Texas Christian University (TCU) Short Forms for Assessing Client Needs and Functioning in Addiction Treatment

The TCU Short Forms contain a revised and expanded set of assessments for planning and managing addiction treatment services. They are formatted as brief (1-page) forms to measure client needs and functioning, including drug use severity and history (TCUDS II), criminal thinking and cognitive orientation (CTSForm), motivation and readiness for treatment (MOTForm), psychological functioning (PSYForm), social relations and functioning (SOCForm), and therapeutic participation and engagement (ENGForm). These instruments facilitate optically-scanned data entry, computerized scoring, and rapid graphical feedback for clinical decisions. The present study (based on 5,022 inmates from eight residential prison treatment programs) examines evidence on scale reliabilities and measurement structures of these tools. Results confirmed their integrity and usefulness as indicators of individual and group-level therapeutic dynamics.     

Obtaining Information from Children in the Justice System

Even young children can provide accurate accounts of experienced events if adults question them skillfully. However, most justice system personnel receive little training in evidence‐based methods to question children non‐suggestively and with developmental sensitivity. This paper summarizes key research findings about child forensic interviewing. It concludes with recommendations for judges and other justice system personnel who must engage in age‐appropriate consultation with children and outlines steps judges can take to establish evidence‐based interviewing practices by court personnel in their jurisdictions.     

法国检察院的面孔

法国检察院的历史发展受本国政治运动的影响深刻，并且一直是该国权力体系中的重要组成部分。1958年的宪法确立了当前法国检察院同时具有司法机关和行政机关双重属性的混合地位，但随之引发了多年的争议和一次又一次试图使检察院的公诉活动摆脱行政权干预的运动。进入21世纪之后，法国检察院的权限表现出明显的扩张趋势，甚至在某些领域内开始分享传统上只能由法官享有的自由裁量权。另一方面，检察院内部的层级化特征越发明显，而其在行政机关面前的自主性也进一步丧失。     

Local government decentralization and the health sector in Tanzania

An evaluation of primary-level healthcare undertaken in Tanzania 1989-91 found that district health managers felt powerless to address health care performance weaknesses, although the district is the unit to which government management functions have been decentralized. In order to understand the managers views, this article analyses the pattern of decentralization within the health system from their perspective. It reviews the hislorical development of government structures and the theory and practice of decentralization within Tanzania. The matrix of accountability for health care has become very confusing, with multiple and cross-cutting flows of authority within and between levels of the system. District health managers have limited authority to take management action, such as managing resources, in ways that would begin to address problems of inefficiency and poor quality of care within primary care. District health management also suffers from weak resource allocation and financial management piocedures. The main obstacles preventing more effective management are: resource constraints; conflicts between the demands for central control and local discretion; limited institutional capacity; and political and cultural influences over the implementation of decentralization. Evaluation of past experience suggests that future policy influencing the organizational structure of government health services must be developed cautiously, recognizing the critical importance of complementary action to develop both institutional capacity and political and economic support for the health system.     

Gambling among offenders: results from an Australian survey

This article outlines the results of a recent Australian survey of gambling, problem gambling, and gambling-related crimes among offenders. The research found that 34% of participant offenders had some form of gambling problem. This figure is 18 times higher than that found in the general population in the same Australian location. Many problem gamblers identified in the survey had not sought help for gambling and felt they didn't have a problem or were in control of their gambling. In addition, many survey participants said that their gambling was not problematic despite some admissions that they had committed gambling-related crimes. A significant implication of this study follows that offenders with gambling problems need to be offered therapeutic services while in the correctional system to reduce the prevalence of gambling problems and the commission of gambling-related offences.