Assessing Readiness to Change among Perpetrators of Intimate Partner Violence: Analysis of Two Self-report Measures

Recent interest in the construct of motivation to change among male perpetrators of intimate partner violence (IPV) has led to development of two self-report measures of this construct: the University of Rhode Island Change Assessment for Domestic Violence (URICA-DV; Levesque et al. 2000) and the Safe at Home Inventory (SAH; Begun et al. 2003). We examined the internal structure of these instruments using confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses in a sample of 199 male IPV perpetrators waiting to begin court-mandated batterer intervention programs. Results indicated that the scales had adequate internal consistency. However, using confirmatory factor analyses, the hypothesized structural models of each instrument fit the data poorly. Subsequent models suggested by a series of exploratory factor analyses failed to improve model fit substantially for both scales. For the URICA-DV, a 3-factor model including items from the Precontemplation, Contemplation, and Action subscales fit the data adequately. No acceptable model fit could be found for the SAH. Intercorrelations among similar subscales across the two inventories suggested only a modest degree of intercorrelation (r’s = 0.16–0.52), and a factor structure more dependent on scale of origin than item latent content, suggesting that the scales assess different facets of the readiness to change construct. These results suggest that before the stages of change construct can be fully applied to the IPV area, more research and evaluation are needed on how to accurately assess abuser readiness to change.     

The “Science of Science Policy”: reflections on the important questions and the challenges they present

Developing the “Science of Science Policy” will require data collection and analysis related to the processes of innovation and technological change, and the effects of government policy on those processes. There has been much work on these topics in the last three decades, but there remain difficult problems of finding proxies for subtle concepts, endogeneity, distinguishing private and social returns, untangling cumulative effects, measuring the impact of government programs in a true “but for” sense, and sorting out national and global effects. I offer observations on how to think about these issues. This paper was presented as the Keynote Address at the NSF Workshop on Advancing Measures of Innovation: Knowledge Flows, Business Metrics, and Measurement Strategies, Arlington, VA, June 2006.     

累进假释制：监狱行刑范式的变更构想——基于完善现行“直捷式”假释范式的省思

假释是我国刑事法律体系的重要内容，又是监狱行刑的重要奖励制度。现行的假释制度，拘泥于传统的“直捷式”的范式，幅度有限，比例受控，未能充分发挥出假释的矫正功能、社会功能和预防功能。因此，应当拓展假释的范式，建立旨在提高改造质量的累进式假释制。累进式假释制是对现行“直捷式”假释制度的变更与完善，与现行的法理精神、监狱刑罚执行的程序规定相通，具有可行性和可操作性，不失为一条解放思想，加大落实“首要标准”力度，拓宽行刑范式的重要路径。     

以自主创新促进国民经济又好又快发展

创新型国家的实践昭示，创新对于经济增长的贡献率与日俱增，以创新依靠型取代资源依赖型增长模式业已成为发展路径的必然选择。资源性约束与增长模式惯性成为中国国民经济又好又快发展的巨大障碍：人均资源短缺，资源消耗量大，产出效率比较低。从广义的创新主体视域观之，首先应树立全社会致力于自主创新的自信心，妥善处理政府与企业的互动关系，充分发挥政府对于自主创新的主导作用，以及大力发挥企业作为自主创新的主体作用，最终实现我国经济发展模式由要素驱动型向创新驱动型的嬗变。     

从预期社会化的角度看大学新生的角色转变

大学新生正在实现由高中生向大学生的角色转变,从预期社会化的角度去分析大学新生角色转变中存在的问题,有利于他们顺利地实现角色转变,具有重要的意义。     

机构改革背景下公务员职业生涯规划研究

本文通过分析机构改革引起的公务员职业环境的变化，明确了新环境对公务员职业素质的新要求。提出公务员的职业生涯规划应当契合职业环境的发展变化，结合工作实际，及时调整合适的职业奋斗目标。并为实现这一目标做出行之有效的安排。     

政府理念的十大转变

在新的时代背景下,政府要更好地保护和实现公民权利,必须做到理念上的十大转变:由管理政府向服务政府转变;由全能政府向有限政府转变;由权力政府向责任政府转变;由人治政府向法治政府转变;由随意政府向诚信政府转变;由神秘政府向透明政府转变;由刚性政府向弹性政府转变;由拖沓政府向效能政府转变;由利益政府向中立政府转变;由守旧政府向创新政府转变。     

Homicide and economic change: Recent analyses of the Joint Economic Committee report of 1984

The relation between recession and homicide is classic in the United States. This has been affirmed in the 1976 and 1984 Reports to the Joint Economic Committee (JEC) of the United States Congress. Recent analysis confirms the findings reported in both 1976 and 1984 and demonstrates that the influence of recession on homicide is greater than previously estimated. Differences in the 1976 and 1984 findings on homicide are related to differences in the hypotheses tested, as discussed in detail and highlighted in the 1984 report. JEC staff correctly interpreted and reported the 1984 findings. Reproduction of the 1984 homicide equation is straightforward, provided the same data and any of several standard estimation techniques are used. Evidence does not support any of Cook and Zarkin's claims in their critique of the 1984 homicide equation. The JEC report of 1984 used appropriate techniques in the attempt (a) to ensure that influences attributed to economic changes are not actually due to other social factors and (b) to minimize underspecification of models.     

印度婚姻制度的嬗变

在人类婚姻制度的发展历程中,印度的婚姻制度的发展是比较独特的,它随着印度社会的变化而演化,先后经历了从古代的种姓婚姻到中世纪的伊斯兰教婚姻,从近代英国统治下的婚姻变革到独立后的婚姻制度现代化,其发展道路坎坷曲折,其转变的过程既反映了印度时代的变迁,也明示着人类社会的进步.     

行政诉讼司法变更权研究

行政诉讼司法变更权,是法院行政审判权的重要组成部分。确立司法变更权,是我国民主法制建设的要求。我国现行《行政诉讼法》规定的司法变更权是有限的,只适用于行政处罚案件。为了有效地监督和制约行政机关行使行政职权,更好地实现行政诉讼保护公民、法人和其他组织合法权益的目的,应当适当扩展司法变更权的范围。