Predictive accuracy of dynamic risk factors for aboriginal and non-aboriginal sex offenders: an exploratory comparison using STABLE-2007

Although Aboriginal offenders are overrepresented in Canadian prisons, there is limited research examining the extent to which commonly used risk factors and risk scales are applicable to Aboriginals. Aboriginal (n = 88) and non-Aboriginal (n = 509) sex offenders on community supervision were compared on the dynamic risk factors of STABLE-2007. Data on sexual, violent, any crime, and any recidivism (including breaches) were collected with an average follow-up of 3.4 years. Aboriginal offenders scored significantly higher than non-Aboriginal offenders on STABLE-2007 total scores and on several items measuring general criminality. STABLE-2007 did not significantly predict recidivism with Aboriginal offenders (although it did for non-Aboriginals). The general antisociality items were generally significantly less predictive for Aboriginals than non-Aboriginals, whereas items assessing sexual self-regulation and relationship stability predicted similarly for both groups. These exploratory results suggest that Aboriginal sex offenders are a higher-needs group but that some STABLE-2007 items are not predictive with this population.     

Minors' capacity to refuse treatment: a reply to Gilmore and Herring

Re R and Re W allow a parent to consent to treatment a competent minor refuses, but the cases have not been tested post-Human Rights Act 1998. Gilmore and Herring offer a means by which they might be distinguished or sidelined. They interpret Gillick to say that in order to consent a minor need only have a full understanding of the particular treatment. They argue that the minors in Re R and Re W were refusing all treatment which requires a separate assessment of capacity-an assessment which was not made. We fear that this distinction would not be workable in clinical practice and argue that their interpretation of Gillick is flawed. From a clinician's point of view, competence cannot always be judged in relation to a specific treatment, but instead must relate to the decision. We show that a decision can incorporate more than one treatment, and more than one decision might be made about one treatment. A minor's understanding of a specific treatment is not always sufficient to demonstrate competence to make a decision. The result is that whilst there might be situations when a parent and a minor both have the power to consent to a particular treatment, they will not share concurrent powers in relation to the same decision. Consequently, a challenge to Re R and Re W, if forthcoming, would need to take a different form. We emphasise the necessity to minimise the dichotomy between legal consent and how consent works in medical practice.     

Political involvement among Toung women: a qualitative analysis

The depoliticization and non‐participation of young people in city life is often a topic of discussion. Given this context, how and why do young people then become activist? This is the main question addressed by a sociological research project on the way young women in Quebec practise political involvement and on the meaning that involvement has for them. The question of why young women get involved has to do with their biographical history, their life trajectories, and the influence of family and friends. How they get involved has to do with what involvement and activism mean to them. One of the principal findings is that the young female activists who participated in this study all have an active conception of citizenship that is not restricted to political involvement. Some of our respondents said that involvement is a way of being, a lifestyle that requires them to act consistently in all aspects of daily life and thus implies living in accordance with one's ideals. In other words, the involvement practised and conceptualized by these young activists corresponds to what can be called a ‘search for ethical consistency’, which aims ‘to give meaning to the values we hold as individuals and as a collectivity’.     

The New U.S. Human Rights Policy: A Radical Departure

The United States, as the most powerful state and as the self-appointed champion of human rights, has a profound impact on the way human rights norms are interpreted and applied throughout the world. The human rights foreign policy of President George W. Bush can be distinguished from the policies of other administrations in three crucial respects: (1) In identifying the values that Americans can and should promote abroad, it avoids human rights terminology and scorns multilateral institutions, and instead looks to divine inspiration; (2) in place of well-recognized human rights norms, it uses a concept of "dignity" that is narrow and self-serving; and (3) it engages in "exceptional exceptionalism," continually holding others to standards that it does not apply to itself. This essay contends that the new U.S. human rights foreign policy drains human rights of its core meaning and limits its potential impact. Moreover, the United States lacks moral authority to act on human rights grounds as long as it fails to prioritize human rights explicitly and to uphold the same standards to which it holds other nations accountable.     

Development from below: Neighborhood improvement associations in the Latin American squatter settlements

Juntas, a type of neighborhood association found in many Latin American countries, are described in terms of their common characteristics, functions, and strategies. Factors which strengthen juntas are isolated, and the potential for juntas to become ongoing institutionalized structures is discussed. Information from a large number of written sources was compared in order to identify the common cross cultural characteristics of juntas. Juntas generally originate as squatter invasion forces organized to take over and settle, either gradually or overnight, unocupied lands in or near urban centers. After invasion the huntas continue to function as neighborhood associations which make collective demands on the government for public services and which promote various self-help projects within the squatter community. Juntas are widespread in Latin American countries. Of the 91 squatter settlements which have been studied in 11 different countries, 61 has juntas. Participation of household heads in the juntas ranges from 10-70%. Most squatter invasions are planned or spontaneous radical political action. The collective invasion itself often serves to open negotiations with the government. After the invasion leaders are elected, and they help organize the new community by assigning land, setting boundries, screening new settlers, collecting dues, and directing a variety of self-help construction projects. Collective demands are then made on the government to provide urban services such as water and electricity. The collective nature of the demand helps reduce the risk of official retaliation. Demand strategies include petitioning high level government officials, utilizing personalistic contacts, affiliating with either the rulingpower or opposing parties, appealing to outside agencies, linking up with other juntas, conducting public demonstrations, and publicizing their grievances in order to engender public support. After basic services are provided the juntas promote self-help projects such as organizing taxi services, medical clinics, vocational and lteracy programs, and building playgrounds. The juntas sometimes perform quasi governmental functions, such as, settling disputes between community members and policing the community. Participation in juntas declines as the need for making outside demands lessens; however, the high level of self-help activity keeps the juntas viable. They also retain the latent capacity for political demand behavior if the need for action arises. Factors which strengthen juntas included 1) high population density and large size of the squatter community, 2) defined boundaries, 3) close proximity to urban agencies, 4) climatic factors which make it necessary to act quickly and collectively, and 5) a moderate level of heterogeneity in the squatter population.