Influences of Neighborhood Context,Individual History and Parenting Behavior on Recidivism Among Juvenile Offenders

This study examined the effects of neighborhood context on juvenile recidivism to determine if neighborhoods influence the likelihood of reoffending. Although a large body of literature exists regarding the impact of environmental factors on delinquency, very little is known about the effects of these factors on juvenile recidivism. The sample analyzed includes 7,061 delinquent male juveniles committed to community-based programs in Philadelphia, of which 74% are Black, 13% Hispanic, and 11% White. Since sample youths were nested in neighborhoods, a hierarchical generalized linear model was employed to predict recidivism across three general categories of recidivism offenses: drug, violent, and property. Results indicate that predictors vary across the types of offenses and that drug offending differs from property and violent offending. Neighborhood-level factors were found to influence drug offense recidivism, but were not significant predictors of violent offenses, property offenses, or an aggregated recidivism measure, despite contrary expectations. Implications stemming from the finding that neighborhood context influences only juvenile drug recidivism are discussed.     

Does Wal-Mart reduce social capital?

Social capital has attracted increasing attention in recent years. We use county-level and individual survey data to study how Wal-Mart affects social capital. Estimates using several proxies for social capital—such as club membership, religious activity, time with friends, and other measures—do not support the thesis that “Wal-Mart destroys communities” by reducing social capital. We measure exposure to Wal-Mart two ways: Wal-Marts per 10,000 residents and Wal-Marts per 10,000 residents aggregated over the years since 1979 to capture a more cumulative “Wal-Mart Effect.” We find that the coefficients on Wal-Mart’s presence are statistically insignificant in most specifications.     

Evaluating Thatcher: Sceptical Versus Synthetic Approaches

Sceptical approaches to the Thatcher governments provide a useful corrective to exaggerated accounts of their impacts. In particular they point to dependencies in policy-making and implementation. However, evaluating Thatcher via comparison with other post-war UK governments questions excessive scepticism. It suggests that Thatchers governments have made more of a difference than most of their predecessors. In contrast with sceptical views, synthetic views see the significance of the Thatcher governments as more than the sum of their parts. They identify dynamic qualities in the Thatcher governments' approach to policy change, particularly regarding 'policy learning' and 'rolling agendas'.     

Federal Aid to Local Governments in the West: An Irony of the Reagan Revolution

Despite the fact that the Reagan election was viewed as a power shift toward the West, the decade of the 1980s produced cruel disappointment. The region was generally left out of the economic recmery of the nation because of the bust in the agricultural and mineral industries. These state and local gmernments which sufferfrom high costs and low resources were particularly dependent on the national gmernment at the very time when the Reagan Administration was cutting federal aid and transferring power to the states. Unlike Nixon's New Federalism which helped the state and local governments of the West, Reagan's policies caused their relative position in federal aid flows to deteriorate. Although the Reagan revolution in cutting domestic programs was viewed as the embodiment of western rugged individualism, the region lost in terms of federal aid to small rural local governments.     

The privatisation of British Telecom: a case study of the extended process of legislation

Abstract. One of the main ingredients in discourse about British politics concerns the extent to which, and under what conditions, central government can get its own way. Since 1979, the country has been ruled by a prime minister and a government placing at least rhetorical emphasis on the 'politics of conviction'. At the same time we have a well established academic literature giving emphasis to the various hurdles in the policy-making process which face even a government with a working parliamentary majority. The purpose of this paper is to trace the steps in the process towards the government achieving one of its manifesto commitments; the sale of 51 per cent of British Telecom shares to the private sector. In so doing, it is intended to analyse this example of the policy process in terms of the predominant British policy style.