The Effects of Adolescent Activities on Delinquency: A Differential Involvement Approach

T. Hirschi’s (1969, Causes of Delinquency. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA) control theory proposes that involvement, as an element of the social bond, should reduce delinquency. But, research studies have found that the effect of involvement is rather weak. This study reformulates Hirschi’s involvement hypothesis by posing involvement as a social setting variable and a differential factor. Certain activities provide a social setting favorable to the development of the social bond and the reduction in delinquent association. The reformulated hypothesis is examined based on a sample of Grade 7–12 students in a Western Canadian city. The results reveal that school- and family-related activities strengthen the social bond and reduce delinquent association and delinquency. In contrast, other conventional activities such as spending time with friends and dating have the opposite effects. In addition, the indirect effect of differential involvement on delinquency through the social bond and delinquent association is stronger than its direct effect. Thus, the undesirable effects of the less-positive activities on delinquency may be buffered or reduced by strengthening the social bond and reducing delinquent association.Siu Kwong Wong is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Brandon University. He received his Ph.D. in Sociology from Washington State University. His major research interests are in the study of delinquency and social disorganization.     

Divergence in Community Participation Policy: Analysing Localism and Community Empowerment Using a Theory of Change Approach

The last two decades have witnessed a significant turn towards community participation in public policy around the globe, raising concerns that states are resorting to ‘government through community’, shifting responsibilities onto communities. In order to unpack the ambiguous rhetoric of policy statements, this article employs ideas from evaluation methodology to develop a generic theory of change for community participation policy. The model is then utilised to analyse and compare the UK Coalition Government’s Big Society/Localism agenda and the Scottish Government’s Community Empowerment approach, demonstrating the ways in which these represent a clear example of policy divergence, and potentially significant alternatives to state–community relations in the context of austerity. The article also demonstrates the potential wider applicability of ‘theories of change’ methodology for policy analysis.     

Reconsidering strain theory: Operationalization,rival theories,and adult criminality

Recently a revisionist view of strain theory's empirical adequacy has emerged which holds that the theory's explanatory power depends on how it is operationalized. With an adult community sample, we empirically assess three separate measures of strain to explain self-reported crime: the gap between aspirations and expectations, blocked opportunities, and relative deprivation. The findings reveal that the aspirations-expectations measure is not related to criminal involvement, while perceived blocked opportunities and feelings of relative deprivation significantly affect adult offending. These relationships, however, fail to persist after measures from competing theories (i.e., low self-control, differential association, and social bond) are introduced as controls in the regression equations. Thus, measures from rival theories offer a more fruitful approach to explaining self-reported adult offending.A version of this paper was presented at the 1993 American Society of Criminology meetings, Phoenix, Arizona.     

新时期农民政治参与问题探析

新时期的农村改革与农民地位变化的现实,无论在社会结构方面,还是在文化价值上,都对农民与政治的关系产生深刻影响。农民的政治参与正随着政府职能变化、农民自组织发展等一系列因素的变化而发生变化。正视现实存在的问题,健全农村自治体系和组织体系,疏通农民的政治参与渠道,提高农民的思想文化素质,是中国现代化的必然要求和发展趋势。     

BRINGING CHILDREN TO THE MEDIATION TABLE:

With the rise of divorce mediation as an effective means of resolving divorce and custody disputes, a question that arises is whether a child should actively participate in the mediation process to make his or her voice heard. This article discusses the costs and benefits of involvement, focusing on four specific approaches to the inclusion of children in divorce mediation. This article comes to the conclusion that the integration of children in mediation ought to be considered on a case-by-case basis, and further proposes that a child be included in divorce mediation in circumstances where the child's input is needed to help parents resolve an issue of dispute that concerns their child's interests.     

