Notes on School-Based Crime Fighting: International Lessons in Moral Education

Few communities are immune to organized crime and corruption. What has not been fully explored is how education in lawfulness can be introduced into the curriculum of primary and secondary schools to confront the influences of criminal life styles that continue to be romanticized by factions within a community. This paper reports on such efforts in Sicily, Hong Kong, Russia, and Mexico. Each community is vigorously seeking to repel negative influences from traditional strongholds of organized crime, which continue to exert powerful and pernicious effects on those societies.Challenging organized crime requires more than governmental regulatory responses. Civic, business, labor, religious, social, and educational organizations all have a role in mitigating the scourge of lawlessness. A central question is to consider the ways in which a civil society can foster a culture of lawfulness. Promoting a set of beliefs and mobilizing the legal norms and institutions for changing, administering, and enforcing laws will enhance and protect quality of life is a task that some primary and secondary schools have begun to explore. One approach involves moral education, explicitly and directly teaching children and young people about the rewards and obligations in making moral and ethical decisions. This paper examines this effort in four, distinct cultural settings.     

Fighting Corruption on the Transdnistrian Border: Lessons from Failed and New Successful Anti-Corruption Programmes

In 2007, both Moldovan and Ukrainian authorities took firm steps to reduce corruption along the Transdnistrian border. This paper—aimed mainly at anti-corruption practitioners and scholars in public administration—discusses the background and underlying principles guiding the anti-corruption work being adopted by both governments in order to facilitate discussion about optimal anti-corruption programme design. This paper presents a set of tools used during the planning phase of the anti-corruption programme—outlining the methodology used to assess the extent of corruption on the Transdnistrian border, the problems of legislative transplants, a “contract test” for defining corruption offenses, a method of risk analysis, and a model of optimal anti-corruption programme organizational design.

Effects of Homelessness and Child Maltreatment on the Likelihood of Engaging in Property and Violent Crime During Adulthood

The current study employs data from the U.S. National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (N = 10,818; 56% female; 21% African American) to test how experiencing homelessness through emerging adulthood and child maltreatment predict adult property crime and violent crime. Unlike many published studies on homelessness, we used propensity score matching to correct for selection bias between homeless and nonhomeless individuals. Logistic regression models were run to predict violent and property crime in adulthood, controlling for child maltreatment. Participants who experienced homelessness by age 26 were 1.6 times more likely to commit violent crime in adulthood and almost 30% more likely to commit property crime. Those who were victims of child maltreatment were 15 times more likely to commit property crime, but no more likely to commit violent crime. Findings show that comparing statistically equivalent groups, homelessness through emerging adulthood significantly predicted adult criminality while child maltreatment showed more variable results. Greater prevention efforts aimed at children and adolescents at high risk of experiencing homelessness, as well as more intensive outreach services to homeless youth, may moderate exposure and reduce reliance on criminal survival behaviors.     

Advocacy Strategies for School-Based Sex Education in Guatemala: Applying the Transtheoretical Model to Results from an Impact Evaluation

ABSTRACT. This case study explored the effectiveness of radio spots promoting school-based sex education and makes recommendations for future advocacy efforts using the transtheoretical model to analyze the populations of Sacatepéquez and Chimaltenango, Guatemala, on their attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors regarding school-based sex education. An in-person community questionnaire was implemented, and a convenience sample of 329 participants was analyzed. Data showed support for school-based sex education among these populations, and this article suggests various strategies for further, more targeted advocacy efforts within these communities.     

Public relations and tourism: Fighting for the role of public relations in tourism

The objective of this paper is to demonstrate the importance of public relations work in the tourism industry and to defend its role for its practical application. The study is empirically based and adopts a case-study approach through qualitative methods. It reveals the development of public relations activities and the great need that exists for public relations theoretical framework within the tourism industry.     

Moral development in public relations: Measuring duty to society in strategic communication

This exploratory study employed an online version of the Defining Issues Test (DIT) [Rest, J. R. (1979). Development in judging moral issues. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press] to gather data on the ethical decision-making process patterns of 113, U.S.-based public relations practitioners. The DIT is an instrument based on Kohlberg's [Kohlberg, L. (1969) State and sequence: The cognitive-developmental approach to socialization. In: E. Goslin, (Ed.) Handbook of socialization: Theory and research. Chicago: Rand McNally] moral development theory, a proven measure of ethical reasoning across dozens of professions. Results show that levels of moral development in public relations significantly differ based on job segment. While corporate and agency practitioners reasoned about their ethics in a statistically similar fashion, these two groups differed substantially from their academic-based counterparts.     

The role of source and the factors audiences rely on in evaluating credibility of health information

In the wake of public relations crises of credibility such as FEMA's staged press conference in response to the California wildfires, source credibility merits increased scholarly and practitioner scrutiny in order to maximize the effectiveness of the information practitioners release, particularly when the objective is to promote action vital to public health and well-being. Through a random national telephone survey (n = 400), this research analyzes how the source itself moderates credibility as well as the criteria important to audience evaluations of credibility. Results indicate practitioners are perceived as credible sources of health information and that audiences take a rather mindful route in their evaluations of source credibility.     

