INVESTIGATING THE STABILITY OF CO‐OFFENDING AND CO‐OFFENDERS AMONG A SAMPLE OF YOUTHFUL OFFENDERS*

Scholars have long argued that delinquency is a group phenomenon. Even so, minimal research exists on the nature, structure, and process of co‐offending. This investigation focuses on a particular void, namely the stability of 1) co‐offending and 2) co‐offender selection over time, for which divergent theoretical expectations currently exist that bear on issues central to general and developmental/life‐course theories of crime. By relying on individual‐level, longitudinal data for a sample of juvenile offenders from Philadelphia, we find that distinct trajectories of co‐offending exist over the course of the juvenile criminal career. This inquiry also develops an individualized measure of co‐offender stability, which reveals that delinquents generally tend not to “reuse” co‐offenders, although frequent offenders show a greater propensity to do so. The discussion considers the theoretical and policy implications of these findings as well as provides some avenues for future research.     

GENERAL MANAGEMENT IN THE NHS: THE INITIAL IMPACT 1983–88

The Griffiths report of 1983 resulted in radical changes (to which the label 'general management' has been applied) to the formalities of organization and management in the national health service. We report the findings of a major study (involving more than 300 interviews) of the impact of these changes up to 1988. Although general management has been widely accepted in the service, and seems to have resulted in some improvements to management processes, there has been no substantial change in organizational culture. We conclude that the impact of the Griffiths model of management has been limited in comparison with the continued influence of medical autonomy and financial limitations.     

A REEXAMINATION OF THE ETIOLOGY OF URBAN CRIME

Ecological analysis of crime rates has been a traditionally important approach to analyzing the causes of crime. Over the years, this approach has profited from the use of increasingly sophisticated data analysis techniques. A recent article in this journal on intracity crime rates offered such an analytic refinement—with the discovery of similar curvilinear relationships between both personal and property crime and customary socioeconomic predictors Such a finding for both types of crime is quite different from the results indicated in previous research. The present article reexamines comparable data on urban crime, adding further statistical and theory-based refinements to the analysis The results here show distinctive relationships for property and personal crime. This paper serves, then, to integrate careful empirical analysis into available criminogenic theory and into the conventional wisdom of ecological research.     

Performance pressure: Patterns of partisanship and the economic vote

Numerous studies have demonstrated a weakening identification of voters with political parties in Western Europe over the last three decades. It is argued here that the growing proportion of voters with weak or no party affinities has strong implications for economic voting. When the proportion of voters with partisan affinities is low, the effect of economic performance on election outcomes is strong; when partisans proliferate, economic conditions matter less. Employing Eurobarometer data for eight European countries from 1976 to 1992, this inverse association between partisanship and the economic vote is demonstrated. This finding implies a growing effect for the objective economy on the vote in Europe. It helps explain an important puzzle in the economic voting literature: Weak results in aggregate level cross‐national studies of economic voting may be attributable to characteristics of the electorate, not just to the characteristics of government.