Measuring the subjective perceptions of risks and rewards of Chinese juvenile thieves

Offenders’ readiness to engage in changes that will reduce their risk of reoffending is now recognized to be as important as the design and delivery of programmes that support such change. Interest is growing in both how to increase engagement in change processes, and how to measure any improvements in engagement. This study evaluated the effects of a brief offending-focused motivational interviewing (MI) intervention on reconviction in male prisoners serving sentences for diverse crimes. Men who undertook MI were significantly less likely to be reconvicted than those who did not. The results also served to validate a stage-based measure of readiness to change derived from Prochaska and DiClemente's Transtheoretical Model. Prisoners who were offered MI increased their readiness to change by an average of one stage, while the scores of men who were not remained unchanged. Furthermore – whether men undertook MI or not – change in stage of change predicted reconviction. This was a high-risk sample, making the results intriguing for at least two reasons. First, reductions in recidivism are usually achieved only with much more intensive programmes for high-risk men. Second, according to ‘traditional’ cognitive–behavioural rehabilitation theory, programmes need to target change in dynamic risk factors directly to reduce reconviction risk. That these results were obtained with men whose initial motivation was low, and in the absence of any ‘traditional’ criminogenic rehabilitation, raises questions about whether there is more than one mechanism involved in desistance.     

Paradoxical and double-bind communication in treatment for people who sexually offend

Abstract

At its most fundamental structural level, treatment for people who sexually offend has inherently paradoxical elements. These involve questions about efficacy, the balance of community safety and client autonomy and responsibility for meaningful change. These elements can create further forms of paradoxical and double-bind communication within the treatment experience itself. This paper explores this communication and its potentially harmful effects on clients, therapy and community safety, particularly in light of the schemas, implicit theories and cognitive deficits exhibited by people with histories of sexually offending behaviour. It is intended to suggest topics for consideration in solving clinical dilemmas and preventing harm to therapeutic relationships.     

Interest‐group politics in France and Ireland: Comparative perspectives on neo‐corporation

An examination of a range of interest‐groups in France and Ireland shows that there are numerous types of involvement in decision‐making processes and that groups display considerable differences in priorities and strategies both as between groups and over time. The nature of governmental response also varies in a similar fashion. The findings are interpreted against neo‐corporatist theory and its variants of sectoral and meso‐corpor‐atism. The conclusion is that neither corporatist nor pluralist models properly fit the situation of the two countries and that an adequate theory will have to take into account both modes of explanation as well as allowing for the volatility and evolutionary potential of interest‐group behaviour.     

Economic Engagement and Nuclear Security in Asia

Abstract

Economic engagement and nuclear security are two key contemporary issues on the Asian security landscape. The development of US economic and strategic ties with India is symbolic of Washington's general pivot towards Asia, and the US-India nuclear pact, which combined economic and strategic aspects, and also highlights the potentially growing interest in nuclear energy. This review essay examines these economic and nuclear aspects of Asian security, points out problems and prospects concerning the governance of nuclear weapon programs, and the commercial industry's role in managing nuclear proliferation.     

Literary feature reviews

Intentions and realisation in the narratives of Nawal El‐Saadawi

Memoirs of a Woman Doctor Nawal El‐Saadawi Translated from the Arabic by Catherine Cobham London: Saqi Books. 1988. 101pp. £9.95hb/£3.50pb

The Fall of the Imam Nawal El‐Saadawi Translated from the Arabic by Sherif Hetata London: Methuen. 1988. 175pp. £10.95hb

Woman Against Her Sex: a critique of Nawal El‐Saadawi Georges Tarabishi (with a reply by Nawal El‐Saadawi) Translated from the Arabic by Basil Hatim and Elisabeth Orsini London: Saqi Books. 1988. 232pp. £20.00hb/£8.95pb

Es'kia Mphahlele: A divided self?

Renewal Time Es'kia Mphahlele London: Readers International. 1988. 215pp. £9.95hb/£4.95pb     

Literary reviews

Thinly‐veiled autobiography

The Enigma of Arrival. V S Naipaul, London: Viking. 1987. 318pp. £10.95hb

Unmasking Mexico

The Good Conscience. Carlos Fuentes, London: André Deutsch. 1986. 148pp. £8.95hb/£3.95pb

A Change of Skin. Carlos Fuentes, London: André Deutsch. 1986. 462pp. £6.95pb

The Old Gringo. Carlos Fuentes, London: André Deutsch. 1986. 199pp. £8.95

Alternative realities: novels from Brazil

Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands. Jorge Amado, London: Serpent's Tail. 1986. 553pp

High Art. Rubem Fonseca, London: William Collins Sons. 1987. 345pp. £9.95

Maíra. Darcy Ribeiro, London: Picador, Pan Books, 1985. 353pp. £3.50

Perceptions of Nicaragua

To Bury Our Fathers. Sergio Ramirez, London: Readers International. 1984. 253pp. £5.95pb

