Digital Commons Network^™

Service Usage As A Measure Of Program Effectiveness: One Agency's Experience, Lisa M. Powers

Theses and Graduate Projects

This is a program evaluation of a community support program for adults with a serious and persistent mental illness. Since the deinstitutionalization of persons with a serious and persistent mental illness, many programs have been developed with the aim of keeping this population as independent in their communities as possible. Existing research shows the effectiveness of community-based programs in reducing acute care hospitalizations for this population yet fails to determine which components of these programs are most necessary and for whom. A simple random sample of currently active files (N=38) was conducted, and data was collected on type and frequency …

Policy Analysis Of Wisconsin's Domestic Violence Mandatory Arrest Law, Holly C. Mcabee

Theses and Graduate Projects

This exploratory paper is an attempt to examine the factors that led to the criminalization of domestic violence. Beginning with an overview of the history of reform movements to end family violence, the report then reviews the factors that influenced the enactment of mandatory arrest policies in Wisconsin, as well as across the United States. The last sections critically examine existing research on the deterrent effects of arrest. Research suggests that arrest may have some deterrent effects on different offender subgroups, however, may be a relatively weak sanction and deterrent effects may be short term. The greatest point of intervention …

An Historical Perspective Of Mental Health And Criminal Justice Policies: Current Policies In An Urban County For Offenders With Mental Illness, Carol Cochran

Theses and Graduate Projects

This descriptive study investigates whether offenders with mental illness are diverted from the criminal justice system to the mental health system in an urban county. Interviews were conducted with key decision makers to determine policy and procedures. Admissions to the county medical center psychiatric unit were correlated with arrests and in-custody county jail data for years 1985-87 and 1995-97.

Interviews reveal offenders with mental illness are detained in jail while awaiting mental health screening and court dispositions. If competent, offenders with mental illness can be sentenced to a corrections facility to serve their sentences with the general population. If incompetent …

The Definition Of Fatherhood: In The Words Of Never-Married African American Custodial Mothers And The Noncustodial Fathers Of Their Children, Jennifer F. Hamer

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This qualitative study explores the meaning of fatherhood from the perspective of never-married parents. Specifically, the study describes: how African American custodial mothers perceive the roles and responsibilities of their children's fathers; the extent to which these mothers' perceptions and definitions of noncustodial fatherhood are consistent with those of noncustodial fathers and the dominant cultural "ideal"; and what mothers do to enhance men's paternal participation. A convenience sample of 25 never-married,f ormer couples was drawn from the predominantlyA frican American population of a mid-sized Midwestern city. Data was collected via in-depth interviews with each individual respondent. The findings suggest that …

Focal Point, Volume 12 Number 01, Portland State University. Regional Research Institute

Research and Training Center - Focal Point

Much of the family member involvement that is happening at the state and local level is due, at least in part, to the efforts by the federal government to institutionalize family involvement in policymaking. In 1985 Child and Adolescent Service System (CASSP) staff added a family goal to the program. This goal translated into a requirement that state applications for CASSP funds describe how families would participate in service planning efforts at the child and family, program, and system levels. In 1986 Congress passed the State Mental Health Services Comprehensive Plan (Public Law 99-660), which mandated family member participation in …

"Safe Places To Go And Things To Do": Political Texts From Urban Youth Of Color, Amory Starr

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper is the first to examine the political texts of urban youth of color. It presents their assessments of what kinds of policies and programs would improve their lives.

Review Of Ethnicity, Crime And Immigration: Comparative And Cross National Perspectives. Michael Tonry (Ed.). Reviewed By Jewelle Taylor-Biggs, University Of California At Berkeley., Jewelle Taylor-Biggs

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Michael Tonry (Ed.), Ethnicity, Crime and Immigration: Comparative and Cross-National Perspectives. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1997. $56.00 hardcover, $22.50 papercover.

