Partnership between the probation service and voluntary sector organizations

Summary This paper considers the development of inter-agency partnershipsbetween the probation service and voluntary sector organizationsin the early 1990s in England and Wales and reports the resultsof research by the author and their implications for youth justicearrangements outlined in the recent 1998 Crime and DisorderAct. The article outlines the development of probation partnershipsand the impact of changes to probation services, voluntary organizationsand service users which include: a shift towards purchaser-providerand contract-based arrangements; voluntary organizations takingon a role to work with involuntary clients; and the introductionof a discourse on partnerships which marginalizes small, informalvoluntary groups. These findings are then considered in relationto the Crime and Disorder Partnerships for crime preventionwhich form a crucial part of the 1988 Criminal Justice Act.The Crime and Disorder Partnerships have less emphasis on amanagerialist agenda but offer no extra resources and this articlesuggests that they may therefore not result in significant benefitsfor agencies working with young offenders.     

Management is performance: strategies for client-centered practice in social service organizations

The political nature of human services is a given. The multiple constituency dilemma coupled with the retrenchment of the 1970s and 1980s has led to a great gulf separating managers from clients, and managers from front-line personnel. These political factors have been reinforced by management theory and the blind adoption of "state-of-the-art" management technologies developed in business and the military, and the separation has gained legitimacy. The result is less than optimal service, a dissatisfied workforce, and continued attacks for being inefficient, self-serving, and ineffective. The purpose of this article is to portray an alternative form of human service management. Its vision places clients center stage in our organizations and places the manager as the director and producer. It accepts the premises that "management is the principle engine of progress" (Levitt, 1976) and that management is performance. It then lays a foundation for client-centered management by presenting four principles for social service administrators who desire to adopt this perspective in their daily practice. An elaboration of the skills and methods of client-centered management can be found in a recently published text (Rapp & Poertner, 1991).     

A review essay recent literature on leading and managing change in public service organizations

This essay concludes a special symposium on governance issues. All of the symposium articles raise serious questions about whether or not and how well governments in the United States are playing the several important roles they have in the governance process. This essay is about three changes that could lead to more effective, efficient, and equitable governance. Three interrelated ones are discussed: (1) Realizing a sustainable future, a new vision, and (2) initiating new decision making processes needed to deal with complex, inter-connected, conflict provoking issues, (3) requires new leadership.     

Strategic administration of nonprofit human service organizations: a model for executive success in turbulent times

Rapid and unprecedented changes in our modern society have created extremely turbulent environments for nonprofit human service organizations. These changes threaten to transform the very nature of our business in ways difficult to predict and prepare for. The author examines the collective views of 21 purposely sampled executive directors in the city of Baltimore, Maryland on the future of the nonprofit human services sector. In 1 hour face-to-face interviews, subjects were asked to respond to three questions. What major trends will impact the nonprofit sector in the near future? What potential impact do you see these trends having on the nonprofit sector? What strategies would you recommend that executive directors take today to ensure success of their organization in the future? Narrative responses to each question were aggregated, organized into dominant views, and summarized. Subjects identified a host of social, political, economic, and technological trends that will have major effects on the future of the nonprofit sector. Subjects recommend a variety of tactics for helping an agency respond successfully to these forces. These tactics emphasize three critical areas of strategic administration: planning, management, and leadership.     

社会自治组织的概念探析

社会中介组织等相似概念,不能代替社会自治组织概念使用。该概念有其独立的内涵和外延。社会自治组织的本质是一定范围的社会成员自治自律。该组织具有自治性、自律性、组织性、社会性、公益性、事业性、社会中介性、非营利性、非政治性、非宗教性等基本性质。确定该类组织的范围,除考虑基本性质外,还应考虑无依附关系、成员普遍、组织开放、一定规模、公共事业等原则。该类组织的常见类型主要有职业自治组织、行业自治组织、学术自治组织、社区自治组织以及综合自治组织。针对有关法律问题,学术界及国家有关部门应积极进行研究和采取措施。     

The great (Australian) property crime decline

Between 1973/74 and 2000, rates of robbery, break and enter, motor vehicle theft and most other major forms of theft rose almost without interruption. Between 2000 and 2009, recorded rates of robbery in Australia fell by 63 per cent, recorded rates of burglary fell by 57 per cent, recorded rates of motor vehicle theft fell by 62 per cent, and recorded rates of all other forms of theft fell by 37 per cent. This article considers possible explanations for the fall in theft and robbery in light of the available evidence. It argues that a reduction in heroin dependence, improvements in economic outcomes, increases in the risk of arrest and imprisonment, and improved vehicle security are likely to have been significant contributors to the decline.     

How crime affects economic performance: The case of Guatemala

The impact of crime on economic growth is obviously substantial, but measuring the degree of its effects on a country's economic performance is subject to a great deal of uncertainty. This paper primarily attempts to close this gap using the economics of crime monitoring model, a new economic instrument that could be used to evaluate the impact of crime on economic performance. Guatemala was used to illustrate the applicability of the model from where analyses provide a coherent evaluation of the degree to which crime can affect a country's economic performance.     

