Long-term impact of family group conferences on re-offending: the Indianapolis restorative justice experiment

Objectives

The purpose of the current study is to test the long-term effect of Family Group Conferences (FGCs) on recidivism prevalence and time to first re-offense for first-time youthful offenders.

Methods

The current study builds on an experiment with a reasonably large sample (n?=?782) conducted in Marion County (Indianapolis), Indiana, USA. The current study extends this work by following the cases for an additional 10?years. To examine the empirical relationships among the variables, this study employs a two-step approach. The initial analysis, employing logistic regression, measures prevalence of re-offending based on whether the youth ever was re-arrested during the follow-up period. The second step employs Cox Proportional-Hazards Regression to examine time until first re-offense.

Results

The findings revealed that when extended to a 12-year follow-up period, there were no significant differences between the FGC and control groups in re-offending prevalence or time to re-offense.

Conclusions

An earlier study suggests that treatment group youths experienced reduced risk in the short-term and there is no evidence in the present study to suggest that youths participating in FGCs were placed at greater risk for re-offending. Given these findings and the body of research suggesting improved outcomes for victims, continued experimentation with FGCs and related restorative processes seems warranted. Future studies would benefit from blocking procedures in the experimental design in order to examine whether treatment effects are moderated by gender, race, and initial type of offense. The lack of such blocking procedures represents a limitation of the current study.     

Levels of cocaine and its metabolites in washed hair of demonstrated cocaine users and workplace subjects

In a study of subjects in drug rehabilitation programs, cocaine and cocaine metabolite levels were determined in the hair of 75 subjects who had produced cocaine-positive urine results. The hair was analyzed after being washed with the 3.75 h wash procedure developed by this laboratory. In addition, results of testing 73 non-users are presented, as well as levels of cocaine, benzoylecgonine (BE), cocaethylene, and norcocaine from workplace population samples. The data support a recommendation of reporting as positive a sample with cocaine of 500 pg/mg hair and either a 5% ratio of benzoylecgonine (BE) to cocaine in samples, or the presence of cocaethylene at 50 pg/mg hair, or norcocaine at 50 pg/mg hair for samples < or =2000 pg cocaine/mg hair. For samples with cocaine present at >2000 pg/mg hair, the data indicate that a ratio of 5% BE may be an overly conservative approach. In appropriately washed hair samples, cocaine users can produce hair levels of <5% BE and thus a minimum BE cutoff in lieu of a ratio could be considered.     

OBSTACLES TO SEEMINGLY SIMPLE REFORM: A CASE STUDY OF BAIL REFORM

This study involves analysis of the implementation of a new release on recognizance (ROR) policy governing misdemeanor cases in a small, mid- western county. The case study is interesting because the policy seems to be characterized by several factors that might lead to predictions of high compliance with policy intent. The findings, however, suggest that consid- erable slippage between intent and implementation occurred. It is argued that this slippage is the product of communication problems, the disposition of street-level implementors, and the failure to include implementors in decision making. These obstacles are then compounded by the lack of performance monitoring. The problems are viewed as interrelated and revolve around the top-down implementation strategy that failed to involve those responsible for implementation – the street-level implementors.     

Application Districts: An Emerging Spatial Form in the Computer Software Industry

This paper presents a stylized theory of the geography of the computer software industry. It is timely because countries around the world, and at different stages of development, have targeted that industry for attention because of its growth and stability, and the quality of the jobs it provides. I demonstrate that the software industry is decentralizing away from the centers that were first established in the 1970s, but there is no process of de-concentration underway. Old clusters are losing their share of national employment, but they are being replaced by new clusters, and not by a generalized dispersal of the industry. I explain this pattern in terms of a spatial division of labor emerging in the software industry. This division is not based on a low-skill/high-skill labor dichotomy, as in high tech manufacturing, but on a distinction within high-skilled labor between those working on general-purpose technology and those developing applications for specific uses. I call the new clusters where specialized applications are developed application districts.     

Politicians on TV news: Getting attention in Dutch and German election campaigns

Abstract. Different strategies apply in the Netherlands and in Germany when TV channels have to decide how often politicians are mentioned or shown in the news during national election campaigns. Extensive content analyses in the 1990s suggest that Dutch political and media traditions promote a more equally distributed attention to different political positions. In Germany, TV news focuses almost exclusively on the incumbent candidate for the top function of the national government (the office of Chancellor) and his challengers. The likely causes are not only the political system and the particular circumstances of the 1990s (with the pre–eminence of Helmut Kohl), but also recent developments in the way in which German journalists define their task.     

More dissimilar than alike? Public values preferences across US minority and white managers

Interest in public values has grown considerably over the past two decades. Much of this attention reflects a growing awareness that public values hold considerable significance for citizens and public employees. Yet, despite the rapid expansion of research on public values, we still know little about the role of race in shaping and determining public employees’ values preferences. To begin remedying this gap, this article examines whether minority and white public managers in large US local governments exhibit the same value preferences when making departmental decisions. Results from a multiple group confirmatory factor analysis indicate that minority and white managers express similar preferences for traditional public administration values; however, minority managers report a stronger preference for both traditional public administration (e.g., efficiency and effectiveness) and social equity‐oriented (e.g., equity, representation) values.     

Family Firms,Networks and ‘Ethnic Enterprise’: Chinese Food Industry in Britain

Chinese family enterprises in the United Kingdom have penetrated many different sectors of the economy, including restaurants, wholesaling, retailing, trading, manufacturing, property development, computer services and investment holding. Among the companies in these sectors, those involved in different segments of the food industry, as manufacturers, retailers and wholesalers, reputedly feature characteristics of Chinese culture. A majority of these enterprises, for example, function as family firms. This study explores the assertion that, among companies owned by ethnic minorities, culture strongly influences form of business development. This argument will be assessed through a focus on Chinese food-based enterprises in the UK. Two family-controlled companies, Seven Seas (Frozen Food) Ltd and Dayat Foods Packaging Ltd, were selected as case studies as they are involved in key business components of the Chinese food chain industry. Through an in-depth comparative study of the history and development of these two firms, we consider the argument that Chinese businesses have evolved well because of family ties and their inclusion in mutually-beneficial ethnically-constructed networks. Through these case studies, we provide an alternative perspective to diasporic Chinese business development which brings into question the extensive use of the concept of ethnic enterprise.