Foot patrol and crime rates

This paper examines the effectiveness of proactive police patrolling as it pertains to crime reduction. While conventional squad car patrolling can be seen as proactive, it is generally a reactive form of police behavior. Foot patrols, due in part, to closer interaction with citizens, and closer proximity to potential crime scenes, more clearly represent the intent of proactive patrolling. Based upon data recorded by the police department in a city recently experimenting with foot patrols, this research addresses the issue of whether or not proactive foot patrolling has been successful in reducing crime, both violent and property offenses, in a downtown commercial area.     

'Arm's Length but Hands On'. Mapping the New Governance: The Department of National Heritage and Cultural Politics in Britain

This article uses the Department of National Heritage (DNH) founded in 1992 to illustrate the current debate over changing governance in Britain (such as the hollow core and self-steering networks) given the development of small, central policy-oriented ministries supervising a penumbra of policy networks. The article argues that the DNH has at its disposal a number of power resources – ministerial activism, policy review and guidance, systematic review, and finance – which enable it to give a determined steer to its autonomous networks. The implication of this is that real structural change should not obscure the resources at the disposal of the centre in their relationship with their policy networks: government is not just another organization.     

Racial mistrust and disposition to deviance among African American,Haitian, and other Caribbean Island adolescent boys

Using survey data from Miami, Florida, this study empirically tests whether racial mistrust is related to a willingness to engage in delinquent behaviors among a sample of African Americans, Haitians, and other Caribbean Island Black adolescent boys residing in Miami, Florida. No significant differences were found among the three groups with respect to their disposition scores. However, when compared to non-Blacks, African Americans and Haitians reported a greater willingness to violate the law. Bivariate analyses suggest a strong relationship between racial mistrust and disposition to deviance for all three ethnic groups. Three findings also held in multivariate analyses controlling for socioeconomic status.     

Reasonable expectation of privacy and third-party consent searches

Reasonable expectation of privacy is discussed in the context of searches conducted without the warrants usually required by the Fourth Amendment but with the consent of a third party, who is not the target of the search. Case law on this issue is neither consistent nor clear-cut. Psychological theory and research clarify this issue by establishing closer correspondence between legal concepts and assumptions and individuals' actual behaviors and social expectations. The key legal components of reasonable expectation of privacy are delineated, with regard to third-party consent: “common authority” areas versus “exclusive use” areas and theassumption of risk doctrine. Next, the psychological theory and research on interpersonal relations and human territorial functioning are reviewed as they relate to the legal components of privacy regulation. Taken together, the legal criticisms of this warrant exception category, and possible discrepancies between the legal assumptions concerning interpersonal and territorial functioning among co-residents and the actual behaviors and expectations suggested by psychological theory and research, raise questions about its validity.     

OUT OF THE WHITE BOX

The authors enjoin professionals and service delivery systems for mediation to look at the current and future demographics and specialized needs and responses of Hispanics and other groups, suggesting that, with certain changes, mediation can become more available to these important segments of our society.