Testing for Bias in the Impact of AmeriCorps Service on Volunteer Participants: Evidence of Success in Achieving a Neutrality Program Objective

During its nine years of existence, AmeriCorps has had a tremendous impact on its volunteers and the communities it serves. Despite concerns expressed by the Republican congressional leadership, the Corporation for National and Community Service—the federally funded administrative organization that directs AmeriCorps programs at the national level—has made clear its intention to operate in a nonpartisan, politically neutral manner. A study of AmeriCorps programs in four western states finds the corporation is accomplishing its "neutrality" objective and is rebuilding a sense of civic–mindedness in a manner that lacks gender or racial bias—a critical element in reestablishing a strong choral society—all the while properly respecting diversity.     

Deliberative Democracy and Constitutional Review

Law and Philosophy -     

Which Contract State? Four Perspectives on Over-Outsourcing for Public Services

Since the term 'contract state' was coined over 20 years ago, there has been much discussion about the scope and limits of outsourcing and contractorisation. But attempts to fix the limits of outsourceability, using approaches such as transaction-cost analysis, the identification of inherently state functions and business-strategy ideas of 'core competences' seem fated to be indeterminate. What counts as over-outsourcing or inappropriate contractorisation depends on what basic values animate 'the' contract state. The limits of outsourcing will be different according to whether a state aims at 'steering', 'empowering', 'consumerism' or 'amoral' goals. Accordingly, a simple distinction between 'public bureaucracy state' and 'contract state' may be less important than analysis of different variants of the contract state.     

Coordinated Community Intervention for Domestic Abusers: Intervention System Involvement and Criminal Recidivism

This study examined prosecution and post-prosecution elements of a coordinated community intervention approach to male perpetrators of adult domestic violence. In a sample of 235 cases, recidivism was assessed from official criminal justice data during a 12- to 18-month period after cases were initially handled by the Baltimore, Maryland State's Attorney's Domestic Violence Unit. Court orders for domestic violence counseling were associated with significantly lower criminal recidivism for battery or violation of a civil order of protection. Lower criminal recidivism was also associated with the cumulative effects of successful prosecution, probation monitoring, receiving a court order to counseling, attending counseling intake, and completion of counseling. Individuals with greater involvement in this intervention system had lower recidivism rates, even though offenders with more extensive abuse histories experienced more intervention. Results provide qualified support for coordinated community intervention for domestic violence perpetrators.     

The United Nations and Terrorism: Rethinking Legal Tensions Between National Security, Human Rights, and Civil Liberties

As the international community responds to the September 11 attacks and the general war on terrorism, member states in the United Nations (UN) must continue to address the balance between the rights of the individual and the security of the state. This study highlights the various roles that the UN plays in combating transnational terrorism through norm setting, codification of human rights law, as well as the drafting and effective implementation of 12 key multilateral agreements aimed at counter-terrorism. In these ways, the UN provides direction and guidance for implementing human rights rules and the ways in which they should be enforced. Even so, national governments must make these rules work. In a system of sovereign states, the role of the UN organization in checking or reversing these human rights abuses remains severely limited and largely dependent upon the political will of the member states. As a consequence, part of the price paid for protecting national security against threats posed by terrorism may well be the curtailment of some human rights and civil liberties within the liberal democratic state.     

Reaffirming the significance of context: The Charlotte School Safety Program

This study reexamined the Charlotte School Safety Program, a school resource officer-delivered fear of crime reduction initiative. Initial evaluation of the program (Kenney & Watson, 1998) found increased perceptions of safety and reduced fear of crime for school youth, although structural properties of the study setting were not considered. Reanalysis of the data with a multivariate model generated qualifying findings that suggested the program may be less effective than previously determined. Minimal attention to environmental factors and the social setting reaffirmed the importance of addressing context in the criminological enterprise and the related issue of delivering empirically sound policy recommendations.