Connecting the dots: Crime rates and criminal justice evaluation research

The National Research Council’s report on evaluating anticrime programs contains sensible suggestions for improving evaluation research in criminal justice but neglects the important role of substantive theory in linking evaluations of anticrime initiatives to variation in crime rates across time and place. A working knowledge of crime rates is essential for designing and evaluating anticrime programs. This essay calls for the development of a policy evaluation infrastructure that would support the continuous monitoring of crime rates, generate knowledge of crime-producing conditions, and link evaluation research findings to one another and to expected policy outcomes, notably crime reduction.

The impact of program developers as evaluators on criminal recidivism: Results from meta-analyses of experimental and quasi-experimental research

Using meta-analysis, we report on an investigation of the evaluator's influence in the treatment setting on criminal recidivism outcomes. Many evaluators and users of evaluation of social interventions worry that mixing of the roles of program developer and program evaluator may bias results reported in intervention studies in a positive direction. We first review the results of prior investigations of this issue across 50 prior meta-analyses, finding 12 that tested the impact of investigator influence in the treatment setting. Eleven of these reported that effect size increased positively, sometimes substantially so, when evaluators were influential or involved in the treatment setting. We followed this with a meta-analysis of 300 randomized field trials in individually focused crime reduction, also finding intervention studies in which evaluators who were greatly influential in the treatment setting report consistently and substantially larger effect sizes than other types of evaluators. We discuss two major views — the ‘cynical’ and ‘high fidelity’ theories — on why this is consistently the case, and conclude with a further agenda for research.     

A Participant Evaluation of the U.S. Navy Parent Support Program

This study reports on the results of a program evaluation of the U.S. Navy New Parent Support Program (NPSP). NPSP is composed of two components: center-based parenting classes and home-based visits. Data are presented on: (a) satisfaction with program quality, (b) how well the program met its primary objectives (e.g., helps reduce parenting stress), (c) how well the NPSP met its Reasons for Being (RFBs; e.g., Helps service members concentrate on their job), and (d) program impact on mission-related outcomes (i.e., quality of life (QOL), readiness, and program impact on their decision to remain in the military). Results indicate that parents who take part in both the parenting classes and home-based visits report that the program exceeded their expectations, the program improved their perceptions of their parenting and coping skills, they perceived that the program demonstrated the Navy's concern for Sailors and their families, and the program enhanced the family's quality of life. Implications of study findings are discussed.

构建党的执政能力评估体系设想

加强党的执政能力评估,必须创设专门的综合评估机构、发挥公民的主导性作用、重视社会独立评估机构的意见;构建以政党领袖的权威、党的组织结构、党的自身制度建设、政党成员的素质和忠实程度、政党成员的数量等为主要指标的内部评估体系和以政党的竞争力、影响立法机构的能力、获得公众支持的能力、领导政府工作的能力、组织管理第三部门的能力等为主要指标的外部评估体系。党的执政能力评估必须逐步规范化、制度化。     

Technology transformation and changing demographic patterns: Perspectives for Africa’s future elections

The last decade of the 21st century has so far seen many important elections on the African continent. These elections offer windows for the development of democracy and freedom throughout the continent. The same period has been characterised by a burgeoning population, estimated to be over one billion. The rapid growth in population has fuelled a quick growth in the number of eligible voters. Around the same period, another increase has been under way: evolving new technology penetration in electoral management systems. The introduction of innovative technologies into the electoral management systems (prior, during and post-election) has raised both interest and concerns. This review article provides insights into, and a critique of the role of emerging technologies in Africa’s electoral managements systems. The article taps on some of the best practices of modern technology applications in the electoral process. Some of the areas of focus in this article include constituency delimitation, political party registration, voter registration, voting operations and stakeholder engagements. The discussion denotes a rising recognition and use of new technologies in these areas to improve efficiency, ensure credibility of democratic processes and reliability of election results. The literature engages with a mixture of successes and failures, improvements and challenges, innovations and obstacles in the context of countryspecific electoral systems technological applications.     

Designing Ethical Online Dispute Resolution Systems: The Rise of the Fourth Party

As the pandemic forces public and private institutions to move online, many court and business leaders are looking to the field of online dispute resolution (ODR) for best practices and lessons learned. Developed over the last twenty years, largely in response to the growth of e‐commerce, the ODR field has generated a deep well of theory and practice while also identifying potential ethical dilemmas and risks. The application of technology, the “fourth party,” plays an increasingly integral role in how we negotiate resolutions to our disputes, with or without a third party. A brief overview of the history of ODR’s development will set the context for the exploration of the range of tools and techniques encompassed by online dispute resolution. Consideration of the ethical challenges raised by ODR practice will illuminate key questions and choices that need to be made in designing ODR systems and in governing their use.     

Why Japanese citizens evaluate the new indirect tax as unfair: Fairness criteria and their relative importance

The study examined citizens' fairness evaluation of the consumption tax recently introduced in Japan, and explored the underlying criteria and their relative importance in judging the fairness of the tax and the procedural fairness by which the tax was introduced. Five dimensions were obtained in factor analysis. Multiple regression analysis revealed that three dimensions contributed to total fairness of the tax: Procedural Fairness, Outcome Evaluation, and Affective Responses. Further analyses revealed that ramming the bill, sufficient discussion, and reflection of citizens' opinions were crucial for Japanese citizens judgment of procedural fairness. The results supported Leventhal's theory: ethicality, accuracy, and correctability were important.     

孤证规则的内在逻辑与制度构成——基于“印证证明模式”展开的论证

孤证规则的内在机理，是通过多个证据的相互印证确保刑事诉讼中事实认定的准确性，是对自由心证的有益补充。在明确“孤证不能定案”原则的基础上，孤证规则的构成包括两部分内容。一是孤证的认定标准。孤证，是指证明案件核心事实的证据只有一个，孤证既可以是言词证据也可以是实物证据。孤证的判断是实质判断，其标准是证据的信息来源是否同一。二是孤证不能定案的例外。包括“因待证事实证明标准降低而设置的例外”和“基于经验法则而设置的例外”，前者适用于对程序性事实、非要件事实、量刑事实的证明，后者则包括完整记录犯罪行为的录音录像、遗留在隐蔽位置的生物组织、证明被告人案发时唯一在场的证据等。     

Public Administration Dilemmas: An Analysis of Teachers’ Perceptions of the Effects of Performance Evaluation in Post-Colonial South Africa

The adoption of the principles of New Public Management by many governments across the world was invariably accompanied by the implementation of performance evaluation. It is generally accepted that performance evaluation optimizes the performance of workers. As part of a broader investigation which employed a mixed methods approach, the study used data from six interviews with high school principals and 100 survey questionnaires with purposively selected high school teachers in uMgungundlovu District of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. In the analysis of this data, the paper demonstrates that beyond the obvious benefits of performance evaluation such as improvement in performance, there are also unintended consequences such as a narrow focus on measured output, teacher burnout, and falsification of information in order to maximize credit or to avoid punishment. This study illustrates the understandings of high school educators in uMgungundlovu District of the effects of performance evaluation. The findings have important implications for public administration and scholars alike.