Leadership and the Transformation of a Major Institution: Charles Rossotti and the Internal Revenue Service

Charles Rossotti took the helm at the Internal Revenue Service in 1997 amid complaints of abuse of both IRS workers and taxpayers. Did he succeed at improving the agency’s image without sacrificing its principal mission to enforce the tax code fairly and effectively? This retrospective on Rossotti’s five‐year tenure suggests that he, his leadership team, and teams of IRS employees managed effective changes that substantially improved services to taxpayers and the administration of a beleaguered revenue‐collection system. His leadership offers valuable lessons and insights for administrators in all settings. Are there invaluable lessons that public administrators might learn from Rossotti’s management strategy?     

Part-time Jobs,Delinquency and Victimization Among Finnish Adolescents

Among lay people as well as among scholars it is sometimes assumed that adolescent work deters juvenile delinquency. In contrast, existing research suggests that there is a positive association between adolescent parttime work and delinquency. This study assesses this claim and examines in a nationally representative sample of 15-16-yearold Finnish adolescents ( n = 4347), the association between work during the school year and self-reported delinquency and victimization, and explore whether the possible associations are general or based on some subcategory of delinquent behaThere viour/victimization. The results of multivariate analyses indicate that intensive weekly working is significantly positively associated with delinquent behaviour. When gender, disposable allowances and various factors suggested by control, strain and differential association theories were controlled for, intensive work (10 hours or more remained a significant predictor of the following types of delinquency: beating up someone, driving without licence, buying stolen goods, vandalism at school and drunken driving. Intensive workers' likelihood of committing these acts were about two to per week) three times as high as nonworkers' likelihood of committing such acts. Intensive work was related to victimization only in bivariate models, suggesting that the work-victimization association does not reflect direct causation. In conclusion, intensive work appears to increase delinquent activity slightly. Although we do not argue that work is a major cause of delinquency in adolescence, we suggest caution against encouraging intensive work during the school year.     

留守儿童:青少年权益保护和犯罪预防的重点群体

在论及中国青少年权益维护和犯罪预防工作中,我们不能不将视角转向农村留守儿童这一当今典型的社会现象和需要特殊关注的弱势群体。据有关方面提供的数据,我国共有2亿农民工,其中外出农民工数量为1.2亿左右,外出务工的农民工与其未成年留守子女的分离,由此而形成了高达2000万的农村留守儿童群体,且呈继续增长的趋势。在一些农村劳动力输出大省,留守儿童在当地未成年人总数中所占比例已高达18%至22%,他们的父母能够在1至2年内回家的仅占58%,2到3年内回家的占56%,而3年以上的达到26%。在这些农村留守儿童中,多数是与老人生活在一起,有4.9%的孩子甚至是独自一人生活。     

以宽容之心对待违法犯罪青少年

2007年4月16日清晨发生在美国弗吉尼亚理工大学的赵承熙枪击案,引起了全世界的震惊,而随后发生的该校悼念活动,将凶手赵承熙和52名遇难者一起被列为悼念的对象,则更同样令人不解。有消息称,该校在4月20日中午举行的遇难者悼念仪式上,放飞的气球是55个,敲响的丧钟是55声,次日安放在校园中心广场草坪上的是55块半圆的石灰岩悼念碑等等,其中包括52名遇难者和自杀的枪手赵承熙。在人们眼中,