Dancing To Whose Tune? Change And Investigations In Hm Customs And Excise

The public sector has been subject to significant organizational and cultural change in the past two decades. The purpose of change has been the cost-efficient and cost-effective delivery of public services and functions. The process of change has been concerned with the best means to do this, whether in structural, cultural and procedural terms. Without careful determination of the services and functions from the onset, the process, however, can become an end in itself, reflecting the comments of the Head of the Civil Service when he said that he did not know the final shape of the civil service on the grounds that ‘it is not unusual . . . for an organisation in the process of evolution not to know what its final state will be’ (Dynes and Walker 1995, p. 99). Where an organization has assumed its core functions are clearly defined and understood but where they are not explicitly used to provide the purpose to shape and direct the process of change, that process may be influenced more by generic external imperatives on structural, cultural and managerial reform that developed from the 1988 Next Steps report than by the organization’s core functions. The article questions assumptions that, by itself, an emphasis on the former will facilitate the performance of the latter. It suggests that the process of challenging culture and structure may have adverse consequences until the purpose of change and the functions of the organization are used to shape and inform the process. It looks at the impact of the process of change on a core organizational function in one large government department that has undergone significant change – major investigations within HM Customs and Excise. It considers that change may be, to use the idiom of earlier research into change and the department, partly about teaching organizations to dance the Next Steps, and partly about ensuring that they keep dancing, but it is also about teaching departments that dancing is best done to tunes that inform the steps.     

Juveniles' Competence to Stand Trial: A Comparison of Adolescents' and Adults' Capacities as Trial Defendants

Abilities associated with adjudicative competence were assessed among 927 adolescents in juvenile detention facilities and community settings. Adolescents' abilities were compared to those of 466 young adults in jails and in the community. Participants at 4 locations across the United States completed a standardized measure of abilities relevant for competence to stand trial (the MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool—Criminal Adjudication) as well as a new procedure for assessing psychosocial influences on legal decisions often required of defendants (MacArthur Judgment Evaluation). Youths aged 15 and younger performed more poorly than young adults, with a greater proportion manifesting a level of impairment consistent with that of persons found incompetent to stand trial. Adolescents also tended more often than young adults to make choices (e.g., about plea agreements) that reflected compliance with authority, as well as influences of psychosocial immaturity. Implications of these results for policy and practice are discussed, with an emphasis on the development of legal standards that recognize immaturity as a potential predicate of incompetence to stand trial.     

Automated PCR setup for forensic casework samples using the Normalization Wizard and PCR Setup robotic methods

Human genome, pharmaceutical and research laboratories have long enjoyed the application of robotics to performing repetitive laboratory tasks. However, the utilization of robotics in forensic laboratories for processing casework samples is relatively new and poses particular challenges. Since the quantity and quality (a mixture versus a single source sample, the level of degradation, the presence of PCR inhibitors) of the DNA contained within a casework sample is unknown, particular attention must be paid to procedural susceptibility to contamination, as well as DNA yield, especially as it pertains to samples with little biological material. The Virginia Department of Forensic Science (VDFS) has successfully automated forensic casework DNA extraction utilizing the DNA IQ(trade mark) System in conjunction with the Biomek 2000 Automation Workstation. Human DNA quantitation is also performed in a near complete automated fashion utilizing the AluQuant Human DNA Quantitation System and the Biomek 2000 Automation Workstation. Recently, the PCR setup for casework samples has been automated, employing the Biomek 2000 Automation Workstation and Normalization Wizard, Genetic Identity version, which utilizes the quantitation data, imported into the software, to create a customized automated method for DNA dilution, unique to that plate of DNA samples. The PCR Setup software method, used in conjunction with the Normalization Wizard method and written for the Biomek 2000, functions to mix the diluted DNA samples, transfer the PCR master mix, and transfer the diluted DNA samples to PCR amplification tubes. Once the process is complete, the DNA extracts, still on the deck of the robot in PCR amplification strip tubes, are transferred to pre-labeled 1.5 mL tubes for long-term storage using an automated method. The automation of these steps in the process of forensic DNA casework analysis has been accomplished by performing extensive optimization, validation and testing of the software methods.     

Cutting the Grass: A Reexamination of the Link between Marital Attachment,Delinquent Peers and Desistance from Marijuana Use

Recent work indicates that marriage contributes to desistance from crime. However, two prominent interpretations of this relationship have been offered. The first, rooted in informal control theory, suggests that the marriage effect is a direct result of social bonds that tend to accompany matrimony. The second contends that the effect is indirect and due to the impact of marriage on patterns of delinquent peer association. Using data from waves 5 and 6 of the National Youth Survey, this study re-analyzes these interpretations by examining the relationship between marital attachment, delinquent peer association and desistance from marijuana use. Although change in delinquent peer association is a powerful predictor of marijuana desistance, findings are also consistent with the control theory interpretation of the marriage effect. Implications and limitations of the current study are noted.A previous version of this paper was presented at the 2000 meeting of the American Society of Criminology in San Francisco, CA.