Unemployment,imprisonment, and the stability of punishment hypothesis: Some results using cointegration and error correction models

A version of the stability of punishment hypothesis is used to illustrate the concept of cointegration and its relationship to error correction models. The hypothesis is then tested and rejected using data from England and Wales. Finally, a dynamic time-series model relating imprisonment to convictions, crime, and Unemployment is developed and tested.The empirical results in this work are based upon those originally prepared for a paper to be given by the author and Steve Box at the meeting of the American Society of Criminology held in Montreal in November 1987. Steve Box died in September 1987 before it could be completed.The paper is dedicated to his memory and it is hoped that he would have approved its content, if not, perhaps, the dryness of its form.     

Canadian federalism and the challenge of North American integration

Abstract: Canada's growing economic integration within North America has not resulted in parallel trends towards greater political integration or in the general harmonization of policies and regulations, as was hoped by some observers and feared by others. This article explains the incremental adaptation of Canadian federalism to market‐driven economic integration and assesses the factors that contribute to and constrain federal leadership and guidance of these processes. It outlines formal and informal processes for managing and reconciling overlapping jurisdictions ‐described as “complementary federalism” ‐ that balance the pursuit of policy coherence and pressures for policy harmonization with the recognition and accommodation of regional interests. The author examines the development and limits of complementary federalism in three major policy fields ‐ trade policy, taxation and the regulation of financial services and capital markets ‐ affected by trends towards North American economic integration. Sommaire: L'intégration politique et I'harmonisation générale des politiques et des règlements n'ont pas suivi la même courbe ascendante que celle de l'intégration économique du Canada au sein de l'Amérique du Nord, selon I'espoir de certains observateurs et la crainte de certains autres. Cet article explique I'adaptation graduelle du fééeralisme canadien à I'intégration economique axée sur les forces du marché et se penche sur les facteurs contribuant ou freinant le leadership fédéral et son orientation de ces processus. Il expose les processus officiels et officieux permettant de gérer et de concilier les compétences qui se chevauchent ‐ décrits comme une forme de fédéralisme complémentaire ‐ afin d'équilibrer la recherche de cohérence en matiére de politiques, et les pressions exercées pour les harmoniser tout en reconnaissant et en ménageant les intérêts régionaux. L'article examine le déeloppement et les limites du fédéralisme complémentaire dans trois grands domaines de politiques ‐ la politique commerciale, la politique fiscale et la réglementation des services et des marchés financiers ‐ ces domaines étant affectés par les tendances vers une intégration économique nord‐américaine.     

Impact of Early Adolescent Externalizing Problem Behaviors on Identity Development in Middle to Late Adolescence: A Prospective 7-Year Longitudinal Study

Adolescents at-risk for problem behaviors can have more difficulties in developing a firm sense of personal identity. Hence the purpose of this prospective longitudinal study was to scrutinize how externalizing problems in early adolescence impact identity development in middle to late adolescence. Participants were 443 (43.12 % female) Dutch adolescents. Teachers rated their externalizing problem behaviors when participants were 11 or 12 years old and their identity formation was studied during five consecutive years (from 14 to 18 years of age). The sample was divided into four groups: boys and girls with a high versus a low-risk for externalizing problem behaviors. Participants completed a self-report measure of identity commitment, in-depth exploration, and reconsideration of commitment. Multi-group Latent Growth Curve and profile stability analyses were used to evaluate identity development across adolescence. Findings indicated that high-risk boys and girls reported a less structured identity, with lower levels of commitment and higher levels of reconsideration of commitment. Since externalizing problems behaviors and lack of a coherent sense of identity might reinforce each other, early intervention for high-risk adolescents might foster positive youth development.     

Self-Concept Clarity Across Adolescence: Longitudinal Associations With Open Communication With Parents and Internalizing Symptoms

Higher self-concept clarity is related to several adjustment indices and may be promoted by open communication with parents, while problems with self-concept clarity development could enhance internalizing problems (i.e., depressive and anxiety symptoms) in adolescence. This longitudinal study examined linkages between self-concept clarity, adolescents’ open communication with parents, and adolescent depressive and anxiety symptoms. Dutch youths (N = 323; 51.1 % girls; mean age Time 1 = 13.3 years) reported on these constructs over four consecutive annual measurements. Concurrent positive links between open communication and self-concept clarity were found at Time 1. Over time, higher levels of open communication with parents predicted higher self-concept clarity only in middle adolescence (mean age between 14 and 15 years). We also found concurrent associations between self-concept clarity and both depressive and anxiety symptoms. Longitudinally, lower self-concept clarity predicted relatively higher levels of depressive symptoms across all waves, and also higher anxiety levels from Time 1 to Time 2. Conversely, higher levels of anxiety also predicted lower levels of self-concept clarity during the first three waves. Self-concept clarity did not mediate the longitudinal associations between open communication and internalizing symptoms. This study is one of the first to investigate self-concept clarity across adolescence. It highlights the possible importance of both anxiety symptoms and communication with parents in understanding the development of a clear self-concept, and demonstrates an association between lower self-concept clarity and higher levels of later depressive and anxiety symptoms.     

Identity Formation in Adolescence: Change or Stability?

The aim of this five-wave longitudinal study of 923 early to middle adolescents (50.7% boys; 49.3% girls) and 390 middle to late adolescents (43.3% boys and 56.7% girls) is to provide a comprehensive view on change and stability in identity formation from ages 12 to 20. Several types of change and stability (i.e., mean-level change, rank-order stability, and profile similarity) were assessed for three dimensions of identity formation (i.e., commitment, in-depth exploration, and reconsideration), using adolescent self-report questionnaires. Results revealed changes in identity dimensions towards maturity, indicated by a decreasing tendency for reconsideration, increasingly more in-depth exploration, and increasingly more stable identity dimension profiles. Mean levels of commitment remained stable, and rank-order stability of commitment, in-depth exploration, and reconsideration did not change with age. Overall, girls were more mature with regard to identity formation in early adolescence, but boys had caught up with them by late adolescence. Taken together, our findings indicate that adolescent identity formation is guided by progressive changes in the way adolescents deal with commitments, rather than by changes in the commitments themselves.     

Building Capacity in Election Administration: Local Responses to Complexity and Interdependence

Public administration research has identified networks, professionalization, and collaboration with community interests as potential principles by which public organizations can enhance their capacity and effectiveness. This article explores the implementation of these principles by election administrators at the local level, where their ability to conduct elections is the subject of current scrutiny. Findings indicate that election administrators established networks, professional organizations, professionalization requirements and community collaborations prior to the passage of the Help America Vote Act of 2002. Findings also suggest that local election efforts may become more effective as a result of certain provisions of the act that promote centralization and information dissemination. Local election administrators may also continue to build capacity by applying these public administration principles.     

UNDERSTANDING CHILDREN'S RIGHTS: THEORY AND PRACTICE

This article discusses the meaning of children's rights in the context of the European Convention on Human Rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Both place primary responsibility for the upbringing and education of children on their parents and families. The freedom of parents to bring up their children in their own way is an important component of a liberal democracy founded on respect for individual differences. So if parents believe in moderate corporal punishment as a means of educating their children in their own religious beliefs, is the state justified in banning such punishment either in school or in the home in order to protect the children's rights? This article discusses the children's rights which are protected by doing so.