Gauging crime in late eighteenth-century London

This article uses a new method to gauge eighteenth-century crime. It counts the crimes committed against metropolitan London's justices noted in newspapers and in the Old Bailey Sessions Papers, and finds crime more prevalent than current historiography acknowledges. The article contests current claims that the manner in which newspapers noted crime constructed their readers' perception of crime, making their readers believe crime was much more horrific, and the judicial system much more just, than readers would otherwise have thought they were. The article also argues that some crimes were attacks on the powerful because they were powerful.     

Race,victim precipitated homicide,and the subculture of violence thesis

The subculture of violence thesis suggests that African Americans are disproportionately likely to respond to minor transgressions with lethal force because of a culturally defined need to protect one’s reputation and a normative aversion to legal forms of dispute resolution. Using data on over 950 non-justifiable homicides from police files, the present study tests this hypothesis by examining race-specific patterns of victim precipitation (i.e., the victim’s role in initiating the homicide). If, as the theory suggests, African Americans are more likely to respond to minor affronts with lethal violence than Whites, then African American homicide incidents should have more victim precipitation, particularly in the form of minor acts of provocation. The results of the current analysis do not support this hypothesis and therefore are inconsistent with the notion that a unique subculture of violence among African Americans explains their disproportionately high levels of homicide victimization and offending.     

The impact of Indian gaming on crime in New Mexico: A research note

The complexity of the relationship between gambling and crime make empirical establishment of a relationship between the two difficult. Focusing on one state, we examine the impact of Indian gaming on crime in New Mexico. Specific crime rates in New Mexico counties with tribal gaming are discussed. Comparisons of the rates of specific crimes are made between New Mexico counties with tribal gaming and those without.     

Ambiguity and risk taking in organizations

Kunreuther, Meszaros, and Hogarth (1993) argue that insurers are risk averse and ambiguity averse, and that they use cognitive reference points and constraints in making pricing decisions. They further claim that insurer ambiguity may be a factor that has a role in market failure at the industry level. Arguably, ambiguity may be an important aspect of decision behavior. In this article, research on managerial risk taking is reviewed with a focus on the relationship between ambiguity and risk taking. In particular, the effects of the organizational and institutional context are highlighted. It is argued that the political aspects of insurer decision behavior should be considered as well. Implications for further study and understanding of decision making are discussed.     

Fear of crime and participation in associational life

Fear of crime is studied extensively as a potential contributor to the decline of a community. People who fear crime are expected to stay indoors and seek shelter, which then encourages more crime, setting in motion a vicious cycle that ultimately bodes ill for community engagement. However, there is little research that examines directly the relationship between fear of crime and participation. We explore such a relationship with Canadian survey data by looking at whether fear of crime can explain participation in a variety of associational activities. Our models show a relationship between fear of crime and participation, but the nature of that relationship varies according to the type of activity. A high level of fear, as well as reciprocity, explain participation in “vertical” associational life, while the absence of fear explains participation in “horizontal” associational life, although this latter pattern is mediated through reciprocity.     

Coordinating community organizations in urban China

Since its introduction in the 1980s, China's housing privatization reform has gradually transformed urban residents into private homeowners, and reinforced disparities in housing allocation and living conditions. Various studies have analyzed the mobilization of private homeowners in newly built, upscale apartment complexes. Using data from field observations and in-depth interviews conducted in five low-income, urban neighborhoods in Beijing in 1999–2000, this article investigates the shifts in the organizational and power structure in older, working-class communities. The article describes the changing status of traditional and newly developed organizations and agencies within these neighborhoods, and analyzes the underlying reasons for the displacements and conflicts they experienced. Drawing on the author's subsequent fieldwork with community organizations in the USA in 2001–2002, the article suggests means of coordinating community organizations in low-income, urban neighborhoods in China, and discusses the opportunities and challenges for the social work profession in its attempts to deliver social services and advocate social justice.     

Coordinating community organizations in urban China

Since its introduction in the 1980s, China's housing privatization reform has gradually transformed urban residents into private homeowners, and reinforced disparities in housing allocation and living conditions. Various studies have analyzed the mobilization of private homeowners in newly built, upscale apartment complexes. Using data from field observations and in-depth interviews conducted in five low-income, urban neighborhoods in Beijing in 1999–2000, this article investigates the shifts in the organizational and power structure in older, working-class communities. The article describes the changing status of traditional and newly developed organizations and agencies within these neighborhoods, and analyzes the underlying reasons for the displacements and conflicts they experienced. Drawing on the author's subsequent fieldwork with community organizations in the USA in 2001–2002, the article suggests means of coordinating community organizations in low-income, urban neighborhoods in China, and discusses the opportunities and challenges for the social work profession in its attempts to deliver social services and advocate social justice.     

Fear of crime and Roma integration

We analyze the majority’s perceptions of Roma as a socio-cultural and crime threat and their evaluations of two key integration measures namely schooling and financial allowances. Following a fear of crime model we test for the effect of community context, disorder/safety, and victimization as the critical parameters of these perceptions and evaluations. Empirical estimations involve a cross-section dataset for Greece and multilevel model techniques. Results verify community context, disorder and victimization as important fear and integration predictors that interact with the socio-economic status of individuals and regional crime rates.