Review Of Nothing Happens To Good Girls: Fear Of Crime In Women's Lives. Esther Madriz. Reviewed By Deborah Page Adams, University Of Kansas., Deborah Page Adams

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Esther Madriz, Nothing Happens to Good Girls: Fear of Crime in Women's Lives. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1997. $40 hardcover.

The Process Of Identity Change From Entitled Controller To Batterer, Evelyn Powell

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The primary purpose of this research was to investigate any catalysts to changes in self-concept that may have occurred among thirteen men who had been labeled as batterers by the courts and who were about to graduate from the Project to End Abuse through Counseling and Education (PEACE), a court-mandated batterers' intervention program, in Nashville, Tennessee. It is deemed necessary for a batterer to first recognize himself as such before he is able to stop battering. The second purpose of this research was to document the men's attitudes about PEACE and how it affected them. Within the framework of symbolic …

A Study Of Child Abuse: Race Gender And Family Structure, Linda Wyatt Faircloth

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

Using 1989-1994 data collected from the Portsmouth Department of Social Services in Portsmouth, Virginia, this study looked at severity and recidivism of child abuse in Portsmouth from 1989-1994. Analyses of data from the Portsmouth Department of Social Services indicated that children living in single parent families are more likely to be severely abused than children living in two parent families but no differences were observed for race and age.

Emerging Trends In Child Protective Work During The Progressive Era 1909-1929: Local Experience In A National Context, Michael J. Goldfarb

Theses and Graduate Projects

This historical analysis seeks to inform current

debate in child welfare practice through analysis of the

development of child protection work in the United States

during the Progressive Era. Analysis of case records and

social work debate suggests a shift occurred in the

intervention strategy used by social workers in their

approach to child protective work. Social workers shifted

from a social control model to a casework intervention

strategy in protective work. Case records from the

Children's Protective Society of Hennepin County in the

1920s depict a combination of both intervention strategies

being utilized simultaneously.

Mental Health Policy And Practice Today. Ted R. Watkins And James W. Calicutt (Eds.).

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Ted R. Watkins and James W. Calicutt (Eds.), Mental Health Policy and Practice Today. Thousand Oaks, Sage Publications, 1997. $ 58.00 hardcover, $ 27.95 papercover.

Attitudinal Predictors Of Preferred Policy Options: Contrasting Afdc With Work Programs, Jill Littrell, Sahna Diwan

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Two studies were conducted in order to determine the attitudinal predictors of support for AFDC, work programs, and the option of the government playing no role in protecting the welfare of poor children whose families have no income. The first study evaluated this question in 362 students of Criminal Justice, Business, Urban Studies, and Public Administration at an urban university in Georgia. The second study evaluated the question in a telephone poll sample of 822 randomly sampled Georgians throughout the state. Majorities in both samples preferred work programs. In the student sample, all three choice groups were distinguishable on the …

Partnerships For Vitalizing Communities And Neighborhoods: Celebrating A "Return"!, Linwood H. Cousins

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

In 1994, ten community and university partnerships joined the W. K. Kellogg Foundation to develop training strategies that would improve social systems and better serve families and neighborhoods. The partnerships and training strategies were to be based on what the Foundation refers to as the "assets model"- or seeing the strengths and assets of families and neighborhoods, rather than their deficits, as the primary building block for social systems (Parsons, 1997). Called the "W. K. Kellogg Foundation Families and Neighborhoods Initiative, Community/ University Partnerships," according to Beverly Parsons, a program evaluator, "Funding is provided for sites to demonstrate that partnerships …

Cocaine Usage And Sentencing Of African American Males, Harun Hazim

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

Improving Employment Outcomes For Individuals With Mental Illness: A Constructivist Approach, Bonnie Jean Houlihan

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

Client Participation In Intensive Family Preservation Programs, Julia H. Littell, Emiko Tajima

Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research Faculty Research and Scholarship

This study identifies factors associated with client participation in intensive, in-home family preservation services. Our initial focus was on client cooperation, but a review of the literature and preliminary analysis of empirical data convinced us to broaden this focus to consider the diverse ways in which clients participate in treatment.

