The development of the comprehensive health assessment tool for young offenders within the secure estate

Health inequalities are high among offending groups. The comprehensive health assessment tool (CHAT) is a semi-structured assessment developed to provide a standardised approach to health screening for all young offenders admitted to the secure estate. The four sections of the CHAT (physical health, mental health, substance misuse and neurodisability) were evaluated within a two-phased study of male adolescents (aged 15–18?years) within a young offenders institution in the north-west of England. Within Phase 1, a consecutive sample of 127 new receptions was assessed using the physical health, mental health and substance misuse sections of the CHAT against a range of reference standard assessments. Phase 2 of the study evaluated the neurodisability section on 93 male adolescents against reference standard tools. The four sections of the CHAT demonstrated fair to good convergent validity when compared against reference standard tools in male offenders. The diagnostic accuracy rate was 76% for mental health, 63% for physical health, 83% for substance misuse and 53% for neurodisability when compared against reference standard assessment tools. The introduction of the CHAT offers the opportunity to enhance existing reception screening practices and create an integrated approach to the assessment of health needs across the secure estate.     

An experimental evaluation of a nationally recognized employment-focused offender reentry program

Objectives

The need for re-entry assistance is widely acknowledged, but specifics about what services actually lead to reduced recidivism are hard to find—at least among rigorous studies. This is a critical issue: at a time when there appears to be unprecedented support for expanding rehabilitative programs for offenders, there is a dearth of rigorously vetted program options from which to choose.

Methods

Collaborating with a nationally known employment-focused reentry program in Southern California, the authors compared employment, housing, and recidivism outcomes of reentering offenders (n?=?217) who were either randomized into the program or simply provided with a list of community resources. This approach was possible because the number of applicants at the time exceeded program capacity. Outcomes were based on self-report interviews conducted 1-year post-randomization and arrest records reflecting a 2-year follow-up period. The follow-up rate for interviews was 87 %.

Results

No significant differences were found for any of the between-group comparisons on any of the major intervention outcomes.

Conclusions

Findings from the study suggest a greater need to apply randomized designs to more carefully evaluate current reentry efforts. Methodological challenges of field experiments are also discussed.     

Constructing a surveillance impact assessment

This paper describes surveillance impact assessment (SIA), a methodology for identifying, assessing and resolving risks, in consultation with stakeholders, posed by the development of surveillance systems. This paper appears to be the first such to elaborate an SIA methodology. It argues that the process of conducting an SIA should be similar to that of a privacy impact assessment (PIA), but that an SIA must take account of a wider range of issues, impacts and stakeholders. The paper categorises the issues and impacts to be considered in the conduct of an SIA and identifies the benefits of a properly conducted SIA.     

Does Mirror Imaging a Radiograph Affect Reliability of Age Assessment Using the Greulich and Pyle Atlas?*

Abstract: Age estimation is routinely undertaken by comparing radiographs of the individual in question to published reference samples of individuals of known age. This study examines the reliability of age estimation utilizing the Greulich and Pyle atlas in relation to both left‐ and right‐hand/wrist radiographs and explores whether reversing right‐hand/wrist radiographs, so that they are in the same anatomical orientation as those images used in the atlas affects reliability. A total of 403 left‐hand/wrist radiographs and 415 right‐hand/wrist radiographs were age assessed using the Greulich and Pyle atlas. Analysis showed that there is no significant loss in reliability when radiographs of the right hand (women R² = 0.887 and men R² = 0.907) are utilized instead of the left (women R² = 0.939 and men R² = 0.940) or when they are assessed as mirror images to those printed in the reference atlas (reversed female left hand R² = 0.929 and reversed male left hand R² = 0.931).     

The characterisation of two halogenated cathinone analogues: 3,5-difluoromethcathinone and 3,5-dichloromethcathinone

Australia has seen an increase in the importation and use of drugs that are marketed and sold as "Legal Highs". These compounds have largely tended to be various cathinone analogues, with 4-methylmethcathinone the most prominent to date. In January 2009, unknown samples were submitted for analysis along with a large seizure of 3-fluoromethcathinone as part of a police operation. The samples were analysed and determined to be 3,5-difluoromethcathinone and 3,5-dichloromethcathinone. These compounds were synthesised and characterised. The GC-MS data of the samples and their N-acetyl derivatives, NMR, vapour-phase and condensed-phase IR for these previously unreported compounds are presented. This analytical data will enable laboratories to confirm the presence of these compounds in the absence of commercially available reference standards.     

Managing an on-the-spot lottery in reentry services

Objectives

Describe the authors?? experiences in designing and conducting a randomized field experiment of a community-based, reentry program for ex-offenders.

Methods

Two surveys: one with reentry clients not involved in our outcome evaluation, and a follow-up survey of participants who underwent randomization in order to participate in the outcome study. Qualitative input from program staff and clients were also recorded, supplemented with observations of the authors.

Results

Having a research staff member located at the program site proved to be a key advantage for monitoring frustrations voiced by program staff and prospective clients, thereby allowing for the modification of the selection procedures over time to minimize resistance. Ultimately, the simplest approach proved to be the most acceptable. The importance of certain procedural justice themes were suggested by the survey results and the observed acceptability of our on-the-spot lottery approach to randomization.

Conclusions

The survey results (and our onsite experiences) provided unequivocal evidence that randomization was unpopular, but that resistance can be partially mitigated by adhering to basic principles of procedural justice.     

Trends in City Conditions During the 1970s: A Survey of Demographic and Socioeconomic Changes

Changes in the demographic and socioeconomic conditions of 627cities between 1970 and 1980 are examined using simple comparisonof means and correlational analytic techniques. Cities are groupedaccording to their type (Central city; suburb), regional location,and rate of population growth (decline). Major changes occurredin employment patterns, income levels, economic bases, racialcomposition, and social pathologies (crime rates)—allmeasures of urban stress. These conditions tended to clusterin certain types of cities: large, declining central citiesof the Northeast and Midwest. But population decline and regionallocation were not found to be independent determinants of urbandistress. National and regional economic trends, especiallychanges in the vitality of the metropolitan area in which acity is located. were the primary determinants.     

Late adolescents' perceptions of their relationships with their parents: Relationships among deidealization,autonomy, relatedness,and insecurity and implications for adolescent adjustment and ego identity status

Questionnaire data from 376 undergraduates (mean age=19.3 years) were used to test a model describing interrelationships among deidealization, relatedness, autonomy, and insecurity in late adolescents' relationships with their parents. As expected, deidealization predicted greater autonomy and less relatedness (i.e., more disengagement), greater disengagement predicted greater insecurity, and greater insecurity predicted less autonomy. However, disengagement from parents proved to be a double-edged sword in that it was linked not only to insecurity, but also to feelings of greater separateness and self-directedness in relation, to parents. Additional analyses identified significant associations between the adolescent/parent relationship variables and the adolescents' psychological health and ego identity status.Received her Ph.D. from Yale University. Major interests are in parent/child relationships during late adolescence and young adulthood.Received her B.A. from University of Virginia and M.A. from Michigan State University. Major interests are in adolescent development and pediatric psychology.Received her B.A. from Duke University and M.A. from Michigan State University. Major interests are in adult children of alcoholics and adolescent separation/individuation.