Expanding a community's justice response to sex crimes through advocacy, prosecutorial, and public health collaboration: introducing the RESTORE program

Problems in criminal justice system response to date-acquaintance rape and nonpenetration sexual offenses include (a) they are markers of a sexual offending career, yet are viewed as minor; (b) perpetrators are not held accountable in ways that reduce reoffense; and (c) criminal justice response disappoints and traumatizes victims. To address these problems, a collaboration of victim services, prosecutors, legal scholars, and public health professionals are implementing and evaluating RESTORE, a victim-driven, community-based restorative justice program for selected sex crimes. RESTORE prepares survivors, responsible persons (offenders), and both parties' families and friends for face-to-face dialogue to identify the harm and develop a redress plan. The program then monitors the offender's compliance for 12 months. The article summarizes empirical data on problems in criminal justice response, defines restorative justice models, and examines outcome. Then the RESTORE program processes and goals are described. The article highlights community collaboration in building and sustaining this program.     

Managing delegation in the FDA: reducing delay in new-drug review

This article examines the effects of the user fee reform on the speed of drug review in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The results show that even after controlling for increased agency resources, the reform reduced review times among new-drug approvals by 34 percent (95 percent confidence interval, 11 to 51 percent, p = .01). The results suggest that increased agency resources alone cannot explain the reductions in drug-review times. Evidence suggests that other reform-specific factors facilitated the change. Such factors may include the agency's desire to obtain program renewal and secure future fee revenues as well as heightened industry monitoring. Additional results show that there were significant increases in the speed of review for novel drugs in the reform era and for drugs in certain classes that have historically experienced longer delays. The results suggest that the user fee reform has helped politicians manage delegation and reduce delay in new-drug review.     

Characterization and validation studies of powerPlex 2.1, a nine-locus short tandem repeat (STR) multiplex system and penta D monoplex

In order to increase the power of discrimination for human identification purposes, a nine-locus short tandem repeat (STR) multiplex, the GenePrint PowerPlex 2.1 system (PowerPlex 2.1) developed by Promega Corporation and a separate pentanucleotide-repeat locus, Penta D, were tested. This megaplex system includes the highly polymorphic loci FGA, TPOX, D8S1179, vWA, Penta E, D18S51, D21S11, TH01, and D3S1358 and may be used in combination with the eight-locus STR multiplex, the GenePrint PowerPlex 1.1 system (PowerPlex 1.1) that has been previously developed. Three of the loci, TPOX, TH01 and vWA, have been included in both systems for quality control purposes. As with PowerPlex 1.1, PowerPlex 2.1 is also based on a two-color detection of fluorescent-labeled DNA products amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and provides a valuable tool for accurate and rapid allele determination. The primer sequences used in the PowerPlex 2.1/Penta D system are also presented in this report. To meet the "Quality Assurance Standards for Forensic DNA Testing Laboratories" (FBI), we tested the efficiency and reproducibility of the PowerPlex 2.1/PentaD system by several validation studies that were conducted as a joint project among seven laboratories. Validation tests included concordance studies, sensitivity, and species specificity determination, as well as performance in forensic and environmentally impacted samples. The results produced from these tests demonstrated the consistency and reliability of the PowerPlex 2.1/Penta D system.     

Return of the killer fish: accidental choking death on a bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus)

An unusual case of choking is presented. In this case, a 45-year-old man, while fishing and drinking with friends, attempted to swallow a whole fish. He subsequently asphyxiated as a result of upper airway obstruction.     

Comparing inmate perceptions of two residential substance abuse treatment programs

Drug and alcohol abuse by criminal offenders remains at an all time high. Residential substance abuse and treatment (RSAT) programs were developed to address the drug and alcohol treatment needs of inmates in prisons. Typically, such programs range in length from 6 to 12 months, have an Alcoholics Anonymous and/or Narcotics Anonymous component, and occur in a therapeutic community environment. Some programs also include a cognitive self-change component. Inmate participation in their programming is crucial to the success of a therapeutic community treatment environment, yet there is little research on the perceptions of RSAT inmates regarding their programming. In this research, the authors describe, compare, and contrast the perceptions of inmate clients of two RSAT programs in a rural mountain state.     

Information Technology Outsourcing by State Governments in Australia

Outsourcing of IT services is being undertaken at a rapid rate within the public sector in Australia. This paper investigates the adoption of this practice by a sample of state government enterprises and departments from South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales which have tendered long-term IT outsourcing contracts.
The motivation, decision-making process and extent of outsourcing are examined in further detail. In addition, the tendering process, contract and risk management are investigated to determine whether consideration has been given to the full economic costs involved in entering into longer term contracts.     

On the Measurement of Rent Seeking and its Social Opportunity Cost

Utilizing 4-digit industry data by county,we compare the allocation of resourcesacross industries in state capital areaswith noncapital areas. We are able toidentify which industries are expanded andcontracted relative to noncapital areas. Our results provide the first directevidence and measurement of the forgoneproductive activity resulting fromresources being reallocated toward rentseeking and interest group activity. Ourdata also allow us to measure total rentseeking, and also to isolate the extent ofindirect and in-kind rent seeking, whichcan account for part of the Tullockparadox.