The Sacrifice Of A Schoolgirl: The 1995 Rape Case,Discourses of Power,and Women's Lives in Okinawa

In September 1995 relations between the United States, Japan, and Okinawa were transformed when three U.S. servicemen brutally gang-raped a twelve-year-old schoolgirl. Okinawan feminists called public attention to the rape, but it wasn't long before the media and political leaders shifted their focus to concerns about Okinawa's colonial history and its postwar occupation by the United States. A crisis of sovereignty replaced the crisis for women and a particular girl, which gradually faded from view, as did the agenda of feminist activists. Through an examination of Okinawa's contentious identity politics, the author traces the political trajectories of Okinawa's component groups and asks why this particular crime, in a long list of crimes against Okinawans by U.S. personnel since 1945, resonates so strongly both in Okinawa and in mainland Japan. The author argues that the rape has been enlisted for its powerful symbolic capacity: Okinawa as sacrificed schoolgirl/daughter. As such it is emblematic of past, prior narratives of Okinawan victimhood, most notably the Himeyuri students in the Battle of Okinawa. Feminists' cooperation in a patriarchal language that posits Okinawa as daughter within a national Japanese family is problematic but necessary as a strategy in the fight for women's human rights.     

Case note: a first experience with sea reporting

The City of Boca Raton, Florida has begun experimentation with Service Efforts and Accomplishments reporting. Sanitation was the focus because the department had been selected to participate in the City's detailed operations review for the annual reporting period. This paper describes the City's project, discusses the impact, and identifies lessons learned through the City's first attempt at SEA reporting. Although challenging, the City considers this initial effort a success and plans to continue experimentation.     

Button-less on the information superhighway: Issues of ideological horizons in environmental communication amongst communities at fish-landing sites along Lake Victoria in Uganda

Abstract

The article addresses issues of ideological horizons in relation to the information superhighway, as they affect environmental communication, with a special focus on grassroots communities at fish-landing sites along Lake Victoria, in Uganda. While in the ‘button society’ a great deal of information is accessible at the push of a button, the most that button-less grassroots societies have to contend with, is a simple radio switch. Given this continuum of ideological horizons, both communities cannot interpret environmental management concerns in the same way. Conceptually, the article is guided by Hall's encoding and decoding framework, whereby due to a failure to share ‘meaning’ (between the two parties) miscommunication arises. The discussion is based on findings of a survey for a research project that sought to find behavioural change communication strategies that can be used to empower grassroots communities to participate more in managing their local environment in a sustainable way. The research looked at the communication of environmental issues pertaining to solid waste management and sanitation. The major question of interest to the discussion is why there is continued environmental degradation at Lake Victoria fish-landing sites, despite the available environmental information and existing frameworks for ensuring proper environmental management.     

Exploring contextual influences on the architectural structure of South African television news programmes This article is partly based on a paper presented at the International Broadcasting Content Regulation Conference,Johannesburg, 27–29 May 2005

Abstract

This article uses a qualitative textual analysis of in-depth interviews with senior news processors as a methodology to explore the unique contextual dimensions that may influence the architectural structure of South African television news programmes. The discussion rests on the basic assumption that news will always present a mediated and constructed version of reality. Six communicative frames categories have been selected to investigate operational processes and issues organising the production process of news: short, straight-forward, ‘objective’ news reports; single-sourced news items based on one major voice or main perspective; investigative news reports; marketable news chosen for financial potential; news items based on community and cultural events; and mythic tales. The findings indicate that the interface between contextual factors and journalistic practices contributes to the unique challenges facing the industry in South Africa. The article concludes with an appeal to news processors to reflect on the consequences and effects their programmes have on audiences’ perception of reality, and proposes recommendations to enable audiences to become more empowered and engaged viewers.     

