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Intergenerational political socialization is alive and well in the polarized American polity. But, by what mechanism do parental views transmit to children? We develop a theory (dyadic social learning theory) which posits the importance of dyadic familial communication in facilitating attitudinal concordance between parents and children. Using original survey data of 1,048 dyadic pairs of American parents and middle school-aged children, we develop a novel measure of political perception that combines the perceptive accuracy of parents with the perceptive accuracy of their children. This measure of parent-child alignment, which we argue signals quality communication in families, is a powerful determinant of parent-child congruence on political views and emotions, particularly polarization. When a dyadic pair accurately perceives each other politically, the likelihood of congruent views and shared polarization increases. This research has implications for how we understand political transference of polarized views, and for broader theories of how children are socialized into the political world. It also suggests that solutions to polarization will have to address the role of parents in initiating polarization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the speed of rulemaking in American state governments. Drawing on a unique data set of over 250,000 individual rules issued by states from 1993 through 2009, we introduce new measures of the speed and breadth of rulemaking in American state bureaucracies, providing a new way of evaluating the incidence of rulemaking delay within and across governments. We focus specifically on how professionalism and oversight powers of state legislative and executive branches affect rulemaking speed and find that states with more professionalized legislatures and governments with extensive legislative/executive oversight powers experience greater delays in rule adoption. These findings provide important new insights into the politics of regulatory delay and suggest disparate ways in which sub-national governments approach regulatory policymaking in a federal system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The state of Vermont closed its only institution for persons with intellectual disabilities in 1993 and moved to a totally community-based model of services. Here we describe the characteristics of the near exhaustive statewide sample of adult male sex offenders with intellectual disabilities (N = 103) who received these services between 1993 and 2004, discuss these services, and examine the sexual recidivism rates of the sample. Over an average follow-up period of 5.8 years, 10.7% of the sample was identified as having sexually reoffended. Most reoffenses were noncontact, and most victims were staff members, relatives, or housemates of the abuser. Results are discussed in terms of their clinical, policy, and research implications.

The nature and severity of dynamic risk factors among a group of 87 adult male sexual abusers with intellectual disabilities were examined as was the psychometric properties of a new scale designed to measure these risk factors. The Treatment Intervention and Progress Scale for Sexual Abusers with Intellectual Disabilities (TIPS-ID) is composed of 25 dynamic risk factors linked to sexual reoffense. Data analyses indicate support for the item composition and reliability of the scale. Ratings from this scale differentiated participants on several clinical variables related to problem severity but not on a measure of static risk. These results are discussed in terms of their clinical and research implications.

This article examines the implementation of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) in three states: Massachusetts, Georgia, and Ohio. It examines the effectiveness of four theoretical driving forces in explaining implementation using a multiple case study analysis. Data were compiled using legislative histories, key informant interviews, public record, and media content analysis and were analyzed using a triangulation of sources. Findings suggest that the driving forces as conceptualized in the literature are only partially helpful when examining the implementation of federal redistributive health policy in these states. A pursuit of rationality approach was the most explanatory of the driving forces followed by an organizational-policy fit when there was limited capacity to implement new policy. Overall, implementation was found to be more related to state-level capacity and the state's previous programmatic experiences. Policy innovation was more likely to occur when capacity was high and where goals agreement drove the process., Enacted in 1997, The State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) has been called one of the largest health expansion program enacted since Medicaid (Johnson and McDonough 1998). Since that time, [...]

This study examined the recidivism rates of 195 adult male sex offenders who were referred to a prison-based cognitive-behavioral treatment program. Of this sample, 56 participants completed treatment, 49 entered but did not complete treatment, and 90 refused treatment services. Although participants were not randomly assigned to treatment conditions, there were no between-group differences on participants' pre-treatment risk for sexual recidivism as appraised on two actuarial risk measures, the RRASOR and Static-99. Over a mean follow-up period of almost 6 years, the sexual reoffense rate for the completed-treatment group was 5.4% versus 30.6% for the some-treatment and 30.0% for the no-treatment groups. Lower sexual recidivism rates were also found among those participants who received aftercare treatment and correctional supervision services in the community.

Scholars of American politics debate the consequences of polarized and divided government on lawmaking but have largely neglected the impact of institutional conflict on the policy outputs of the bureaucracy. We argue that lawmaking gridlock creates opportunities and demands for governors and civil servants to pursue policy goals through rulemaking. To explore these dynamics, we draw upon a comprehensive dataset of over 150,000 proposed and adopted rules issued by US state agencies from 1994 through 2009 and compare differences in rulemaking output within states across periods of divided and unified party control. We find that policy conflict (measured by the presence of a party divided legislature) leads to a 3%–7% increase in the number of proposed and adopted rules. We then explore how variation in state powers of legislative oversight affect rulemaking, and find that these effects are concentrated in governments with weaker powers of legislative review. Our research speaks to debates in the literature regarding the nature of bureaucratic policymaking and highlights practical consequences of legislative gridlock and partisan polarization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analyzed data on 148 convicted intoxicated drivers to determine whether characteristics of intoxicated drivers influence likelihood that other people would attempt to dissuade them from driving. Results indicated that women, older people, fearful or anxious people, and people seriously impaired by alcohol were more likely than others to have people attempt to dissuade them from driving while intoxicated. (Author/NB)

Examined effectiveness of varying financial rebates in bringing collaterals (N=35) of people (N=165) convicted of alcohol-related driving offenses to family educational programs in conjunction with Driving While Intoxicated schools. Found that larger rebates brought more family members and significant others into programs; subjects who brought collaterals had as serious drinking problems as those who did not. (Author/NB)

Describes a forensic outpatient assessment and treatment program for men who molest children based on a comprehensive theoretical framework and multifaceted assessment and treatment approaches. Outlines various etiological factors that explain sexual molestation of children and delineates forensic assessment and treatment strategies that follow from those factors. (ABB)

Theory suggests that Congress should delegate more policymaking authority to the bureaucracy under unified government, where lawmakers are less worried about the president orchestrating "bureaucratic drift." Yet, all unified governments come to an end, making broad delegations potentially advantageous to future lawmaking coalitions ("coalitional drift"). We seek to assess how lawmakers simultaneously limit the risk of each of these pitfalls of delegation. Our answer is rooted in Congress's ability to spur agency rulemaking activity under unified government. Specifically, we expect statutes passed under unified government to require agencies to issue regulations quickly and for enacting coalitions to use oversight tools to influence agency policy choices. Such "proximate oversight" allows coalitions to cement policy decisions before a new election changes the configuration of preferences within Congress and the executive branch. We assess our argument using unique data on both congressional rulemaking deadlines (1995–2014) and the speed with which agencies issue regulations (1997–2014). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]