Police uniforms,attitudes, and citizens

This study focuses on identifying the relationship between the citizen's attitude toward the police and the police uniform and authoritarian attitude. The perceived authority associated with the police uniform has been an essential ingredient of the police role. Consequently, the police uniform influences attitudes and behaviors of the wearers as well as the citizens with whom they interact. The citizen's attitude is negatively affected by the traditional military style police uniform in conjunction with the authoritarian attitude exhibited by police officers in performance of their duties. Consequently, when the uniform and officer's attitude are altered, there will be a corresponding change in the citizen's attitude toward the police. The attitude of the officer, in conjunction with the uniform, exerts considerably more influence on the citizen's attitude than does the uniform, officer's attitude, or any additional factor acting independently.     

Codetermination in Germany, 1949–1956

Franz Böhm's criticisms of codetermination (1951) are placed in their historical context. The article seeks to explain why Böhm's arguments ultimately proved not to be correct under the specific German historical circumstances.     

Assessment of rape-supportive attitudes and beliefs in college men: development, reliability, and validity of the rape attitudes and beliefs scale

Discussed is the development and psychometric analysis of a measure of rape-supportive attitudes and beliefs called the Rape Attitudes and Beliefs Scale (RABS), intended for the use with college men. Items were developed from a literature review of "rape myths" that were correlated to some measure of sexual aggression. An exploratory factor analysis using only male participants revealed five factors: a) justifications for sexual aggression based on women's behavior, b) belief that women should hold more responsibility for sexual assault, peer c) pressure/need for sexual status and misreading women's sexual intent, d) acceptance of the use of alcohol and coercive tactics to acquire sexual compliance, and e) dislike for the feminine and acceptance of traditional gender roles. Initial reliability and validity studies were favorable for the RABS, including evidence that these factors were positively related to measures of sexual aggression. Each factor demonstrated differential power to predict sexual aggression, with justifications being the most powerful. Implications for counseling and education are discussed.     

Democratization, crime, punishment and public attitudes in the Czech Republic

This paper presents the partial results of three surveys of the Czech public regarding the issues of crime and punishment. As rising levels of crime have accompanied the democratic transition, so have rising calls for increased repression of criminal offenders, such as strong opinions in favor of reinstating the death penalty. At the same time, however, various other factors in Czech society, such as low levels of unemployment and a stable trust in government institutions, lead to the conclusion that the democratic and economic transition in 1989 was characterized by relatively low levels of anomie. The Czech public is therefore able to maintain an optimistic attitude toward future conditions in the new democracy. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Juror decision making,attitudes, and the hindsight bias

This study examines juror decision making in civil suits against police officers alleged to have engaged in illegal searches, using simulated case materials and mock jurors drawn both from adults called for jury service and a student subject pool. The experiment assesses the impact of a cognitive process (thehindsight bias) and of individual attitudes on awards and finds that both are related to juror decisions. We test a theoretical model that specifies that both attitudes and outcome knowledge exercise their influence upon the damage award decision by means of their impact on interpretation of testimony. Causal models of the decision-making process appear to support the role played by interpretation of evidence as a mediator between individual attributes and juror decisions.We are indebted to Reid Hastie, Tom Tyler, Phoebe Ellsworth, Jack Heinz, Robert Nelson, Rayman Solomon, and Bonnie Fisher for assistance with various aspects of the design, data collection, and analysis reported here. Financial support was provided by the American Bar Foundation, and the Center for Urban Affairs and Policy Research and the Dispute Resolution Research Center, both at Northwestern University.John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.     

Racial prejudice, perceived injustice, and the Black-White gap in punitive attitudes

Conflict theory and previous research suggest that the Black-White difference in support for harsh criminal punishments may be linked to anti-Black prejudice among Whites and perceived injustice among Blacks. Using survey data from the 2001 Race, Crime and Public Opinion Study, this article examines the sources of the racial gap in levels of punitiveness. Two main explanations are tested: perceived racial bias in the criminal justice system and racial prejudice. The results indicate that, together, racial prejudice and perceived racial bias explain the Black-White gap in punitive attitudes.     

