What do prisoners want? Current concerns of adult male prisoners

Abstract

Recently, positive approaches to offender rehabilitation, focusing upon offenders’ strengths, have gained prominence. Proponents have criticized existing rehabilitation models as focusing too much on offenders’ deficits. Goal perspectives, which provide a structure for therapy, may unite these two approaches. The Personal Concerns Inventory: Offender Adaptation (PCI:OA) is a semi-structured interview that identifies offenders’ current concerns or goals. The goals identified by a sample of 129 convicted adult male prisoners are reported here. A range of positive, anti-criminal goals were expressed, including stopping offending, improving self-control, finding and keeping jobs, having stable accommodation, quitting drink and drugs, changing support networks, and finding new leisure pursuits. Furthermore, prisoners expressed life-enhancing goals, such as improving their lifestyle, gaining work experience, having good family relationships, gaining skills, and getting fit and healthy. The PCI:OA may prove useful as a motivational procedure, a basis for developing positive, goal-focused interventions, and a tool for outcome evaluation.     

The Political Economy of Public Reform Adoption: Patterns in Twenty Indonesian Districts

ABSTRACT

New Public Management (NPM) reforms are often perceived as technical, with little attention to political and institutional factors. Comparing choices in 20 Indonesian districts, we explore which of four political economic factors influence uptake of NPM-based service delivery reforms. We find that democratic political competition laid the groundwork for political alliances, patterns of patronage, and party provision of benefits that condition reform choices. State-led policy entrepreneurship was evident from education agency technocrats. Public sector modernization may have increased orientation towards performance, with education reforms adopted by districts already achieving relatively good sectoral results. Health reforms were more common in districts providing greater opportunities for citizen participation. The complex interactions among the factors argue for working within these realities, rather than seeing them as impediments to be avoided in a drive for reforms. Education technocrats’ dominance, bolstered by central policy priorities, argues for more nuanced mechanisms for meeting national goals to avoid crowding out responsiveness to local citizens.     

Toward a Feminist Counter-geopolitics: Gender,Space and Islamist Politics in Istanbul

Geopolitical reasoning privileges the global scale as the locus of spatialised power relations. For the past 20 years, Islam and Islamist politics have figured prominently in geopolitical discourses of international conflict. This paper puts forth a feminist counter-geopolitics that focuses on how Islamist political practices and discourses are written into everyday life and urban spaces. Approaching political activity as comprising both formal voting behaviour and informal associational activities, this study uses survey and focus group data (collected in Istanbul in 1998/99) to explore gender and Islamist politics at national and local scales. Exploring women's activities within both formal and informal urban political spaces, the study reveals some of the ways in which women participate in the daily production and contestation of Islamist politics in Istanbul.     

Human rights practices and the Indonesian middle class

Abstract

During the New Order we have often witnessed or read in the newspapers or at least heard from various circles about KOPKAMTIB actions such as banning or ordering coverage of a story in the mass media through only a telephone call; carrying out arrests, detention, and interrogation against citizens without regard to the proper procedures delineated in law; inhumane treatment during questioning; carrying out executions performed without regard to legal procedures, more commonly known as “mysterious shootings”; undertaking “political screening” of citizens to determine their loyalty to the government as in the case of prospective nominees in the General Elections; depriving citizens of their civil rights without trial, such as forbidding signatories to the Petition of 50 to leave the country and depriving them of the ability to earn a living by instructing all agencies and state banks not to honor their requests; the arrest and detention of religious teachers and so forth. All of this has been done with the excuse that the individuals involved are suspected of engaging in extremist or other subversive acts.     

Suicide by Self‐Administration of a Drug Mixture (Propofol,Midazolam, and Zolpidem) in an Anesthesiologist: The First Case Report in Italy

The authors report an unusual case of suicide of an anesthesiologist, in which the suicide manner and means depend upon the victim's occupation. This is the first case report published in Italy of a death involving propofol and other drugs. The anesthesiologist was found dead with an empty drip still inserted in the hand and another one near his body. Forensic and toxicological findings suggested that the cause of death was a respiratory depression due to a self‐administration of a rapidly infused lethal drug mixture. Analytical drug quantification was performed by gas chromatography‐mass spectrometry. Blood analysis revealed: zolpidem (0.86 μg/mL), propofol (0.30 μg/mL), midazolam (0.08 μg/mL), thiopental (0.03 μg/mL), and amitriptyline (0.07 μg/mL). Adipose tissue and hair analysis suggested a previous and repeated use of these drugs verifying the fact that in Italy recreational abuse of anesthetic and sedative agents in health care practitioners is becoming an increasing problem.     

Epistemic Communities and the Diffusion of Ideas: Central Bank Reform in the United Kingdom

In May 1997 the incoming Labour government gave the Bank of England operational independence in the setting of interest rates. This reform is puzzling as it was introduced by a party whose roots lie with the trade union movement, and resisted by the Conservatives whose political support comes largely from business, the financial sector and homeowners who stand to benefit most from price stability. Economic ideas are central to explaining the outcome. The Labour Chancellor was convinced by an epistemic community of monetary experts that central bank independence would achieve New Labour's electoral goals. These political incentives were absent for the Conservatives, who preferred to set interest rates strategically to increase their popularity with voters.     

