Police Stress: A Structural Model

A number of existing studies have identified various factors that contribute to stress among police officers. This analysis is unique among these insofar as it employs structural equation modeling to specify, in path model format, the influence of participation in workplace decision-making and other variables on employee stress levels. The findings of this analysis provide new as well as confirmatory statistical evidence regarding the mitigating and direct effects of certain variables on physical stress. This study poses important implications by lending itself to meaningful future comparative research across occupations such as corrections and probation / parole.

Patterns in police decision-making with youth: an application of Black’s theory of law

Prior research suggests that police officers may use more than one style of law (therapeutic, conciliatory, compensatory, penal) and that the quantity of law applied may also vary within an encounter in order to maintain order. The implication is that police decision-making varies, and is, to some extent, case dependent. The research objective is to investigate the extent to which principles from Black’s (1976) theory of law are applicable to police decision-making with apprehended youth in Canada. The findings suggest that police decision-making is a dynamic process that is a progression in the application of formal social control from least to most intrusive of personal liberties both in the quantity and style of law. The analysis reveals that the factors which affect police discretion can vary, in some circumstances, across physical space (urban, suburban, and rural communities). In addition, as informal mechanisms of social control weaken, the police use a higher quantity of law, be it penal, compensatory, conciliatory, or therapeutic. Specifically, the quantity and style of law is affected by the degree and nature of parental involvement.     

From Adjudication to Aftermath: Assessing the ICTY’s Goals beyond Prosecution

After more than a dozen years of activity, some 161 indictments, 64 arrests, and 47 surrenders, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) has accomplished a good deal in terms of its primary task of prosecution. Nonetheless, there is still much debate over the state of transitional justice in the Balkans and what has been accomplished. We cannot forget that the ICTY was created with broad political and social purposes in mind, specifically to contribute to the restoration and maintenance of peace. Using a comparative framework, we develop benchmarks of transitional justice outcomes to examine these vague but important and ambitious goals. Although conventional wisdom says that the ICTY is used instrumentally by Balkan leaders who are fundamentally opposed to the court??s existence, we demonstrate that there is also evidence of broader political and social change throughout the region. Thus, we contend that Balkan countries have indeed moved beyond mere prosecution.     

Looking at terrorism through left realist lenses

While terrorism has moved into the spotlight of criminological study, including critical criminology, it has yet to be thoroughly explored from a left realist perspective. Left realism addresses four aspects of crime: causes of offending, impact on the victims, and both official and public responses to crime. A left realist approach to terrorism would argue that similar to those who engage in street crimes, many terrorists are socially or economically disenfranchised young men who become involved in terrorism through connections with similarly situated members of the fringe population, and “get tough” policies on terrorism will backfire. Four propositions of left realist theory organized by DeKeseredy and colleagues are presented and addressed through the extant literature, which offers partial support for a left realist explanation of terrorism.     

Revitalizing difference in the HapMap: race and contemporary human genetic variation research

Through an examination of the International Haplotype Map (HapMap), this paper explores some of the ways in which relationships among categories of race and genetic variation are being reconfigured in contemporary genetic research.     

Enhancing prisoner reentry through access to prison-based and post-incarceration aftercare treatment: experiences from the Illinois Sheridan Correctional Center therapeutic community

In an attempt to enhance dramatically the access of Illinois’ prison inmates to substance abuse treatment services within prison and following their release, the Sheridan Correctional Center was opened in 2004 by the Illinois Department of Corrections as a fully-dedicated substance abuse treatment prison operating under a therapeutic community design. During the first 5 years of implementation and operation, the program has improved the rate of aftercare admission and completion through enhanced pre-release planning and coordination, the development of community-based partnerships, and a transformation of the parole model and, in doing so, has overcome many of the barriers to effective offender re-entry. The analyses illustrate how aftercare admission and completion has improved during the course of implementation, and what factors appear to predict aftercare entry and completion. The article discusses the implications of how this improved access to aftercare impacts upon post-release outcomes (i.e., recidivism).     

CHILD‐FOCUSED AND CHILD‐INCLUSIVE DIVORCE MEDIATION: COMPARATIVE OUTCOMES FROM A PROSPECTIVE STUDY OF POSTSEPARATION ADJUSTMENT

This study compared outcomes over 1 year for two groups of separated parents, who attended two different forms of brief therapeutic mediation for entrenched parenting disputes. The two interventions each targeted psychological resolution of parental conflict, enhanced parental reflective function, and associated reduction of distress for their children. The child‐focused (CF) intervention actively supported parents to consider the needs of their children, but without any direct involvement of the children, while the child‐inclusive (CI) intervention incorporated separate consultation by a specialist with the children in each family, and consideration of their concerns with parents in the mediation forum. Repeated measures at baseline, 3 months, and 1 year postintervention explored changes over time and across treatments in conflict management, subjective distress, and relationship quality for all family members. Enduring reduction in levels of conflict and improved management of disputes, as reported by parents and children, occurred for both treatment groups in the year after mediation. The CI intervention had several impacts not evident in the other treatment group, related to relationship improvements and psychological well‐being. These effects were strongest for fathers and children. Agreements reached by the CI group were significantly more durable, and the parents in this group were half as likely to instigate new litigation over parenting matters in the year after mediation as were the CF parents. The article explores the potential of CI divorce mediation to not only safely include many children in family law matters related to them, but also to promote their developmental recovery from high‐conflict separation, through enhanced emotional availability of their parents.