WORKING IN WHITEHALL: CHANGES IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION 1952–1982

There have been significant changes in public administration over the past thirty years, both internal to Whitehall and in its relationship to the outside world. The author offers a personal assessment based on his working experience. By taking a series of 'landmark reports published over that period he charts the extent to which they influenced, or reflected, changes in the character and style of public administration and in the general climate of public opinion within which the civil service works. He concludes that Whitehall today is better equipped than it used to be in its range of professional expertise and management techniques, but that it also faces a more sceptical and demanding audience. The next ten years may see the development of a style of public administration in which the traditional administrative skills are merged with the newer managerial concern for efficiency and effectiveness. But greater competence also requires improvements in the ways in which policy is formulated and its effects evaluated.     

THE NEUTRALIZATION OF CRIMINAL OFFENSE

A previously untested proposition from Sykes and Matza's neutralization theory is that certain types of offenders will favor certain types of neutralizing excuses. Murderers, for example. may tend toward denial of responsibility or denial of the victim. A competing hypothesis, derived from Hindelang's challenges to neutralization and drift theories, is that offenders would favor excuses keyed to offenses similar to their own. Robbers, for example, may favor excuses for robbery over excuses for other offenses. regardless of the content of the excuses themselves. The data presented in this article, based on o survey of inmates in four Florida prisons, fail to support either hypothesis. This may suggest that the two perspectives from which the hypotheses are derived are overly simplistic-that the nature of crime and delinquency is more subtle and complex than indicated by either the subcultural or antisubcultural theoretical traditions.     

HOMEBOYS,DOPE FIENDS,LEGITS, AND NEW JACKS*

Milwaukee research finds that most young male adult gang members cannot be described accurately as “committed long-term participants” in the drug economy. Rather, most adult gang members are involved sporadically with drug sales, moving in and out of conventional labor markets at irregular intervals. Four types of male adult gang members are described; only one type has rejected conventional values. Despite relatively high average earnings from drug sales, most gang members would accept full-time jobs with modest wages. This suggests that severe and mandatory penalties for cocaine use and sales should be ended.     

THE LINK BETWEEN OFFENDING AND VICTIMIZATION AMONG ADOLESCENTS*

Prior research on victimization in the United States has generally neglected two key areas—victimization among juveniles and young adults and the connection between offending and victimization. The research presented here fuses these two concerns by examining the effect of delinquent lifestyles on the criminal victimization of teenagers and young adults. An examination of longitudinal data from the first five waves of the National Youth Survey suggests that adolescent involvement in delinquent lifestyles strongly increases the risk of both personal and property victimization. Further, the analysis reveals that a significant proportion of the risk of victimization incurred by different demographic subgroups—especially males—results from greater involvement in lifestyles characterized by delinquency. The authors conclude that victimization patterns among youths cannot be understood apart from criminal and deviant activities.