TRANSPARENCY IN PUBLIC–PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS: NOT SO BAD AFTER ALL?

Scholars' criticism of transparency in public–private partnerships (PPPs) often focuses on ‘external’ transparency, that is, the extent to which internal information is visible to the outside world. However, to achieve external transparency, internal transparency – the availability and inferability of information for the public procurer and the private party – is crucial. In this article we analyse input, process, and output transparency from three different perspectives (institutional, cognitive, and strategic) in four PPPs in the Netherlands. We conclude that input transparency is high, but process and output transparency less so. Moreover, output transparency has gained importance in PPPs. Whether this is problematic depends on the PPPs' institutional environment. In some partnerships the desired output is uncontested and predetermined by clear standards in the institutional environment, whereas other PPPs deal with contested output norms, decreasing the partnerships' transparency. These results nuance the current debate on the lack of transparency in PPPs.     

INSTITUTIONAL LAYERING IN GOVERNING HEALTHCARE QUALITY

Since the 1980s, regulated markets and New Public Management have been introduced in the public sector across the world. How they have affected existing governance mechanisms such as self‐regulation and state regulation has remained largely unexplored, however. This article examines the origins and consequences of institutional layering in governing healthcare quality. Dutch health care, where a market‐based system has been introduced, is used as a case study. The results show that this market‐based system did not replace but modified existing institutional arrangements. As a result, hospitals have to deal with the fragmentation of quality demands. Using the concept of institutional layering, this study shows how different arrangements interact. As a consequence, the introduction of a certain policy reform will work out differently in different countries and policy sectors. Our ‘archaeological’ study in this layering can be seen as an example of how such incremental change can be studied in detail.     

PATTERNS OF FORGETTING AND TELESCOPING: An Analysis of LEAA Survey Victimization Data

The research reported in this article sought to estimate the feasibility of measuring patterns of forgetting and forward telescoping in victimization survey data. It was suggested that if these two sources of memory bias could be accurately and reliably measured, victimization survey data could be adjusted to produce improved estimates of both the amount of crime and of changes in the crime rate over time. Examination of the data suggests that the likelihood of developing a general model for correcting mnemonic biases is very low. ll?is conclusion follows from: (I) evidence indicating differential victimization survey recall across reported and unreported crime events; (2) the apparent dissimilarities of telescoping/forgetting patterns across samples and seasons; and (3) the lack of a stable comparison estimate of the “true” distribution of incidents with which to calibrate a correction model.     

PROSTITUTION,IV DRUG USE,AND SEXFOR-CRACK EXCHANGES AMONG SERIOUS DELINQUENTS: RISKS FOR HIV INFECTION*

There is mounting evidence that HIV infection among adolescents is increasing, particularly among minorities and inner-city youths involved in certain high-risk activities, such as multiple sex partners and intravenous drug use. Interviews conducted “on the street” with 611 seriously delinquent male and female adolescents (ages 12–17) included questions about their involvement in prostitution, intravenous drug use, and sex-for-crack exchanges. Findings included high percentages of youths engaged in these HIV-risk activities and a consistent association between all of them and greater illicit drug use. This would suggest that these risk behaviors may be surprisingly prevalent among some inner-city adolescent groups. Special AIDS prevention/intervention targeting these groups is warranted and urgently needed. Drug treatment should be a central focus of such programs.     

Fair treatment,fair play? The relationship between fair treatment perceptions,political trust and compliant and cooperative attitudes cross-nationally

Obtaining citizens’ voluntary compliance with political decisions is a fundamental democratic challenge. Fair treatment by public officials plays a key role in theoretical and empirical studies on citizens’ compliance and cooperation. Yet it is unclear whether citizens within different societies react to (un)fair treatment in the same way. Using multilevel structural equation modelling and multilevel regression analysis on the European Social Survey 2010–2 (N = 52,458), this article shows that perceptions of fair treatment by police officers are associated with higher levels of trust in political institutions and in turn stronger compliant and cooperative attitudes of citizens in 27 countries. Yet the link between perceptions of unfair treatment and institutional trust is stronger in countries in which fair behaviour is more prevalent. While fair treatment is often considered to be a universal norm affecting citizens in a uniform way, this article sheds light on important cross-national variations.     

RELIGION,DISCRIMINATORY ATTITUDES AND THE ORIENTATIONS OF JUVENILE JUSTICE PERSONNEL: A RESEARCH NOTE*

Advancements in the understanding of racial and gender disparity in case outcomes are evident in the theoretical and empirical refinements that emphasize the contingencies of decision making. In this article, we argue that a conservative world view reflects a patterning of attitudes that includes interrelationships among beliefs in a literal interpretation of the Bible and racial and gender stereotyping. Our hypothesis is that this conservative resonance will predict more punitive correctional orientations among a sample of juvenile justice personnel. The findings provide support for the existence of a conservative patterning of attitudes that predict punitive orientations. The resonance is less effective in explaining rehabilitative philosophies. The results have implications for assessing the issue of racial and gender bias in the juvenile justice system.