Pushing the frontiers of state audit: political auditing by Israel's state comptroller

Israel's State Comptroller has audited the political behaviors of elected officials and private citizens, in what are departures from its own traditions and those of other state auditors. Political auditing seems likely to appear among other auditors, sooner or later. Auditing is likely to attract more attention from political scientists, and the politics of auditing is likely to become an increasing topic of inquiry, as politics becomes more prominent on the auditor's agenda. The criticism directed at Israel's State Comptroller can be read to suggest the problems inherent in this expansion of audit activity.     

The Interrelationship Between Substance Abuse and the Likelihood of Arrest,Conviction, and Re-offending in Cases of Intimate Partner Violence

The nexus between substance abuse and intimate partner violence has been studied in depth. The interrelationship between substance abuse, intimate partner violence, and the criminal justice system response and subsequent offending has not received as much attention. In this article, the authors examine the impact of substance abuse on the likelihood of an officer’s decision to make an arrest, conviction in that case, and subsequent re-offending. The authors find that while official decision-making remains unaffected by the fact that the offender has been drinking and/or using drugs, substance abuse and subsequent re-offending are inextricably interlinked. These findings highlight the need to screen domestic violence offenders for alcohol/drug abuse, and provide offenders manifesting these problems with alcohol/drug treatment in addition to batterer treatment.     

The influence of forensic evidence on the case outcomes of homicide incidents

Objective

In spite of the growth of forensic science services little published research exists related to the impact of forensic evidence on criminal case outcomes. The present study focused on the influence of forensic evidence on the case processing of homicide incidents.

Materials and Methods

The study utilized a prospective analysis of official record data that followed homicide cases in five jurisdictions from the time of police incident report to final criminal disposition.

Results

The results showed that most homicides went unsolved (34.5% conviction rate). Only 55.5% of the 400 homicide incidents resulted in arrest of which 77% were referred to the district attorney. On the other hand, 94% of cases referred to the district attorney were charged. Cases were more likely to have arrests, referrals, and charges when witnesses provided information to the police. Suspects who knew their victims were more likely to be arrested and referred to the district attorney. Homicides committed with firearms were less likely to be cleared. The most noteworthy finding was that none of the forensic evidence variables significantly influenced criminal justice outcomes.

Conclusions

The study results suggest that forensic evidence is auxiliary and non-determinative for homicide cases.     

Slogan as Policy

Slogans are essential in politics and other endeavors of mass persuasion. Many are benign, but some are troublesome. Here the concern is with those that achieve so much popular success that they become identified with policies and render it difficult for elected officials to consider changes in programs even in the face of substantial indications that change is warranted.     

What a Political Scientist Can Tell a Policymaker about the Likelihood of Success or Failure

A political scientist can introduce a focus on politics into policy analysis. However, the pervasity of politics in policymaking defines one of the outer boundaries of policy analysis. Politicians tend to think about specific needs and how they may be furthered by concrete projects more than they tend to think about principles or empirical findings. The position of policy analysis in policymaking and program implementation is to be won in a competitive setting amid individuals with training in other professional specialties and politicians who may have to professional training. Where politics is pervasive, policy analysts must have a tolerance for ambiguity, obfuscation and frustration.     

The Performance-Verbal IQ discrepancy in differentiated subgroups of delinquent adolescent boys

Evidence for Wechsler's Performance-Verbal IQ sign of adolescent psychopathy in the test results of undifferentiated groups of delinquents has been variable. In view of the heterogeneity of delinquency as a clinical syndrome, the validity of Wechsler's sign was reexamined for psychopathic, neurotic, and subcultural delinquent boys defined according to Quay 's behavioral classification system. Only the psychopathic group scored significantly higher on the Performance Scale than on the Verbal Scale. However, the number of adolescents in each group obtaining higher Performance than Verbal IQs did not significantly differ. Additional group comparisons indicated that the psychopaths earned markedly lower scores on the Comprehension subtest that did the other groups. The findings were interpreted in light of characteristics common to most delinquents regardless of personality orientation.Received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. Major interests are clinical child and developmental psychology.     

Ideology and discourse

Ethnographic methods were used to study alternative dispute resolution as practiced by two mediation projects. Observations of actual mediation sessions, interviews with key informants, and archival data were used. The authors found that the projects could be distinguished according to (a) uses of coercion and consensus in effecting a resolution, (b) the type of posturing that took place between mediator and disputants, and (c) the type of discourse employed. The authors argue that differences between the two projects emanated from whether the project was planned and executed by a state agency or whether it was community-based.     

Policymaking for Vexatious Problems

Idealized policymaking may aspire to solve problems, but the nature of vexatious problems is to resist solution. In these cases, coping and its variants, like accommodation, avoidance, ambiguity, indirection, and improvisation may be more suitable than the pursuit of solution. Two illustrations concerned with the problematic city of Jerusalem demonstrate the possibilities and the pitfalls that may be associated with coping: (1) negotiations involving Israelis and Palestinians; and (2) tensions between religious and secular Jews.