The clients in our study were involuntary, in that they were referred for family preservation services by a public child welfare agency following substantiated reports of child abuse and neglect. The services were intended as an alternative to removal of a child from the home. The primary caregiver was the …

Resources, Deprivation And Poverty. Brian Nolan And Christopher T. Whelan.

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Brian Nolan and Christopher T. Whelan. Resources, Deprivation and Poverty. New York: Clarendon Press, 1996, $ 65.00 hardcover.

Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Vol. 24, No. 4 (December 1997)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• THE BIOGRAPHY OF A SCALE: CONTEXTUAL FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE THE MEASUREMENT OF FAMILY FUNCTIONING - Ludwig Geismar
• LESSONS FROM YELLOW MEDICINE COUNTY: WORK AND CUSTODIAL SERVICE AT THE COUNTY POOR FARM, 1889-1935 - Ralph Woehle
• ECO MAPS: A TOOL TO BRIDGE THE PRACTICE-RESEARCH GAP - Rena D. Harold, Lucy R. Mercier, Lisa G. Colarossi
• NEW COMMUNITARIAN THOUGHT AND THE FUTURE OF SOCIAL POLICY - John McNutt
• TIME SERIES ANALYSIS OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT POLICIES IN FEDERAL REGION V STATES - Susan Gaffney, Sumati Dubey
• THE PROCESS AND IMPLICATIONS OF DOING QUALITATIVE RESEARCH: AN ANALYSIS …

Search And Destroy: African American Males In The Criminal Justice System. Jerome J. Miller

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Jerome J. Miller. Search and Destroy: African American Males in the Criminal Justice System. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996. $ 24.95 hardcover.

A Summary Of The Important Components Of Female Gender Specific Programming As Determined By Adolescent Females In The Juvenile Corrections System, Gail J. Grogan

Theses and Graduate Projects

The purpose of this study was to determine the order of importance of components of juvenile correctional programming as ranked by adolescent females currently assigned to a probation officer in the juvenile correctional system. Twenty- two adjudicated adolescent females ranked in order of their perceived importance thirty-one components of correctional programming using a scale developed from components determined by the current literature to be important for gender specific programming for adolescent females . The results of the study were that subjects rated components addressing issues of physical safety, education, and vocation as being of primary importance. The subjects also stated …

A Man Without A Job Is A Dead Man: The Meaning Of Work And Welfare In The Lives Of Young Men, Kathleen A. Kost

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Little is known about the use of welfare by young men as most research and debate have concentrated on the use of welfare by families headed by single women. This research includes young men in this debate by examining the personal characteristics, events that precipitated their use, why they exited, and the barriers they faced in obtaining employment. Data are from qualitative interviews of 20 young men who resided in Madison, Wisconsin. Findings suggest that these men use General Assistance as a type of unemployment insurance between jobs. Policy, program and research recommendations are made regarding the need for assistance …

The Framing Of Political Advocacy And Service Responses In The Crime Victim Rights Movement, Frank J. Weed

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper analyses two major aspects of the mobilizing frames found among local organizations in the crime victim rights movement. A national survey of 301 organizations demonstrated that organizations shape their service/action responses in terms of three conceptualizations of the "victim problem." These conceptualizations clearly influence the pattern of service programs found in different types of organizations. In addition it is shown that some types of organizations are more oriented to political advocacy than others; yet all types of organizations are more apt to be involved in political action if their staff members are oriented to "victim rights" framed as …

The Class Politics Of Domestic Violence, John P. Mckendy

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The claim is often voiced that wife abuse is a problem that "cuts across" all social and economic lines. Yet there is considerable research evidence suggesting an inverse relationship between wife abuse and the socioeconomic status of both victims and perpetrators. The question of the relevance of social class has generally been construed as a factual one, in principle resolvable by collecting more and better data. Doing a participant observation study of a treatment programme for men who batter, I was forced to bracket the "objective," empirical question, but freed to see how certain ideological practices worked to keep class …

