Richard Pozzuto

The changing character of criminality and policing in post-socialist Lithuania: From fighting organized crime to policing marginal populations?

This paper argues that the character ofcriminality in post-socialist Lithuania isundergoing a significant change. Up untilthe mid 1990s criminality was defined bythe conflict between the state and criminalgroups who challenged the states authorityin the re-distribution of state property.Criminal groups used violence to challengethe states rules and regulations regardingthe process and outcomes of privatization. The state responded by legal andinstitutional reforms leading tomilitarization and centralization of thepolice force.Successful legal and police reformsinitiated during the early 1990s led to adramatic decline in organized crimeactivities. Crime rates also began tostabilize because of the improvingsocio-economic situation in the country. As a result, by the mid 1990s the characterof criminality began to change. There aresigns that it is increasingly associatedwith the growing social and economicmarginalization of those segments of thepopulation, which did not (or could not)adapt to the introduction of competitivemarkets. The situation was aggravated by arapid decline of employment within theLithuanian economy and significantcurtailment of social welfare provided bythe state. A growing number ofindividuals, especially males with poorskills and education whose employmentopportunities were severely restricted withthe decline in manufacturing industries,were dropping out from the labor force evenin the presence of jobs; were not marrying;and were increasingly plagued by a varietyof social pathologies and health problemsincluding crime, alcoholism, drug abuse,and depression. New forms of entrenchedpoverty unknown during the socialist erasuch as vagabonds and homelessness,including homeless children, has nowdeveloped and is associated with itsapparently inevitable concomitant increasedpetty criminality.

Evidence‐Based Practice and the Purpose of Clinical Social Work

The problematic that oriented this study is the response of clinical social workers to the state mandate to use evidence‐based practice (EBP) for Medicaid‐supported clients. The portion of the study that is explored in this article answers the research question, how does the mandate affect the provision of services? Data was collected from three clinical social workers who were identified as “successful” by their peers. The data was analyzed by means of thematic analysis, and evaluations of research methods were conducted. The data demonstrate the way in which the mandate to use EBP excludes many clients from receiving potentially helpful services.

Truth in Our Time

The debate over the legitimacy of qualitative and quantitative research approaches has been of interest to social workers over the last 25 years. The authors suggest that a parallel debate among qualitative researchers is now taking shape. Where once the disagreement was between metaphysical or naive realists and post-positivists, the new debate is between critical realists and constructionists. Like the metaphysical realists before them, the critical realists are calling for methodological hegemony and reject as nonscientific research that is based on constructionist ontologies and epistemologies. The authors are calling for détente in this debate. Ontology is not provable; it is ultimately based on belief. Just as our profession champions diversity in belief systems regarding other phenomena, research that reflects ontological diversity can also strengthen social work by providing practitioners and scholars greater access to a wide range of information.

Changing Typology of Organised Crime in a Post-Socialist Lithuania (the Late 1980s–Early 2000s)

This paper analyzes the dynamics of organised crime in post-socialist Lithuania. Three overlapping periods in evolution of organised crime are discerned. During the mid 1980s organised crime emerged with the attempts to liberalise the state socialism by legalizing cooperative and individual property as a basis for economic activities. By the early 1990s organised crime in Lithuania began to metamorphose from illegal manufacturing to opportunistic criminality associated with the privatisation of state property. Since the mid 1990s organised crime has again undergone change. It has entered what could be termed a maturation phase. This maturation was influenced by a number of factors including; the end of the privatization process, resumed growth of the economy, development of the legal and fiscal infrastructure to regulate a market economy, and increasing effectiveness and successes of policing in Lithuania [1]. In this article the political, socio-economic, organisational and cultural factors that influenced the dynamics of change in organised crime are analyzed.

The Virtuous Social Worker: The Role of “Thirdness” in Ethical Decision Making

The meaning of the term empathy has been refined in the last few decades. The updated understanding of the term impacts the understanding of the social worker–client relationship. The nature and meaning of relationship may impact ones ethical decision making. For some, ethical practice is premised upon being able to enter into a relationship with the client that is based on empathy as it is currently defined. Practice implications follow from the relationship between empathy and ethics. These include clarification of methods to support the clients agency the nature of boundaries, and the use of self. All of the practice suggestions flow from the notion that we must critically analyze our orientation toward relationship in social work practice.

The Politics of “Twoness”: Policy, Clinical Judgment, Relationship, and Evidence-Based Practice

North Carolina has designated its mental health policy as “evidence-based practice” (EBP). The role given to the social worker in this policy is an example of one approach to relationship identified by Carol Gilligan (1993) and Jessica Benjamin (2004), which the latter termed “complementary twoness.” From this position the social workers clinical judgment is seen to be potentially harmful to the client and thus must be mediated by a more objective means. An alternative position exists in which the relationship between the clinician and client can be understood to be of vital importance. Rather than attempting to mediate this relationship because of the inherent danger, thirdness calls upon us to elevate this relationship and the clinical judgment that is the result of the connection. In this article the authors deconstruct the current social work practice of EBP and policy guidelines in the light of the very nature of therapeutic relationship and latest research on neuroscience.

Teaching Human Behavior and the Social Environment to Enhance Students' Personal Epistemology

Current trends in education practices focus on students personal epistemologies and their development. Two social work educators took specific steps to attempt to enhance the personal epistemologies of the social work students in their courses in human behavior in the social environment. One instructor repeated the trajectory of the reflective judgment model in her lectures, and the other gave a series of assignments that presented students with ill-structured problems to solve. Preliminary qualitative and quantitative data provided support for their subjective judgments that the teaching methods assisted students in moving toward more sophisticated personal epistemology. This article outlines the teaching methods and the data used and the current literature on personal epistemology.

Social Work in the US: Sociohistorical Context and Contemporary Issues

Abstract Social work occurs in a context and, in part, reflects that context. In the present paper, we address the sociohistorical context of social work in the US and attempt to illustrate a correspondence between the current practices of social work and the context of its development. Of particular interest are the concepts of individualism and instrumental reason, and how they became intertwined with politics, social policy, and the practice of social work in the US. It is our contention that US social work is currently dominated by a focus on the individual and an instrumental perspective that places cost considerations above all others. This is manifest in a particularly narrow definition of evidence-based practice popular within the US.

Commentary on Relational Social Work: A Model for the Future

In their article “Relational social work: A model for the future” Ornstein and Ganzer (2005) raise a number of very interesting and useful points. We believe it to be a valuable contribution to the profession of social work. To be sure, relational constructs are consistent with social work values and are poised to positively impact the practice of social work. To inform social work by a theory known as relational psychoanalysis is, in our opinion, a significant contribution. To call social work that is informed by a relational psychoanalysis, “relational social work” is a misnomer. Relational psychoanalytically informed social work is a difficult phrase but it is more descriptive of their model.