Executive agencies in Tanzania: liberalization and Third World debt

The purchase of an expensive, debt‐financed aircraft tracking system by one of Tanzania's newly created executive agencies suggests that recent bureaucratic restructuring and liberalization in Tanzania could possibly undermine the good use of international debt management schemes for poverty alleviation. Moreover, it raises a question about the uses (and misuses), in countries where governance capacities are weak, of new public management models of organization. This article explores Tanzania's donor‐funded executive agency programme, as one part of its wider civil service reforms. Drawing on empirical research, it examines the power structures and interdependencies between Ministers, departments and NPM style semi‐autonomous agencies and the potential for rent‐seeking behaviour and perverse outcomes. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Dimensional Review of Scales for Forensic Photography

Scales for photography provide a geometrical reference in the photographic documentation of a crime scene, pattern, or item of evidence. The ABFO No. 2 Standard Reference Scale (1) is used by the forensic science community as an accurate reference scale. We investigated the overall accuracy of the major centimeter graduations, internal/external diameters of the circles, error in placement of the circle centers, and leg perpendicularity. Four vendors were selected for the scales, and the features were measured on a vision‐based coordinate measurement system. The scales were well within the specified tolerance for the length graduations. After 4 years, the same scales were measured to determine what change could be measured. The scales demonstrated acceptable stability in the scale length and center‐to‐center measurements; however, the perpendicularity exhibited change. The study results indicate that scale quality checks using certified metal rulers are good practice.     

The Conditioning Effects of Race and Gender on the Juvenile Court Outcomes of Delinquent and “Neglected” Types of Offenders

Drawing upon concepts from prior research that emphasize race and gender stereotyping, the present research compares how delinquent and “neglected” types of offenses (i.e. status offenses, probation violations, youth charged with contempt) are treated across three juvenile court outcomes. Beyond how offense type may directly impact case outcomes, we also investigated whether race and gender influenced juvenile justice processing within each offense type. Using data from two Mid-Atlantic States, results indicated that type of offense, race, and gender resulted in both severe and lenient case outcomes depending on the stage examined. By including different types of offenses that represent a significant percentage of youth that have been relatively neglected in prior research, the current study provides greater insight into the contexts of race and gender disparities in juvenile justice decision-making. The implications of the findings and directions for future research are also discussed.     

Managing the Re‐Entry Process of Returnee Government Scholars in an Emerging Transition Economy – An Embeddedness Perspective

This paper reports the findings of a study that investigates the factors affecting the re‐entry and readjustment process of returnee government scholars in Vietnam. These returnee scholars were originally sent overseas to study as part of changes introduced by the Vietnamese government to develop its domestic talent pool. Using the perspective of home country embeddedness, we find that career and community embeddedness factors, together with readjustment factors, have an effect on returnee scholars’ career and life satisfaction in their home country. These factors subsequently affected their intention to stay or re‐expatriate. The study contributes to public sector change management theory by examining factors affecting the re‐entry process of returnees within an emerging transition economy. It also adds to the limited studies on understanding and managing the re‐entry processes and state‐led diaspora strategies among returnee government scholars from emerging transition economies and their effectiveness.     

Politics and the implementation of public policy: The case of the US military housing allowance program

Are bureaucracies in fact controlled by the president, Congress, or legislation? We analyze a 1998 policy change in the Department of Defense’s (DoD) $6.5 billion annual military housing allowance program. Results show that both the president and Congress were able to influence the bureaucracy, even in the presence of an exceedingly specific law that outlined the manner in which the DoD was to allocate the funds. After policy implementation, allowances were disproportionately higher in locations that (a) supported the president in the 1996 election and (b) were represented by members of the House or Senate Armed Services Committees.     

Conceptualization of Intimate Partner Violence: Exploring Gender Differences Using Concept Mapping

While numerous studies have explored prevalence and determinants of intimate partner violence (IPV), one area that has yet to be sufficiently explored is whether men and women agree on the acts, behaviours, and attitudes that comprise IPV. Through the use of concept mapping, we examined the similarities and differences in the conceptualization of IPV among a diverse sample of men and women. Although men and women conceptualized physical and sexual violence similarly, men tended to rate non-physical behaviors related to control as less important to the definition of IPV than women. Moreover, even when men and women used similar labeling language for grouping of items, the statements included in each cluster were substantially different for non-physically abusive items. A greater understanding of similarities and differences in the conceptualization of IPV by gender can help inform appropriate gender specific IPV intervention and prevention efforts.