Drug courts play a key role in the criminal justice system by diverting individuals from incarceration and providing them with resources to address substance use issues and reduce criminal ...recidivism. However, it is unclear whether drug courts reflect—or even exacerbate—preexisting racial/ethnic disparities in the criminal justice system. While prior literature has offered some insight into the influence of race and ethnicity on drug court success, much of the focus has been on outcomes (i.e., program completion and recidivism) rather than disparities at earlier stages (i.e., referral to admittance). The current study adds to this body of research by evaluating the Milwaukee County Adult Drug Treatment Court to examine whether racial/ethnic disparities exist at several stages of the drug court process: (1) referral to admittance, (2) likelihood of graduation, and (3) likelihood of recidivism. Results of the analyses determined racial/ethnic disparities in the likelihood of admission to the drug court, as well as the likelihood of graduation. There were no racial/ethnic disparities found in the likelihood of recidivism. The analyses also identified several additional variables that were influential in the likelihood of admission (risk score, prior record), likelihood of graduation (age, prior record, custody sanctions), and recidivism (drug court outcome).
AIM: To determine the geographical boundaries among cryptic lineages and examine the evolutionary drivers of cladogenesis within the Cape legless skink, Acontias meleagris species complex. LOCATION: ...Coastal plains and adjacent interior of the Eastern, Northern and Western Cape provinces of South Africa. METHODS: A total of 231 specimens from 55 localities were collected from the entire known distribution range of the A. meleagris complex. Partial sequence data were collected from two mitochondrial DNA loci, 16S rRNA and cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI), and one protein‐coding nuclear DNA locus, exophilin 5 (EXPH5). Phylogenetic, phylogeographical and population genetic analyses, together with divergence time estimation, were conducted on the DNA sequence data to examine evolutionary history and diversification within the species complex. RESULTS: Marked genetic structure was observed within the A. meleagris complex, and five clades were retrieved, most of which were statistically well supported. These five clades were also evident within the haplotypic analyses and were characterized by demographic stability. Cladogenesis was induced during the Pliocene/Pleistocene epochs, most likely as a result of oscillations in climate and sea level, and Neogene geomorphic phenomena. The Breede River Valley is an area of high genetic diversity and is likely to have served as a refugium. MAIN CONCLUSIONS: Lineage diversification and the current biogeographical patterning reflect the impact of sea level oscillations on historical coastal habitat availability. Fine‐scale differences between co‐distributed subterranean and supraterranean herpetofaunal taxa can be attributed to differences in life‐history traits amongst different habitat types. Historical evolutionary drivers within this subterranean species complex are inferred and discussed.
Rethinking Legitimation Heideman, Laura J.
Sociological perspectives,
08/2019, Letnik:
62, Številka:
4
Journal Article
Recenzirano
How do new forms of organizations legitimate themselves? Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have emerged as a dominant form of civil society organization in the past 35 years, often in societies ...undergoing social and political transitions. This paper analyzes legitimation processes for NGOs in postwar and postcommunist Croatia using interview and archival data. Starting from a principle that legitimation is a process involving multiple audiences, I examine the mechanisms NGOs use to legitimate themselves to different audiences. I find that Croatian civil society organizations adopted the NGO organizational form to legitimate themselves to international actors, who in turn pressured the Croatian government to accept these organizations as legitimate. However, the actions NGOs took to legitimate themselves to international actors undermined their legitimacy with the Croatian public. This case demonstrates that legitimation is a challenging prospect for a new type of organization, especially given the fragile nature of mediated legitimacy and the conflicting priorities of different audiences.
The question of how descriptive representation might affect political behaviour and attitudes is important when considering the role political attitudes play in facilitating a functioning democracy. ...What role, if any, does co-racial descriptive representation play in the relationship between citizens and local government? What factors underlie attitudes toward local government, generally? Employing a unique set of survey data collected across several dozen cities combined with city-level contextual data, the analysis offers a comprehensive picture of trust toward local governments. Overall, the findings support the hypothesis that descriptive representation has a positive effect on feelings of trust in local government. However, these effects are limited to mayoral representation. Increased levels of descriptive representation in less-visible city councils do not have the same effect.
What makes civil society sustainable? This paper examines USAID "Legacy Mechanisms"—programs designed to support a stable civil society after USAID withdraws aid—in the context of post-war Croatia to ...reconceptualize civil society sustainability in terms of resilience. Rather than examine whether specific legacy mechanisms remained intact, this paper looks at how Croatian civil society organizations adopted, adapted, and dropped these legacy programs to respond to novel crises and a changing political and social environment once USAID exited Croatia. Drawing on archival data from USAID's time in Croatia and interviews conducted between 2008 (the year after USAID withdrew) and 2016, this paper shows that the long-term impact USAID had on civil society lay not within the formal institutions and organizations it supported, but in the resilience, creativity, and cooperation it fostered in the civil society sector.
