Framing,appropriating and being heard

Meaghan Morris, The Pirate's Fiancee.: Feminism Reading Postmodernism (Verso) London, 1988; Susan Sheridan (ed.), Grafts: Feminist Cultural Criticism (Verso) London, 1988.     

Police stress as a professional self-image

This article examines what appears to be an original and recent strategy of police professionalization in the United States—an emphasis on police stress as a means of gaining professional legitimacy and prestige as well as a means of bringing coherence to a number of conceptions surrounding the tasks of, and role expectations for, the police. A focus on police stress provides a vehicle for organizing the disparate crime control and peacekeeping elements of law enforcement into a single whole. Because the notions of stress, danger, and service are concepts with which the public are readily able to sympathize and because the public recognizes the stress-related aspects of traditional professions such as medicine, law, and the ministry, especially the responsibility of those in these professions for the lives and welfare of others, the idea of police stress would seem to enhance the public's acceptance of the police claim to professional status. Unfortunately, the social and political conditions underlying police work inhibit such acceptance.     

Criminal justice students: A research note

During the last five years, there have been a good deal of discussion about the nature, purpose, and future of criminal justice education. On the whole, this research has focused upon three areas of investigation. First, it has focused upon the distribution of criminology and criminal justice programs and majors within the United States. Aside from a few comments about the composition of student bodies as an aspect of the makeup of criminal justice programs (Bennett and Marshall, 1979; Berger, 1980), there is little analysis of criminal justice students. This research note focuses upon an on-going longitudinal research effort which is tracking a cohort of criminal justice majors from their upper level college experience through the first few years of their early career development.     

Communities and citizens: Identity and difference in discourses of Asia‐pacific regionalism

In the post‐Cold War world era, increasing attention is being given to forces of regionalism in global politics. These forces raise the possibility of thinking about citizenship beyond the usual borders of the political communities of nation‐states. Yet the extension of questions of citizenship to regional levels does not dispel the problems of identity formation and the suppression or exclusion of difference in the construction of communities. In the burgeoning discourses of Asia‐Pacific regionalism there is a new orthodoxy which combines elements of neo‐realism, neo‐liberalism and what is often referred to as an ‘Asian way’. But this new orthodoxy neither surrenders nor disturbs sovereign statehood. As a result, discourses of Asia‐Pacific regionalism reinforce the kinds of citizenship granted by political communities of existing nation‐states of the region and fail to recognize difference within and between these communities.     

Antipsychotic Use and Foster Care Placement Stability Among Youth With Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity/ Disruptive Behavior Disorders

The objective of this study was to investigate the association between antipsychotic initiation and placement transitions among youth in foster care with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and other disruptive behavior disorders (ADHD/DBD). Data were obtained from child welfare administrative records and Medicaid claims in one Mid-Atlantic state from January 1, 2010, through March 31, 2014. Cox proportional hazard model was conducted to estimate the risk of time to first placement transition during the 180-day follow-up among new antipsychotic users and propensity score matched nonusers. Results showed youth initiating antipsychotics had no significant reduction in foster placement transitions within the 180-day follow up (Hazard Ratio = 1.1; 95% CI = 0.7–1.6). Although antipsychotics are widely used for aggressive behaviors, a better understanding of clinical management of youth in foster care is needed to promote stable foster placement.     

The Effect of Microneighborhood Conditions on Adult Educational Attainment in a Subsidized Housing Intervention

The ACHIEVEability model of affordable housing aims to promote self-sufficiency by requiring enrollment in postsecondary education in exchange for subsidized housing. In this study, we exploit the quasi random assignment of ACHIEVEability participants (N = 84) to subsidized housing units to evaluate whether microneighborhood environments moderated participants’ progress in postsecondary education. Participants progressed in their educational pursuits in line with program requirements, earning about 12 college credits per year. Neighborhood block group characteristics moderated this progress. Participants who were assigned to housing located in poorer, more violent, and less educated block groups earned credits at a significantly slower rate than participants assigned housing in more advantaged block groups. Our results suggest that the micro environments immediately surrounding residents of subsidized housing matter, even if they are situated within broader contexts of spatial and personal disadvantage.     

Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting Diary

Commonwealth Heads of Government convened in Malta from 27 to 29 November 2015 under the theme ‘The Commonwealth: adding Global Value’. They reaffirmed their shared and enduring commitment on behalf of the Commonwealth to the values and principles of the Commonwealth Charter. In a year of exceptional global challenges and opportunities, Heads addressed issues such as climate change, sustainable development, trade and investment, migration, and countering violent extremism and radicalism. They also deliberated on safeguarding the interests of Commonwealth small states and emphasised that the unique nature of the Commonwealth adds value in responding to contemporary global challenges. (http://thecommonwealth.org/sites/default/files/news-items/documents/CHOGM%202015%20Communique.pdf0)     

The Reliability of Pattern Classification in Bloodstain Pattern Analysis—PART 2: Bloodstain Patterns on Fabric Surfaces,

This study was designed to produce the first baseline measure of the reliability of bloodstain pattern classifications on fabric surfaces. Experienced bloodstain pattern analysts classified bloodstain patterns on pairs of trousers that represented three fabric substrates. Patterns also varied in type (impact, cast‐off, expiration, satellite stains from dripped blood, and transfer) and extent. In addition, case summaries that accompanied each pattern contained contextual cues that either supported the correct answer (i.e., positive bias), were misleading toward an incorrect answer (i.e., negative bias), or contained no directional information (i.e., neutral). Overall, 23% percent of the resulting classifications were erroneous. The majority (51%) of errors resulted from analysts misclassifying satellite stains from dripped blood. Relative to the neutral information, the positive‐bias information increased correct classifications and decreased erroneous classifications, and the negative‐bias information decreased correct classifications and increased erroneous classifications. The implications of these findings for BPA are discussed.