A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR CRIMINAL JUSTICE PLANNING

This paper outlines a conceptual scheme for systematic analysis of the criminal justice policy-planning process. The major assumptions required to apply the concept of policy-planning in the substantive area of criminal justice are examined. Specification of critical aspects of the criminal justice system/environment relationship and elaboration of the roles played by various classes of key actors in relation to the need for, demand for, production of, and utilization of policy-planning analyses are central features of the analytic scheme.     

The need for some innovative concepts of innovation: An examination of research on the diffusion of innovations

This paper examines research on the diffusion of innovation, the final stage in the process of technological change. The focus rests primarily on two traditions in diffusion research: that of economists and that of sociologists. Diffusion researchers in these and related disciplines have made significant contributions to the understanding of the dynamics of processes of change; yet the state of the art in diffusion research is not equal to the sum of its parts. This is due in large measure to disciplinary parochialism: scholars have concentrated on those innovations, diffusion environments, explanatory variables, and analytical methodologies which are most compatible with their particular disciplines, despite the fact that diffusion is not a discipline-specific phenomenon. Deficiencies in current understanding of diffusion are examined in the context of this and other significant problems. The paper concludes by considering the policy relevance of diffusion research and suggesting issues with which future research might productively be concerned.The following individuals have been most helpful in stimulating and directing my interest in this subject and in criticizing this paper: Richard R. Nelson of Yale University and the following members of the Faculty Seminar on Innovation and Social Change, Institute of Public Policy Studies, University of Michigan: Michael Moch, Lawrence Mohr, Everett Rogers, Herbert Schuette, Jack Walker, and Sidney Winter.     

POLICE VIOLENCE AS A FUNCTION OF COMMUNITY CHARACTERISTICS

The authors find that existing models concerning police violence are not i designed to explain variation among the states in the rates of police use ‘of deadly force. This variation correlates significantly with numerous cultural attributes of the public. The strongest correlates are with the public rates of violence. Therefore, the authors propose to moody existing modeb, and explain the police use of violence as a response to community characteristics. Where public violence is neither normative nor commonly occurrent. the police will be self-restrained. Where the incidence of violence reveals a common means of conflict resolution, the police will adopt its use. Thus, the police use of violence is a culturally determined characteristic and not a police pathology.     

On the estimation of lay-time by measurements of rigor mortis

Measurements of the torgue to overcome rigor mortis on the legs of 101 male human cadavers at 5 degrees C are reported. There seems to exist an upper limit, which is dependent on the lay-time, above which no value occurs, but below which every value may be found. By calculating the 90% tolerance limits for lay-times grouped at 12-hourly intervals, this upper limit was found to decrease exponentially with lay-time. This may be used for the estimation of maximum lay-times from rigor mortis measurements.