PROSTITUTION,IV DRUG USE,AND SEXFOR-CRACK EXCHANGES AMONG SERIOUS DELINQUENTS: RISKS FOR HIV INFECTION*

There is mounting evidence that HIV infection among adolescents is increasing, particularly among minorities and inner-city youths involved in certain high-risk activities, such as multiple sex partners and intravenous drug use. Interviews conducted “on the street” with 611 seriously delinquent male and female adolescents (ages 12–17) included questions about their involvement in prostitution, intravenous drug use, and sex-for-crack exchanges. Findings included high percentages of youths engaged in these HIV-risk activities and a consistent association between all of them and greater illicit drug use. This would suggest that these risk behaviors may be surprisingly prevalent among some inner-city adolescent groups. Special AIDS prevention/intervention targeting these groups is warranted and urgently needed. Drug treatment should be a central focus of such programs.     

Bounding the Commons: Land Demarcation in Northeastern Nicaragua

In north-eastern Nicaragua, territorial titling of communal lands conflates particular notions of ethnicity with proprietary conceptions of space to generate new forms of conflict within and between indigenous and black communities, and with mestizo migrants. Notions of rights between competing groups, or within conflicting normative frameworks, become increasingly polemic during demarcation. While analysis of three land titling case studies demonstrates that results are socially contingent and place based, trends include: (a) power disparities; (b) tension between 'traditional' and 'modern' patterns of land tenure and resource rights; and (c) contradictions fed by international conservation agendas and neoliberal economic reforms. Combining critical actor-based analysis with practical policy critique our work illuminates how contestations over the bounding of communal territories contribute to social injustice.     

THE NEW 'EVALUATI STATE'

This article is based on a comparative study of three forms of evaluation used by government, the Audit Commission, consultants and the Social Services Inspectorate. The paper argues that these evaluative bodies strengthened the authority of government in the 1980s and supported the shift from a professional to a managerial culture in government. Their contribution to those changes can be linked to the kinds of knowledge they used and the positivist assumptions about knowledge that reasserted themselves in evaluation and in government in the 1980s. However, the research also provides further support for the critics of positivism. The distinction between fact and value and between technical expertise and political argument often broke down in evaluative practice.     

U.S. Social Structure and Imprisonment

An article by Joubert, Picon and McIntosh (1981) is found to contain several serious methodological flaws. A second analysis using a similar data set suggests that these methodological problems may have caused them to draw erroneous conclusions regarding the effects of social structural variables on prison admission and release rates.     

Developing Court‐Connected Parent Divorce Education Programs: Guidelines For Communities

This article answers a myriad of questions that program providers and communities might consider when developing a divorce education program for parents. Questions and answers are considered for the following areas: a) purpose and objectives; b) needs assessment; c) curriculum development; d) program support; e) personnel matters; f) money matters; g) program participants and participation; h) special needs; and i) evaluation. Communities that build consensus around these issues are more likely to develop successful programs.     

Reflections of African-American Women on their Careers in Urban Policing. Their Experiences of Racial and Sexual Discrimination

This article examines the social organizational relationships and interactions that position African-American policewomen as outsiders within their own department. Their exclusion arises not only from dominant white males but from other subordinated groups such as white female and black male officers. The authors found persistent and pervasive patterns of sexual and racial discrimination. This qualitative research is based on data obtained from a population of all 21 black female police officers in a large urban city. The work experiences of black women in policing highlight several problematic areas. These women often experience gender discrimination related to professional abilities, job performance, and supervisory responsibilities. They experience racism in the form of derogatory remarks, and in the areas of hiring and promotion. Their marginality based on gender and race also is readily apparent in relationships among officers.