Restoring Choice: The Relationship Between Offense Seriousness,Intervening Time,and Victims’ Responses to the Offer of Restorative Interventions

This study investigates victims’ responses to the offer of involvement in a restorative intervention. It tests the hypotheses that victims’ choices are related to the seriousness of the offense (H1), and that this relationship is moderated by how long after the offense the restorative intervention is offered (H2). A cross-sectional, between-subjects design was used, drawing on data from 256 offenses collected for operational purposes by a restorative justice service. Victims of medium-seriousness offenses were most likely to choose indirect and direct reparation. Intervening time moderated the relationship between seriousness and victim choice: victims of low-seriousness offenses became more likely to choose community reparation with time, victims of medium-seriousness offenses became less likely to choose direct or indirect reparation, and there was no change with time for victims of the most serious offenses. These results suggest nonlinear relationships between seriousness, intervening time, and victim choice. Although more complex and in different directions than anticipated, they lend some support to both hypotheses. The study highlights qualitative differences between types of restorative interventions, points to a significant disparity between victims’ choices and processes the literature suggests are of most benefit, and raises questions regarding when and how restorative interventions should be offered.     

Using equations from power indices to analyze figure skating teams

Power indices were originally developed to measure voting power. However, Saari and Sieberg (Games Econ Behav 36:241–263, 2001) and Saari (Chaotic elections, American Mathematical Society, Providence, 2001a) have suggested that the equations from power indices could potentially be used in some sports contexts as a way of evaluating athletes. This article explores this idea in the context of figure skating. The International Skating Union developed team events in figure skating for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia and for other major competitions. In this article, we show how the Shapley–Shubik and Banzhaf indices can be used to analyze contributions of athletes to their countries’ teams in figure skating team events. We illustrate this approach by analyzing the results from the 2014 Winter Olympic Games figure skating team event. We also discuss some ways in which the numbers assigned by the equations from power indices can be used in the figure skating context.     

The Developmental Unfolding of Sibling Influences on Alcohol Use over Time

Research has long demonstrated that siblings are similar in their alcohol use, however much of this work relies on cross-sectional samples or samples of adolescents alone and/or exclusive focus on older siblings’ impact on younger siblings. Using a three time-point design from early adolescence to early adulthood (M ages?=?14.9, 18.3, and 22.4 years, respectively; 55% female; 54% European ancestry, 38% Asian ancestry), we evaluated the prospective older and younger sibling influences on alcohol use across time (N?=?613 sibling pairs; 35% sisters, 26% brothers, 39% mixed-gender; average age difference?=?2.34 years; 34% full-biological siblings, 46% genetically-unrelated adopted siblings, 20% pairs where one child was the biological offspring of parents and the other was adopted). The results from both the traditional and random-intercept cross-lagged panel analyses showed that older siblings’ alcohol use predicted younger siblings’ alcohol use across each developmental transition and across a variety of sibling contexts (e.g., gender composition, age difference, genetic relatedness). On the other hand, younger siblings’ alcohol use only predicted older siblings’ alcohol use when siblings were close in age (1.5 years or less) and under conditions of high sibling companionship. These results add to a body of literature illustrating how both older and younger siblings are important socializing agents of adolescent and early adult alcohol use. Assessing or co-treating siblings for alcohol problems may be an important add-on to existing adolescent and early adult alcohol prevention and intervention programs.     

弱关系、强关系:墨西哥移民中的网络原则

移民过程一般是通过亲属网络和社会网络来策划安排的,原来居住于同一社区的移民在目的地的扩散与集聚,基本遵循五条有关移民网络及其动力学的相关原则:第一,网络是多区域性的。第二,移民们在移入目的地找到工作的工作地点构成了移民在当地的落脚点。第三,通向新的目的地的途径常常是通过"弱关系的力量"而得到的。第四,紧密网络和松散的、弱关系的或熟人的网络均构成其成员的"社会资本"。第五,移民在工作地点和工作类型的地理扩散与集聚受紧密关系网络成员(特别是近亲属)招工的影响。     

