The important links between ADHD, Heroin use and the type and extent of offending among prisoners

Predictors of offending among prisoners: the role of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and substance use

From Journal of Psychopharmacology

This research significantly furthers our understanding of the role of ADHD and substance use in the offending history of truly persistent offenders. Findings reveal that frequent use of heroin in the year prior to imprisonment was the single most powerful predictor of the extent of total offending, with ADHD symptoms also adding independently to the variance in offending. In contrast, for violent offending, ADHD symptoms were the strongest predictor followed by alcohol dependence. Effective treatment programs have been recently developed for ADHD and for heroin and crack cocaine addiction. The findings of this study support the view that serious attempts should be made to apply these programs to persistent offenders. The personal, social and financial costs of repeated offending and imprisonment are substantial.

Links between animal cruelty and domestic violence

Is animal cruelty a “red flag” for family violence? investigating co-occurring violence toward children, partners, and pets

From Journal of Interpersonal Violence

This week in the UK a nation of animal lovers were horrified at the CCTV footage circulated on YouTube that caught a woman throwing a cat in a wheely bin. For all who cannot comprehend the motivation to perform such an act of cruelty this article may offer some clues as it examines links between animal cruelty and interpersonal violence. Such links have been recognized throughout history. This study highlights formal indications of support by policy makers for a link between animal- and human-directed violence through recent legislation. Several U.S. states have started to codify colloquial belief in these associations with the development of mandated cross-reporting systems for child protection and animal welfare agencies. The research considers if the identification of animal cruelty in a home may serve as a reliable red flag for the presence of child maltreatment or severe domestic violence.

 

 

GCSE success determined by the neighborhood in which pupils live

Classifying pupils by where they live: how well does this predict variations in their GCSE results?

From Urban Studies

In the UK, this year’s record GCSE results may offer many young British students a great reason to celebrate, but for others who faced disappointing news there may be some frustration at what is viewed by some as a reflection of an underlying situation of persistent inequality of opportunity. This article looks at factors linked with poor performance and confirms that the type of neighborhood is a key predictor of GCSE performance. Perhaps surprisingly there is not a direct link between deprivation  and some of the worst-performing neighborhoods. The research suggests it might be time to investigate what it is that leads many inner city Asian neighborhoods to be so relatively successful and to see what lessons might be learned by other communities including relatively privileged middle-class ones.

Can Michigan achieve a 35% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by embracing new climate change policies?

Climate change policy formation in Michigan – The case for integrated regional policies

From International Regional Science Review

Following 30 other US states Michigan recently launched The Michigan climate initiative to begin addressing the problem of climate change. This article shows how research was integrated into the policy process to inform decision makers about environmental policy and it estimates the potential gains.

It looks to the successful experience of the European Union Trading System with its Carbon Tax system and puts forward policies that limit emissions by placing a ‘‘cap,’’ enforced by the issuance of permits, or ‘‘allowances.’’

The article concludes  that a combination of sector-based measures and market incentive based policies could attain a low cost, high co-benefit solution.

Risk factors for early truancy

Truancy in late elementary and early secondary education: The influence of social bonds and self-control—the TRAILS study

From International Journal of Behavioral Development

It is recognized that if children start truancy at an early age, the likelihood of their involvement in other deviant behavior increases highly. This study reveals that risk factors for truancy include being a boy, early pubertal development, family breakup, and low socio-economic status. Focusing on truancy in late elementary and early secondary education it concludes that the impact of social bonds to norm-relevant significant others indicate that early patterns of this behavior can be prevented by focusing on children’s relations with parents at home and with teachers at school.

Do we accept military rape as a consequence of the brutal environment of war?

Front and Center: Sexual Violence in U.S. Military Law

From Politics and Society

Despite the military campaign to address the issue, soldier-on-soldier sexual violence continues to occur with astonishing frequency. Many see military rape as an inevitable consequence of the excesses of war and consider official efforts to restrain it half-hearted at best and hypocritical at worst.  This article assesses the extent of the violence, explores institutional responses and reconsiders the lost cause of legal reform.

Sonic city: the evolving economic geography of the music industry

From Journal of Planning Education and Research

While musicians can come from anywhere, they migrate over time. This research finds the music industry has become significantly more concentrated. In the US, New York and Los Angeles remain dominant locations with Nashville emerging in third place. There has been a tendency for musicians to cluster in search of inspiration and mutual learning, labeled as a “music scene”. However in this modern age there are good reasons for geographical spread. Musicians tour and travel to perform, with the rise of the Internet, social media, and digital distribution of musical content there is little need to be tied to a specific music center. The article examines the powerful forces that will continue to push and pull the geographical movement of the industry.

The dawn of ‘parent power’ from the development of UK educational Academies

Academies in context: Politics, business and philanthropy and heterarchical governance

From  Management in Education

The UK’s Coalition government, established earlier this year, announced their legislative program which adds up to a radical shake-up of education and fundamental political reform. Their plans to liberate hundreds of schools from state control by allowing them to become academies are a priority. It is, however, not a new idea: this article considers how the launch of the academies program by the previous New Labour government was recognized as one of their most controversial. It outlines how the approach reflects a small part of a more general shift from government to ‘polycentric’ governance. Aiming to offer real ‘parent power’ as part of the shift, and introduce a role for business, the scheme received plenty of criticism when first introduced and is likely to continue to face obstacles in its current form.

Tackling ‘worklessness’, the impact of a gender blind social policy approach

‘Striking out’: Shifting labour markets, welfare to work policy and the renegotiation of gender performances

From Critical Social Policy

The continued war against ‘worklessness’ has been highlighted as a priority within UK politics by Prime Minister David Cameron. Welfare to work interventions were made a key issue under New labour. Tony Blair called for a shift away from what he termed ‘passive Welfare’. This article (free for a short period) outlines schemes implemented to tackle social exclusion through ‘worklessness’ and recognises that to date, there has been very little consideration given to the impact a social policy approach ignoring gender has on men.

The globally integrated economy we are told, means more sweat

Globalization and working time: working hours and flexibility in Germany

From Politics & Society

Pressures to work more hours, more weeks, more years and to have more flexibly are trends throughout the industrialized world. Newspaper headlines regularly observe the changes Europeans face, New York Times editorialist Thomas Friedman quipped that “French voters are trying to preserve a 35-hour work week in a world where Indian engineers are ready to work a 35-hour day. Good luck”. Many commentators and policy makers link any increases in hours and work-time flexibility to the competitive exigencies of globalized trade and production. This article challenges popular wisdom that economic globalization uniformly increases working time in industrialized countries. It argues economic openness has uneven consequences for working time, and firm-level labor representation channels those consequences in ways that highlight political agency in how people respond to globalization.