Crime and punishment: A national reading

The results of a recent national survey pertaining to the perception of the seriousness of crime, the response to crime, and views regarding the three controversial areas of pornography, marijuana, and abortion are reported. Canadians are found to be deeply concerned with the level of crime and critical of the police and the courts, favouring more severe handling of offenders including the use of capital punishment. While the majority are opposed to the legalization of marijuana, they endorse the criminalization of neither pornographic distribution to adults nor abortion in select situations. The author concludes with a discussion of some of the implications of these findings.     

Peer Exploitation: Findings from a Romanian National Representative Sample of Children Living in Long‐Term Residential Centres

This study emphasises different facets of peer exploitation awareness and experience identified in closed‐type institutions, including a couple of abusive behaviours that have not been previously identified in long‐term residential centres.

‘Emphasises different facets of peer exploitation awareness and experience identified in closed‐type institutions’

A national representative sample of 1391 children (743 boys and 648 girls) seven to 20 years of age living in 44 long‐term residential centres was analysed to identify the prevalence of awareness and experience of peer exploitation. Multilevel logistic regression models were used to identify the predictors of peer exploitation experience. In total, 40.1 per cent of children reported that they were aware of peer exploitation, and 28.5 per cent that they were victims of such exploitation. Additionally, it was shown that (a) children who reported past abuse by a staff member were more likely to be victims of exploitation than those who did not; and (b) an increased number of children in a dorm room predicted a decrease in the odds of peer exploitation experience. This study provides a picture of the developmental environment for children in Romanian orphanages in the late 1990s, prior to subsequent child protection reforms, and underlines the prevalence of exploitation and the risk factors for peer exploitation in closed institutional systems. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Key Practitioner Messages

• Four in ten (40%) institutionalised children reported that they were aware of at least one form of peer exploitation, and nearly three in ten (28.5%) reported experiencing at least some of these types of exploitation practices by their older peers.
• This study highlights the importance of understanding the complex milieu that comprised the daily lives of institutionalised children in Romania, including an environment that consisted of physical abuse by institution staff and awareness and experiences of exploitation.

     

Coping with Competitors Coast to Coast

Abstract. Ecstasy (MDMA) has been added to the spectrum of illicit drugs used by college students. In this study, the authors estimated the prevalence of ecstasy use within a large college student sample and investigated the polydrug-use history of those ecstasy users. They administered an anonymous questionnaire to college students (N = 1,206) in classrooms at a large university in the mid-Atlantic United States. The overall student response rate was 91%. Nine percent of the sample reported lifetime ecstasy use. Because 98% of ecstasy users had used marijuana, the authors compared polydrug use between ecstasy users and individuals who had used marijuana but not ecstasy. Ecstasy users, as compared with these marijuana users, were significantly more likely to have used inhalants (38% vs. 10%), LSD (38% vs. 5%), cocaine (46% vs 2%), and heroin (17% vs 1%) in the past year. Significant polydrug use among college student ecstasy users has important implications for their substance abuse treatment.     

Under the Cover of Books

There are any number of factors in the political economy of the social work profession which may inhibit or encourage social action activities among its members. In Canada, the precalence of government funding for advocacy organizations, a high level of unionization among social workers, and professional commitment to social action as expressed in the Canadian Code of Social Work Ethics are some of the factors that affect the profession's capacity to engage in social action.     

Ingredients of a successful case management program

Take a look at nine important factors that contribute to a successful case management program. Discover why it's imperative to design the program to fit the unique population and meet the organizational needs and objectives.     

Comparison of role perceptions of white and African American foster parents

The number of U.S. children entering foster care is increasing faster than the number of available foster parents. Of particular concern are the growing number of African American children in foster care and the lack of African American foster parents to care for them. This study compares role perceptions of African American and white foster parents and provides information on recruiting African American foster parents. These foster parents are more likely than their white counterparts to feel responsible for facilitating the relationship between foster children and birthparents. They are more likely to accept responsibility for the roles of agency partner and emotional developer of the child. Implications include the need for agencies to develop recruitment models that are sensitive to the qualities African American families can bring to the foster parent role.     

Imagined Rural/Regional Spaces: Non-Normative Sexualities in Small Towns and Rural Communities in Croatia

This research aims to critically examine how the complexity of the ongoing process of “coming out” in small towns and rural spaces in Croatia undermines the imagined hierarchical distinction between rural/urban spaces. The narratives of LGBQ individuals living in these spaces subvert imaginaries of their communities as homogeneously hostile and threatening. Some participants did, however, perceive other spaces as either “gay-friendly” or “deeply homophobic.” As Croatia is transnationally perceived to be a part of a larger “homophobic region,” the construction of the rural/urban hierarchical distinction is (re)produced and (re)configured within discourses that signify Western countries and so-called more developed regions within Croatia as “more open and liberal” as opposed to “more homophobic and backward” spaces. These distinctions between countries, regions, and the rural/urban spaces come into contradiction with each other and are undermined by my interviewees’ own incongruous experiences.     

International Migration Policies: 1950-2000

Policies on international migration since the Second World War reflect the enormous changes in economic, social and political situations around the world.
The implications of changes in the volume and composition of international migration have increasingly become an issue of major concern to governments in all countries.
Following emigration from Europe to countries of the New World as a result of war-damaged economies, reconstruction witnessed high demand for migrant labour, mainly from parts of southern Europe. But by the early 1970s, decline in economic growth, unexpected impacts of the guest-worker scheme, and an increase in refugees from Third World countries led, in due course, to an era of restriction on entry of asylum-seekers and tighter controls over undocumented migration to developed countries.
A "new era" evolved during the 1990s, characterized by growing interdependence of major economic powers. Globalization led not only to a significant demand for highly-skilled and professional workers, but also to decision-making on some aspects of the migration process being transferred from the national to the regional level, and an increase in the influence of multinational corporations.
The globalization process, and the growing influence of international trade regimes, may well represent the first steps towards a new "international migration regime" that incorporates all types of migration.