Risky Drinking and Driving/Riding Decisions: The Role of Previous Experience

Factors related to risky drinking and driving/riding decisions were explored by presenting vignettes to 135 older adolescents, 17–24 years of age, with vignettes related to drinking and other social behaviors engaged in at a party. Analyses revealed that alcohol-related behaviors, attitudes toward the acceptability of drinking and driving, and previous drinking and driving/riding experiences were all significant predictors of decisions about driving or riding while intoxicated. Indeed, the overall model accounted for 46% of risky drinking and driving/riding decisions. As predicted, older respondents had more previous experiences with driving while intoxicated and riding with intoxicated drivers than did younger respondents, and they reported that drinking and driving was more acceptable among their peers. However, contrary to expectations, there were no differences in the number of risky decisions made by the two age groups or between males and females. The importance of previous experiences is discussed.     

Community Participation, the Environment, and Democracy: Brazil in Comparative Perspective

Grassroots environmental activism among Latin America's poor has altered the debate over environmental policy, social welfare, and citizenship. Yet the question remains whether this social mobilization of the poor is part of a larger trend toward broader environmental concerns and democratic political participation, or a shortlived movement susceptible to the same pressures that have dissolved community mobilization in the past. This article compares Brazil with other Latin American and European countries in surveys of environmental awareness, concerns, and reported behavior. It finds that Brazilians residing in the urban periphery link their own local environmental concerns to more global considerations, and that concern for and activism on environmental issues is positively related to wider community involvement.     

Opposition to Israel’s first Qadiya

ABSTRACT

In 2017, following a fraught 22-year struggle, Israel appointed the first female judge (sing. qadiya, pl. qadiyat) to its Islamic (shari’a) courts. This contrasts with the earlier appointments of qadiyat around the world, most notably in the Palestinian Authority in 2009. The Israeli shari’a courts’ jurisdiction over family law, a field of law which engages in women’s issues, makes the introduction of qadiyat particularly salient. This article is among the first to focus academic research on the issue of qadiyat within Israel and is based on field interviews with practitioners and academic experts, as well as documentary primary and secondary sources. This article finds that the obstacles that delayed the appointment of Israel’s first qadiya were a manifestation of the political impact Muslim minority status had on the country’s Muslim and Jewish establishments.     

Women's ministerial careers in cabinet, 1921–2010: A look at socio‐demographic traits and career experiences

This article probes two aspects of women's ministerial careers in federal, provincial, and territorial cabinets from 1921 to December 2010. First, we examine whether the socio‐demographic profile of women ministers differ from female legislators of the governing party. Logistic regression analysis shows that women holding cabinet portfolios differ from female legislators with no ministerial responsibilities with respect to education, parliamentary experience, and age when first elected. Women legislators elected in Quebec, and more so at the federal level, were less likely to become ministers than women legislators nominated in other provinces. Second, we consider what portfolios women had over time, and how many different portfolios they were assigned to. The results are sobering: women ministers are still largely concentrated in socio‐cultural and socio‐economic portfolios, and most only occupy one or two of these portfolios. We conclude by identifying avenues for further research.     

Invitation or Ambush: The Scope of an Insured's Duty to Cooperate and the Slippery Slope of Information Sharing

The policyholder's “duty to cooperate” is built into every liability insurance policy, either expressly or through the application of a state's common law. The scope of an insured's duty to cooperate is often difficult to discern, however, in terms of the type and extent of information that the insured should provide as part of the insurer's investigation of the underlying matter for which coverage is being sought. Traditionally, the duty to cooperate was intended to encourage information sharing to allow the insurer to afford the policyholder a comprehensive, informed defense to the underlying claimant's allegations. This article examines the scope of the duty to cooperate and how that duty impacts the insured's obligation to share some reasonable amount of information as part of the insurer's investigation and defense of the underlying claim, noting potential pitfalls and risks that may arise from information sharing.     

Contradictory interests: Work, parents, and offspring in early modern Holland

The consistory notes of the Dutch Reformed Church (1573–1700) reveal conflicts over work between parents and children during the early modern period. Two issues that caused particular tension were the labor experience of future sons-in-law and the division of household tasks. Parents' concerns about the financial position of their future son-in-law were sincere and realistic. Skills definitely bettered the new family's chances to survive financially. Children were not expected to take care of their destitute parents nor were parents obliged to support their poverty-stricken married children. Power struggles between children and stepparents also resulted in conflicts over work. After a widowed parent remarried, children and stepparents had to redefine their roles in the new situation. The child who had assumed responsibilities when a parent died resisted a stepparent who took over those tasks. Although the cases presented may not represent everyday interactions between parents and children, they do provide insights into how work caused problems between parents and older children.     

Successful Restitution as a Predictor of Juvenile Recidivism

Abstract This is an evaluative study of a juvenile probationary project in which youth are ordered to pay restitution as a term of probation and, to assure them means of compliance, the juvenile court arranges for and supplies their employment. Demographic variables (age and sex) and court-related variables (plea, length of probation, amount of restitution ordered, and amount and proportion actually paid) are examined in relation to one another and, most important, in relation to recidivism as measured by subsequent law violations for which the offender was investigated, and subsequent law violations that resulted in formal charges against the youth. The data demonstrate that recidivism is related to severity of the initial offense, but more important, it is related to the youth's success in achieving the restitution goal. Successful compliance with the restitution order, when success is measured by amount of restitution paid relative to the amount ordered by the court, is significantly related to revocation of probation, time given to pay, amount ordered to be paid, and subsequent offenses charged. Indeed, the proportion of restitution paid is the most important predictor of recidivism. The data reinforce the dominant legislative position that an offender's ability to pay must be taken into account in ordering restitution.