Practitioners' Perceptions Of Older Male Batterers And Related Factors: An Exploratory Study, Connie F. Pribyl

Theses and Graduate Projects

This was an exploratory study to determine: if mental health practitioners were serving older men who batter; if the practitioners perceived that there were characteristics that differentiated older men who batter from younger men who batter; if these characteristics impacted treatment outcomes and if so, what treatment approaches should be used. Four family violence practitioners participated in a semi-structured interview. The initial findings indicated that: (l) older men who batter comprised a very small proportion of the practitioner's clientele, may be due to fewer older partners utilizing law enforcement assistance; (2) practitioners perceived little difference in characteristics between older men …

Incidence Of Substance Abusing Parents In The Child Welfare System, Kathryn Laura Vaudreuil

Theses and Graduate Projects

There is a significant increase of substance abusing families involved in the child welfare system nationwide and locally, in Minnesota. Many studies suggest that substance abuse is the contributing factor for children placed in foster care by child welfare workers due to child neglect and/or maltreatment reports. This descriptive study examined twenty-two court cases in a large mid western metropolitan county in efforts to determine the incidence of substance abuse on termination of parental rights cases in 1996. Findings from this research project reveal that substance abusing families are frequently cited in termination of parental rights cases. Implications of this …

Reconstructing Sex Offenders As Mentally Ill: A Labeling Explanation, Rudolph Alexander Jr.

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

A growing number of states are being pressured to keep incarcerated sex offenders behind bars longer. The response to this pressure has been to look to the mental health system and retrieve civil commitment for sex offenders, a policy largely abandoned in the 1960s. In the 1970s, the courts ruled that civil commitment to a mental institution required that the individual be both mentally ill and dangerous. So legislators, with the support of a few mental health professionals, met this requirement by legislatively reconstructing sex offenders as mentally ill and permitting their indefinite commitment to mental institutions. The author discusses …

A Safe School Plan For Jefferson Elementary School, Jody Ann Kirchner

Theses and Graduate Projects

School violence has become a growing concern in the United States. Although most of the stories reported in the media focus on violence in high schools, concerns for the safety of elementary school students is increasing. Strategies used by schools to maintain safety for students include 1) zero tolerance policies, 2) conflict resolution through peer mediation, and 3) safe school planning. This descriptive research study utilizes safe school planning because of its focus on overall school environment and climate. Secondary data analysis is used to identify students' perceptions of safety at Minneapolis Public School's Jefferson Elementary. Survey questions are categorized …

An Outcomes Evaluation Of A Family Sexual Abuse Treatment Program, Laura Jean Skogen

Theses and Graduate Projects

Despite numerous studies on the incidence and effects or incest, little information exists on treatment effectiveness. This study employed an ex post facto program outcomes design using a records review to evaluate a Midwestern Family Sexual Abuse Treatment Program (FSATP). Outcomes examined included clients' status at case closing and progress on 10 program goals from a Likert-type Clinical Rating Scale. Significant positive relationships were found between the length of treatment, quantity of family and group treatments, and the status at case closing. These findings suggest that the FSATP should consider the following changes: 1) increase the range of family participation; …

Focal Point, Volume 11 Number 01, Portland State University. Regional Research Institute

Research and Training Center - Focal Point

In the discussion on the issues of juvenile crime, the nation has ignored the prevalence of mental disorders among youth who commit crimes, and it has failed to provide policy directives on how state systems should respond. With the nation’s attention riveted on youth violence, the issue of prevalence has began to emerge, with the realization that many of the violent acts are committed by a small percentage of young people. Policymakers are beginning to ask questions about the conditions that contribute to a young person’s tendency toward delinquency acts.