This article studies the relationship between sustainability and institutional memory in postwar Croatia. Is institutional memory preserved after interventions end? Is so, how and by whom? What are ...the causes of loss of institutional memory? What are the consequences for sustainability and accountability? When international organizations pulled out of peacebuilding operations in Croatia in the mid to late 2000s, they quickly lost their institutional memory of their projects. Donors, international nongovernmental organizations, and intergovernmental organizations all lost their ability to recall the work they had done in the past. Using interview, ethnographic data, and archival documents gathered over five years (2008–2013), I define three types of memory—archival, human, and electronic—and show how each of these forms of memory eroded as international projects in Croatia ended. The loss of international memory has implications for international organizations' own stated goals of sustainability and their ability to achieve and assess sustainability, and for the downward accountability of donors to their beneficiaries and the countries they worked in.
Two new models for specific power losses in cold-rolled motor lamination steel are described together with procedures for coefficient identification from standard multifrequency Epstein or single ...sheet tests. The eddy-current and hysteresis loss coefficients of the improved models are dependent on induction (flux density) and/or frequency, and the errors are substantially lower than those of conventional models over a very wide range of sinusoidal excitation, from 20 Hz to 2 kHz and from 0.05 up to 2 T. The model that considers the coefficients to be variable, with the exception of the hysteresis loss power coefficient that has a constant value of 2, is superior in terms of applicability and phenomenological support. Also included are a comparative study of the material models on three samples of typical steel, mathematical formulations for the extension from the frequency to the time domain, and examples of validation from electrical machine studies.
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► The genetic diversity of two threatened South African fossorial skinks was studied. ► Three mtDNA and two nDNA markers were used. ► They were found to be paraphyletic and ...genetically highly diverse. ► A molecular template is essential for planning their conservation.
We investigated the evolutionary relationships among populations of two threatened Red Data Book fossorial skinks, Scelotes gronovii and Scelotes kasneri, along the Western Cape Coast of South Africa. The genus Scelotes shows considerable variation in limb and digit reduction. We sampled four localities purported to contain S. gronovii and seven of S. kasneri, encompassing all of each species’ limited distribution. Each of these species lack forelimbs, and differ by the number of digits on the hind limbs, among other morphological characters; S. gronovii bears a single digit and S. kasneri bears two digits on the hind limbs. Sequence data obtained from three mtDNA (16S ribosomal RNA, cytochrome b, and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide dehydrogenase 1 unit; 2035bp ttl.) and two nuclear (dynein axonemal heavy chain 3 and the natural killer tumor recognition; 1848bp ttl.) gene regions were used to reconstruct the evolutionary relationships among the two focal species and several other co-distributed species (Scelotes bipes, Scelotes montispectus, and Scelotes sexlineatus). Phylogenetic results (Bayesian and parsimony) revealed that several populations previously considered S. kasneri actually belong to other species, and others are paraphyletic with respect to one another. Additionally, populations of S. gronovii were also found to be paraphyletic, with populations south of the Berg River supported as sister to S. bipes, and populations north of the Berg River sister the remaining sampled species. Our results require a redefinition of S. sexlineatus to encompass populations morphologically convergent with S. kasneri and restrict the ranges of the already threatened S. kasneri and S. gronovii even further. The paraphyly of S. gronovii and the placement of each clade as sister to clades of species bearing two digits on the hind limbs suggests that digit loss has occurred at least twice in this group.
Competitive, vigorous campaigns have been shown to increase participation across a variety of elections, including those at the state and local level. Building on previous work that examines the ...impact of money in judicial elections, this study explores the impact of campaign effort on participation in state court elections. Using data from 260 state Supreme Court elections occurring from 1990 to 2004 across 18 states, I find that competitive campaigns-not just expensive ones-are important for encouraging participation in these contests. Additionally, the study uncovers differential effects of challenger and incumbent spending. Ultimately, the findings contribute to our understanding of campaign effects in judicial elections while also providing an additional test of the idea that campaigns matter, especially in low-information contests.
In this article, we investigate the relative roles of local tax policies and respondent attitudes and characteristics in shaping support for local taxes. Using a unique set of survey data collected ...across dozens of cities over several years, combined with contextual data on local tax systems, we can offer a comprehensive picture of who supports, and who opposes local taxes. The contributions of our approach are three-fold: We use measures of satisfaction with local taxes, using data gathered across dozens of localities; we incorporate measures of the local tax systems to help account for city-to-city variation in local tax attitudes; and we incorporate measures of racial attitudes to account for an important non-material element heretofore not incorporated in studies of local tax attitudes. Integrating these factors into an explanation of local tax policies rounds out and offers a more realistic understanding of attitudes in this critical policy area.
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