Moral strangers or fellow travellers? Contemporary perspectives on offender rehabilitation

This article is a response to the two previous articles in this issue (Polaschek, 2012, and McNeill, 2012), which make up the hot topic debate on offender rehabilitation.     

Social learning and self-control: assessing the moderating potential of criminal propensity

Social learning theory is one of the most prominent general theories of crime. Yet recent research has called into question its applicability to all offenders. Specifically, the influence of antisocial peers has been found to exert a stronger effect among those individuals evincing higher levels of criminal propensity (deemed social amplification), whereas other components of the theory have either not been shown to interact with criminal propensity or not been tested. This study examines several social learning theory components to determine whether its influence is dependent on an individual's level of self-control. Results suggest little support for the social amplification hypothesis as the components of social learning theory were found to operate similarly across individuals regardless one's level of self-control. Implications for criminological theory are discussed.     

Assessing desistance in child molesters: a qualitative analysis

The aim of the study was to investigate the process of desistance from sexual crime by comparing two groups of child molesters: One group was deemed to be desisting, while men in the other group were deemed as being still potentially active offenders. Men in the desisting group reported being optimistic for the future, reported an enhanced sense of personal agency and a more internalized locus of control, and identified treatment as being a turning point in their lives. In comparison, men in the active group were found to be more pessimistic and were more likely to blame external events, or situations, for their problems. One of the most striking findings of the research was that the desisting group had found a place within a social group or network, unlike the still potentially active offenders who all described a life of social isolation and alienation.     

Appraising Canada's 1979 Indian Health Policy: Informing co-development of distinctions-based Indigenous health legislation

Aiming to improve the health of First Nations in 1979, the federal government implemented the Indian Health Policy to strengthen community development and the relationship with First Nations peoples, and nurture a trilateral relationship in the healthcare landscape. The Indian Health Policy remains the foundation for First Nations health policy and program development today, even without ever having an implementation plan. We critically appraise the Indian Health Policy to identify gaps and evaluate its impact and progress on subsequent policy evaluations, developments, and recent events in light of the new distinctions-based Indigenous health legislation underway. Based on our findings, we provide recommendations to inform the federal government's efforts to co-develop distinctions-based Indigenous health legislation.     

Colonia Housing Conditions in Model Subdivisions: A Déjà Vu for Policy Makers

The informal self-help settlements in Texas known as colonias have received considerable attention as a public policy problem at both the state and federal levels. These settlements proliferated throughout the border region since the late 1970s and research has highlighted the extreme poverty, austere levels of infrastructure, exploitative land sale practices, and poor housing conditions that characterized these settlements. However, both scholars and policymakers have overlooked the continued spread of self-help settlements known as “model subdivisions,” which barring the presence of basic water, wastewater, and electricity services, are nearly identical to colonias. We present the results of household surveys conducted with residents in 24 model subdivisions in Hidalgo County, Texas, in June 2014. The results suggest that, unbeknown to legislators, many of the problems that characterized colonias are now being reproduced in hundreds of model subdivisions that have formed since the 1990s, and which now require concerted attention and intervention by policy makers.