The Recurring Victimization of Individuals with Mental Illness: A Comparison of Trajectories for Two Racial Groups

Objective

This study explores whether the trajectories of recurring victimization of Black persons diagnosed with major mental illnesses vary from the trajectories of their White counterparts. Further, the study examines whether the risk factors for recurring victimization among persons with major mental illness vary by race.

Methods

Using data from the MacArthur Violence Risk Assessment Study (MacRisk), two separate hierarchical binomial regression models were estimated to compare the recurring victimization trajectories of Black and White MacRisk participants. Cross-level interaction terms were also estimated to determine if the coefficients for each of the time-varying covariates included in the analyses were significantly different across race.

Results

The findings indicate that the trajectories of recurring victimization for Black persons with serious mental illness are significantly different from those of White persons with serious mental illness. Specifically, Black persons’ trajectories remain relatively stable over time, while the risk of recurring victimization declines for Whites as time since release from the hospital increases. Further, the effects of alcohol abuse on revictimization risk vary by race.

Conclusion

The findings suggest that the life experiences of Black persons with mental illness may be different from their White counterparts, which is likely to contribute to distinct patterns of recurring victimization over time. Future research should continue to explore recurring victimization among diverse samples to identify potential sources of the variation in revictimization trajectories across race.

     

A field study of adult witness interviewing practices in a Canadian police organization

Purpose. The current study examined witness interviewing practices in a Canadian police organization. The effect of interviewer, interviewee, and interview characteristics on those practices was also examined. Method. Ninety witness interviews from a Canadian police organization were coded for the following interviewing practices: types of questions asked (i.e. open‐ended, probing, closed‐ended, clarification, multiple, leading, opinion/statement, and re‐asked), the number of interruptions, percentage of words spoken by interviewer, type of pre‐interview instructions (consequential vs. generic), and whether or not a free narrative was requested (and when requested during the interview). Characteristics pertaining to the interviewer (e.g. primary interviewer's age), interviewee (e.g. witness gender), and interview (e.g. crime type) were also coded. Results. Results showed that closed‐ended and probing questions were the most widely asked questions, and that open‐ended questions were asked relatively infrequently. It was also found that the 80–20 talking rule was violated in 89% of the interviews, interviewers rarely interrupted the witnesses, and free narratives were requested often. Overall, the effect of interviewer, interview, or interviewee characteristics on interviewing practices was minimal. Conclusions. The finding that scientifically prescribed interviewing practices are employed rarely by Canadian police officers highlights a need for increased professional interviewing training. The finding that practices are largely unaffected by personal and situational factors suggests that such training would be equally beneficial for all types of interviewers, interviewees, and contexts.     

O.D. at the U.N.: facilitating global change

Expanding our OD horizons to the global level means not only carrying abroad what we know, but also being sensitive to diverse clients who may operate from cultural assumptions very different from our own. Both formal and informal change is possible at international gatherings if practitioners follow a few key guidelines. Seven such observations are discussed by the author, who includes a discussion of “expert” and “process” consultation methods. The article concludes that OD skills are needed in the international arena, but are often unappreciated or unknown. Hence, OD professionals must be educators in addition to their interpersonal practice of superior communication skills.

OD is only beginning to stretch its full imaginative power and practice to the international arena, as is reflected in my experiences at a conference of 122 countries held at the United Nations in Vienna, Austria. The conference was the first convening of nations to discuss the topic of old age in light of the policy and organizational implications of global demographic change.     

Are civil servants really public servants? a study of bureaucratic attitudes in the U.S., brazil,and korea

The proper role of civil servants in the development of public policy has been the subject of continuous commentary and debate. In the advanced industrial democracies the operation of increasingly complex programs in government has led many commentators to warn of the danger of “technocracy”-- a condition wherein professional career administrators more fully control the direction of public policy than do elected representatives of the people. Likewise, in less developed nations there is concern over the role of public administrators in the development of policy. The charge of indifference to and disregard for public involvement and sentiment is frequently heard. Using data from a survey conducted in the U.S., Korea and Brazil, this paper examines the extent to which civil servants in each country adhere to a technocratic outlook. We find that although societies that are more economically advanced are less likely to adhere to a technocratic view, there is considerable variation within each research setting. Specifically, we find that technocratic orientations are more likely to be held by men, those who hold more materialist value orientations and those holding managerial occupations.     