Significant Gender Differences in Factors Related to the Detention of Youthful Offenders

An important priority of the U.S. juvenile justice system is to reduce the number of youthful offenders who are placed into secure detention placement. Though significant research examining these predictors exists, there is limited analysis of gender-specific predictors. Using existing juvenile court and mental health assessment case records of 433 youthful offenders from two Midwestern U.S. counties, this study sought to identify separately for males and females the legal (including number of delinquency adjudications, age at first delinquency adjudication, number of court offenses, and type of offense) and extralegal (including demographic, maltreatment, mental health, and school-related disabilities) factors that impact recidivism to detention placement. Multivariate logistic regression analyses revealed that the predictors of recidivism leading to repeat secure detention placement were indeed different for males and females, although there were some shared predictors. For both genders, the number of court offenses and having a previous suicide attempt were significant predictors. In addition, for females, having a diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and a misdemeanor offense were protective against recidivism. For males, three other variables significantly predicted recidivism: age, race, and a conduct disorder diagnosis.     

Adherence to Scheduled Sessions in a Randomized Field Trial of Case Management: The Criminal Justice–Drug Abuse Treatment Studies Transitional Case Management Study

The Transitional Case Management (TCM) study, one of the projects of the Criminal Justice Drug Abuse Treatment Studies (CJ-DATS) cooperative, was a multi-site randomized test of whether a strengths-based case management intervention provided during an inmate’s transition from incarceration to the community increases participation in community substance abuse treatment, enhances access to needed social services, and improves drug use and crime outcomes. As in many intervention studies, TCM experienced a relatively large percentage of treatment-group participants who attended few or no scheduled sessions. The paper discusses issues with regard to participation in community case management sessions, examines patterns of session attendance among TCM participants, and analyzes client and case manager characteristics that are associated with number of sessions attended and with patterns of attendance. The average number of sessions (out of 12) attended was 5.7. Few client or case manager characteristics were found to be significantly related to session attendance. Clinical and research implications of the findings and of adherence in case management generally are discussed.     

Symptoms of trauma, perceptions of discrimination, and anger: a comparison between Australian indigenous and nonindigenous prisoners

Although the need for the development and provision of culturally appropriate rehabilitation programs for offenders is widely acknowledged, there is a lack of empirical data that can be used as a basis for the development of new programs. This article reports the findings of a comparison of indigenous and nonindigenous male prisoners on a range of measures relevant to the experience of anger by indigenous prisoners in Australia. The results suggest that indigenous participants are more likely to experience symptoms of early trauma, have greater difficulties identifying and describing feelings, and perceive higher levels of discrimination than nonindigenous prisoners. The implications of this work for the development of culturally appropriate and effective anger management programs for indigenous male prisoners are discussed.     

The exclusion-inclusion spectrum in state and community response to sex offenders in Anglo-American and European jurisdictions

Continental European and Anglo-American jurisdictions differ with regard to criminal justice and community responses to sex offenders on an exclusion-inclusion spectrum ranging from community protection measures on one end to therapeutic programs in the middle and restorative justice measures on the other end. In the United States, populist pressure has resulted in a community protection approach exemplified by sex offender registration, community notification, and civil commitment of violent sexual predators. Although the United Kingdom and Canada have followed, albeit more cautiously, the American trend to adopt exclusionist community protection measures, these countries have significant community-based restorative justice initiatives, such as Circles of Support and Accountability. Although sex offender crises have recently occurred in continental Europe, a long-standing tradition of the medicalization of deviance, along with the existence of social structural buffers against the influence of victim-driven populist penal movements, has thus far limited the spread of formal community protection responses.     

Stress and Somatic Complaints in Low-Income Urban Adolescents

The present study examined (1) rates of somatic complaints and (2) the association between stress and somatic complaints in low-income urban youth. Participants were 1030 low-income urban 6th–8th grade adolescents. Results indicate that, for both boys and girls, somatization was the most commonly reported internalizing symptom in this sample, and that heightened rates of urban stress predicted heightened rates of somatic complaints. In addition, a significantly higher percentage of youth in this sample reported clinically elevated levels of somatic complaints (17%) relative to that reported by normative samples (5%). The 2 most common somatic complaints were stomachaches and headaches, and females reported higher rates of somatic complaints than males. These findings suggest that somatic complaints are the most common expression of internalizing symptoms among low-income urban youth, and that exposure to heightened rates of stress places low-income urban adolescents at heightened risk for somatization. Implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed.