Family and parenting interventions for conduct disorder and delinquency: a meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. (41/708)

AIMS: To determine whether family and parenting interventions benefit children and adolescents with conduct disorder and delinquency. METHODS: Meta-analysis of eight randomised controlled trials involving 749 children and adolescents (aged 10-17 years) with conduct disorder and/or delinquency. Criminality, academic performance, future employment, problem behaviour, family functioning, parental mental health, and peer relations were evaluated. RESULTS: Family and parenting interventions significantly reduced the time spent by juvenile delinquents in institutions (weighted mean difference 51.34 days). There was also a significant reduction in the risk of a juvenile delinquent being rearrested (relative risk 0.66) and in their rate of subsequent arrests at 1-3 years (standardised mean difference -0.56). CONCLUSIONS: The evidence suggests that family and parenting interventions for juvenile delinquents and their families have beneficial effects on reducing time spent in institutions and their criminal activity. In addition to the obvious benefit to the participant and their family, this may result in a cost saving for society.  (+info)

How delinquent youths acquire guns: initial versus most recent gun acquisitions. (42/708)

BACKGROUND: Access to firearms among delinquent youths poses significant risks to community safety. The purpose of the study was to describe how a group of criminally involved youths obtained guns. METHODS: Youths were randomly selected from a juvenile justice facility to participate in a semistructured, anonymous interview. Transcripts were coded and analyzed with the aid of textual analysis software. RESULTS: Of the 45 participants, 30 had acquired at least 1 gun prior to their most recent incarceration, and 22 had acquired multiple guns. About half of the first gun acquisitions were gifts or finds. The first guns youths acquired were usually obtained from friends or family. The most recent acquisitions were often new, high-caliber guns, and they came from acquaintances or drug addicts. New guns often came from high-volume traffickers. Gun acquisitions from strangers or through "straw purchases" were rare. Though few obtained guns directly through theft, some youths believed their supplier had stolen guns. Youths rarely left their community to obtain a gun. CONCLUSIONS: Guns were readily available to this sample of criminally involved youths through their social networks. Efforts to curtail high-volume, illegal gun traffickers and to recover discarded guns from areas in which illicit drug sales take place could potentially reduce gun availability to high-risk youth.  (+info)

Fear of crime and health in residential tower blocks. A case study in Liverpool, UK. (43/708)

BACKGROUND: Though it is often assumed that fear of crime erodes mental health, research evidence is limited. Our study seeks to assess the relationship between these attributes in residents of the city of Liverpool. METHOD: Evidence is drawn from a sample survey of 407 adults living in 21 tower blocks. A number of social and psychosocial attributes linked with feelings of safety are compared with self-reported health status using logistic and multiple regression techniques. Possible reciprocal relationships were investigated using two-stage least squares. RESULTS: Fear of crime in this sample is generally much lower in the home than in Britain as a whole and much higher out on the neighbouring streets at night, but there are sub-group variations. We find significant associations between fear of crime and health status. Feelings of safety when out alone after dark is the most consistent predictor of health status. Those feeling safe score significantly higher on all five dimensions of the SF-36 measure which cover mental and social well-being. Mental health is the strongest correlate and is probably a consequence rather than cause of feelings of safety. CONCLUSION: The evidence suggests elderly residents believe tower blocks provide safe accommodation. However, feelings of safety in these 'fortresses' do not generally extend to walking in neighbouring streets. Fear of crime erodes quality of life and is associated with poorer health.  (+info)

Body packers: grading of risk as a guide to management and intervention. (44/708)

The dual aims of management of the drug smuggler are for low morbidity and mortality combined with a low operation rate. In our experience, presented in this paper, adherence to the principle of identifying the high-risk patient by symptoms and signs combines safety with low rates of intervention.  (+info)

New directions for migration policy in Europe. (45/708)