From a Rhetoric of Nostalgia to a Health-Based Policy: Tobacco,Obesity and the WTO

The globalisation of health demands a multilateral response. Instead of the developed world pursuing agricultural policies oriented towards propping up declining sectors of their economies, a better approach would put health concerns as a top priority. The new Framework Convention on Tobacco Control is a good example of a useful global agreement to promote health. This approach could be replicated in a multilateral framework to control obesity.     

Decide your time: Testing deterrence theory's certainty and celerity effects on substance-using probationers

Background

Bolstered by the initial effectiveness of programs such as Hawaii's Project HOPE, the resurgence in practical applications of deterrence theory has focused on certainty and swiftness of punishment. Following this theoretical trend, Delaware's Decide Your Time (DYT) program was designed to manage high risk substance-using probationers by focusing on the certainty of detection through frequent drug tests and graduated but not severe sanctions.

Objective

This paper, stemming from a larger process evaluation of DYT, reports on the theoretical development and implementation issues involved in instituting such a program in a large, urban probation department.

Methods

Data for the current effort consisted of notes taken at DYT management and staff meetings, interviews with key informants, and observational fieldwork.

Results

The evaluation demonstrated that judicial practices, client eligibility, logistics, and cooperation with secure facilities all posed noteworthy issues for program implementation. Perhaps just as important is the willingness of the program managers to listen to front line officers and make necessary changes to ensure the program's effectiveness and efficiency.

Conclusion

This study suggests that the design of similar programs should carefully consider the local legal structure and the policies and practices of the corrections institutions, treatment providers, and probation department.     

Crisis intervention team officer dispatch, assessment, and disposition: Interactions with individuals with severe mental illness

The Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) model is a specialized police response program for people in a mental illness crisis. We analyzed 2174 CIT officers' reports from one community, which were completed during a five year period. These officers' reports described interactions with people presumed to be in a mental illness crisis. We used hierarchical logistic and multinomial regression analyses to compare transport to treatment to either transport to jail or no transport by how the calls were dispatched. The results revealed that both dispatch codes and officers' on-scene assessments influenced transport decisions. Specifically, calls dispatched as suspected suicide were more likely to be transported to treatment than calls dispatched as mental disturbance. Furthermore, calls dispatched as calls for assistance, disturbance, suspicious person, assault, suspicion of a crime, and to meet a citizen were all less likely than mental disturbance calls to result in transportation to treatment. Officer assessments of the use of substances, being off medications, signs and symptoms of mental or physical illness, and violence to self or others were associated with the likelihood of being transported to treatment. These results build on previous work that demonstrated differences in transport decisions between CIT trained and non-CIT trained officers.     

Simply Criminal: Predicting Burglars’ Occupancy Decisions with a Simple Heuristic

Rational choice theories of criminal decision making assume that offenders weight and integrate multiple cues when making decisions (i.e., are compensatory). We tested this assumption by comparing how well a compensatory strategy called Franklin’s Rule captured burglars’ decision policies regarding residence occupancy compared to a non-compensatory strategy (i.e., Matching Heuristic). Forty burglars each decided on the occupancy of 20 randomly selected photographs of residences (for which actual occupancy was known when the photo was taken). Participants also provided open-ended reports on the cues that influenced their decisions in each case, and then rated the importance of eight cues (e.g., deadbolt visible) over all decisions. Burglars predicted occupancy beyond chance levels. The Matching Heuristic was a significantly better predictor of burglars’ decisions than Franklin’s Rule, and cue use in the Matching Heuristic better corresponded to the cue ecological validities in the environment than cue use in Franklin’s Rule. The most important cue in burglars’ models was also the most ecologically valid or predictive of actual occupancy (i.e., vehicle present). The majority of burglars correctly identified the most important cue in their models, and the open-ended technique showed greater correspondence between self-reported and captured cue use than the rating over decision technique. Our findings support a limited rationality perspective to understanding criminal decision making, and have implications for crime prevention.