Trying differently: A relationship-centered approach to representing clients with cognitive challenges

This article demonstrates the usefulness of an innovative framework called "Relationship-Centered Lawyering" to enhancing real world legal practice. It uses the example of lawyers, particularly criminal defense lawyers, who often deal with clients with cognitive challenges. The article developed out of a series of workshops conducted jointly by the co-authors, an American law professor with a social work background, and a Canadian criminal defense lawyer and family mediator who is an international expert on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and other Neuro-Behavioral Disorders (FA/NB). The paper describes the relational theory Brooks developed (along with Robert Madden), along with the science of cognitive impairments, with a specific focus on FA/NB. The paper provides two illustrations of the relational framework by explaining Boulding's strategy of creating what is called the "external brain" and his techniques of relational interviewing.     

Is There a Dark Side to Government Supportfor Nonprofits?

The relationship between government social spending and private donations to the nonprofit sector is an issue that is relevant to both public administrators and nonprofit managers. Does government funding displace philanthropy, or encourage it? This article introduces the debate into the public administration literature. First, I survey and interpret the empirical work performed to date in this area by economists. Second, I retest this question across four nonprofit subsectors using data on both federal and state/local spending. My survey of the literature shows mixed results, although a broad pattern indicates that “crowding out” tends to dominate, particularly in the areas of social service provision and health. My empirical results are consistent with these findings, although they must be interpreted cautiously from a policy perspective: While results are statistically significant, the degree of crowding out is generally small. On the other hand, the claim that government funding stimulates giving seems to lack both statistical and policy significance.     

Use of a television crime-drama series to promote legal understanding in mentally ill, incompetent defendants: a pilot study

Videotaped material is used for educational purposes in many areas of medicine. In forensic facilities, programs designed to restore competency to stand trial (CST) in incompetent, mentally ill defendants have utilized videotaped courtroom proceedings as learning tools. This pilot study reviewed the progress of incompetent defendants (N = 15) who participated in a program that utilized videotaped segments of the television crime-drama "Law & Order", among other techniques, to promote CST in individuals deemed unfit to stand trial. The authors hypothesized that participation in at least one cycle of the Competency Restoration Group (CRG)'s curriculum would be associated with improvement in the areas of understanding, reasoning and appreciation. In order to assess whether the group was beneficial to the patient's treatment goal of competency restoration, patients were screened using the MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool-Criminal Adjudication (MacCAT-CA) prior to starting the group and after completing a cycle of the group's curriculum. The Wilcoxon signed ranks test was employed to analyze the results from the pre- and post-group MacCAT-CA testing. The tests yielded significant (p < 0.005) post-test differences in the hypothesized direction for each of the three subsections: Understanding, Reasoning, and Appreciation as well as a significant post test improvement in the total MacCAT-CA scores. These results suggest that a didactic program, using a popular crime drama series, can be effective in facilitating learning in competency restoration programs. Limitations of this study include its lack of a control group and small population.     

Self-Control,Violent Offending,and Homicide Victimization: Assessing the General Theory of Crime

Criminologists have long recognized that offending and victimization share common ground. Using Gottfredson and Hirschis general theory of crime, with its emphasis on self-control as a theoretical backdrop, we examine the extent to which self-control is related to both violent offending and homicide victimization. To examine this issue, we use 5-year post-parole data on violent offending and homicide victimization from a sample of parolees from the California Youth Authority. Using rare-events logistic regression models, results indicate that self-control is related to each outcome, but that other risk factors are also uniquely related to each outcome. The implications of this study for theory and future research are addressed.To whom correspondence should be addressed: Department of Criminology, Law and Society, University of Florida, P.O. Box 115950, 201 Walker Hall, Gainesville, FL 32611-5950; Phone: +1-352-392-1025, ext. 213; E-mail: apiquero@ufl.edu     

Aboriginal women and everyday racism in Alberta: From lived experiences of racism to strategies for personal healing and collective resistance

This ethnographic study of Aboriginal women in southern Alberta analyses how racism is experienced in everyday life and highlights personal and community responses to racism. The stories of fifteen women who were interviewed in 1992–93 provide us with a new understanding of everyday racism: how racism is experienced daily in many aspects of Native people's lives, and how this racism causes pain and loss for Native people. The women's stories also reflect their sense of agency as they respond to racism with efforts for personal healing and anti-racist organizing.     

