FACTORS INFLUENCING GUN CARRYING AMONG YOUNG URBAN MALES OVER THE ADOLESCENT‐YOUNG ADULT LIFE COURSE*

This paper uses data from an ongoing panel study of urban youth to examine the causes and correlates of hidden gun carrying among young urban males. The analysis assesses the changing impact of gang membership, drug sales, and peer gun ownership for protection on gun carrying at nine separate points over the early adolescent to young adult life course. In early adolescence, gang membership is a strong motivation for gun carrying. At somewhat older ages, drug dealing, particularly high drug sales, and illegal peer gun ownership replace gang membership as the primary determinants of illegal gun carrying.     

SPECIALIZATION AND THE CRIMINAL CAREER*

Hirschi recently (1985) attempted to show the compatibility of social control with rational choice theory. This effort by Hirschi is noteworthy because, if successful, he could provide a connection between positive and classical sentiments which have traditionally appeared in contention. Hirschi fails, however, to achieve his objective and is hindered by what he views as the incompatible objectives of the two theories. Hirschi uses the recently accepted findings which indicate lack of specialization among persons involved in illegal behavior to illustrate the difference he sees between criminality and crime and, thus, the divergence between social control and rational choice. This paper attempts to remove the barrier found by Hirschi by providing improved measurement of specialization, such as has been proposed by Farrington (1986) and Klein (1984), and by placing the results in a more realistic criminal careers perspective than has been done in previous studies. This study utilizes data from the 1958 Philadelphia Birth Cohort. With information to age 26 for 27,160 persons, these data are perhaps better suited to investigate this topic than any available.     

Child Care and the Liberal Welfare Regime: A Review Essay

A Review Essay of Vicky Randall, The Politics of Child Daycare in Britain (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000); Sally S. Cohen, Championing Child Care (New York: Columbia University Press, 2001); Deborah Brennan, The Politics of Australian Child Care, 2d. ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998).     

Federal User Fees: Considering the Challenges and Advantages of the Development Process

There is a broad spectrum of components that substantially impact user fee development in the federal government. Observations of the fees discussed in this paper lead to the conclusion that a full understanding and consideration of each of these influences is necessary to successfully navigate the challenges and advantages of the fee development process. In conjunction with these considerations, practitioners are advised to adhere to the guidance of full and uniform costing methodologies to achieve optimal fee outcomes.     

Minor Discrepancies: Forging a Common Understanding of Adolescent Competence in Healthcare Decision‐Making and Criminal Responsibility

This article seeks to understand the divide between those who advocate for a broad belief in adolescent competence in the realm of healthcare decision‐making and those who advocate for a broad belief in adolescent incompetence in criminal law. After detailing various ways of understanding competence for adolescents and delineating how advocates and the Supreme Court have dealt with these issues, the article explores the possibility that contrasting views of adolescent competence are quite compatible. The author argues that the milieu in which young people make decisions, i.e., in formal versus informal settings, demonstrably affects the quality of the decision‐making process. As such, it is logical to conclude that the decision‐making process in formal healthcare settings leads to better decisions that the law should support than is the case in the informal settings in which young people decide to participate in criminal activities.