Cutting the Grass: A Reexamination of the Link between Marital Attachment,Delinquent Peers and Desistance from Marijuana Use

Recent work indicates that marriage contributes to desistance from crime. However, two prominent interpretations of this relationship have been offered. The first, rooted in informal control theory, suggests that the marriage effect is a direct result of social bonds that tend to accompany matrimony. The second contends that the effect is indirect and due to the impact of marriage on patterns of delinquent peer association. Using data from waves 5 and 6 of the National Youth Survey, this study re-analyzes these interpretations by examining the relationship between marital attachment, delinquent peer association and desistance from marijuana use. Although change in delinquent peer association is a powerful predictor of marijuana desistance, findings are also consistent with the control theory interpretation of the marriage effect. Implications and limitations of the current study are noted.A previous version of this paper was presented at the 2000 meeting of the American Society of Criminology in San Francisco, CA.     

GOING COMMERCIAL IN THE DEPARTMENT OF ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES*

The Department of Administrative Services of the Commonwealth government (DAS) was created in its present form as part of the July 1987 restructuring of Commonwealth departments. Functions came from nine hitherto separate departments, with the bulk of them transferring from Local Government and Administrative Services, Housing and Construction, and Science. The number of affected staff totalled 18,600: they were previously organised into 19 quite distinct groups with very little in common except that they were providing a service of some kind, predominantly to Commonwealth organisations.     

New directions for pastoral development in Africa

The last few years have seen a major rethinking of some of the hallowed assumptions of range ecology and range-management practice. The usefulness of terms such as ‘vegetation succession?s, ‘carrying capacity?s, and ‘desertification?s is being reassessed, particularly for the dry rangelands which are dominated by highly variable rainfall and episodic, chance events such as drought. This article examines the management and policy implications of this thinking for pastoral development in dryland areas. It briefly examines the consequences of environmental variability for pastoral development planning, range and fodder management, drought responses, livestock marketing, resource tenure, institutional development, and pastoral administration. By offering new directions for development workers, researchers, and policy planners, the article illustrates, in practical terms, a future for pastoral development in dryland Africa that recognises both the importance of pastoral livelihoods and the significance of environmental variability.