Alternatives to Custody for High-Risk Young Offenders: The Multisystemic Therapy Approach

This article describes the implementation of randomised trials in Ontario, Canada, of a community-based, therapeutic intervention for youths who would be candidates for custodial sentences because of the severity or persistence of their criminal behaviour. Many recognise the need to reduce custody stays but the realisation of that goal requires the creation of community-based programs which judges believe will not put the public at risk. Reviews of the empirical literature indicated that Multisystemic Therapy could be a cost-effective, individualised, community-based alternative to custody that reduces long and short-term recidivism of high-risk youths.     

Death by obstruction: sudden death resulting from impromptu ingestion of drugs

Over an 18-month period, the department of Forensic Medicine and Science at the University of Glasgow investigated four rather unusual drug-related deaths. In all cases, death was due to the obstruction of the airway by a foreign body after an attempt to evade arrest. In all cases, the obstruction was drug packages of various shapes and sizes. Results of toxicology revealed levels of drugs that may have had a significant respiratory effect on the deceased in three of the cases. Rupturing of the packages and hence leakage of drugs being conducive to death was obvious in only one case.     

Multilevel policy from the municipal perspective: A pan‐Canadian survey

Building on in‐depth case studies and extensive theory‐building by Canadian multilevel governance scholars, this article identifies and describes multilevel policy involvement by federal, provincial, municipal, private, and NGO actors in three policy phases and eighteen policy domains that specifically involve local governments in Canada. Drawing from an original pan‐Canadian survey of municipal mayors and councillors, we show that municipal politicians see multilevel policy involvement as remarkably prevalent across many policy domains. Using an original measure of multilevel policy involvement, we identify the policy domains in which policy involvement is most concentrated or fragmented and then describe the correlates of this measure. Multilevel policy involvement, we argue, is more clearly associated with policy phase and policy domain than with municipal population or region. We conclude with a discussion of implications for future research.     

Performing Ghana: the politics of being a black woman on the stage, 1966–1979

This article examines the politics of belonging for women in Ghana’s entertainment scene. As a result of instability while a series of different military and civilian leaders controlled the country between 1966 and 1979, Ghanaian women were scrutinized in local newspapers for actions that were deemed inappropriate, such as provocative dancing. Yet, these same Ghanaian journalists contradicted their own language and respectability ideals by celebrating the sexualized images and performances of Caribbean and African American women visiting Ghana during this period. By distinguishing between the actions of Ghanaian women and women of African descent, their language demonstrates that journalists prioritized national identity politics over the claims of respectability expected of all women in their country. Through the use of what I describe as ‘Ghanaianness’, a term indicating that ‘authenticity politics’ were at stake, I argue that journalists purposefully excluded diasporic women from Ghanaian belonging.     

Are Women as Likely to Take Risks and Compete? Behavioural Findings from Central Vietnam

Using controlled experiments to compare the risk attitude and willingness to compete of husbands and wives in 500 couples in rural Vietnam, we find that women are more risk averse than men and that, compared to men, women are less likely to choose to compete, irrespective of how likely they are to succeed. Relevant to development programmes concerned with lifting women out of poverty, our findings suggest that women may be more reluctant to adopt new technologies, take out loans, or engage in economic activities that offer higher expected returns, in order to avoid setups that require them to be more competitive or that have less predictable outcomes.     

The Effectiveness of Using New Instructors to Teach an LGBT Ally Development Course

We examined student responses to three new instructors who taught a lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) ally development course as described in a study by Ji, Finnessy, and Dubois (2009). Our analysis of the responses indicated that students did improve as LGBT allies in ways similar to those reported in the 2009 study. The findings suggest that the course could be disseminated provided that instructors actively encouraged students to engage in experiences that develop their LGBT ally identities.     

Sharing the Rewards,Dividing the Costs? The Electoral Consequences of Social Pacts and Legislative Reform in Western Europe

Do electoral pressures provide an explanation for why governments offer pacts to unions and employers rather than acting through legislation when faced with the need to pass potentially unpopular reforms to welfare policies, wages, and labour markets? This article addresses that question by analysing whether governments’ pursuit of pacts affects their vote share and increases the probability that they gain re-election for 16 West European countries between 1980 and 2012. It is found that the presence of social pacts has a significant and positive effect on incumbents’ vote shares at the next election and also results in a higher probability of re-election. These results are conditioned by government type: While all types of governments benefit electorally from pacts, the electoral penalties from the pursuit of unilateral legislation on policy reforms harm single-party majorities the most, minority governments moderately, and coalition majorities the least.     

North African Immigrants in Europe and Political Violence

North African communities in Europe have been the focus of unprecedented attention since the attacks of 9/11, largely thanks to the wave of arrests of North Africans on terrorism related charges across the continent. Yet very little is known about exactly who these North African militants are, what is motivating them and how and why they became attracted to radical interpretations of Islam. It is often assumed that these radicals are linked to Al Qaeda and share the same broad internationalist vision. A closer look suggests that these first generation immigrants continue to be preoccupied as much by national politics as any notion of a globalized form of Islam. Little attention has also been paid to the complex relationship between these militant elements and the wider North African communities residing in Europe. Although the War on Terror has made many North African immigrants feel increasingly uncomfortable, it has arguably also enabled the more politicized moderate parts of the Islamist community to increase their role and influence, with questionable consequences for these communities as a whole.