There is a growing debate about the future direction of migration policy in Europe. After nearly 30 years of pursuing restrictive immigration and asylum policies, many European Union (EU) governments are beginning to re-assess their migration policies and to call for a new approach. For the first time in many years, several EU governments have begun to talk again about the benefits of labour migration and, even more significantly, have even begun to take action to recruit more migrants, especially skilled workers. This paper looks at the background to current calls for a new approach to migration in Europe and public reaction to these new initiatives. It first describes recent trends in migration in Europe and then briefly considers the demographic case for more migration. This is followed by a brief outline of some of the measures being considered by European governments to promote selective labour migration. The remainder of the paper is devoted to a discussion of some of the implications of this change in policy, focusing on two main issues: the likely consequences for sending countries, and the implications for the fight against the smuggling and trafficking of people.  (+info)

Perinatal and childhood risk factors for later criminality and violence in schizophrenia. Longitudinal, population-based study. (46/708)

BACKGROUND: Individuals with schizophrenia appear to be at increased risk for violent and criminal behaviour. Obstetric complications, neuromotor problems and intellectual deficits have variously been reported as increasing the risk for criminality in the general population. AIMS: To investigate whether such risk factors are associated with criminal behaviour in an epidemiological cohort of patients with schizophrenia. METHOD: We identified from health care registers all individuals with schizophrenia born in Helsinki between 1951 and 1960, and used the national criminal register to identify those with a criminal record by 1995. Childhood information was obtained from archived birth and school records. RESULTS: Poor educational attainment, poor grades for attention at school, higher birth weight and larger head circumference were significantly associated with the risk of criminal offending in adulthood in this sample of patients with schizophrenia. An association between labour/delivery complications and later violent offending among male patients was of borderline significance. CONCLUSIONS: Our hypotheses that birth complications and childhood neuromotor problems would increase the risk of criminal offending in schizophrenia were not upheld.  (+info)

Racial residential segregation: a fundamental cause of racial disparities in health. (47/708)

Racial residential segregation is a fundamental cause of racial disparities in health. The physical separation of the races by enforced residence in certain areas is an institutional mechanism of racism that was designed to protect whites from social interaction with blacks. Despite the absence of supportive legal statutes, the degree of residential segregation remains extremely high for most African Americans in the United States. The authors review evidence that suggests that segregation is a primary cause of racial differences in socioeconomic status (SES) by determining access to education and employment opportunities. SES in turn remains a fundamental cause of racial differences in health. Segregation also creates conditions inimical to health in the social and physical environment. The authors conclude that effective efforts to eliminate racial disparities in health must seriously confront segregation and its pervasive consequences.  (+info)

Residential fire related deaths and injuries among children: fireplay, smoke alarms, and prevention. (48/708)

BACKGROUND: The aim of the study was to describe the epidemiology of residential fire related deaths and injuries among children, and identify risk factors for these injuries through a linked dataset for the city of Dallas, Texas. METHODS: Data for all residential fires were linked with fire related injury data, using fire department records, ambulance transports, hospital admissions, and medical examiner records, for children 0-19 years of age. Causes of fires, including fireplay (children playing with fire or combustibles), arson and other causes, were determined by fire department investigation. RESULTS: From 1991-98, 76 children were injured in residential fires (39 deaths, 37 non-fatal). The highest rates occurred in the youngest children (<5 years) and in census tracts with lowest income. Fireplay accounted for 42% (32/76) of all injuries, 62% (15/24) of deaths in children 0-4 years, and 94% (13/14) of deaths from apartment and mobile home fires. Most of the fireplay related injuries (27/32, 84%) were from children playing with matches or lighters. Most started in a bedroom. Smoke alarms showed no protective efficacy in preventing deaths or injuries in fires started by fireplay or arson, but there was significant protective efficacy for a functional smoke alarm in fires started from all other causes (p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Residential fire related injuries among children in Dallas occurred predominantly in the youngest ages (<5 years) and in poor neighborhoods. Most of the deaths, especially those in apartments and mobile homes, resulted from fireplay. Smoke alarms appeared to offer no protection against death or injury in fireplay associated fires, possibly from the nature of the child's behavior in these fires, or from the placement of the smoke alarm. Prevention of childhood residential fire related deaths may require interventions to prevent fireplay in order to be successful.  (+info)