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Political alienation has been an important concept in theories of participation and democratic policies. Subjective political competence ('internal political efficacy') is considered to be a main element within the broader concept of political alienation, and an important determinant of political participation. The main purpose of this article is to test statistically the assumption of similarity in model structure for men and women, i. e. the relation between political competence and voting turnout. Our findings, generated on the basis of a common survey questionnaire item, show that subjective competence has different significance for men and women. For men, it has an expected substantive meaning. For women, it seems to be irrelevant with respect to expected sources and consequences. Given this apparent incomparability in measurement, we conclude that it is inappropriate to use identical models for men and women. It is also argued that political competence should be conceived of as containing a cognitive element, 'objective political competence'. Empirical analysis shows that this concept is gender neutral with respect to political involvement.

Previous studies have described juveniles who sexually offended (JSO) as a rather heterogeneous population. In consequence, different typologies of JSO have been proposed for a better understanding of the causes and interventional needs of JSO. Three previously described types have received support in previous studies, namely, the victim age type (JSO offending against children vs. adolescents or adults), the co-offender status type (JSO offending as singles vs. in groups), and the crime history type (JSO with vs. without a previous history of crime). The validity of these types is tested in a consecutive sample of 223 criminal male adolescents, who had been convicted of a sexual offense between 2000 and 2008 in the Canton of Zurich (Switzerland). By analyzing nine offender characteristics, four victim characteristics and six offense characteristics, the best evidence is found for the victim age–based type. The co-offender status and the crime history types are less well supported. However, all three types are related to each other and do not provide a comprehensive characterization of JSO. Therefore, an additional principal component analyses is performed searching for basic dimensions of juvenile sexual delinquency and leading to the following factors: "single offender with severe molestation of a related child," "persistent general delinquent with migrant background," "older offender with alcohol use and familial constraints," "multiple and aggressive offender with social adversities," and "offender with unselected and multiple victims." These five dimensions reflect different relevant factors of sexual offending behavior in male juveniles and may have further impact on forensic and clinical practice.

Examination of data on the four Nordic countries leads to a critique of two theories in the international literature about Scandinavian exceptionalism: (i) the Lipset and Rokkan stability hypothesis as reiterated by S. Bartolini and P. Mair and (ii) the idea of the Scandinavian model stability as stated by T. Tilton, H. Milner, M. Olson and G. Esping-Andersen. Increased volatility, the decline in partisan vote, mounting ungovernability at the national level and welfare state backlash have shattered the stable foundations of Nordic politics.

There is ongoing debate about whether specialized treatment is effective to reduce sexual recidivism in juveniles who have sexually offended (JSOs). Although most treatment programs are based on cognitive behavioral therapy principles for preventing sexual offending, accordant scientific evidence is poor. Following CONSORT guidelines, the present study aimed to evaluate two versions of a short-term outpatient treatment program for JSOs in Switzerland: (a) the Therapy Program for Adequate Sexual Behaviors Version 1 (ThePaS-I), which included offending-specific skills training; (b) the ThePaS-II, which included general socioemotional skills training. Based on changes in self-reported mental health, sexual behaviors, victim empathy, and therapist-rated risk, as well as comprehensive data on sexual and general recidivism, we found some similarities regarding the effects of the two treatments. ThePaS-II showed better short-term changes in self-reported mental health than the ThePaS-I. However, JSOs in the ThePaS-I showed lower rates of sexual reoffending (but not general reoffending) after treatment than those in the ThePaS-II. Despite some methodological limitations, the current findings favor offending-specific skills-based therapy over general skills-based ones for preventing sexual reoffenses. The findings may encourage further methodologically sound studies to examine different treatment approaches for juveniles and adults who have committed criminal offenses.