Absence and leave; sick leave. Final rule

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management is issuing final regulations on the use of sick leave and advanced sick leave for serious communicable diseases, including pandemic influenza when appropriate. We are also permitting employees to substitute up to 26 weeks of accrued or accumulated sick leave for unpaid Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave to care for a seriously injured or ill covered servicemember, as authorized under the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008, including up to 30 days of advanced sick leave for this purpose. Finally, we are reorganizing the existing sick leave regulations to enhance reader understanding and administration of the program.     

Alternatives to incarceration: Commnity-based alternatives for juveniles

This research deals with the problems associated with the juvenile rehabilitative efforts in the United States today. Using the recidivism rates for juveniles, the studies by Zingraff on resocialization, and Zimbardo’s Stanford House experiment, this paper seeks to show that the present form of institutionalization and treatment is not conducive to rehabilitating the juvenile offenders. Communitybased corrections is suggested as alternatives to the failing present system. The alternatives discussed include diversion strategies such as Project Crossroads in Washington, B.C. and the Sacramento 601 Diversion Process in California. Other alternatives given include group homes such as the Highfields Project and the Silverlake Experiment, foster homes, and family homes. Correctional day care centers are also a viable alternative to incarceration. The GUIDE Program in California, and the Parkland Project in Kentucky, and the Utah Pinehills Experiment are examples of this type of Program. Halfway houses are also used to help juveniles adjust to society and to prevent them from having to submit to total incarceration. Advantages and disadvantages to each of these alternatives are provided. Although some of these experiments have failed, these efforts appear to be less costly, more effective, and less damaging than institutionalization of offenders.     

Supreme Court denies leave to appeal in medical marijuana charter challenge

As previously reported in this publication, in January 2002 the Ontario Court of Appeal denied Jim Wakeford's claim that Canada's laws prohibiting marijuana possession and cultivation infringe his constitutional rights to liberty and security of the person. On 22 November 2002 the Supreme Court of Canada announced that it would not hear his appeal from that decision.     

Legislative and educational alternatives to a judicial remedy for the transfer trauma dilemma

Transfer trauma is alleged to be an increase in morbidity and mortality in institutionally relocated chronically ill elderly. Efforts by the legal profession to persuade courts that transfer trauma should be a legally recognized phenomenon invoking judicial protections against transfer (the "transfer trauma argument") have been unproductive. In O'Bannon v. Town Court Nursing Center, Inc., the United States Supreme Court denied standing to elderly persons claiming a property interest in remaining in alleged substandard facilities. The Court rejected the argument that the possibility of transfer trauma constituted a deprivation of life or liberty that would have required due process protections of notice and hearing. Despite the Court's preclusion of transfer trauma litigation in a constitutional context and the general unwillingness of lower courts to recognize the phenomenon, attorneys continue to burden the judicial system with frivolous transfer trauma arguments. The unfruitful pursuit of a judicial remedy for the ethical and social problems that arise with relocation of the elderly continues, in part, because of a misguided belief that this distressing social phenomenon is best remedied by the courts. Judicial unwillingness to recognize the transfer trauma argument, however, does not preclude legislative consideration of the humanitarian issues concerning the institutional relocation of elderly persons. This Article examines gerontological research in order to understand the judicial rejection of the transfer trauma argument and argues in support of legislative and educational solutions for the ethical and social problems attending transfer.     

The decision to leave an abusive relationship: The testing of an alternative methodological approach

Most studies that consider the factors influencing the decision to leave an abusive relationship rely on retrospective, self-report data. In addition to the biased samples that are frequently obtained in such investigations, the methodological shortcomings of survey research limit its explanatory power, particularly when applied to such sensitive topics as family violence. This report introduces an alternative method for studying the decision to leave an abusive relationship. Forty-five men and 68 women were studied using an experimental computer game of an abuse-like relationship. The tendency to leave this relationship was measured under four differing conditions of severity and frequency of abuse. A logit analysis revealed that the frequency of abuse was more consequential to women's decisions to leave, while severity of abuse was more salient for men. In addition, the hypothesized model, including frequency of abuse, severity of abuse, and locus of control, fits well for women but not for men. The implications of these findings, as well as the validity and future application of experimental games, are discussed.     

