Trepidation among the “keepers”: Gendered Perceptions of Fear and Risk of Victimization among Corrections Officers

Determining the attitudes of correctional officers relative to their level of fear and risk of victimization is important to investigate due to the relationship of the conditions of confinement and the care and custody of offenders. Furthermore, consideration of such attitudes by gender may uncover differences because of the unique obstacles female corrections officers face. This study examines the level of fear and risk of both inmate and staff related victimization by gender through administering a survey to all corrections officers employed in the adult prisons within one-state. The overall analysis indicated some level of apprehension among officers regarding their fear and risk of victimization for inmate-precipitated victimization more than staff-to-staff victimization. Female officers were also more likely to demonstrate a higher level of perceived fear and risk of inmate-precipitated and staff-precipitated victimization. In addition, race and security level were shown to be significant as predictors of both fear and perceived risk of victimization among officers.     

La réforme administrative au gouvernement du Québec: étude du processus de changement sur la culture organisationneIIe

Sommaire: Plusieurs gouvernements ont mis en place des processus de réformes qui se traduisent par un processus de changement visant la modernisation de l'État. Ces processus cornportent une dimension axiologique influencée par la Nouvelle gestion publique. Considérant la réforme comme un phénomène psychosocial et culturel, cet article expose la perception d'acteurs clés vis‐à‐vis des processus de changement qu'implique la modernisation de la fonction publique quebecoise (Loi sur l'administration publique). Cette recherche, basée sur vingt entrevues réalisées auprès de direc‐teurs des ressources humaines de ministères et organismes, démontre que les perceptions de la réforme sont diverses et que l'influence de la politique dans les réformes se situe davantage dans les objectifs que dans le design. En plus de faire ressortir les principales initiatives et quelques obstacles au changement, la recherche illustre que la perception qu'ont les drh sur la nature réelle des changements est variable, et permet de les regrouper sous trois catégories. Enfin, cette recherche présente différents types de cultures témoignant de l'importance d'ajuster les modes d'implémentation pour le succès des réformes. Elle illustre l'importance de soigner la mise en cruvre des réformes plutôt que d'essayer de définir un modèle idéal. Un regard sur l'avenir vient enfin compléter cette étude. Abstract: Many governments have implemented reform processes that lead to modernizing the state. These experiences involve a value dimension influenced by new public management. Stating administrative reform as a cultural and psychosocial phenomenon, this article exposes the perception that key actors have of the change processes entailed by the Quebec public administration's modernization (Loi sur l'administration publique). This research, based on twenty interviews of human resources directors from ministries and public organizations, shows that the perceptions of the reform are diverse and that the political influence of the reforms appears more in the objectives than in the design. In addition to showing the principal facilitating initiatives and a few obstacles to change, the research illustrates that the human resources directors' perception of the changes' actual nature is variable and permits grouping them into three categories. Finally, this research presents different types of cultures, showing the importance of adjusting implementation modes for the reforms' success. It illustrates the importance of taking care of the implementation rather than trying to define an ideal model. A look at the future completes the study.     

Le chevauchement des programmes fédéraux et provinciaux: un bilan

Sommaire: Après avoir montré que le chevauchement des programmes fédéraux et provinciaux est une caractéristique fondamentale de l'activité gouvernementale au Canada et qu'il a son origine dans les dispositions de la Constitution, cette étude présente une évaluation qualitative de ses conséquences quant à l'efficience et à l'efficacité du système politico-administratif canadien. Ces conséquences sont envisagées sous l'angle du coût de l'action gouvernementale, de l'efficacité des politiques publiques, du fardeau imposé aux administrés en matière de transactions avec l'État et de la portée du principe de la responsabilité politique des gouvernants envers la population. Vue dans cette perspective, la duplication des activités fédérales et provinciales apparaît comme une source d'inefficience et d'inefficacité pour la gestion des affaires publiques. Elle justifie qu'on s'interroge sérieusement sur la valeur du partage actuel des pouvoirs entre les deux ordres de gouvernement. Abstract: After showing that the overlap between federal and provincial programs is a basic characteristic of government activity in Canada rooted in the provisions of the constitution, this study presents a qualitative assessment of its consequences for the efficiency and effectiveness of the Canadian political-administrative system. These consequences are viewed from the viewpoint of the cost of government action, of the effectiveness of public policy, of the burden the administered face in dealing with governments, and of the scope of governmental political accountability to the people. From this angle, the duplication of federal and provincial activities appears to be a source of inefficiency and ineffectiveness in the management of public affairs. It raises serious questions as to the adequacy of the present sharing of powers between the two levels of government.     

Profiles in the offending process of nonserial sexual murderers

The aim of this study was to investigate specific pathways in the offending processes of nonserial sexual murderers and to examine possible relationships with different precrime, per-crime, and postcrime factors. Included in this study were 36 offenders who have committed at least one sexual murder against a female victim and they were classified using cluster analysis. Participants using the sadistic pathway planned their offenses and used physical restraints during the offenses. Furthermore, they mutilated and humiliated their victims. Finally, they hid the bodies of the victims. Participants using the anger pathway had not premeditated the homicide. Mutilation, humiliation, and physical restraints were less predominant with these participants than with those using the sadistic pathway. Moreover, these offenders were more likely to leave the bodies at the crime scenes after the killings occurred. These two profiles are compared with empirical studies addressing sexual homicide.     

Using immersive virtual reality and ecological psychology to probe into child molesters' phenomenology

Abstract

Child molesters (n=13) and sexually non-deviant subjects (n=29) were immersed with virtual characters depicting relevant sexual features while their sexual arousal and gaze behaviour were assessed to characterise their sexual preferences and intentional dynamics. Sexual arousal was measured using circumferential penile plethysmography (PPG). Gaze behaviour dynamics were derived from average gaze radial angular deviation (GRAD) and GRAD coefficient of variation (GRADCV). Results show distinct sexual arousal profiles according to sexual preferences and point towards the existence of specific gaze behaviour dynamics guided by sexual intentions. Theoretical interpretations are based on the ecological psychology of J. J. Gibson, the extended mind theory and the integrated theory of sexual offending. Theoretical underpinnings stemming from these approaches are advocated as being especially well suited to explain how virtual reality can help probing into child molesters' phenomenology as lived from the “first-person” stance.     

Art crime: a brief introduction

Art crime refers to criminally punishable acts involving works of art and includes a spectrum of phenomena as diverse as art thefts and confiscations, faked and forged art, vandalism, and illicit excavation and export of antiquities and other archaeological materials. This paper provides a cursory introduction to a variety of art crimes, and discusses the consequences of such crimes.