Experienced and vicarious victimization: Do social support and self-esteem prevent delinquent responses?

This article extended research that views violent victimization as a stressor that may lead to delinquency. Following general strain theory, the analysis considered the mediating role of fearfulness, depression, and anxiety. The analysis also examined whether social support and self-esteem conditioned the relationship between victimization and delinquency. Results indicated that negative emotions did not substantially mediate the effect of victimization on delinquency. Among those with lower levels of both social support and self-esteem, experiencing violent victimization and witnessing victimization led to general delinquency. Victimization was unrelated to general delinquency among those with higher levels of both these resources. Experiencing victimization led to violent delinquency for all groups. Witnessing victimization and perceiving an unsafe neighborhood led to violent delinquency only among those with lower levels of both resources. Additionally, negative emotions and a bad temper led to violent delinquency only for those low in resources. The results suggested that fostering social support networks and self-esteem among adolescents victimized by violence can limit delinquency.     

Someone else's feet

Abstract

Our Life was a succession of quiet days spent placidly inside thick wall of phlegmatic indifference. We lived in a strange state of imprisonment, entirely cut off from the outside, yet we had no thought of escaping nor the least enthusiasm for news of the outside. You could say that, for us, the outside world just didn't exist. Inside our wall, we lived quite fully and cheerfully.     

“A strange job”

Abstract

I was heading toward the clock tower along the broad pavement leading to Tokyo University Hospital and had reached the intersection where the view suddenly opens up to a wide vista, when I heard a lot of dogs barking. The sound came from somewhere near a building under construction, its steel framework jutting up against the sky behind the swaying tops of the saplings lining the avenue. Each time the wind shifted, the sound of the dogs swelled violently as if the terrible clamor were rising to the sky itself. Then the sounds would trail off, the echoes lingering persistently in the distance. Every time I'd walk along this road, head bent, shoulders hunched forward, I'd strain my ears as I came to the intersection, half-expecting to hear the dogs, although there were many times I never heard them at all. But anyway, it wasn't because these howling dogs aroused any particular concern in me.     

Political Islam at the crossroads: From hegemony to co-existence

Politically, Turkey constitutes an unusual case where Islamists have been allowed to share power, as a dominant partner in a coalition government, in a broadly open and a strongly secularist political environment. Hence, it provides an interesting context in which to investigate the complex issue concerning the relationship between Islamism and liberal democracy. This article investigates the processes leading to the transformation of Islamists in Turkey from 'moderate fundamentalists' to a milder and more liberal posture in the recent period and attempts to assess the consequences of this phenomenon for the future of the democratic order. A major objective is to highlight some of the paradoxical developments encountered in the process, attempting to consolidate democracy in the current international order within the parameters of neo-liberal globalization.     

Have Federal Sentencing Guidelines Reduced Severity? An Examination of One Circuit

Congress intended to make the sentencing process less discretionary and more equitable for similarly situated defendants when it passed the U.S. Sentencing Reform Act of 1984. Sentencing guidelines were devised to promote these changes. After more than a decade of implementation, however, little is known about the impact of the new policy. This paper examines sentences given between 1993 and 1994 in one federal circuit in an effort to determine whether this policy instrument has achieved success. The theoretical model of a rational case processing system (Gottfredson and Gottfredson, 1980) is used to guide the interpretation of our findings and the recommendations we offer for improvements.     

Impacts of abstinence education on teen sexual activity, risk of pregnancy, and risk of sexually transmitted diseases.

This paper examines the impacts of four abstinence-only education programs on adolescent sexual activity and risks of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Based on an experimental design, the impact analysis uses survey data collected in 2005 and early 2006 from more than 2,000 teens who had been randomly assigned to either a program group that was eligible to participate in one of the four programs or a control group that was not. The findings show no significant impact on teen sexual activity, no differences in rates of unprotected sex, and some impacts on knowledge of STDs and perceived effectiveness of condoms and birth control pills     

Encouraging Public Sector Employees to Report Workplace Corruption

This paper aims to do two things: (1) report the findings of a survey of 800 public sector employees regarding attitudes to reporting workplace corruption; and (2) offer suggestions for practical strategies which managers can employ to encourage employees to report wrongdoing. Survey responses indicated that the existence of whistleblower protection legislation might encourage people to make a report which they may not normally consider making. The majority of respondents indicated that they believe that it is their responsibility to report corruption. The majority, however, are also unsure about their organisation's ability and/or willingness to protect them if they do make a report. Not surprisingly, then, most also expect that people who report corruption will suffer for it.