Neonaticides in Hamburg, Germany, from 1998 to 2008

In the analyzed period from 1998 to 2008, the autopsies performed at the Hamburg Institute of Legal Medicine included 13 cases in which an investigation for neonaticide had been initiated by the public prosecutor. The killed neonates showed a nearly equal distribution between both sexes. The most common method of neonaticide was suffocation. Most of the perpetrators were young, unmarried primipara with an average educational background. Almost all of them were suffering under psychological stress and had negated their pregnancy. In most cases, birth and neonaticide happened alone in their flat, and there was no medical attendance in any case. In the cases brought to court the women were charged with manslaughter (Section 212 German Criminal Code) and those found guilty were always granted a mitigated sentence pursuant to Section 213 Criminal Code.     

Death certificates in Germany, England, The Netherlands, Belgium and the USA

Every country has its own legal system regarding post mortem examinations and death certificates. The authorities want to know the cause and the manner of death of their citizens and especially whether someone is responsible for the death of someone else. In this article a comparison is made between the legal regulations in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, England and the USA. Specific attention is given to the following aspects: which official performs the post mortem exam, what is the role of the attending physician by issuing the death certificate and how is the privacy of the deceased protected.     

Eruption times of permanent teeth in children and adolescents of Paderborn, Westphalia, Germany

The eruption times of permanent teeth and the sequence of tooth eruption were investigated in 1535 individuals aged 3 to 24 years. Wisdom teeth were excluded from the evaluation. All individuals were inhabitants of Paderborn, Westphalia, Germany. The results were compared to results of other German studies on tooth eruption of the 20th century. The teeth emerged symmetrically in each jaw. However, teeth erupted earlier in the mandible than in the maxilla. Teeth erupted earlier in females than in males. The sequence of emerging teeth in the maxilla is identical in both sexes: first molar, central incisor, lateral incisor, first premolar, and canine, second premolar, second molar. The sequence of tooth eruption of the mandible is identical in both sexes but differs from the maxillary sequence: first molar, central incisor, lateral incisor, canine, first premolar, second premolar, second molar. Since the fifties of the last century the acceleration of teeth emergence has not increased in German studies on this subject.     

经济转型、经济创新与经济法的“刚柔并济”

在当前的经济新常态下,经济转型与经济创新是我国经济发展的核心问题.经济转型与经济创新对经济法理论与实践提出了更高的新要求.面对经济转型和经济创新中新情况与新问题的挑战,经济法必须在理论与实践层面进行有效回应.经济法具有“刚”与“柔”两个属性,通过对经济法相关理论的分析和现实生活中具体实例的验证可以发现,经济法的“刚柔并济”的差异性适用理论能够较好地回应经济转型与经济创新中所出现的各种问题.构建经济法的“刚柔并济”的差异性适用长效机制需要从理论体系、立法层面、执法层面和司法层面等方面着手.     

Gender, traditionalism, and attitudes toward domestic violence within a closed community

This research was aimed at examining the attitudes toward domestic violence of people living in communal secular and religious kibbutzim. The findings, disregarding gender or traditionalism, indicate that most of the kibbutz members examined view the kibbutz as almost totally lacking any problem of violence toward women by their partners. The belief that the kibbutz home is a secure place for women within the family framework appears, surprisingly, at a higher frequency among women than among men. There are two possible theoretical explanations for this finding. First, the kibbutz lifestyle has indeed brought about equal power relationships, which explains why domestic violence is not viewed as a social problem, mostly by secular women. Second, women, who play a relatively minor role in constructing the public agenda in the kibbutz, have not become aware of the existence of this issue in the closed community.     

Hispanic interaction with the criminal justice system in Texas: Experiences,attitudes, and perceptions

This is an exploratory study of Hispanics in Texas examining attitudes toward crime and the criminal justice system. The study focuses on cultural determinants among Hispanics as affecting attitudes and behaviors and identifies differences between Hispanics and other population groups. The article provides a background of general cultural dynamics which can affect human relationships and then examines specific characteristics of the Hispanic culture. Among the significant findings are that Hispanics in Texas (1) feel “less safe” concerning crime than does the general population, (2) do not feel that the police can reduce the incidence of crime, (3) feel they have inadequate police protection, (4) evaluate the police generally lower than does the general population, (5) feel that the criminal courts are generally fair and just, and (6) possess a strong punitive—rather than rehabilitative—attitude toward corrections. The article presents a critical summary of the methodology and findings of an extensive research project.