Cross-sectoral assessment of public policies in health and the environment: Scenario of the municipalities in the state of Sao Paulo

From the identification of the current and rising demand for integrated solutions by government players, especially at the stage of evaluation of public policies, this paper carried out an cross-sectoral outcome assessment of local government cost-effectiveness in the fields of health and environment. The analysis is based on the amount of resources allocated by each of the 645 municipalities in the state of São Paulo, to each field, involving consolidated evaluation indicators (IDSUS and IAA, respectively). This study required the prior distribution of municipalities in clusters within homogeneous groups previously proposed in IDSUS calculation methodology. The results suggest that the addressed areas are intimately connected, indicating that larger (and better) environmental investments can produce promising outcomes toward health performance. Therefore, there is a demand for integrated public policies in the context of environmental health. Also, there is the indication that the resource management and the proper allocation thereof may be more relevant than the total amount spent; and that lower cost-effectiveness values do not necessarily demonstrate high scores in the assessed performance indicators.     

Changing the Culture of Alcohol Abuse on Campus: Lessons Learned From Secondhand Smoke

ABSTRACT

Alcohol abuse is the single greatest public health hazard on American college and university campuses, but the culture of abusive alcohol consumption continues to be highly resistant to change. The author argues that secondhand smoke campaigns can be used as models to change the culture of alcohol abuse on campus. He proposes the implementation of “secondhand alcohol” campaigns and describes their essential components and advantages.     

Going tobacco-free on 24 New York City university campuses: A public health agency's partnership with a large urban public university system

ABSTRACT

The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene partnered with the nation's largest university system, the City University of New York (CUNY), to provide technical assistance and resources to support the development and implementation of a system-wide tobacco-free policy. This effort formed one component of Healthy CUNY—a larger initiative to support health promotion and disease prevention across the university system and resulted in the successful introduction of a system-wide tobacco-free policy on all CUNY campuses. Glassman et al (J Am Coll Health. 2011;59:764–768) published a blueprint for action related to tobacco policies that informed our work. This paper describes the policy development and implementation process and presents lessons learned from the perspective of the Health Department, as a practical case study to inform and support other health departments who may be supporting colleges and universities to become tobacco-free.     

Implementing the ecological approach in tobacco control programs: results of a case study

The ‘new public health’ has stimulated calls to adopt an ecological approach for action aimed at improving population health. However, the implementation of ecological programs has often remained a challenge. The objective of this study was to identify factors facilitating the implementation of ecological tobacco control programming in two Public Health Departments in Québec (Canada) using Scheirer's model of program implementation as a conceptual framework and an exemplary case study design. Analysis revealed two distinct configurations of environmental, organizational and professional characteristics that were related to equally successful implementations of the framework. Key roles for factors such as provincial ministerial guidelines and financial resources, human resources, and relationships and alliances with other organizations, were highlighted. These results replicate findings from quantitative surveys and allow better understanding of the conditions required for planning ecological programming.     

Striking a Balance between Program-Specific and Portfolio-Level Evaluation: Lessons Learned from a Multi-Site Evaluation on the Texas-Mexico Border

Funders are increasingly making strategic investments across multiple grantees, aiming for their portfolio to improve targeted outcomes in a specific issue area. To this end, funders might use multi-site evaluation (MSE) approaches to examine the impact of their collective investments. However, it is important to recognize that each program—and its own program evaluation—must be tailored to its setting, population, and local context to best meet the needs of its target population. Therefore, multi-site evaluations need to account for this complexity. This paper describes the Sí Texas project, a large initiative of eight grantees implementing different integrated behavioral health models to improve physical and mental health outcomes along the Texas-Mexico border. With over 4,200 MSE study participants, the evaluation for Sí Texas used a partnership-centered approach to both enhance the evidence base and build local organizational capacity. This paper describes this approach, the process of tailoring evaluation practices to the grantees’ context, and the challenge of balancing consistency at the grantee-level for the portfolio multi-site evaluation. Successes, challenges, and lessons learned related to study design, data collection, grantee partnership, and capacity building are discussed.     

Crime, policing and social order: on the expressive nature of public confidence in policing

Public confidence in policing is receiving increasing attention from UK social scientists and policy-makers. The criminal justice system relies on legitimacy and consent to an extent unlike other public services: public support is vital if the police and other criminal justice agencies are to function both effectively and in accordance with democratic norms. Yet we know little about the forms of social perception that stand prior to public confidence and police legitimacy. Drawing on data from the 2003/2004 British Crime Survey and the 2006/2007 London Metropolitan Police Safer Neighbourhoods Survey, this paper suggests that people think about their local police in ways less to do with the risk of victimization (instrumental concerns about personal safety) and more to do with judgments of social cohesion and moral consensus (expressive concerns about neighbourhood stability, cohesion and loss of collective authority). Across England and Wales the police may not primarily be seen as providers of a narrow sense of personal security, held responsible for crime and safety. Instead the police may stand as symbolic 'moral guardians' of social stability and order, held responsible for community values and informal social controls. We also present evidence that public confidence in the London Metropolitan Police Service expresses broader social anxieties about long-term social change. We finish our paper with some thoughts on a sociological analysis of the cultural place of policing: confidence (and perhaps ultimately the legitimacy of the police) might just be wrapped up in broader public concerns about social order and moral consensus.     

