Changing How the System Responds to Status Offenders: Connecticut's Families with Service Needs Initiative

Concerned by the number of status offenders in secure detention and the processing of noncriminal behavior through the juvenile and family courts, Connecticut began efforts to reform their approach to troubled and troublesome youth in 2005 (Weithorn, 2005). Between 2005 and 2007, Connecticut enacted a series of legislative changes to both improve services for troubled youth and Families with Service Needs (FWSN), and achieve systematic reforms for processing status offenses. At a systems level, the reforms sought to divert non‐criminal behaviors from formal court processing and prevent secure confinement for status offenders who violated court orders related to their behavior. Connecticut's attempt at second‐order, or system change, is the focus of this outcome evaluation.     

Where are all the victims?

Research Summary The passage of new laws that criminalize the trafficking of persons for labor and sexual services has raised public awareness about the problem of human trafficking. In response, police must understand the problem, identify human trafficking victims, and make arrests. The numbers of victims identified to date, however, has paled in comparison with official estimates, which leads some to question the existence of a human trafficking problem. Missing from this debate is information about how frequently police encounter human trafficking and how well prepared officers are to handle these cases. Analyzing survey responses from a national sample of police agencies in the United States, we found that less than 10% of police agencies identified human trafficking cases from 2000 to 2006. Larger agencies were more likely to identify cases of human trafficking but the agency leader perception about the problem in their local communities as well as taking steps to prepare officers to identify and respond were the most important factors to increasing human trafficking identification by police. Policy Implications This study provides much needed information about why U.S. officials have identified so few human trafficking victims. By understanding how often and under what conditions police find, investigate, and prosecute cases of human trafficking we will be in a better position to identify and overcome barriers to police responses to trafficking and understand the limitations of official statistics about human trafficking. Data from a national survey also provide a baseline measure of police identification of human trafficking against which we can gauge the progress of future anti-trafficking efforts.     

A Chinese movie mogul and the transformation of his movie empire—the Loke Wan Tho family and the Cathay Organisation in Southern China and Southeast Asia (1915–2000)*

The Cathay Organisation was a household name in the Chinese film industry. At its peak, it operated 75 cinemas and two movie studios, with a film distribution network spanning Malaysia, Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, as well as Europe and Latin America. In the public’s mind, Cathay was synonymous with its charismatic founder, Loke Wan Tho (1915–1964). Well versed in literature and ornithology, Loke appeared as a British gentleman, always meticulously dressed and elegantly mannered in his dealings with political leaders and movie celebrities. But underneath its gracious surface, Cathay was constantly struggling to sustain itself against problems that arose due to its rapid expansion. Although Cathay often produced impressive movies with graceful stars, high production costs could not be supported by the box-office revenues. By tracing the transformation of Cathay, this article will examine the dynamics of a Chinese family business in its attempt to survive amidst political chaos in Southeast Asia. Surviving generational succession, corporate consolidation and waves of political crises, Cathay’s story not only mirrors the transformation of an overseas Chinese family business over the past 100 years but also reflects a larger historical picture.     

Sustainability Education’s Long March

China’s long-standing commitment to sustainable development is reflected by a decade of ongoing reform to the college entrance examination system and the inclusion of sustainability education in the     

Examining Dose–Response Relationships Between Childhood Victimization,Depression, Symptoms of Psychosis,and Substance Misuse for Incarcerated Women

The current study uses the dose–response model to examine the relationships between childhood victimization events and subsequent depression, symptoms of psychosis, and substance misuse in a sample of 230 randomly selected incarcerated women in the United States. Results on the frequency of victimization were mixed. In this sample, both frequency of physical abuse and frequency of sexual abuse significantly predicted current symptoms of psychosis, but only frequency of physical abuse significantly predicted substance misuse. Incarcerated women who experienced multivictimization were 5.7 times as likely to report depression, 4.2 times as likely to report current symptoms of psychosis, and 3.8 times as likely to meet criteria for a substance use disorder. Results indicate that adjusting prison-based interventions to address multivictimization may improve outcomes and reduce recidivism among this population.