Gaps between HIV/AIDS policies and treatment in correctional facilities.

In this article the authors examined correctional policy and its impact on the incidence of HIV/AIDS in prison population. Using data from the Florida Correctional System, they find that HIV/AIDS is still the leading cause of death. Improved treatment and care may have led to declines in AIDS-related mortality but the prison population continues to experience a much higher risk of mortality than he general population in spite of changes in the treatment and provision of care to infected patients. The dominance of HIV-related deaths indicates that treatment and voluntary testing policy have been ineffective. The authors argue that the persistence of HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths is largely attributable to continuing unequal distribution of health care resources between identified and unidentified HIV-infected inmates. Their analysis suggests that future changes in HIV/AIDS policy ib testing and treatment can contribute to improvement in health conditions of infected inmates.

Revisiting the debate of voluntary versus mandatory HIV/AIDS testing in U.S. prisons.

Many studies examine HIV/AIDS and often there is a lack of consensus among researchers and policy-makers regarding the importance of mandatory or voluntary testing within a prison setting. This article revisits and extends this discussion by presenting arguments and issues related to testing inmates. A comparison of selected factors indicated that mandatory testing is an important adjunct to minimizing the impact of the spread of the virus both within prison and in the non-offender population. An important policy implication for adopting mandatory testing is that such a policy allows health care providers to intervene early and control the spread of the disease. Potential implications for future research and policy are discussed.

Three strikes and you're out: demographic analysis of mandatory prison sentencing.

Much of the debate about the costs and benefits of "three-strikes" laws for repeat felony offenders is implicitly demographic, relying on unexamined assumptions about prison population dynamics. However, even state-of-the-art analysis has omitted important demographic details. We construct a multistate life-table model of population flows to and from prisons, incorporating age-specific transition rates estimated from administrative data from Florida. We use the multistate life-table model to investigate patterns of prison population growth and aging under many variants of three-strikes laws. Our analysis allows us to quantify these demographic changes and suggests that the aging of prison populations under three-strikes policies will significantly undermine their long-run effectiveness.

Prior and proximate causes of infant survival in Ghana, with special attention to polygyny.

This study examines the role of marriage form in infant mortality and tests the relative effects and mechanisms through which polygyny affects infant survival. A sample of infants born in the 5 years preceding the 1988 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey was used. A causal model was constructed and polygyny was found to be an important mediating factor in understanding infant survival. The findings highlight the relevance of family structure (polygyny) as an intervening factor, but also reveal the complex role of ethnicity, dietary supplement and birth interval in accounting for infant survival.

PIP: Based upon 1990 estimates, the infant mortality rate in Ghana is approximately 9.4 times higher than in the US. This paper examines the role of polygyny upon infant mortality. Data for the study were drawn from the 1988 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey, with a conceptual causal model developed of the effects of polygyny upon infant survival. Polygyny was determined to be an important mediating factor in understanding infant survival. Rural residence and other Ghanaian ethnicity have a strong positive direct influence upon polygyny compared to maternal education and occupation. Polygyny does not, however influence infant survival directly, but has a significant indirect effect through maternal behavior variables. Study findings highlight the relevance of family structure as an intervening factor, but also reveal the complex role of ethnicity, dietary supplement, and birth interval in accounting for infant survival.

The world economic system and international migration in less developed countries: an ecological approach.

"This paper analysed net migration within the context of [the] world economic system and urban ecological framework using the structural equation model." The author "employs linear structural equation modelling to examine determinants of international migration, using data from the World Bank World Tables, World Development Reports and the World Bank." (SUMMARY IN FRE AND SPA)

PIP: This study examines net migration in less developed countries (LDCs) within the context of a world economic system and an urban ecological framework. Data are obtained from the "1987 World Development Report," the "1983 and 1987 World Bank Tables," and the 1984 UN Demographic Yearbook. It is posited that international migration is a direct response to the changes in the ecological subsystems in LDCs. The framework of this analysis relies on analyses by Sly and Tayman that found in multi-equation models that migration was a demographic response to environmental conditions created by organization and technology. The maximum likelihood estimates derived from the proposed structural model indicate that net capital flows positively influence net migration rate directly. Large transfers of capital were associated with net migration. It is suggested that a reduced percentage in the labor force in agriculture may have a greater impact on emigration than wages or social disadvantages. Gross national product had a smaller impact on migration than net capital outflows. Exports had a positive impact on net migration. There was a direct negative effect of value added to manufacturing on net migration, and the direct negative effect was greater than the positive indirect effect. The percentage of persons economically active had a positive impact on net migration. Increased economic activity was related to increased emigration. The evidence suggests that world economic systems did have an impact on emigration, when profits were not invested in domestic economies of LDCs. Findings suggest that the value added to manufacturing, the percentage engaged in agriculture, and the economically active population mediated the impact of trade on net migration.