应用新城疫病毒强弱毒株RT-PCR鉴别诊断技术检测多种禽类副黏病毒

应用已建立的新城疫病毒 (NDV)强、弱毒株RT PCR快速鉴别诊断技术 ,对来自广西各地疑为禽副黏病毒血清 1型 (APMV 1)感染的 14 4份不同禽类的病料进行了检测 ,并用常规方法对RT PCR检测为阳性的部分病料进行了病毒的分离和鉴定。结果 ,从鸡、鸽、鹅、鸭、鹌鹑、珍珠鸡、孔雀、鸵鸟和画眉鸟 9种禽的病料样品中检测到APMV 1,阳性检出率为 6 4.5 8% (93/ 14 4 ) ;从 7种禽病料中分离到 2 9株APMV 1地方野毒株。部分分离株用NDV强、弱毒株快速鉴别技术鉴定属中、强毒株。     

台湾地区女性权力参与的现状及原因分析

台湾地区女性权力参与起步于20世纪五六十年代,随着台湾威权体制的瓦解及西方女性主义思潮的传入,女性日渐成为台湾政治运作过程中不容忽视的因素。一方面,得益于政治民主化的推进及台湾民众深厚的“悲情意识”,女性参政情况得到有效改善,越来越多的女性开始进入政治生活,甚至进入政治决策核心。女性特有的政治魅力对于政治斗争的降温、政治僵局的化解起到特殊的积极作用,从而推动了台湾政治的良性发展。另一方面,由于受到社会经济制度、传统文化观念、大众传媒等不利因素的影响,台湾地区女性权力参与的发展并非一帆风顺,仍存在参政比例偏低、参政代价较大等不足,对女性切实发挥参政议政作用造成严重制约。     

Friends,Cognition, and Delinquency: Proactive and Reactive Criminal Thinking as Mediators of the Peer Influence and Peer Selection Effects among Male Delinquents

The purpose of this study was to determine whether criminal thinking underpins peer influence and selection. It was predicted that proactive criminal thinking would mediate the peer influence effect (peers?→?offending) and reactive criminal thinking would mediate the peer selection effect (offending?→?peers). Participants were 1,170 male delinquent youth from the Pathways to Desistance study. The Moral Disengagement scale (proactive criminal thinking) and Peer Delinquent Behavior scale (peer delinquency) were cross-lagged to predict criminal offending, and the Weinberger Impulse Control scale (reactive criminal thinking) and criminal offending were cross-lagged to predict peer delinquency. Consistent with predictions, proactive but not reactive criminal thinking successfully mediated the peer?→?offending relationship and reactive but not proactive criminal thinking successfully mediated the offending?→?peer relationship. Whereas delinquent peer associations appear to promote proactive criminal thinking and peer influence, early criminal offending appears to promote reactive criminal thinking and peer selection.     

Updating,subtyping, and perceptions of the police: Implications of police contact for youths’ perceptions of procedural justice

Individuals enter police encounters with expectations about how these interactions will unfold. These expectations are often rooted in racialized personal, vicarious, and collective experiences with the police. Bayesian updating posits that the way youth perceive treatment by the police during stops and arrests combines with prior expectations and perceptions to shape current views of the law, whereas subtyping suggests this process differs by race. This study examines intra- and interracial variability in these processes using longitudinal survey data from 3,085 Black and White youth. Regardless of race, youth who indicate they were treated with disrespect during police encounters had lower perceptions of procedural justice than did those with no contact, whereas contact perceived as respectful had no significant effects. For White but not Black youth, police encounters rated as “neutral” are associated with more negative views of the police. Other forms of legal socialization are also racialized, including messages conveyed in the media and by parents. Limited evidence exists that prior views of the police moderate the effect of police encounters on procedural justice or that these conditioning effects vary by race. Findings support updating, but race differences do not neatly align with findings expected with updating or subtyping theory.     

林业项目差别财政扶持制度设计研究

林业是一个具有典型外部经济的行业,兼具生态、经济和社会功能。从改善生态环境、推动经济发展、促进社会进步的角度看,当代中国林业是一个需要重点发展的行业。而林业建设与公共财政有密不可分的联系,政府需要对林业给予大力支持。林业项目需要补偿的是其巨大的社会和生态效益,在建立科学的评价体系、定量界定林业的生态和社会效益的基础上,国家可以根据不同林业项目的生态和社会效益指标,实施公平的差别扶持制度。而差别补贴、差别税率、差别信贷和贴息政策、绿色证书制度的设计都是建立林业财政差别扶持制度的必然选择。