Asylum Discourse in New Zealand: Moral Panic and a Culture of Indifference

Recent law changes in New Zealand allowing for the detention of a “mass arrival” of asylum seekers reflect a concerning international rhetoric and associated policy trend in Australia and the United Kingdom towards those seeking asylum. This paper argues that, although the New Zealand public has not (yet) reached a “moral panic” that is prevalent within international contexts, there are concerns about a “culture of indifference” in relation to asylum seekers. By providing a policy analysis about asylum seekers and an examination on the associated discourses utilised in international contexts, this discussion presents the New Zealand context through the process of risk signification. The paper discusses how the social work profession can respond to this culture of indifference through addressing collusion (often through silence) with oppressive asylum policies, the need for stronger advocacy and action, and the associated role of social work education.     

Emergency management communication: The paradox of the positive in public communication for preparedness

Government emergency management agencies use public communication to inform and educate around risks such as floods, fires, storms, and earthquakes with the aim to help communities understand how to prepare for these emergency events. This study of government communication relating to emergency management preparedness examines an Australian context to understand the types of messages preparing community members for natural hazards. Findings suggest that agencies employ a two-track approach combining warranting and engagement messages. Yet a deeper look at the messages suggests a “paradox of the positive” that overemphasizes the capacity of local agencies to respond to crises and underemphasizes citizen shared responsibility. Implications for the paradox of the positive in other national contexts and public relations theory building are also discussed.     

Public‐Service Provision in Clientelist Political Settlements: Lessons from Ghana's Urban Water Sector

The politics of public‐service delivery continues to be neglected under the supposedly more context‐sensitive post‐Washington Consensus. Using interviews and documentary evidence from Ghana, this article provides an account of the networks of political interference and informal practices in Ghana's public water utility. It argues that, in order to understand why private‐sector participation succeeds or fails and why similar arrangements have different outcomes across developing countries, we need to examine the effects of the informal institutional context, particularly the country‐specific political settlement in which public‐service provision operates.     

Lessons Learned: Pedagogical Tensions and Struggles with Instruction on Multiculturalism in Social Work Education Programs

While the importance of multiculturalism to social work education and practice has been extensively theorized in the social work literature, very little empirical attention has been paid to the concrete experiences of social work students within the classroom. The socializing influence of pedagogy is one aspect of the professionalization process that must be considered in addressing issues of diversity and inclusion in graduate education programs. This article addresses this gap by describing and analyzing the narratives of 15 minority graduate social work students. It examines their perception and experiences with instruction on multiculturalism with the graduate curriculum and the meaning they assign to these experiences. Their narratives illuminate the myriad ways that the curriculum excludes minority students and reproduces social inequality. Social work education has a responsibility to eliminate racism and inequality from the content of its courses and in its teaching methods. The identification of these negative socializing messages may assist educators in structuring curricular and pedagogical practices that can facilitate the academic success of all students.     

Developing a public health policy-research nexus: An evaluation of Nurse Practitioner models in aged care

A frustration often expressed by researchers and policy-makers in public health is an apparent mismatch between respective priorities and expectations for research. Academics bemoan an oversimplification of their work, a reticence for independent critique and the constant pressure to pursue evaluation funding. Meanwhile, policy-makers look for research reports written in plain language with clear application, which are attuned to current policy settings and produced quickly. In a context where there are calls in western nations for evidence based policy with stronger links to academic research, such a mismatch can present significant challenges to policy program evaluation. The purpose of this paper is to present one attempt to overcome these challenges. Specifically, the paper describes the development of a conceptual framework for a large-scale, multifaceted evaluation of an Australian Government health initiative to expand Nurse Practitioner models of practice in aged care service delivery. In doing so, the paper provides a brief review of key points for the facilitation of a strong research-policy nexus in public health evaluations, as well as describes how this particular evaluation embodies these key points. As such, the paper presents an evaluation approach which may be adopted and adapted by others undertaking public health policy program evaluations.     

Longitudinal Evaluation of Peer Health Education on a College Campus: Impact on Health Behaviors

Objective: The authors investigated the longitudinal impact of peer health education on the health behaviors of undergraduate students pertaining to alcohol and drug use, eating and nutrition, and sexual health. Participants: From fall 2003 to spring 2006, the authors annually administered a Web-based survey to a cohort of 2,000 randomly selected undergraduate students. Results: Students who had contact with peer health educators were significantly more likely over time than other students to report less alcohol consumption and fewer related negative consequences. Results also show that students who had contact with peer health educators initially endorsed engaging in unhealthy weight management and fat talk behaviors during their first year but decreased these unhealthy behaviors by their third year. No significant differences in sexual health behaviors were found. Conclusions: Results indicate that peer health educators play an important role in promoting healthy behaviors in the areas of alcohol and drug use and in eating and nutrition.