Quebec's Caisse de dépôt et placement: tool of nationalism

Abstract: As Canada's sixth-ranking financial institution, holding a major equity share in several of the country's largest corporations, Quebec's Caisse de dkppbt et placement has been the object of criticism and suspicion from the business community and even the federal government. But despite the important questions raised by the investment activities of the Caisse, this agency has not been subject to the careful analysis which is warranted by its size and role as an instrument of economic development. Questions regarding the precise nature of the relationship between the Quebec government and decision-makers in the Caisse, and between the Caisse and the corporations in which it holds a major equity stake, remain unanswered. This article examines the role of the Caisse as an instrument of economic policy. In the first section the origins and growth of the Caisse are placed in the theoretical context of economic nationalism. The second part of this article examines the investment activities of the Caisse since the PQ came to power. We argue that there is little evidence to support claims that the investment policy of this agency is influenced in a direct and systematic way by the political objectives of the PQ government. Sommaire. La Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, étant classée au sixième rang parmi les institutions financières et ayant acquis la majorité des actions ordinaires de plusieurs des plus grandes entreprises du pays, a été le sujet de critiques et suspicions de la part de la communauté des affaires et même du gouvernement fédéral. Malgré les importantes questions qui se posent en raison de ses activités d'investissements, la Caisse n'a pas été assujettie à la scrupuleuse analyse que justifieraient sa grandeur et son rôle en tant qu'instrument de développement économique. Les questions, traitant de la nature précise des relations entre le gouvemement québécois et les dirigeants de la Caisse, et celles de la Caisse et des corporations dans lesquelles elle détient une part majoritaire, restent sans réponses.     

Child care quality in different state policy contexts

Using data from the Child Care Supplement to the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, we test associations between the quality of child care and state child care policies. These data, which include observations of child care and interviews with care providers and mothers for 777 children across 14 states, allow for comparisons across a broader range of policy regimes and care settings than earlier research on this topic. Using multilevel linear and logistic models, we found that more generous subsidy policies (that is, greater investment, higher income eligibility) were positively associated with the quality of care in nonprofit child care centers, as well as with the use of center care. The stringency of regulations (that is, teacher education requirements, teacher‐child ratios/thresholds) was also associated with both quality and type of care, but in more complex ways. Higher teacher training requirements were positively associated with the quality of both family child care and nonprofit centers, while more stringent regulations decreased the number of children attending center care. No links were found between state policies and the quality of for‐profit center care. The implications for policy makers, advocates, and policy analysts are discussed. © 2007 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management     

Racial attitudes and belief in redeemability: Most Whites believe justice-involved Black people can change

Public belief in redeemability reduces punitiveness and increases support for policy measures such as rehabilitation, expungement, and housing and employment opportunities. Although racial attitudes are known to influence a wide range of criminal justice policy opinions, their effects on beliefs about redeemability and condemnation have not been fully explored. Using data from a 2019 YouGov survey of a national sample of White U.S. adults (N = 766), the current study estimates the effects of three distinct racial attitudes—racial resentment, racial sympathy, and White nationalism—on three measures of belief in redeemability: 1) a race-neutral measure, 2) a measure of belief in redeemability of Black offenders, and 3) a measure of condemnation of Black offenders. The results indicate that belief in redeemability is high—for offenders in general and for Black offenders. These findings are supported by a second 2022 YouGov survey of White U.S. adults (N = 1,505). Racial sympathy and White nationalism have significant effects across all three outcomes, with the positive effect of White nationalism on condemnation of Black offenders being the largest across the three models. These findings suggest that although most Whites agree that formerly incarcerated people are redeemable, racial attitudes influence these beliefs, especially for Black offenders.     

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.