Membership no longer has its privileges: The declining informal influence of Board members on IDA lending

This paper examines the ability of Board members of the most important multilateral donor to developing countries, the International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank, to influence IDA allocations toward their home countries. I show that a system of Bank staff ratings of individual countries' policies, which has become more important in IDA lending over time, has systematically reduced the informal power of Board members. I show that while IDA Board members received more IDA commitments than their counterparts prior to 1989, this influence has disappeared since, as the importance of the policy index has increased. The findings are robust to the inclusion of fixed effects and a variety of relevant controls. In order to further support my argument, I also investigate the influence of Board membership on the Bank's policy index itself. I am unable to establish any positive relationship between Board membership and the index, either during the Cold War or afterwards. The findings not only shed important light on the internal workings of World Bank allocations to poor countries, but also highlight the ways in which institutional designs can affect the balance of informal power in international institutions.     

Self-Control Theory and Nonlinear Effects on Offending

Objectives

This paper examines Gottfredson and Hirschi’s (A general theory of crime. Stanford University Press, Stanford, 1990) self-control theory and develops theoretical arguments for why self-control may have a differential effect on offending depending on the level of self-control.

Methods

We test the argument that the association between self-control and violent offending (n = 5,681) and non-violent offending (5,672) is nonlinear by using generalized propensity score analyses of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health.

Results

The results indicate that self-control and offending are nonlinearly related in a manner that involves two thresholds. Specifically, among individuals at the high end of the self-control spectrum, there was little evidence of an association between variation in self-control and offending. However, among individuals in the middle part of the self-control spectrum, a positive association obtained—that is, the greater the level of low self-control, the greater the likelihood of offending. Finally, among individuals at the low end of the self-control spectrum, there was, once again, little evidence of an association.

Conclusions

A nonlinear association between self-control and offending may exist and have implications for self-control theory and tests of it. Studies are needed to investigate further the possibility of a nonlinear association and to test empirically the mechanisms that give rise to it.     

The front and back stages of carceral expansion marketing in Canada

This article examines how provincial and territorial government agencies and prison authorities in Canada promote new penal infrastructure initiatives. Through an analysis of press releases, websites, opening ceremonies and open houses to promote jail and prison construction projects, our analysis reveals discourses that are legitimating carceral expansion in the Canadian context including: the pursuit of public safety and institutional security; providing opportunities for rehabilitation and healing; addressing the legacies of colonization through the ‘indigenizing’ of imprisonment; generating economic stimulus through prison-related employment and other financial contributions; and the establishment of ‘environmentally-friendly’ prisons. Drawing from government records obtained using Access to Information and Freedom of Information requests, we also provide examples of how front stage messages communicated to the public are assembled by bureaucrats and marketing firms in the back stage of these punishment campaigns.     

<Emphasis Type="Bold">Originalism</Emphasis><Emphasis Type="Bold">, Pragmatic Conservatism,and Living Document Judicial Philosophies: Explaining Variation in U.S. Supreme Court Votes in Criminal Procedure Cases for the 1994–2014 Terms of Court</Emphasis>

Prior research on U.S. Supreme Court justice votes and case outcomes has examined a variety of hypotheses to explain variation in voting and case decisions in criminal procedure matters. Largely ignored by prior work, however, is the notion that the effects of the measures used to examine these prior hypotheses may vary for the justices based on the judicial philosophy espoused and followed by the justice. This article identifies three distinct overarching judicial philosophies of law interpretation that have guided the justices for much of the Rehnquist Court and the entirety of the Roberts Court: Originalism, Pragmatic Conservatism, and Living Document. It contextualizes the Information, Affected Groups, and Legal Issue hypotheses in a framework that considers their potential effects across Originalist, Pragmatic Conservative, and Living Document justices on the Court for the 1994 through 2014 terms. The study finds that enhanced activity by special interest organizations (the Affected Groups Hypothesis) in support of the non-government other party impacts vote direction among Pragmatic Conservative and Living Document justices but not for the Originalist justices. It also finds more case type (Legal Issue) effects for Originalist justices than for Pragmatic Conservative and Living Document justices in that for Originalist justices a vote for the government is less likely in cases that concern statutory meaning (relative to constitutional meaning). Implications are discussed.     

Incarceration and Recidivism among Sexual Offenders

The relationship between incarceration and recidivism was investigated in a sample of 627 adult male sexual offenders. Incarceration for the index offense was unrelated to sexual or violent recidivism. This was the case whether incarceration was examined as a dichotomous variable (incarceration vs. community sentence) or as a continuous variable (length of incarceration). Risk for sexual recidivism was assessed with a modified version of the Rapid Risk Assessment for Sexual Offense Recidivism. There was no evidence that the relationship between incarceration and recidivism was confounded or moderated by risk or that length of incarceration and recidivism were non-linearly associated. Sentencing sexual offenders to terms of incarceration appears to have little, if any, impact on sexual and violent recidivism following release.     

Burnout among corrections-based drug treatment staff: impact of individual and organizational factors

As a result of limited budgets, many treatment programs are forced to operate for extended periods at or beyond their capacity. The resulting pressure and stress on treatment staff can be taxing and lead to serious problems, including job burnout. Although the concept of burnout within other social service professions has been broadly researched, less attention has been given to burnout among drug abuse treatment staff, especially among corrections-based drug treatment staff. The goal of this article is to extend this area of research by exploring the impact of individual factors and organizational factors on burnout. Findings revealed that although a number of factors were related to staff burnout, younger counselor age, lower adaptability, poorer clarity of agency mission, and higher stress were most significant. Ways in which treatment programs might address these issues affecting staff burnout are discussed.     

Using indirect questions to detect intimate partner violence: the SAFE-T questionnaire

A screening instrument for detecting intimate partner violence (IPV) was developed using indirect questions. The authors identified 5 of 18 items studied that clearly distinguished victims of IPV from a random group of health conference attendees with a sensitivity of 85% and a specificity of 87%. This 5-item instrument (SAFE-T) was then tested on 435 women presenting to three emergency departments and the results compared to a direct question regarding current abuse. The SAFE-T questions detected only 54% of the women who admitted being abused and correctly classified 81% of the women who said they were not victims. The 1-year prevalence of IPV in this sample of women presenting to an emergency department was 11.6%. The authors conclude that indirect questioning of women appears to be more effective at ruling out IPV in an emergency department population and may be less useful for women "early" in an abusive relationship.     

An empirical examination of adolescence-limited offending: A direct test of Moffitt's maturity gap thesis

Purpose

Provide the first direct test of Moffitt's (1993) hypothesis linking the maturity gap with adolescent delinquency.

Methods

Data were drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) and a direct measure of the maturity gap was constructed. Negative binomial regression models—survey-corrected to account for the Add Health research design—were estimated.

Results

Consistent with Moffitt's theory, the results of the analyses revealed that the maturity gap was predictive of minor forms of delinquency and drug use but not of more serious types of offending behaviors for males. Findings were less supportive of Moffitt's hypothesis for females.

Conclusions

Moffitt's maturity gap thesis is a viable explanation of adolescent delinquency, especially for males. This portion of the theory, which has largely gone unexamined, warrants further inquiry from criminologists.