IT’S WHERE YOU ARE THAT MATTERS: THE NETWORKING BEHAVIOUR OF ENGLISH LOCAL GOVERNMENT OFFICERS

Increased complexity in the world of public management has resulted in the growth of networks of actors who, operating interdependently, co‐produce public services. Much of the prior networking literature conflates structure (the network) with behaviour (networking). Based on this concern we analyse the managerial networking practices of over 1,000 officers in English local government. We find extensive networking activity amongst three groups of officers and show that corporate officers, chief officers and service managers develop logical patterns of interaction among network nodes and initiation that reflect their level of management. We conclude that where you are in the organizational hierarchy matters for networking behaviour and discuss the implications of these findings for future research.     

ALCOHOL AND THE RISK OF PHYSICAL AND SEXUAL ASSAULT VICTIMIZATION*

We examine the effect of alcohol consumption on an individual's risk of victimization for physical and sexual assault. Analyses of the National Violence Against Women Survey suggest that the frequency and amount of alcohol people consume has strong effects on their risk of victimization when drinking, but is not associated with their victimization while sober. This evidence suggests that drinking has a situational causal effect on victimization, and cannot be attributed to opportunity factors associated with drinking. This effect is particularly strong for men and young adults, who may be more likely to behave provocatively when under the influence. Victims of sexual assaults and men assaulted by their female partners are also particularly likely to be drinking.     

The Knowledge of Detained Juveniles About the Juvenile Justice System

This article examines the knowledge and perceptions of detained juveniles about the roles of juvenile justice officials and the nature of the juvenile justice system. Data were collected through interviews in a group setting. The small sample size limited the generalizability of the findings but provided specific information important for future research and policymaking on an under‐studied group. The study found that the experiences of the juveniles with the justice system provided only limited understanding of the system's processes and confusion about juvenile justice officials' roles. The juveniles did not have a clear understanding of how each official's role operated within a set of roles that constitutes the system. Further, they did not fully understand the cumulative effect of juvenile processing.     

THE PROCESS OF CRIMINALIZATION: THE CASE OF COMPUTER CRIME LAWS*

Scholars are rarely afforded contemporary opportunities to study the formation of criminal law. This paper reviews state and federal efforts to criminalize various forms of computer abuse. The analysis indicates that there was neither organized opposition to nor significant interest group involvement in computer crime enactments. Individual reformers included computer crime “experts” and legislators rather than “moral entrepreneurs.” The media were crucial to the criminalization, in that they provided both data on the incidence of computer crime and also helped to define society's response to the perceived problem. The paper concludes that the criminalization of computer abuse can be interpreted as a symbolic endeavor to educate and socialize a new generation of computer users by extending traditional definitions of property and privacy.     

Toward Peace in the World of Business through International Criminal Justice

In response to the concerns of the world community over the interlockings between the abuse of economic and political power and its potential negative effect on national socio-economic development efforts, the United Nations has undertaken several major strategic programs. The recent Sixth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders focused on this topic, with a global strategy beginning to emerge. Yet that strategy could be on a collision course with the policies of the new American administration. The author reasons that support for an international control strategy is in the best interests of the United States and other Western nations, that it need not collide with a laissez-faire domestic policy, and that it provides an alternative to violent acts of aggression and other non-negotiated mechanisms for achieving world economic justice.