Disabling dissent: the colour revolutions,autocratic linkages,and civil society regulations in hybrid regimes

State elites in hybrid regimes have increasingly sought to manipulate the legal regulation of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as part of the growing backlash against democracy assistance in nondemocratic countries around the world. Sophisticated laws detailing burdensome NGO registration procedures and complex regulations enabling invasive government oversight of NGOs represent upgraded forms of civic curtailment and democracy resistance. This paper analyses these significant developments in a systematic, cross-national fashion over time by constructing a new dataset of NGO legal barriers in hybrid regimes from 1995 to 2013. It demonstrates that the expansion of repressive NGO regulations are shaped by international factors, particularly autocratic linkages, in the form of trade or defence pacts with Russia and China, as well as authoritarian learning from the colour revolutions. It thus contributes to debates on autocracy promotion and authoritarian resurgence by moving beyond the regime level to focus on the sub-regime dimension of freedom of association.     

Precautionary Behavior and Violent Victimization: Do Safer Drinking Strategies Reduce Risk?

This study was undertaken to test if precautionary drinking behaviors can be associated with reduced risk of violent victimization. Some studies have shown that these behaviors (e.g. limiting alcohol intake, eating before or during drinking, and having friends close by) reduce the negative consequences of drinking, but very few have focused on criminal victimization. National College Health Assessment data from 2012¹1. The opinions, findings, and conclusions presented in this article are those of the authors, and are in no way meant to represent the corporate opinions, views, or policies of the American College Health Association (ACHA). ACHA does not warrant nor assume any liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information presented in this article.View all notes were utilized to examine the association between precautionary drinking behavior and violent victimization (physical assault or verbal threat), controlling for demographic and risky lifestyle factors. Regression analyses found that precautionary drinking behavior reduced the odds of victimization only among men who frequently drink. In this same group being “single” increased risk. Other variables were consistent predictors: drug use, multiple sex partners, mental health disorder, and first year student status. Binge drinking and having a disability were also frequent predictors. Finally, Black women but not men were more likely to be victimized. These results suggest that the risky or protective nature of types of drinking behaviors is gendered and taking precautions is especially important for men who drink frequently.     

A testable theory of problem solving courts: Avoiding past empirical and legal failures

Recent years have seen a proliferation of problem solving courts designed to rehabilitate certain classes of offenders and thereby resolve the underlying problems that led to their court involvement in the first place. Some commentators have reacted positively to these courts, considering them an extension of the philosophy and logic of Therapeutic Jurisprudence, but others show concern that the discourse surrounding these specialty courts has not examined their process or outcomes critically enough. This paper examines that criticism from historical and social scientific perspectives. The analysis culminates in a model that describes how offenders are likely to respond to the process as they engage in problem solving court programs and the ways in which those courts might impact subsequent offender conduct. This Therapeutic Jurisprudence model of problem solving courts draws heavily on social cognitive psychology and more specifically on theories of procedural justice, motivation, and anticipated emotion to offer an explanation of how offenders respond to these programs. We offer this model as a lens through which social scientists can begin to address the concern that there is not enough critical analysis of the process and outcome of these courts. Applying this model to specialty courts constitutes an important step in critically examining the contribution of problem solving courts.     

Resiliency against victimization: Results from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health

Investigating the causes of why individuals desist from, or are resilient to, delinquency, crime, and other problem behaviors has captured the interests of scholars. Within the context of criminology, much of this research focused on resiliency against offending; that is, understanding how and why some individuals within high-risk environments do not engage in serious criminal offenses. The extant scholarship, however, has not fully explored the effects protective factors might have on fostering resiliency against victimization. Using a sample of respondents drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, this study investigated how individual protective factors and the accumulation of protective factors contribute to the explanation of resiliency against victimization. Analysis of the data revealed that commitment to school was the only statistically significant independent predictor of resiliency for at risk-individuals. Additional analyses indicated that a protective factor index measuring the accumulation of protection was significant across multiple measures of resiliency. The policy and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Quality and Stability of Cross-Ethnic Friendships: Effects of Classroom Diversity and Out-of-School Contact

Journal of Youth and Adolescence - Cross-ethnic friendships are linked to a range of positive outcomes in adolescence, but have been shown to be lower quality and less stable than same-ethnic...     

Effects of Pre-release Services on Access to Behavioral Health Treatment after Release from Prison

Using the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative data-set, substance use and mental health needs of released inmates are examined to explore whether there is a positive relationship between pre-release services and behavioral health treatment access at three months post-release. Two weighted hierarchical linear models were run testing the effects of three key pre-release services: pre-release needs assessment, pre-release linkage with inmates’ post-release case managers, and pre-release assistance with accessing post-release health insurance. Results demonstrate that pre-release needs assessment significantly increases the odds of receiving post-release substance abuse treatment, and case management linkage and assistance with accessing health insurance significantly increase the odds of mental health treatment after release. Policy implications for reentry service provision targeting behavioral health needs, and directions for future research, are discussed.     

Psychotic Domestic Murder: Neuropsychological Differences Between Homicidal and Nonhomicidal Schizophrenic Men

There is substantial evidence that individuals with schizophrenia are at increased risk for violent criminal behavior and an even higher risk for committing murder, relative to the general population. Neuropsychological features of seven schizophrenic men who murdered family members were compared to neuropsychological features of seven schizophrenic men with no history of violence, criminal offenses or antisocial behavior. The two groups were matched for age, education, race, gender, handedness, and diagnosis, and had similar psychotic symptom profiles and substance abuse histories. The schizophrenic murderers demonstrated significantly worse neuropsychological impairment, involving executive dysfunction and memory dysfunction, relative to nonviolent schizophrenic men. Implications include: (1) specific neuropsychological deficits may increase the likelihood of some schizophrenic men to murder family members due to an impaired capacity to inhibit impulsive violent aggression; (2) neuropsychological status of schizophrenic defendants who commit domestic homicide should be considered by the trier-of-fact when they are tried for murder.     

Making political citizens? Migrants’ narratives of naturalization in the United Kingdom*

Citizenship tests are arguably intended as moments of hailing, or interpellation, through which norms are internalized and citizen-subjects produced. We analyse the multiple political subjects revealed through migrants’ narratives of the citizenship test process, drawing on 158 interviews with migrants in Leicester and London who are at different stages in the UK citizenship test process. In dialogue with three counter-figures in the critical naturalization literature – the ‘neoliberal citizen’; the ‘anxious citizen’; and the ‘heroic citizen’ – we propose the figure of the ‘citizen-negotiator’, a socially situated actor who attempts to assert control over their life as they navigate the test process and state power. Through the focus on negotiation, we see migrants navigating a process of differentiation founded on pre-existing inequalities rather than a journey toward transformation.