Restorative justice in prisons

Restorative justice (RJ) has found significant utility outside the prison setting. For many reasons, it has not received the same level of consideration inside the institution. While not every case can, or perhaps should be considered for restorative justice processing inside the prison, some could easily fall into the broad purview range of restorative and transformative justice. We provide examples of RJ practices that exist in some prisons focusing on: offending behavior and victim awareness programs, community service work, and victim‐offender mediation, as well as prison systems that exhibit a RJ philosophy. Also considered are the effectiveness of prison RJ practices, and the limitations of such efforts. Although RJ has the potential to have a positive impact on the work of prisons and the experience of imprisonment, it has not found wide acceptance and is currently limited to a relatively small number of prisons and then often only delivered in partial form. We believe that RJ has a realistic future in prison settings and that the contradictions that may be identified are not debilitating.     

Use of Protection Motivation Theory to Assess Fear of Crime in Rural Areas

Fear of crime has long been the purview of sociology, with attitudes more extensively researched in higher risk urban populations. A sample of 184 rural participants from 36 states in the USA responded to a questionnaire on experiences of crime victimization, and attitudes toward crime, using the multidimensional Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) model. For the entire sample, perceived noxiousness of crime and personal risk corresponded to a recent history of victimization. Yet, victimization did not appear to alter perceptions of efficacy of proposed response or self efficacy in response to crime. When sorted by gender, women did express differences in perceptions of efficacy based on experience. The findings argue for fear of crime as a multidimensional construct, with implications for both research and applied programs.     

Registration Deadlines and Turnout in Context

This paper analyzes the effect of registration deadlines on voter turnout. The theoretical explanation considers how registration deadlines affect turnout when individuals influence the participation of others. The theoretical model leads to a novel empirical hypothesis, that deadlines can have both a direct and indirect effect on turnout through a behavioral contagion process. The paper reports empirical findings that confirm the theoretical expectations. These results have important implications for future research on registration deadlines and Election Day registration as the effects of these reforms depend on the specific social context in which they are adopted.     

Beyond the ‘At Risk’ Individual: Housing and the Eradication of Poverty to Prevent Homelessness

A prevention framework represents one of the fundamental means of the Australian Government's contemporary drive to achieve permanent reductions in homelessness. Consistent with prevailing policies in the UK and US, Australia has approached homelessness prevention through identification and early intervention of individuals ‘at risk’ of homelessness. In this article we suggest that prevention strategies focused on the risk factors that individual pose obscures efforts to address the underlying structural factors that contribute to homelessness, or to reduce the prevalence of homelessness at the overall population level. The article examines the efficacy of increasing the supply of affordable housing to prevent homelessness, but suggests that the provision of housing alone may be insufficient to realising related well‐being objectives. In turn, it is proposed that policy which focuses on poverty reduction has the capacity to achieve the sustainable prevention of homelessness ambitions.     

China Comes Home: The Re-integration of China into the World Economy

This paper examines changes in the Iranian educational system implemented by the Islamic theocracy of Ayatollah Khomeini and his religious followers in the decade after the Revolution overthrowing the Shah. The study demonstrates weaknesses in the theoretical literature on development and education because of its inability to anticipate people in a developing nation empowering a government controlled by religious leaders. Religious values dominate this society and they have significantly altered Iranian education in terms of who teaches; how political/religious ideology, gender roles, and other subjects are taught; who attends schools; and consequentially, these affect Iran's literacy rates.     

Vietnam: Approaching the Asian‐pacific century with confidence

It has been twenty years since the fall of Saigon to Northern Communist forces on 30 April 1975. From that time, Vietnam has slowly, but steadily clawed its way back into the international mainstream, a trend prompted by the revival of the Vietnamese economy which has gained strength from a movement away from Communist economic ideology. The author, who recently paid an extensive visit to Vietnam, examines the process of development and the opportunities and difficulties that arise from it.