TIME TRENDS AND AGE TRENDS IN ARRESTS AND SELF-REPORTED ILLEGAL BEHAVIOR*

National estimates of time trends and age trends in self-reported illegal behavior in the United States are compared with corresponding figures for arrests. The self-report data are from Monitoring the Future, an annual national survey of high school seniors. The analysis of time trends covers 1975 through 1985 for a sample of over 3,000 respondents per year, studied at a constant age. The analysis of age trends covers ages 17 through 23 for samples of 300 to 1,200 per year. Both self-report and arrest measures reveal substantial declines in illegal behavior throughout this age span, with the exception of arrests for assault. Both methods also indicate that rates of assault increased from 1975 through 1985, a finding that has not previously been reported. Time trends for other offenses were erratic.     

WORKING IN WHITEHALL: CHANGES IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION 1952–1982

There have been significant changes in public administration over the past thirty years, both internal to Whitehall and in its relationship to the outside world. The author offers a personal assessment based on his working experience. By taking a series of 'landmark reports published over that period he charts the extent to which they influenced, or reflected, changes in the character and style of public administration and in the general climate of public opinion within which the civil service works. He concludes that Whitehall today is better equipped than it used to be in its range of professional expertise and management techniques, but that it also faces a more sceptical and demanding audience. The next ten years may see the development of a style of public administration in which the traditional administrative skills are merged with the newer managerial concern for efficiency and effectiveness. But greater competence also requires improvements in the ways in which policy is formulated and its effects evaluated.