Public attitudes toward funding preschool programs to prevent violence

Public policy on violence prevention has increasingly focused on early childhood interventions to reduce violence over the life course. This paper examines public attitudes toward funding of programs in schools to enhance learning and to reduce violence. The data come from telephone surveys in a large Southern US City collected from 2004 to 2007. The paper explores the relationship between public funding of programs and increased taxes for programs. PLUM Ordinal Regression models were used to predict attitudes toward prevention programs controlling for demographic variables and political affiliation. Implications of these findings are discussed for understanding of attitudes toward school-based programs and their funding.     

The importance of appropriate allocation to offending behavior programs

This study examined the impact on reconviction of appropriate allocation to three general offending behavior programs involving adult male offenders in the English and Welsh Probation Service. Appropriate allocation was defined by level of risk for reconviction. There were three allocation groups: too low, appropriate, and too high. Using a quasi-experimental design, the reconviction rates of offenders who were allocated to and completed a program, offenders allocated to a program who failed to start, and a comparison group were compared. It was found that the appropriateness of allocation affected reconviction independently of treatment group. Furthermore, in line with the risk principle, there was an interaction between treatment group and the appropriateness of allocation.     

Voluntary protection programs to supplement enforcement and to provide safe and healthful working conditions--OSHA. Notice of implementation of revised voluntary protection programs

OSHA announces the implementation of three Voluntary Protection Programs. The programs, revised from the January 19, 1982, notice in the Federal Register (47 FR 2796), seek out and recognize exemplary safety and health programs as a means of expanding worker protection. Companies, general contractors, and small business organizations which meet specified programmatic safety and health criteria, which go beyond OSHA standards in providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees, and which want to do more than is required to help the agency accomplish the goals of the Act are the applicants OSHA seeks for these voluntary programs. In return, OSHA will remove participants from general schedule inspection lists and give priority attention to any which request a variance. The programs are called "Star." "Try," and "Praise."     

试论生物技术对传统法律体系的挑战

科技是开放的，法律是保守的。生物科技的进步必然会对现有的法律体系造成巨大的冲击，导致法律体系的重构和优化。本文系统的分析了生物技术对传统法律体系的影响，就宏观内容而言，从五个层次上探讨了生物技术对传统法律体系的挑战，包括：人的法律主体地位受到挑战、国际关系发生重大变化、国家安全与国家利益受到影响、群体基因资源的保护和利用出现新问题、传统个人权利体系受到巨大冲击；就传统民事权利体系而言，本文详细的分析了具体的生物技术对每一项民事权利的影响和冲击，找到其中的焦点与热点。此外，本文还就科技进步与法律、道德的互动作用提出了自己的看法，认为科技的进步势不可挡；法律的最终调控必将实现；道德的磨合、过渡作用不可忽视。     

Effectiveness of school-based programs to reduce bullying: a commentary

Objectives

Recent decades have seen a focus on intervention programs to reduce school bullying, in light of the severe negative consequences of such behavior. A recent meta-analysis by Ttofi and Farrington (Journal of Experimental Criminology 7: 27?C56, 2011) provided encouraging findings in terms of some significant reductions in bullying and victimization achieved by many programs. They also report analyses of effect sizes associated with specific program elements and design features of the interventions. While this is an important step forward, we critique some of the strong policy implications which they draw from these latter analyses.

Methods

We discuss four important areas to substantiate this critique: analytical procedure, definitional issues, historical issues, and recent empirical data. As context, we use two particular program elements described by Ttofi and Farrington, namely use of disciplinary measures and work with peers, and one design feature, namely age of pupils.

Results

The findings for the program elements and design feature examined are complex and do not justify strong policy implications at this stage.

Conclusions

We conclude with suggestions for future research directions.