Are We Getting Value for Money from Behavioral Interventions for Offenders? A Research Note Reviewing the Economic Evaluation Literature

Public expenditure on the criminal justice system represents a significant fiscal burden to government worldwide, making the economic evaluation of interventions aimed at improving justice outcomes critical to informing resource allocation. This study systematically reviews and assesses the scope and quality of economic evaluations of behavioral interventions aimed at reducing reoffending. Only seventeen studies met the inclusion criteria, with wide variation in methodological approaches, including differences in costing perspectives, study design, and the definition of cost and outcome measures. The majority of behavioral interventions for offenders remain unevaluated from an economic perspective, representing a significant evidence gap for informing cost-effective and efficient allocation decision. Based on the studies reviewed, economic benefit can be derived from investing in offender behavioral programs. However, whether this investment represents ‘value for money’ remains unclear. What is clear is that economic evaluations in the justice health sector lag behind research in other areas of public policy.     

A Perspective on Errors,Bias, and Interpretation in the Forensic Sciences and Direction for Continuing Advancement*

Abstract: The forensic sciences are under review more so than ever before. Such review is necessary and healthy and should be a continuous process. It identifies areas for improvement in quality practices and services. The issues surrounding error, i.e., measurement error, human error, contextual bias, and confirmatory bias, and interpretation are discussed. Infrastructure is already in place to support reliability. However, more definition and clarity of terms and interpretation would facilitate communication and understanding. Material improvement across the disciplines should be sought through national programs in education and training, focused on science, the scientific method, statistics, and ethics. To provide direction for advancing the forensic sciences a list of recommendations ranging from further documentation to new research and validation to education and to accreditation is provided for consideration. The list is a starting point for discussion that could foster further thought and input in developing an overarching strategic plan for enhancing the forensic sciences.     

Computer-based production of comparison overlays from 3D-scanned dental casts for bite mark analysis

Bite mark analysis assumes the uniqueness of the dentition can be accurately recorded on skin or an object. However, biting is a dynamic procedure involving three moving systems, the maxilla, the mandible, and the victim's reaction. Moreover, bite marks can be distorted by the anatomic location of the injury or the elasticity of the skin tissue. Therefore, the same dentition can produce bite marks that exhibit variations in appearance. The complexity of this source of evidence emphasizes the need for new 3D imaging technologies in bite mark analysis. This article presents a new software package, DentalPrint (2004, University of Granada, Department of Forensic Medicine and Forensic Odontology, Granada, Spain) that generates different comparison overlays from 3D dental cast images depending on the pressure of the bite or the distortion caused by victim-biter interaction. The procedure for generating comparison overlays is entirely automatic, thus avoiding observer bias. Moreover, the software presented here makes it impossible for third parties to manipulate or alter the 3D images, making DentalPrint suitable for bite mark analyses to be used in court proceedings.     

When Women Run,Voters Will Follow (Sometimes): Examining the Mobilizing Effect of Female Candidates in the 2014 and 2018 Midterm Elections

Political Behavior - In this paper, we examine whether women candidates are more likely to spur turnout in election years when gender-related issues are central to the national debate. We argue...     

Gender and the burden of disease in ten Asian countries: An exploratory analysis

This article explores critically the assumption that the burden of disease remains heavier for women than for men. The impact of gender on health is better understood when the burden of disease is analysed in terms of its two dimensions, the domestic and the public. This dual approach reveals that, concerning the public burden of disease, morbidity and mortality trends are becoming similar for men and women while, with the domestic burden of disease, gender shows that differences seem to persist in men and women’s roles within the family, particularly involving illness prevention and management at home. This argument is explored in this paper through two types of evidence: to investigate the domestic burden of disease, reference is made to findings from studies on gender roles in the family; and the public burden of disease is explored using the World Health Organization’s latest figures on mortality and morbidity. The domestic and public dimensions of the burden of disease are discussed in the context of ten Asian countries at different stages of socio-economic development (Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, China, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam and Cambodia).     

‘Papa don't preach’: Fatherhood in a South African Christian men's magazine

Abstract

The first international men's lifestyle magazine to enter South Africa was Men's Health in 1997, followed by FHM and GQ. Not unlike their international counterparts, these magazines have been extolled in the publishing sector for their commercial success and disparaged in academia for their potentially negative influence on the sensitive gender politics of the new South Africa. In 2001, a new breed of men's lifestyle magazine emerged in South Africa: one that catered to a particular cultural or racial niche market that presumably was not satisfied by the generalising tone of the mainstream men's lifestyle magazines. The Afrikaans Christian magazine MaksiMan is the subject of this analysis, as much for what it signifies in terms of the presence of vernacular masculinities in post-apartheid South Africa as for the texture that it brings to the genre of men's lifestyle magazines. Mainstream men's magazines typically refuse to include reference to the role of father that certain of their readers might occupy. MaksiMan breaks this trend through articles and features centred on fatherhood. This article comprises an analysis of the representation of fatherhood within this niche men's lifestyle magazine.