Policing Urban America: A New Look at the Politics of Agency Size*

Objectives. This article analyzes competing explanations for variation in the relative size of contemporary police forces in larger U.S. cities. The featured explanation is conflict theory, which previously provided much evidence for a racial threat thesis but limited evidence that racial insurgency affected police mobilization in the 1960s and 1970s. Methods. The study sample consists of the 66 cities with a population of at least 250,000 in 2000. Aggregate data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, Congressional Quarterly's America Votes, and the U.S. Census Bureau are combined with a content analysis using the Lexis‐Nexis regional news database to generate the data set. OLS regression modeling is applied to the analysis of this cross‐sectional data set. Results. This analysis shows that the size of contemporary police forces is substantially shaped not only by the legacy of the 1960–1970 wave of racial unrest in the United States, but also by reaction to racial disorders in the 1980s and 1990s and by the prevalence of racial minorities in the current population. Conclusions. Police departments' relative force size in 2000 is not only a result of incremental growth from the size attained by 1980, but also is dramatically shaped by whether the city experienced a race riot from 1980–2000 and, to a lesser extent, the size of the minority population and the violent crime rate. City wealth is a less robust indicator; and there is no evidence that either community ideology or the degree of uptake of community policing matters.     

伊朗的仪式与革命

本文开宗明义地宣称:仪式和象征并非纯粹由情绪构成,它们具有相应的意识形态,如果说前两者是不可证伪的,难以推论的,则后者是可以争议、批评和证伪的。格尔兹、特纳、布洛克与拉帕波特等人分析仪式时所犯的严重错误就在于忽视了这一点,从而他们过分强调人类经验中的情绪部分和通过仪式操纵人们情绪的随意程度,低估了人类的智力。因此,在方法论上应该把宗教象征作为一个二维运动来讨论,注意意识形态与现实的距离,以及情绪和理性互为表里的关系和互相影响。带着这个理论框架,作者以1978年伊朗人民推翻国王的运动为背景。但她不是分析这场革命,而是分析运动过程中的宗教象征和意识形态的关系。作者还原了宗教象征的二元结构。认为宗教象征不是浑然一体的,而是叠加的两部分,逻辑上可以剥离。据此观察经济政治的变化对意识形态的影响,并推动意识形态影响去仪式符号,以及仪式对意识形态的维护,最终说明仪式能够对社会变迁和政治变迁起到极其重要的作用。     

Self-perceptions of unpopularity in adolescence: Links to past and current adjustment

Self-perceptions of unpopularity in 404 high school students were found to reflect current emotional and behavioral distress. The authors studied these youths from ages 9 to 15 to examine early risks and current factors associated with perceptions of unpopularity. Feelings of unpopularity in middle childhood increased the risk of similar feelings in adolescence. However, self-reports of unpopularity at age 9 were not strong predictors of emotional and anti-social problems at age 15. Identification of unpopular adolescents and recommendations for future practice and research are proposed.This research was supported in part by Grant MH41569, National Institute of Mental Health. It was adapted from the doctoral dissertation of Dr. Cohen, Simmons College School of Social Work, completed in June, 1991. The authors wish to thank the dissertation committee members, Craig Edelbrock and Barent Walsh for their major contributions.Dr. Cohen is affiliated with the Early Adulthood Research Project, Simmons College, School of Social Work, and the co-authors are affiliated with the School of Social Work.     

Contact with Family Members and its Impact on Adolescents and Their Foster Placements

This paper discusses findings from a recently completed studyof adolescent foster care, which included a detailed assessmentof the fostering skills and supports of carers and of the contactthat adolescents had with parents, siblings and other familymembers during a long-term foster placement. Sixty-eight fostercarers, young people and their social workers were interviewedat two points in time, 3 months after the start of a new fosterplacement and again at 12 months or at the point of disruptionif this occurred earlier. Detailed questions about contact whichwere asked of foster carers, young people and their social workersenabled the researchers to make summary ratings about the quantityand the quality of contact and its effect on the young peopleand on their placements. This paper describes the contact theyoung people had with their families, its impact on them andon the foster families and how it changed over time. The findingsrevealed that contact for the majority of adolescents was problematicand had a significant impact on placement outcomes. Ways ofmanaging contact are highlighted, and the corresponding implicationsfor policy and practice discussed.     

Family perspectives on the hospice experience in adult family homes

Growing numbers of terminally ill older adults receive hospice services in adult family homes (AFHs); however, little is known about the provision and receipt of end-of-life care in such environments. This article reports findings from a qualitative exploration of family members' perspectives of the hospice experience in AFHs. Analysis of data obtained during interviews of 15 residents' family members exposed significant challenges associated with transition to an AFH, highlighted the importance of AFH and hospice staff in family members' assessment of overall quality of care, and emphasized the critical nature of communication in AFH settings.     

Consumer Evaluation of Human Services

This article is concerned with the more effective implementation of the principle that consumers of human services should be involved in their evaluation, both as a right and as a source of essential data. A commitment to this principle requires an understanding of the obstacles impeding its practice, and deliberate strategies carefully designed to overcome them. Certain central features of human service organizations tend to place the consumers of their services in a weak position in relation to their planning, administration and evaluation process. In most evaluation studies consumers are included only at a late stage and in the severely limited role of respondents. Both broad strategies and detailed data-gathering methodologies are required to change this situation, and some are suggested. A case study, a recent enquiry into consumers's views of Community Welfare Department services in South Australia, is described to illustrate the use of a range of methods to involve consumers in the enquiry and elicit their opinions in ways that yielded valid data useful for the improvement of services.     

Substance Use, Self-Esteem, and Self-Efficacy Among Homeless and Runaway Youth in New Orleans

Each year, nearly 1.7 million children and adolescents in the US run away or are forced out by their caregivers. Although several studies have examined numerous risk and protective factors among homeless and runaway youth (HRY), little is known about this population’s self-efficacy. This cross-sectional study investigates substance use, self-esteem, and self-efficacy in 51 HRY in New Orleans. Results include high rates of substance use disorders, lower self-esteem and self-efficacy compared with that of non-HRY in previous studies, and no significant correlation between substance use and self-esteem or self-efficacy. The authors interpret these findings and discuss their implications for practice and future research.