esteem, Family and Criminal Friends

The aim of this paper is to focus on the factors that can significantly contribute to the presence of criminal social identity within a sample of recidivistic prisoners (N?=?312) using structural equation modelling. Six latent variables were identified: criminal associations with close friends, positive self-esteem, negative self-esteem, cognitive centrality, in-group affect, and in-group ties. Results suggest that criminal social identity is characterized by various internal and external factors including the direct effects of associations with criminal friends, which is influenced by insufficient or absent parental supervision at an early stage of development. It was also found that early peer rejection is not a sufficient predictor of associations with criminal friends and the criminal social identity. This study also provides further support for Social Identity Theory with regards to the role of self-esteem in the development of criminal social identification.     

Examining the relationship between school suspensions/expulsions and felonies

This paper examines the suspensions and expulsions of students. Using individual student pupil (rather than incident) data, this research examines whether these rates are driven by a few high-volume offenders and whether high-volume offenders become felons. This study uses the number of students at three levels of violations: 0 offenses, 1–3 offenses, and four or more offenses. The authors also examined the relationship between the three groups of violators and committing a felony as a juvenile. The number of offenses per student ranged from 0 to 31. Findings indicated that those with 0 school infractions had no felonies, while the other two groups of violators 1–3 and four or more had a similar numbers of felonies. Implications for developmental models of delinquency are discussed.     

For whom does prison-based drug treatment work? Results from a randomized experiment

Objectives

Prison-based therapeutic community (TC) drug treatment followed by community aftercare is widely recognized as the most effective treatment paradigm for drug-dependent offenders. However, few randomized experiments have addressed this question and fewer studies have examined how interactions between treatment modality and individual characteristics may explain variations in outcomes.

Methods

Using a randomized experimental design, this study examined the effects of treatment modality [TC vs. Outpatient (OP) group counseling], individual psychosocial characteristics (e.g., risk, negative affect), and interactions on reincarceration over a 3-year follow-up period. Survival analysis using Cox regression with covariates was used to analyze data obtained from 604 subjects at a specialized drug treatment prison.

Results

The expected advantage of TC failed to emerge. Critical and heretofore unexamined interactions between treatment modality (TC vs. OP), inmate levels of risk, and negative effect help explain these unexpected findings.

Conclusion

The superiority of prison TC to less intensive OP counseling was not supported. The effects of TC appear to be conditioned by critical responsivity factors that have received little empirical attention.     

Constellations of Interpersonal Trauma and Symptoms in Child Welfare: Implications for a Developmental Trauma Framework

Patterns of trauma exposure and symptoms were examined in a sample of 16,212 children in Illinois child welfare. Data were collected on trauma histories, child and caregiver needs and strengths, and analyzed in light of the proposed Developmental Trauma Disorder diagnostic criteria. Youth exposed to both interpersonal violence and attachment-based (“non-violent”) traumas within the caregiving system had significantly higher levels of affective/physiological, attentional/behavioral, and self/relational dysregulation in addition to posttraumatic stress symptoms compared to youth with either type of trauma alone or in relation to other trauma experiences. These complexly traumatized children exhibited higher levels of functional impairment and were more likely to have placement disruptions and psychiatric hospitalizations. Findings suggest a developmental trauma framework can more adequately capture the spectrum of needs of these multiply traumatized youth than existing diagnostic formulations. Utilizing this framework for assessment, treatment planning, and intervention can lead to more targeted and effective services for these children.