The Evolution of Local Government Budgeting in Poland: From Accounting to Policy in a Leap and a Bound

The evolution of U.S. public budgeting has been described by Schick (1966) as a progression from a control orientation to a management and then a planning orientation. Lee (1992) has tracked the evolution of central budgeting staff largely from a group of accountants to a more varied set of backgrounds, dominated by public administration and general liberal arts educations. As Poland decentralizes fiscal and administrative responsibilities and powers to gminas (local self-governments), the gmina councils are beginning to view the budget as more than a financial accounting tool proscribed and prescribed by the central government. They are beginning to see the potential for using the budget as a policy and management tool. The evolutionary transformation of budgeting, which took fifty years in the United States, may take only five years in Poland. The evidence for this metamorphosis is based on interviews with several gmina city budgeters, with special attention devoted to the city of Lublin.     

Decentralization and accountability in the health sector from an international perspective: What are the choices?

This article reviews alternative decentralization policies for the health sector. It discusses the forms that decentralization can take, illustrating these with country examples. It then considers the choice of levels in a decentralization policy and the desirability of the creation of health boards or authorities. Decentralized authorities can be given differing levels of responsibility for different tasks: those considered here are revenue raising, policy-making and planning, resource allocation, funding of service provision and interagency and intersec-toral coordination. The article concludes by considering some criteria for evaluating decentralization approaches.     

Lösegelderpressung für die Rückgabe von Diebsgut

Der Dieb, der vom Eigentümer oder dessen Versicherer für die Rückgabe der weggenommenen Sache L?segeld fordert, verantwortet – mangels Anrechenbarkeit der Sachrückgabe auf die abgen?tigte Leistung – das Verbrechen der Erpressung.     

Medical Terminology Coding Systems and Medicolegal Death Investigation Data: Searching for a Standardized Method of Electronic Coding at a Statewide Medical Examiner’s Office*

Abstract: Medical examiner and coroner reports are a rich source of data for epidemiologic research. To maximize the utility of this information, medicolegal death investigation data need to be electronically coded. In order to determine the best option for coding, we evaluated four different options (Current Procedural Terminology [CPT], International Classification of Disease [ICD] coding, Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine Clinical Terms [SNOMED CT], and an in‐house system), then conducted internal and external needs assessments to determine which system best met the needs of a centralized, statewide medical examiner’s office. Although all four systems offer distinct advantages and disadvantages, SNOMED CT is the most accurate for coding pathologic diagnoses, with ICD‐10 the best option for classifying the cause of death. For New Mexico’s Office of the Medical Investigator, the most feasible coding option is an upgrade of an in‐house coding system, followed by linkage to ICD codes for cause of death from the New Mexico Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics, and ideally, SNOMED classification of pathologic diagnoses.     

Civil commitment by conservatorship: the workings of California's law

This article summarizes the conservatorship provisions of the California Civil Commitment Statute, the Lanterman-Petris-Short (LPS) Act and reviews the major findings from previous studies. By studying the hospital records of eighty-five gravely disabled patients affected by LPS, the authors address issues raised by these reports. The results indicate that the law's provisions work unevenly. Patients with acute and current disability received conservatorships more frequently than those who had been disabled in the past. There is some evidence that the process is used to confine threatening patients and does not function equally well for all diagnostic groups.     

Impression management and self-report among violent offenders

Offenders are assumed by many to employ socially desirable responding (SDR) response styles when completing self-report measures. Contrary to expectations, prior research has shown that accounting for SDR in self-report measures of antisocial constructs does not improve the relationship with outcome. Despite this, many self-report measures reliably predict future criminal outcome criteria. The present research examines the relationship of SDR (self-deception and impression management) with self-reported antisocial attitudes and the outcome of criminal recidivism in a sample of violent offenders. Offenders high on impression management reported lower antisocial attitudes. However, when impression management was statistically partialed from antisocial attitudes, the relationship with recidivism tended to diminish, though not to a statistically significant degree. This finding, though hypothesized based on previous empirical findings, is contrary to the theoretical assumption that controlling for SDR should improve the relationship of self-report with outcome. The discussion centers on the implications of routinely removing impression management from self-report.