A Detailed Cost Evaluation of a Juvenile Drug Court that Follows the Juvenile Drug Court Model (16 Strategies)

Although juvenile drug courts (JDCs) have now been in operation for 17 years, there is still no definitive appraisal as to this model's cost effectiveness and in particular, no detailed cost analysis of a JDC program following the 16 strategies until this one. The cost data presented in this paper build on the process and outcome evaluations performed on the Clackamas County Juvenile Drug Court (CCJDC). The criminal justice costs incurred by participants in drug court are compared with the costs incurred by eligible non‐participants. CCJDC participants had far more positive outcomes than those who did not participate in the program. In the two years after drug court entry, CCJDC participants cost the taxpayers $961 less per participant than similar individuals who did not attend the drug court program.     

The politics of literature: Writers,intellectuals and German unity

The relationship between politics and literature is beset by tensions and difficulties. The traditional dichotomy in Germany between ’Geist’ and ‘Macht’ has come to the fore again in debates about unity. The events of 1989/90 provoked a fierce controversy over the role of writers and intellectuals in both German states. This article chronicles the debate and seeks to place it in its socio‐political context: the alleged role of GDR writers as loyal supporters of their state, alleged complicity with the Stasi, and the supposed indifference of western writers to the German Question.     

Response to Cilluffo and Gergely

Research on the motives of those who engage in small group political violence typically takes a qualitative or quantitative form. I argue that researchers should seek to understand why people engage in small group political violence, and that the best way to achieve such understanding is to employ both. The advantages of this approach are discussed in this paper, as is the importance of recognizing that the activities of all actors in any given violent location, including state actors, should be accounted for in research.     

Health care reform content and process:propositions from the states

Health care reform and cost containment have become central campaign and policy issues in the United States. Although focus now centers on federal health care reform policy, state governments have been actively introducing health care reform legislation. Some of the health care reform initiatives on the state level have influenced deliberations on the federal level and President Clinton's health care reform initiatives will spur further state experimentation regardless of legislative success in Congress, In 1992 nearly all 50 states had either legislation introduced, or special task forces assigned that addressed health care reform issues. This exploratory research compares the content and process of health reform in four states that attempted major reform in 1992—Florida, Washington, Michigan, and Wisconsin—and draws propositions for state reform based on comparisons of content and process. The four states chosen represent geographic diversity and a balance between legislation seeking partial change and legislation calling for universal health care reform. The principal reform bills in each state are compared and assessed on the degree to which they address eight reform elements; high tech medicine, administration, tort reform, long-term care, regulation, insurance mandates, small business insurance, and insurance portability. These initiatives are also compared on a series of reform process variables that relate to the political process for adopting reform: degree of health sector support, type of political strategy used, reform champion, degree of cooperation among policy stakeholders, and timing of initiative. Based on these four cases the phased/partial approach seems to have a greater chance for legislative success than immediate universal reform. Florida's partial, consensus-building approach resulted in the only signed bill of the four states. Washington's bill, which also took a partial approach, passed the state senate before ultimate defeat in 1992 and eventual passage in 1993. Neither of the more ambitious universal health care reform packages introduced in Wisconsin or Michigan got out of committee. Although some of the plans were thorough, none adequately addressed the tradeoff between increasing access to care and containing costs. In addition, this study will demonstrate that universal health care legislation, does not necessarily equate to comprehensive health care reform. The propositions derived from this research have implications for future state health care reform efforts, as well as for federal health care reform policy in terms of the substantive content of reform proposals and the political process by which they are advanced.     

Power/Faith: Governmentality, Religion, and Post-Secular Societies

Foucault’s concept of governmentality, and its attending modalities of biopower and disciplinary technologies, provides a useful conceptual schema for the analysis of the role of religious and quasi-religious institutions in contemporary society. This is particularly important in the study of those neoliberal democratic states where religious organizations constitute an important presence in the civil society. As religion is thoroughly involved in the reproduction of social structure in most societies, an appraisal of the social and political importance of religious institutions is needed to understand the articulation and exercise of governmentality. This is not just limited to partnerships between state agencies and faith-based organizations in providing for social services, but also in rituals and other religious group activities of these organizations that play a vital role in shaping and molding the social and political subjectivities of the adherents. We argue that synergy between the scholarship on governmentality, and sociology of religion would allow for a more nuanced understanding of the politics and culture of post-secular societies.     

Reactions to Dating Violence Research: Do Difficulties with Distress Tolerance Increase Negative Reactions?

Recent research has begun to examine whether participants in dating violence studies perceive any benefit from the research and/or experience emotional distress as a result of having participated. Such information is important for Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) and researchers in determining ethical and appropriate protections for participants. In the current study, we examined participants’ reactions to answering questions on dating violence victimization and perpetration utilizing a sample of female college students (N?=?282). We also examined whether distress tolerance was associated with research reactions and moderated the relation between reports of victimization/perpetration and negative emotional reactions to the research. Findings demonstrated that negative emotional reactions to the research did not differ between individuals with or without previous dating violence. Further, distress tolerance had a main effect, but not a moderating effect, on negative emotional reactions to research participation. Implications of these findings for future research and IRBs are discussed.