Stories. Sergio Ramirez, London: Readers International. 1986. 118pp. £3.95pb

The Jaguar Smile: A Nicaraguan Journey. Salman Rushdie, London: Picador. 1987. 171pp. £2.95pb

The double yoke: women's writing from the Third World

Other Fires: Stories from the Women of Latin America. Edited by Alberto Manguel, London: Picador. 1986. 222pp. £3.50pb

Unheard Words: Women and Literature in Africa, The Arab World, Asia, the Caribbean and Latin America. Edited by Mineke Schipper, London and New York: Allison and Busby. 1985. 288pp. £4.95pb

A Double Colonization: Colonial and Post‐Colonial Women's Writing. Edited by Kirsten Hoist Petersen & Anna Rutherford London: Dangaroo Press. 1986. 188pp. £15.95hb/£8.95pb

Future landscapes

A Sport of Nature. Nadine Gordimer, London: Jonathan Cape. 1987. 396pp. £10.95hb

A Land Apart: A South African Reader. Edited by André Brink and J M Coetzee, London: Faber and Faber. 1986. 256pp. £9.50hb

Satires of class and power

Out of India. Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, London: John Murray. 1987. 288pp. £10.95hb

Rich Like Us. Nayantara Sahgal, London: Hodder and Stoughton. 1987. 268pp. £3.95pb

The oil of acceptance

Talkative Man. R K Narayan, London: William Heinemann. 1986. 123pp. £7.95hb

Occupied Palestine: the writer as eyewitness

The Secret Life of Saeed: The Pessoptimist. Emile Habiby, London: Zed. 1985. 169pp. £9.95hb/£3.95pb

Wild Thorns. Sahar Khalifeh, London: Al Saqi. 1985. 207pp. £3.95pb

Poetry and politics

Modern Poetry of the Arab World. Translated and edited by Abdullah al‐Udhari, London: Penguin. 1986. 154pp. £3.95pb

Spanning Muslim Literature

The Worlds of Muslim Imagination. Edited by Alamgir Hashmi, Islamabad: Gulmohar. 1986. 270pp. $12.95hb

Pakistani Literature. Edited by Alamgir Hashmi, Islamabad: Gulmohar. 1987. 107pp. $10.00hb     

The Identification of Spiromesifen,a Recently Introduced Pesticide,Using Approaches to Chemical Unknown Analysis

An unknown, viscous, opaque, white liquid with a strong, unpleasant odor was submitted with a request for identification. It was analyzed using infrared (IR) spectroscopy, gas chromatography–mass spectrometry, and X‐ray fluorescence spectroscopy. It was found to contain glycerin as well as another compound. IR and mass spectral data were readily obtained for this second component, but it was not easily identified as common instrument libraries had no matching spectra. After an extensive literature search, the unknown compound was identified as spiromesifen, a recently introduced pesticide. The IR spectrum and electron impact mass spectrum of spiromesifen are presented here as these are not available in the published literature. This case report also provides useful approaches for searching for and identifying an unknown compound when it is not found in a laboratory's spectral libraries.     

Secure pathways for women in the UK: lessons from the women’s enhanced medium secure services (WEMSS) pilots

Abstract

Women’s enhanced medium secure services (WEMSS) is a model of care aimed at providing a more appropriate level of security for women and, in so doing, reducing the number of women in high secure psychiatric services. In 2007, three Department of Health commissioned WEMSS pilots became operational. This study compared the clinical outcomes of women in WEMSS with control women in six standard medium secure services and one high secure service matched on key clinical and risk characteristics, in order to examine their pathways of care. Our findings confirm that the WEMSS pilots were successful in transitioning women from high secure services who had previously been thought unsuitable for medium secure services. However, WEMSS showed no additional clinical benefit, suggesting that these women could be cared for equally well within standard medium secure services. We make recommendations about WEMSS and the future shape of women’s secure care in England.     

An empirical examination of product counterfeiting crime impacting the U.S. military

Counterfeit parts in the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) supply chain threaten national security by compromising critical military operations and placing the lives of military service members at risk. With the goal of illustrating the nature of the risk as it relates to types of counterfeit parts, how they entered the supply chain, and were identified and processed through the criminal justice system, we assemble and analyze open-source information on criminal schemes involving counterfeits in the DOD supply chain. We utilize the Product Counterfeiting Database (PCD) to capture every indicted scheme linked to the DOD and describe characteristics of the schemes, offenders, and victims. These data provide empirical insights into the counterfeiting of parts and equipment in the DOD supply chain. We conclude with an overview of key issues to consider when weighing opportunities for product counterfeiting as well as implications for policy and practice.