Deterrence and Protection in the EU’s Migration Policy

EU migration and asylum policy is facing tough challenges at the southern borders of the Union as migration and asylum pressures rise, fuelled by political instability and poverty in several regions of Asia and Africa. Current European border control practices create three spaces of control: externalised borders, through readmission and return agreements which enrol third countries in border control; the EU borders themselves through the work of Frontex and the development of a whole arsenal of technology tools for controlling mobility to and from the EU; and the Schengen area, whose regulations tend to reinforce deterrence at the borders through the Smart Border System. As a result, the EU’s balancing act between irregular migration control and protection of refugees and human life clearly tips towards the former, even if it pays lip service to the latter. More options for mobility across the Mediterranean and more cooperation for growth are essential ingredients of a sustainable migration management policy on the EU’s southern borders. In addition asylum management could benefit from EU level humanitarian visas issued at countries of origin.     

‘Cracking collaboration’ between NGOs and academics in development research

This note argues that NGOs and academics are increasingly being pushed to collaborate by their respective ‘impact’ agendas. And a growing number of individuals who traverse both worlds are advocates for a much closer relationship to facilitate the theory-data interaction that lies at the heart of knowledge creation in international development. But different cultures and institutional constraints create challenges in making this collaboration work. A number of practical pointers are outlined for overcoming these obstacles, arguing that keeping the ultimate beneficiaries in focus is the best foundation for constructing a shared agenda in development research.

« Résoudre la collaboration » entre les ONG et les universitaires dans la recherche en matière de développement

Cette note soutient que les ONG et les universitaires sont de plus en plus incités à collaborer par leurs ordres du jour liés à l'« impact » respectifs. Et un nombre croissant d'individus qui appartiennent aux deux milieux préconisent une relation beaucoup plus étroite afin de faciliter l'interaction théorie-données qui est au centre même de la création de connaissances dans le développement international. Mais les cultures différentes et les contraintes institutionnelles engendrent des difficultés au moment d'assurer le bon fonctionnement de cette collaboration. Un certain nombre de conseils pratiques sont proposés pour surmonter ces obstacles, et on soutient que la meilleure fondation pour la construction d'un ordre du jour commun dans la recherche pour le développement consiste à garder en tête qui sont les bénéficiaires.

Resolviendo las dificultades a nivel de la colaboración entre ong y académicos en la investigación para el desarrollo

La presente nota sostiene que, cada vez más, las ong y los académicos son impulsados a colaborar entre ellos debido a sus respectivas agendas de “impacto”. Asimismo, un creciente grupo de personas que conoce ambos ámbitos aboga por el establecimiento de una relación aún más estrecha, a fin de facilitar la interacción entre teoría y realidad, meollo de la creación de conocimientos en el ámbito del desarrollo internacional. Sin embargo, las diferentes culturas y las limitantes institucionales generan impedimentos para el funcionamiento de dicha colaboración. El artículo establece un bosquejo de ayudas prácticas que posibilitarían eliminar dichos impedimentos, sosteniendo que mantener presentes a los beneficiarios últimos constituye el mejor cimiento para la construcción de una agenda compartida en el ámbito de la investigación para el desarrollo.

“Colaboração com fissuras” entre ONGs e acadêmicos na pesquisa sobre desenvolvimento

Esta nota argumenta que as ONGs e os acadêmicos estão cada vez mais sendo pressionados para colaborar através de suas respectivas agendas de “impacto”. E um número crescente de indivíduos que atravessam ambos os mundos são defensores de uma relação muito mais próxima para promover a interação entre teoria-dados que permanece no centro da criação de conhecimento no desenvolvimento internacional. Mas diferentes culturas e restrições institucionais criam desafios para a realização desse trabalho de colaboração. Vários indicadores práticos são apresentados para se superar esses obstáculos, argumentando que manter em foco os beneficiários finais é a melhor base para construirmos uma agenda compartilhada na pesquisa sobre desenvolvimento.     

Public administration in hong kong: Crises and prospects

Current studies on Hong Kong public administration have overlooked three emerging crises of the administrative system -- the crises of mediocrity, the public service, and the metapolicy -- which may result in a complete collapse of the colonial regime. The analysis reveals the following. Firstly, operating within a paradoxical context, civil servants find it difficult to maximize their contribution. Hard pressed by the delimma of “to strive for excellence or to observe medicoirty,” many choose the latter. Thus, the overall performance of many Hong Kong public agencies and civil servants is unacceptable. Secondly, at the absence of a political theory which redefines the relationship between the political system and socio-economic system and thus the mission of the public service, many civil servants lack commitment to the public service and therefore the norm of medicority is reinforced. And thirdly, the government has reformulated its metapolicy in a way that system overloading is likely, thus making Citizen insubordination probable. It is conclusded that the future of Hong Kong is bleak and that remedial actions are awaiting: the first task is the quest for a new set of political ideology and public philosohgy; the next is reformulation of a new metapolicy, followed by forceful pulbic sector management reform.