Risk and Public Protection: Responding to Involuntary and ‘Taboo’ Risk

Growing media, political and public concern with high‐risk offenders in the community has focused policy attention on the concept of ‘public protection’. A notion that the public has the right to be protected, particularly from ‘monstrous’ offenders such as predatory paedophiles, has infiltrated much recent legislation and penal policy. This article will explore the critical factors in the ‘public protection’ trend and the framing of risk and risky offenders that has ensued. In particular, attention will be given to the new surveillance and intervention mechanisms under the Multi‐Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) and whether these arrangements manage risk or displace it. To what extent are they driven by the ‘precautionary principle’ and defensive responses to risks that are over‐inflated? To what extent does this result in ‘perverse incentives’ to over‐manage certain risks and to over‐concentrate on restrictive risk management techniques such as electronic tagging, satellite surveillance and curfews rather than treatment? Does the system represent effective risk management or a system for dealing with risk anxiety – both of the public(s) and of politicians?     

Stigma,Secrets, and the Human Condition: Seeking to Remedy Alienation in PostSecret's Digitally Mediated Environment

While digitally mediated environments have altered how human communication takes place, they do not necessarily alter the human condition of alienation. Applying key principles from Goffman's Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity (1963), the popular blog PostSecret offers ways in which anonymous users attempt to remedy the alienations linked with the stigmatic act of secret keeping. Through imaginative, associative, and vicarious conversations, the blog purports to offer the unconditional acceptance necessary to remedy the alienations. Because of the complications of anonymity in the nonreal reality of the internet, the blog can offer only echoes of acceptance. Although some of the stigma literature argues that self‐acceptance or assertions of power are the strongest solutions to stigma's negative effects, this article extends the stigma construct with the suggestion that vulnerability might be a viable option to remedy the attendant alienations correlated with stigma.     

On the relative efficiency of a monotone parameter curve estimator in a functional nonlinear model

Functional regression models that relate functional covariates to a scalar response are becoming more common due to the availability of functional data and computational advances. We introduce a functional nonlinear model with a scalar response where the true parameter curve is monotone. Using the Newton-Raphson method within a backfitting procedure, we discuss a penalized least squares criterion for fitting the functional nonlinear model with the smoothing parameter selected using generalized cross validation. Connections between a nonlinear mixed effects model and our functional nonlinear model are discussed, thereby providing an additional model fitting procedure using restricted maximum likelihood for smoothing parameter selection. Simulated relative efficiency gains provided by a monotone parameter curve estimator relative to an unconstrained parameter curve estimator are presented. In addition, we provide an application of our model with data from ozonesonde measurements of stratospheric ozone in which the measurements are biased as a function of altitude.     

Some notes on the fisher–bingham family on the sphere

The fisher–Bingham family is potentially useful class of spherical distributions, but its practical application has been hindered by various problems, including; the identification of the form of the distribution, given the parameter values; and finding an effective technique for calculating the normalising constant, a requirement for maximum likelihood estimation. It is explained how these difficulties can be resolved. and then parameter estimation and hypothesis testing are discussed. A practical example is given.     

Generalized EM estimation for semi-parametric mixture distributions with discretized non-parametric component

We consider independent sampling from a two-component mixture distribution, where one component (called the parametric component) is from a known distributional family and the other component (called the non-parametric component) is unknown. This is a semi-parametric mixture distribution. We discretize the non-parametric component and estimate the parameters of this mixture model, namely the mixing proportion, the unknown parameters of the parametric component and the discretized non-parametric component. We define the maximum penalized likelihood (MPL) estimates of the mixture model parameters and then develop a generalized EM (GEM) iterative scheme to compute the MPL estimates. A simulation study and an example from biology are presented.     

Social-cognitive Competence, Peer Rejection and Neglect, and Behavioral and Emotional Problems in Middle Childhood

This prospective, longitudinal study examines individual differences in two conceptually related but empirically distinct domains of social-cognitive competence (cognitive interpretive understanding and interpersonal perspective co-ordination) as moderators of the relation between peer rejection and neglect and behavioral and emotional problems in grades 2 and 3. As expected, peer rejection and neglect increased risks for behavioral and emotional problems whereas interpretive understanding (understanding of mental states) and perspective co-ordination (awareness of others' emotions and motives) reduced risks for aggressive, disruptive, inattentive, and anxious, sad, withdrawn behaviors. Assumptions that awareness of others' perspectives bestows consistent benefits for children experiencing peer problems were challenged. Unexpectedly, rejection and neglect increased risks for behavioral and emotional problems for children who demonstrated average and high levels of perspective co-ordination. More advanced perspective co-ordination may heighten children's sensitivity to peer relationship problems and result in general maladjustment, both concurrently and over time. Less advanced perspective co-ordination may also be responsible for the 'optimistic bias' that has been noted in aggressive children.     

Practice and Research in Career Counseling and Development—2008

The career development literature published in 2008 is summarized and presented thematically: (a) professional issues, (b) career assessment, (c) career development, (d) career theory and concepts, (e) career interventions, (f) advances in technology, (g) employment, (h) international perspectives, and (i) research design and methodology. Traditional and emerging theories and practices are robust and vibrant.