Meeting the Information Needs of Older People: A Challenge for Local Governance

The challenge of the ageing population is not just to provide more services but to employ new strategies. One of these is the need to rethink the provision of information to older people and their carers. This paper makes four points. First, that information and access to information have become more critical issues. Second, that older people may place a much higher value on information than other citizen groups but their access is poor for a range of reasons. Third, that the processes by which older people seek information may be empowering. Finally, effective partnerships with creative older people can be a catalyst to changing governance cultures which is a vital step in modernising local government. The paper draws upon examples from the author's experience of working alongside older people under the umbrella of the Better Life in Later Life project in Newcastle upon Tyne.     

Assessing democracy from below: A framework and indonesian pilot study

The emerging crisis of both elitist and popular strategies of democratization calls for assessments of the problems and options in such a way that different arguments may be put to the test while facilitating debate on improved agendas. This article first discusses the development of a framework for such assessments in the context of the most populous of the ‘third wave democracies’, Indonesia. The best audit of institutional performance, that of Beetham, is developed further by adding the scope of the institutions and the will and capacity of the local actors to improve and use them. This is followed by a presentation of the salient results from a thus designed survey comprising 330 questions to about 800 experienced democracy workers in all 32 provinces. Indonesia's actually existing democracy is surprisingly liberal and accepted as ‘the only game in town’. It suffers, however, from defunct instruments to really facilitate political equality and popular control of public affairs. This is due to monopolization of most rights and institutions by the establishment and the political marginalization of the democratic agents of change. The problems, however, are not all ‘structurally inevitable’. The article concludes by specifying the potential for improvements.     

我国大型资源型企业经济转型的发展效果评价——基于平煤神马集团的实证研究

对大型资源型企业经济转型发展的效果进行评价,对于发展循环经济,促进矿区实现可持续发展至关重要。在对几种典型的评价方法进行比较和改进的基础上,根据典型案例的具体情况,运用适应于对大型资源型企业经济转型发展进行综合评价的方法评价了其经济转型发展的效果,以期为同类企业经济转型发展的效果进行科学评价提供一个范例与思路的同时,也能为政府对大型资源型企业的经济转型发展进行科学考核提供可靠的依据以及为企业找出经济转型发展过程中存在的不足与偏失、改进今后的工作提供有益的参考。     

Risk and the Female Offender: An Analysis of Classification and Supervision Issues

Risk is a defining feature of punishment in the United States. This is evidenced by the profusion of actuarial risk assessment instruments, now entering their 4th generation. Although the literature on risk assessment specific to female offenders is growing, certain questions remain unresolved. In particular, it is still largely unknown how gender might influence classification and supervision for offenders under community supervision. This study reports findings from a survey of community corrections officers. The perceived level of risk, the decision to override a classification score, and the perceived importance of risk and need factors are discussed.     

公安院校本科教学合格评估工作的思考

本科教学合格评估坚持“以评促建、以评促改、以评促管、评建结合、重在建设”,评估重点是考察学校基本办学条件、基本教学管理和基本教学质量,学校服务地方经济社会发展的能力和应用型人才培养的能力,学校教学改革和内部质量保障体系建设和运行的情况.公安院校是公安机关的重要组成部分,具有区别于普通高等院校的特殊性.积极探索公安院校的内在规律和特点,努力建设符合公安院校内涵发展的评价体系,为公安院校今后的建设发展具有指导作用.     

Risk factors for recidivism among spousal assault and spousal homicide offenders

Abstract

The Spousal Assault Risk Assessment Guide (SARA; Kropp et al., 1995) is a 20-item checklist for the structured professional assessment of risk for partner violence. This study reported on a retrospective follow-up of file-based SARA assessments of offenders convicted 1988–1990 in Sweden. A total of 88 male batterers referred for court-ordered forensic psychiatric evaluations were included. During the 7-year follow-up, twenty-five (28%) were re-convicted of spousal assault. A few SARA items were statistically significantly associated with increased risk of recidivism, namely: Items #3, Past violation of conditional release or community supervision, #10 Personality disorder with anger, impulsivity, or behavioural instability (psychopathy), and #16 Extreme minimisation or denial of spousal assault history. The severity of the index crime (#18 Severe and/or sexual assault) was negatively related to risk for recidivism during follow-up. Offenders scoring above the median on the SARA were at more than 2.5 higher the risk for recidivism than those scoring below the median. In terms of predictive validity, the SARA actuarial score exhibited a marginal but statistically significant improvement over chance in this sample.     

