An experimental study of a therapeutic boot camp: Impact on impulses, attitudes and recidivism

Two hundred thirty four adult male inmates entering prison were randomly assigned to an early release program in either a correctional boot camp or a large, traditional prison in the Maryland state correctional system. Boot camp releasees had marginally lower recidivism compared to those released from the traditional prison. A pre-test, post-test self report survey indicated the boot camp program had little impact on criminogenic characteristics except for a lowering of self control. In contrast, inmates in prison became more antisocial, lower in self control, worse in anger management, and reported more criminal tendencies by the end of their time in prison. Criminogenic attitudes and impulses were significantly associated with recidivism. The impact of the boot camp diminished to non-significance when antisocial attitudes or anger management problems were added to the models predicting recidivism. Implications for jurisdictions considering whether to operate correctional boot camps are discussed.     

Developmental trends of delinquent attitudes and behaviors: replications and synthesis across domains, time, and samples

Inconsistent findings of attitude-behavior relations are commonly attributed to uncontrolled domain, time, or situational factors. Without integrative work, studies accounting for these factors may further complicate research by introducing potentially numerous third variables and render a coherent understanding of the attitude-behavior relationship even more difficult to achieve. In this paper, a developmental perspective is taken and the attitude-behavior relationship in delinquency is examined using three modes of investigation: multivariate patterns of attitude-behavior associations, their mutual predictability, and their developmental trajectories. Three grade cohorts of public school boys (n=1517 of the first, seventh, and tenth grades, initially) were followed over a period of 4 years, with an average age span of 7–16 years. Correspondence analyses suggested that adolescent boys with a tolerant attitude toward theft or violence were more deviant than those who had actual behavior of theft or violence. Stronger attitude effect on subsequent behavior, relative to behavior effect on subsequent attitudes, was found among boys aged 10–12 years. While mean scores of tolerant attitudes to serious theft and violence increased linearly with their behavior counterparts between 6 and 17 years of age, ages 11 and 14 were two turning points at which most delinquent attitudes and behaviors escalated at a higher speed. In general, delinquent attitudes and behaviors were related to each other in various patterns, and age was a defining factor that provided much of the explanation for the inconsistencies in research findings.     

论国际政治中的中国软实力三要素

中国特色社会主义制度的生命力、中华文化的感召力和吸引力、独立自主和平外交的国际影响力是我国重要的软实力。制度、文化、外交 (行为 )三位一体 ,紧密联系。社会制度是核心 ,文化是支撑 ,外交是手段 ,构成了我国对外政治斗争的强大力量 ,对当前国际政治产生了积极而深远的影响。我们的国际政治战略是 ,维护我国的社会主义制度 ,推动中华文化走向世界 ,以中华文化为支撑 ,充分施展外交手段 ,最大限度地实现我国的国家权益。     

Black Cities/White Cities: Evaluating the Police

It is well known that African Americans and whites hold different views of the police, but nearly all of the previous research has been conducted in majority white settings. This research examines the relationship between race and evaluations of the police in majority black versus majority white contexts. Social dominance theory and the research on racial threat predict that when the racial majority changes, the relationship between race and attitudes toward police will change. We find that, in majority black contexts, the traditional relationship between being black and having negative evaluations of the police disappears, and it disappears because whites' evaluations of the police become more negative. Black evaluations of the police are relatively consistent across racial contexts. Also, white racial attitudes affect police evaluations in majority black contexts, but not in white contexts, while African American racial attitudes are inconsequential in both contexts. Furthermore, if a white citizen is victimized by crime in a black city, it has greater ramifications for evaluations of the police than if the victimization had occurred in a white city. All of this suggests that whites' views of the police may be more racialized than the views of African Americans.     

Race and the City: Neighborhood Context and the Development of Generalized Trust

Previous research has indicated that socio-economic and racial characteristics of an individual's environment influence not only group consciousness and solidarity, but also affect his or her views toward minority or majority groups. Missing from this research is a consideration of how context, social interaction, and interracial experiences combine to shape more general psychological orientations such as generalized trust. In this study we address this gap in the literature by conducting a neighborhood-level analysis that examines how race, racial attitudes, social interactions, and residential patterns affect generalized trust. Our findings suggest not only that the neighborhood context plays an important role in shaping civic orientations, but that the diversity of interaction settings is a key condition for the development of generalized trust.     

试析中国和平崛起中的软权力因素

中国和平崛起符合我国的战略利益,它是我国综合国力全面提升的过程。其中,软权力既是推动我国和平崛起的重要因素,也是衡量和平崛起的重要指数。它是硬权力的重要补充,具有硬权力所不能及的特殊作用。在今天的时代背景下,我国要实现和平崛起离不开对软权力的培育和运用。     

提升中国文化软实力与文化“三自”

提升中国文化软实力，就要正确看待文化“三自”——文化自觉、文化自信、文化自强。提升文化自觉需要提升对文化发展作用、文化发展规律和文化建设责任担当的高度自觉；增强文化自信需要正确看待中国古代传统文化、中国特色社会主义文化、外国文化三种文化；实现文化自强，建设社会主义核心价值体系是关键，建立并完善社会主义文化发展和繁荣制度是保障，人民群众是根本依靠力量，推进文化体制改革是动力。     

Children’s attitudes towards animal cruelty: Exploration of predictors and socio-demographic variations

ABSTRACT

Assessing the risk for animal cruelty is imperative, yet understudied and problematic due to the sensitivity of the topic. Early prevention is critical, yet very little research examines cruelty when it first appears in childhood. The aim of this study was to explore children’s attitudes towards types of animal cruelty, to investigate potential demographic differences, and to examine potential associations between acceptance of cruelty and cognitive and affective factors that place children ‘at-risk’ for cruelty perpetration. Questionnaire data was collected from 1127 children in schools. The results indicate that cruelty attitudes are predicted by some demographic variables such as urban living, being male, younger age and not having pets, but depend on the type of animal cruelty. Acceptance of cruelty predicted low compassion and low reported humane behaviour towards animals. Acceptance of cruelty was predicted by negative attitudes towards animals, lower beliefs in animal minds and low attachment to pets, signifying the importance of targeting such variables in future prevention programmes. This study is an original contribution to research into childhood animal cruelty in the general population, with implications for designing and implementing early prevention programmes that tackle problematic attitudes to cruelty.     

治安防控体系软件系统论要

治安防控体系包括人力要素、物质要素、意识要素、组织要素、信息要素、规范要素、技术要素、战术要素、管理要素等九个基本要素。其中 ,意识、组织、技术、战术、管理要素属于软件要素 ,构成软件系统。治安防控体系软件系统就内容而言 ,具有广泛性、多元性、层次性的特点 ;就表现形式而言 ,具有多样性、交叉性特点 ;就作用方式而言 ,具有复合性、整体性特点。当前应从以下几方面优化防控体系软件系统 :一是强化对防控体系属于政府行为的认识 ;二是加强对其目标、过程、手段、方法的认识 ;三是激发公众参与热情 ;四是加强软环境建设 ;五是完善其运行机制。     

Gaughran vs the UK and public acceptability of forensic biometrics retention

This commentary provides a response to the European Court of Human Rights ruling in the case of Gaughran vs the United Kingdom on 13 February 2020. The Court ruled that the indefinite retention of DNA, fingerprints and facial images from all convicted adults was disproportionate. Using data from a survey on public attitudes, we examine the public acceptability of the police retention of forensic biometrics from the population.