The Impact of the 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Ban on Gun Markets: An Assessment of Short-Term Primary and Secondary Market Effects

The reactions of the gun market, including those of producers, wholesalers, retailers, and consumers, play an important role in shaping the potential impact of gun control policies on gun crime. As a case in point, this paper examines the federal Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, which bans a group of military-style semiautomatic firearms (i.e., assault weapons). Using a variety of national and local data sources, we assess the short-term (1994–1996) impact of the assault weapons ban on gun markets, examining trends in prices and production of the banned weapons in legal markets and assessing the availability of the banned weapons in illicit markets as measured by criminal use. Prices of assault weapons rose substantially around the time of the ban's enactment, reducing the availability of assault weapons to criminal users in the very short run. However, a surge in assault weapon production just before the ban caused prices to fall in the months following the ban. Implications of the findings for assessing this and other gun control policies are discussed.     

Teachers’ Conditional Regard and Students’ Need Satisfaction and Agentic Engagement: A Multilevel Motivation Mediation Model

Teachers’ conditional positive regard and conditional negative regard are common motivational techniques in the classroom. This study investigated their respective effects on adolescent students’ agentic engagement, while considering students’ basic psychological needs for autonomy and relatedness as potential mediators. Data collected from 30 teachers and 651 7th to 10th graders (52% female) were used to test a multilevel mediation model. The results indicated that teachers’ conditional negative regard undermined students’ agentic engagement by frustrating both of their autonomy and relatedness needs. Teachers’ conditional positive regard thwarted students’ sense of autonomy, which consequently undermined their agentic engagement. The findings are discussed in terms of conditional positive and negative regard as undesirable classroom motivational practices and the mechanisms through which they operate. The discussion also notes the importance of investigating contextual factors at the classroom level.

     

Balancing and the Bible: A Pre-Thucydidean View of Threat

This article uses the case of King Saul, David, and the Philistines, drawn from the Hebrew Bible (books 1 and 2 Samuel), to argue that leaders of states with contested or immature authority structures often elect to prioritize threats to their personal rule over external threats to the integrity and welfare of the states which they lead in a manner not predicted by neo-Realist international relations theory. In making this argument, this article not only makes a contribution to the Realist literature on threat prioritization but introduces a new, novel, and ancient data set which can be used both to generate new theories and to test existing theories within international relations.     

When the Line is Crossed... Paths to Control and Sanction Behaviour Necessitating a State Reaction

This article provides an overview of the various forms of proceedings available within 11 European criminal justice systems and reflects upon their core features. It also provides a picture of how far alternative, non-criminal proceedings are used by some of the systems as a different path to imposing a state reaction upon wrong-doers.     

The importation and re-exportation of organized crime: explaining the rise and fall of the Jamaican posses in the United States

During the 1980s and 1990s, Jamaican posses captured the imagination of the press corps, film makers, and numerous of criminal justice scholars in the United States. However, except for a few historical references, their virtual disappearance from the contemporary criminal justice literature leaves many unanswered questions. In updating the literature, this paper examines the main factors contributing to the decline of Jamaican posses in the United States and explains how their criminal activities were displaced to Jamaica through aggressive U.S. anti drug and anti-gang operations and immigration policies.     

Public opinion and the measurement of consumer satisfaction with government services

Abstract: This paper measures Canadian consumer satisfaction with six government services in two time periods, 1983 and 1988. A taxonomy of government services is developed based on heterogeneity of consumer needs and extent of consumer experience with government services. This framework is used to organize the analysis of regional and demographic differences between satisfied and dissatisfied individuals. Results of the study indicate that the majority of people are very satisfied with all six government services in both time periods. Variation does exist across types of services, and several regional and demographic variables are found to be significantly different across satisfied and dissatisfied respondents within each service. Sommaire: Ce rapport kvalue la satisfaction du consommateur canadien à I'égard de six services gouvernementaux à deux époques: en 1983 et en 1988. Il élabore une taxonomie des services gouvernementaux en se fondant sur I'héterogéneité des besoins des consommateurs et I'étendue de leur expérience avec les services gouvernementaux. Ce cadre sert à structurer I'analyse des différences régionales et démographiques entre les personnes satisfaites et celles qui ne le sont pas. Les résultats de I'étude montrent que la plupart des consomrnateurs sont trés satisfaits des six services en question au cours des deux époques étudiées. Il existe des variations selon le type de service et des différences marquées dans plusieurs variables régionales et démographiques entre les répondants satisfaits et insatisfaits a I'égard de chaque service. Many liberal political theorists maintain that “the will of the people” is highest authority in a democracy, and should be directly reflected in policy initiatives sponsored by the government of the day. It is important to understand the fundamental principles which underpin western liberal democracies when studying consumer satisfaction with government services. Given the exalted position granted public opinion in these countries, one can hardly dispute the premise that reference to the wishes of the people is correct. Summary and Conclusions Contrary to past studies, this study found no massive dissatisfaction with government services. Differences in satisfaction do exist and these can be explained primarily by experience levels and heterogeneity of consumer needs. In particular, a strong interaction between experience and needs indicate that services with high experiencelheterogeneous needs receive a low evaluation. Also, satisfaction evaluations remain relatively stable over time but vary greatly across regions. Demographic differences in satisfaction are generally consistent with heterogeneity of needs and experience levels. The relatively high levels of satisfaction found in the study would, prima facie, imply that the government need not be too concerned about improving public services. But two characteristics, heterogeneity of consumer needs and extent of consumer experience, are useful for the categorization of government services on likelihood of dissatisfaction. Public services must be monitored, and monitored differently, depending on the average consumer's experience and need. It is evident that, in the short run, lower-quality services provided to high experience/heterogeneous needs consumers are most likely to generate dissatisfaction and complaints and thus put pressure on governments. A more serious, long-run problem may, however, exist with services provided to low experience/homogeneous needs consumers. It is possible that these services may deteriorate very badly before consumers complain and hence corrective action is taken. On the other hand, perhaps this is the essence of government service supply strategy.