Predicting police behavior: Ecology,class, and autonomy

Social ecological theories of crime have recently been extended to explain spatial variation in police behavior. Although these theories successfully identify community characteristics affecting local policing, they fail to acknowledge the class-based origins of formal social control and the relative autonomy of the police. This paper addresses the neglected class issue by integrating social ecological and critical theories in a model of police behavior. Cross-sectional data was obtained from twenty-five police agencies’ vice divisions and their corresponding jurisdictions to test the integrated hypothesis. Four social ecological variables and a fiscal measure of relative autonomy are examined as police behavior predictors. Findings reveal that both the autonomy measure and three of the social ecological variables explain significant variance in police behavior, thus supporting the inclusion of structural Marxism in a general theory of police behavior.     

Personality correlates of men who batter and nonviolent men: Some continuities and discontinuities

The present study investigated personality and family-of-origin differences among three groups of domestically violent men and a nonviolent comparison group, matched for age and education. The domestic violence groups consisted of male batterers referred for treatment (agency identified batterers) who were alcoholic (n=38) or nonalcoholic (n=61), and a third group who were identified through community sampling as maritally violent (n=28 community batterers). Multivariate analyses of variance of the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI) showed that, compared to nonviolent controls, alcoholic and nonalcoholic batterers showed higher levels of borderline characteristics. Furthermore, alcoholic batterers showed the highest MCMI elevations, followed by nonalcoholic batterers. Community-identified batterers showed no predicted significant differences from the nonviolent controls. On measures of family-of-origin pathology and disruption, only alcoholic batterers differed significantly from nonbatterers on report of both experienced and witnessed abuse victimization.Based on a paper presented in: A. Holtzworth-Monroe (Chair)Research on Marital Violence: What We Know, How We Can Apply It. Symposium presented at the meeting of the Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy, New York, November 19, 1988.     

The Perceptions of Academic Lawyers Concerning the Effects of the United Kingdom's Research Assessment Exercise

In this article, the authors analyse quantitative and qualitative data compiled from a large-scale postal survey of legal academics concerning the United Kingdom's Research Assessment Exercise. The purpose of the study was to measure the attitudes of academic lawyers affected by the RAE rating process and institutional responses to that process. The study reveals that a substantial number of respondents lack faith in the objectivity of the rating process, believe institutional responses to the RAE have caused damage to academic working environments, and perceive that the RAE has failed to improve the quality of legal research.     

Interparental Conflict and Late Adolescents' Sensitization to Conflict: The Moderating Effects of Emotional Functioning and Gender

The present study examined the extent to which individuals exposed to frequent and intense interparental conflict (IPC) across childhood and adolescence are sensitized to conflict during late adolescence. Late adolescents' perceptions of their exposure to IPC while growing up were examined in relation to their self-reported emotional and social-cognitive reactions to simulated conflict. Emotional functioning and gender were expected to moderate the relations of IPC to late adolescents' reactions. IPC exposure had stronger effects on the negative emotional reactions of adolescents low in emotional functioning and males than on the emotional reactions of adolescents higher in emotional functioning and females, respectively. Moreover, IPC was positively related to females' negative beliefs about conflict implications but unrelated to males' beliefs. Results are discussed in terms of the sensitization hypothesis and gender differences in sensitivity to conflict.     

“Man plans,God laughs”: Canada's national strategy for protecting critical infrastructure

Critical Infrastructure Protection seeks to enhance the physical and cyber‐security of key public and private assets and mitigate the effects of natural disasters, industrial accidents and terrorist attacks. In 2009, several Canadian governments published the National Strategy and Action Plan for Critical Infrastructure (NS&AP), a framework for governments and the owners and operators of critical infrastructure – largely in the private sector – to collaborate on the security and increased resiliency of Canada's critical assets. Drawing on the social science risk literature, audits, and a three‐year research and education project, this article argues that the strategy of relationship building, collaborative risk management and information sharing is under‐developed and limited by market competition, incompatible institutional cultures, and legal, logistical and political constraints. The NS&AP should better delineate risks and identify how governments can work with industry, and acknowledge the paradox between trust and transparency, the role of small‐ and medium‐sized enterprise, and how risk management processes can vary.     

Social Health Insurance and the Use of Formal and Informal Care in Developing Countries: Evidence from Ghana’s National Health Insurance Scheme

This paper studies the relationship between the use of formal and informal health care in a developing country setting by examining the introduction of a social health insurance scheme in Ghana. We estimate the effects of gaining coverage on changes in care seeking behaviour and show how these effects differ by age and wealth status. District-level differences in the implementation of the insurance scheme provide exogenous variation in access to insurance and allow us to address issues with selection into coverage. Results indicate that insurance access strongly increased use of formal care and reduced out-of-pocket expenditures on health services.