The generalized instructional set of the Criminal Attribution Inventory (CRAI): socially desirable responding and faking

Accurate assessment of criminal attributions can assist in explaining crime and identifying offender treatment targets. The current study examines the relationship between a new method of assessing the cognition of criminal attributes, the Criminal Attribution Inventory (CRAI) and a measure of socially desirable responding. 300 participants including incarcerated offenders, released offenders, sex offenders, and university students participated in the current study. Results indicate minimal relationships between socially desirable responding and the CRAI. In a fake-good testing situation, the faking index had appropriate sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive power in identifying fake-good responses. The CRAI's instructional set of general observation as opposed to self-representation appears to limit socially desirable responding and also allows the CRAI to be administered to nonoffender populations.     

Biosafety considerations for autopsy

An autopsy may subject prosectors and others to a wide variety of infectious agents, including bloodborne and aerosolized pathogens such as human immunodeficiency virus, hepatitis B and C viruses, and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Other hazards include toxic chemicals (e.g., formalin, cyanide, and organophosphates) and radiation from radionuclides used for patient therapy and diagnosis. These risks can be substantially mitigated through proper assessment, personal protective equipment, appropriate autopsy procedures, and facility design.     

Antisocial constructs in predicting institutional violence among violent offenders and child molesters

This study investigated the ability of self-reported antisocial constructs to predict serious institutional infractions among a correctional sample of child molesters (n = 69) and violent offenders (n = 138). Each group had significant predictors, but the predictors differed between the two groups. Interpersonal problems accounted for significant incremental variance after age in the relationship with institutional violence for child molesters. With the violent offender group, alienation and impulse expression showed significant incremental variance after accounting for age. Alienation and impulse expression also added to age in the relationship with the function of failure over time for the most institutionally disruptive. Implications for institutional classification and clinical use in an offender population are discussed.     

The contribution of beneficiary participation to development project effectiveness

Criticism of development projects is widespread, and blame for disappointing results is cast in many directions. One line of criticism which has become quite strong in the recent development literature is that development projects are too top-down and need to be more bottom-up (e.g. Maguire, 1981). Projects should involve more participation by beneficiaries. In fact, some would argue that real development, by definition, must involve beneficiaries in their own improvement (e.g. Gran, 1983a,b). Without participation the people may benefit but not develop from a project. Thus participation has intrinsic value. As the recognition of the value of public, popular, beneficiary, or community participation has increased, so has the range of what is meant by participation. Some authors have expanded the concept to mean empowerment and capacity-building, sometimes including institution-building. In this paper we do not attempt to redefine participation per se. but aim instead to make an inventory of the principal concepts that have evolved in the literature so far, elicit a general model of participatory development projects, deduce the central implicit hypotheses from this literature on the relationship between participation and project effectiveness, and statistically test these hypotheses from the empirical evidence provided by AID'S series of 52 Impact Evaluation Reports. Our major question is how much does beneficiary participation contribute to project effectiveness?     

An Approach to Measuring the Affordability of State Debt

Affordability is one important and widely accepted element of state and local debt policy. However, there is no well-established measure of affordability and no clear standard for making normative judgments about what amount of debt is affordable for a specific jurisdiction. This article suggests a six-step method for measuring affordability of state debt that provides a useful guideline for determining when a state may be entering a "danger zone" by having debt that exceeds norms of affordability.