DELINQUENT BEHAVIOR,OFFICIAL DELINQUENCY,AND GENDER: CONSEQUENCES FOR ADULTHOOD FUNCTIONING AND WELL‐BEING*

The general aim of this article is to evaluate the consequences of both delinquent behavior and institutionalization as a juvenile delinquent on the quality of adult functioning and well‐being, with a specific focus on gender differences. Data were gathered from two related data sources: a sample of previously institutionalized offenders (n=210) and a sample of individuals living in private households (n=721). Males and females in both samples were interviewed initially in 1982 when they were adolescents and re‐interviewed in their late twenties. Results showed that having been institutionalized as an adolescent seriously compromises multiple life domains in adulthood, especially for females. The data also show that an official delinquent status and a high level of involvement in delinquency during adolescence each has independent consequences for male and female adult functioning and well‐being. Institutionalization is strongly predictive of precarious, premature, unstable, and unsatisfied conditions in multiple life domains but much less predictive of behavioral outcomes. On the other hand, a high level of delinquency involvement in adolescence is predictive of antisocial behavior in adulthood, but it tends to have no direct effects on adversity in other life domains. These results are mostly invariant across gender.     

新世纪成人高校图书馆发展机遇和对策研究

进入21世纪,随着知识经济的到来和信息网络技术的发展及应用,图书馆事业面临着新的机遇和挑战,成人高校图书馆如何把握机遇,应对挑战,是当前亟待解决的问题。     

GROWTH AND QUALITY OF U.S. PRIVATE PRISONS: EVIDENCE FROM A NATIONAL SURVEY*

Research Summary: Private prisons incarcerate 5.3% of the sentenced, adult population in the United States. The present study presents selected results from a 1999 survey of administrators who monitored private prisons in the United States (or U.S. territories). Among the findings of interest, the private sector experienced significant problems with staff turnover, escapes, and drug use. Where possible, private prison operations were compared with those of the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Policy Implications: Given the issues raised here with public safety, public sector agencies contracting for private prisons need to develop incentives or other means to ensure that private sector operators retain experienced custody staff.     

The predictive validity of the Depression Hopelessness Suicide screening form for self-harm among prisoners

The Depression Hopelessness Suicide Screening Form (DHS) includes 12 ‘critical items’, which have not been validated for the prospective prediction of self-harm. We conducted a retrospective cohort study (N = 4196) to validate the ability of the DHS critical items to prospectively predict inmates with at least one incident of self-harm during the first six months of imprisonment. While the critical items were highly sensitive (89.5%) at predicting incidents of self-harm, 51.3% of the inmates endorsed at least one item. Five items reflecting more recent and specific risk factors reduced the referral rate to 17.7%, while maintaining high sensitivity (84.2%). While the DHS has high sensitivity to predict inmates at risk of self-harm, treating all items as equally critical results in excessive numbers of false positives that likely exceed the capacity of prison resources for professional assessment and intervention. Referral rules based on recency and specificity of risk factors are proposed.     

The effects of drying the rinsed dissected heart on postmortem heart weight

Blood and blood clots should be removed from the heart chambers before being weighed. The actual method in removing blood and blood clots may vary and can include manual removal with subsequent rinsing the heart in water. It is unclear whether drying the rinsed heart affects the heart weight. The objective of this article was to investigate the effects drying the rinsed dissected heart (residual rinsing water) on postmortem heart weight. The prospective study compared 44 dissected heart weights after being rinsed and after being pat dried. An average 18–20 g of residual rinsing water (4% of heart weight) was present in the dissected heart. The amount of residual rinsing water correlates positively with heart weight. The effects of drying the rinsed dissected heart were considered clinically insignificant. Although being clinically insignificant, this study highlights the lack of standardized approach in weighing the heart and the potential implications in interpreting heart weights.     

Examining the Use of Disciplinary Segregation within and across Prisons

Prison officials have historically been afforded considerable discretion to administer sanctions designed to maintain order and security within a prison. Such discretion can generate disparate treatment of offender groups, but few studies have investigated whether sanction disparities exist within prisons, despite considerable research on sanctioning decisions made by other criminal justice actors. We use data collected from a nationally representative sample of inmates housed in state operated confinement facilities to examine potential influences of prison officials’ decisions to impose one type of sanction—disciplinary segregation. Multi-level analyses reveal that both legally relevant criteria such as prior misconduct history and extralegal factors such as age and holding a prison job affected whether an inmate was placed in disciplinary segregation for a rule violation. Also, prisons in which a greater proportion of the inmate population is involved in prison work and prisons with a higher density of inmates classified minimum-security use disciplinary segregation less frequently.     

大数据时代监狱情报机制构建初探

提高监管改造质量,确保监狱安全,是监狱工作中的重中之重。《中华人民共和国刑法修正案(九)》的颁布实施对监狱工作提出更高的要求,尤其是有关死缓、限制减刑、新增罪名的一些规定,给监狱管理带来了新的问题。本文旨以大数据时代发展为背景,从监狱情报机制建设角度出发,通过法律构建、组织机构建设、人才培养三个角度解决监狱所面临的监管新问题。     

PRIVATIZING PUNISHMENT: TESTING THEORIES OF PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR PRIVATE PRISON AND IMMIGRATION DETENTION FACILITIES

The transfer of authority over the supervision of inmate populations from state and federal governments to private corporations is one of the most significant contemporary developments in the criminal justice system. Yet, the controversy surrounding the private prison industry has occurred in U.S. criminal justice policy circles without any understanding of the public's preferences toward these institutions. In this article, we test several theories that potentially explain opinions toward privatizing carceral institutions: the racial animus, business is better, conflict of interest, and problem‐escalation models. These models are tested with original data from the 2014 Cooperative Congressional Election Survey. The data show that opinions toward the privatization of carceral institutions do not neatly fall along partisan or ideological divisions but are explained by beliefs about racial resentment, corporate ethics, and the potential ability of private companies to provide services cheaper than the public sphere. The results hold important implications for how we understand the future of private carceral institutions in the United States.     

论成年人监护制度的最新发展:支持决策

支持决策是为响应联合国《残疾人权利公约》第12条的要求在成年人监护领域出现的新理念和新措施。支持决策的核心价值是使残疾人在他人的帮助下自主做出决定,从而维护残疾人的人格尊严与自由。支持决策在世界范围内受到极大关注,很多国家都在尝试建立支持决策的法律模式。我国正处于民法典编纂过程中,支持决策理念的出现为我国成年人监护立法提供了新思路、新方向。我国民法典婚姻家庭编在设计成年人监护制度时应以辅助制度体现支持决策的指导思想及具体内容。