Early Transition Stages and Heterogeneity in Criminal Careers among Young Offenders*

Dans cet article, nous examinons différents modèles de rapports avec les forces policières parmi des sous-populations hétérogènes de jeunes, dans les premiers stades de transition de leur carrière criminelle. Nous croyons que la recherche axée sur l'hétérogénéité et sur les premiers stades de la transition vers la criminalité peut nous renseigner sur les éléments de la dynamique comportementale - jusqu'ici ignorés - dans l'étude de l'apparition d'un comportement criminel et de sa persistance. À partir de données policières informatisées provenant d'une grande ville de l'ouest du Canada, nous utilisons certains modèles de survie basés sur des événements pour dégager des modèles d'apparition et de persistance de comportements criminels sur une période de six mois, dans les premiers rapports avec la police. Les résultats démontrent des modifications importantes à court terme dans le comportement criminel de sousgroupes de jeunes de niveaux différents. Certains semblent avoir un comportement criminel ponctuel, qu'ils abandonnent par la suite, tandis que d'autres continuent de se comporter en criminels, en augmentant la fréquence et le taux d'infractions. Toutefois, certains modèles hétérogènes existent au sein de ces sous-groupes de jeunes délin quants dans les premières phases de développement de la criminalité. We investigate distinctive patterns of police contacts among heterogeneous subpopulations of youths in the early transition stages of their criminal careers. We argue that research focussing upon heterogeneity and the initial transition stages of criminality can provide insights into behavioural dynamics previously overlooked in the study of the onset and development of criminal careers. Using computerized police archival data from a large western Canadian city, we employ event history survival models to estimate patterns of onset and persistence for delinquent careers over six-month intervals in the early stages of police contact. Our results provide strong evidence of meaningful short-term change in offending among multiple levels of youth subgroups. Some youths appear to offend only briefly and then desist, while others continue offending and at a higher rate. However, there also appear to be patterns of heterogeneity within as well as between these subgroups of young offenders during the early stages of criminal careers.     

Carnivalesque activism as a public relations genre: A case study of the New Zealand group Mothers Against Genetic Engineering

This paper argues that carnivalesque protest comprises a particular genre of activist public relations which articulates conflict with, and resistance to, dominant discourses on controversial issues. A case study of the New Zealand group Mothers Against Genetic Engineering illustrates how the carnivalesque, by promoting community relationships and influencing public opinion through values of affect, can open up new spaces for public dialogue about social issues. It is argued that carnivalesque protest challenges the notion that collaboration should be a core professional value of public relations practice.     

Capturing Relatedness: Comprehensive Measures based on Secondary Data

This paper presents new measures of technological and customer‐side relatedness constructed from widely available secondary data. Relatedness is a concept central to predicting the existence and nature of a relationship between corporate diversification and firm performance. Yet, finding appropriate measures has been an ongoing struggle. The widely used SIC‐based entropy measure has low construct validity, and survey‐based measures are hard to replicate across firms and industries and over time. The measures we develop significantly outperform established measures in explaining variation in firm performance across firms and over time, and both sources of relatedness are found to be independent and significant explanations of firm performance.     

Pioneering Process Research: Andrew Pettigrew's Contribution to Management Scholarship, 1962–2014

This paper assesses Andrew Pettigrew's contribution to management scholarship. This review addresses the process, content, and context of his research career. Chronologically, the process will be subdivided into three distinct phases: the period leading up to the establishment of the Centre for Corporate Strategy and Change, Pettigrew's time with the Centre, and Pettigrew's research since leaving the Centre. The content of Pettigrew's research focussed on big problems and emerging phenomena such as decision‐making, organisational culture, organisation development, strategic change, human resource management, competitiveness, new public management, boards of directors, innovative forms of organising, high‐performing research teams, and business schools. His contextualist methodology for process research will be explicated. Pettigrew's contribution will be contextualised by comparing it with contemporary research. The paper concludes that there is still a need not only to examine big problems and emerging phenomena but also to provide a processual understanding of management reality. There is a need to further develop process research methodologies such as Pettigrew's contextualism, especially with respect to process research methods.     

Early intervention and holistic,relationship‐based practice with fathers: evidence from the work of the Family Nurse Partnership

This paper seeks to add to the literature on working with fathers by focusing on early intervention. It draws on research into fathers involved in a home visitation service delivered by the Family Nurse Partnership in England and evaluates the men's experiences of the intervention. The vulnerability of fathers was striking and many were helped to develop their practical skills and confidence in caring for their babies. The intervention was effective because of the quality time that was invested in developing relationships with fathers (as well as mothers), the focus on their strengths as well as areas for improvement and the skilled, therapeutically oriented, holistic approach through which the service was delivered. The ‘early’ nature of the help was crucial to its success because of how it so effectively tapped into the men's redefinition of themselves as caring fathers during pregnancy and following the birth. We argue that there is important learning here for social care and health services in general about how to engage men and promote fathers' capacities to care for their children.     

The paradox of parental participation and legal representation in ‘edge of care’ meetings

This paper assesses the nature of parental participation and legal representation in pre‐proceedings meetings in England and Wales. These are called when a local authority is considering care proceedings on a child. The parent(s) are invited to a meeting to discuss the concerns, and are entitled to attend with a lawyer. The paper draws on findings from a study of the process which included a file survey of over 200 cases, observations of 36 meetings and interviews with more than 90 key informants, including parents. The aim of the process is (usually) to reach an agreement to prevent the case going to court, but the families are usually well known to children's services, and have been through many meetings and agreements before. What then are the possibilities for parental participation and legal representation in the meetings? The study shows that they may help bring a greater degree of clarity to the local authority's proposals, but are not expected to challenge them. Paradoxically, they serve to reinforce the authority's position. The meetings can help divert cases, but it is important to be realistic about the chances of change in these often long‐standing ‘edge of care’ cases.     

Assessment of Patient Classification in Appointment System Design

This paper investigates two approaches to patient classification: using patient classification only for sequencing patient appointments at the time of booking and using patient classification for both sequencing and appointment interval adjustment. In the latter approach, appointment intervals are adjusted to match the consultation time characteristics of different patient classes. Our simulation results indicate that new appointment systems that utilize interval adjustment for patient class are successful in improving doctors' idle time, doctors' overtime and patients' waiting times without any trade‐offs. Best performing appointment systems are identified for different clinic environments characterized by walk‐ins, no‐shows, the percentage of new patients, and the ratio of the mean consultation time of new patients to the mean consultation time of return patients. As a result, practical guidelines are developed for managers who are responsible for designing appointment systems.     

Job satisfaction and ‘welfare‐to‐work‘: is any job a good job for Australian single mothers?

This exploratory study sought to assess the job satisfaction of employed Australian single mothers who had mandatory employment participation requirements. In particular, we sought to identify the characteristics of the job and the individual that were closely associated with participant's job satisfaction. Self‐report data on job satisfaction, employment characteristics and parenting stress were collected from 155 employed single mothers. Participant job satisfaction was compared to female Australian population norms and linear regression analyses determined the job‐related and individual predictors of single mothers' job satisfaction. Findings from this exploratory study revealed that single mothers involved in a mandatory welfare‐to‐work program experienced significantly lower job satisfaction than the Australian female population. The individual variable, parental distress, negatively predicted each of the six job satisfaction domains while being employed on a casual basis was inversely associated with three domains (job security, work hours and overall job satisfaction). The Australian government purported that making the transition from welfare to work would improve wellbeing for program participants, under the assumption that ‘any job's a good job‘. However, the relatively low levels of job satisfaction experienced by single mothers in the current study provide little support for this assumption.