Employee ownership and union labor: the case of United Steel Workers of America

Union–management relations in the U.S. are best described as adversarial. However, under certain circumstances, they can become cooperative. One example of the latter was the role of trade unions in the conversion of firms to employee ownership. Firm ownership (entrepreneurship, capitalism) by employees has increased in recent years. Specifically, we focus on the use of ‘investment bargaining’ (i.e. buyouts using ESOPs) by the United Steelworkers of America during the decades of the 1980s and 1990s as the steel industry faced serious declines. This study applies some basic union–management bargaining frameworks for examining both primary (e.g. case studies) and secondary data to demonstrate that the USW’s adoption of investment bargaining is consistent with their pragmatic approach in preserving the employment of their members. The impact and the implications of the union’s efforts in this area as well as the future role of unions in employee buyouts are also discussed.     

‘Hybrid Threats’: Neither Omnipotent Nor Unbeatable

Hybrid threats have now joined a growing suite of alternative concepts about the ever evolving character of modern conflict. Here and abroad, the hybrid threat construct has found traction in official policy circles despite its relative novelty. It has been cited by the U.S. Secretary of Defense in articles and speeches, and by policymakers now serving in the Pentagon. Heretofore, the rapidly growing hybrid threat literature has focused on the land warfare aspects of the threat. Modern hybrid threats, including Hezbollah and Iran, have demonstrated the ability to employ irregular tactics and advanced naval capabilities along with illegal or terrorist activity. Thus, the hybrid threat is applicable to naval forces and the U.S. Navy needs to dust off lessons learned from its last experience in the Persian Gulf in the late 1980s to better prepare for an even more challenging future.     

Do staff attitudes vary by position?: A look at one juvenile correctional center

Correctional staff are a vital part of an inmate’s institutional experience. Prior research suggests interaction between staff and inmates may be a function of worker attitudes toward crime and punishment. The current study examines attitudes about crime causation and punishment by surveying correctional staff members at a single-purpose juvenile treatment center. Correctional officers and treatment personnel exhibit different levels of support for rehabilitative ideals. Organizational ramifications stemming from these divergent outlooks are discussed.     

Acculturation and mental health: Response to a culturally-centered delinquency intervention

There is a dearth of research examining intervention effectiveness for ethnic minorities and few studies have investigated within-group differences in response to treatment. This study examined the prevalence of mental health problems among Anglo- and Mexican-American juveniles entering probation and their response to a comprehensive intervention designed to address drug, alcohol, and mental health in a culturally-sensitive manner. We hypothesized that all youths would demonstrate mental health improvements from pretest to posttest, and the improvements would be equal for Mexican-American youth of varying levels of acculturation and an Anglo comparison group. Participants included a total of 103 adolescents ages thirteen to eighteen years, of whom 59 percent were male and 81 percent were Mexican American. Hypotheses were supported, indicating this comprehensive, community-based intervention targeting delinquent adolescents and their families was effective in improving mental health regardless of ethnic background or level of acculturation. That is, regardless of group differences in mental health problems at intake, youth with different cultural orientations reported significantly reduced levels of internalizing and externalizing behavior problems at posttest.     

Twenty years of operational use of a risk prediction instrument: The United States parole commission's salient factor score

Although empirically-based recidivism prediction instruments were developed as far back as the 1920s, the adoption of the Salient Factor Score by the federal parole board in 1972—as part of a system of explicit parole decisionmaking guidelines—marked the first time that such an instrument was used in a way that had a definite, measurable impact on paroling decisions. The Salient Factor Score has been used in federal parole decisionmaking continuously for the past twenty years. It is axiomatic that a prediction instrument, particularly an instrument used in actual case decisionmaking, be revalidated periodically to ensure that it has retained predictive accuracy. In this article, the predictive accuracy of the Salient Factor Score over time is examined using data on three, large random samples of federal prisoners released in 1970–1972, 1978, and 1987. In addition, the relationship of the Salient Factor Score to the Criminal History Score of the new federal sentencing guidelines—which apply to defendants convicted of federal offenses committed on or after November 1, 1987—is discussed.