Lessons for Policing from Moneyball: The Views of Police Managers – A Research Note

Michael Lewis’ book Moneyball demonstrates how Oakland A’s General Manager Billy Beane used research evidence to improve his team’s performance in a cost-effective manner. This presentation focuses upon the responses of police managers attending the Administrative Officer’s Course in the Southern Police Institute at the University of Louisville. The respondents identified three elements of Moneyball that could be applied to police management: 1) using statistical analysis to guide operations, 2) challenging the status quo, and 3) doing more with less.     

Psychosexual characteristics of sexual offenders and the relationship to sexual reconviction

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine if the Multiphasic Sex Inventory (MSI) could be used to predict sexual reconviction. The MSI was administered to 119 convicted male sex offenders. Reconviction data were analysed using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) over 2-, 5- and 10-year follow-up periods. The MSI scales Sexual Obsession and Paraphilia (Atypical Sexual Outlet) obtained good accuracy in predicting sexual reconviction over 2- and 5-year follow-up periods. A confirmatory factor analysis of the MSI scales yielded a four-factor solution: Sexual Deviance, Sexual Desirability, Dysfunctional/Justification, and Normal. The Sexual Deviance factor demonstrated good accuracy in predicting sexual reconviction at 2-year follow-up while the Normal factor was a poor predictor of sexual reconviction. Compared against an actuarial risk assessment measure for sexual offenders, the Sexual Obsession, Sexual/Social Desirability, and Sexual Dysfunction scales, and Sexual Deviance factor made a statistically significant contribution independent of the risk scale in predicting sexual reconviction. It is argued that rather than using the MSI solely as an assessment measure of psychosexual characteristics of sexual offenders in treatment programmes, it can be used to provide additional information as part of an assessment of risk of sexual reconviction.     

The promises and perils of the emotional Stroop task: A general review and considerations for use with forensic samples

Abstract

Assessing the implicit attitudes and beliefs of offenders has proved difficult over decades of work and research with offender samples. The purpose of this paper is to outline the research related to the use of the emotional Stroop task and to encourage researchers and practitioners to use it as a measure to assess the implicit attitudes of offenders within their assessments. We consider the factors that may influence Stroop results along with the research considerations that need to be taken into account when using an emotional Stroop paradigm. Currently, a significant limitation of the emotional Stroop task is a lack of standard word stimulus sets that are able to distinguish between offender types. This limitation could seriously impede further development of this tool. Suggestions for future research are proposed.     

The Swansea Bureau: A model of diversion from the Youth Justice System

The Swansea Bureau is an innovative initiative designed to divert young people out of the formal processes of the Youth Justice System. The Swansea Bureau extends beyond simple diversion grounded in minimal or non-intervention and into tackling the underlying causes of youth crime through mechanisms that normalise youth offending and promote prosocial behaviour, children's rights, youth participation and the engagement of both parents/carers and the local community. Inter-agency working is pursued in a political, strategic and operational context of viewing young people as ‘children first, offenders second’. This article discusses the development of the Bureau and explores how this child-orientated model is beginning to yield positive results in terms of decreases in first time entrants into the Youth Justice System and reductions in reconviction. The Bureau process has also elicited widespread positive qualitative feedback from key stakeholders regarding its engagement with Welsh national policy, parents/carers and the children's rights agenda.     

Promoting Positive Youth Development by Examining the Career and Educational Aspirations of African American Males: Implications for Designing Educational Programs

African American males experience poor academic performance, high absenteeism at school, and are at increased risk of being involved in violence than other racial groups. Given that the educational outlook for African American males appears bleak, it is important to assess the aspirations of these adolescent males in order to find the gap between aspirations and educational attainment. In order to promote positive development within this population, it is essential that factors that affect African American males be identified. A survey was administered to male students attending elementary, middle, and high schools in a local school district. A cross-sectional study was conducted to examine the career and educational aspirations of African American males. A total of 473 males were surveyed: 45% African American, 22% Caucasian, 13% biracial, and 19% Other (including Asian American, Hispanic, Native American). The results revealed that African American males aspired to attend college at the same rate as other ethnic groups. Also, African American males were more likely to aspire to be professional athletes than males from other ethnic groups. Important factors to consider when designing a program are discussed as well as future research and limitations.     

Muslims in Space: Observing Religious Rites in a New Environment

The first men to fly into space precipitated comments about religion and God, but for most of the history of human spaceflight these comments related to Christianity. As International Space Station partners recruit spacefarers from Islamic countries, they face new religious challenges. Islam is distinct from other large monotheistic religions by virtue of the fact that Muslim worship practices require routine attention to Earth geography and astronomy. It is a vantage point that changes in low Earth orbit. Recent Muslim astronauts and cosmonauts have led the way in adapting religious practices to their position above the Earth.     

Policy directions concerning racial discrimination in U.S. housing markets

Abstract

This paper presents a catalog of 34 different proposed research and direct action policies aimed at futhering the two basic goals of public antidiscrimination policies: (1) ending unequal treatment of households in housing transactions because of their race or ethnicity, and (2) counteracting existing racial residential segregation by promoting stable racial integration. These 34 proposals have been derived from the many papers in this volume, plus a few suggestions by the author.

Each proposal is evaluated against five specific criteria of desirability: potential effectiveness, government costs, private‐sector costs, ease of implementation, and political feasibility. A final overall evaluation of each is made, and all policies are divided into three priority categories: high, moderate, and low. Many recommended policies are synergistic. This whole effort should have very high overall priority in American social policy.     

The advisory commission on regulatory barriers to affordable housing: Its behavior and accomplishments

Abstract

In March 1990, Secretary Jack Kemp of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) appointed a 22‐member commission to investigate the nature and extent of regulatory barriers to affordable housing, as well as what to do about them. Chaired by Thomas Keane, ex‐Republican governor of New Jersey, the Advisory Commission on Regulatory Barriers to Affordable Housing grappled with this issue for over a year, releasing its final report in early July 1991.¹ As a commission member, I had an unusual opportunity to observe just how the commission worked and what it accomplished. This paper tries to put those two subjects in perspective. It has been written from the viewpoint of a longtime specialist on housing, who also served on the very first urban commission—the Douglas commission—23 years ago.²     

The end of the Whitehall model?

One of the most influential and apparently enduring models of the political‐bureaucratic relations has been the ‘Whitehall model’ derived from British practices. Yet the relationship between bureaucrats and politicians in Britain, often poorly understood in the past, has changed in recent years to such an extent that the continued existence of the ‘Whitehall model’ can be doubted. This article draws on published sources and, for background, interviews conducted since 1989 with higher (Grade III and above) civil servants and current or former ministers to explore how and why the Whitehall model is threatened with extinction. The wider implications of this development for British policy making and for the study of the relations between bureaucrats and politicians are explored.     

Depressive Symptoms in Low-Income,Urban Adolescents: Cognitive and Contextual Factors

This study examined the relationships among cognitive variables, family immigration history, negative life events, and depressive symptoms in a sample of 306 low-income, urban fifth- and sixth-grade children. Explanatory style and negative automatic thoughts were the cognitive variables examined. There were three key findings. First, children who were immigrants reported significantly more depressive symptoms, more negative life events, and more negative automatic thoughts than children who were not immigrants. Second, both explanatory style and negative automatic thoughts were significantly associated with depressive symptoms above and beyond the effects of child immigration history and negative life events. Finally, negative automatic thoughts mediated the relationship between child immigration history and depressive symptoms. We discuss the clinical and research implications of these findings.