Thesen zur Reform des Föderalismus der Bundesrepublik Deutschland

Der vorliegende Beitrag skizziert die besonderen Strukturen des deutschen F?deralismus, hebt seine Leistungen hervor, benennt seine Schw?chen, er?rtert seinen Reformbedarf und diskutiert die Chancen seiner Reform. Es wird gezeigt, dass eine Strukturreform des F?deralismus in Deutschland aufgrund von politisch-institutionellen Bedingungen besonders schwierig ist. Deshalb kann nur ein Teil des Reformbedarfs mit Aussicht auf Erfolg zum politischen Thema gemacht und in Reformvorhaben umgesetzt werden. Das bel?sst erhebliche Lücken zwischen Reformbedarf und Reformf?higkeit. Allerdings sind die Reformgrenzen mit den Leistungen des deutschen F?deralismus zu verrechnen. Diese Leistungen sind beachtlich, wie der internationale Vergleich und das Erreichen f?deralismusspezifischer Ziele, insbesondere Machtaufteilung und Integration, aber auch Einbindung der Opposition zeigen. überhaupt nicht gerüstet ist der F?deralismus (und mit ihm die Politik insgesamt) dafür, ein hochwahrscheinliches — aber derzeit kaum beachtetes — Folgeproblem des „sozialen Bundesstaates“ der Bundesrepublik zu bew?ltigen: Die Finanzierungslasten ihres leistungsstarken Sozialstaats erzeugen bedrohliche Engp?sse in der Finanzierung ?ffentlicher Ausgaben jenseits der Sozialpolitik.     

Die ostasiatische Moderne – eine Moderne „eigener“ Art?

The article casts doubt on the claim of Eisenstadt and other culturalists that East Asia constitutes a distinct modernity, one that differs fundamentally from Western modernity. Following a brief reconstruction of key modernization theoretical premises against which this claim is directed, it compares the five largest Western countries with the currently most advanced exemplars of East Asian modernity. The findings show that the two regions are remarkably similar in virtually all respects that matter from a modernization theoretical viewpoint. The article then goes on to assess the relevance of the evidence held against modernization theory by Eisenstadt and his followers. As it turns out, this evidence presents no challenge to modernization theory whatsoever. Moreover, its epistemological status is dubious given that multiple modernists lack a sufficiently worked-out theory of modernity in whose light the social theoretic significance of empirical observations could be assessed. Drawing upon the differentiation theoretical tradition, an alternative approach is outlined that addresses multiple modernists’ substantive concerns without falling into the trap of essentializing diversity. However, utilizing this approach for the comparison between Western and East Asian modernity subverts the very idea of a uniform West against which the notion of a distinctly East Asian modernity is posited.     

Zum politischen Leistungsprofil der Schweiz: Thesen zur Erklärung einer Erfolgsgeschichte aus dem Blickwinkel des internationalen Vergleichs

Im OECD‐Länder‐Vergleich erreicht die Schweiz bei zentralen Indikatoren des politischen Leistungsprofils Spitzenwerte, beispielsweise bei der Arbeitslosenquote, der Inflationsrate und dem Schuldendienst für die Staatsschulden. Wie diese Erfolgsgeschichte zu erklären ist, wird in diesem Essay anhand der Jahre von 1990 bis 2012 erörtert, und zwar unter Heranziehung von Hypothesen und Daten zu schweizspezifischen Erklärungen und von Erklärungsansätzen, die die Schweiz mit anderen wohlhabenden Demokratien vergleichen. Als Schlüsselgrößen erweisen sich – neben institutionellen, prozessualen und akteursbezogenen Eigenheiten der Schweiz – insbesondere die Variablen politikfeldspezifischer Erklärungen (wie Zentralbankautonomie, Verteilungskonflikt und fiskalpolitische Fragmentierung) sowie sozialpartnerschaftliche Arbeitsbeziehungen und Parteieneffekte.