Meeting the enemy: American exceptionalism and international law

Howard Zinn has been classified in a number of ways for his many social contributions. However, despite the breadth of his work, he has never been considered a criminologist. It is likely that this is the result of the inaccurate perceptions many Americans have about crime being a predominantly street‐level social problem. Zinn maintains that the social harms caused by those in positions of political and economic power are in fact crimes against humanity that are far more destructive and violent than the actions our legal system has historically deemed criminal. He also points to the ways our criminal justice system is unjust and ineffective, and has demonstrated how social inequality ensures that the disadvantaged will be further subordinated by the criminal justice system. Zinn’s critical contributions about the most significant sources of social harm, the unjust nature of the American justice system, and the influence of social inequality offer an unorthodox criminological perspective that deserves special consideration. His unconventional criminology calls for increasing social justice by means of political dissent, social resistance, and civil disobedience.     

THE DIVIDED WORLD OF THE CHILD: DIVORCE AND LONG‐TERM PSYCHOSOCIAL ADJUSTMENT

This study evaluated the extent to which divorce creates the “divided world of the child,” as well as consequences of this “divided world” for long‐term adjustment. An ethnically diverse sample of 1,375 young‐adult university students completed retrospective measures of parental nurturance and involvement, and current measures of psychosocial adjustment and troubled ruminations about parents. Results indicated that reports of maternal and paternal nurturance and involvement were closely related in intact families but uncorrelated in divorced families. Across family forms, the total amount of nurturance or involvement received was positively associated with self‐esteem, purpose in life, life satisfaction, friendship quality and satisfaction, and academic performance; and negatively related to distress, romantic relationship problems, and troubled ruminations about parents. Mother‐father differences in nurturance and involvement showed a largely opposite set of relationships. Implications for family court practices are discussed.     

A GUIDE TO EFFECTIVE CHILD PROTECTION MEDIATION: LESSONS FROM 25 YEARS OF PRACTICE

What are the essential elements of a successful child protection mediation program? What outcomes are we seeking? How do we define success? How do these inform or direct program development so that it supports these outcomes? How do we know if it is working? And, how do we start out on the right foot? We are in the enviable position now, after 25 or so years, to benefit from lessons learned from the experiences of many programs. This article provides a 25‐year perspective on key elements that have contributed to the success of child protection mediation programs.     

Morphometric Investigation of Death by Asphyxia

Abstract:  The aim of this study was to investigate the possibility of distinguishing deaths by asphyxia from those due to natural causes by comparing morphometric measurements in lungs. The study population comprised 27 subjects: 14 cases of death by asphyxia (hanging or drowning) and 13 cases of sudden natural death. Eighty parenchyma sections were used for each subject. Data were collected by computerized image analysis. Measurements aimed at quantifying, as percentages, pulmonary parenchyma (mean values of positive-fraction areas [PFA] and their standard deviations). Subjects who died of natural causes and of drowning showed a relative internal homogeneity compared to those who hanged. Results show significant discrimination between drowned subjects and those dying of natural causes (mean of PFA p  = 0.01) and between hanged and drowned subjects (SD of PFA p  = 0.04). Attention must be paid to the possible role played by senile emphysema. The method is proposed as a complementary tool in forensic cases.     

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.     

农民工的社会支持、社会参与和身份认同

农民工问题历来是党和政府高度重视的问题,他们的情感状况更是不容忽视;特别是他们身份认同状况,关系到他们融入城市社会的程度。基于2013年流动人口调查数据,立足于社会支持、社会参与的视角,探究对农民工身份认同的影响,可以得出:社会支持中的实际支持而非社交支持,对农民工的社会参与有显著影响;社交支持、实际支持和社会参与,均显著影响农民工的身份认同;社会参与是实际支持影响认同感的一个可能的中介变量。     

INDIVIDUAL AND COPARENTING DIFFERENCES BETWEEN DIVORCING AND UNMARRIED FATHERS

The current study examines differences in demographic characteristics, parental conflict, and nonresidential father involvement between divorcing and unmarried fathers with young children. Participants were 161 families (36 unmarried) with children aged 0 to 6 years, involved in a larger longitudinal study of separating and divorcing families. Baseline data were gathered from parenting plans, court databases, and parent reports. Results indicated that unmarried fathers were younger, more economically disadvantaged, less well educated, less likely to have their children living with them, and had less influence on decision making. Unmarried fathers reported more conflict regarding their attempts to be involved with their children in their day-to-day activities. Understanding these unique characteristics and dynamics will help to maximize effective services in the legal system for unmarried couples.     

Membership accession in the African Union: The relationship between enforcement and compliance,and the case for differential membership

It is argued in this paper that the level of non-compliance is high in the Organisation of African Unity/African Union in part because the organisation failed to institute and enforce strict membership accession conditionalities. Across the life of the organisation, this has resulted in non-compliance, mainly the non-payment of dues and non-implementation of policies. This position adds a historical dimension to arguments that identify weak economic capacity and the lack of political will as the main sources of non-compliance. It also supports the thesis that the enforcement of strict accession rules prepares states to perform their obligations and sets them up to receive benefits from the group. In 2002, Africa's continental body changed its mandate from liberation to integration. Since integration requires the strict enforcement of accession rules, the paper suggests that the organisation proceed by choosing differential membership to align the behaviour of its members to their obligations.     

Minimizing the cost of dispatch delays by holding patrol cars in reserve

At many police departments high-priority callers sometimes incur undue delays that could be avoided by the use of a differential response strategy that takes full account of the different costs of delay for different priority calls. In this article we examine such a strategy, in which lower-priority callers may not be served immediately, even though some response units are available. Arriving priorityi callers are queued whenever the number of busy patrol units equals or exceeds the cutoff number for that priority. Our purpose is (1) to find a practical way of choosing the set of cutoff numbers that will minimize the expected total cost of delays for the entire system and (2) to use that method to investigate how the optimal set of cutoffs changes in response to changes in several important variables, including the relative costs of delay for different priorities, the overall workload, and the relative frequencies of different priority calls.     

农村环境治理公众参与中的社区介入:必要、可能与实现

农村环境治理中公众参与已上升为国家意志,多元共治已成为农村环境治理共识。现阶段政府主导下的环境治理公众参与在实践操作层面存在参与意识薄弱、参与过程模糊以及参与机制缺失等参与失灵困境。不同于政府主导下的环境治理公众参与,社区介入依托于社区自身具有的激励优势、民主优势与自治优势为公众参与提供有利契机,有助于化解公众参与失灵困境。农村环境治理实践中通过社区介入推动公众参与的经验诠释了公众参与的动力系统、运作系统与强化系统等关键问题。有别于西方社会自下而上的公众参与模式,我国农村环境治理需要在政府推动下借助社区介入从宣传认同、公开互动与授权合作等方面提升农村环境治理公众参与度。