My Professor is Hot! Correlates of RateMyProfessors.com Ratings for Criminal Justice and Criminology Faculty Members

“RateMyProfessors.com” ratings of the easiness, helpfulness, clarity, overall quality, and “hotness” of 407 criminal justice and criminology faculty members from across the United States were collected. Data were analyzed to determine what faculty characteristics determined these ratings. Experience working in the criminal justice field predicted higher ratings, while years of teaching experience was predictive of lower ratings. After controlling for instructors easiness and “hotness” ratings, the instructors’ ascribed characteristics (such as race and sex) explained the greatest proportion of variance in clarity, helpfulness, and overall quality scores. Professional characteristics, such as years of experience, publication rate, and possession of a doctorate were less influential on Ratemyprofessors.com scores.     

Resettle: a significant new step in an emerging pathway that manages risk and addresses need in high-risk personality disordered offenders on their release into the community

Abstract

This paper will describe an innovative UK service development, Resettle, which is designed to address the needs and risks of personality disordered offenders who are released into the community from prison and whose high risks of harm and re-offending are linked to their personality disorder (PD). All the cases worked with are subject to Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA). This non-residential, intensive community-based service is nationally funded jointly by the Department of Health and Ministry of Justice, originally as part of the Dangerous and Severe Personality Disorder (DSPD) programme for high-risk offenders. Resettle became operational in 2008. It is currently being independently evaluated via a randomised control trial that is due to complete in March 2013. Formal outcome data are, therefore, not yet available, however, the developing model of intervention based on experience and learning to date is described alongside the policy and service context for this area of work.     

Committee Property Rights,Executive Dominance,and Political Parties in Latin American Legislatures

Motivated by theories of congressional committees in the US context, and building on the growing body of work focusing on the institutional features of legislatures in Latin American presidential systems, this paper explores two previously overlooked aspects of committee politics. Using comparative data from three Latin American countries, it examines the strategic and jurisdictional dynamics in which chamber leaders assign bills to committees and then investigate the factors affecting presidential and partisan success within committees. In general, the authors find that committees have strong property rights and that characteristics of both bills and bill initiators strongly influence the survival of legislation in committee. The results shed light on the effects of institutional design on the policy process in presidential systems.     

Self-Reported Delinquency: Age and Class Statuses: and the Control Network of a Small City in West Germany

This study, which includes a comparison of American experience, focuses on women policing in India. Using a standardized survey questionnaire, data were collected from women officers on line duty in all district police departments in the State of Tamil Nadu, India, and in municipal and sheriff's departments in New Jersey. A discriminant analysis found important differences between the samples in the officer's preferred roles, with more of the officers from Tamil Nadu preferring a traditional role. Other differences were also found between the samples in terms of deployment experience, career commitment, perceived interests and perceived capability in performing various tasks compared with male officers. These differences appeared to be due to both organizational and cultural factors.     

Fear of Crime in Botswana: Impact of Gender,Victimization, and Incivility

The subject of fear of crime has generated a substantial body of empirical study within Western industrialized society. However, the current focus on comparative criminology inspires efforts to study fear of crime cross culturally. This study attempts to assess some of the widely accepted predictors and conclusions of fear of crime found in developed nations on the urbanized capital city of Botswana. More specifically, in this article, the author explores the relationships between gender, victimization, incivility, and fear of crime in Gaborone, Botswana. Findings suggest that gender, victimization, and, in part, the environment are all useful in explaining fear of crime in Gaborne. However, it appears that gender, more than victimization and incivility, is itself a genuinely powerful determinant of fear of crime.     

Harry Howe Ransom and American intelligence studies

In this interview Harry Howe Ransom, a leading American scholar of intelligence studies over the past 50 years, discusses how he entered the field and his views regarding some key intelligence topics. Foremost on his research agenda has been the study of whether in democratic societies secret agencies can operate side-by-side with an otherwise open government without violating basic civil liberties – the difficult balancing act between the need for security, on the one hand, and the cherished value of liberty, on the other. He has also been a leading critic of intelligence politicization, noting in this interview that there is a tendency for intelligence systems to provide information they think their top bosses want to hear, and for the top bosses – more often than not – to do what they wish in spite of intelligence to the contrary. Professor Ransom began his research into intelligence as a young political scientist at Harvard University and continued this work throughout his subsequent distinguished career at Vanderbilt University and into his retirement years.