The quality of written expert testimony in alleged child sexual abuse: An empirical study

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to empirically evaluate written expert testimonies in cases of suspected child sexual abuse in Sweden. A total of 121 expert testimonies were rated with an instrument developed for the study, the SQX-12 (Gumpert et al., 2001) which is a 12-item checklist aimed to reflect consensus-established concepts of quality. Reports from different professional groups were compared, as were reports produced before and after the 1991 publication of national guidelines. The results suggested that the reports produced by professionals using statement analysis generally were of higher quality than reports written by professionals from child- and adolescent psychiatry. There was a slight increase in report quality, as measured by the SQX total score, over the studied years. However, it is concluded that the overall quality of written expert testimony on child credibility still does not reach the recommended level in Sweden.     

MMPI profiles of males accused of severe crimes: a cluster analysis

Abstract

In studies attempting to classify criminal offenders by cluster analysis of Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) data, the number of clusters found varied between 10 (the Megargee System) and two (one cluster indicating no psychopathology and one exhibiting serious psychopathology). The latter results raise doubts about the suitability of the MMPI-2 for classification in forensic settings. The present study aimed at deriving an empirical classification system using cluster analysis of 247 MMPI-2 profiles of pretrial criminal defendants in a forensic psychiatric observation clinic. Results indicated only a ‘non-disturbed’ and a ‘disturbed’ profile, differing on general elevation of MMPI-2 profiles but displaying no qualitatively distinct profiles. The clusters differed on age at admission and first conviction, indicating a late onset of criminal activity for disturbed offenders. Also, the clusters differed significantly on Axis I diagnosis and borderline significantly on Axis II diagnosis. The absence of distinct personality profiles between the clusters suggests restricted usefulness of the MMPI-2 in a forensic context of diverse and severe psychopathology and serious crimes. Either the investigated population is in fact extremely homogeneous, truly comprising only two kinds of offenders, or the types of offenders in these populations are not effectively distinguished by the MMPI-2.     

Post-decision confidence,decision time,and self-reported decision processes as postdictors of identification accuracy

Abstract

Post-decision confidence, decision time, and decision processes were evaluated concerning their usefulness for postdicting identification accuracy. One hundred and ninety-two participants witnessed a filmed theft and were tested with target-absent or target-present simultaneous lineups 1 week later. Post-decision confidence was positively associated with, and decision time negatively associated with choosers’ identification accuracy. For several measures of self-reported decision processes, the expected associations were non-significant. Using a decision rule including highly confident and fast participants led to more correct classifications than either variable alone. Significant associations between postdictors highlight the need to consider the different processes jointly as, in combination, they may be more useful in assessing identification decisions.     

HCR-20 violence risk assessments as a guide for treating and managing violence risk in a forensic psychiatric setting

Abstract

Over the past decades there has been a vast development in the research into risk factors for violence and the development of risk assessment instruments. One instrument that has been given special attention is the HCR-20 violence risk assessment scheme. However, little attention has been paid to the clinical applicability of this tool, i.e. how does this assessment scheme perform when utilized in clinical practice as a tool to guide intervention and management in order to alleviate risk of violent behaviour? The present study was a true prospective study into the utilization of the HCR-20 as a clinical routine. Data on forensic psychiatric patients (n = 81) from a forensic unit in Denmark are presented. As part of a clinical routine all patients were assessed for risk of future violence utilizing the structured professional judgement model, the HCR-20. Outcome measures were aggressive episodes during hospitalization and new convictions post discharge. The predictive validity of the HCR-20 was lower compared with previous findings. It is argued that this does not necessarily indicate poor predictive accuracy of the HCR-20. Rather, it may indicate that the HCR-20 is suitable for guiding risk management in order to prevent violent behaviour.